THE CARE AND FEEDING OF EMPIRES. -- Early World History, Level I

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Date Posted: 11:52:20 04/24/02 Wed
Author: J CURBOY
Subject: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF EMPIRES.

TOPIC 6
EMPIRES HAVE LASTED FOR DIFFERENT LENGTHS OF TIME AND IN ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD. THEY ALL HAVE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS. MENTION THE FOLLOWING AREAS AS WELL AS OTHERS WHEN DISCUSSING A SPECIFIC EMPIRE.
HOW AND WHERE IT WAS FORMED. STARTED BY WHOM? IND/GROUP
DISCUSS PHYSICAL LOCATION AND TOTAL TIME IN POWER. WHY WERE THEY ABLE TO GAIN AN EMPIRE? WHAT DID THEY DO RIGHT TO CONTINUE RULING? WHERE DID THEY GO WRONG? WHAT WERE THE RESULTS OF THEIR BEING IN POWER? WHAT LEGENDS OR PROPHESIES WERE INVOLVED WITH THE EMPIRE? WHAT MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS, BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS EMPIRE?
REMEMBER THIS IS NOT A RECIPE. IT IS NOT A FILL IN THE BLANK AND GET OUT OF HERE. IT IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO THINK AND FORMULATE A COHESIVE EXPLANATION OF THIS PARTICULAR EMPIRE. USE YOUR WORDS.....AFTER YOU HAVE THOUGHT IT THROUGH. I AM WAITING TO SEE JUST HOW IMPRESSIVE YOUR STATEMENTS ARE. DUE FIRST SCHOOL DAY ON OR ABOUT THE 15TH OF MAY. PLEASE MAKE THIS YOUR BEST EFFORT. ASK FOR METHOD TO ADD ILLUSTRATIONS TO TEXT. WE ARE STILL WORKING ON IT.

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[> Re: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF EMPIRES. (so-ryits-long) -- Tim Carson, 19:49:09 05/07/02 Tue

