United States And Territorial States

Empires on their outside may seem very different and unique. However, when you get down to their fundamentals, you begin to truly realize how similar they are. Just as the imposing pine tree and humble tomato plant may seem vastly different, their start from a lowly seed and craving for water and sunlight to survive unifies them. Such is also true with the Han and Roman empires. While key differences may be present, their social structures, influencing religions, and causes of collapse unify them.

The Roman Empire conquered land at a previously unparalleled rate, within the known world, affecting its institutions from the rest of the Empire’s prevalence. From Hispania to Britannia sweeping across the mediterranean, gaining Egypt, ending in Persia; the absorption of Carthage and North Africa, and finally the civil war being won by Augustus, all brought upon the negative effects of their conquest. The Empire continued to grow from the year 200 B.C.E. to the year 200 C.E.; this growth had many effects upon the Empire. Although expansion and conquest are often good, seen as liberating, or wholly expansive in mathematical, philosophic, and scientific thought, this is not inherently the case. The Roman Empire’s expansion was not entirely as powerful and awe inspiring as many claim it to be; the greedily performed collection of lands resulted in many negative outcomes. These outcomes largely presented Rome with an issue they would never be able to recover from: empiric decay. The effects of militaristic expansion, of the Roman Empire, resulted in the decay of previously prosperous economic, political, and social institutions.

The post-classical era in history (600CE- 1250CE) saw the rise and fall of many great empires. In the early part of the era, the Islamic Caliphates acted as a core region in the Middle East, heavily influencing the region around them. On the other side of the world, the Aztec Empire rose to power in the later part of the era with minimal trans-regional influence. Although on different sides of the world, both empires found similar ways to adapt to their diverse environments. In the post-classical era, the rise of the Islamic Caliphates and the Aztec Empire were similar in that they established cohesion through their respective cultures and used military conquest to come to power. Although there are similarities in the rise of power in the Caliphates and the Aztec Empire, there is a difference in the speed of expansion given that the Caliphates were located in a central trading region while the Aztec Empire was not.

The Roman Empire was the period of time after the Roman Republic and before the Byzantine Empire from 29 B.C. to A.D. 476. It was the highest point of Roman civilization, greater than any prior empires and towers over even the empires after it; it triumphed over the world .

The Roman Empire’s rise began before its coming into existence. Founded in 753 BCE on the Tiber River, Roman myths say that two brothers founded Rome. Rome “became known for its generosity, particularly toward refugees…” (35). Rome formed military alliances with other nations and tried to incorporate other Italian tribes such as the Etruscans and Umbrians into Roman society and culture. Rome was not harsh or cruel after they defeated their foes. They were like the Persians and offered a treaty with the conquered group. The groups

In historic times, multiple Societies of people living and collaborating together in a community is what led to the formation of many Empires. Empires were comprised of similar groups of people that were most often geographically located within close proximities. It is interesting to compare and contrast three societies which became Empires: the Egyptian, Zhou Chinese, and Persian. Each Empire is responsible for contributing to a foundational advancement that has been used in future generations. I will compare the similarities and contrasts of each and explain why I believe the Persian Empire was the most successful Empire.

As a general observation, Asian civilizations were connected within the individual state itself and with other states. On one hand, within an empire, cities of varying sizes depended on each other in order to support the overall empire itself. For example, if one of the larger and more crucial cities fell, the empire could follow after. However, with the establishment of middle cities, these regional capitals preserved the empires by keeping up with demands and providing bureaucrats

In 146 B.C.E. the Roman Republic marched on the city of Corinth, the most powerful and wealthiest city state at the time of the attack. The Romans easily conquered Corinth and established themselves as one of the most dominant forces the Mediterranean world had ever seen. The Romans were not finished yet, they gained control over the entire Mediterranean world, most of Western Europe, and many of the Asian territories taken over by Alexander the great. The Romans had great military institutions, powerful political views, the smarts, and learned many lessons on how to rule the large areas around them. The Romans expanded so greatly during the period of 300-50 B.C.E. because of the pure drive, and how badly they wanted to expand.

