Week Five Blog Post

First-wave and second-wave civilizations shared some similarities, even though they existed during different time periods. The first similarity was that empires still rose and fell. The second similarity was that monarchs still ruled and there were still aristocracies. The third similarity was that women were still considered second-class citizens. The fourth similarity was that the elite ruled over the rest of the social classes. The fifth similarity was that there were no significant technological or economic breakthroughs.

But there were also differences between the first-wave and second-wave civilizations. In terms of second-wave civilizations, populations rose and fell a lot, causing interrupted periods in population growth. Secondly, certain empires were gaining strength and size, like the Romans or the Chinese. Thirdly, important "wisdom traditions" were created in different places during this new time period (Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, etc). Next, there were no major inventions. Instead, there were key, important smaller ones. For instance, in China, several things like the crossbow, a compass, and gunpowder were invented. Also, communication and exchange grew more than ever before between different kinds of civilizations around the known world.

Empires were key to second-wave civilizations. An empire is "a large, aggressive state that conquers, rules, and extracts resources from other states and people, encompasses many peoples and cultures in one political system, causing political or social oppression."

The first empire I'm going to talk about is the Persian Empire. It was very diverse as it encompassed different lands. Since there were so many different people, the Persian Empire was pretty tolerant of foreign customs. They did this so they could win the favor of the people they have conquered. Monarchs were extremely important in the Persian Empire. The Persians also had very elaborate infrastructure and impressive imperial centers.

As for the Greeks, they had a significantly smaller population than the Persian Empire. The geography of Greece and that general area caused it to be split up into city-states. Naturally, conflict between city-states was common. Greece had a unique political system as any man could participate in the government.

The Greeks and Persians fought in the Greco-Persian Wars because Persia wanted to conquer Greece. The Greeks surprisingly won, against all odds. Because of these wars, the notion of East vs. West was born (Greece is the West, Persia is the East). After their victory against the Persians, the glory days of Greece begun.

However, this didn't last for very long. Alexander the Great from Macedonia conquered Greece, then moved onto Persia. He conquered much of the known world at the time, even though he was only in his 20's. With Alexander's rule, the Greek culture spread throughout his empire. This is referred to as the Hellenistic Era.

The next major empire I'm going to talk about is Rome. Rome started out as a weak city-state. They were the first to start the idea of a republican political system. After a civil war, this republic became an empire with an actual emperor. The Roman Empire encompassed the whole Mediterranean and beyond. This wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for Rome's powerful military.

Then there is China. After years of conflict, China needed to be united. A ruler named Qin successfully unified China. He used a political philosophy called "Legalism", which included clear rules and harsh punishments so he could keep his people in line and obeying the law. He defeated all of the other states that would've been in conflict with his using his powerful military. Qin was a very harsh ruler.

The Roman and Chinese empires had similarities and differences. Both thought of themselves as universal powers and that they were meant to rule the world. Both had impressive public works, like aqueducts, bridges, and roads. Both of these empires borrowed religions from different places, like Christianity and Buddhism. But Rome had many different types of people, culturally, in its empire. China was culturally similar. Rome used the language of Latin, which spread into different languages like English, Spanish, French, etc. China used Chinese, which were symbols that are still used today. China developed a great bureaucracy, whereas Rome developed an elaborate system of law.

All great empires eventually fall. Why? It was mostly because of rivalry between the people in the empire, the threat from outsiders, the population got too big, or things got too expensive.