Tim Carson 5/7/02

The Muslim Empire: An Enlightened Theocracy

Throughout the history of mankind powerful empires have been formed, have grown in political, religious, economic, and cultural power and influence, and then decline until finally ceasing to exist as an empire. There are many common components necessary to form, build, and sustain any successful empire. These include: strong leadership, overpowering military might and incentive, unifying economic advantage, positive cultural enticement. Yet, there can be found unique qualities to these components in each historical example of an empire and certainly the lasting influences of some empires far outshine others. Many of the underlying components which combined to spawn and shape the Muslim Empire from its birth in the sixth century AD until its decline in the late fourteenth century AD, continue to exert profound influences upon our world today. Although the Muslim Empire itself has long been gone, its historical and cultural legacy lives on in the lives of over three billion people in the world today. It is necessary to study the geography, economy, religion and history of the Middle East and Mediterranean in order to understand the Muslim Empire�s rise to grandeur and disintegration.
Life on the Arabian peninsula in the middle of the sixth century AD had become very stratified with an affluent merchant class living in thriving cities of trade, such as Mecca and also a large and growing class of poor. Society and wealth was determined by tribal affiliation, age and birth order. There was little opportunity for vertical social mobility. The religion of the area was paganism, with each local center worshiping its own local gods.
In 570 AD, a boy named Muhammad was born into a high class , but poor clan in the great city of Mecca. At six years old, he was orphaned, and was raised by his father�s brother. As a child, Muhammad was sent to live in the desert with the Bedouins and he learned their beautiful language and how to survive in the harshest Arabian conditions. At twenty -five he married a widow for whom he had been working as a trader and they had four daughters. His work required that he travel extensively.
During one of his journeys, he claims to have received a message delivered by the Angel Gabriel. He was ordered to carry the word that there is only one God, Allah, and no other to the people. Only after repeated entreaties, he reluctantly became a messenger of God, or a prophet. At first he shared the message only with his family and friends. The message was powerful, because it promised that after a good life, a life of worshiping only Allah, following his five principles for a righteous life and doing good deeds, that all people, poor, and rich alike would be welcomed into heaven after death, This religious message offers hope and salvation to even the most destitute and hopeless. Muhammad's reputation grew and he attracted the poor, the powerless, the younger sons of wealthy merchants who had no claim to their father�s wealth. He gathered small crowds of followers at first, until after ten years of public preaching he was revered as a religious leader, and the religion of Islam was born.
Muhammad�s quickly rising popularity soon got him in trouble with the powerful leaders of Mecca. Muhammad fled to Medina where a new Muslim society based not on tribal allegiance, but on conversion to the new religious life of Islam. Muhammad and his followers began a war against the powerful government and army of Mecca. Muhammad was determined to return to bring his message to the people of Mecca. After five years of fighting against a much stronger enemy army, the city of Mecca finally welcomed Muhammad back and the leadership of Mecca converted to Islam.
There is a legend that as Muhammad was hiding from the pursuing Meccan army, he hid in a cave and a spider spun its web across the mouth of that cave. When the army passed by the cave, they saw the intact web and concluded no one was in the cave and they passed it by without searching.
For three years, Muhammad built a new society centered in Mecca, based not on blood lines, but on religious belief. The new Muslim state was a true theocracy with Muhammad wielding both political and religious power. His followers obeyed the rules of the new religion, paid taxes and tribute, and the faith of Islam continued to attract new converts. The establishment of the new religion of Islam and the emerging young Muslim Empire was possible because the people were ready to accept the simple and beneficial dogma which promised paradise to rich and poor alike. The
rituals of Islam, the Five Pillars, were clearly described by Muhammad and a pious life was possible for all worshipers. Equality before Allah was a powerful motivation to accept this new society. Even the rich eventually embraced Islam as an inspiration which added meaning and direction to their lives. Islam does not require the rich to abandon their comfortable lives, but only requires they share some of their wealth with their community.
One of the common characteristics of all empires is a powerful leader, in whom the people of the empire can believe and support . Muhammad was the epitome of this ideal leader. His power as the political and religious leader in the new Muslim state was unquestioned. His personal charisma and message of redemption was potent and he was a shrewd judge of human character. Muhammad's mission to spread the new religion of Islam was also conducive to the desire of the merchants of Medina and Mecca to expand their trade routes and increase their wealth. The standing armies of Medina and Mecca, now that peace was made, were directed by Muhammad to expand the territory and political power of the Muslim state to its neighbors.
The existing empires at this time were the Byzantine Empire, based in Constantinople and the Sassanian Empire of Persia Muhammad began making conquests into western Asia and Eastern Europe. His armies began raiding villages for the supplies that his people lacked. Just as the expansion of the Muslim Empire began in 632 AD, Muhammad died leaving no clear plan for his successor.
The Empire was not lacking leadership however. There were four religious leaders who had worked alongside Muhammad for years. Muhammad's closest friend, Abu Bakr (632-634), was named the first Caliph, which means successor. Abu Bakr immediately reconsolidated the loyalty of the many tribes which threatened to break away from the Muslim state after Muhammad's death. He continued the military campaigns against the Byzantine and Sassanian territories which finally established the true strength and foundation of The Muslim Empire. The empire would survive with its growing wealth, expanding territory, and a dominant culture for almost another eight hundred years.
Although Abu Bakr�s reign was not long, he established with his pious and honest leadership the role of the �Righteous Caliph� and was followed in that role by: Umar (634-644), Uthman (644-656), and Ali (656-661). These men were equals among the people and were conscious of setting a pious example of how to lead a good life to be rewarded by Allah after death.
During the reigns of these four men, when the Muslim Empire conquered a foreign people, they were not forced to convert to Islam, but the Muslims allowed the people to keep their own religion as long as they paid tribute and recognized the sovereignty of the empire. The sanctity of their churches was guaranteed. Local administrative governments were left intact to rule the new territories and local languages were allowed to continue to be used. This tolerance built loyalty and often local populations would betray the Byzantine or Sassanian Empires which were not tolerant of different races and religions, Often, pagans, Christians, and Jews living in the new Muslim society embraced Islam. During Umar�s caliphate, the legal system, social and administrative systems, and rules of foreign affairs for the Empire were founded.
The Muslim Empire had been founded in 632 by Muhammad on the Arabian peninsula, and by 661 the Empire extended throughout the Middle East, including the capture of Jerusalem and parts of present day Turkey, into northern Africa, and as far east as parts of India. The land of the Muslim Empire was very mountainous and had few forests. Much of the land was desert or had only seasonal rainfall. It encompassed four major biomes: mountain, forest, desert, and coastal plane. With much of the land receiving only forty inches of rainfall a year or less, the area was very dry and hot. This gave an important advantage to the Arab armies in warfare, because they were experts in fighting in their unique desert arena, and could often defeat much larger armies sent from the Byzantine or Sassanian Empires.
In 656 AD, the third caliph, Uthman was assassinated because of his showing favoritism in the government to his own family. The fourth caliph, Ali was named, but his caliphate was contested by Uthman�s clan. A major split of Islam resulted and two factions: the Sunnis and the Shi�ites were formed. The two factions disagreed not about the religious aspects of Islam, but about how the caliphs should be selected. This was a political division which continues to the present in modern Muslim countries.
The Shi�ites , the original supporters of Ali, believe that the leader must have a family tie to the Prophet, Muhammad, and that the spiritual power of Islam is inherited, The Sunnis believe that the leader is elected by the community and is a guardian of the law of Islam. The majority of Muslims are Sunnis, and when Ali was assassinated in 661, his son, Hasan, gave up his claim to the caliphate to Muiawiyah, who was supported by the Sunnis and was already the caliph in Jerusalem. This was the beginning of the Umayyad Dynasty of the Muslim Empire.
During the beginning of the Umayyad Dynasty, the capitol of the Muslim Empire was moved to Damascus and the concerns of the caliphs became more political than religious. The empire was large and wealthy and running the Empire required most of the caliph�s energies which left less attention to religious affairs. The split with the Shi�ites was not resolved.
