In the old generation time, the world was controlled and ruled by various empires. These empires were from different regions; Europe, the Near East (also called the Middle East), India, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Some of the empires that standouts were majorly in Asia, Middle East, and Europe two of the commonly known include the Mongol and the Roman Empires. This paper will compare these two empires taking consideration about how they came up and strategies which they used to create and maintain their rule.
Mongolian empire is one of the oldest empires of the world. The empire arose in the Steppes of Mongolia in the 13 th Century. The Mongolian empire has been described as one of the few which transformed the map of the world by spawning new countries and changed the trading methods. The empire also changed the landscape of leadership by being among the first to accept leadership based on two religions. In reference to Mackinder (2014), i t was also the largest bordering empire covering over 30,000,000 square kilometers. It stretched from the Carpathian Mountains to the Sea of Japan. Jackson (2018) says that the Mongolian empire housed over 100 million people under the leadership of the fierce and firm Genghis Khan.
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Roman Empire was also a very big empire housing a population of about 90 million individuals ( Mackinder, 2014) . Mackinder says that the empire was among the strongest in regards to politics, culture, and military prowess in history and among the most economically stable. The empire's city was centrally located in Italy, however, under the various emperors, it expanded to the west and the Mediterranean basin. Just like the Mongolian empire, the Roman Empire was very good in trade. In fact, its location was essential for international trade because it enabled other cities to gain access to the sea. It was a very good meeting place for the traders and politicians ( Mackinder, 2014) . Its city quickly became a social center becoming a destination for various merchants and leaders from various empires.
Both Roman and the Mongolian were formed under strong leaders who were willing to fight with their people to get to the top. Both the formation of the Mongolian and the Roman Empire was a long and strenuous process characterized by wars. The Mongolian empire formation started by the unification of the two biggest tribes; Turkic and Mongols. To form the Mongolian empire Khan had to defeat his strongest competitor Toghril who had a strong following. He emerged the winner and therefore had the control over the entire land. According to Jackson (2018), Khan had the vision of uniting all the tribes of Mongolia and as such united all the tribes into All Mongol state by 1206. To be able to bring together all the Mongolians, khan disbanded all the old tribal lines and regrouped everyone to an army based on the spirits of one state. The army was trained to be very disciplined and respectful to all the people in the empire. The empire under the leadership of khan quickly grew bigger and under the subsequent leaders.
Roman Empire, on the hand, started under the leadership of Gaius Octavian. The process of Octavian becoming the leader of Rome was characterized by wars and death of Julius Caesar in 44BC. For Octavian to become the leader of the Roman Empire he had to defeat his competitors – Antony Cleopatra and Mark Antony Jackson (2018) says that Octavian emerged the victor in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. After the victory, Octavia was named Augustus Caesar. Augusts quickly brought the Romans together and was praised by both the leaders and the Romans for defeating the Roman enemies. August led the Roman Empire between 31 BC and 14AD, in fact, he was among the longest-serving emperors of Rome. He was succeeded by his heir, Tiberius. Tiberius, however, lacked the character and vision of his father despite taking over Augustus policies. The subsequent three leaders (Caligula, Claudius, and Nero) followed in the footsteps of Tiberius. As such the Roman Empire strength gradually reduced because of lack of vision. These leaders were in the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and ended with Nero's suicide. The following years were characterized by social turbulence. Otho took over and was followe3d by Vespasian and Vitellus. The most successful dynasty after the Julio-Claudian dynasty was the Flavian. Flavian dynasty was led by Vespasian who through his vision led to the building of large projects and expansion of the empire. Vespasian ruled between 69 AD and 79AD and brought economic stability and prosperity to the Roman Empire. He was succeeded by his sons, Titus and Domitian respectively.
The Roman and the Mongolian empires had almost similar strategies to maintaining and defending their rule and defending their empires. Some of the approaches to ensuring they marinated and ruled, the empires used Trade and Knowledge, religion and politics, social settings, art, economic structure, and culture.
Mongolian Empire
Trade and knowledge
The Mongolian became friendly to all traders from various empires and was a safe place for various merchants. Equally, because of its vastness, it enabled the wider spread of goods and ideas throughout Eurasia ( Beckwith, 2009) . The traders and Merchants were safe in the empire and were allowed to traverse the empire. This allowed the empire to gain wider knowledge on war and products. Beckwith (2009) says s ome products such as gunpowder, silk, mechanical printing, and blast furnace were introduced in the empire and were bought at cheaper prices. These ideas and inventions, which majorly came from the Chinese culture, enabled the Mongolian empire to remain strong against its enemies.
