Compare and Contrast Rise and fall of Classical Empires.
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Transcript of Compare and Contrast Rise and fall of Classical Empires.
Compare and Contrast
Rise and fall of Classical Empires
Necessary preconditions for the rise of empires
• State-level Government
• High Agricultural Potential in the area
• An environmental Mosaic
• Several small states with no clearly dominant state (power vacuum)
• Mutual Antagonisms among those states
• Adequate military resources
State-level Government
Rome
• Republic
• Senate• Aristocrats
• Consuls• Had executive power
• All citizen assemblies
• Built on aristocratic landlords expanding out from a city-state
China
• Kept most of the Qin centralized government in place
• Emergence of standardization
India
• Decentralized• Regionalism• Aryan Invaders• Vedas and Upanishads
• Large estates ruled by kings
• Encourage tight levels of village organization – organized village defenses and regulate property
• Varnas – social classes
High Agricultural Potential in the Area
Rome
• Wheat
• Grapes
• Cattle
China
• Wheat
• Millet
• Pigs
India
• Cotton• Wool• Calico• Chief revenue
– tax on agriculture
An Environmental Mosaic
Rome
• Alps
• Mediterranean Sea
• Forests
• Tiber and other rivers
• Hills
China
• Tianshan Mountains
• Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
• Loess Soil
• Pacific Ocean
India
• Indus and Ganges Rivers
• Thar Desert• Deccan
Plateau
Several Small States with no Clearly Dominant State (Power Vacuum)
Rome
• Rome and other city-states on the Italian peninsula
• Surrounding Mediterranean states
• Greek States; Judea; Egypt; Carthage; Cyprus; Gaul; Sicily; Spain; etc.
China• Fall of Zhou
• Warring States period 480 BCE – 221 BCE• Confucius – wandering scholar
• Idealized strong rulers and the consolidation of power
• Sought to establish norms for all life
• Relationships and importance of art, music, calligraphy
• 221-207 BCE – Qin• Single law code, uniform tax system, appointed
governors to each district who exercised military and legal power in name of emperor
• Elixir of immortality
• Broke into smaller states
India
• Regional leadership/rule
• Dravidians
Mutual Antagonisms Among these States
Rome
• Rivalry between pastoralists in hills and agriculturalists in plains
• Perceived threats led to wars and conquest which increased the length of borders and led to more perceived threats
China
• Warring States period before Qin unification
• Perceived threats led to wars and conquest which increased the length of borders and led to more perceived threats
India
• Indo-European Invasions
• Aryans• Kushans
Adequate Military Resources
Rome
• Soldiers first recruited only from peasant class on Italian peninsula
• Population inexhaustible
China
• Soldiers recruited from peasant class within the entire empire
• Population inexhaustible
India
• Ability to make metal weapons
• Social system extremely strict –particular in choosing – warrior caste
• Relatively peaceful• Powerful army
maintained tight control
The Primary Reason a State Succeeded in Empire Building
• An ideology supporting personal identification within the state, empire, conquest, militarism
• Patriarchy
• Retained and built on key achievements of earlier societies
• Did not have to:
• Reinvent money, idea of codes of law, scientific interests
Ideology
Rome• “Republic” based on citizenship of
free men
• Citizenship ensured loyalty to the state and brought taxes into the state treasury
• Emperor-dictators had to support the idea of the republic and pretend to follow what the Senate, council of elder men decreed
• Development of bureaucracy helped run the empire
China• Militaristic Legalism
developed by Shi Huangdi continued, then softened by the Confucian system of government based on ethics, meritocracy, and concept of the Mandate of Heaven
• Development of bureaucracy helped run the empire
• Tribute system for foreign relations
India
• Hinduism as a uniting force
• Enforcing strict social system• Caste
Methods of Political Control
• Government Organization
• Social Organization
• Military Organization
• Economic Organization
• State sponsored religions/philosophies
Government OrganizationRome
• Emperor• Preserved the senate but it was
