Han Dynasty Achievements

The era of the Han dynasty in China, simply referred to as ‘Han China,’ was an extremely prominent one, with power that almost rivaled the Romans themselves. During this period of China, achievements and accomplishments reached new heights as the Silk Road opened, which allowed connection with the western world. However, even with all this, Han China still fell, thanks to opposing forces in the form of nomadic tribes, several natural disasters that were interpreted as angry messages from the gods, and internal/political unrest. During the Han dynasty and the opening of the Silk Road, there were several aggressive, nomadic tribes that centered around the Asian area. Tribes like the Mongols and the Xiongnu, which would later become the infamous Huns, had always been at China’s doorsteps, failing to make any lasting impact, until around 130 BCE, when the Xiongnu waged war on Han China. Known as the Sino-Xiongnu (Han-Xiongnu) War, the battles ended with the Han victorious but with a shaky government. The defeated Xiongnu would later go on to be an important factor in the defeat and collapse of the western powerhouse Rome.

China’s rulers utilized the mandate of heaven, a type of divine rule that, later, would be used to justify the rule of kings like Louis XIV of France and Charles the I of England. The mandate of heaven was an ideal that the gods they worshipped gave power to their rulers, and if they weren’t satisfied, they would show it in the form of unexplainable phenomenon, such as the grasshopper plagues and floods that ravaged their lands. Catastrophes like that lead the people of Han China into doubting the rulers, and some even predicted that the Han dynasty would be usurped soon. A number of rebellions cropped up around this time, like the Yellow Turban/Scarves Rebellion, which began to threaten the hold of the government and the rulers