THE COLLAPSE of CLASSICAL EMPIRES: Han China, Rome, & Gupta India
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1 THE COLLAPSE OF CLASSICAL EMPIRES: Han China, Rome, & Gupta India As the classical period drew to an end, the classical societies that helped to shape it were all suffering through periods of decline. Between 200 CE and 600 CE, all three classical civilizations – Han, Rome, and Gupta – collapsed entirely or in part. EPIDEMIC DISEASES While serving as routes for the distribution of trade goods and highways for the spread of religious beliefs, the roads and the sea lanes of the classical world also facilitated the movement of biological agents. The Silk Roads were the routes by which grapes, camels, and donkeys made their way from the Mediterranean region to China, while cherries, apricots, peaches, and walnuts traveled in the other direction, from Central Asia and China to the Mediterranean. Alongside the fruits and nuts were some less welcome traveling companions – infectious and contagious diseases that sparked ferocious epidemics when they found their way to previously unexposed populations. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, the Han and Roman empires suffered large-scale outbreaks of epidemic disease. The most destructive diseases were probably smallpox and measles, and epidemics of plague may also have erupted. All three diseases are devastating when they break out in populations without resistance, immunity, or medicines to combat them. As disease ravaged the two empires, Chinese and Roman populations declined sharply. During the reign of Emperor Augusts, the population of the Roman Empire stood at about 60 million people. During the 2nd century CE, epidemics reduced the Roman population by about one-quarter, to 45 million. Most devastating was an outbreak of smallpox that spread throughout the Mediterranean basin during the years 165 CE to 180 CE. The epidemic was especially virulent in cities, and it even claimed the life of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (180 CE). In combination with wars and invasions, continuing outbreaks caused a significant population decline during the 3rd and 4th centuries CE: by 400 CE the number of Romans had fallen to perhaps 40 million. During the 5th and early 6th centuries CE, the Roman population stabilized, but an epidemic of plague broke out in the mid-6th century and caused a general population decline throughout the Mediterranean basin. Epidemics appeared slightly later in China than in the Mediterranean region. From 50 million people at the beginning of the millennium, Chinese population rose to 60 million people in 200 CE. As diseases found their way east, however, Chinese numbers fell back to 50 million by 400 CE and to 45 million by 600 CE. Thus by 600 CE, both Mediterranean and Chinese populations had fallen by a quarter to a third from their high points during classical times. Trade Networks of Classical Afroeurasia: 2 Effects of Epidemic Diseases Demographic decline in turn brought economic and social change. Trade within the empire declined, and both the Chinese and Roman economies contracted. Both economies also moved toward regional self- sufficiency: whereas previously the Chinese and Roman states had integrated the various regions of their empires into a larger network of trade and exchange, after about 200 CE, they increasingly established several smaller economies that concentrated on their own needs instead of the larger imperial market. In the Roman empire, for example, the eastern Mediterranean regions of Anatolia, Egypt, and Greece continued to form a larger, integrated society, but regional economies increasingly emerged in western Mediterranean lands, including Italy, Gaul [France], Spain, and northwest Africa. The demographic histories of classical Persia, India, and other lands are Figure 1. Mass grave of victims from the Antonine Plague that struck the Roman Empire not as clear as they are for between 165 CE and 180 CE. China and the Roman empire. Persia most likely experienced demographic, economic, and social problems similar to those that afflicted China and the Mediterranean basin. Gupta India may well have suffered from epidemic disease and population losses, although there is limited evidence for those troubles in South Asia. In East Asia and the Mediterranean basin, however, it is clear that epidemic disease seriously weakened Chinese and Roman societies. ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES Environmental problems, such as siltation, saltation, and deforestation, while less dramatic than the impact of diseases, were subtle factors in the collapse of many civilizations. As settled agriculture spread throughout Afroeurasia, extensive irrigation and slash-and-burn agriculture took a toll on the land. By 600 CE, people had been farming in the same lands for thousands of years. Overgrazing of domesticated animals and the production of crops such as wheat and barley depleted the soil of nutrients and, in some areas, led to desertification. Irrigation systems left deposits of salt, which over thousands of years left lands sterile, a particular problem in more arid regions like Mesopotamia. Flood control and irrigation systems, like those used in China, built up the river bottoms and made the rivers flow faster. This exacerbated flooding problems, often making them worse than they had been historically. In addition, flood control systems tended to build up silt around the river’s mouth, often filling in land and changing the river’s course. Another environmental challenge was deforestation. In an age when the only fuel available for fires and the main building material for structures such as homes was wood, forests around urban and agricultural 3 areas became denuded of large trees. The loss of ground cover resulted in loss of topsoil, mudslides in hilly areas, and challenges to local economies as the need for wood forced urban areas to ship timber in from farther away. Although these challenges were often noted in ancient accounts, there was little that classical societies could do to avoid these problems. COLLAPSE OF THE HAN By the late 2nd century CE, Han authorities had largely lost their ability to maintain order. Early in the 3rd century CE, in 220 CE, the central government dissolved, and a series of autonomous regional kingdoms took the place of the Han state. With the disappearance of the Han dynasty, China experienced significant cultural change, most notably an increasing interest in Buddhism. Nomadic Barbarian Invasions Beginning long before the Han dynasty, China’s contacts with its northern neighbors had involved both trade and military conflict. China’s neighbors sought Chinese products such as silk. When they did not have goods to trade or when trading relations were disrupted, raiding was considered an acceptable alternative in the tribal cultures of the region. Chinese sources speak of defending against raids of “barbarians” from Shang times (c1500 BCE – 1050 BCE) on, but not until the rise of nomadism in the mid-Zhou period (fifth to fourth centuries BCE) did the horsemen of the north become China’s main threat. The economy of these pastoralist nomads was based on raising sheep, goats, camels, and horses. Families lived in tents that could be taken down and moved north in summer and south in winter when groups of families moved in search of pasture. Herds were tended on horseback and everyone learned to ride from a young age. The typical social structure of the steppe nomads was fluid, with family and clan units linked through loyalty to tribal chiefs selected for military prowess. Charismatic tribal leaders could form large coalitions and mobilize the entire society for war. Chinese farmers and Asian pastoralists had such different modes of life that it is not surprising that they had little respect for each other. For most of the imperial period, Chinese farmers looked on the northern non-Chinese horsemen as gangs of bullies who thought robbing was easier than working for a living. The nomads identified glory with military might and viewed farmers as contemptible weaklings. In the late 3rd century BCE, the Xiongnu (known in Europe as the Huns) formed the first great confederation of nomadic tribes. The Qin dynasty’s Great Wall was built to defend against them, and the Qin sent out huge armies in pursuit of them. The early Han emperors tried to make peace with them, offering generous gifts of silk, rice, cash, and even imperial princesses as brides. But these policies were controversial, since critics thought they merely strengthened the enemy. Xiongnu power did not decline, and in 166 BCE, 140,000 Xiongnu raided to within a hundred miles of the Han capital. Figure 2. Disney's stereotypical Hun (from the cartoon movie, Mulan) Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty decided that China had to push the Xiongnu back. He sent several armies of 100,000 to 300,000 troops deep into Xiongnu territory. These military campaigns were costly and of limited value because the Xiongnu were a moving target: fighting nomads was not like attacking walled cities. If the Xiongnu did not want to fight the Chinese troops, they simply moved their camps. The Han heavily invested in the extension of the Great Wall and establishment of military garrisons to protect against the Xiongnu and other barbarian groups like them. Maintaining a military presence so far from the center of China was expensive. To pay for these expenses, taxes were raised for the citizens of China by the central government – a burden that the majority found increasingly difficult to pay. To expand the size of the Han army, the government also recruited Xiongnu 4 mercenaries to defend China’s frontier. Their loyalty to the Han was certainly an issue. More importantly, perhaps, military expenses threatened to bankrupt the Han government. Internal Decay of the Han State The Han dynasty collapsed fundamentally because of internal problems that its rulers could not solve. This contributed to the breakdown of centralized government. One problem involved the development of factions within the ranks of the ruling elites.