The Roman Empire was a very successful civilization that had many accomplishments that are a part of the modern world. Textbooks and primary sources were studied to be able to come to these conclusions. The Roman Empire lasted 500 years throughout the BC and AD times without having too many major problems. The Romans were able to last so long because of the military strength and the amount of land that the Empire had. The Romans were located in Rome, Italy and ended up expanding to take over most of the Mediterranean world. However, all good things must come to an end. Starting in the 200s, other civilizations started to slowly take over Rome. Eventually, the Empire collapsed. The causes of the collapse of Rome were that the land area was too large to sustain, there were many political problems in Rome, and there were too many invasions happening for Rome to handle.

The Roman empire started around 750 BCE, as a spreading empire. They conquered land from modern-day Scotland to Spain, and gained control of the whole mediterranean sea, and established colonies in North Africa, Egypt, the middle east, and Asia Minor. The vast empire had some twists and turns and soon fell mainly because of the natural disasters, economic problems, and most significant of all, the poor military skills.

Before Christopher Columbus reached the Americas in 1492 CE, the Aztecs and Incas had existed there for hundreds of years. They were fairly isolated peoples, who thrived in Central and South America respectively. The Aztec and Inca have different ancestral backgrounds; the Aztecs claim to be descendants of the Toltecs2 while the Incas were a series of separate tribes that joined together3. Trade between the Aztec and Inca were rare4, but they were mostly self-sustaining. However, they both conquered mass empires and build large temples. Why was their conquest so successful, and what

Before the legendary empires of the Romans and the Greeks, there were other prospering civilizations thriving in parts of Central America and parts of Mexico. The Mayan, Incan and Aztec civilizations were a few of the greatest ancient civilizations in history, but they each had distinct characteristics that helped them prosper into the great empires that they became. Each had their own fascinating ways of food production, governing system and culture. The Mayans were established first out of the three and settled in modern-day Mexico. Then came the Aztecs and they also settled in modern-day Mexico and the Incas were the last of the three and they settled in the Andes Mountains and what is now Peru. All three had very successful and long-lasting civilizations until they were taken out by a natural cause or foreign invaders. Even though the Mayan, Aztecs and Incan empires had their distinct characteristics of what made them great, only the Incan empire would be able to succeed in today’s world because of their unique governing system and their advancements in military and infrastructure.

1. Albert M. Craig, William A. Graham, Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner. “Republic and Imperial Rome”. The Heritage of World Civilizations. 1: 124-156. (2007, 2005, 2002) Pearson Education, Inc. New Jersey.

The Western Roman Empire was marked by its vast territorial supremacy, as it conquering its neighbors to absorb their energy surpluses whether in agricultural outputs, mineral resources, or human capital. With the rapid growth of the Empire, the cost of maintaining order, production, and other logistical elements grew as well. This cost grew to the point there simply weren’t enough resources to defend against invasion especially when disgruntled peasants welcomed the removal of Roman control. The Maya empire failed due to the burdens of competitive warfare between the various city-states of the region. This was unsustainable especially given the population was already weakened by crop failure and drought. The Chaco Empire failed due to the communities coming to the conclusion that the costs paid to the central faction to be redistributed outweighed the benefits gained so they departed one after another. (Chippindale 1)

The foundations of an ancient empire are shaped by many characteristics originating in a civilization’s social, philosophical, and theological values. Collectively these will bring about an empire that has aspects which will classify them in distinctive ways. The aspects that will be compared between Persia and Rome are the motives for expansion, methods of expansion, the administration, the impact on those conquered and the original empire, and the reasons for the decline of each empire. When combined, these aspects predispose the individual overall shape of ancient Rome and Persia. Both empires began with conquering larger rulers and creating vast empires which had never been seen