World Without The Roman Empire Essay
The World Without the Roman Empire Currently, European nations are the world leaders in terms of military, wealth, and advances in technology. This has been the way ever since the second millennia, even though Europe has almost no natural resources or other advantage than the rest of the world. So why is Europe the current world leader that it is? The answer lies in the origin of Europe, which is the Roman Empire. The advantage the Roman Empire had, compared to the rest of the world, is that they greatly valued philosophy and mathematics, and were able to spread that ideology throughout the rest of Europe. This led to Europe having advanced technology in the fields of Science and Engineering, which is what led them to developing military further
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than any other place and colonizing the rest of the world. This allowed their ideas to spread across continents. So what would a world without the Roman Empire look like? After careful consideration of several factors, I have concluded that a world without the Roman Empire would have both good and bad consequences. Many lives would’ve been saved and many conflicts would’ve been avoided, but this would come with the cost of hundreds of years of lag in the technology that we use today. The first thing that needs to be looked at when speculating on a Europe without the Roman Empire is their new military strength.
When the Romans took over the Greeks, a closed community beforehand, they took many things from them, including the alphabet and new engineering techniques. They then used the innovations they took from the Greek to improve their own military, and unintentionally spread the military advances they developed to the rest of Europe. Therefore, if the Roman Empire had not existed, the greek civilization wouldn’t have ever spread onto the rest of Europe, and consequently, this would’ve left Europe without the military strength that they developed later on. This is an extremely significant realization when we look at the period after the Roman Empire, when the crusades took place. The crusades, a deadly series of battles between European Christians and Arab Muslims, would have taken a completely different path if it weren’t for the Roman Empire. The battles fought were on edge. The Muslims and the Christians were almost equal in strength, with some battles won and some lost. The Muslims eventually succeeded in taking over Jerusalem, but weren’t able to go on deeper in Europe. Therefor, if Europe didn’t have the advantage of innovations and military techniques that they got from the Romans, the Arab Muslims would have easily taken over Europe, and Europe would’ve become a promptly muslim
state. So what would a muslim Europe look like? Considering that Islam was already spreading throughout Africa, that would mean that almost all of the world would’ve had the same religion, with the exceptions of isolated parts of the world, such as Eastern Asia and the Americas. This would, unarguably, make the world more united, and therefor lead to less conflicts. The way Europe goes on from there is not predictable. Would there be revolutions, or would the Europeans accept Islam as their religion? This would depend on the treatments of muslims toward the new generations of Europeans, which is more likely to go smoothly than otherwise. If we look at what happens when islam spread to other places, we can see that when people convert to islam, they are regarded as equals to all other muslims, except in their behavior. This was because the Prophet Mohammed (praise be upon him) said,”There is no difference between an Arab muslim and a non Arab muslim, except in piety”. This standard was held when Islam conquered other nations, and would probably be held in Europe as well. As we follow the time line of European history, then, we can see that the French revolution would have been avoided, since it was caused by the famine the poor class had to deal with, and Islam requires every muslim to give Zakat. Therefor, if Islam spread to Europe, there would have been more unity among the people, and many wars in Europe would have been avoided. Another major event that needs to be considered in this scenario it the Americas. Although Arabs developed fast and easily maneuverable ships before Europeans, there would have been no cause for them to try crossing the world. The reason Christopher Columbus tried to do it was so he could find a better route to India. If Europe and the middle East were joined by one religion, however, routes that go through the land would’ve been a lot more manageable, and American tribes would have probably developed for several more hundred years before coming into contact with any other civilization. So what would happened when the two side of the world eventually meet? The collision between the two worlds would have probably went a lot smoother than what happened with the Europeans. When Christopher Columbus reached the Americas and settlements started taking place, many tribes were already joining forces, such as the Iroquois Confederation. However, Native Americans simply lacked the unity needed to become a challenge to the muslim force. Each tribe in the Americas had their own beliefs, tradition, language, and culture. The islamic community, however, would’ve been more united, so they would have easily been able to conquer the Americas. However, the two parts of the world would probably not meet until several hundred years later. The last significant aspect of a world without the Roman Empire is where we would be right now with regard to technology. As previously established, a world without the Roman Empire would’ve led to less major wars. That does, however, come with a bad side as well. As we can see from our recent history, war is one of the main drivers of innovation and technological advancements. As Barry Commoner said, “World War II had a very important impact on the development of technology, as a whole.” For example, many of our every day utilities started out for military purposes. This includes Radios, wide use of the internet and computers, medical advances, and many other things. This is because war is a major motivator to focus all of nations’ resources into defending themselves. Therefor, if it weren’t for the many wars that pushed innovators into looking for ways to advance each nation, we would still be living a life style similar to a traditional economy, where life is based around hunting, agriculture, and trade. So what would a world without the Roman Empire look like? It would be a world based on agriculture, hunting, and trade. It would be promptly muslim (except for the isolated parts of the world) with less conflicts, and less technology as well. This would have a major impact on our everyday life today.
