Han China And Rome Analysis

Merry Wiesner’s article exploring the imperialistic ways of Ancient Rome and China during the Han Dynasty was quite eye-opening. Both kingdoms were located in very different parts of the world, but they had similar terrains, and obviously a similar way of thinking. They both understood that the people of their country needed to be governed, but monarchy was not the way to go about it. So, in turn, they decided to become an imperialistic society – rule with the use of an emperor. Wiesner poses the following questions in her piece: how did each of these peoples [Han and Rome] redefine political authority to suit a new level of world mastery, and what do their views of imperial authority tell us about the ways in which they understood the state and its power? The answers are simple, the people needed to be told how to think. Using the military, they kept the citizens in fear and made it easier to get whatever they needed done, done. Both Han …show more content…
The people had outgrown the imperial way of life, and were demanding more say in who ruled them. They were no longer the submissive subjects that the empires wanted. Main reasons for the Roman Empire’s collapse were that competition for the throne eventually weakened the monarchy. When Constantine moved the empire’s capital from Italy, it paved the way for the fall of the city of Rome, which was the beginning of the end for the Roman Empire.
In finality, the Han and Romans were not aware of the amount of influence they had on succeeding generations, but in their time, they were succinct, calculated and meticulous with their actions. They wanted to rule the world, which can be considered a bad thing nowadays, but to their credit, they were prepared to govern it; much like Alexander the Great was. The two empires were political centres in their day, and laid the stepping-stones for the future governments that were to