Chapters 2,3,4 & 5
Political
You need to consider the following
• How did the political patterns develop and fall in
each area?
• What similarities and differences develop?
• What political styles turned out to be effective
over other patterns?
China:
Dynasties
• Development
of a form of
government
known as the
dynastic cycle
• Very
centralized
1
6
5
4
2
3
The Dynasty Song
Shang, Chou, Qin, Han
(SHONG, JOE, CHIN, HANN)
Sui, Tang, Song
(TSWAY, TONG, SOUNG)
Yuan, Ming, Qin, Republic
(u-JUAN, MING, CHING)
Mao Ze Dong, Deng Xiaoping
(MAO-TSE-DONG, DUNG-SHEEOU-PING)
Zhou Dynasty (1029-258 BCE)
• Ruled through alliances and noble families
▫ Unable to centrally control expanded borders so
relied on a system of alliances to get troops and
taxes
▫ This is basically feudalism and China’s feudal
period
How did the Zhou control the
kingdom?
▫ Expanded territory to takeover the Yangtze River
Valley
▫ Heightened central control through the concept of
Mandate of Heaven (son of heaven) and by
claiming ties with the Shang
▫ Promoted cultural unity by banning primitive
religious practices
▫ Promoted a common language
▫ Confucius provided a set of common political
beliefs
▫ Created a common legal code
• Dynastic Cycle fall of Zhou and rise of Qin
Qin Dynasty (221-202 BCE)
• CENTRALIZATION
▫ Qin Shi Huangdi : First Emperor
▫ Took control of noble estates
▫ Organized China into large provinces ruled by
bureaucrats appointed by the emperor
▫ Built a powerful army to dissuade regional
rebellion
▫ Built the Great Wall to protect China from
invaders
• Legalism was the philosophical foundation of
the empire
Qin Innovation
▫
▫
▫
▫
Increased central power
Census to collect taxes
Standard system of weights & measures
Made Chinese written script uniform
• Qin was too harsh and taxes too high. It fell and
the Han rose
Han Dynasty (202BCE – 220CE)
• Saw the validity of Central Control without being
brutal
• Strong local rule continued to keep China in order
while still maintaining loyalty to the rulers
• Improved the state bureaucracy in order to create a
more effective centralized government
▫ Set up an examination system for government
employees. This was based on Confucian philosophy
• Cultural unity in Confucianism with shrines built
• Expanded borders again
• Contact with India and Middle East
Han contd.
• Wu-Ti= Most Famous Han Ruler
▫ Establish Confucian thought as basis of government
and society
▫ Create a school to train bureaucrats
▫ Improved Government functions
• State not highly militaristic; more judicial in nature
• Sponsored a lot of intellectual life
• Gov. actively involved in the economy- regulating
measurements, storing grain, etc.
• All subjects were taxed and required to do annual
labor in public projects
• Disobedience was punished harshly
Political theory throughout the
Dynasties
Regionalism
Legalism
Confucianism
Rome
Roman State
• Began as a monarchy in southern Italy in 800
BCE
• By 509 BCE, Roman aristocrats had driven out
the monarchy and established more complex
institutions
Roman Republic
• Approximately 500 BCE Republic established
and begins to exert influence over rest of Italian
peninsula
• Strong military orientation
• 3 Punic wars from 264-146 BCE greatly extend
territory
• Republic became unstable because generals
wanted more political power
• By 45 BCE Julius Caesar takes power and that
marks the end of the traditional Roman state
Governance in the Republic
• City-state organization lent itself to developing ownership
• Citizens often participated in the military giving them a
greater stake in politics
• Concept of active citizenship unique to Mediterranean culture
• Indirect Democracy
• Constitution tried to reconcile problem of aristocratic control so
all citizens could participate
• 2 Consuls who shared executive power
• Senate (patricians)
• Tribunes (plebeians)
• Twelve Tables: created a standardized system of laws and
established rights for defendants
• When defeating others in battle: assimilated conquered people
▫ Meant that many forms of political institutions
Roman Empire and Pax Romana (31476 CE)
• Augustus: First Emperor
• NOT a dynasty: succession often depended upon military
strength
• Kept the Senate but it was basically useless
• A lot of regional autonomy still
• Strong military organization
• Network of roads for military transport and commerce
• Proconsuls to govern regions
• Sharply divided between citizens and non-citizens
• Pubic entertainment to distract subjects and keep them happy
• Roman law- Rules became more objective
• Laws as a regulator of social life and held the empire together
• Legalize Christianity in 300s CE to attempt cultural unity
otherwise no attempt to force a common religion
Let’s talk about Persia
So Persia (550 – 331 BCE)
• Founded by Cyrus the Great (550-530 BCE) who
conquered other Iranian tribes
• continued by Darius I
• Largest empire yet
Concept of divine authority often employed
Zoroastrianism important to Darius’s rule
Complex Government
• 20 provinces headed by a satrap or governor
(similar to proconsuls in Rome)
• The satrap position was often hereditary
• Taxes or tribute sent to the central government by
the satrap
• Single currency
• Complex royal road system built
• Postal system
• Central administration set up in Elam and
Mesopotamia using trained administrators and
scribes
India: different kind of dynasties
• Very Regional
• Subject to frequent invasions
• From the beginning India was very
individualistic.
