Peoples and Empires

Mitchell Kuhnert

Introduction

• The introduction of Peoples and Empires tells of Jorge Luis Borges’ story, “The Story of the Warrior and the Captive,” and of its main characters, Droctulft and his Indian captive.

• This story is told to exemplify the difference between industrialized, colonial superpowers and their Native, unindustrialized contemporaneous counterparts. The Indian is brought to the Byzantine city of Ravenna, and thoughts and desires he has never harbored immediately take hold of him, rendering him a completely different person.

• The author goes on to tell how this book Peoples and Empires, will go on to explain the story of this divergence of totally different cultures, and the reasons why they evolved so differently.

• Empires are then explained, as they have flourished and self-destructed throughout history. The importance of empires is profound, both upon its own citizens and upon those many groups they conquer throughout their years. The book will ultimately tell the tale of the interaction of peoples throughout history, as well as interactions between the societies they form and differing peoples.

Chapter I

• This chapter tells of the first empires of the European peoples, beginning with the Greeks. The Greeks formed much of what know as civilization today; from their beautiful language to astronomy, advanced warfare, philosophy, zoology, botany, etc. etc. The author also compares the epic, historical-fiction, poems of the Greeks like Homer and Ovid, to many epic stories of history told by many other civilizations throughout history. The Iliad, was particularly important in describing the historical events of the Trojan War.

• Alexander the Great is described, first as a pupil of Aristotle, and then as the great leader who brought unity the many Greek city-states. Much of Alexander’s empire had been prepared for him by his father Phillip II, the man who transformed Macedon into the most powerful Greek city-state. Alexander destroyed one of the most powerful civilizations in history, the Persian empire.

• The latter-half of this empire describes the latter-portion of the life of Alexander. Upon reaching his limits at the Beas river in Bactria, he turned back and went back home. Alexander’s ultimate vision of world domination had not been seen in such a full manifestation ever before in history, setting a profound precedent for all subsequent rulers.

Chapter II

• The second chapter in effect briefly describes the history of the Roman Empire, from its beginnings in the seventh century B.C. to its ultimate demise.

• The Romans were brutal and vicious in their warfare, and highly innovative in their military technology. In this way, they were able to conquer many surrounding civilizations. War meant so much to the Romans that the word virtue meant only “one’s courage in battle.”

• They conquered Alexander’s fallen empire of Macedonia around 168 B.C, and Corinth in 146. Most of the Roman Empire as we know it was acquired before the seizing of power by Julius Caesar in the first century B.C.

• While it had classes, like all civilizations, it offered its patrician class a chance at wealth, and its society was fairly civilized, by our standards at least. The people strongly preferred a strong monarchial leadership, in order to retain order and military power.

• The many advances of Roman society are explained, from fairly civilized urban planning to the highly advanced Roman law.

This chapter was very interesting, as I have always been fascinated by the Roman Empire.

Chapter III

• After the fall of the powerful Greek and Roman empires, the Europeans were largely influenced by Germanic invaders, and Latin took on a profound importance in European society.

• The Habsburg’s, particularly Charles V, grandson of Maximilian I, and his quest for universal Empire. Charles swore, even to Pope Pius III, that he did not wish for universal empire, but he was not believed by many.

• Charles’ main rivals were the Ottomans, the Safavid and the Mughal. All of these empires were fighting to be the next great empire, descendants of the Greeks and Romans.

• The author goes on to tell of the importance of the Habsurg’s territory being a land-mass region, central and not in correlation with the vast ocean. He hints that the next portion of history will be an epoch of the ocean, where the universal powers will be those who have mastered the seas.

• I liked this chapter because I did not previously know much about the vast Habsburg empire, and it explained it briefly yet thoroughly.