A look Back

When studying history it is important from time to time to look back analytically at the the different things that you have studied over a period of time. Recently I have been pondering the idea of the rise and fall of empires and how civilizations grew based on the spread of ideas. I think that in order to survive as a nation/civilization/empire you need to adapt and learn from the past otherwise you are doomed to fail. If you look at the rise and fall of empires, you see that the empire fell for one of a few different reasons. Each empire we have studies has been different in one way or another. As technology grew empires grew based on technological advancements. These advancements were spread all throughout Afro-Eurasia and the spread of technology and ideas advanced these civilizations. China invented several unique technologies and these new techs found their way into Europe via the silk roads. Once in Europe the natural competition between civilizations forced them to adapt and improve these technologies to try and stay one step ahead of the competition. The natural spread of ideas during the renaissance seemed like of of the key factors in the growth of civilizations at the time. Now that we looked at what caused empires to grow, we need to talk about what makes them stop. One of  3 basic things can happen; The plague can hit you and wipe out half of your population, You can get conquered by another civilization, or the people hate their leaders and rebel. Those three things pretty much summarize the fall of civilizations. However, when an empire falls, others lean from your mistakes and new stronger civilizations rise.

A note on Religious Pressure

The study of religion and how it spreads always provides an interesting view into socio-economic structure. There are several religions we have touched on so far and the most recent being the spread of Islam. Islam was a religion that was initially suppressed by the powerful roman church. However after the Romans were pushed back and after their great prophet Muhammad rose, Islam spread quickly. What I find remarkable about the spread of Islam and religions in general is that in ancient times, whoever was in power had great control over what the dominant religion was. After the Romans were pushed out, many found comfort in Islam and many converted. Soon the Arabian empire grew and eventually made all other religions second class. The unfortunate thing is, the same thing repeated itself in many other religions in many different places. For instance, there great religious power struggle in china between Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, also there was crusades in Europe to push out other religions. In early times it seems many civilizations were not tolerant of other religions and ideals from other civilizations. I think its remarkable how in our own information era we are able to be much more tolerant of other religions and ideals that differ from out own. America, though not perfect, has allowed for many religions to be combined into one country with no dominant religion.

The wonders of religious Assimilation

China is a remarkable example of a country that had multiple prominent religious influences on its people. Its interesting how over the years the predominant religion changed. It started with Confucian values but daoism quietly moved in. Soon influences from both religions influenced different ways of thinking. Each dynasty seemed to have a different view on what elements from which religion should belong in Chinese society. Eventually the silk roads bought in Buddhism from India and that changed china forever. Buddhist values were a new addition to Chinese culture and many in the villages liked Buddhist values. High aristocratic officials tried to get rid of Buddhism by trashing the temples but the values had already been seeping into all aspects of Chinese culture. Another civilization with unique religious influence was Japan. Japan chose to send hundreds of scholars to china to study their system. After doing so they examined their system and decided what were the best aspects of their political system. Japan was 100 miles of ocean away from the mainland so they could easily defend against china, thus resulting in a civilization that could choose how to build their own unique political system. Japan adopted Confucian and daoist values as well as adopting certain political mannerisms from china while maintaining a incredibly unique Japanese cultural heritage with their house religion; Shinto. Japan focused more on the value of being a warrior and the ideology of Bushido rather than the Chinese aristocratic ways. It is remarkable the way that civilizations have been changed and influenced by other civilizations as well as religions in many different ways.