Word History
During Rome’s conquest of Italy, the Romans used different tactics to ensure the success of the invasion. The well-organized army facilitated Italy’s conquest, as they were flexible at the war front. The army had smaller divisions, which comprised of 30 legions at the platoon level and could combine to form a larger unit of 5,000 legions (Tignor 77). This institution used superior equipment as well as detailed procedures in fighting the Italian soldiers.
At the war front, the army used resistant short-bladed sword and excellent tactics as opposed to the Italians who used bronze swords. Roman’s policy of including conquered states in their conquest mission also led to the successful invasion of Italy. Instead of harming the conquered families, the Romans allowed them to be autonomous in their localities while under supervision. For example, the Aequians in 467 BC enjoyed local autonomy due to the Treaty of Alliance with the Romans (79). In this process, the Romans became friends with the conquered persons, who reciprocated by helping them with logistics that assisted in capturing Italy.
The Romans fought several wars between 264 and 133 B.C.E. in order to acquire the empire. During this period, Rome conquered Macedonia and Greece after fighting the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars. The fall of Zama marked the end of Carthage as a powerful group, thus paving way for Roman’s control. Roman’s consecutive victories made them overcome Spanish resistance in the Mediterranean. With the growth of the empire, corruption became rife in the senate and other public offices (81). This affected management of the vast empire.
The Han Empire followed the Qin dynasty and immediately adopted an identical culture with the Chinese. The culture that was based on the Confucian classics and family-organized ancestor worship made it possible for subjects to live peacefully. Han Empire’s target of consolidating power within the provinces enhanced the integration of local subjects to have a common legal and cultural framework (84).
The move by the government to stop interfering with regional communities made the family and emperor a centralized monarchy that delegated duties to regional officials. A powerful army was instrumental in expanding the Han Empire in the directions of northern Vietnam and Korea. The policy of maintaining peace and prosperity after the fall of Xiongnu made Han enjoy external support, hence expanding the territory northwards to the defensive wall.
Some of the challenges that continued to plague the Han Empire include the high cost of managing the powerful army (85). Attempts by the empire to increase taxes on hunters, artisans, peasants, and small landholders failed, as it resulted in a major rebellion. Constant attacks from the nomadic peoples from the north that was common during the Qin Dynasty even plagued the Han Empire. The northern people were mainly the Xiongnu.
The Han Empire faced an internal rebellion from the army since it required huge expenditures to keep their affairs running. The Empire became financially broke when it could not meet the needs of the army. With massive famine and failure of crops, people sold their lands, and with the fast-growing population, rebel groups formed (Duiker and Spielvogel 17). Han Dynasty’s acceptance to restore Han rule by accommodating social, economic, and political inequalities, diluted power concentration at the center of the emperor and court making aristocratic families use peasants as tenants in properties that they had seized.
The high rate of inequality led to the eruption of full-scale rebellion among popular religious groups. The Yellow Turbans, Buddhist clerics, and Daoist millenarian movements championed the fight against oppression from the Han Empire by absconding taxes and preaching personal enlightenment and salvation for everyone (19). Similarly, the Roman Empire went through periods of instability and indebtedness after the assassination of Emperor Commodus in 192 A.D. paving way for frequent raids by the barbarian of Germany. The army developed disloyalty to the disintegrated Roman Empire, which had no options for solving the debt crisis (21).
Agricultural outputs reduced tremendously. Attempts to raise taxes on peasants resulted in riots and revolts. From the analysis of the fall of the two empires, it is evident that it supported bureaucratic procedures in operating their services. In addition, they had strong armies that defended their territories against invasion by nomadic people. The two empires faced internal fights and fragmentation in the third century and lasted for approximately 400 years (23).
The discovery of an island away from the coast of Alaska may change the opinions of scholars on the arrival of the first people in the New World. For a long time, archaeologists held that early hunters had traveled through an extensive strip of soil linking Alaska with Siberia (Dye par. 3), and finally inhabited the New World. However, the United States is the sole track from the north and lies between the western and eastern regions of the continent.
Recent research published in the Quaternary Science Reviews, reveals that the ice that blocked the coastal route and corridor disappeared about 17,000 years ago (par. 5). Findings from recent studies have changed the perceptions of most scholars on how the first people came to the New World. Radiocarbon samples date about 15,000 years ago. Earlier colonizers could access islands like Australia and New Guinea by sea.
The New World had not experienced full exploration as compared to Europe. The rugged terrain disadvantaged the New World by reducing the movement and accessibility of specified regions. In comparison to Europe, the New World had a relatively higher temperature than that of Europe (par. 7). This made it unfavorable for most colonialists who had interests in occupying parts of the land.
Aztecs were able to create and rule an empire due to their indirect engagement with the local people. The emperor mandated local governments to rule the cities and pay tributes to the Triple Alliance (Berdan 5). The hegemonic empire did not rule connected territories, instead used local governments to make the locals happy as a way of ensuring continuity and stability. In using the local government, the locals felt no external influence in their services; therefore, the system was effective in creating and ruling an empire. The Aztecs were friendly to other people and went on to form strong alliances with other cities like Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan (5).
In one of the notable occurrences, the Aztec Empire welcomed Hernan Cortes, as they believed that he was their supernatural being who was fulfilling the promise of coming back from the east. In the process, Cortes made deals with the enemies of the Aztec to destroy the empire and erect the Christianity symbol. The Aztec empire had divisions between nobles and free commoners, with defined hierarchical social status (6). Moreover, the political system of creating large units, but maintaining their separation helped the empire to rule in such an area. The hierarchy prohibited exercising authority over subordinates, as it was built from a bottom-up stratification style.
Works Cited
Berdan, Frances. Aztec Imperial Strategies. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1996. Print.
Duiker, William J., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. The Essential World History. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005. Print.
Dye, Lee. How Did the First Americans Spread Across the Continent?. ABC News. ABC News Network. 2012. Web.
Tignor, Robert L.. Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2011. Print.