Why Civilizations Fall

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“Too much of a good thing can end up being a bad thing”. During the time period 500ad to 1500ad many civilizations were progressing. Unfortunately, there were also many Empires that progressed too much causing them to be unsustainable and fail. However, if they fell, it is usually for one larger reason. Whether it was the Empire disagreeing in religion, having weak leadership, or uninhabitable geography, when civilizations like the Mongolian Empire, Roman Empire, or the Islamic Empire got too great or too large, they collapsed.
For a civilization to be sustainable it has to have a great leader and ways of communication. Without these qualities, ruling an Empire is close to impossible. The Mongolian Empire was ruled by Genghis Khan, which meant universal ruler. Although the Mongolians had, “success in raiding and clan warfare” , they failed to rule the people, for they didn’t enforce enough rules. In fact, Khan did not know any of the people that he ruled. He employed foreigners rather than Chinese as high government offices because he believed that they were trustworthy since they had no local loyalties. This angered many people, so when Khan died, the Yuan Dynasty began to fade and rebellions broke out leading to the downfall of his empire. With so many people in the Mongolian Empire, they did not all speak the same language. The Roman Empire also had trouble with these concepts. Diocletian believed that the empire had grown too large and too complex for one ruler. The empire divided into two sections with the Greek-speaking East and the Latin-speaking West. This made communication between the empires extremely difficult. The Islamic Empire faced about one quarter to one half of the population dying from the Black Death, also...

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...atic Studies, “The Mongols in World History.”
Accessed March 25, 2014 http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/conquests/conquests_4.htm Diamond, . “Ted” Last modified February 2003. Accessed March 25,2014. http://www.ted.com/talks/jared_diamond_on_why_societies_collapse University of Wisconsin, Last modified September 25, 1998. Accessed March 25, 2014. http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/westtech/xmongol.htm.
National Geographic, “Steppe.” Accessed March 25, 2014. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/steppe/?ar_a=1 .
National Geographic, “National Geographic Atlas of the World.” Accessed March 25,
2014. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/mongolia-facts/ .

Beck, Roger B. World History Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL:
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http://www.bellbookandcandlepublications.com/greenwoodsvillage/gor/islam.php

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