Day_of_Empire-_Essay

Essay: Day of Empire Amy Chua, author of Day of Empire, explains how tolerance plays a key role in the rise and fall of history’s globally dominant empires. She explains what an empire is and what a hyper power is, and how one can properly differentiate between the two. Chua’s main argument is that in order for a civilization to properly grow and become a globally dominant power, it must be tolerant, while intolerance will lead to the opposite; the fall of the empire. The first civilization that Amy Chua discusses about is the Achaemenid Persian Empire. This empire’s story begins with Cyrus the Great. His past is only legends, but by 559 BCE, he had become a vassal king under Astyages in Persia. A few years later, he led a rebellion and took over the Median kingdom in 550 BCE. Cyrus was a very tolerant leader, embracing new cultures and allowing the people he conquered to join him. He had high religious tolerance, which made him very favorable. When Cyrus died, he left the rule to Cambyses, who ruled from 530-522 BCE, but effectively expanding the kingdom. After him came Darius the Great who rules from 522-486 BCE. He continued the Achaemenid tradition of cultural and religious tolerance. Chua explains that from these policies of tolerance, Darius reaped tremendous benefits. Instead of wasting resources destroying conquered populations, Darius harnessed their different skills, talents, and resources. After Darius died, his son Xerxes took over. Xerxes broke the pattern of tolerance, being cruel, and intolerant of others. His behaviors led to uprisings and revolts, so that when Alexander and the Greeks came, they turned to him. Alexander followed the great Persian emperors before him, employing strategic tolerance to win favor. He raised the largest army on earth by incorporating tolerance. By 324 BCE, world dominance had passed from the Persians to the Greeks. For all his feats, Alexander’s greatest legacy was a degree of transcontinental cultural unity that the Persian kings never reached. Amy Chua’s evident support her thesis that as tolerance grew, so did the Persian and Greek empires, but as intolerance grew the empires began to collapse. These two empires caused many different social, political, and economical effects. To begin with, the Achaemenid had a unique type of growing its kingdom using a politically tolerant strategy of “decapitating” the leadership of new conquered kingdoms by sparing the former leaders and replacing them with his [Cyrus] own. Cyrus and the Persians embraced linguistic and cultural diversity. The Achaemenids were also religiously tolerant, helping other religions such as the Jews. The Achaemenid’s rule resulted in a taxation system, communication system, a standard currency, and even mail services. The Greek empire also had many impacts during the time. Using tolerance, Alexander created the biggest army the world has ever known. The Greeks also became one of the richest empires in the world by using the skills and talents of the people they conquered instead of killing them. In the second chapter, Chua gives a more notable argument when describing the role of tolerance in the Roman Empire and how extreme intolerance led to conflict between pagans and Christians, as well as conflicts between Christians. The Roman Empire was founded by Romulus in 753 BCE and the empire spanned for more than two millennia. By 275 BCE, Rome had grown dramatically and became the largest state in Europe, covering 50,000 square miles of land. During Rome’s ancient times, tolerance played an important role in its growth. Its religious and cultural tolerance, as well as the “glue” that made people want to be Roman, made Rome one of the most successful civilizations to ever exist. As Chua mentions again, while tolerance was essential in the growth of the empires, it also sowed the seeds of its eventual disintegration. Christianity was one of the main sources of intolerance, first as the target of intolerance, then as its source. During 300 CE, Christianity spread to every corner of the empire. At first people were intolerant of it, but as it grew and became the main religion, it began to become intolerant to others. With this, many of the other religions began to riot and revolt— splitting the Roman Empire and leading to its downfall. Amy Chua uses the rise of fall of the Roman Empire to verify her argument that tolerance is necessary in order for a kingdom to become a globally dominant power, but tolerance also will later affect the kingdom and may lead to its downfall. Ancient Rome had numerous amounts of accomplishments, economically and politically. Rome was a model of economic globalization, open markets, and free trade. It became an enormous free-trade zone trading goods to even other continents. Rome’s global economy extended to the Far East, traveling even as far as the Silk Road. Not only did items travel, but so did the skilled and talented people who wanted to join Rome. Rome offered many opportunities for distant regions. One of Rome’s many remarkable feats is its citizenship system, which helped many foreigners join in on Rome’s glory. Rome also had a huge impact on religion. It spread Christianity to every corner of its vast empire, making Christianity one of the predominant religions in the world. Amy Chua moves to the east to China’s Tang Dynasty, which was established in 618 CE. Its first emperor was Emperor Taizong (originally Li Shimin). His goal was to establish a universal empire where both the Chinese and barbarians would be equals, with him being their supreme ruler. In 630, through a combination of what is quoted, “personal charisma, bluff, nomadic ceremonies, and battle tactics”, Taizong became the first Chinese ruler to establish dominion over the steppes. Taizong, as a Chinese emperor, was surprisingly tolerant of other religions. He welcomed not only Buddhism, but also new, unfamiliar religions that foreigners brought from the west. After Taizong’s death, others came to the throne, but the next major figure was Ming Huang. Like Taizong, he was famous for his tolerance of foreigners, and of cultural and religious differences. Because of all the tolerance, many diverse groups began to not obey the Emperor, in which the Emperor responded by relying on foreign military power. When these groups began to feel used and manipulated, they quickly turned on the Chinese. This slowly led to the fall of the Tang Empire. The Tang Empire ascertained many economical achievements. Because of their tolerance of foreign relations, the Chinese expanded their economic power, extending their trade routes to the west and Africa. The Tang Dynasty was also a center of learning and high art. Cultural and art flourished like never before, radiating to the entire Eastern Asia. The Tang Empire had an effect on other empires at the time, such as the Umayyad caliphate of the Middle East. It created many foreign relations, affecting much of the outside world. In the last chapter of this part, Chua describes the Great Mongol Empire. Genghis Khan, originally Temujin, started the Mongol Empire by united all the steppe people who used to war and quarrel but were united together because of Genghis Khan’s tolerance. Every time he conquered new groups, tribes, and kingdoms, he gave them a chance to become part of the Mongols. By 1206, Genghis Khan ruled the entire steppe, but continued to conquer eastward. By 1215, his conquest of northern China was complete. As always, with each new city plundered, he took in the skilled and talented, using them to his advantage. Khan was also religiously tolerant, allowing anyone to worship as they pleased. When Khan died in 1227, the Mongols were left to his third oldest son, Ogodei who spent more than he gained, which led to the decision of conquering new lands. He decided to split the Mongols, half sent to conquer Europe, and half to conquer southern China. Intolerance played a big role in their victory over Europe. The Christian Europeans saw the Mongol invasion as the Jew’s fault, which led to intolerance leading to wars that divided Europe, making it easier for the Mongols to conquer. Later, Genghis Khan’s grandsons ruled the rest of the world, including the Middle East and southern China. The rule of the Great Mongol Empire ended in 1368 when the new Ming rulers, fueled by intolerance, sent Genghis Khan’s descendants fleeing back to the steppe. The Mongols had an enormous impact on the world. First of all, their tolerance of ethnicities and religions made the Mongol Empire one of the most diverse empires ever known. Not only that, by they had a huge impact on trade and society. They conquered land and connected Europe, Asia, and even the Middle East more closely than ever before. Trading increased between the land, and cultural items spread from one place to another. The Mongols effectively helped create the modern world as we know it.