Empires are defined to be very powerful and protective of personal power. They are not comparable to villages or towns, however these are the smaller elements which create an empire. Empires are dictated and controlled by an absolute power, such as an emperor. Depending on the ruler, some empires can survive successfully for a long time. In other cases, empires may fail prematurely. History has condoned the perception that the Roman and Han Empires had firm foundations. The facts of this view are debatable considering emperors did not get to conquer and live in glory eternally. In addition a form of government, military, and economically beneficial sources in both empires was not enough to defeat declination. The Roman Empire collapsed for assorted reasons. Political disorder and the frequency in changing rulers led to chaos, this contributed to initiating the empire’s downfall. In addition, the Roman Empire’s economy experienced anguish as the military emergencies occurred. The central government lost money severely considering the expensiveness of defending frontiers. Without any positive progress, the emperors increased taxes to make up for financial losses. The Roman coins, which were recognized as their “precious metal,” were consequently devalued. This series of events is referred to as the “third century crisis.” In 284 B.C. Diocletion attained power and constructed methods to reform and prevent the fall of the Roman Empire. Inflation, when the value of money decreases but prices continuously increase, was terminated.
Diocletion’s reforms included regulating pricing on goods and services. This regulation led to the view of a cruel government and the populace lost their desire to remain loyal to the emperor. Constantine’s time in power and favoring of Christianity initiated in the development of Rome’s strength partially. “Visigoths sacked Rome itself in 410″ (Page 151) ; This was when Rome had been defeated by enemies attacked through Germanic peoples known as Visigoths disconnected the western Roman Empire. This led to splitting the Roman Empire. Growing empires needed a large amount of money to maintain it with surviving resources such as water, and roads. Having roads were important for armies and communicating with other empires. Water was only acquired if it was available for the citizens of the empire, otherwise they wouldn’t have it. The militaries fought enemies for their sources of necessities. The problem with them fighting for their needs was it led them to financial problems and expenses. The Han Dynasty through the years 206 – 220 B.C.E had primary concerns in maintaining the security of the frontiers. Farmers in the Han Dynasty were controlled by the government while the herders were rebellious toward the government. Militaries are always going to have expenses to anyone who plans on controlling one. Unfortunately the Han Dynasty had trouble with the expenses from their military, which was one reason of the declination. One of the other causes for the decline of the Han Dynasty was inefficient and corrupted officials in the government.
They would take advantage of the common people because they had the ability and power to do so. During the downfall a lot of banditry occurred because of the population being so large. Once people had the chance to steal or commit crime they did it without thinking about consequences, just about how they would survive. Various similarities of the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty existed, such as their problems with defending what they needed for protection. Both of the empires had a lot of corruption with their governments that victimized the common people and partially led to why both empires collapsed. Agriculture for both empires was a way of the economy activities, and it was fun exercise for them as well. As in result to both empires, they had a lot of similar difficulties in having an eternal and loyal empire. If the corruption would stop and there was some honesty within people there would be an amazing success rate for both empires. Unfortunately those are the obstacles in having an empire because there will always be at least that one disloyal person who always seeks evil and greed.