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

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Date Posted: 12:40:55 03/08/02 Fri
Author: Tom O'Brien
Subject: Re: topic 3
In reply to: j curboy 's message, "topic 3" on 05:21:40 02/26/02 Tue

>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.

The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful, respected and long lasting civilizations to ever exists. I believe there were many reasons that enabled the Romans to last for such a long time. Several of theses reasons included their powerful yet disciplined army, their extremely well organized government and the people of the empire. Several reasons that led to the downfall of Rome were its inability to stop the Teutonics from invading Rome, slavery and heavy taxes. A modern day society that can be compared to the Romans is the French.
The first reason why the Romans lasted as long as they did is because of their extremely powerful army. This army enabled them to conquer practically whoever they wanted. Not only would they conquer a civilization they would destroy it so that there was no possible way for the civilization to rebuild. One example of this is the Punic Wars in which the Romans destroyed Carthage. After the first two Punic Wars the Romans had sufficiently beaten their opponents. However that was not enough for them. They started the Third Punic War in order to completely destroy Carthage. This enabled the Romans to take control of the entire Mediterranean area. Also since the Romans made it impossible for civilizations to rebuild they were forced to join the Romans, which added more civilians, which lead to a bigger army. If the Romans had not have had such a powerful army I do not believe they would have lasted as long as they could. Another thing that helped Rome last was its extremely well organized government. At first their were two social classes in Rome, Patricians and Plebians. The Patricians were the richer of the two. The Patricians ran the government while the Plebians performed other essentials. Even though more groups were added and the system was changed I believe that having these two groups with their own separate jobs helped Rome tremendously. Even though later others were aloud to govern the Patricians created a government for Rome that was extremely well thought out and efficient. If Rome had not of had this type of government I do not believe that there is any chance of it surviving one thousand years. One more thing that helped the Romans last for so long was the citizens of the empire. These citizens did not have the same principles that we have now, this helped them last for so long. For example is the Romans did not like someone or saw someone as a threat they would kill them before they had a chance to act. Nowadays this type of action would be frowned upon. However killing someone before they have a chance to act against definitely helped the Romans survive as long as they did. If the people back then had seen this as incorrect then it would not have continued and Roman would have fell sooner.
One cause of the Roman downfall was their inability to stop foreign armies from invading their empire. If the Roman army had been able to stop foreign armies near the end of their civilization then the Roman Empire would not have been taken over. This would definitely have prolonged their civilization. Another thing that caused the downfall of the Romans was slavery. When slaves arrived in the Roman Empire big farms and factories were created. Thus putting the individually owned business out of business. The civilians who were formally hard at work during the day were now board out of their minds. Now that everyone was board all day long they lost all their morals about what is right and what is wrong. Thus leading Rome to its decline.
A modern day civilization that can be compared to Rome is the French. Back in the time of the Revolutionary war the French owned much of America. However the lost most of it to the Britains and the United States during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. If the French army had been able to fend of either of these two countries then there would have been a better chance of the French controlling more of America. Since this did not happen the French were only given a piece of America and finally they were completely kicked out of America.
In conclusion, several things that enabled the Roman Empire to last so long was its army, its government and the morals of its people. Also several things that led to the downfall of Rome was its inability to keep foreign invaders out of Rome, slavery and high taxes. Also a modern day civilization that Rome can be compared to is France.

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[> Re: topic 3 -- Skyler Chick, 12:42:31 03/08/02 Fri

During the time of the Romans, they were the most powerful civilization around the Mediterranean region. Like all civilizations, the Romans had a vision of lasting for a thousand years, and succeeded. The Romans were able to last for a thousand years because of their government, social classes, revengefulness, and their thirst to conquer all surrounding lands.
For the first five hundred years of their existence, Rome started as a Republic and later reformed its government into an empire. The government supplied a strong and well-trained army. Because of Rome�s thirst to conquer surrounding lands, they often succeeded. The Punic wars were mainly in the favor of the Romans. Although the first and second Punic wars were started by the Carthaginians, The third and final Punic war began due to the Romans. This last war was started out of revenge. The Romans crossed the Mediterranean and over to Carthage in northern Africa. There the killed the men and took the women and children back to Rome as slaves. In addition, the Romans salted the fields of Carthage so that it would be impossible to grow anything for many years.
Because people were now afraid of the gruesome war tactics of the Romans, many regions sided with Rome. One example was Greece. This was a good thing on their part because the people of Greece had little worry of Rome attacking them. This also gave Rome more land to add to its empire.
Another factor that helped contribute to Rome�s success is the social classes consisting of the Patricians and the Plebians. Although the differences between these two groups led to civil war, it helped Rome set up a government to keep them on their feet. Government was a very important thing to lead to the success of a civilization. When Rome became an empire it succeeded because of its limitations and laws on people. Many of the Emperors seemed cruel but because people were limited to the things they could do, there was a lower risk of rivalry and revolts. In addition, the government was well organized with the first five emperors of Rome but the next twenty-three years after the death of the last of the first five emperors, Rome had twenty-eight different emperors during that twenty-three year period. Sometimes there were more than one emperor at a time. This caused great disorganization in the government and later led to the downfall of the Roman Empire.
Many of the more modern civilizations were not able to succeed in lasting for a thousand years. I think that disorganization in the government is a cause of this. Also, I think that because many laws in modern civilization are in small favor of the citizens, there is more room for disagreement. I also think that many kings and emperors of modern civilizations have too much power and should have allowed some to the public, while still keeping it limited.

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