In the Intro to Part Two, Strayer talks about how many different civilizations emerged after the first one. States and empires developed, enlarged, and collapsed all the time. Even though there were many civilizations being created or destroyed all over the world, many of them were the same. Meaning that men were treated superior to women, there was a divide between the elite and everyone else, and slavery was still in practice. Strayer also mentions that there was no technological or ecumenic breakthrough like the Agricultural Revolution.The only main change that occurred was the increase of the population; it gradually grew but in 500 B.C.E, it really started to grow rapidly.  Chapter 3, State and Empire in Eurasia/North Africa, talks about how 2 different empires were close to each other and how they were always at war with each other. It then goes on to talk about the collapse of the empires. When Strayer was talking about the Persian and Greek Empires, I thought that to be apart of the Persian Empire, you had to have some sort of money. To me, it seemed that those who were rich were talked about. However in the Greek Empire, people were encouraged to participate for their political beliefs. At first only men of wealth were granted full citizenship, but overtime men of lower classes were granted full citizenship if they could afford the armor and weapons. I thought that it was ironic that the Persians set off to attack the Greeks because the Greeks were tremendously smaller than the Persians. This would be like a lineman in football going to attack a very skinny, nerdy kid. I thought that it was cool that Rome went from city to empire just by taking control of little states near by. After thousands of years, they had a massive empire. However in China, they wanted to rebuild what they already had since they were one of the first civilizations. China rebuilt their empire by ensuring that the Qin dynasty was ended and the Han dynasty used the Shihuangdi's features to establish political patterns. A common cause of collapse to the Roman and Chinese empire's was the fact they were too big and they had no technological breakthroughs. I really enjoyed this chapter and learning about the different ways that an empire can be built or destroyed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

After reading The Superior Man , I think that our leaders should really listen to XVI.24 and XIV.29. XVI.24 states that the superior man is always moving forwards while the mean man doesn't move or moves backwards. This is very important because as a nation we want to continually move forward to become better. In XIV.29, the master talks about how the superior man lets his actions speak for him instead of his words. Meaning that he says one thing but then he makes sure that his actions follow them up. This is important in a nation because we need a leader that is going to do. a leader who just says things but doesn't follow up is someone who shouldn't be in charge.
Read more
In chapter 12, Strayer discusses how the world is connecting during the 15th century. The Paleolithic people changed over time and the Europeans arrived to Australia in the 18th century. In North America, complex gathering hunting cultures rose and the 15th century numbers contracted greatly as the Agricultural Revolution unfolded across the planet. The Igbo usually had small village based communities organized in terms of kingship relations. They traded cotton, fish, copper, and other things between themselves. The Igbo people ended when the slave trade started. In Central Asia and West Africa, the Turkic leader, Timur, brought immense devastation again to Russia, Persia, and India. He hosted an elite culture, combining Turkic and Persian elements. Their homelands were defeated by the expanding Russia and Chinese Empires. In Europe, there were processes of demographic recovery, political consolidation, and cultural flowering. Western Europe survived the Mongol invasion, but they could...
Read more
In chapter 10, Stayer explains the different types of Christianity and the religion as a whole. Christianity in Asia challenged Islam and created Nestorian Christians. In Africa, there were Nubian and Ethiopian Christians. The Byzantine state was like a smaller Roman Empire and there was wealth and slender of the court. They went under attack from the East and West in 1085 and it lasted until 1453. The Byzantine Empire had conflicts with the Persians, Arabs, and Turks. They used the trade routes to exchange coins and silk. The Byzantines were trying to preserve the Greek learning by using their teachings. Charlemagne became the emperor of Rome in 800 and became in charge of rebuilding the empire. During the rebuilding of the Roman Empire, there were conflicts between the church and state, and this was caused by the spreading of religion. In the West, there were new security in the High Middle Ages and a revival of long distance trade. Opportunities for women would rise and fall during ...
Read more