Re: topic 3 -- Early World History, Level I

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Date Posted: 17:57:09 03/07/02 Thu
Author: Ryan Maclachlan
Subject: Re: topic 3
In reply to: j curboy 's message, "topic 3" on 05:21:40 02/26/02 Tue

The Romans were the most powerful civilization of the western world and in its day, probably of the world (I have no information on Chinese or Mongolian civilizations' flourishing dates). The Romans were rarely in danger of being attacked with serious dangers to their society because their army was tremendously powerful and well-organized. However, these are the external workings of the empire which did not prevent the people from breaking apart. The governmental part of this was initially the early republic. When the plebians ended up rebelling in 471 B.C. by not joining the army, Roman patricians quenched their thirst for participation by adding the tribunes to the republic. Their only duty was to prevent laws from being passed that would hurt the plebians by use of the veto. Therefore, the plebians really had no basis for complaint as far as not being involved in government because, they were. This is a good lesson which the British Empire should have taken note to with regards to the famous American complaint. Back with Rome though, the plebians also had the Assembly of Tribes which was an assembly of themselves, thirty-five plebians groups. The Twelve Tables further finalized the fact that the patricians did not always get their way. This lack of supreme power all in one location allows for a happier people, which is more likely to stick together. When Rome ran into trouble where the plebians were starting to rebel at a local level and the security of the nation staying as one was threatened, a new leader always seemed to step up to the plate, ready to take on the problem. In this situation, Marius did and passed laws for the common people. Due to the fact that there had been vast numbers of slaves from Carthage many people were out of jobs, but entertainment existed. The development of organized entertainment allowed the poor Roman citizens to have something to look foward to, this something also kept them quiet about problems like slavery. Had the people nothing to do or eat, the slavery may have been deleted or possibly the government overthrown due to the lack of available jobs. The first welfare system was also devised to allow the Romans to avoid a governmentally dangerous effect of angry, starving citizens. Skipping much time, we arrive in the existence of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. He modified the officials selection system, by basing it on ability rather than relation. This leads to mentally stronger officials who can accomplish their jobs efficiently and effectively. However, as advanced as Rome was, they had not yet devised a more advanced military system which would maintain their stronghold. In addition, the Germanic tribes had been consistently gaining power which leads to a more difficult defense. This defense was weakened consistently in addition to political instability with no order to how the leader should be determined. The economy also started a decline ending Rome's great wealth. The near constant attacks from the Germanic peoples kept the army very busy. The political instability lead to the division of Rome into two seperate empires, this weakened the empire far more. Finally, the Germanic general Odoacer took over Rome and was able to overthrow the emperor without establishing a replacement leading to the recognized end of the Romans as 476A.D.

The more modern civilization of the Inca had not been able to last as soon as the Spanish invaders arrived on their soil. The Incans were very well organized and dealt with groups of problem conquered nations people well, by sending them to long controlled Incan territories. The problem with the Incan civilization was that they depended too much on their one leader (depositism government) which in turn caused their demise. The Spanish came in and took over their leader Atahulpa by surprise in 1532. Although there is contoversy as to whether Atahulpa knew of this surprise and why his defense was not better planned because he knew the noisy Spanish were in the area. Nonetheless, when Atahulpa was taken captive, the rebellions was small and unorganized. The Spanish would have had no chance if the entire nation had rebelled as one because there were only 177 Spanish men and well over 2 million Incas. However, the rebellions were small and surpressed by the Spanish due to their superior weaponry. Until 1569, the Spanish had been fighting the Incan rebellions, until they were all surpressed. Due to the lack of education, when the Spanish taxed the world out of the Incas, they did not rebel.

As far as similarities go, both empires fell due to an outside force. However, the Romans fell to a larger groups of forces attacking frequently. In addition, they suffered from internal problems leading to their downfall. On the other hand, the Incans were fairly strong when it came to leaders, although Atahulpa had just beaten his brother to take control of the Incan Empire. The Incan Empire was still strong, they were defeated due to some good outside tactics and curious internal failings within their own government -- much different from what the Romans had. The Romans were losing the respect of the people, where the Incans just didn't seem to acknowledge the existence of the far outnumbered enemy. The Romans and the Incas were quite different systems, but the Roman decline was inevitable, while the Incan downfall should not have occured as suddenly as it did.

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[> Re: topic 3 -- Jean Ritucci, 07:52:55 03/08/02 Fri

>Every civilization to come down the pike has visions
>of lasting for a thousand years. This is especially
>true of the Romans. Investigate why the romans were
>so successful for so long and what finally caused
>their downfall. Compare this to any more modern
>culture to see if there are any reasons why the more
>modern civilizations are not able to LAST. Use
>specifics when making your arguement.

I beleive that the reason that the Roman civilization lasted for so long was becuase they had a very strong government and they had rulers that ruled for long periods of time, so the emperors were able to "break-in" the government....(just testing...not my real answer)

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