Essay on Factors Leading to The Collapse of Past Societies

At present day, our worldwide civilization of the human race continues to surpass many achievements of other past societies. Everyday, new technological advances are being achieved and the population is growing faster than it ever previously has. We must look back at past civilizations and analyze them to understand what is in store for us in the future. In the pursuit of progress, human societies create problems they do not have the resources or political motivation to solve, for fear of short term losses in status or quality of life, which prevents further advancements and sometimes leads to collapse.1 Three factors that have enabled past civilizations to fall into progress traps and ultimately contributed to the collapse of those†¦show more content†¦Collectively, it is not hard to imagine each city-state setting themselves up for failure due to their competitive nature. Competition for power and an increasing need for prosperity lead to Copan’s collapse, and ultim ately the Classic Maya civilization as a whole. Secondly, the Roman civilization had a number of social disputes, which contributed to its collapse. Among those, political instability emerged as the root cause for its downfall.2 â€Å"One of the revealing ironies of Rome’s history is that the city-state’s native democracy withered as its empire grew.† (Wright, 90). The assassination of Julius Caesar fueled existing conflicts further. Self-proclaimed emperors after Caesar’s death and the overall political imbalance of the weakening empire lead to war, invasion and trade disruption. These disturbances created a ripple effect that lead to massive amounts of crime, increased cases of disease, and widespread famine. Without the social conflicts regarding political relations, the Roman Empire may not have fallen as extensively. Thirdly, social conflicts in China marked the end of the Ch’in dynasty in 206 B.C. Hungary peasants rebelled against their oppr essive leaders. Revolting peasants dug into an emperors tomb, stole weapons from his Terracotta army, and used them to overthrow the existing emperors at the time. Although initially viewed as a positive event, the overthrowing of their own leaders proved to have a devastatingShow MoreRelatedThe Implications of Water Pollution1513 Words   |  7 Pagestransporting goods. All of which help sustain a societys stability. In Jared Diamonds book, Collapse, he reveals similarities and differences in past failed societies and determines that societies that have failed or will fail, do so because of a combination of factors. These factors include environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, and primarily, how the societies respond to their problems (Diamond p.11). 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