However, this was a stable period for the Empire and Muslim culture thrived with advances in agricultural reforms, establishing a mint to make Muslim Empire coins, continuing to protect trade routes and replacing Greek and Phalavi (Persian) with Arabic as the language of the government. Territorial expansion continued into today�s Russia , to the borders of China, to the Atlantic Ocean in North Africa and into Spain. The Umayyads armies even tried to conquer the Byzantine capitol, Constantinople, and France in the Battle of Poiters, but failed, The Empire was united with a common religion, language and centralized power.
As the Muslim armies advanced, Islam was adopted by more and more people. The religion was not complicated and offered hope to all. As subsequent caliphs of the Umayyad Dynasty took power, they tried to move closer to the mission of Muhammad and religion was given nominally more attention. The tax laws were changed to give relief to people who converted to Islam, Beautiful mosques were built throughout the Muslim Empire and literature flourished. However, the caliphs were administrators and more concerned with the everyday affairs of running the Empire rather than preparing for the next life.
After ninety years of ruling, the Umayyad Dynasty was overthrown by hostile political rivals who had formed secret alliances to challenge the legitimacy of the Umayyad Dynasty. Although the Umayyad caliphs were good bureaucrats, they were not savvy enough politicians and could not foresee the hostile forces working against their rule, and only Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu�awiyah al Dakhil escaped from Damascus to Spain, where he set up a new Umayyad Dynasty in 756 AD. The political victors established a new dynasty, the Abbasids, and moved their capitol to a new city which they built called Baghdad in the heart of the old Persian Empire�s territory, now called Iraq.
The Abbasids continued the Umayyad�s technique of allowing the already established local government bureaucracy to continue to administer the day to day affairs. Under Al-Mansur (754-775), the mail service which served the far reaches of the empire, was used as listening spies for any news of rebellion. Education in Arabic flourished to teach new clerks to serve in the growing government bureaucracy. The Abbasids also removed their political rivals and trained a professional army.
Literature and learning of all kinds grew and trade flourished bringing more money to the treasury and sophisticated systems of banking, weights and measures. New products were developed to add metal work, jewelry, leather work, paper making, medicines to the cloth and livestock (camels) which were already being traded.
The Abbasid caliphs, in the late eighth century, were intelligent and supported the growth of Muslim culture in science, inventions, poetry, prose, writings of history, the study of language and religious studies. The famous story of The Thousand and One Nights was written at this time. Inventions and discoveries in mathematics, chemistry and astronomy were made. The government sponsored translations of the Greek works that had been found in old libraries, including writings of Plato, Aristotle, Greek mathematics, alchemy and medicine. Technical improvements were made to the water system of wells, underground canals, waterwheels, agricultural products such as new kinds ot cotton. Many of these advances were carried to Europe as well as foods, like apricots, cauliflower, squash, eggplant.
However, while culture flourished in the capitol, under Harun al-Rashid and al-Mamun, control at the fringes of the Empire was declining and the army was deserting. The generals were setting themselves up as caliphs of their own states. Al-Mamun died in 833 and his brother, al-Mu�tasim could not trust his army at all and he had to hire an army of Turks. Many small independent Muslim states at the outer borders asserted themselves although they still looked to Baghdad as the religious center. The political strength of the centralized government of the Muslim Empire was declining.
During the tenth century, the Umayyads of Spain became more independent and the Fatmid Dynasty, a branch of Shi�ites, grew strong in North Africa. They established rival caliphates to the Abbasids in Baghdad. The Fatimids conquered territory in Cairo, Yemen and into Syria, and established the first university in the world, al-Azhar University in Cairo. However, other Islamic states would not accept their sovereignty and their growth did not continue.
The Turkish generals continued to gain power in Baghdad and eventually be came the rulers although they did not force the Abbisid Dynasty to relinquish their title as caliph. The Abbissids just had no real political or military power and the army officers would murder any caliph that went against their desires. Sultan Malihshah did establish free religious schools, madrasahs, and philosophy and science continued to grow.
During the period of 1095 AD to 1291 AD, the Muslim world was split up into more independent states, and the fighting within the army weakened itself. From the middle of the tenth century to the middle of the eleventh century, much of the empire had non religious rulers. European Christian armies invaded the Muslim Empire, in a command from the Latin Pope to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslim infidels,. The Crusades united the European states, which had been fighting among themselves, together against a common enemy thousands of miles away.
The early successes of the First Crusade in the Middle East were met with counter-attacks by the Muslim armies which recaptures Aleppo and Edessa. The Muslim Empire united in its fight against the Europeans. The crusaders even ventured to Egypt where they fought a new dynasty, the Ayyubids, lead by Salah al-Din (Saladin), who stopped them and retook Jerusalem. The Crusaders were able to hold only a small territory along the Mediterranean coast until the thirteenth century. The Europeans did successfully open the eastern Mediterranean Sea to shipping for traders from Venice and Genoa.
Fighting the Crusaders significantly weakened the army of the Abassid caliphate which had reestablished itself as religious rulers, but they finally fell in 1258 when the Mongols invaded Baghdad. The Mongol armies destroyed the agricultural system, the libraries, killed scholars and teachers and devastated the entire Muslim society and culture bringing the Muslim Empire to a disastrous and brutal end .
However, the legacy of the Muslim Empire could not be destroyed. The influence of the accomplishments from the Golden Age of the Muslim Empire had already spread throughout the civilized world, along trade routes and accompanying returning Crusaders. The Golden Age, from 750 to 950 AD, during the rule of the Abassid Dynasty was the period when the language of Arabic was promoted in politics, literature, religion and business. Arabic became a language of philosophy and great learning, With the invention of the paper mill, books spread the learning of the Muslim Empire. Greek mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, medicine, chemistry were learned and advanced by Muslim scholars who shared their knowledge with the world. Important intellectual leaders such as: Abd al-Rahman III brought many books to Baghdad and started a school, which became famous for training great thinkers. Al- Bitruji developed new theory of stellar movement, which is very similar to the one we are familiar with today. Umar Khayyam created a reliable lunar calendar. �Abbas ibn Firnas, a musician, investigated the possibility of flight for man, and constructed wings six hundred years before Leonardo Da Vinci. Advances in agriculture introduced new crops to mankind�s diet. All of Muslim learning did not die with the Muslim Empire, but much lived on in other cultures and contributed to the Renaissance in Europe.
Fabulous examples of the architecture of the Muslim Empire survive to the present day. Mosques with stunning geometric mosaics still stand throughout the Middle East, Africa and Spain. Muslim poetry, literature and tales, such as the Tales of Scheherazade, Aladdin, and the Arabian Nights, continue to intrigue and inspire modern audiences in plays and musicals and movies.
The Muslim world today, in its many different countries, continues to show influences from the caliphate theocracy of the Muslim Empire. With the exception of Egypt, there are very few examples of democratic Muslim states in the Middle East. Pakistan is attempting to implement democracy, but the military keeps intervening when the democratically elected officials are corrupt.
The book, The Quran, (or Koran) as God�s word revealed to Muhammad, his prophet, continues to be the literary source of the faith Islam, which is practiced by over one billion people in the world today. Allah, is accepted by Muslims as the creator of all life, and the only God, who must be worshipped. The word, Islam, means : �peace�, and �submission�, to God, or the will of God. The principles of Islam continue to guide many peaceful and rewarding lives. However, religious fanatics quote parts of the Quran as justification for jihad, holy war, against all non-Muslims. The Quran�s text on slavery, although humane for the time it was written, is now used again to justify modern day actions.
The Muslim Empire was an amazing and powerful political achievement, and it encompassed so many of the ideals needed for an empire to prosper and endure. Its founding leader, Muhammad, is one of history�s strongest and most revered inspirational figures. Its political structure of an efficient bureaucracy and legal system based upon Islam was advanced and enlightened for its time. Although the Muslim Empire ceased to exist seven hundred years ago, there are cultural and political elements that will continue to influence present and future societies. It is important that mankind attempt to understand the Muslim Empire�s rise to splendor, its atrophy, and its legacy.

