Intro: Successful civilizations have risen throughout history and appeared unstoppable. One in particular was Rome which existed for hundreds of years, but eventually even the greatest of civilizations fall. Civilizations have a lifespan - this is a theory that many historians disagree with. Though there have been some who believe that all civilizations have a lifespan and that they eventually grow old and die, almost like living things. Paragraph 1: There are a lot of reasons why civilizations rise and fall, and different civilizations fall for different reasons. Civilizations rise due to overpopulation leading to expansion of a nation 's territory or by conquest. Civilizations also rise because people began to form larger social groups, like towns and cities. Civilizations fall due to external conquest, some nation or group bigger or stronger than the civilization simply comes in and defeats the civilization militarily. Most often this is because civilizations accumulate wealth, whether in gold, produce, or even in the people it contains. Sooner or later others will try to take these goods, and when the civilization can no longer …show more content…
The Aztec empire was highly developed and had many large cities, larger and beautiful than any Spanish person had seen. This made the Spanish want the Aztec empire, so Hernan Cortez a Spanish conquistador led his allies to the capital city of Tenochtitlan where he hoped to humble the Aztecs. This resulted in the death of the Aztec’s leader, after this event the Spanish conquistadors fought several bloody battles before they finally defeated the Aztecs. They were also greatly assisted in this by smallpox, a disease that killed 3.5 million Aztecs in just a year. From Mexico, the Spanish expanded their control to the south and destroyed the Maya. The Spanish then began to demolish the religion and culture of the conquered people step by step, even burning their holy