International politics - Flow of Power

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: THE FLOW OF POWER inter

It is said that for many centuries there is a flow of power from east to west. All the mighty powers started from east to west. If we take a look at the map of the world and if we move from east to west we will find India in the east and America in the west and in between them are countries like Persia, Athens, Spain and British. Of course you will not find countries like Persia, Athens and British in the modern maps of the world. Today they are called Iran, Greece and Great Britain to be precise. It is also said that the flow of power again comes to the eastern side of the world. Will it be China? India? Or any other country, well God knows best. Meanwhile, we should take a look at the former powers of the world.

HIND (INDIA):

Hind was not the power of the world until Ashoka came in the scene and changed the destiny of this nation. Ashokaruled over this mighty nation from 232b.c to 268 b.c.It was the time of Ashoka when the population of Hind was 30 million and it stretched vast from lands that are presently called as Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan and to some areas of Afghanistan and Iran.

In the beginning of his era, he had the same way of ruling over the people as same as his father did. That practice of governance was efficient but cruel as well. Besides his enemies he left no room for the internal odds and dealt with them with iron fists. At the very same time, Ashoka started a war against Kalinga (neighboring state). This battle, witnessed the most brutal ways of clashes during wars. After 300,000 casualties of Kalinga People, it came under the rule of Ashoka. After that war Ashoka felt embarrassed about his action and assured that he would renounce war as well as embrace the propagation of Dharma. Most people believe that with the word Dharma, he meant to moral, social concerns and religious tolerance rather than Buddhism.

Ashoka instructed his officials to carve his sayings on stone piles in one of the simplest ways of fashion that was in at that times. He also instructed his official to plant fruit trees so that the people can get benefit from them by eating them and getting rid of hunger. He ordered to dig wells alongside the road to help travelers get rid of their thrust.

There are no significant witnesses that Ashoka converted to Buddhism, however, there are solid facts from the history that he chose Buddhism to be the religion of the state and also allowed its preaching. He himself worshipped the Buddha tree under and he provided a favorable environment for the Buddhist teachings.

With the Ashoka’s Death Buddhism also died. But it remained popular for the very long period of time in the native areas of Hind especially eastern and south eastern areas.

PERSIAN EMPIRE

It was the time as old as 550 B.C when geographical boundaries of a Persian empire consisted of vast lands and meadows. At the boom of its empire, a total land of 8,000,000 sq. km was under their direct control.With the help of Cyrus of Persia, the empire was expanded from Asia to Africa to Europe. Today these lands include Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon to be precise. At that time unlike Greece which was not a world power, Persia was the power stretching its wings at all the lands from Asia to Europe.The Empire had the system of management in which large civil and military commanders were answerable to the King of Persia.Persian Empire was raided by the Greece army and got defeated. As a matter of consequence, Persia was disintegrated into different lands having their independent existence as well as small colonies. Later on Persian rule re-established with the rise of Arsacids.

GREEK EMPIRE

It is believed that the history of Greek is as old as Abraham in 18^th century B.C. whereas there are many contradictions among the historian regarding the Greek uprising. These early inhabitants were state of the art, having sound culture and undefeated military power of their time. But after the attack of barbarians Greeks once again entered into Dark Age and emerged out a few hundred years later.

Formal history of Greece begins in late 7tyh century but we also know about the history of Greece which consisted of Sparta and Athens in 5^th century. Greece became the power once they defeated the great Persian Empire in 480 B.C. Greeks were so eager to fight that even many years, Sparta and Athens fought against each other and this war ultimately ended with the defeat and destruction of Athens.There were more fights among the Greeks at the time but all was stopped as the Great king Philip declared Alexander as his heir to throne which was latterly called in the history with the name of Alexander the Great.

At the end of 4^th century and the early 5^th century was the time when there were wars in Greece but this was also known as the period of the democracy and the sound culture of Greece. This was time of Aristotle and Plato. It is always showed that there was sound culture and art in the time of Greece but no one knows about the hidden rituals of Greek empire. For example in Spartan culture, children in the age of 7 years, were kept away from their parents and sent to military barracks where they were beaten and were given less to eat. And if any child wanted more to eat then he was to steal from other because they always said“To be Spartan meant to be tough”.

The Athenians on the other hand were in no way less than the Spartans. For example, children were killed in the early age as a famous man of that time wrote in his book, killing children is essential for society for there is law to not let imperfect children to grow up in that culture and there should be a fixed amount of population in the society. For your information this statement was given by famous Aristotle. In battlefield, Greeks were much disciplined then other civilization of that time. An average Greek soldier wore 80 pounds of armor. During fight they all were exhausted in just 45 minutes. Unlike others, Greeks were involved in fight in proper format and lineup which is nowadays called as the platoon formation.

From an early age, Alexander, showed his talent in military warfare and sword fighting skills. It was the time of alexander’s father, when he decided to invade Greek’s brutal enemy The Persians. Before that he was assassinated during his march in Persian grounds. The main unit of Alexander’s army was his infantry who had excellent armor and long spears of about 3 meters long. Infantry was lined up in squares and circle formations. During alexander’s battle against the Persians he extra ordinarily used his war tactics and defeated Persians on their grounds which outnumbered Greeks form ten to one. He was known for his unexpected and offensive skills. In battlefield, he enjoyed attacking the most heavily guarded point of Persian force e.g. The Persian king’s fleet.Persian army collapsed with the killing of Darius, the king of Persia. With the defeat of Persian armies, Alexander became the power of Mediterranean.

SPANISH EMPIRE

With the defeat of Rome,No country was able to stretch its legs outside Europe.It was but the time of 16 century when countries like Spain and Portugal became the noticeable powers of Europe in the fresh era of settlement.Portuguese were fond of travelling through ships in the 15^th century, with the passage of time their neighbors also copied their activities and began to explore new areas of the world. Spain’s internal conflicts were resolved with the union of Costilla and Aragon. This happened after the conquest of Granada in late 15^th Century.It was the time of 1490s when Columbus was sailing in the sea in search of Spain and got encountered by America. WhereasVasco da Gama was hunting for Portugal when he reached India in 1492. By 1506 all the continental shore of Caribbean Sea was explored by Spanish as well as Portuguese from Honduras to Orinoco. After that Spanish hunger for lands increased as a result there was the conquest of Cuba and the islands of Havana were under Spanish control, with the conquest of Cuba and the founding of Havana, the islands of the Caribbean are under Spanish control. As they got under control of Spain they were further used as the base point for other expeditions.
Soon after in 1521 there was a conquest in Mexico over the Aztecs Empire and then the crushing defeat to Mayan People in Yucatan. Central America was brought under Spanish control in first quarter of 16^th century. Also it was the Spanish empire,who defeated the great Inca tribe in west.
In mid-16^th centuries, lands that today comprised of Argentina and Brazil were also under control of Spanish.The single handedly vast exploration by a single country in the history is no doubt unparalleled. But the first important development in the history was the accomplishment of the project of Panama Canal. In 15 13 after the exploration of pacific ocean Balboa was given the assignment of having new ocean for Spain. But the rivals of fellow colonies proved to be the thorn in his way.Panama Canal became the important asset for the Spain as new expeditions were started through that canal (Pizarro on his expedition to Peru in 1530). And here it was also use for the purpose of trade and commerce across Spain and Europe.

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