Religion and Politics
For the empire to remain relevant and strong, the empire remained tolerant to various religion. Khan noted that accepting various people from different religion was the best way to gain more insight into his leadership and knowledge to expand his empire. The various religions accepted in the Mongolian empire include Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Manicheanism, among many others. All the religious were exempted from tax in the Roman Empire and under the leadership of Genghis Khan. All the Mongolians were allowed to join any religion of their wish – there was total religious freedom in the Mongolian empire. Khan used the religion to gain more insight into other empires. He used the different religions to spy in various parts of the world, for example, Islamists spies in Baghdad ( Jackson, 2018) .
Economic structure and Culture
The Mongolian empire was marinated through economics and culture. Momigliano (1963) says that the Mongolians were nomadic pastoralists. They traveled with their flocks across the empire with their horses to various grasslands especially to the steppes of central Asia. They were based on households, clan, and tribes. The clans were derived from their common ancestor. These clans joined to form a tribe, and the toughest clan would become the tribe name. The weaker clans remained a servant to the strong clans and could retain and continue with being herdsmen. The clans became the commanders of territories and collected tax. Through this system, the Mongolian empire was maintained successfully.
Roman Empire
Economic structure
Unlike the Mongolians who were nomadic pastoralists, the Romans were mainly small-scale farmers. The Roman Empire economy was based on agriculture ( Burbank & Cooper, 2010) . The Romans grew grains, olives, and vines. In some instances, they also cultivated livestock. Some of the wealthiest Romans had slaves working on their plantation. Burbank and Cooper (2010) say that as the population was growing the demand for more commodities increased; therefore, most of the non-urban areas in the empire were converted to farms where intensive gardening and farming was carried out. The Romans also were involved in trades, just like the Mongolians. Before the 19 th century, the Romans were involved in the Mediterranean maritime trade. Through strong economy, the empire was able to maintain its rule and able to purchase weapons to defend it.
Politics and Religion
Just like the Mongolian empire, the Roman Empire used politics and religion to maintain and defend their empire. Unlike the Mongolian emperor who allowed various religions in his empire, the Romans empires introduced their own cults. The Romans worshipped various god and goddesses who were headed by Jupiter, the chief of gods. Romans religion was based on strong morals and respect for the leaders. However, as the time went by various religions and cults arose as a result of the emperors forming their own cult and building their own temples. Some of the cults that arose include the cult of Orpheus from Greece, the Eleusinian mysteries, the cult of the Egyptian goddess, the religion of Mithras from Iran ( Burbank & Cooper, 2010) . Christianity came in the later days. Christianity became the most important religion in the emperor when the emperor Constantine was converted ( Momigliano, 1963) . Constantine granted the Christian religion popularity in the empire and became their way of living and fighting.
Roman Culture and society Art
The Romans also used art and culture to maintain and expand their rule. This can be traced through some of the greatest works of the Romans artisans. Most of the Roman artworks are related to the Greek art. This is because they conquered the Greek territory as they expanded the empire. Some of the sculptures were used to show the strength and prowess to further expand and conquer various empires. They also used the art and their culture to maintain the empire.
In conclusion, the Roman and the Mongolian empires are almost similar. They are some of the largest empires in the world that ever existed with Roman empire housing about 90 million people while Mongolian empire housing about 100 million people. Both the creation of the empire was marred by violence. In both cases, the first emperors – Genghis Khan and Augustus Caesar for Mongolian and Roman Empire respectively – had a stronger vision of uniting and maintaining their rules. Both the Roman Empire and Mongolian empires used religion, culture, politics, and economic structures to maintain and defend their rules.
References
Beckwith, C. I. (2009). Empires of the silk road: A history of central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the present . Princeton University Press.
Burbank, J., & Cooper, F. (2010). Empires in world history: Power and the politics of difference . Princeton University Press.
Jackson, P. (2018). The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410 . Routledge.
Mackinder, H. J. (2014). The geographical pivot of history. In Geopolitics (pp. 44-48). Routledge.
Momigliano, A. (Ed.). (1963). The conflict between paganism and Christianity in the fourth century: essays . Oxford, Clarendon P.
