The Fast and Violent Fall of Societies

“America’s ‘Oh Sh*t!’ Moment”, written by Niall Ferguson, a historian who teaches at Harvard University, in 2011, explores why civilizations collapse, and how America can avoid this. He does not focus only on America, but many civilizations in the past that have collapsed. Niall Ferguson is the author of Civilization: The West and The Rest. The article is creatively and cleverly written using the metaphor of modern technology to describe the way in which the societal collapse occurs. This shows that the article was written for adults who are highly educated and understand and relate to technology. The article discusses the possibilities of what complete collapse would look like in American society. I believe the author successfully

The example I am going to use ties in today’s society with ancient Roman societies. In today’s America look at the way people act, lots of corruption and immoral lifestyles. If the people of today would look back at the Ancient Roman civilizations, they would see that the Romans had a strong country like ours is. Eventually though due to corruption and immoral lifestyles they became weak and collapsed. This could very easily happen to America if we don’t learn from the mistakes of this ancient civilization. America as a nation must become more aware of what is going on in our corrupt society and start to live their lives more true and humble or we could meet the same fate one

Societal collapse can be vast within the archaeological context but more generally occurs from conflicting elements that contribute to the downfall of a social collapse due to things such as

In “The end s of the world as we know them” article Jared Diamond looks at the collapse of several historical societies and the factors that caused their collapse. The factors are:

Perfect societies, some last for a while and some don't, but all great things come to an end, and these did. Could you imagine something so put together fall in an instant? Well here you will learn about this."Perfect" societies fall for many reasons; corrupt leaders, Scarce Resources, and illnesses. Here, There are two Great societies, The City of Ember and Nazi germany, They both fell or will fall. And this is in the result of those three things.

Societies fall politically because of things like corrupt government, or invasion.One example is in Saga where the dark queen of the world doesn't care for anyone but herself, and controls the lives of everyone. The Citizens of the world lived in poverty, because the government neglected them. As said in the book, “This world with the humans, pathetic creatures that are so easy to manipulate.”(223 Kostick)

The world is a place that is ever changing, yet somehow it always stays the same. There is a saying, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Another goes like this: history has a way of repeating itself. So does that mean that people can’t learn from the mistakes of the past? Certainly not. There are brilliant minds in this world that can visualize in what ways events have gone wrong in history. They are able to learn the faults and strengths of other, older civilizations, and build on those. Unfortunately, these minds are few and far between, and the rest of us are left to fend for ourselves. There comes a time in every country/civilization’s existence that a bad leader takes the reins and things go south in a hurry. This is when declension of state is put into effect, as Plato would have it. This rise and fall of civilization is something William Butler Yeats was very familiar with. His love of history and the sciences were combined with a philosophy all his own. His philosophy was that in all of the fields of history, art, personality, and society, there are conflicting forces at work: change and stability. In each society, these two forces are at work, and that can sometimes make things chaotic in the lives of the people in the society. These forces don’t even have to be a part of society; stability and change can be a part of everyday life. Five poems of Yeats’ that portray the change in the world, and the stability too, are When You Are Old, The Lake Isle

The author, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, of the article “From Aleppo, Tales of Hardship and Bloodshed. ' Civilization is gone.'” writes about Aleppo’s dreadful crisis. More specifically, Aleppo, a city in Syria, is under attack by Islamic extremists every day, who are destroying the civilization of Aleppo completely, causing hundreds of deaths, depression, and no shelters where the residents can stay and be safe. For example, one of the interviewees Mohammed Abu Jihad “fears [Hayat Hospital] could be attacked at any moment, especially since the cease-fire ended and Syrian forces began dropping “bunker buster” bombs capable of penetrating below-ground shelters” (Hennesy 2). Since there is no more protection on the grounds of Aleppo, the Syrians created

Society imploded on itself due to constant fear or communism. Many had become suspicious of their neighbor’s actions and were quick to join the

Every society has one thing in common; there downfall. Usually, the cause of the downfall is rebellion from the people. In America, thanks to our democracy we have a multitude of rights. We can choose what we want to do with our lives. That is why we are united so peacefully. We are free.

The first reason why great societies fall is because of the wars that they fought. In When the U.S. went to Iraq, they

Throughout history there have been an untold number of societal collapses; some have been studied completely and others forgotten in history. As time passes and new innovations are created, so are new paths for collapse. However, the downfalls of the ancient civilizations are also applicable in today’s society. With decades of archaeological and historical research, theories have arisen as to why these societies collapsed and what humans of today can do to avoid a similar fate.

Every unit or organization in this world has its ruins and sometimes only stones can tell the tale of fallen or stumbled civilizations. Their history might be laid or buried deep within the surface of the Earth, hidden in the shade of the oldest tree in the forest or among the rise of industries of a modern city. (Why do Civilizations Collapse. Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/civilizations-collapse.htm). We have questions or thoughts rolling in our minds as we try to study and understand the beginnings of our society or civilizations. Sometimes, we can ask “How come an advanced civilization in the early times experience such break down or fall?” or “What contributed to such loss?” Many civilizations have flourished and rise up to the top

To fully comprehend the cause and effect of collapse and the factors that play into it, one must first understand the definition. Collapse is the counterpart of sustainability; if a society creates a non-sustainable way of life then collapse will occur. Sustainability can be defined as the ability to adapt and progress as a civilization economically, ecologically and socially and thus collapse is the inability to adapt effectively in these areas (Thiele). Moreover, although a full-fledge collapse can be an extinction of an entire species, unwarranted population displacement, culture and ideology change and suffering are all indicators of a collapse occurring (Diamond). The phenomenon of having a civilization completely wiped off the face of the Earth with no signs and influence left in the world to be called a true collapse is ambiguous. Declination either gradual or steep, if a civilization has to vastly change their customs and patterns this can be

Examples: Plastered individuals who annoy calm spectators and get hurt, religious individuals who entered the faction as grown-ups and after that were mentally conditioned, an injurious spouse who is slaughtered by his battered wife, and natives who conspire by aloofness in their nation's terrible demonstrations and get hurt by different nation’s armed