Part 6 (2/2)

Socrates is forced to commit suicide for corrupting Athenian youth.

359 BCE BCE.

Philip II becomes king of Macedon.

334 BCE BCE-326 BCE BCE.

Philip's son Alexander the Great conquers Persian Empire.

300 BCE BCE.

Chandragupta unites India, founds Maurya Dynasty.

221 BCE BCE.

Qin s.h.i.+ Huang unites China in short-lived Qin Dynasty.

218 BCE BCE.

Hannibal attacks Rome.

206 BCE BCE.

Chinese peasant general Liu Bang founds Han Dynasty.

202 BCE BCE.

Hannibal is defeated.

146 BCE BCE.

Romans destroy Carthage.

88 BCE BCE.

First Roman civil war.

58 BCE BCE.

Julius Caesar invades Gaul.

44 BCE BCE.

Julius Caesar is elected dictator for life, but is then a.s.sa.s.sinated.

31 BCE BCE.

Caesar's adopted son, Octavian, defeats Antony and Cleopatra.

27 BCE BCE.

Octavian becomes first emperor of Rome.

SPINNING THE GLOBE.

China Takes It on the Qin

(Then Gets Everything in Han)

China's Zhou Dynasty didn't so much collapse as fade away, with the kings of Zhou drifting off into secluded irrelevance as the rest of the country descended into civil war. The chaos that followed from 475 to 221 BCE is known as the ”Warring States” period, and the name pretty much sums it up: six main contenders and a bunch of smaller also-rans duked it out in b.l.o.o.d.y wars until a surprise late entry-a ”barbarian” kingdom in northwest China called Qin (p.r.o.nounced Chin)-suddenly rose to power.

SOMETIMES YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU...

Qin s.h.i.+ Huang's burial included an army of 8,099 life-size clay soldiers, horses, and chariots, which would fight for him in the afterlife. Still on display near his capital city, Xi'an, his ”terra-cotta army” was a.s.sumed to be legendary until 1974, when Chinese farmers digging a well discovered it. The soldiers range in height from five feet, eight inches to six-two. Every face was sculpted individually, possibly using real soldiers as models. The clay soldiers were probably symbolic subst.i.tutes for human sacrifices common during earlier periods.

Like Alexander the Great, the leader of Qin, Qin s.h.i.+ Huang, was a talented outsider who conquered a huge amount of territory in the ”civilized” world. And as with Alexander, Qin s.h.i.+ Huang's empire didn't last, but it did lay the groundwork for the Han Dynasty, which united China around the same time Rome united the Mediterranean world. The English word China China comes from ”Qin.” comes from ”Qin.”

Qin s.h.i.+ Huang was incredibly brutal. He had thousands of prisoners of war executed, burned most of China's books, and worked to death hundreds of thousands of peasants in giant projects. Some of these projects were good for China-its first national road system, for example-but the Great Wall proved fairly useless, and his extravagant tomb was pure vanity.

Qin s.h.i.+ Huang's most lasting accomplishment was abolis.h.i.+ng China's feudal system. Helped by his prime minister, Li Si, he broke the power of the independent n.o.bility who brought down the Zhou Dynasty. Qin s.h.i.+ Huang replaced them with civilian administrators and military commanders, separating responsibilities so no official could become too powerful. Although the feudal system slowly returned, the central administration allowed later Chinese emperors to reestablish order even after b.l.o.o.d.y civil wars.

Happily, the first b.l.o.o.d.y civil war wasn't long in coming. After Qin s.h.i.+ Huang died, in 210 BCE, his incompetent son Huhai survived only four years on the throne before his own prime minister forced him to commit suicide. But thanks to Qin s.h.i.+ Huang, this period of disorder didn't last long. In 206 BCE, a charismatic general from Jiangsu province, Liu Bang, reunited Qin s.h.i.+ Huang's empire. Even though he was born a peasant, Liu Bang proclaimed a new dynasty, called the Han.

THE QUOTABLE LAO TZU.

”In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present. When you are content to simply be yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.””When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists.””Governing a large country is like frying a small fish. You spoil it with too much poking.”(from the Tao Te Ching, Tao Te Ching, trans. by Stephen Mitch.e.l.l trans. by Stephen Mitch.e.l.l)

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