Ancient Kingdoms- Expansion and Empire Building
Ancient kingdoms and their expansion strategies were uniform throughout the ancient world. Persia, Rome, Athens and Sparta had expanded their kingdoms by means of conquests, wars and consolidation. The enlargement of kingdoms had but one purpose i.e. security as Thomas Hobbes notes: "If there is no power erected, or not great enough for our security, every man will and may lawfully rely on his own strength for caution against all other men" (99). Greece, Russia and all other major empires of the ancient world had their focus on just one thing, security which they sought through either conquests or consolidation with weaker nations.
It is strange but true that all major empires especially Sparta, Athens and Persia have histories that were interconnected. It was always believed both by the rulers and the ruled that mightier forces had the right to rule and for this reason, weaker nations would often find it beneficial to seek consolidation with stronger nation in order to get the required protection. This would result in expansion of empires and every single empire in the ancient world had this strategy incorporated in their expansion plans. Those with better military prowess were allowed to rule over the small and militarily weak nations as Thucydides observed: "The ones who acquired naval strength were not least those who applied themselves to naval power, thanks to the income in money and the domination of others" (353).
Greek city-states are an important example of expansion of empires. Since there was no significant imperialist force in the eastern Mediterranean, Greek city-sates prospered. Each one of them had accepted the rule that mightier forces should be allowed to prevail. Hence there were walls erected around city-states and weaker nations often allowed more powerful ones to reign for a variety of reasons. The stronger states would utilize their power and military strength to keep weaker nations strictly under their control. This consolidation also allowed the powerful city-states to protect themselves from possible attacks from Persia. However it was the Persian wars that exposed the weakness of Greek city-states and the need for consolidation under one power arose. Persian threats along with refusal of Sparta to offer help was what instigated the Greeks to consolidate their empire. (Kagan 31).
Persia was by the far the most organized and most powerful empire to reckon with. Their history dates back to 6000 B.C. And Iran is thus one of the oldest civilizations. Empire building was always a priority and from 612-330 BC, Persian Empire dominated Mesopotamia. The Achaemenid rulers created an empire that included present-day Iran, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, sections of Asia Minor and India. Persepolis served as the capital of Persian Empire and was founded by King Darius (522-486 B.C.). This capital was later removed by forces of Alexander the Great in 331 B.C. While Persia was an organized force, Greek was a fragmented power. This is what prompted Kind Darius to invade Greece. Most Greek city-states submitted to Persia with the exception of Sparta and Athens. Kind Darius decided to launch a full-scale military offensive against these states in 490 B.C.
Spartans, either out of fear or some other reason, did not lend support to Athens when Persia invaded but it managed to defeat the powerful Persian armies on its own. This enraged Persian rulers and in 470s B.C., Xerxes, son of King Darius set sail again- this time with a much bigger and more powerful army. However Athenians defeated the 1200 Persian fleet with their 400 vessels and caused great humiliation to the empire of Persia. This led to immense popularity of Athens within Greek city-states and many states offered to join Athens as a sign of solidarity. Another major reason for this growing friendship was the unpopular government of Pausanias in Sparta who, had "begun to reveal the true arrogance of his nature... (and) appeared to be trying to set himself...
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