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[> Re: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF EMPIRES. (knot kneerlie as lung as Tym's) -- Chris Zegel, 14:33:38 05/08/02 Wed

Chris Zegel 05/08/02

The Zulu Empire: An Enlightened Theocracy

The rise and fall of the Zulu people occurred in the blink of an eye as far as the scales of time are concerned, yet their existence leaves a lasting impression upon today�s world. In turn, such happenings can be seen as the story of a great, although short-lived empire. Strong leadership of the Zulus under Shaka brought them immense power, but as easily as it came it was taken away by both his own personal character flaws and the inevitable outside force of the whites as a people.
The Nguni people had migrated southwards across the continent of Africa with their cattle for over 1000 years. One small clan of these peoples, led by a chief by the name of Malandela, settled in the area of the Umfolozi River. Malandela and his wife, Nozinja, had two sons, Quabe and Zulu. After Malanedla died, Quabe claimed the small herd that the clan possessed for his own and so Nozinja, Zulu and a servant moved a small distance away to make a new home.
Eventually Zulu married and his lineage, all bearing the name Zulu, was Punga, Mageba, Ndaba, Jama, and Senzangakhona. The Zulu clan was quite small, and occupied only a few square kilometers of land. Senzangakhona had a brief affair with Nandi, the daughter of a neighboring chief, and she gave birth to a son, Shaka, in 1787. His name comes from uShaka, a beetle said to live in the intestines and create a bloated abdomen, such like Nandi�s pregnancy.
As a child Shaka was taunted because of his illegitimacy, but this turned him into a hardened and fearless man. When his father died, Shaka took over the role of the Zulu chief, now controlling the Zulu clan�s 1,500 people and 150 square kilometers of territory. Shaka was unwavering in his plan to take over each neighboring clan, and the ritual skirmishing that was traditionally used to settle disputes would quickly change. Shaka developed the short, large bladed stabbing spear called the asagi, and a means of employing it. He developed the battle tactic of �Chest and Horns�, where a force surrounded the enemy and eradicated them. Within eleven years Shaka had created a force of over 50,000 warriors. However, Shaka did not colonize conquered territories, but annihilated them, destroying crops, burning buildings, driving off cattle, killing or capturing the men for military service, and carrying off the women and children. As a result of this, many surrounding clans fled at the news of Shaka�s approaching army, rather than stay and be destroyed.
Shaka was a tyrannical ruler, putting both commoners and high-ranking officials to death for little or no reason. Gradually, Shaka�s people, while at first extremely fearful or their leader, became intolerant of his unjust ways and slaughter of innocents. This was known to Shaka, which only made things worse. In October of 1827 Nandi died. Shaka ordered that some people be put to death to pay respects to his mother, but as people were summarily rounded up for killing, the fear of Shaka was so great that people set upon one another in an attempt to show devotion to Nandi, and by the time it was over 7000 citizens lay dead. A year later, Shaka was killed by his half brothers Dingane and Mhlangana.
Dingane was named successor to Shaka, and ruled for a period of years. He attempted to make treaties with the English colonizers coming to the area, although did so quite tentatively. Mpande followed him, and allowed the British to have excessive power over his people. By the time he died in 1872, the Zulu people were tired of dealing with British rule. When Cetshwayo ascended to the throne, he tried in vain for six years to avoid confrontation with the British. Due to border conflicts with the Boers in the west and the English in the south, conflict seemed inevitable.
Everything erupted at once when in 1878 diamonds were discovered elsewhere in South Africa, forcing the English to take a new look at the independent African nations. They handed an ultimatum to the Zulus, and one that both parties knew could never be fulfilled. A month later, three columns of British soldiers invaded the Zulu land. Within the fist month of fighting, the British were defeated in their initial invasion. However, reinforcements and superior weaponry devastated the Zulus outright. Cetshwayo was captured and exiled to Britain, where he met with Queen Victoria. He was restored to the throne that was established as one of the thirteen chiefdoms created by the British. The Zulus were also involved with the Boer Wars of 1899-1902. Although not officially employing blacks, both sides used the men to ride transports and dig trenches. Eventually, the British incorporated them into their official army. Cetshwayo eventually died in 1882, and was succeeded by Dinizulu. He in turn ruled until 1913 when he was replaced by Soloman and then by Cyprian in 1948. The current King of the Zulus is King Goodwill Zwelethini.
After the second Boer War, the Zulus were the first people to be the subject of the white man�s rule. They were segregated and forced to abide by strict regulations. The Union of the African nations came in 1910, and the Republic of South Africa was born. In 1948, the Afrikaner ruled National Party succeeded in taking control of the South African Parliament and started disenfranchising those blacks that still had the right to vote. The policy of separateness (apartheid) was reinforced and embellished with many tyrannical acts passed by Parliament, such as the Job Reservation Act, the Mixed Marriages Act, the Group Areas Act, and many more. The black nations were split into homelands, and the Zulus into kwaZulu, comprising thirteen fragmented areas. In 1990, in response to the continued internal resistance and international sanctions, every previously banned black political party was unbanned, race laws were abolished, and political prisoners were freed. In 1994, the first democratic elections were held and the homeland of kwaZulu was dissolved. The entire province of Natal was renamed kwaZulu-Natal.
It seems like the Zulu empire seems to have followed the general form for the life of an empire quite solidly. They began as a small group of people, relatively weak, and grew in number from there. Once ruled by Shaka, the Zulu empire exploded in size and power. Under his rule, the Zulus conquered each surrounding clan, and incorporated them into their vastly growing numbers. In a matter of years the Zulus went from being nothing to being the strongest group of people on the African continent. However, just as quickly as Shaka brought the Zulus to power, he managed to overuse his rule and destroy them from the inside out nonetheless. Just as the general slope of an empire�s life rises and falls, so does the Zulu lifespan. After Shaka�s death, the Zulus were conquered by the English, and succumbed to white rule ever since. Just now in the past few years are the blacks once again starting to rise in power in modern-era South Africa, and perhaps the Zulus will rise again as a renewed power in the near future.

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[> [> Re: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF EMPIRES. (knot kneerlie as lung as Tym's) -- Chris Zegel, 07:49:44 05/09/02 Thu

HAH! Just kidding. The Zulus weren't a theocracy at all. I just emulated Tim's form without even thinking. I retract the title of my post. Just a comment... it's a real shame that it's impossible to alter posts once they've been added to the board.

