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
▫ Will change throughout the span of the dynasty
▫ Feudal like
▫ Agricultural
• What did they do right?
▫ Expanded territory
▫ Mandate of Heaven (son of heaven)
▫ Confucius
• Dynastic Cycle fall of Zhou and rise of Qin
Qin Dynasty (221-202 BCE)
• CENTRALIZATION
▫ Qin Shi Huangdi : First Emperor
▫ Legalism
• Very strong
• Major innovations
▫ Increase central power
▫ Census, weights & measures, standardized writing
• 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
• Improved the state bureaucracy in order to
create a more effective centralized government
▫ Very successful
• Contact with India and Middle East
• Wu Ti: Famous Han Ruler
▫ Confucianism
▫ Improved Government functions
Political theory throughout the
Dynasties
Regionalism
Legalism
Confucianism
India: different kind of dynasties
• Very Regional
• 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
• Chandragupta
▫ 1st rule to unify the subcontinent
 India’s cultural and political identity is too
individualistic and that made unification VERY
difficult
• Ashoka
▫ Expanded Mauryan land
▫ Brutal until he converts to Buddhism
• After Ashoka the empire fell apart.
▫ It was too difficult to unit for long
Gupta Dynasty
• Out of the instability came a new empire
• Larger
• Allowed for more regional control
▫ Due to the individual nature of the subcontinent,
this created more stability
▫ No bureaucracy
• Uniformed code of laws
Let’s pause and talk about Persia
So Persia
• Founded by Cyrus the Great
• continued by Darius I
• Largest empire yet
• complex government
• 20 provinces headed by a satrap (governor)
• Taxes or tribute to the central government
Greece & Rome: “Democracy”
• 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
centralize 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
• Pericles
▫ Ruled during the Golden Age of Athens
• Fell to the Macedonian Kings in the North
Roman Republic
• Indirect Democracy
• Consuls
• 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
• Augustus: First Emperor
• NOT a dynasty: succession often depended upon
military strength
• Kept the Senate but it was basically useless.
• Roman law- Rules became more objective
• Laws as a regulator of social life
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