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Compare And Contrast The Roman Empire And The Han Dynasty

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The roman empire and the Han Dynasty had many similarities as well as differences. Many of which were political and social with the assembly of political figures as well as the woman's role within the house hold. A few of the differences are their individual forms of government and military campaigns led by each empire. The woman's role in both the Han Dynasty as well as the Roman Empire were similar in that woman were expected to be submissive to the dominant men in their households as well as the requirement of working hard within their house with little to no reward. Within the Roman Empire, women were to remain loyal to their fathers until such time as they were to marry at a very young age to a man that they were promised to.
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One of the greatest achievements of the Han Dynasty is the invention of paper. This invention lead to a great increase of literary works published during this era which we still study to this day. Another achievement of the Han dynasty is the establishment of an irrigation and water conservation which assisted in turning the dynasty around after that decline. The improvements to their farming tools especially the wheelbarrow assisted in that reversal as well. During the Han period, contact with the West by the use of the Silk Road was a major achievement during that period. The Silk Road was established through the trade of Chinese silk and was a significant boost in the development of the civilizations. During this time the Chinese, Romans, Indians and Arab traders to name a few utilized the Silk Road in order to trade their goods to establish their livelihood. Unfortunately though, there is also an item that would be considered to be something that wasn't considered an achievement with the Silk Road and that would be the Bubonic plague also known as the Black Death that was inadvertently traded during that time due in part to widespread disease and the openness of the Silk Road. Other inventions and achievements during the Han Dynasty are the sundial, acupuncture and cast iron …show more content…

Internally, the decline of the Han Dynasty can be contributed to the assassinations of their emperors as well as their inability to collect enough taxes due to the early warning systems in place by the peasants in which they would go into hiding and wait for the tax man to leave their village to avoid paying taxes. This led to their inability to fund their armies to repel outside attacks. The external causes of their collapse was the same reasons other nations faced, attacks from outsiders. The most important factor in their collapse would have been the Sino-Xiongnu war. For over 200 years the chinese and the Xiongnu fought, although the Han crushed the Xiongnu, that victory ultimately crushed the Han government. After the Han destroyed the Xiongnu, they moved west, gathering more groups and establishing a bigger group known as the Huns. The interesting part of the formation of the Huns is that they were unable to defeat neither the Roman Empire or the Han Dynasty, but their attacks weakened them enough economically that it ultimately led to each of their

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