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[> Re: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF EMPIRES. -- Brad Reed, 18:11:05 05/08/02 Wed

The Mongols Were around from about 1160AD-1370AD, the Yuan Dynasty in China. The Mongols started as a mass of different tribes of people that where united under a man known as Genghis Khan (Persian name), Chigghis Khan, and Timuchin. Genghis Kann was one of the greatist millitary leaders in history, with the most skilled horsemen, and soldiers that rival the romans. The Mongolian Army usually relied on its huge size, and the soldeirs werepromoted by skill. The Mongols used Iron Weapons, the soldiers wore chinesse silk underweare because arrows and poision could not pennitrat it, on top of that was a laqour covered leather armor and advanced tactics to win battles and invade China to build their empire, that was the largest of all time. When the mongols claimed their land they converted most of it into farm land because in the time starvation was a problemin the are. Most of Mongolia was a large desert, with reletivly high elevation with two lkes to the north, and rivers that run through the small meddows.
The Mongolian Empire was on top untill Timuchin died, no one (not even family members) had his millitary genius, therefore the previously defeted peoples were able to advace withnew tactics that the new military leader could get around. Genghis Kahn died in 1241, after he had captured Beijing, China in the Chin Dynasty. Then in 1260 Genghis' grandson (Kublai) became Great Khan (the equivalent as the Persian Great Ging), he ruled over all the four different Khanities. The four were Khanities were: one for Russia, the Kipchak Kanate (Golden Horde): the Ilkhante that ruled Persia and the Middle-East; the Chagatai Khanate that had rule over western Asia; and the Great Khanate that ruled Mongolia and China, the leader was Kublai. Kublai Khan later adopered the Chinesse name Yuan and later created the Yuan dynasty in China. The Yuan dynasty did not last long because the Chineese wanted freedom. The Yuan Dynasty fell when a Yuan Pesant started a rbelion against Yuan, the rebellion was a sucess and the Mongolian Emprie was destroyed

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[> Re: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF EMPIRES. -- Ryan Maclachlan, 19:54:02 05/08/02 Wed

>TOPIC 6
> May 8, 2002
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty lasted longer than any other Chinese Dynasty in the Modern Era at four hundred years from 206 B.C. to 220 A.D. Liu Pang, a peasant farmer who overthrew the existing government of the Qin Dynasty, founded the Han Dynasty. The Qin Dynasty oppressed the people and destroyed many earlier teachings. This dynasty had a seventeen year interruption with the Wang Mang which, broke the empire up briefly. The Han Dynasty is broken up into two periods, the Western or Former Han (206 B.C. to 9 A.D.) and the Eastern or Later Han (25 to 220 A.D.). The Hans lived during the same period as Jesus Christ and the Roman Empire. The Chinese civilization on the whole became more advanced than Europe during this period with the many useful and ingenious inventions and ideas.
Liu Pang became Emperor Gaozu with his capital city of Chang�an which means peace. As expected the Han Dynasty lived up to the meaning of its capital city and is known in latin as Pax Sinica, or Chinese Peace � similar to Pax Romana with the Romans. Gaozu abandoned many of the severe and oppressive laws of the Qin, an empire that lasted fifteen years. He decided to enact human policies like sharply decreasing taxes, rents and corvee (giving unpaid labor to a feudal lord). He disbanded a majority of the army in order to have more people working in the fields for the economic turnaround. In addition, during his rule from 202 B.C. to 195 B.C., he released all slaves. Furthermore he restricted the takeover of the peasants by the merchant class. All in all, he enacted a far more laissez-faire style of government. The following Emperors Wen and Jing continued the precedent set by Emperor Gaozu and lowered the taxes and corvee even further. Emperor Jing also brought more power to the central government and taking it away from the fiefsdoms, which lead to a rebellion. This rebellion, :Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms� was quelled and the emperor continued in his power diversion. Due to the peace of the Chinese at the time, population, industry and commerce flourished. This was the beginning of what might be called the Chinese Renaissance.
The greatest emperor of the Han Dynasty was Emperor Wu-ti who reigned from 141 B.C. to 87 B.C. Wu-ti eliminated many fiefdoms and thereby increased the power of the central government, in which he gave dictatorial control to the emperor, himself. However, he was known for his cultural reform in promoting and requiring the philosophy of Confucianism. He encouraged the studying of five Confucian volumes, the Shijing (Book of Poetry), the Shujing (Book of History), the Liji (Book of Rites), the Yijing (Book of Changes) and the Chunqiu (the Spring and Autumn Annals). Confucianism mainly concerns itself with principles of good conduct, practical wisdom, and social relationships � similar to a religion, but was never adopted as one partly due to the lack of divinity in any of its topics. He developed schools for students to attend to study Confucianism with in excess of thirty thousand students attending. He also selected members of the government to help by merit in ordinance with the writings of Confucius, as opposed to the European method of birth. Emperor Wu also created a national coinage and created a heavy tax on the merchants. He also made monopolies on iron, salt, and liquor which all created revenue for the Imperial Court. They also developed highly advanced iron tools and weapons for agricultural and military purposes. After several confrontations with the Xiongnu, a tribe that lived in North China, Wu sent three campaigns to drive them back into a non-threatening area. Successfully sending them off north of Gobi. He built the famous Great Wall as a blockade against any invasions against this tribe. He also made allies with the Zhangqian to the West and established a trade route with Europe called the Silk Road. The Silk Road was named for many of the products that the Europeans ended up receiving for their trading. This made the economy of the Hans even more extensive. Emperor Wu extended the empire�s influence over Vietnam, Central Asia, Mongolia, and Korea. Buddhist influence had arrived from India and became an important second philosophy/religion, second to the mandatory Confucianism.
However, less successful emperors followed the amazing Emperor Wu-ti and caused the Imperial Treasury to be drained further and further until the need for tax hikes to begin. The foolish emperors didn�t slowly hike taxes, but waited till the hike was absolutely necessary and ran everyone in China broke. As a result, rebellions began and a Confucian scholar Wang Mang led the rebels who overtook the Former Han Dynasty.
In 17 A.D. widespread rebellion broke out, and in 23 A.D. Wang Mang was killed by rebel forces who disapproved of his rule. Two years later in 25 A.D., Liuxiu of the Han imperial family re-established the Han Dynasty after a seventeen year absence.
This started the more scientifically outstanding of the two periods of the Han Dynasty. The Eastern Han Dynasty lasted 195 years from 25 A.D. to 220 A.D. with twelve residing emperors. The first emperor was Emperor Guangwu (Liuxiu) who reunified the country and started the Later Han Dynasty. He tried to jump start the poverty stricken China by lowering taxes, abolishing inapposite laws and enacting a series of laws to release slaves. He also ordered irrigation systems, which resulted in a quick agricultural recovery. He emphasized the education of Confucianism as his forefather Emperor Wu-ti had.
Although Emperor He who ruled from 88 A.D. to 106 A.D. was a mediocre emperor, China flourished much like the Roman Empire did under similar leadership. He revoked the monopolies the government had on salt and iron. He also encouraged bronze metallurgy and the textile industry. China�s trade reached new heights under his leadership. In addition, literature increased with the modifications of the Chinese language increasing from three thousand characters to around nine thousand. The first dictionary in the history of the world was produced in China in 100 A.D. Other devices like a seismograph, wheelbarrow, and foot stirrups were all invented during this rule. Tea was also introduced to the Chinese in this time. The first history book was made by Bangu called the History of the Former Han Dynasty. Pottery made its way into the lives of ordinary people in addition to the nobility. A man by the name of Ts�ai Lun in the year 105 A.D. invented one of the most practical and frequently used communication aids ever devised, paper. Ts�ai Lun had created the first cost-effective material for containing written language � everything previous to paper was very expensive or difficult to make. In addition, the sundial, water clocks, and a calender of about 365 days were created thanks to Chinese astronomers, who also mapped the path of the moon and location of the stars. Another advanced civilization of the Mayan would not create a calender for at least another half a millennium. In addition, movable type allowed books to be printed with great ease on the newly developed paper. Trade was also flourishing with Europe and the Silk Road. The Hans gave the Europeans silk, and in return received glass, jade horses, precious stones, and fabrics. This beautiful empire would eventually crumble due to invasion from outside forces like the Huangjin (Yellow Turbans) and the turmoil within the government itself. In 220 A.D. Emperor Xian was formally removed from office and replaced by Caopi who founded the Wei Dynasty which split China into three kingdoms.
The Hans were able to conquer the opposition with relative ease due to their development of iron weapons, rolling ladders, and stone throwers. Another special tactic that the Hans had created is the only man-made object visible from space, the Great Wall. The iron weapons consisted mainly of broadswords, swords, and spears.
China is in southeastern Asia and is known for fertile terrain with some of the longest rivers in the world flowing from the Himalayan Mountains like the Yangtze River which formed the southern boundary of the Han Dynasty for most of its existence.
Overall, the Han Dynasty was a period of peace, with technological achievements that the western world would not see for several hundreds of years. The prosperity of the Hans is truly a feat that signifies great leadership like Wu-ti, Liuxiu, and Gaozu. It would not be an understatement to call the Han Dynasty the Dynasty of the Chinese Renaissance.