meaningless
• Local autonomy and tolerance with common laws
• Had to pay taxes
• Political intensity and localism
• No single or cohesive set of political institutions
• Civil Service
China• Centralized bureaucracy
• 1st Civil Service Exam
• Clearest unity and focus to society
• Divinely sanctioned• Mandate of Heaven/Dynastic
Cycle
• Political culture
• Pay tribute to Xiongnu
• Standardized Language
India• Decentralized• Regionalism
• Geography made full political unity difficult
• Political structure existed – less cohesive and important
• Maurya• 16 powerful regional states –
some monarchies – some republics
• 322 BCE – Chandragupta Maurya – unified much of subcontinent – substantial bureaucracy – postal service and roads
• Ashoka – all but southern tip
Government OrganizationRome
• Citizenship to elites
• Laws applied to all
• Latin did not replace other written languages
• 100 CE – Pax Romana
• Peace, strength, road building, law, cities, trade
China
• Organized research in astronomy and historical records
• Strong local units never disappeared
• Relied heavily on tight knit patriarchal families, village authority surmounted family rule, landed nobles provided courts of justice and organized military troops
India• No standardized language• Sanskrit was used by the elite only• Gupta
• No individual influencial leaders• Preferred to negotiate with local
princesses and intermarry with their families
• Claimed appointment by gods • No extensive bureaucracy
• Local leaders – differ to Gupta dominance
• Stationed a personal representative to watch ruler’s court to ensure loyalty
• Spread uniform law codes• Little formal political theory
State Sponsored Religion/Philosophy
Rome• Polytheistic
• Division between upper class and popular belief
• Low class wanted a spiritual passion, “mystery religion”, secret rituals, fellowship
• State sponsored festivals to honor gods and goddesses
• Civic religious festivals
• Encouraged loyalty to the state
• Tolerance if it does not conflict with loyalty
• Christianity
• Missionaries
• 100 CE Christians were initially persecuted as undermining the state
• Opposed to slavery
China
• Absence of a single religion (limited monumental building)
• Ancestor Veneration
• Confucianism – filial piety
• Virtue of respect for one's father, elders, and ancestors
India• Polytheistic• Hinduism – key religious
values to cement civilization
• Patriarchal• Gives hope through
incarnation• Buddha opposes
• Offered something not so rigid
• Better life for women• Buddhism spread by
Ashoka using Stupas
Social Organization
Rome• Emperor, Large
Estate owners, merchants, peasants, slaves
• Greek slaves – valued as household servants and tutors
• Could be better than “free” life of a poor peasant
China• Social class based on literacy
• Lower classes were not able to take the Civil Service Exam
• Higher classes were knowledgeably qualified to take this exam and become bureaucrats
• Mean people • Unskilled
• Not slaves but given the jobs that the rest of the population did not want
• Transport
• Performing artists
• Punished more harshly for crime
• Had to wear a green scarf to identify themselves
• Used culture to justify social inequality – Confucianism
• Some household slaves – not depended on for agriculture
India• Caste system based on
skin color (initially from Aryan invaders)
• Created the idea of racial division by placing the lighter skinned people in the higher social classes
• Untouchable class – unskilled – not slaves but given jobs the rest of the population did not want
• Peasants less constrained by landlords trying to tke their land – village controlled most of the land
Social Organization
Rome
• Wealthy land owners
• Slaves – 1/3 of the population
• Inequalities between men and women
• Inequalities between rich and poor
• “Bread and Circuses”
China
• Inequalities between men and women
• Inequalities between rich and poor
• Tenant Farmers
• Corvee – state required service
• Built roads, walls, canals
India
• Warrior governing class and priestly class
• Traders and farmers• Common laborers• Untouchables• Inequalities between men and
women• Inequalities between rich and poor• Elaboration of caste system – jati
• Regulates social relationships and work roles
