From Ways of the World (2009), “The US enormous multicultural society, its technological achievements, its economically draining & overstretched armed forces, its sense of itself as unique & endowed with a global mission, its concern about foreigners penetrating its borders, its apparent determination to maintain military superiority - all of this invited comparison with the Roman Empire. Supporters of a dominant role for the US argue that Americans must face up to their responsibilities as the ‘undisputed master of the world’ as the Romans did in their time. Critics warn that the Roman Empire became overextended abroad & corrupt & dictatorial at home & then collapsed, suggesting that a similar fate may await the American empire.”
What do you think? Is the US Rome? Do we have an empire? If we have an empire is it collapsing? Explain your answer. Write a full paragraph to answer the prompt.
Read the following quote from A People’s History of the World by Chris Harmon. Then please answer my questions below. I look forward to reading what you have to say.
“There were only two options if such groups (he’s talking about early civilizations in the Middle East and Latin America) were to maintain their settled way of life. One was to resort to raiding other agriculturalists (farming communities) for food, so that warfare became a growing feature of such societies….The other option was to develop more intensive and productive forms of agriculture. There was a premium on technological innovation. Farming groups which undertook it could survive the threat of famine. Those which did not eventually died out of fell apart. “ (p. 18)
Do you agree with Harmon that these are their choices? Which choices did early civilizations in India and China take? What choice would you make if you were a leader in an early civilization and why?
“Iron ore was much more abundant than copper. Turning it into metal required more elaborate processes (it was more difficult than with copper). But once smiths knew how to do so, they could turn out knives, axes, arrowheads, plough tips and nails for the masses. The effect on agriculture was massive. The iron axe enabled cultivators to clear the thickest woodlands, the iron-tipped plough to break up the heaviest soil. And the relative cheapness of the iron spear and iron sword weakened the hold of the military aristocracies (rulers), allowing peasant infantry (armies of poor people) to cut down knights in bronze armor.” (p46)
Harmon argues that the invention of using iron to make technology such as swords, ploughs, and cultivators changed societies greatly because the average person had access to this technology.
What technology from the last 5-25 years do you think has had a radical shift on society in the same way that Harmon argues people were affected by iron? In your answer be sure to compare the technology you are discussing to how iron changed society and to give concrete examples of how this newer technology has affected our society in a massive way.