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[> Re: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF EMPIRES. -- Marie Grunbeck, 09:11:40 05/09/02 Thu

The Dutch Empire
By Marie Grunbeck

The Dutch Empire was established as independent provinces in 1581. The Netherlands, also called the Low Countries, is located in Western Europe, and is bordered by the North Sea, Belgium, and Germany. The Low Countries were made up of 17 provinces and were part of the Holy Roman empire beginning in 1482, which was ruled by Philip of Burgundy. When Philip died in 1506, the provinces were passed on to his son, Charles. When Charles became the king of Spain in 1516, the Netherlands became part of Spanish rule. Charles�s son, Philip II, wanted the people of the northern provinces to follow the Roman Catholic religion. However, they were Protestants, and refused to convert to Catechism.

Philip II tried to persuade the Protestants from the seven northern provinces to give up their religion by terrorism. However, the reluctant people were not ready to give up their Protestant faith. So from 1568 to 1581, William of Orange, a protestant, led a series of revolts against Philip II. Finally, in 1581, the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands declared independence from Spain. They became the Republic of the United Netherlands, and elected William of Orange as their ruler.

The Netherlands in 1543

The newly declared empire almost immediately went into a �Golden Age�, during which time they flourished and became wealthy. Amsterdam became the main city and was home to many affluent merchants and bankers. With the end of Spanish rule, Dutch art also began to thrive. Since the upper class was becoming wealthy, they now had the money to buy paintings from prominent artists such as Rembrandt and Jan Vermeer.

Although many aspects of Dutch life, such as seafaring, fishing, and finance, influenced the wealth of the empire, the most important addition to their wealth came from trade. Starting in 1599, the Dutch began to take control of the Moluccas, from the Portuguese. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was set up to support more trade with the islands in the East Indies. The company increased trade so much that in 1621, the Dutch West India Company was also established to increase trade in the west, with places such as the islands in the Caribbean, South America�s mainland, and islands off the coast of Venezuela and Brazil. Some of the items that were traded by the two companies were slaves, tobacco, sugar, coffee, tea, cinnamon, cloves, and other spices.

Dutch Empire and Trade Routes

With the two companies set up, the Dutch empire was able to trade with nations all across the world, and this not only gained them wealth, but also gave them something that no other nation had � �the largest commercial enterprise in the world�. Although this brought a lot of affluence to the Dutch, it also contributed to their downfall. From 1651 to 1674 the Netherlands and England engaged in three wars over trade. This was because England was jealous of the wealth that the Dutch had. Then, in 1689, the Dutch King, William III of Orange and his wife, who was the daughter of the King of England, were offered the English throne. Soon after this, the Dutch Empire began to decline because England became more powerful.

One interesting fact about Dutch art and agriculture is the people�s attraction with tulips. In the beginning of the 1600s, tulips were scarce in the Netherlands. However, when they were introduced to the Netherlands in 1593 they almost instantly became part of their culture. The tulips �fascinated artists as a result of their beauty and as a symbol of luxury�. Many Dutch artists began to use tulips and other flowers in their paintings. Within each painting, the most important flower was the tulip.

