Preview

Alexander The Great, Ashoka, And Wudi: A Comparative Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1257 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Alexander The Great, Ashoka, And Wudi: A Comparative Analysis
In ancient time, in order to expand their empires and accumulate properties, many successful emperors or leaders usually conquered other places through strong military forces. Someone then concludes that “the most successful ancient empires were able to maintain hegemony over conquered peoples with little or no thought to anything besides military power.” However, a successful emperor, such as Alexander the Great, Ashoka, and Han Wudi, did not gain the political control of the conquered regions through military force, but adopted more complicated and efficient methods such as controlling or eliciting peoples’s thoughts through education, making strict laws and assimilation—adapting cultures of conquered areas as well as diffusing its own culture …show more content…
In fact, Alexander the Great adapted a very unique strategy to control and convince conquered people-assimilation. A the same time the Hellenization went, Alexander also respected certain regional custom of conquered areas. Such intolerance of different cultures created a sense of belonging for conquered people, so they would satisfy with their current lives and maintained the hegemony. For instance, different from Ashoka, who interrelated to other religions, Alexander the Great actually was very open to different cultures since he hoped to mix Macedonians, Greeks and conquered people into one larger group. He wore Persian clothing, encouraged intermarriage(even his wife was a Persian princess), respecting religions of conquered people, and even punished Macedonians who mistreated native populations (Lecture 8). His intolerance to other cultures worked and conquered people had less ambitious to take against him. His achievement was proved and appreciated by Plutarch, a Greek writer. Plutarch recorded that Alexander “strove to acquire the goodwill of the conquered by showing respect for their apparel, so that they might continue constant in loving the Macedonians as rulers, and might not feel hate toward them as enemies” (Plutarch on Alexander and Hellenization, p111). Therefore, Alexander the Great successfully controlled conquered people and maintained the peace through assimilation until his death. It was true that powerful empires would expand their regions through military force. However, it did not mean that military force could solve every problem after conquering. In fact, Han dynasty, the Maurya dynasty and the kingdom of Macedon utilized education, laws and assimilation as other kinds of bloodless weapons, to protect their expand regions

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Introduction (author 's name (professor /instructor (subject (date of submission ) Why the Spanish could conquer the Aztecs ? It was in 1519 when a band of Spanish conquistadors , led by Hernan Cortes arrived at the Yucatan Peninsula . Together with a small army of 600 men , Cortes sought out to conquer the Aztec empire for their country .…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In both China during the Han dynasty and the Roman Republic/Empire, the way they absorbed conquered peoples into their society was a very savvy way of governing. When the Romans or Chinese had conquered an opposing nation, instead of taking over the towns and cities and disposing of their rulers, they allowed the conquered peoples to govern themselves as long as they stayed loyal and gave tribute to Rome or the Emperor respectively. For example, when the Romans had taken over Gaul (modern day…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Early Roman Empires DBQ

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the early Roman, Macedonian, and Persian Empires, the government, laws, and economy were major influences in gaining authority over conquered lands.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The forms of conquest and domination throughout the Middle East and Central Asia varied greatly throughout the centuries. The most successful empires were able to expand and exert their dominance through tactics that had not been utilized in previous empires. While the Umayyad and Safavid empires were powerful, the Ottoman and Mongol Empires became two of the strongest empires in the Middle East and Central Asia due to their inclusion of minorities, powerful tactics, and expansion through military force and trade.…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The substantial size of the empire alone was enough to cause rulers difficulty in controlling the citizens. From 1162-1227, the Mongol was at it’s height, but from 1769-1821, the Mongol had decreased. As new emperors came to rule they were unable to control the empire in an organised way, so the size of world conquest decreased dramatically. The first ruler, Genghis Khan, conquered 4,860,000 square miles while the last ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte, conquered 720,000 square miles. After Genghis came Alexander the Great, but he only conquered 2,180,000 square…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Son of Phillip II, Alexander the Great is considered one of the greatest military commanders of all times. Alexander grew up watching his father Phillip II transforming Macedonia into a great military power. After his father Phillip II was killed by a bodyguard, he became king of Macedonia to then become Alexander the Great. Alexander employ the latest technology to conquer civilizations, such as the catapult and the serge tower. His intelligence and the way he commanded his military made him the most powerful man in the world. Macedonians were considered inferior to other city-states. Alexander the great wanted to achieve his father ambitions, he wanted to be Greece, seize Macedonia, and he wanted to invade the Persian Empire. He transformed…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    World History AP

    • 8777 Words
    • 36 Pages

    Empires were impressive because of the impact they had on regions that they conquered; their sheer size and the number of subjects over which they ruled; their military conquests; and their monumental architecture, often associated with the promotion of political authority.…

    • 8777 Words
    • 36 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Roman Body Armor

    • 3135 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Empire and control fell solely under the Emperor. With the increase of soldiers in the…

    • 3135 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Genghis Khan Thesis

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Thesis: Genghis Khan's innovative style of warfare won him an empire twice as large as any other in history, measured through land size or population. The Mongols spread revolutionary ideas of culture and civilization throughout Asia, an empire t Ghengis a false version of history that as the author points out largely demonizes the Mongols.…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the research/analysis novel Day of Empire, the author, Amy Chua, discusses her thesis of how hyperpowers (empires or nations that had a command that stretched to all corners of the known world in the known world of their respective times) all rose to dominance through tolerance and fell in power through intolerance. Through the introduction and Part One, Chua effectively communicates how the various hyperpowers of history all rose in might through their effective and strategic use of tolerance and acceptance of the different people that came to exist under their control. She also explains how the mighty empires fell through intolerance and lack of an overlying figurehead to which the people could become loyal to. From her research, she is able to support her thesis with the history of the great empires described in Part One.…

    • 2008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Persian empire at its peak has long been seen as one of the largest wholes during the classical era, and few have rivaled its size. The land that Alexander the Great was able to conquer, however, was one of the few that served as an appropriate challenge. Around the time of 338 B.C.E through 323 B.C.E., Alexander's collected mass was a whole. Of a Greek origin, Alexander was taught by Aristotle, the great philosopher, and it can be inferred that he used the strategic methods learned, among other things, to assist him during his expansion. It was short lived, however, when he died of an unknown cause at an early age of thirty-three. Even though his empire crumbled, his legacy lived on. Multiple cities, strongly influenced by Alexander, erected,…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Empires have been welcomed and glorified by people by being given empires laudatory names. They are seen as innocent without plans and reasons occasionally like the example of the United State invaded Iraq. Nevertheless, empires are not innocent, because rulers would like to plunder other lands and people by using them such as the British aggression of India and the Americans armed intervention against Iraq.…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The classical empires experienced periods of great power by centralization of power and establishing belief systems to maintain power over their empire. This is true for both Han China and Mauryan India. Both of these classical empires were very successful in the ancient world because they were able to expand and create strong political policies to keep their empires strong and stable. While both Han China and Mauryan/Gupta India built distinct political structure to ensure that their officials were implementing their policies, Han China and Mauryan India used belief systems as techniques to ensure that there was order in their empires.…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, his greatest achievement – which is to this day debated by scholars all over the globe – is his role in cultural diffusion. Contemporary scholars have viewed Alexander as a philosophical idealist, striving to create unity of man-kind by his so-called fusion of the races policy. He uplifted the status of ordinary human beings, or as Plato and Aristotle called them - barbarians, to the members of a polis –citizens as opposed to as just subjects. Alexander introduced tolerance to the Greeks and Macedonians. Through his liberal thinking he demonstrated that a Persian or any other race could be the equal of a Greek or Macedonian and participate equally in a mature government. It is clear that before such a revolution of thought, most Greeks and Macedonians followed the thoughts of Aristotle, who as previously mentioned, believe that Barbarians (who were particularly easterners and Persians) were menial, vile, treacherous and degenerate human beings fit to be only slaves of the Greeks. When Alexander passed away there was, by a combination of integration, his own authority and stats, the intermarriage with Asians and the appointment of Asians of offices. Thus it can be said that Alexander revolutionized the thinking of the Hellenistic world, which in conjunction with his vast conquests, expansions and education of his empire, not to mention being responsible for the physical and…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    It was once said by Alexander the Great that "there is nothing left to conquer". For many this quote can sum the career of Alexander as a magnificent King, commander and statesman. He achieved what no other had done in his time, but one must see both the positives and negatives of Alexander the Great as King, commander and statesman. As commander, Alexander without a doubt conquered territories on a superhuman scale and in doing so he fought many battles and defeated kings to achieve this. Though his achievements led to a stressed relationship between himself and his fellow Macedones and created a love-hate relationship between the two. This love-hate relationship followed into the aspect of Alexander being king. Alexander 's decisions and…

    • 2940 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays