Ap History: the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty

The Roman Empire and the Han dynasty were two of the most influential civilizations of all time. Their government, cultural ways of life, and philosophies are still used and widely practiced in today's world. Even though the empires were many miles a part, they both shared similarities in running their empires. Also despite the very strong numbers and size of each society, both eventually fell under. The decline of each empire is very unique though the empires had many differences in the reasons and severity for their fall, which included politics, invasions, and social decay. However they also portrayed similarities through those three topics. It is amazing how the Roman Empire which was established in 27 B.C and the Han Dynasty established in 206 B.C.E but have so much in common. While the Roman Empire was just being created, the Han dynasty had been up and running for 179 years. It is interesting that their beliefs in the way they thought about religion, government and the treatment of women were so similar as well.

Politics had much to do with the fall of each empire. In 202 B.C., the Han dynasty established a monarchy. It consisted of one emperor and several different chancellors. In the beginning of Rome's Empire, most of the cities had kings. However in about 509 B.C the Romans decided to establish a government, which is known as a republic. Unlike the Han's monarchy, not one single person ruled over everyone else. For a while each type of government worked, but the thought of acquiring more power became some rulers' main focus and eventually led to the fall of their empires. In 60 B.C, a war general known as Julius Caesar, became very popular throughout Rome. Many of the citizens looked up to his bravery and other respected men started to envy him. Because of his popularity there was talk of a dictatorship. This did not settle well with the other leaders of Rome and on March 14, 44 B.C, the day also known as the Ides of March, Julius Caesar was