Why study Empires? (Not the TV show on Fox)

According to Strayer, when one thinks of an empire they associate it with "political or cultural oppression." Empires were overbearing and overpowering states so it makes sense that they would be seen as oppressors. For the most part, that is exactly what they did. They enforced their own religious beliefs or cultures onto their controlled populations and took their resources from them without giving anything in return. They were the bullies of the relationship which is probably why in modern times, the idea of an empire is condemned for its negative connotations. They created a large amount of bloodshed and warfare on their people and it seemed like they got what they deserved when their power crumbled and the civilization went extinct.

The Persians vs The Greeks

Persians:

• Huge in size and power, seen as the most impressive of all the empires because of how elaborate it was
• The King was the almighty power and everything that he did was to be obeyed or he would have you killed
• Had an administrative system with Persian governors in charge of the twenty three provinces and then officials were chosen from each local region with king having a group of imperial spies as well
• It was also very diverse because it allowed "many non-Persian cultural traditions"
• They had a very developed system of infrastructure with a monetary system, taxing, and a canal connecting the Nile and the Red Sea. There was also a "royal road" for communications and commerce
• They had intricate palaces and monuments which showed their imperialism

Greeks:

• Made up of any small competing city-states
• There was more participation from the public in politics
• Called themselves Hellenes
• Because of its geography including mountains and valleys, its peoples were separated into smaller settlements
• They ruined their lands by smelting metals and deforesting which caused soil erosion and a decrease in the amount of healthy farm land
• All of the states were constantly fighting but they shared the same language and gods
• Every four years they stopped fighting to compete in the Olympic games
• They settled instead of conquesting
• Created the idea of "equality of all citizens before the law"
• Politics slowly became more democratized after an almost civil war and reform
• Excluded women, slaves and foreigners which were a huge portion of the population

Conflict between the two:

• Started because of their patterns of expansion
• Persia took control over some Greek settlements on the coast and they rebelled
• With the help of Athens, they defeated the Persians in both the land and the sea
• Gave the Greeks and enormous amount of pride
• Created the East/ West divide that shapes European and North American thinking 

The conquest of Alexander the Great:

• He defeated the Persians
• Greek culture spread rapidly throughout the surrounding areas that Alexander and other Hellenistic rulers established
• Greek was seen as the "language of power and elite culture"

Romans and Chinese

Romans:

• Started out as a small impoverished city-state
• Took five hundred years to build the empire
• They didn't have a blueprint for how they wanted to grow, they just kind of expanded in a defensive manner
• They saw each addition as an opportunity for better resources and more political representation
• They had lots of motivation to achieve a higher status
• Their army was their most valuable asset because they were ruthless and successful
• Extremely patriarchal society with the men having the ideals that they were warriors and had complete control of the household
• Common Era gave elite women more power outside of the household
• When it became an empire people were uneasy because it lost its republican values

China:

• Started out as seven competing kingdoms that needed to be unified
• Qin Shihuangdi was able to accomplish that in ten years
• He created an "effective bureaucracy, subordinated its aristocracy, equipped its army with iron weapons, and enjoyed rapidly rising agricultural output and a growing population."
• Scholars who opposed him were killed and their books were burned
• Constructed the Great Wall of China
• Had a system of weights, measures and currency and a standardized language

Comparisons:

• Defined in universal terms
• Invested in public works
• Supported as rulers by supernatural forces
• Both absorbed foreign religions
• Different relationship between themselves and their societies
• In China they were assimilated very rapidly if not already Chinese
• In Rome the assimilation was slower and less controlling
• Language served different purposes
• Both left major affects on the environment

Empires Collapsing

Factors:

• Too big, too expansive, couldn't be sustained easily, no technology breakthroughs
• Rivalries created instability
• Threat of nomads or semi-agricultural peoples

Effects of Collapse:

• Extinction of central political body
• Decline of urban life
• Declining population
• Declining area of rule
• Less trade
• Lost security from population

India

Building of an empire:

• Started as fragmented towns, cities, states, republics
• A large amount of diversity in ethnicities, cultures, and languages
• Known for its distinctive religious tradition: Hinduism
• Socially organized by a caste system
• The Mauryan Empire was the closest they came to being like other empires
• It had a "civilian bureaucracy" with spies to report back to rulers
• Economy based on spinning, weaving, mining, shipbuilding, and armaments
• Gupta Empire came after and created a large focus on the arts, literature, architecture, sciences, math and medicine
• Main point of trade in Indian Ocean area
• Just because it didn't have an imperial identity didn't keep it from lasting for a long period of time

Each of these empires was created and maintained in a different fashion but they all found a way that worked for them to sustain themselves until their eventual collapse.