Rausey Mason

APWH Period 3A
Mr. Harris
9/18/14
As two of the worlds greatest empires came to their final days, most people
would think that their demises wouldnt be similar at all seeing as they are halfway across
the world from each other, but in reality these 1st century superpowers had almost
identical falls. The collapse of the Western Roman and the Han Empire were similar in
that barbarians invaded them both and both were plagued weak government officials that
caused civil war, although they were different in that in Rome currency became less and
less valuable, which wasnt a problem in China, but in China the Han Empire ended
much more quickly than the Roman Empire.
First and foremost the ultimate demise of both of these great empires was sparked
by the constant threat of barbarian invasion and the eventual relentless attacks that were
extremely detrimental to both empires government and economy. In Rome, it was the
Germanic tribesman who took advantage of the on going civil wars that we will discuss
later and managed to cripple the society of Western empire, which came to an end in 476
B.C.E. Now this was an almost identical situation in Han China with Mongols from the
north and the barbarians of the east constantly attacking the perimeter of the country and
eventually making there way into the agricultural centers of the north causing economic
hardships leading to civil war. Both empires governments and economies crumbled due
to these attacks, which had enough of an effect where neither could recover.
In essence to the constant barbaric attacks, civil war was the biggest factor in the
destruction of these grand empires. As the situation became dire in Rome, individuals

such as Julius Caesar and Mark Antony assembled armies more loyal to them than the
state which caused horribly destructive civil wars during a period of turmoil, in the years
88-31 B.C.E, bringing the empire to its knees. Although this was not the end of Romes
problems because during the third century crisis peasants who felt they werent being
protected by the government split off from the rest of society and then from each other
causing vast economic issues and more civil war. The situation was nearly identical in
Han China when armies of foreign soldiers fighting for money and not the empire
plunged the empire into vast civil war, and after a series of bloody victories, General Cao
Cao terminated the Han Empire in 220 C.E.
Although the fall of these empires were very similar in nature, there were some
distinct differences between the ends of these powerhouses. One thing that truly sparked
the end of Rome and had no effect in China was that greedy emperors who worried about
the lack of tax revenue and drainage of the treasury began to reduce the amount of
valuable metals within their coins and took the rest for themselves. People caught on
extremely quickly and the devaluation of coins led to the cease of long distant trade,
which made the empire crumble economically.
The final and probably the most obvious difference between the falls of these
great empires was the fact that the Han Empire ended much quicker than the Roman
Empire. Now there were a variety of reasons for this, but the main reason is simply
because the Han Empire was much smaller so the demise was much more spontaneous
ending within 200 years of the beginning of its decline while in Rome, the constant
reforms of people such as Diocletian who kept the western empire afloat until 476 C.E.

when the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus, abdicated from
his throne.
All and all there were some striking similarities including barbaric invasions and
civil wars plagued with corrupt militaries and rioting commoners that brought these
empires to their demise, but also some glaring differences such as the devaluation of the
roman coin and the speed of which each empire ended. This proves how even the worlds
most powerful reigns eventually will come to an end.