REORG - Globalizing Empire (Lesson)
Globalizing Empire
As mentioned in the previous lesson—there were two globalizing empires in existence as the world entered the Common Era. The Han were known for their expertise in creating an efficient government capable of ruling over a large territory with a large and diverse population. Even their failure—the demise of their dynasty—exemplified how successful they had been in the setting up of their government originally and warned of what could happen when the role of that government changed. However, at the time of the Han Dynasty, there was an empire that was even bigger, with a larger and more diverse population and an influence that went well beyond its borders—(which, unfairly, might be why a lot of people have heard of the Romans but not the Han.) That empire was, of course, the Roman Empire.
Roman Empire
During the age of the Roman Republic, "Rome" went from a city-state to a territorial-state to an empire as a result of migrations into the Roman territory by foreign peoples, an impressive display of military innovations, and an evolution in politics. Rome stopped being a "Republic" and became an "Empire" with the rise of Augustus Caesar to the throne (and basically a silent and individual revolution in politics.)
Augustus Caesar is widely recognized as the first emperor of Rome and his reign marks a high point in the period known as Pax Romana ("Roman Peace") in history. Augustus Caesar converted Rome from a republic to an autocracy rather smoothly—he did not necessarily refer to himself as the "king" as that would not have gone over very well in a land that had been a republic for almost five hundred years. Instead, Augustus Caesar announced that he was working with the Patricians and the Plebeians just as former consuls had always done, but with the distinction that he was "first among equals." [Point: This was a somewhat sneaky way to make sure that his "equals" didn't rebel but that they also knew that their ideas and opinions were now "second" to his and that he was the only one who was really in charge.]
At its height, the Roman Empire spanned a great distance:
And it eventually grew to include over 60 million subjects. [Comparison Note: That is almost twice as many Canadians as there were in 2013!]
The Roman Empire ruled over this vast territory and population by dividing it into provinces (just as the Han did) and appointing governors (or "praetors") approved by the Emperor to watch over each province. Unlike the Han, though, the Roman Empire did not supply many bureaucrats to help each praetor run his district. Instead, the praetor would have to rely on local freemen or slaves for administrative help. When those were not an option, the praetor would hire private companies to help with his administrative duties. [Why is this important? It means that the loyalties of the administrative staffs throughout the Roman Empire might not have been as strong to the Roman Empire as they were to the local population. This will not be a problem at first as the Roman Empire was always very quick to crush any rebellion in the beginning but it won't help later.]
So, let's have a quick look into the world according to the Roman Empire:
And so for hundreds of years, the Roman Empire existed and expanded. But there were limitations to this expansion—to the west, the Atlantic Ocean; to the south, the Sahara Desert; to the north and east, PEOPLE!
To the EAST
From 247 BCE to 224 CE, to the east of the Roman Empire lay the Parthian Empire. The Parthians carved their empire out of the remains of the Seleucid Empire in Persia. The Parthian Empire was located along the Silk Road and benefitted from its constant traffic of traveling merchants and goods. The Parthian Empire's expansion coincided with the Roman expansion which meant that the two empires butted heads a lot. From 66 BCE to 217 CE, they fought a series of wars known as the Roman-Parthian Wars. As the Parthians were highly skilled warriors known for their deadly aim using arrows while riding horseback (see sculpture of a Parthian soldier on the right), they were particularly adept at defending the Iranian Plateau that made up the majority of land in their empire. So the Romans were never able to completely oust this rival. But for the very same reason, the Parthians were unable to make any headway into the Roman Empire as shooting while riding a horse didn't work as well on the rocky, hilly terrain that comprised the Roman Empire's border with the Parthian Empire.
As it turned out, the Parthian Empire should have been a bit more concerned about internal disputes rather than external threats—they were overthrown by a rebel named Ardashir upon his defeat of the last Parthian king in 224 CE. Ardashir founded the Sassanid Empire which lasted until the 7th Century CE. Perhaps its longevity was due to its more centralized government which quelled internal disruptions quickly. Or perhaps its longevity stemmed from the return of Zoroastrianism as the official Persian religion (remember how well the Persian Empire had done under the Zoroastrian leadership of Cyrus the Great and Darius I?) Either way—while it differed from the Parthian Empire in its centrality and religion, the Sassanid Empire maintained the Persian hostility with the Roman Empire and they continued to invade each other for the next few centuries.
To The NORTH
To the north of Rome lay the rest of Europe—the non-Mediterranean much colder rest of Europe. The cold winters of northern Europe led to clustered settlements forming as people banded together to face the elements and each other. But for the most part, these settlements had not changed from the illiterate, kin-based agricultural societies that formed during the 1st Millennium BCE. The Germanic and Gothic peoples of the north were separated from Rome by the Danube and Rhine Rivers. This kept their interactions with the Romans limited to mostly economic transactions—usually in the form of selling slaves to the Romans. But periodically, the Germanic and Gothic peoples would push south in search of food or to run from each other. In order to protect the empire from these sporadic migrations south, the Romans moved a group of people to live between the main heart of the Roman Empire and the rest of Europe. These people came from the Visigoths and were a group of Germanic people loyal to the Roman Empire and abiding by Roman law and religion. By incorporating these so-called "Barbarians" into Roman culture, the Roman Empire ensured (at least for a while) a buffer to exist between themselves and possible northern aggression.
Unfortunately for Rome, one of the biggest threats to the empire lay within its own borders—the emperor himself. Even during the Pax Romana (25 BCE-235 CE), the Empire had a hard time getting and keeping good emperors. Of the twenty-two that served during that peaceful time, fifteen were either killed or committed suicide. Following the end of the Pax Romana, the Roman Empire faced terrible times and over the next fifty years, emperors were killed in rapid succession.
Once again, we see a globalizing empire struggle with managing an empire of that size. But had that been the only thing threatening the empire, they might have survived it—unfortunately, there was more on the horizon. Due to a succession of bad leaders, there was definitely internal strife within the empire, but more problems were ahead in the forms of natural catastrophes and external pressures.
As was just mentioned, from 235 to 284 CE, the emperors of the Roman Empire were murdered over and over again by Roman assassins. So there was quite a bit of disorganization surrounding the job. However, in 284 CE Emperor Diocletian came onto the scene. In an attempt to restore the power of his position, he divided the empire into four regions to be run by co-emperors or the Tetrarchy, he brought the Roman armies back under his command, he worked out a government budget to prevent an overspending that was breaking the wallets of his tax payers, and he capped prices and strengthened the Roman currency in order to bolster the Roman economy. In the end, though, this was not enough to keep the Roman Empire stable and when he retired, civil war broke out.
In 322 CE, Constantine emerged as the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. But rather than stay on the Italian peninsula (as previous emperors had done,) Constantine instructed his people to start building a capital in the eastern reaches of the Empire. Located at the Greek site of Byzantium on the Anatolian Peninsula (modern-day Turkey,) Constantine's Constantinople reached completion in 340 CE and became a "Second-Rome" and new capital of the united empire. When Constantine died, the Roman Empire split for good—with the Western Roman Empire (based in Rome) spiraling out of control and the Eastern Roman Empire (based in Constantinople) thriving.
Why did the Western Roman Empire spiral out of control while the Eastern Roman Empire thrived? Historians have been debating that question for centuries. The only true conclusion that they have agreed upon is that Rome didn't fall in a day—it took centuries of internal decay and external pressure, along with natural disasters to undermine the stability of the Roman Empire—first leading to its split and then ending with the demise of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE.
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