▫ Religion
• The trick with the two Indian dynasties was:
▫ How do you control and connect ALL these
different peoples
No song for this one
• Mauryan Dynasty
• Gupta Dynasty
Mauryan Dynasty (324- 184 BCE)
• From the end of the Epic Age until the 4th c. BCE
Indian plains divided among powerful regional
states
▫ 16 states by 600 BCE, some monarchies and
others republics dominated by a priestly class and
warriors
• 322 BCE Alexander the Great invades
• Chandragupta
▫ 1st rule to unify the subcontinent
▫ Very autocratic, relying on personal and military
power
• Developed an elaborate bureaucracy that ruled
from Pataliputra (even had a postal system)
• Maintained large armies
• Network of spies to maintain control
• Tax collection
Ashoka
• Ashoka
▫ Expanded Mauryan land
▫ Brutal until he converts to Buddhism and then
promotes peace
▫ Pillars of Ashoka
• After Ashoka the empire fell apart.
▫ It was too difficult to unite for long because they
never integrated the population enough
• Kushans push into India but collapsed by 220
CE
Gupta Dynasty (320– 600 CE)
• Out of the instability came a new empire
• Larger and less centrally controlled
▫ Rulers preferred to intermarry and negotiate with local princes to
expand influence
• Claimed they had been appointed by the gods to rule and
furthered Hinduism
• Allowed for more regional control
•
•
•
•
▫ Due to the individual nature of the subcontinent, this created
more stability
▫ No bureaucracy – they allowed regional control as long as the
regional rulers deferred to them
Uniformed code of laws
Promoted Sanskrit
Sponsored road building
Ultimately, no political culture existed here like in China and
Mediterranean partly because the caste system regulated
many social relationships
Greece: “Democracy” (500 – 338 BCE)
• Greeks were Indo-Europeans who took over the
peninsula by 1700 BCE
• 800-600 BCE rapid rise of Greece based strong on
city-states
• Beginning of the thoughts of active participation
in politics
• Developed out of a polis system (Greece)
▫ Strong city-states
▫ BUT they are able to come together under a
centralized government
• Many of todays political theories started here
Direct Democracy:
• all can directly participate (if
you are a citizen)
▫ This is Greece
▫ Why is this not reasonable
Representative
Democracy:
• all choose elected officials to
represent them in government
▫ Indirect Democracy
▫ This is Rome (REPUBLIC)
Greece
• Two strongest city-states were Athens and
Sparta
▫ Also very different political theories
 Oligarchy/militarism
 Direct Democracy
• Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 BCE) put Athens
and Sparta against each other
• Pericles
▫ Ruled during the Golden Age of Athens
• Fell to the Macedonian Kings in the North
Macedonia
• Phillip II took over the Greek city states and his son
Alexander establishes the Macedonian empire
• While his reign was short lived, Alexander
conquered a vast amount of territory and successor
regional kingdoms continued to rule after his death
• Hellenistic period
▫ Greeks were called Hellenes
▫ Greek art merged with other Middle Eastern forms
creating a unique form
▫ Trade and science flourished, especially in cities like
Alexandria in Egypt
China (Not too bad)
• End of the dynastic cycle
▫ God allowed invaders (Huns) to take over China
so there wasn’t anyone with favor
▫ Someone had to restart the cycle
 Daoists: Yellow Turbans
• Sui  Tang
• Not a complete downfall
▫ Basic core of the government was too strong to fall
▫ Threatened but not destroyed
India (not great)
• Again invaders were able to dismantle the Gupta
empire
• Central power over regional princes had been
declining for awhile
• Different:
▫ Invaders didn’t take over instead they were
integrated into the warrior caste
• Rajput: regional princes
• Religion stayed strong
Greece & Rome (DONE)
• Slow decline into the abbess
• Normal problems we have already seen
• Death Spiral
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
Population decline
VERY bad emperors
Plague
Invaders
Alliances
New ideas
What were politics like during
the classical period?
•
•
•
•
What is similar throughout?
What could be considered a pattern?
This is a time of growth, change and conquest
We see the emergence of 3 major areas of
strength and influence