The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire. The Han dynasty Empire and the Roman empire stood large and mighty at the start of the Common Era, with the two kingdoms controlling an unprecedented mass amount of populations under their reign. Both kingdoms rose as predecessors from previous political systems that extended lands under one rule, with the Roman Republic expansion in Europe after the Punic wars and the Qin state achieving conquest over six other nearby states creating the first imperial China in east Asia. The heavy hand of the Qin dynasty and the assassination of Rome’s beloved general, Julius Caesar, by the Roman senate, threw both kingdoms into rebellion, ushering in centuries of imperialistic rule for both in their respective timelines. Both developed innovations in city development and Military conquest that nations looked to for millenniums to come. The first kingdom to rise was the Han Dynasty. Its predecessor the Qin, conquered neighboring states in 221 BCE and establish a unified kingdom through legalism. The Qin outlawed any outside thinking and banned the teachings of Confucius, but also …show more content…
The once mighty empires would not stand the test time. Prosperity and power all fall at some point though, with rebellion destabilizing the Han rulers and the Roman empire invaded by outsiders, the end of rule would run its course, but not the ideas and innovations of both empires. The Han dynasty was rebelled against by it peasants in 184 CE known as the Yellow Turban Rebellion, that was cause by famine and suspect corruption within the government. Coupled with the death of Emperor Ling in 189 CE, the warlord Dong Zhuo would take the opportunity to replace the successor with his own emperor. Dong Zhou would later be ousted and killed, and the period of the three kingdoms would follow suite, thus ending the Han dynasty in the year 220
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreEconomic Comparison of the Han China and Roman Empires It is interesting to discover that there were two hugely successful empires, located thousands of miles apart that flourished in ways never seen before in history, and that, although there is some evidence that they were slightly aware of each other’s existence, the two societies did not have regular contact. Yet both empires achieved similar economic and political greatness and developed comparable solutions to the problems they faced. These empires are the Han China and Roman Empires, lasting from 753 B.C.E. to 330 C.E. This paper will address the economic similarities and differences between the countries and the consequences of their actions which either brought down the empire or allowed it to survive.
Qin Shi Huangdi and Caesar Augustus’s domination of multiple empires during their different lifetimes is what lead to them gaining the title of the first emperor of their empires. With peace finally brought to their territories, they gained supreme power over all. Their commitment to honoring their title showed by the way they appealed to the people. But, having great power was a substantial responsibility. They constantly had to show dedication to their empires, so the people never doubted why they were in power.
The Han Dynasty and Roman Empire were prominent globalizing empires that created lasting legacies for many years to come. The empires were able to do what most have failed to do previously. They were both able to successfully incorporate their enemies and neighbors into their realms. In doing so, they were able to amass a population of about 60 million. Even though both empires had many things in common, they exhibited some key distinguishing differences.
During this era, both the Han Empire and the Roman Empire rised above and proved they were the strongest and while having the most powerful empires. Although their methods of reaching the highest point in power they didn't both get there the same way but in many ways, they compare. Both empires believed in power vested in the wealthy which gave the mandate to control. The Han Empire and the Roman Empire shared similar political structures that centered around everything. Both empires shared the belief in religious practices, economic values, and social practices.
In various ways, Han China and Imperial Rome were politically similar yet also had their pair of differences. Two very well-known classical empires, both had highly advanced political systems for their time; Han China, lasted from 206 B.C.E to 220 C.E, and Imperial Rome, lasted from 31 B.C.E to 476 C.E. Many think these two empires where built with no previous influence, however; the Roman Empire had retained many aspects from the Roman Republic, and Han China from the Qin Dynasty. During their peaks, they controlled the majority of the world 's population because of their constant expansion of conquered lands, while their structure of administration and rule influenced many empires and future societies around the world. Aspects such as these, ultimately, led these two empires to be, arguably, the most influential societies in the world; as their legacies still live on today.
