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Why Do Empires Fail

667 Words3 Pages

Noah Feldman, a professor at Harvard and an author, has stated that “empires inevitably fail, and when they do, history judges them for the legacies they leave behind.” Feldman really hit the nail on the head with regards to describing one of the countless important aspects of history—analyzing it. A positive benefit of evaluating an empire is to examine the reasoning behind the empire thriving, even if it may only be a short period of time. Comparing one empire to another may also solidify one’s beliefs regarding the advances that have contributed elsewhere, as well as explaining its downfall. Although both Imperial Rome and Han China shared a similar strategy to expand their empires yet differed in the governments’ thoughts on an individual’s role in a society and the selection for positions of power, they both exemplify that “an empire is never too big to fail.” …show more content…

Both governments determined that the best tactic for protection was conquering, and they rapidly expanded their empires to prevent the possibility of attacks with the assistance of “barbarians”. This was all possible due to their strong militaries as well as their strong system of government taking the lead. Those that were conquered enjoyed the culture of the empire and mainly adapted, as this was easier to join the larger force than it was to oppose it. This expansion paved the way for the development of roads to connect towns together, which then developed on an international level and allowed for cultures and goods to become easily traded. Many “administration bases” or capital cities shared similar aspects such as public areas and

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Why Did Han Wuodi Expanded His Empire

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For instance, Han Wudi expanded his empire, however his military expeditions and policies in Central Asia caused an economic strain. As a result, this weakened the empire and caused decentralization. Another reason for the decline of the Han empire was their careful Confucian bureaucratic system was simply not strong enough, either, to meet expanding territory and threats to stability. Han China’s emperors proved to be as incompetent if not simply unable to reverse the trends of decline.

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Fall Of Rome Dbq Research Paper

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Frequent leadership changes made it difficult for each new emperor to rule effectively. On a similar note, the Roman emperor allowing his soldiers to stop using armor and not enforcing the draft showed that the government made bad decisions. Lastly, the Roman people believing that they lived better under the Huns and believing that the government was what ruined the state shows how corrupt and untrustworthy it was. People living under a government should be able to trust it to make good decisions on behalf of them. Which is not what was happening in ancient

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Compare And Contrast The Fall Of The Han And Roman Empires

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During the era of classical societies, the Han and Roman empires were two vast cosmopolitan societies which dominated regions all throughout Eurasia. In regards to the fall of the Han and Roman empires, both were similar in that they fell victim to internal government decay, but different in that Rome fell to foreign invasions, while Han suffered from rebellions of their own people. The Han and Roman empires were similar in their fall in that they both suffered from internal decay, specifically of their governments. In the Han empire, land distribution problems that were originally sought to be fixed by the “Socialist emperor” Wang Mang allowed large landowners to become even more influential than they previously were.

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How Weapons And War Tactics Lead To The Success Of The Roman And Mongol Empire

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Some of that advantage could be balanced by cunning military tactics, or by sheer numbers. The Roman and Mongol empires were able spread their control and dominance by a mixture of superior technology and various battle tactics, which allowed them to overcome their neighbors and become large, powerful, and prosperous civilizations. A brief history of Roman military conquest and expansion.

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Similarities And Differences Between Imperial Rome And Han China

708 Words | 3 Pages

In various ways, Han China and Imperial Rome were politically similar yet also had their pair of differences. Two very well-known classical empires, both had highly advanced political systems for their time; Han China, lasted from 206 B.C.E to 220 C.E, and Imperial Rome, lasted from 31 B.C.E to 476 C.E. Many think these two empires where built with no previous influence, however; the Roman Empire had retained many aspects from the Roman Republic, and Han China from the Qin Dynasty. During their peaks, they controlled the majority of the world 's population because of their constant expansion of conquered lands, while their structure of administration and rule influenced many empires and future societies around the world. Aspects such as these, ultimately, led these two empires to be, arguably, the most influential societies in the world; as their legacies still live on today.

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There were many reasons as to why the Roman Empire collapsed. The Roman Empire did not collapse all at once. Rome was split in two and the western half was the first to Collapse which was in 476 A.D./C.E. The eastern half managed to thrive and survive for about 1,000 more years before it collapsed in 1453. Some of the main reasons the Roman Empire collapsed is the rise of Christianity, the Germanic barbarians attacking Rome, and political/military difficulties.

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Differences Between The Roman Empire And The Han Dynasty

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The Han Dynasty in China and the Roman Empire shared many similarities and differences when it came to political rule and the nature of their political authority. The most significant difference between the two is how the Han dynasty enacted policies that were shaped to counter the wrongdoings of the previous Qin dynasty, whereas the Roman Empire enacted policies shaped to create and promote peace and stability. The difference in the two empire’s coming to power was to account for their variance in political rule. After the Qin dynasty, the Han ruled China for four centuries, enacting numerous political changes and governing one of the most efficacious dynasties in Chinese history.

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The book War and Peace and War, written by Peter Turchin, is about the rise and falls of empires. Peter Turchin makes the argument that the only way for an empire to come together and form as one, is through the empire acting together. Turchin brings attention to an empire's ability to fight a common enemy is through the empire's ability to join forces with another empire. He also expresses a theory that once an empire gets larger, the only thing that happens is the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and then the people stop cooperating as easily.

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History takes place because changes occur throughout both past as well as current civilizations. Much of the past has succumbed to change because of an apparent impersonal force, war. Through war, many advances arise allowing new civilizations to begin as well as old civilizations to fall. Over the course of several millennia, war has brought both beginnings as well as ends to several dynasties in China as well as shifts in religion across Islam. War in all civilizations has been an important driving factor for conquest as well as a gain in wealth.

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In final analysis, the Ming Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire were great empires while they lasted. Their leaders had a lot to do with their success. The order in their economic and political structure was crucial to maintaining their empires. Their history will always have an effect on the modern day continents of Asia, Europe and

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Our empire has lasted for 500 years, and we have become the strongest empire the world has ever seen, spanning from coast to coast. But have we stopped to notice the flaws in our great empire? As the decades go on, we have had worse and worse emperors, such as Nero and Colossus. We see insane people taking charge of our empire, and they use violence to keep us under control. Philosophers and experts say that our great empire will fall most likely due to internal conflict.

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1002 Words | 5 Pages

A civilization’s architecture not only shows the artistic skills of its designers and builders but also the functionality of its engineers, the power of its government, and the inventiveness of its people. Architecture was a crucial element to the success of two major cites in Europe, Rome and Athens. Each city had structures consisting of formal architecture like temples and basilicas showing the influence that its leaders had over each city, while utilitarian buildings like bridges and aqueducts helped build communication between distant cities throughout each empire. Though architecture as a whole was an important role in unifying the cities, the architecture design within each illustrates the similarities and differences between two.

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