Rise of Empires
SHARON ELLIS
World Civilization I/ HIS 103
INSTRUCTOR: Tryna Lyons
February 1, 2014
Empires 2
All great empires start with a strong leader, but first there has to be a civilization to
lead. When man moved from the hunter-gathering stage to an agricultural society early
civilizations began to grow. As the food supplies increased, greater efficiencies allowed
individual to pursue other skills creating different professions and a social order within
the civilization. Over time these different professions would separate within the cities,
political leaders and priests would be at the top of the civilization, tradesmen and
craftsmen would circle outward becoming the middle class within the civilization, and at
the bottom of the civilization chain were the laborers and the farmers. Each of these
social classes has played an important role in the growth of a civilization and each
creating a building block toward an empire. Typically civilizations have shared many of
the same characteristics, such as urbanization, metallurgy, writing system, religion, trade,
and science.
The most important building block in building a great empire is a stable government and strong leader. Both Charlemagne and Genghis Khan were successful in using all of these building blocks while creating their empires. In 760 CE, Charles the Great, also known as Charlemagne, became king and ruler over the Germanic Kingdoms. Looking to expand the kingdom to “covered most of what is western and central Europe today.”
Charlemagne knew he had to bring stability to the government and bring organization to the administrative structure. The first thirty years ...
... middle of paper ...
...d to the rise of the Frankish and Mongol
empires impacting the lives of all the people they ruled and conquered. Both Emperors
united their continents into one empire changing the cultural even today.
Empires 6
Reference:
Ganshof, Francois L. (1949) CharlemagneSpeculum , Vol. 24, No. 4 (Oct., 1949) , pp. 520-528Published by: Medieval Academy of America Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2854638
Centeno, Migueal Angel and Enriquez, Elaine (2010) Legacies of empire?
Theory and Society , Vol. 39, No. 3/4, Special Issue in Memory of Charles Tilly (1929–2008): Cities, States, Trust, and Rule (May 2010) , pp. 343-360
Published by: Springer
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40587539
Mahdavi, F. (2012). World history: The human experience to 1500. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.
The two lives of Charlemagne as told by Einhard and Notker are two medieval sources about the accounts of the life Charlemagne. Modern sources by Matthew Innes and Rosamond Mckitterick discuss how history was recorded during the medieval period and how it was suppose to be viewed in the early ages. Observing each of these sources helps get an understanding of how the writing of history is important in recorded history and how it affected how the history of Charlemagne was recorded.
The class system has been in place within humanity since the very birth of economic trade. It is a fact of life that others will seek self-betterment and gain power to provide for those that they love and their own personal interest. Throughout the years the implementation of a social class system has helped to differentiate the types of economic situations as nation and serve as a system to work toward the betterment of the society as a whole. However, as the world became more productive and the gaps between the higher classes and lower classes increased the efficiency of the social class system and the decisions made from the individuals within it has been called into question. Kalen Ockerman opened the channel to question if the class system is the helpful institution that benefits of all its citizens or if the lower classes are not getting the support and attention they deem necessary.
(p1) Broadly speaking, class is about economic and social inequality… (p6) We have a tendency for groups of advanced people to congregate together, and groups of disadvantaged people to congregate so that inequalities persist from generation to generation.
Post Classical politics first came to be when Kong Fuzi or Confucius brought it up during the classical era. Confucius was an educator and a political advisor. At the time, China was experiencing problems and Confucius helped to settle everything. He passed his knowledge on to students who then created analects which are political and cultural traditions that Confucius had taught. Confucius was a very wise man. He did not answer philosophical questions because it did not help to solve the problems at hands and he refused to answer religious question because it was too complex for mere human beings to understand. He believed that political and social harmony came from appropriate arrangements of human relationships with one another. To him, the country should not have been ruled by someone born into power, but to someone who was erudite and incredibly meticulous. When the post classical era came around Yang Jian brought China back to an un-centralized rule after their collapse during the Han dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty they came up with the “bureaucracy based on merit” (Bentley and Zeigler, p. 378) or by recruiting government officials.
“The apprenticeship of a King” describes how Charlemagne gained power through conquest and diplomacy. In 768, King Pippin died and his kingdom was divided between his two sons. Charles, the elder, and the younger was Carloman. The author says that little is known of Charles’ boyhood. When he was of the right age, it is recorded that he worked eagerly at riding and hunting. It was the custom of the Franks to ride and be practiced in the use of arms and ways of hunting. We may reasonably infer that acquiring these skills formed a major part of his early education. Charles was not a “man of letters” and the author makes no attempt at explaining this other than to point out that literacy was considered unimportant at that time for anyone other than the clergy and Charles didn’t become interested in “letters” until later in life. Bullough explains a number of experiences in public duties and responsibilities, which were assigned to Charles by his father, thus, giving him an apprenticeship to rule the kingdom. For some reason tension between Charles and his brother began shortly after their accession. The author explains a number of conflicts. The younger brother died however, at the end of 771 and a number of prominent people in his kingdom offered allegiance to Charles. Bullough names and explains those subjects. The result was the re-uniting of those territories, which helped to establish the kingdom of the Franks.
Social Classes Throughout History The gap between different classes has always been very prominent in
Class can be defined as a way society separates people into groups based on their socioeconomic
Duiker, William J., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. World History. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomsom Learning, 2001. 374-438.
The collection Two Lives of Charlemagne contains two different biographies of Charlemagne who was a king of the Franks and a christian emperor of the West in the 8th century. The first biographical account was written by his courtier Einhard who knew him personally and well. On the other hand, the second account was penned by Notker the Stammerer was born twenty-five years after the king’s death. Even though these two versions indicate the same king’s life, there were many differences between the two. Einhard’s writing focused on the emperor’s official life and his military campaign. However, Notker provided more of a perspective about the king’s legacy and seemed more hyperbolic as well as mythical. This paper will compare and contrast the
A common phrase people say is “learn from your mistakes” but it seems throughout history we never have. We often see similar actions recur throughout history, including the rise of Imperialism, Revolutions, and advancement in technology for warfare.
Ineffective leaders are one reason why the Roman Empire came to its demise. After the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Empire started to decline. His son, Commodus, was next in line for the throne. Commodus managed government affairs horrendously. One major mistake he made, was to sell government offices to the highest bidder(Fsmitha). This allowed for corrupt and overall bad people to gain positions of power in the government. He also gave the guards the freedom to be abusive and torment the citizens(Fsmitha). These actions did not make him very popular with the senate or the masses. He tried to rectify this mistake by holding gory public performances to win him popularity. He also often went in the arena, to fight and club animals that were tied down(Gibbon 118). While he did win some popularity, most thought that himself fighting was demeaning of the Emperor position. Commodus was also concerned about military governors contending for his position. He was so paranoid that he had their children under his care( Fsmitha). Essentially, he had military governor’s children held hostage. This, instead of fixing his problem, led t...
Ellis, Elizabeth Gaynor, and Anthony Esler. World History: The Modern Era. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.
Most of the civilizations throughout history have been taken over or replaced by other civilizations due to disunity and chaos. Although an empire might seem prosperous, the decline and fall of empires are sometimes inevitable. Even though an empire might seem invincible, there are many factors that could lead to the sudden decline or fall of an empire. Over many centuries, historians have composed many reasons, such as weak militaries, economic burdens, dynastic successions, and external enemies, which have been known to contribute to the rise and fall of many once successful empires.
What is social class? It is a term used to describe a large group of people who share similar social or economic positions in society based on wealth, income, job status, education, skills or power in the political sphere. Class is not just about what you own or earn but also who you know. Class affects not only how we feel about ourselves, but how others judge and consequently treat us. Those at the top of the class structure, the elite, have more power than those in the middle and even more power than those at the bottom who are of lower class. Education is a highly valued commodity in our world. In his commentary on society Freud, claimed, “ No feature, however, seems better to characterize civilization than its esteem and encouragement