• Outright slavery avoided• 1st loyalty to the caste
Cultural Organization
Rome• Valued active participation in
politics for the “good life”• Contributed to a sense of political
interest and responsibility
• Cultural achievements involved a small percentage of the population
• Demonstrate power and achievement
• Roads, aqueducts, sewer systems, colosseums
• Buildings of great size, domes added to rectangular buildings
China
• Importance of family and local units
• Confucianism
• Invention of paper
India• Gupta supported
Hinduism, math, and science “Golden Age”
• Concept of zero• Numbers • Pi• Circumference of
Earth• Earth’s rotation• Plastic Surgery• Predicted eclipses
Military Organization
Rome• Citizens served in the
military
• 63 CE – forced dissolution of Jewish State after a local rebellion – Romans took over
• Need for slaves encouraged military conquest
China
• Assimilation – expansion – send farmers to colonize and set up schools
• Local landlords
India
• Maurya• Large armies• Chariots• Elephant borne
troops• Kushan invaders
overthrow and adopt Buddhism
• 220 CE Kushan collapse
Economic Organization
Rome• Agriculture is important
• Latifunda – Agricultural Estate
• Based on slave labor and tenant farmers and paid laborers
• Free farmers could not always compete
• Silver coins
• Production technology lagged
• Government regulated some branches of commerce to secure vital supplies of grain
• Public works
• Dominated Mediterranean trade – traded with Egypt and Africa
China• Agriculture is the most important
• Canals are built to transport grains from one end of the empire to the other
• Government control of salt and iron industries
• Standardized currency, weights, measures – facilitated trade
• Silk production
• Roads to promote trade
• Silk Road
• Public works
• canal
• Regulate agricultural supplies – storing grain and rice
• Agricultural innovations
• Damns, Canals, Ox-drawn plows, collar, Iron mining pulleys, winding gear, and lamps, water powered mills
India• Increased trade• Crossroads of trades
routes• Indian Ocean is a
critical trade route• Had the widest
economic reach• Ashoka – improved
trade and communication; extensive road network with wells and rest stops
Major Rewards of Empire
• Economic rewards, reaped especially in the early years and redistributed to the elite and often to all levels of citizenry
• Population increase, often supported by the government and its ideology
Economic Rewards
Rome• Citizenship led to
recognition of place in society
• Possible government and military positions of leadership
• Opportunities for merchants
• Roman-style urbanism for new towns and cities
China
• Land for supporters
• Expansion of established cities
• Creation of new capital storehouses for food when supplies fell
India
• Advances in arts and sciences, mathematics, iron use
• Trade increased
Population Increase
Rome
• Population increased as new lands with more people were conquered
China
• Population increased as new land was colonized by Chinese farmers
India
• Population increased with prosperity and young marriage of women
Empires Fall Because
• Ideology of expansion and conquest fueled attempts at conquest beyond practical limits
• Failure to continue conquest indefinitely and to continue to bring home its economic fruits eroded faith in the ideology that supported the empire
• Revolutions toppled the empire
Internal Problems Facing Empire
Rome
• Population decreases• Upper class Romans stop
having babies
• Becomes difficult to collect taxes
• Plagues spread from international trading (China) decimates population
• Cultural life decreases – new knowledge is not happening
China
• Confucian intellectual tendency – became less creative
• Central governments control became diminished as bureaucrats became corrupt
• Factionalism at court
• Taxes increased
• Free peasants began to work for local landlords
• Greater concentration of land ownership
India• Ability to control local
princes decreased• Tendency to dissolve
into political fragmentation
• Invaders integrated into the warrior caste – new ruling group of regional princes
Internal Problems Facing Empire
Rome
• High, uneven taxes
• Factions
• 235-284 CE “Barracks Emperors”
• As many generals as emperors