Bouquet of Flowers
By Ambrosius Boschaert

Still Life With Flowers
By Hans Bollongier

The Dutch Empire was in power from 1581 and flourished until its slow decline to England, which started in 1689. The results of the Dutch Empire were the great trading enterprises � the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company. Without the existence of the Dutch Empire, the world would probably have never been introduced to such a large network of trade systems around the world as the Dutch gave them. Therefore, without the Dutch Empire, the world would not have been able to gain wealth, transport goods throughout the world, or have ties with other places around the world that were not close to them.

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[> Re: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF EMPIRES. -- nicole, 15:09:26 05/09/02 Thu

Nicole Sawyer
Sparta
Sparta was a Greek city-state located on the Eurotras River in southern Laconia on the Peloponnesian peninsula. It was the capital of Laconia and the chief city of the Pellopenesus. Sparta was originally founded during the Dorian invasions in the 9th century BC, and lost its independence in 192 BC when they were defeated and forced to join the Achaean League. It was forced to be made part of the Roman province of Achaea. Since Sparta was between two mountain ranges, it was cut off from the rest of the Greek city-states. The ranges acted as a natural barrier, which helped the development of the Spartan State. Sparta eventually turned into a military state, and become the strongest army in Greece.
The ruling class of the Spartans devoted themselves to war. At the age of seven, boys were sent to the community barracks to be trained in military and athletic aspects. The young boys were taught survival skills, discipline and to endure pain. After 13 years of training they served in the army. The men had to serve in their army until the age of sixty, all the while being supported by a plot of land given to them and farmed by helots. The soldiers were allowed to marry, but had to continue living in the barracks. When they were thirty, they were recognized as adults, and were able to take part in the Assembly. Spartans were raised with the belief that loyalty to the state was the only reason for living, therefore allowing Sparta to remain at the head of Greek culture.
The Spartan Society had a three-tier class system. The bottom class was slaves also called helots. The slaves provided labor for the Spartan agricultural system. They worked areas of land owned by a Spartan who would receive a percentage of the helot�s harvest. The next class was called the perioeci. Perioeci were foreigners who lived in Sparta. They carried out most of the trade and commerce within the state and city. They had many of the same privileges as the Spartiate, the native Spartans that formed the top tier in the social ladder. They received full legal and political rights. The Spartan law was also based unfairly on the three-tier system.
The Spartan government was run by a dual monarchy. Below the monarchy was a council, which was made up of 28 nobles who had retired from the military service. Below the council was the assembly of all the Spartiates, forming a fake democracy since the monarchy still had the final say.
The Spartans expanded their territory by winning wars. Since they had such a strong army, they won most of their battles and took the land of the people they defeated. After a series of battles they managed to gain a great deal of land, and expand their empire. In 725, however, needing land to feed a dramatically growing population, the Spartans marched over the Taygetus Mountains and blocked all the territory of their neighbor, Messenia. The Messenians occupied a fertile plain and the Spartans found themselves with more than enough land to support themselves and their newly conquered people. The Messenians did not appreciate the loss of their independence. With the help of the city-state of Argos, the Messenians revolted in 640 BC. Not only did the Messenians almost win, but they almost destroyed Sparta.
The Spartan Empire lasted until AD 396 when the Visigoths captured and destroyed the city. The Spartan army had a lot to do with why they lasted so long. Since they were so strong, no one could defeat them to take over their city. Although they didn�t have the best government, their army made up for it.

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[> Re: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF EMPIRES. (and no, I'm not going to spell stuff the wrong way) -- Jimmy McCumber, 19:35:48 05/09/02 Thu

-----The beginning of what is now the country of Germany is unclear in many places. The nation had its beginnings with barbaric groups before becoming the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation during the Middle Ages. The modern Germany wasn�t unified until the 1870s. Only forty years later, they attempted their first of two attempts to take over the world. Throughout these many phases, many different countries were revealed, from weak empire, to the racist, fanatical Adolf Hitler, who struck fear into every country in the world.
-----The early Germans were not unified, instead they were a collection of tribes. They did not partake in sacrificial ceremonies. They had multiple gods, representative of things they needed including the sun and moon. Children were trained early on in life in fighting and hunting, which were the two main responsibilities of men at the time. Agriculture was less important to them, and their main food sources were milk, cheese and meat.
-----In the final hundred years before Christ, no one officially owned land in the German tribes. Instead, the magistrates and chiefs of the tribes would assign land to the different clans they controlled. The Germans at the time were nomadic, seldom spending more than a year in the same place. They did not want people to settle down and lose their enthusiasm for war.
-----The German tribes� biggest war aim was to destroy all lands around them. They would pillage other nearby villages and make the land inhospitable so as to remove nearby threats. Robbery was considered an honor if done to another tribe. Despite this harsh treatment of outsiders, it was considered a crime to mistreat a guest. No matter what their purpose, visitors were to be regarded as sacred, protected from injury, and given the finest foods available. This strange contradiction was indication of the importance of loyalty to the Germans, who detested all outside of their tribe, but befriended all who came to them in peace.
-----A different picture of Germans was painted late in the first century. The Germans were still not a major empire, and were still composed of mainly barbaric groups. Unlike today�s Germans, they had mainly red hair with blue eyes and were on average the largest race at the time. People were not allowed to intermarry with other races, leaving the gene pool relatively unchanged.
-----The Germans did have a unifying government at the time. Kings were chosen by birth, and they did not have absolute power. A king�s generals did not have disciplinary privileges, instead only the priests could punish citizens. Clans went into battle together. The Germans believed that this way, the troops would be more united, since they were fighting alongside their loved ones. The women in the tribe would also go to war to supply the soldiers with food and medical attention.
-----The Germans had a remarkable legal system. Punishments for different crimes were all regulated followed through on. Traitors or deserters were hanged, while cowards were buried alive in the swamp. The definition of coward was one problem with law, but the priests� �spiritual guidance� was trusted as the final word. For smaller offenses, a man was fined a set number of horses or cattle. Half were given to the government, and half were given to the person who was wronged and sometimes his relatives also. The Germans also had a strict marriage code, and usually married only one person.
-----The German empire in the Middle Ages was the �Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.� Their kings were crowned by the pope under this title, so as to be linked to Charlemagne, the most powerful king of the time. For the protection this alliance brought, there were prices to pay. For starters, the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was not entirely German. It included Burgundy and parts of Holland and Italy, and although the emperor was German, there were interior conflicts between nations which were costly to the empire.
-----Princes of the church in the area were able to claim independence from the emperor and also control peasants living on their land, taking away power from the emperor. German princes also caused problems for the empire. In the Investiture Controversy in 1120, German princes won all the land back that they had owned before the Holy Roman Empire had taken over. This �compromise� reached at the Concordat of Worms took away power from the empire, a blow from which the empire may never have recovered from.
-----Popes always had veto power over the German emperor until 1356. That year, emperor Charles IV formed the Golden Bull decree. He established an electorate of seven princes: the archbishops of Mainz, Cologn, and Trier, the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of Saxony and the Margrave of Bradenburg. Charles formed an electorate representative of all of his empire, and since three of the princes are from the church, that constituted the church�s power and dispelled with the papal veto.
-----In the thirteenth century, the Reichstag was formed as the main branch of the empire after the emperor. The Reichstag was separated into three estates: the seven imperial electors, the other imperial princes, and the free imperial states. The princes had a tendency to band together and outvote the imperial states, leaving them with little legislative power. The princes would also take away as much power as possible from the nobles in their areas so as to retain complete power over their lands, and over the next hundred years the princes were able to greatly reduce the power of the lower nobility. There were, however, estates of nobles to restrain the central government. This form of government is known as a Standestaat, where nobles of imperial cities practiced restraint on the emperor.
-----In the 1870s, the modern country of Germany was formed. In the early 1900s, Germany nearly rose to a new level of power, almost controlling all of Europe. However, their empire was twice destroyed in what are known as the two World Wars.
-----On June 28th, 1914, Austria�s archduke Frances Ferdinand was assassinated, and Austria declared war on Yugoslavia. Because Yugoslavia had an alliance with Russia, Germany agreed to defend Austria. Germany wanted to avoid being surrounded by enemies, but had also been planning an attempt at total control over all of Europe. This strategy was known as the Schlieffen Plan.
-----The Schlieffen Plan started with Germany conquering Belgium, then encircling France. On August 3rd, 1914, Germany declared war on France, beginning World War I. They defeated Belgium in only three days, and assaulted France. The French army retreated to Paris, and there, with England�s help, defeated the Germans at the Battle of Marne.
-----Germany then focused their attacks on Eastern Europe. Austria was wiped out by Russia, but Germany defeated the Russians at the Battle of Tannenburg, taking them out of the war. Germany conquered Rumania, but drew the United States into the war after setting a navy attack on the Americans.
-----Germany continued their military agenda in Eastern Europe, defeating Ukraine after signing a peace treaty with them, and then forcing the Russians to surrender to them. However, this was the end of Germany�s dominance. When they turned back west to attack France and England, over two million American soldiers came to the rescue, and together with the French, who used their new military invention, tanks, pushed the German army back. They also liberated Rumania, the Balkans, and joined forces with Austria. When Hungary and Bulgaria fell, Germany requested an armistice. They surrendered their weapons and returned to their own borders. They were also forbidden to make any more attempts to strengthen their army. The armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.
-----The defeat plunged Germany into an economic crisis. Germans didn�t work because their wages were used to pay for war deficits. German money became worthless. The Mark fell more than twenty-billion times its� pre-war value!
-----Germany halted their war efforts, but were never actually forced to admit defeat. The allied forces were convinced that Germany could never rise to power again. Instead, influential leaders spread the propaganda that Germany would have won the war if the armistice had not been signed. Behind one man, the German empire would rise again, even stronger than before, only twenty years later.
-----Adolf Hitler, a poor Vienna artist, joined the German army in 1914. After being wounded in battle, he entered the world of politics and started a small party, the National Socialist German Worker�s Party, known as the Nazis. Hitler�s party grew, and began taking over the German Parliament. In 1933, Hitler used lies of peace intentions and his Nazi army to terrorize voters into passing the Enabling Act, which ended democracy and made Hitler the Dictator of Germany. Hitler then combined the positions of Reich Chancellor and Reich President and made himself the Fuhrer of Germany, or absolute leader. The former president, Paul von Hindenburg, forbade this in his will, but Hitler simply destroyed the letter and forged a new one in which Hindenburg pledged his support to Hitler. This letter convinced 90 percent of the voters to approve Hitler as Fuhrer. Hitler immediately made all soldiers swear loyalty to him, not to Germany.
-----Hitler chose to blame the Jews for the war failures. He took away all rights from Jewish people, and would later attempt to wipe them from the face of the earth. In 1937, Hitler made his first conquest, using his alliance with Italy to take over Austria. He also annexed part of Czechoslovakia, despite the Czechs� alliances with Russia, France, and England. He also conquered Poland before World War II officially began.
-----In 1940, the Allied Forces of England, France, United States, China, and the Soviet Union declared war on Germany. Despite the fact that all these powers were united against them, the Germans continued to take over Europe. Norway, Holland and Belgium all fell in early 1940. Spain and France were also easily conquered.
-----Despite these attacks, an assault on England never really materialized. Hitler instead began conquering eastern European countries, and even some of Northern Africa, including Egypt.
-----During the war, Hitler also waged a war on Judaism. He arrested Jews from all over Europe and placed them in concentration camps. At these camps, they were starved or burned to death. During �The Holocaust�, over six million Jews were killed.
-----In July 1940, Hitler began an attack on the Soviet Union which would last four years. Hitler managed to march within several miles of Moscow, but could not take it. Then Hitler tried to hold the city of Stalingrad, and was surrounded by Russians. Russia then went on the offensive and regained their land as the United States weakened the Nazis back in Germany. At the end of the war, Hitler, suffering from mental instability, poisoned his wife and shot himself to death.
-----Adolf Hitler�s death ended not only the war, but also all attempts at global domination by the Germans. Germany has retained the same borders up to today, and is back on good terms with most countries in the world. The more civilized Germany of today resembles neither its� distant past of disorder and constant changing of power, or its recent past as a disciplined, stoic military machine.

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