Appendix C
Events shaping changes in World Leadership Centers
ANCIENT (BC) |
Start Date event |
End Date event |
|||||||
4000 |
2700 |
First major cities in Mesopotamia |
Warfare among Sumerian cities |
||||||
2700 |
1075 |
First pyramids built |
Last of New Kingdom pharaohs, Egypt in chaos |
||||||
1075 |
745 |
Phonecian cultural, trading leadership |
Phonecian city Tyre conquered by Assyrians |
||||||
745 |
612 |
Assyrians conquer Tyre |
Nineveh falls to Babylonians |
||||||
612 |
539 |
Babylonians conquer Nineveh |
Babylon conquered by Persians |
||||||
539 |
478 |
Persian Cyrus conquers Babylon |
Xerxes loses 2 battles to Greeks |
||||||
478 |
323 |
Athens creates the Delian league |
Death of Alexander the Great |
||||||
323 |
197 |
Ptolemy gains rule of Egypt |
Macedon conquered by Rome |
||||||
197BC |
378AD |
Rome defeats Macedon |
Visigoths defeat Romans at Adrianople |
||||||
MIDDLE (AD) |
|||||||||
378 |
467 |
** Chandragupta II starts reign 376 |
Death of last great Gupta king. Hun invasions, major Gupta territory lost. |
||||||
467 |
589 |
Events leading to Rome's fall in 476 put focus on Byzantium |
Byzantine army pay cut 25%, leading to revolts and civil strife |
||||||
589 |
756 |
Emperor Wen reunites China |
Rebel An Lushan takes Tang capital Chang'an |
||||||
756 |
929 |
Abbasids/ Iraq in power 750 |
Cordoba caliphate established 929 |
||||||
929 |
976 |
Cordoba caliphate established 929 |
Al-Hakam II dies 976, leaving 10 year old son Caliph |
||||||
976 |
1071 |
Basil II becomes Byzantine ruler |
Byzantine defeats at Manzikert and Bari |
||||||
1071 |
1294 |
Wang An-shih's governing/ fiscal reforms foster prosperity* |
Death of Kublai Kahn |
||||||
MODERN (AD) |
|||||||||
1294 |
1434 |
** By the late 13th century, Venice is the most prosperous city in Europe. |
Wars against Milan and Ottoman empire victories weaken Venice |
||||||
1434 |
1508 |
Cosimo de Medici takes lead in Florence |
Michaelangelo leaves Florence for Rome |
||||||
1508 |
1527 |
Michaelangelo starts Sistine painting |
Sack of Rome by Habsburg forces |
||||||
1527 |
1588 |
New world riches flow to Spain; Charles V emperor in 1530 |
Defeat of Spanish Armada |
||||||
1588 |
1609 |
English defeat Spanish Armada |
James I has problems with Parliament; he dissolves it in 1610 |
||||||
1609 |
1672 |
Spanish driven out of N. Netherlands |
France and Britain declare war on the Dutch |
||||||
1672 |
1814 |
French troops rout Dutch army, enter Rhineland |
Napoleon abdicates |
||||||
1814 |
1830 |
Congress of Vienna starts |
Beethoven dies 1827, loss of Vienna vigor |
||||||
1830 |
1918 |
First railroad operates (in Britain) |
Britain/ France need US help to win WWI |
||||||
1918 |
present |
Wilson leads WWI treaty |
*Military power is normally part of the world leadership centers above. A notable exception is Sung China. In a 1141 peace treaty, they declared themselves vassals of the Jurchen in northern China. The Sung also agreed to pay an annual tribute in silver and silk. But the huge prosperity in their remaining lands nevertheless made them the world's cultural leader. The splendors of the Sung era are regarded by many as the apogee of traditional Chinese civilization.
As shown above, often war losses (or victory) are major factors in the shifting of the world's top civilization from one nation to another. But other major devastations have not affected top standings. Examples:
A Venice plague in 1347-9 wiped out 3/5 its population. But Venetian prosperity continued.
The French Revolution 1789-1799 brought anarchy. But its ideals added to France's world intellectual leadership.
**Neighboring power shifts are apparent in most of the leading civilization changes. Two exceptions:
1. from Rome to India. By the time of Augustus up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos (a Red Sea port in Egypt) to India. So much gold was used for this trade, and apparently recycled by the Kushan Empire for their own coinage, that Pliny the Elder complained about the drain of specie to India:[11]
"India, China and the Arabian peninsula take one hundred million sesterces from our empire per annum at a conservative estimate: that is what our luxuries and women cost us." from Wikipedia on Indo-Roman trade and relations
2. from China to Venice. The prosperous Silk Road trade encouraged Venetians like Marco Polo to travel to China and bring back reports of what that civilization had accomplished.
Go to:
Go to: outline of this World Civilizations section of the website
Comments to: VanSloan@yahoo.com