• Patriotism decreases
• Decentralization of political and economic authority
• Inflation• Decreased money for defense
China
• Peasants had to sell kids
• Disease epidemic – ½ population dies
• Spread of Buddhism
• Trade decreases because it is not safe
• Conflicts with people of the north - Xiongnu
India• Buddhism decreases• Hinduism increase• ++Economic prosperity
does continue
Attempts to Fix Problems
Rome
• Diocletian – tries to reverse the tide (284-305)
• Splits empire in half
• Persecutes Christians
• Constantine (306 -313-337)• Creates a second capital –
Constantinople
• Adopts Christianity in an attempt to unify the empire
• Regulating the economy reduced economic initiative and decreased production
China• Confucian intellectual tendency –
became less creative
• Central governments control became diminished as bureaucrats became corrupt
• Taxes increased
• Free peasants began to work for local landlords
• Peasants had to sell kids
• Disease epidemic – ½ population dies
• Spread of Buddhism
• Trade decreases because it is not safe
India• Ability to control local
princes decreased• Tendency to dissolve
into political fragmentation
• Invaders integrated into the warrior caste – new ruling group of regional princes
• Rajput• Buddhism decreases• Hinduism increase• ++Economic prosperity
does continue
Impractical Conquest
Rome• Military became less desirable as
soldiers lost land
• Difficulty recruiting effective loyal armies – loyal to their leader – hire mercenaries (Germanic Soldiers)
• Recruits of “foreigners” to keep numbers of soldiers up led to dissatisfaction
• Tax revenues fell
• Government failed to pay soldiers fully
• Safety within empire and borders declined
China• “barbarians” continued to
demand more concessions in the tribute system
• Recruits of “foreigners” to keep numbers of soldiers up led to dissatisfaction
• Tax revenues fell
• Governments failed to pay soldiers fully
• Safety within empire and borders declined
India
• Military unable to hold out against constant attacks
• Lost many lives• Fighting between
regional rulers for territory
Failure to Continue Conquest
Rome
• Tenant farmers looked to landowners of Latifundas for security
• Soldiers’ loyalty shifted to generals and officers rather than the state
China
• Tenant farmers looked to landowners for security
• Bandits and rebels attacked government officials and facilities
India
• Local princes refuse to work together
External Problems Facing Empire
Rome
• Germanic Invaders being pushed into the empire to avoid Attila and the Huns
• Visigoths, Vandals, Ostrogoths
China
• Outside Invasion
• Huns
India
• Kush invade and topple the Mauyran
• White Huns invade and topple the Gupta
Revolutions Topple
Rome
• Germanic tribes sacked cities near borders and finally Rome
• Political instability within Rome itself
China
• Yellow Turban Rebellions – Daoist leaders
• Soldier rebellions
• Peasant rebellions
• Political instability
India
• White Huns invaded and over ran the empire
• Politically decentralized
• Unwillingness to help each other
Severity of Collapse
Rome• Political power is not the only
“glue” that holds a civilization together
• No religious unity – Christianity became official religion during 400 CE – too late to be a unifying force
• Political and military power failed
• Migration of Huns caused pressure on Rome to move out as they expanded
China• Confucianism lost much of its
credibility
• Many people turned towards Daoism and Buddhism instead
• Fall had less impact because the philosophies went beyond China’s Politics and rulers
• Chinese civilization continued to reassert power after 135 years of chaos
India• Regional
princes dominate
• Gradual decline of Buddhism – spreads to China
Severity of Collapse Contd.
Rome
• When one trade route weakened – Silk Road- all were affected
• Diseases spread
• People were killed
• Money used to build churches could have been used to maintain the Roman Empire
• Death rates increased in the wealthy class because water was being transported through lead pipes
China
• 220 CE – 589 CE Regional kingdoms, warlords, disorder
India
• White Huns invaded and over ran the empire
• Politically decentralized
• Unwillingness to help each other
Severity of Collapse Contd.
