Alfred Chou Day of Empire Essay “Day of Empire” is a book written by Amy Chua that describes the main reasons why empires rise and fall. She writes her thesis clearly and is as follows: “For all their enormous differences, every single world hyperpower in history…was, at least by the standards of its time, extraordinarily pluralistic and tolerant during its rise to preeminence.” (Chua xxi) Chua states that tolerance was a key role to the foundation and building of an empire. However, she does not mean tolerance in the modern-day sense such as “political or cultural equality.”(Chua xxiii) She instead uses the term as “letting very different kinds of people live, work, and prosper in your society – even if only for instrumental or strategic reasons.”(Chua xxiii) To reiterate, Chua argues that tolerance is one of the main reasons that are responsible for the making of a hyperpower. The first chapter of the book goes over the first civilizations on Earth, such as the Achaemenid Empire, Classical Greece, the Persians, and Alexander the Great. The chapter …show more content…
Alexander went on to establish an extraordinary empire and a conquest against Persia. “Like the Achaemenids, Alexander raised the largest army on earth through his ability and willingness to incorporate men from every part of his empire.” (Chua 26) By 324 BC, the Greeks were now the world dominant civilization. Through Alexander, Greek culture had spread across the continents, creating “Hellenism.” But everything died with his death. The main political effects the Persian empires had were the idea of cultural and religious tolerance. Through these ideas, leaders understood how important and strategic it is to keep the people from rebelling by accepting their culture and feigning interest. These new ideas built very large empires, as was the situation with Alexander the Great. The empires that housed these philosophies prospered