...According to many history books found at school, the fall of the Roman Empire can be attributed to one thing – the demise of the capitol of the Empire, carried out by the Visigoths from Germany. Roman soldiers were pulled back from a defense post in the Rhine-Danube frontier, where they held back the barbarians, to fight in Italy, leaving an open Roman border to attack. The Visigoths looted, burned, and ransacked their way through the entire capitol city, Rome, for three whole days. This was considered a major event back in its day because much of the western part of the Empire had already fallen, making Rome an exaggerated center for the existing parts of the Empire. In 476 A.D., the Germanic general Odacer inevitably overthrew Augustus and Romulus, the last of the Roman Emperors. Roads and bridges were left in disrepair, agriculture never picked back up, and pirates made travel very unsafe, officially signaling the total fall of the Roman Empire. Although most agree that this was the ultimate demise of the Empire, this was not the reason that the Empire became so weak, in order for it to be taken over so easily. Rome, considered, the ‘mighty city’ by many, could not have fallen so easily to barbarians without some external and internal conflicts, eventually weakening the whole Empire into both economic and physical decay....
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...run out of the country, to starting their own empire, and finally being lead to their own demise. Sometimes too much power is a bad thing, and eventually has the opposite effect on a group of people. The Yuezhi were an Indo-European civilization of about 400,000 that originally resided along the border of China. They were peaceful people and generally tried to avoid conflict. The Yuezhi were mainly known for their trade and for the founding of the Kushan Empire. The Yuezhi were first mentioned in 1st century BC by Guan Rhong, which suggests this is around the time the civilization began. They started out living in the north-western border of China, which gave them access to the jade in the mountains in Gansu. They took this jade and supplied it to the Chinese rulers. Along with the jade, the Yuezhi started providing these same rulers with war horses. A trust was established, and the Yuezhi eventually became the middlemen between China and...
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...Running Head: ECONOMIC PATTER OF BOOM & BUST OF SLAVE TRADE IN THE PORTUGUESE EMPIRE Topic: Economic Pattern of Boom & Bust in Slave Trade of Portuguese Empire The slave trade of the Portuguese Empire involved “bringing European ships for the first time into regular contact with sub-Saharan Africa”. Otherwise, the Arab slave trade according to Peterson, involved “Arabs exporting slaves from East Africa to many countries around the Indian Ocean” (Peterson, Brian 2008). There are certain commonalities in these trades, but they still differ significantly. That is, though both were superlative industries that flourished in their empires and are somewhat interrelated, they varied in terms of their economic pattern of performance; the Portuguese during the 15th-18th century and the Arabs during the 17th and 18th century. They also differed in trading goods involved, and mechanisms of demise. According to Bamba Gascogine, the Portuguese invaded the Cape Verde Islands in 1460. They specialized in plantation work, growing, in particular, indigo and cotton. The Portuguese slaves also worked in factories that produced cloth. Gascogine states that “The cloth is exchanged in Guinea for slaves. And the slaves are sold for cash to the slaving ships which pay regular visits to the Cape Verde Islands” (Gascogine, 2008). On the other hand, the embryonic era of Arab slavery occurred well...
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...in book transactions. Moneylenders can be found who will accept payment in one Greek city and arrange for credit in another, avoiding the need for the customer to transport or transfer large numbers of coins. Rome, with its genius for administration, adopts and regularizes the banking practices of Greece. By the 2nd century AD a debt can officially be discharged by paying the appropriate sum into a bank, and public notaries are appointed to register such transactions. The collapse of trade after the fall of the Roman empire makes bankers less necessary than before, and their demise is hastened by the hostility of the Christian church to the charging of interest. Usury comes to seem morally offensive. One anonymous medieval author declares vividly that 'a usurer is a bawd to his own money bags, taking a fee that they may engender together'. Rome The Roman Empire inherited the spirit of capitalism from Greece (Parker).During the time of the Empire, public deposits gradually ceased to be held in temples, and instead were held in private depositories. The earliest recorded evidence showing banking practices is given by one source as during 325 BC. On account of being in debt, the Plebians were required to borrow money. At that time newly appointed quinqueviri mensarii were commissioned to provide services to those that had security to provide in exchange for money from the public treasury.[121] Another source has the shops of banking of Ancient Rome firstly opening in...
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...Alexander the Great was a great warrior and lived 300 years before Christ. He was well aware that he lived in an age of innovation in Greek warfare as he fully implored the latest technology to conquer civilizations that had transformed the lands from Egypt to India into a new Greek world (McKay, 137). His influence had also built an empire that would spread the Greek culture into the known world, but there are no kingdoms without a king and with Alexander’s swift and stunning demise, his empire would crumble almost as quickly as it was built. 404 B.C.E., a long and bloody 27 year war, also known as the Peloponnesian War (AncientGreece, 2003) had finally come to an end. Athens, its once dominant Navy destroyed, is starved into submission at the hands of its arch rivals, the Spartans (McKay, 123). In 359 B.C.E. Philip II had become king (382 – 336 B.C.E) and within two decades he would change the face of Greece (BBC, 2014). During this period, Macedonia had a large amount of potential in both man...