Rome• Unable to keep political grasp amongst vast
land
• Disputes between large landowners and peasants
• Rise of Islam in areas close to Rome created tension and a new movement of religiously driven and bound forces that would eventually become a dominant power in parts of Europe, ME, Asia
• Monetary trouble was also a contributing factor – the central Roman state collapsed because the migrants forcibly stripped it of the tax base which it used to fund its armies
China
• 589-618 CE - Sui Dynasty
India
• Rajput dynasties dominated northern India
• The many petty Rajput kingdoms there were among the main obstacles to the complete Muslim domination of Hindu India
Differences of the Falls
Rome
• Western Roman Empire totally collapsed
• Much more commerce in Roman Empire
• Proportion of slaves in Roman Empire hurt the economy; less productive but more people to feed
China• System took some time to
recover - Common culture (Chinese script, Confucianism, assimilation) prevented as drastic a collapse as in Rome
• Economy was based more completely on crop agriculture; cities and commerce played a lesser role in China than in the West
India
• India’s system was not based on political unity (Hinduism remained
Effects of the Falls
Rome• Europe dissolved into various
political systems involving kings, with little authority, nobles, knights, vassals, city-states in Italy, and small territories ruled by princes, bishops, or the pope
• Farmers chose to work for large landowners to avoid taxes (beginnings of
manorialism/feudalism)
China
• China was once again under a single emperor
• China still governed by a merit-based bureaucracy
• China’s Confucianism still ordered the society
India
• India’s system was not based on political unity (Hinduism remained
Religious Effects
• Surge in the Great Religions – Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam expanded as the great empires decline; political and economic instability, plus the impact of devastating epidemic prompted individuals to seek new spiritual answers
• In the west, religion, particularly Christianity, was left to slowly develop authority and the Roman Catholic Church became increasingly institutionalized
Effects of the Falls
Rome
• Conflicting doctrines and practices among early Christians
• Established standardized hierarchy of church officials
• The bishop of Rome, known as the pope, became spiritual leader
• As Roman empire collapsed, Christianity served as a cultural foundation
China
• Buddhism spread into China as competition to Confucian traditions
India
• India’s system was not based on political unity (Hinduism remained
Magnitude of the Fall
Rome
• the most devastated
• civilization depended on the ability of the government and military to control the area
• Christianity emerged in Europe too late to provide an unifying factor
• Area fragmented into small parts and developed unique characteristics
China• Loss of the dynasty meant
loss of centralized government resulting in disorder from the loss of authority
• Chinese society very hierarchical; dynastic cycles that followed the dictates of the Mandate of Heaven were well defined in China, and the Confucian traditions continued to give coherence to Chinese society
India• Had the least impact,
partly because political unity wasn’t the rule anyway, and partly because the traditions of Hinduism and the caste system (the glue that held the area together) continued after the empire fell.
What Came Next
Byzantine Empire • Christianity spreads more
widely, becomes more centralized, bureaucratic, hierarchical, powerful, development of papacy
• Patriarchy – women legally disadvantaged
• Slavery
• Eastern half of the Roman Empire
• Lasted over 1000 more years
China
• Survived during this time period because of a strong philosophical background
• Buddhism became more popular coming in on the Silk Road
India
• Hinduism remains predominant religion
• “Southernization” cultural influences from India to SE Asia
• Caste System
What Came Next
Byzantine Empire • Sat on Bosporus Strait –
wealth from trade
• Had a strong central government
• Justinian – code of law – strong, codified laws
• Replaced Latin with Greek
• Schism – Eastern Orthodox Church
• Emperor was in charge of the church and church leaders
China• Resurgence of Daoism
• Confucianism continued but became more fragmented
• Patriarchy, filial piety, ancestor veneration
• Sui Dynasty 589-618 CE• Examination system became
more open to non elites under
• Continued expansion of Great Wall
India
• Indian Ocean trade remained important
• No centralized empire replaced it until much later
• Patriarchy and child marriage
Global Effects
• Political disunity in the Middle East forged the way for the appearance of a new religion in the 7th century; by 600 CE Islam began expanding
• Trade was disrupted but survived, keeping intact the trend toward increased long-distance contact; trade on the Indian Ocean increased as conflict and decline of political authority affected overland trade
• Urban centers decrease in importance