During the first millennium, two very significant events, the Nika Revolt in Byzantium and the Edict of 845 in China took place. Although they occurred far from each other and were separated by several hundred years, they are both examples of internal strife and conflict within their empires.
The Nika Revolt of 532 AD was a series of uprisings in Byzantium’s Christian capitol, Constantinople. In Constantinople, the population was separated into four factions, the Blues, the Greens, the Whites, and the Reds. Justinian had angered both the Blue and Green factions, and regardless of their rivalry, they united to bring down the emperor. Justinian and Theodora had upset the citizens because they set new protocols that required the people to prostrate
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Previously, Justinian had given an order to the authorities of every city that said any crimes, or merely disobedience of the factions were to be punished equally (Bury 40). This resulted in the arrest of countless members of both factions. The following day, both the Blues and Greens found Justinian at the horse races and pleaded his forgiveness, which he granted. Street fighting and disturbances continued after Justinian had granted them forgiveness, and the days that followed consisted of the united factions breaking into the prison, killing countless guards and officials, and destroying much of the city’s property. The rioters burned many buildings including the Augusteum’s entrance, the prison, a portion of the Hippodrome, the Senate house, and several significant churches. Justinian feared the rioters, and the only thing that kept him from fleeing Constantinople was the empress Theodora (Corrick 58). She said it would be an embarrassment to go from an emperor to a refugee (Corrick 58). The united factions were called the Green-Blues, and they identified a watch word, “nika,” meaning “conquer” or “victory”. This is the reason this devastating event has come to be called
The problem of internal revolt is inherent to all empires, as it is difficult to consistently maintain authority over a large and diverse population. Although empires have taken steps to prevent a loss of control from occurring, even the utmost vigilance has been either not enough, or has lapsed long enough for a revolt to occur. The resulting uprising might be minor, or it might be serious enough to threaten a crucial territory. How empires have dealt with a major internal revolt is instructive in several ways: it tests whether or not the empire's military is strong enough to deal with revolts, it tests the ability of the ruler or the ruling class to maintain their authority in the face of the challenge, and it provides a way to examine an empire's policies by looking at which ones may have contributed to the revolt, and which were changed or introduced in its aftermath.
...ed Chinese culture then and still does now. The Mongol Global Awakening caused new technological advancement, such as carpenters using general adze less and adapted more specialized tools. There were new crops developed as well (235). The Mongol preeminence was destroyed as a result of the Black Plague.
In order to summarize, let us say that the period from 1300 to 1500 cannot be called insignificant. Irreplaceable loss of human lives, spending large amounts of money and resources could be observed as well as the process of progress. The Hundred Years' War put an end to a strong dependence on France. The Black Death helped peasant to realize the inequality of feudal system and forced landowners to rise wages for labourers. The Peasants' Revolt was one of the first attempts to achieve the idea of human rights and inborn freedom, and the country for people, not for the king and his court.
History is full of ups and downs, twists and turns that ultimately shaped the modern world we live in today; its foundation laid throughout history. The events of the past; good, bad, and indifferent could have adversely affected our modern society had they different outcomes or ceased to happen at all. There are countless historical events that are significant in their own right, but I have chosen to discuss five of the most significant historical events in Western Civilization occurring pre-1689. The Greco-Persian Wars, the Conflict of the Orders, the Punic Wars, the Gallic Wars, and the Black Plague had crucial influence over today’s economic, political, and social structures.
what happened and or how it happened. Although The Xia dynasty had a significant impact in the growth of the civilization because the beginning of the writing happened in this time period.
A main cause of the Crusades was the treatment of Christian pilgrims. They were robbed, beaten, and then sold. The main group of Turks, the Seljuk Turks, were threatening and growing in power. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexus I, began to become worried and sent out an urgent plea to Pope Urban II, in Rome. He requested for Christian knights to help him fight the Turks. Pope Urban II did agree to his appeal although Byzantine Emperors and Roman Popes were longtime rivals. He also did agree with Alexus I, in fearing that the Turks were expanding. Pope Urban encouraged French and German Bishops and Nobles to also take part in this. “ An accused race has violently invaded the lands of those Christians and had depopulated them by pillage and fire.” This is when Pope Urban II called for a crusade to free the Holy Land. Urban did agree to this having some of his own motives in mind. He was hoping his power would grow in ...
The crusades were a bunch of attacks led by the Pope during the middle ages. It started out with Muslims conquering two thirds of Christian lands. In response to this the pope put together 100,000 men to reconquer the lands. The Christians reclaimed a lot of lost land such as, Mesopotamia, Persia, Spain, and more, eventually making small kingdom in them. One of the small kingdoms fell in the hands of the Muslims, and the Christians started the second crusade trying to reclaim the land. The crusade failed resulting in Muslim reign. Many crusades were fought after that, but most of them where not that successful. Even though the Crusades were very bloody and inhuman, I believe that crusades had a major impact in a good way to the world back then and even today.
In midsummer 1680, Pope said the time was now for a revolt. Pope used his mystical powers to summon 3 native Gods to his secret chamber....
In 1095, the conflict between the Christians and the Muslims started a crusade (a military campaign in defense of Christianity) for the battle of Jerusalem. This crusade involved people of other religions besides Christianity such as the Jews but they did not play a major role during this time. The Crusades lasted almost two decades and consisted of eight different crusades. With all of the events and actions that took during the Crusades, it led too many effects throughout years. There were short term effects and long term effects from the crusades that effected people of all different cultures. Two places which have had many effects from the Crusades are Europe and Islam. The Crusades has had short term and long term effects on power, economic and classical knowledge throughout Europe and Islam.
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.
The crusades in the middle ages were a long-lasting series of vigorous wars between Christians and Muslims over the Holy Land, Jerusalem. The crusades lasted for almost two hundred years. They began in 1099 and approximately ended in 1291. (What were the motives, and causes of these gruesome wars?) is the first question one might ask. To properly answer this question, I am about to analyze the first four crusades that had began in 1099 and ended in 1212.
In March of 1095, the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus appealed to the papacy for military aid to help against increasingly hostile neighbours. In 1095 the Seljuk Turks had come within one hundred miles of Byzantium or Constantinople, and they were thought to be threatening Eastern Christians. It was at this point that Alexius summoned the pope’s help to rid the area of th...
When comparing different societies in ancient history you may not think that Han China and Ancient Rome had a lot in common. These two great societies had many similarities and differences, especially in their social structures. These similarities and differences are all due to Han China’s and Ancient Rome’s governments, family structures and religions. Both of these wonderful empires lasted for approximately 400 years and had lasting effects on the lands they conquered.
Innovation and instability- Various changes occurring during this time came together in the Western civilization.
The impact of the dark ages had a presumed profound negative impact on Western Europe. The primary cause for this was that the taxation system had fallen apart. It was a time when the emergence of new civilizations lead to conflict. “Invasions” of entire peoples and military expeditions were the largest contributors of these conflicts. Since there were no taxes it left no one to defend against this tyranny. The during this time the plague was breaking out in Constantinople as well. The fall of Rome was from constant conflict with barbarians, this during the migration period various groups of people moved across Europe . Byzantium was flourishing in the Eastern Roman Empire even through the Dark Ages. Depopulation, Deurbanisation, invasion, and movement of people, which began in late antiquity, proceeded in to the early middle ages. The Barbarians invaders, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East, once part of the Eastern Roman Empire came under the rule of the Caliphate, an Islamic empire, after conquest by Muhammad’s successors. Although there were substantial changes in society, and political structures, the break with Antiquity was not complete. The still- sizeable Byzantine empire survived in the east and remained a major power. The empire’s law code, the Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired...