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

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Date Posted: 08:10:32 03/09/02 Sat
Author: Chris Zegel
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 strongest civilization in the world for a few reasons. For one, they had an incredibly strong and organized army. With an army that was as effective as it was large, the Romans were able to conquer numerous lands, thus adding to their empire one people at a time. After a while, the enemies of Rome would grow more hatred for the civilization, but while Rome was so strong, these other peoples could not act on their desires to conquer the great empire. In addition to a strong military force, Rome had an extremely efficient government. Through forming the Triumvirate, the Romans were able to spread power evenly, avoiding a tyrannical rule. However, the government of the Romans was ultimately corrupted, and contributed greatly to the downfall of the empire. The corruption began with the formation of the Triumvirate, where power was basically distributed to opposite forces, with the much weaker tie breaking vote in the middle of the two. This eventually led to dissention among the leaders, and so an Emperor was finally declared as the sole ruler of Rome. Having a leader with absolute power works well if the leader is just and kind, but the Romans possessed rulers with cruel and bizarre streaks. There were enormous amounts of underhand schemes plotted to tip the balance of power in favor of a favorite son or nephew, and this led to paranoia and distrust among the Roman nobles. Incest seemed to be a lingering problem, and the family tree of the Ceasers seems to be a little bit off, probably contributing to the insanity of some of Rome's rulers. Finally, the office of the Emperor collapsed completely, and chaos ensued.

While the Romans managed to actually stick around for one thousand years, civilizations in the Middle Ages weren't as lucky. Perhaps one of the major differences in Rome and more recent societies was its unity. Rome was one empire, and under that empire it thrived and prospered. The different peoples in the Middle Ages were unrelated, with individual people, leaders, and customs. The Romans managed to unite under one power to achieve a greater good, while during the Middle Ages every individual kingdom was competing individually with the others for power. This way of going about things seems to have hindered the complete evolution of a civilization.

Note: My first attempt at posting, at like 2 AM last night, didn't succeed. I'm lucky that I had my writing saved!

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