In the Classical era, two very comparable empires carried out the cycle of rising and falling on the far western and eastern ends of Eurasia. While only Rome had to struggle to grow from a single city to an enormous empire, both Rome and Han China rose to power on the backs of their brutal armies. And, the fall of both empires negatively impacted the life of common people as well as the cultivation of culture across Eurasia. In the beginning of its reign, the Roman empire labored to grow from an impoverished city-state into a more expansive political force. Their population was so miniscule, at one point the people resorted to kidnapping neighboring women just to maintain the steadily declining city. However, China had existed for over 2000 …show more content…
Additionally, previous dynasties, like the Shang, Zhou, and Qin, created a bureaucratic precedent for a centralized government. Therefore, the Han …show more content…
Cities were no longer organized or protected, so the bustling urban life that relied on structure disintegrated. Without the productive, systematic agricultural system, the population no longer had a reliable, widespread food source, and the lack of an imperial army and legal protection from violent or otherwise harmful crimes endangered the people, resulting in population decline. Additionally, because Rome broke up into many decentralized cities, and China dissolved into disunion and conflict, less area was under cultivation than under the large, connected empires. No public works like roads or bridges were in progress, and there were no large states to benefit from international trade. Therefore, the sharing of cultures, ideas, and technologies declined, leaving Eurasia in a rut of unchanging practices, beliefs, and