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...Greco-Roman Influence The cultural fundamentals of Greek philosophy helped shape the Roman Republic and the empire they ruled. Under both the Greeks and the Romans, the Mediterranean basin became much more tightly integrated than before as both societies organized commercial exchange and sponsored interaction throughout the region ( Bently, Ziegler & Street 2008). The Mediterranean basin, North Africa, parts of Asia and much of Europe was dominated by the Romans at the height of their rule. Five hundred years before B.C.E., until five hundred years after C.E., the Roman Empire was one of the most flourishing empires of its time and era. The Greeks and the Roman government differed greatly. One difference was that the Romans shared their citizenship and became alliances with conquered countries, which allowed them to trade with Rome, have roman spouses and even become citizens of Rome. They also allowed them to run their internal government without the Roman government taking over. These types of well-liked changes allowed Rome to become the most powerful influences of their time. The Roman government, the wars they fought and the religion they believed in, all had influences on their territories and the world as it is today. Shaping of Wars Wars have always been a part of shaping countries. Wars that the Greeks and the Romans ran throughout their empires and conquering territories, helped shape the world as they knew it. Around the fifth century B.C.E, the Greek Peninsula...
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...Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a large empire throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and into the early Nineteenth Century. Its borders changed considerably throughout its history, but at times it spanned most of modern day Central Europe, with borders that covered modern day Germany, France, Austria, The Low Countries, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Northern Italy, and more. The empire also included areas of Southeastern Europe such as Croatia, Slovenia, and Hungary. Eventually, it declined into a loose federation of principalities before dissolving entirely. However, before that, it covered a vast amount of territory for almost an entire millennium, necessarily meaning the empire had a large influence on the history of the Western World. The beginning of the Holy Roman Empire is not clear, but it was usually traced back to crowning of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III in 800. Charlemagne was previously King of The Franks, a group of Germanic tribes in modern day France. Charlemagne’s coronation was supposed to shift the power in Europe back to the West centuries after the power of the Roman Empire shifted east to Constantinople, modern day Istanbul (Kagan). In fact, the early name of the Holy Roman Empire was simply the Roman Empire as it was supposed to be seen as the continuation of the original. After the death of Charlemagne, his succession was disputed for generations until the Holy Roman Empire definitively formed. Otto I, a German who took control in...
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...Tertullian the author of The Prescriptions Against the Heretics is in no way apprehensive in his characterization of the heretics that were speaking against the Holy word of the Lord. In his prescriptions he contends that the heretics, specifically the Gnostics who believed the pathway to salvation is through intellectual seeking which allows them to be closer to their God, are amiss in their justification. He then goes one step further and attempts to identify the root of the heretics motivation, that being the study of philosophy. “… we ought not to be surprised ether at the occurrence of the heresies, since they were foretold”, states Tertullian in Chapter 1 which embodies the thinking of the Christian writers of the time. Given the fact that heretics and naysayers were prophesied in the religious texts these Christian scholars were always on the defense and ready to repudiate any claims made against the church, no matter how much validity there was to the argument. To begin Tertullian asserts that the prevailing heretics would in fact be those that call themselves Christians as well, “ The Lord teaches that many ravening wolves will come in sheep’s clothing. What is this sheep’s clothing but the outward profession of the name “Christian””. He then claims that the heretic is “self- condemned”, that being because “he chooses for himself the cause of his condemnation”. Yet his essential argument is that the nucleus of the heresy is philosophy, “It is philosophy that supplies...
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...World War (1914-1918) affect British power in Africa? PART B - To what extent did international relations explain the rise or fall of the British Empire in Africa from c.1870-1990? Resource Record • Your resource record must be completed before you start writing your coursework. • It will be sent to the examiner along with your coursework. • This is a record of all the reading you have undertaken. You will also be required to briefly assess how useful the reading was. • I will have to confirm to the examiner that you have read the source, and so will ask to see your notebook, which should contain all of your notes. • The resource record has no word limit. • This template below is what it will look like – it will be emailed you. |Source |Summary of what you learnt from the source |Reflections: usefulness / limitations of the source | |Burk, Kathleen (2006) “It took quite a long time for the |Britain was not one the first nations to try colonise |The source is useful as it is showing that Britain was forced into | |British Government to become interested in Africa ” | |colonising their empire in Africa as Africa was the wanted | | | ...
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...as well as historians since they disappeared of the face of the earth it seems. NASA-funded researchers believe that the Mayans themselves are responsible for their own extinction. The Mayans were supposedly a great culture that constructed pyramids and pavilions throughout Mesoamerica beginning around A.D.300 and disappearing around A.D. 900 (Harvey, D.A. 1977). By around A.D. 900, the Mayan civilization was in steep decline. New building stopped and the pyramids and ball courts were gradually abandoned to the jungle. Around this time the lowland population dropped by around 90 percent. There has been a lot of debate about what caused the collapse of the classic-era Mayan culture. Research by Stuart and Harvey (1977) suggests that the burdens of ritual warfare between city-states became too much or that a great epidemic decimated the population. Usually cultures will slowly become extinct as a result of numerous battles and many times from famine. However the Mayans simply disappeared as a culture. Researchers believe that Mayans were in harmony with their environment, but they made common mistakes as does most other cultures. Deforesting of the land and vegetation caused suffering for the Mayan people in that they could not find food and nourishment once the land had been destroyed. Most of the history of the Mayan speaks to how it took approximately 20 trees to melt one square meter of lime plaster in order to construct their extravagant temples, reservoirs,...
