Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Chapter 4 Comparing China and Rome
Mandate of Heaven
The gods support
honorable kings
Mandate of Heaven Dynastic CycleNew King claims Mandate of Heaven
Peace and generosity to the people
By the 3rd or 4th king rules a time of prosperity
Builds infrastructure and protects the people
CorruptionHigh taxes and abuse
Infrastructure decays
Dynasty loses Mandate of Heaven and is overthrown
Chaos, Civil War, Invasions
Chinese Iron Age began c. 600 BCE(Greek began 1000 BCE)
Waring Sates Period
475-221 BCE
Qin Shihuangdi(259-210 BCE)
221 BCE Unified China
“1st Emperor”
Qin Dynasty 221-206 BCE
Legalism – Stability after Waring States
•Harsh laws and order• Branding and mutilation as
punishments•Centralized government power• Burned books and killed scholars• People couldn’t own weapons
Standardized
MoneyLanguage RoadsEtc.
Expanded empireWalls to keep out northern “barbarians”
The Great Walls-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Combination of walls built over 2,000 years
35,000 miles of walls
Shihuangdi’s death was
followed by power struggle
Qin lost Mandate of
Heaven
8,000+ Terra-Cotta Soldiers “Guard” Qin’s Tomb
Liu Bang(Gaozu)
(256-195 BCE)
Rebel Leader who founded the
Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty206 BCE-220 CE Pop. 60,000,000
Liu BangFavored
Confucianism over Legalism
Built roads, bridges, walls, canals, etc.Consolidated Power
Buddhism introduced
(slow to catch on)
Aside from Buddhism, Chinese culture dominated those they conquered
Emperor Wudir. 141-87 BCE
Most Powerful Han Ruler
Civil Service Exam
taken between
ages20-30
Collapse of the Han-Over expanded-Huge economic gap = Internal Revolt-“Barbarian” Invasion
Yellow Turban Rebellion 184-205 CEPeasant Revolt
After a chaotic
period the Sui
dynasty formed
Dynastic Cycle
The Roman Republic and Empire
Romulus and Remus
753 BCE founding of Rome509 BCE defeat of the Etruscans
Roman Republic 510-27 BCEElected officials govern the state without a king
Longest lasting republic in history
Senatus Populusque Romanus
"The Roman Senate and People"
Fasces - Symbol of Strength Through Unity
300 SenatorsPatricians in for life
TribunesRepresented Plebeians
Consuls - daily affairs and militaryPraetors - as judges
300 Senators (Patricians in for life)controlled $ and foreign relations
Checks and BalancesElected MagistratesConsuls, Censors, Praetors
-Daily Affairs-Led the Army-Judges and Priests
Senate-Controlled $-Foreign Relations-Reviewed Laws
Assemblies and Tribunes -Elected Magistrates-Approved Laws-Courts-Declared War
Tribunes had Veto Power
Ruled Senate
Could Refuse To Give $
Could Reject Laws
Gracchi BrothersTiberius and Gaius
c. 100s BCE
Plebeian tribunes that attempted to
redistribute land to the poor and veterans
Both Assassinated
Carthage (a Phoenician colony)
The Punic WarsRome vs. Carthage
First: 264-241BCESecond: 218-201 BCE (Hannibal)
Third: 149-146 BCE (Destroyed Carthage)
Hannibal Barca
247-183 BCECarthaginian General 2nd Punic War
Rome supposedly sowed salt into the fields of Carthage
The Crumbling Republic-Class Conflicts
-Power of Military Officers
-“Non-Romans”
-Civil War
c. 100 BCERoman
Armies more loyal to their
generals than to the Republic
The First TriumvirateSplit rule of Rome led to fighting
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Julius Caesar Gnaeus Pompey Marcus Crassus
Gaius Julius Caesar
(101-44 BCE)Roman General
and Dictator
Genocide of the Gauls
49 BCE Caesar crossed the Rubicon
Rome
"The die has been cast"
“If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other
cases observe it.”
In Egypt…Pompey was killed and Caesar fathered a child with Cleopatra
x x
Cleopatra VII 69-30 BCE
Julius Caesar Ruled As
Dictator Of Rome
49-44 BCE“Veni, vidi, vici”
“I came, I saw, I conquered”
Popular and generous to
the people but not trusted by
the Senate
3-15-44 BCE Caesar was Assassinated
Civil War forControl of Rome Caesar’s Assassins (Brutus)
vs.Caesar’s Friendsvs. Caesar’s Family (Octavian)
(Antonyand Cleopatra)
Octavianbecame
Augustus Caesar1st Roman Emperor
r. 27 BCE-14 CE
Roman Empire27 BCE-476 CE
• What makes a nation powerful?–Constant war or peace?
•Pax Romana 27 BC-180 AD–Peace, trade, order, stability–Roman culture flourished
“I found Rome
built of bricks; I leave her clothed in marble.”
Tiberius2nd Roman Emperor
r. 14-37 CE
*Christianity emerged
during his rule
Caligula3rd Roman Emperor
r. 37-41 CE
Claudius4th Roman Emperor
r. 41-54 CE
Nero5th Roman Emperor
r. 54-68 CE
Violent end to the emperors 3-5
68-69 CE Civil War and a new dynasty
Hadrian’s Wall Marked the end of Roman
expansion, 117 CE
Multi-Ethnic EmpireWould grant citizenship, but always
some “us” and “them”
Roman Roads
50,000+ miles
1,992 miles from Evansville to Los Angeles (12+ trips there and back)
Problems: Inflation, taxes, weak leaders, power struggles
285 CE: Empire Split due to increasing problems
Diocletian Constantine
The Fall of Rome• Over expanded– Mass debt, Inflation, Poverty–Marginalized non-Romans and
“barbarian” mercenaries wanted more• East/West division• Invasion: Goths, Vandals, Huns, and
other Germanic Tribes• Christianity undermined old order
410 Alaric and the Visigoths sacked Rome
476 CE, the West Fell
“The Western Empire was brought down by a specific military crisis – Germanic invasion, made more serious by the arrival in the West of an Asiatic people, the Huns, and exacerbated by civil wars within the empire…
What is so striking about the fall of Rome is the collapse of material sophistication that ensued. This happened, I believe, precisely because the Roman world was not entirely dissimilar to our own: complex economies are very fragile because they rely on hugely sophisticated networks or production and distribution. If these are seriously disrupted, widely and over a long period of time, the entire house of cards can collapse. … The Romans, like us, enjoyed the fruits of a complex economy, both material and intellectual. And like us, they assumed their world would go on forever.” -Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, 2005
The West fragmented, but the East …
Byzantine Empire 330-1453
Consider this...Did Rome actually “fall”?
Which were ethnically and culturally diverse?
Persia Greece Alexander Rome China