than any other place and colonizing the rest of the world. This allowed their ideas to spread across continents. So what would a world without the Roman Empire look like? After careful consideration of several factors, I have concluded that a world without the Roman Empire would have both good and bad consequences. Many lives would’ve been saved and many conflicts would’ve been avoided, but this would come with the cost of hundreds of years of lag in the technology that we use today. The first thing that needs to be looked at when speculating on a Europe without the Roman Empire is their new military strength.
When the Romans took over the Greeks, a closed community beforehand, they took many things from them, including the alphabet and new engineering techniques. They then used the innovations they took from the Greek to improve their own military, and unintentionally spread the military advances they developed to the rest of Europe. Therefore, if the Roman Empire had not existed, the greek civilization wouldn’t have ever spread onto the rest of Europe, and consequently, this would’ve left Europe without the military strength that they developed later on. This is an extremely significant realization when we look at the period after the Roman Empire, when the crusades took place. The crusades, a deadly series of battles between European Christians and Arab Muslims, would have taken a completely different path if it weren’t for the Roman Empire. The battles fought were on edge. The Muslims and the Christians were almost equal in strength, with some battles won and some lost. The Muslims eventually succeeded in taking over Jerusalem, but weren’t able to go on deeper in Europe. Therefor, if Europe didn’t have the advantage of innovations and military techniques that they got from the Romans, the Arab Muslims would have easily taken over Europe, and Europe would’ve become a promptly muslim
state. So what would a muslim Europe look like? Considering that Islam was already spreading throughout Africa, that would mean that almost all of the world would’ve had the same religion, with the exceptions of isolated parts of the world, such as Eastern Asia and the Americas. This would, unarguably, make the world more united, and therefor lead to less conflicts. The way Europe goes on from there is not predictable. Would there be revolutions, or would the Europeans accept Islam as their religion? This would depend on the treatments of muslims toward the new generations of Europeans, which is more likely to go smoothly than otherwise. If we look at what happens when islam spread to other places, we can see that when people convert to islam, they are regarded as equals to all other muslims, except in their behavior. This was because the Prophet Mohammed (praise be upon him) said,”There is no difference between an Arab muslim and a non Arab muslim, except in piety”. This standard was held when Islam conquered other nations, and would probably be held in Europe as well. As we follow the time line of European history, then, we can see that the French revolution would have been avoided, since it was caused by the famine the poor class had to deal with, and Islam requires every muslim to give Zakat. Therefor, if Islam spread to Europe, there would have been more unity among the people, and many wars in Europe would have been avoided. Another major event that needs to be considered in this scenario it the Americas. Although Arabs developed fast and easily maneuverable ships before Europeans, there would have been no cause for them to try crossing the world. The reason Christopher Columbus tried to do it was so he could find a better route to India. If Europe and the middle East were joined by one religion, however, routes that go through the land would’ve been a lot more manageable, and American tribes would have probably developed for several more hundred years before coming into contact with any other civilization. So what would happened when the two side of the world eventually meet? The collision between the two worlds would have probably went a lot smoother than what happened with the Europeans. When Christopher Columbus reached the Americas and settlements started taking place, many tribes were already joining forces, such as the Iroquois Confederation. However, Native Americans simply lacked the unity needed to become a challenge to the muslim force. Each tribe in the Americas had their own beliefs, tradition, language, and culture. The islamic community, however, would’ve been more united, so they would have easily been able to conquer the Americas. However, the two parts of the world would probably not meet until several hundred years later. The last significant aspect of a world without the Roman Empire is where we would be right now with regard to technology. As previously established, a world without the Roman Empire would’ve led to less major wars. That does, however, come with a bad side as well. As we can see from our recent history, war is one of the main drivers of innovation and technological advancements. As Barry Commoner said, “World War II had a very important impact on the development of technology, as a whole.” For example, many of our every day utilities started out for military purposes. This includes Radios, wide use of the internet and computers, medical advances, and many other things. This is because war is a major motivator to focus all of nations’ resources into defending themselves. Therefor, if it weren’t for the many wars that pushed innovators into looking for ways to advance each nation, we would still be living a life style similar to a traditional economy, where life is based around hunting, agriculture, and trade. So what would a world without the Roman Empire look like? It would be a world based on agriculture, hunting, and trade. It would be promptly muslim (except for the isolated parts of the world) with less conflicts, and less technology as well. This would have a major impact on our everyday life today.