Riley McDonnell
Mr. Park
World History Block 7
10 January 2015
Mauryan Empire Empire: a large political unit having a territory of great extent or a number of territories or peoples under a single sovereign authority; especially one having an emperor as a leader or ruler. An empire needs a strong leader who can allow culture to flourish and spread, without restricting the beliefs and lifestyles of the people living within the empire. Empires can be unified in many different ways; through arts and culture or military and government, but when both are balanced an empire can achieve a state of peace and prosperity. Northern India was unified by the strength and dynamism of its leaders, Chandragupta and Ashoka, who did so with a central government, united military, and diverse culture. During the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, he established the important idea of a central government. He split the entire empire into four
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Both converted to Buddhism and became devoted to the religion. Both abdicated their throne and took up being a monk. Religion was not the only thing brought into the Mauryan empire. The Silk Road introduced a wide variety of art and other types of culture. Silk, textiles, spices and exotic foods were introduced and distributed from India at the time. The silk road not only brought culture in, but also exported their own culture. This spread their ideas on philosophy and the arts Ashoka and Chandragupta stressed the importance of culture; they wanted people to read and understand their culture along with the other cultures in the world. They also wanted every to be religiously tolerant, but they were practicing Buddhists (Park, Ian). Spreading their culture helped make the Mauryan empire whole, along with bringing their ideas to Northern India which also made an impact with its unification. Without the stress on culture the Mauryan empire would have been strict and lacking
Without a strong leader, there is no empire. Emperors such as Caligula, Nero, and Commodus have shown that the empire crumbled because of the fact that the leaders weren’t able to successfully create a well structured “team”. Nero persecuted Christians for their beliefs, Caligula turned the palace into a brothel, and Commodus took over territories and claimed them as his own. All three of these emperors are
Buddhism is a religion that teaches peace to all, so when King Asoka of the Mauryan Empire began practicing Buddhism, he ceased expanding the empire. Instead the government diverted its efforts towards creating a road system and building sculptures. Confucianism was based on the teachings of Confucius who preached the practice of “reverence [respect], generosity, truthfulness, diligence [industriousness], and kindness.” Because Wudi wanted his government employees to embody these qualities, Wudi set up schools that would teach these and had examinations for students for students based on these principles. This placed people of wealth
Burbank and Cooper in their book Empires in World History portray the evolution of power and the development of different states. They elaborate on how powerful cities and states imposed their rules and waged conquest on surrounding territories. Political dynasties developed strongly among states inspired by religious, politic and economic trends. The Han dynasty of China and the Imperial Rome were some of the powerful states that developed during the third century. The two states adopted different strategies and ideas in developing of their emperor. The Roman, for instance, developed a more advanced for of governance as opposed to the Han. Their system of governance emerged as an expensive identity around the Mediterranean. These two empires controlled and conquered their territory in unique and different ways that made them strong and remarkable during their heyday.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the longest running empires in history, spanning 624 years. The women of the Ottoman empire were often limited to the household of their husband’s and held back by Ottoman lawmakers and authorities. The point of view of outsiders was varied, but there were both positive and negative views.
Like several dynasties throughout history, power and the art of war have always been prominent. Both empires started off with unifying their government and military structure in order to be source of power. Their next step was to invade their surrounding areas in order to spread their own power and to have a greater influence. The conquest of Constantinople was the big accomplishment for the Ottomans, since Constantinople was Christian-based and it had proven to be difficult to conquer in the past. This not only was a conquest for power, but also for religion since they transformed the Orthodox cathedral into a Muslim mosque. The big conquest for the Mughals was north India, “Babur conquered India simply because he had lost the hope of establishing an empire in Mawarannahr or anywhere else, and so he turn his mulkgirlq, his “kingdom-seizing” ambitions, to India…” (Dale 73). Babur was more power driven since he had “kingdom-seizing” ambitions and the religious elements came in second for
The ruling body of the Roman Empire was intrinsic to uniting the extensive and diverse regions that comprised their area of reign. The Republic that preceded it was weakened by a series of civil wars. The highest level of government was represented by the absolute rule of the emperor. Emperors established and maintained institutions that kept them together and helped the different populations adopt Roman ways including well-developed written laws, uniform currency and a fixed system of weights and measures. Such institutions are interbred in the modern principals that shape western civilization, lasting long after the empire that developed them (Emmons, “Roman Empire”).