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...Beginning with the third century B.C. Roman economic policy started to contrast more and more sharply with that in the Hellenistic world, especially Egypt. In Greece and Egypt economic policy had gradually become highly regimented, depriving individuals of the freedom to pursue personal profit in production or trade, crushing them under a heavy burden of oppressive taxation, and forcing workers into vast collectives where they were little better than bees in a great hive. The later Hellenistic period was also one of almost constant warfare, which, together with rampant piracy, closed the seas to trade. The result, predictably, was stagnation. Stagnation bred weakness in the states of the Mediterranean, which partially explains the ease with which Rome was able to steadily expand its reach beginning in the 3rd century B.C. By the first century B.C., Rome was the undisputed master of the Mediterranean. However, peace did not follow Rome’s victory, for civil wars sapped its strength. Rome’s power hungry leaders and government lead to the downfall of their powerful civilization. Following the murder of Caesar in 44 B.C. His adopted son Octavian finally brought an end to internal strife with his defeat of Mark Antony in the battle of Actium in 31 B.C. Octavian’s victory was due in no small part to his championing of Roman economic freedom against the Oriental despotism of Egypt represented by Antony, who had fled to Egypt and married Cleopatra in 36 B.C. As Oertel (1934: 386) put...
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...Edmund Burke once stated, “those who do not know history are destined to repeat it.” Although these wise words were spoken much later than Herodotus’ time, it is almost definite that he would agree with this statement. Herodotus was adamant in investigating and recording stories of various cultures and premises, which is shown in his famous work The Histories. This nine-volume series is considered as the foundation of history in western literature. Often noted as “The Father of Histories,” Herodotus does an excellent, albeit verbose, job in teaching about history in his work Clio, otherwise known as Book 1 of the Histories. In Clio, Herodotus writes about Lydia’s conflict with Persia and how the arrogance plays a role in both of their demises....
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...Assess the impact of the Continental System on Europe after 1806 “England is a nation of Shopkeepers”- Napoleon Bonaparte It was on the 21st of November 1806 that Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, issued the Berlin Decrees; beginning a self-blockade of Europe that would last to some extent or another, for the next 8 years until his abdication on April 11th 1814. Bonaparte is purported to have believed that his policy of Blocus Continental would lead to inflation and large-scale debt within Britain, and while his desired impact of the Continental System unto the UK was not quite so dramatic, the affects that Napoleon intended as a result of the Berlin Decrees were extremely significant in terms of their impact upon Europe. However, there were also numerous consequential impacts of the Continental System which need to be examined if an objective assessment of its impacts upon Europe is to be made; aided by the classification of impacts into short and long term and positive or negative. The Continental System was intended as a way in which Bonaparte could force Britain into a peace, but its primary effect was that of alienation. After the Milan Decrees (17th December, 1807) endorsed and actively legislated for the capture of neutral ships sailing in international waters if they had traded at a British Port, carried British goods; or merely had allowed the Royal Navy to search their ship. This effectively changed the way in which trade worked across the Globe...
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...Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book I Kings, Empires, Bigotries and Victories Introduction There are two parts in this essay: the former part Kings and Empires compares the beginning of the universe with the formation of empires and looks at the several transformations of the world as the manifestations of the great power of the ruler; whilst the latter part Bigotries and Victories takes reference from the the quote “History is written by the victors” and the bias narrations in some stories to bring out the darker attributes of the worldly reality and its celebrated protagonists. Kings and Empires It is said that an unknown god commanded the jumbled elements in the universe to fall into order. Then, he assigned characteristics to these elements; fire is the lightest while water is the heaviest. To this mighty god, the world without boundaries was chaotic and restless. By being powerful enough to command and order these rudiments, he laid out systems and set up the foundations of the universe itself. His values became ‘the order’ and his words became ‘the law’. The creator and Jupiter are thus similar, as both at one time, ruled the cosmos and wielded this great power of the king. However, they should not be confused as the gravity of influence new rulers can bring to the world could have been another analogy that Ovid may have wanted to make through his retelling of the banishment of Saturn, Jupiter’s father. Throughout the text, the kingship of the universe has changed...
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...Themistocles showed great courage and thinking out of the box several times especially in engaging in battle against Persia. The first is when he convinced the Athenians to build up their naval power by convincing them to spend the money they found in silver to build more Triemes. He coyly did this by telling the Athenian assembly that they were building the navy to counter their city state rival Aegina, instead of Persia, because it would just anger the Athenians. Next, he did take the first answer of the Oracle of Delphi about the impending war with Persia. The first oracle was ominous and he instead decided to go to the oracle again for another message. He didn’t take the first answer, he looked for other alternatives. When he gets...
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