Intro to Part 2 & Chapter 3

Intro to Part 2:
- Discusses how the fall of the fragile and vulnerable first civilizations fell and how their basis was able to set the standard for the next civilizations that were beginning to form in places like the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East, India. There were sites where smaller civilization were beginning to form like in Ethiopia, West Africa, Japan, and Indonesia.
- Starts introducing the transition into the second and third wave of civilization. Further explaining the differences between the first, second, and third waves.
- Explains the point of chapter 3: examining and comparing the political framework of the three different waves and the empires that began in each wave as well.

Chapter 3:

  • Empire: may be used to discuss states, "political systems that exercise coercive power"(pg 106); may also refer to the larger and more aggressive states that "conquer, rule, and extract resources from the states and people" (pg 106)
  • Empires are an interesting topic when discussing history due to how they were able to maintain order and create an effective economy with a wide variety of people
  • Persian empire: embodied 35-50 million people under monarchs Cyrus and Darius; the empire was run based on kingship where the monarch is secluded in royal significance and may only be approached through an elaborate ritual
  • Greek empire: small competing city-states with 2-3 million people in total; experienced deforestation and soil erosion; states would often be in conflict with each other even though they spoke the same language and worshipped the same gods (only stopped fighting for Olympic Games)
  • Comparison of Roman and Chinese: flourished at roughly the same time; roughly the same size and maintained similar population size; however, were barely aware of the other and had little to no contact
The uprising and the falling of the empires throughout history has provided useful demonstration for what works and does not work in creating while trying to create a system that is effective in being strong and powerful while also maintaining the loyalty of its people. It helped create "a template for thinking about politics" (pg135). I think that this is one of the main reason why historians are so interested in understanding each empire, in how they came and how they fell.

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