Following the Athenians defense against the Persian army, the Athenians began to form an empire. Empires normally consist of a single emperor with supreme rule, power over a vast area, and they consist of diverse groups of culture. However, the Athenian Empire believed that they were a Democratic society where all people were equal, but in reality, their actions showed that not all people were treated equally and some people had more power than others. Thus, breaking the claims of a Democratic society.
...eople demonstrated how to effectively control an empire through many different elements such as society, religion, and the government.
The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire were two grand empires that rose out of preexisting territories and provided relative peace over wide areas. The collapse of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), which was the first great land-based empire in East Asia, came after a period of war, confusion, and tyrannical rule. Due to the political disorder that stemmed from the early dynastic activity, the emergence of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE- 228 CE) sprung to focus on restoring order. On the other hand, the rise of the Roman Empire (44 BCE- 476 CE) originated from consolidating authority over aristocratic landlords and overriding the democratic elements of the earlier Republic. Instead, the Roman Empire redefined the concept of “citizen” as subjects to the Roman emperor. Both empires shared similar agendas to exploit their vast territories and resources, which helped them expand their political dominance; however, despite having similar political goals and foundations, their government system, cultural ideologies and imperial expansionist natures diverged.
Power, control, influence and greed all describe the history of the rise and fall with some of the greatest empires, which all involve the jurisdiction of a central state including large quantities of land and diversity amongst it’s people. The growths of empires happen for different reasons such as military, victories, political control and economic growth and can be very short lived or last five hundred years ("Rise and fall of empires (article) |Khan Academy," n.d.). When an empire collapses it happens over a period of time as the central state gradually loses its power. The Roman, Anglo-Saxon and British Empires have many similarities that helped the creation and fall of these kingdoms.
Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism made a great impact on the Mauryan Empire. If Ashoka continued to be a ruler with such evil ways of enforcement, the people of the Mauryan Empire would not be happy. His conversion to Buddhism saved a lot of lives because of his new belief in ahimsa. Ashoka also sent out many Buddhist missionaries all over the country to spread the religion of Buddhism. Significant events like these were very important events that occurred during the time period of the Mauryan Empire.
...tablish the principate, where he established several legates to help govern the expanding empire. The system allowed the Emperor to remain in control, but also step away and allow others to take the lead if need be. Had Augustus not set this new form of government into play, Rome would have been torn apart several years before the fall of the Empire. His form of government proved strong enough to support the likes of Caligula and Tiberius, who was more concerned with his special interest museum than being Emperor.
Very briefly, a benevolent empire is an empire such that both the ruling nation and native people are never considered oppressed by the ruling government, its policies, and social structure.
Chandragupta Maurya wanted to gain control of Magadha, the place where the Nanda empire was based, to end the Nanda dictatorship. He assembled young men who were angry about Magadha’s dishonest leadership and gathered supplies for his army. Chandragupta’s army came up with a strategy. They announced a battle and drew the Magadhan army away from Magadha. Meanwhile, spies bribed Nanda’s corrupt general. Chandragupta’s allies threatened the prime minister until Chandragupta Maurya officially became Magadha’s new king. That war ended the Nanda dynasty and began the Maurya empire.
What a good empire must start with is a phenomenal emperor. According to Richard Sullivan Charlemagne (747-814) was the First emperor to rule the Holy Roman Empire. The Charlemagne ruled from 800-814. His main goal was to unite all Germans and to make them Christians. Even though, most of the Germans were not united when he stated after he conquer and compromised he had control of most of Europe. During the Reign of the Charlemagne he most of his time was spent in military campaigns. His most important task militarily was his battles with the Saxons. He had many others events militarily happening while battling the Saxons. Some were within his own kingdom while trying to conquer others and people attacking him. The Charlemagne was very successful in his attacks militarily, but was very diplomatic in his own right.