2.2 The Development of States and Empires
With the ever increasing numbers and sizes of early states and empires, these states and empires would often come in contact with one another. Many times, contacts would turn to conflict for competition over resources, land and security. Some empires however, expanded drastically over long distances. Military innovations and activities were vital in securing their empire, but these empires also had to adapt ways to govern with the ethnically and culturally diverse peoples they conquered. Overexpansion created a double-edged sword for these empires. Their empires became too vast for an effective administration, and not to mention the cost, supplies, men, etc. of constant conflicts helped their decay. Overexploiting lands and their subjects permitted excessive wealth to be given in the hands of the minority: the elites.
I. The number and size of key states and empires grew dramatically by imposing political unity on areas where previously there had been competing states.
Examples of key states and empire
Examples of key states and empire
- Southwest Asia:
- Persian Empires
- Achaemid
- Parthian
- Sassanid
- East Asia
- Qin and Han Empire
- South Asia
- Maurya and Gupta Empires
- Mediterranean region
- Phoenicia and its colonies
- Greek city states and colonies
- Hellenistic and Roman Empires
- Mesoamerica
- Teotihuacan and Maya city-states
- Andean South America
- Moche
II. Empires and states developed new techniques of imperial administration based, in part, on the success of earlier political forms.
Administrative institutions in many regions:
Variety of techniques to project military power over larger areas:
Promoting trade and economic integration by constructing and maintaining roads and issuing currencies.
Administrative institutions in many regions:
- Centralized governments (best represented by the Han and Roman empires)
- Elaborate legal systems and bureaucracies
Variety of techniques to project military power over larger areas:
- Diplomacy
- Developing supply lines
- Building fortifications, defensive walls, and roads
- Conscripting soldiers from conquered people
Promoting trade and economic integration by constructing and maintaining roads and issuing currencies.
III Unique social and economic dimensions developed in imperial societies in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.
Cities, and most notably the capitals, served as the heart of states and empires by serving as centers of trade, centers of religious rituals, and housing the imperial political administrations.
Cities, and most notably the capitals, served as the heart of states and empires by serving as centers of trade, centers of religious rituals, and housing the imperial political administrations.
- Persepolis
- Chang'an
- Pataliputra
- Athens
- Carthage
- Rome
- Alexandria
- Constantinople
- Teotihuacan
"Classical (600 BCE-600 CE)." Freemanpedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://www.freeman-pedia.com/classical-600-bce-600-ce/>.
Social structures of empires included cultivators, laborers, slaves, artisan, merchants, elites, or caste groups.
"Classical (600 BCE-600 CE)." Freemanpedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://www.freeman-pedia.com/classical-600-bce-600-ce/>.
Methods of maintaining the production of food and rewards for the loyal elites
- Corvée (a day of unpaid labor in place of taxes, mostly used in the construction and maintenance of roads)
- Slavery
- Rents and tributes
- Peasant communities
- Family and household production
IV The Roman, Han, Persian, Mauryan, and Gupta empires created political, cultural, and administrative difficulties that they could not manage, which eventually led to their decline, collapse, and transformation into successor empires or states.
Common problems created:
- Deforestation
- Desertification
- Soil Erosion
- Silted rivers
"Classical (600 BCE-600 CE)." Freemanpedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. <http://www.freeman-pedia.com/classical-600-bce-600-ce/>.
Security issues in the borders (frontiers) of empires, including the threat of invasions. These insecurity eventually led to their decay and decline.
- Han China (East Asia) with the threat from the Xiongnu
- The Gupta (South Asia) with the threat from the White Huns
- The Romans (Mediterranean Region) with their northern and eastern neighbors