During the classical era, there were many empires being formed due to small kingdoms/dynasties and people wanted more power. One of the example is the Qin Dynasty; during the Period of the Warren States, the state of Qin dominated its neighbors and imposed centralized imperial rule throughout China. Meanwhile, on the other side - southern Asia, India's kingdom had already started to form. The kingdom of Magadha was located in the central portion of the Ganges plain. It remained as a kingdom for few years until Chandragupta Maurya came in, and began by seizing control of small, remote regions of Magadha and worked his way towards central India. He eventually ends up forming this small kingdom of Magadha into the Mauryan Empire. In Europe, Julius Caesar basically led to an end of the Roman Republic and the foundation of the Roman Empire started by Augustus.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Hmm.. So Why Do Empires Form?
The Empires form because of the ruler's desire. Especially when it comes to the conqueror, he always wants to have a bigger kingdom for economic opportunities, for more land, for spreading out his culture, more population - more people to follow his order. Empires require a strong leader otherwise it ends up dividing among themselves. All empires start off with a small kingdoms and then a strong leader just jumps in and thinks 'Oh hey, may be I should conquer a little bit' and guess what, slowly the kingdom's size doubles... triples and turns into an empire.
During the classical era, there were many empires being formed due to small kingdoms/dynasties and people wanted more power. One of the example is the Qin Dynasty; during the Period of the Warren States, the state of Qin dominated its neighbors and imposed centralized imperial rule throughout China. Meanwhile, on the other side - southern Asia, India's kingdom had already started to form. The kingdom of Magadha was located in the central portion of the Ganges plain. It remained as a kingdom for few years until Chandragupta Maurya came in, and began by seizing control of small, remote regions of Magadha and worked his way towards central India. He eventually ends up forming this small kingdom of Magadha into the Mauryan Empire. In Europe, Julius Caesar basically led to an end of the Roman Republic and the foundation of the Roman Empire started by Augustus.
During the classical era, there were many empires being formed due to small kingdoms/dynasties and people wanted more power. One of the example is the Qin Dynasty; during the Period of the Warren States, the state of Qin dominated its neighbors and imposed centralized imperial rule throughout China. Meanwhile, on the other side - southern Asia, India's kingdom had already started to form. The kingdom of Magadha was located in the central portion of the Ganges plain. It remained as a kingdom for few years until Chandragupta Maurya came in, and began by seizing control of small, remote regions of Magadha and worked his way towards central India. He eventually ends up forming this small kingdom of Magadha into the Mauryan Empire. In Europe, Julius Caesar basically led to an end of the Roman Republic and the foundation of the Roman Empire started by Augustus.
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So if it is all about the ruler, then a) why don't they always collapse when the founder dies, and b) what if there is a lack of desire on the part of the ruler, but a burgeoning economy and population?
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures!