Period 3 Study Guide

Thesis: * Although the Chinese, Han and Roman Empires differed in their reasons for conquest, and response to crises and their religion; they were similar in their implemented common language, trade methods, and their central governments and bureaucracy’s.

Outline for Compare and Contrast Essay I. Differences A. The empires differed in their militaristic importance and reasoning for conquest. 1. The Han Dynasty used Confucianism as a way to expand their empire; they spread it through trade and order. 2. The Han Dynasty spread their empire in a non-relentless way, or less often than the Roman Empire. 3. Romans used their reasoning from the gods, who often represented war, to conquer others relentlessly. 4. Peaceful religion was not as stressed for the reason for expansion, more so through blood shed and unrest B. In addition, the two different empires differed in their ways of response to crises. 5. Roman Empire responded with having a dictator for six months. 6. Han Dynasty responded with the current emperor losing the Mandate of Heaven. 7. Roman Empire had more times of crisis because there was a lack of control which the Han Dynasty had. 8. Han Dynasty was able to control, generally, those within the empire because of Confucianism. C. The different philosophical ideas and religious ideas contributed to the differences. Confucianism affected the Han Dynasty by providing a sense of commonality between people, including filial piety, which allowed for more stability. The Mandate of Heaven was also a cause of a difference since this controlled who was the emperor and who wasn’t. The Roman Empire responded to crises by allowing their personal beliefs of warrior-based ethos, influenced by their gods, and had a dictator appointed for six months. However, the Chinese Han’s Confucian ideology allowed for more order or the loss of the Mandate of Heaven. II. Similarities D. Both empires had a dependence on trade; this was important for quite a few reasons. 9. Trade allowed both empires to receive new technology, for example bronze which they both lacked until trade. 10. Trade helped connect the empires within each other as well as linking them to other places. 11. Also, trading helped establish new ways of transportation and trade, like the Silk Road. E. Additionally, both empires ruled with a bureaucracy and centralized government. 12. A centralized government allowed for total response to outside invaders and problems. 13. Without a centralized government, it would not be possible to stop as the empire would be constructed of smaller, less powerful groups of people. 14. Being bound together under a centralized government did not allow the possibility of confusion, for example, not knowing who part of the empire was and who was not. F. The fact that the Roman Empire and Chinese Han Dynasty lacked necessary materials and ideas caused them to depend on trade for many sources of physical and mental goods. They were able to acquire new technologies and ideas which benefited both empires somehow in some way. Because of their dependence on trade, it caused major trade routes to “pop up” throughout the times. In addition, the need to have control over the empire resulted in a bureaucracy that ended up being common for both. To prevent accidental conflict and be able to resist outside invaders, bureaucracies were setup to have a, so to speak, unstoppable force. III. Conclusion G. In the end, the Roman and Chinese Han Dynasty, although differentiating in the fact that militaristic importance in conquest and expansion and response to crises were not complimentary to one another, they were similar in that both had a dependence on trade and were operated by a bureaucracy. There are differences and similarities that both signify the similarities between empires, as well as showing the differences that can occur between empires. H. When seeing that both empires have the potential to be seen as the same or as completely different, you should realize that without a doubt, the similarities are ones you cannot overlook. In the end, they are both empires with common characteristics that cannot be ignored. These common characteristics have the potential to shape all of our views so that we see all empires rule with similar tastes and characteristics during their peak.