During the era of classical societies, the Han and Roman empires were two vast cosmopolitan societies which dominated regions all throughout Eurasia. In regards to the fall of the Han and Roman empires, both were similar in that they fell victim to internal government decay, but different in that Rome fell to foreign invasions, while Han suffered from rebellions of their own people. The Han and Roman empires were similar in their fall in that they both suffered from internal decay, specifically of their governments. In the Han empire, land distribution problems that were originally sought to be fixed by the “Socialist emperor” Wang Mang allowed large landowners to become even more influential than they previously were.
China, up until the Qin Dynasty, consisted of independent states controlled by kings fighting each other for land and power. This time period was called The Era of Warring States, which lasted two hundred years. After this time, the Qin Dynasty rose to power. They conquered all other dynasties, and established a centralized government, unifying China for the first time. The dynasty that succeeded the Qin, the Han, continued the centralized government and they started a westward expansion that would encourage trade and cultural diffusion.
The Han Dynasty in China and the Roman Empire shared many similarities and differences when it came to political rule and the nature of their political authority. The most significant difference between the two is how the Han dynasty enacted policies that were shaped to counter the wrongdoings of the previous Qin dynasty, whereas the Roman Empire enacted policies shaped to create and promote peace and stability. The difference in the two empire’s coming to power was to account for their variance in political rule. After the Qin dynasty, the Han ruled China for four centuries, enacting numerous political changes and governing one of the most efficacious dynasties in Chinese history.
(10) It wasn’t until the Qin state merged victorious from the war did the first ruler (Shi Huang Di) officially took the title of emperor. It was also during the Qin dynasty that China was first unified under an emperor. In addition, this dynasty was the start of Imperial government from 215 BCE to 1912 CE. Furthermore, the Qin dynasty was the first dynasty to have a complete centralized control over all provinces under the emperor by using a system of bureaucracy. The following dynasties also used a bureaucracy of government officials to help govern China.
The Han Dynasty was founded by Liu Bang in 206 BCE and lasted for 426 years until corruption and weak leaders resulted in the breakup of the Han Dynasty into 3 kingdoms in 220 CE. The Han Dynasty was strong and had many achievements in its golden age. A golden age is a time of prosperity and new inventions in an empire. A golden age normally occurs when a new leader is selected to run the empire. The philosophy of government was Confucianism, and the style of government was a bureaucracy, which was when the emperor used many government officials to help him make decisions.
Both had social unrest and internal decay. China and Rome both had their bureaucrats assassinated. They received no taxes from their landowners and eventually their landowners formed private armies. To some extent religion also broken up the Han dynasty and Rome. Christianity began to spread in Rome drastically and eventually fracturing the empire.
Perhaps the two most important civilizations, Rome and Han China both fell due to major similarities. At the same time, Rome and Han China fell due to distinct differences as well. Furthermore, the collapse of China and Rome had far more similarities rather than differences. During 200 and 600 BCE both classical civilizations suffered from outside invasions; growing from Central Asia. They were not as sweeping as earlier Indo-European growth but tested Rome and China severely.
The new themes of encounter and exchange did not come without the warfare, violence and confusion that plagued China as the Sung dynasty struggled to fight back against the Mongols. After the suicide of the last Southern Sung emperor, all of China was united by Mongol rule (Gernet 717). The tragic death of one man marked the beginning of a new era. For the first time ever, foreign people conquered the entirety of China. Never before had the Chinese government been completely replaced by an unknown system ruled by outsiders (Fitzgerald 181).
The Qing had Hung Taiji and Li Zicheng who were key instruments in taking over the Ming dynasty and Beijing. Both dynasties had eventful paths to power, many achievements while in power, and a particular decline in power. The empire that came first was the Ming dynasty. This group reigned for about 300 years and was in power from 1368-1644.
Being one of the longest of China’s major dynasties, the Han Dynasty, founded by Liu Bang, began in 206 B.C. and ended in