Join us on an epic exploration through millennia of human civilization, from ancient origins to modern societies. Discover the pivotal moments, cultures, and innovations that shaped our world into what it is today. Delve into the triumphs, challenges, and enduring legacies that define the intricate tapestry of human history.
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00:00There was no doubt in the world anymore that it was time for the Romans to take charge in the West.
00:10While in the East, after the end of the Warring States period,
00:13Qin Shi Huang and the Qin Dynasty were in absolute power.
00:18221 BCE to 206 BCE, Qin was determined to turn diverse China into a unified Chinese empire.
00:27He divided the lands into 36 command areas,
00:31supervised by a governor, military commander, and imperial inspector.
00:36It was expected that you followed the will of Qin or else you would face harsh penalties.
00:41The basic ideas of legalism in action, strong government,
00:46harsh laws, and inheriting knowing that humans were necessarily selfish.
00:51However, their mandate from heaven ran quite quickly.
00:55After Qin Shi Huang's death, China was in turmoil with another dynasty on foot.
01:02Lu Beng, leader from 206 to 195 BCE, after leading a revolt against the Qin,
01:09was declared emperor of the new Han Dynasty.
01:12Instead of following the strict legalistic mindset of the Qin,
01:16Lu decided to set his empire as a Confucianist paradise.
01:20The ideals of moderation, virtue, and piety, as set through Confucianism,
01:26were marched throughout the empire, weaving the cocoon of a powerful dynasty.
01:31During the Han Dynasty, the production of silk was ever-increasing,
01:35and the idea of profits was in the minds of all.
01:39So, in 138 BCE, Emperor Han Wu sent an imperial convoy
01:45to make contact with cultures of Central Asia and the Mediterranean.
01:49Then, after the routes were established,
01:51Chinese merchants and traders would bring their silk across the Silk Road
01:55to the Middle East, and eventually Europe,
01:58where it would be sold at high profits,
02:00though in the beginning the route was relatively short.
02:03Because in 97 BC, Ambassador Khan Ying was sent to Rome with gifts of silk for their empire.
02:11However, Khan only got as far as Mesopotamia because he was told by the Parthians,
02:16the dominant empire in Iran at the time, that the journey would take years.
02:21Little did Khan know that he was misinformed,
02:24that the journey would have been relatively shorter,
02:27but the Parthians wanted to keep their spot as the middlemen.
02:31They did not want China and Rome to have contact with one another,
02:35creating a system of three empires smushed right up against each other,
02:40Rome in the west, Parthians in the center, and China in the east.
02:47Then, in 86 BCE, Greece, already being weakened by the conquest of Alexander the Great,
02:56was now the target of the Roman Empire.
02:59General Lucius Cornelius Sulla led an army of legions to the forefront of Athens.
03:04He besieged Athens for several months, brutally torturing the citizens within.
03:10Eventually, when Athens fell, he ordered his soldiers to loot and pillage the city,
03:15destroying many important cultural treasures.
03:19This takeover cemented Rome as a superpower.
03:22Athens no longer had the power, but rather it was in Rome.
03:27While in 63 BCE,
03:29General Pompey was tasked with capturing Jerusalem and the region of Galilee,
03:34the Romans quickly captured the cities, forcing Galilee to be placed under Roman rule,
03:40including a small village called Nazareth.
03:44The Romans' desire to expand didn't end in Galilee, though.
03:48In 58 BCE, Julius Caesar was appointed governor of the Roman-provide of Cisipolene Gaul,
03:54northern Italy, with the express assignment of conquering the rest of the Gauls.
03:59At the time, the Gauls were a group of Celtic peoples who lived in that area that is now France,
04:05Belgium, and parts of Switzerland, Germany, and Italy.
04:10However, it was Caesar's job to take over these Celtic tribes,
04:14while the Gauls, who were insistent on their independence,
04:17all had to work together under the leadership of Vercingetorix in a last-ditch attempt to
04:23stop the Romans.
04:24As Caesar brought his troops to Alesia in 52 BCE, war was upon us.
04:30Alesia was surrounded by a double wall and a ditch,
04:33with additional fortifications on the town's hills.
04:37Vercingetorix had gathered a large force of Gallic warriors inside the town.
04:42In contrast, Caesar had assembled a sizable Roman army outside the walls.
04:47Caesar realized that a direct assault on the town would be complex,
04:52so he surrounded the Gallic forces and starved them into submission.
04:56He ordered the construction of a series of fortifications around Alesia,
05:00including a circumvallation wall that encircled the town,
05:04and a second wall and ditch that faced outward to defend against any attempts to break out.
05:10Over several weeks, Caesar's forces engaged in a grueling siege of Alesia,
05:15with both sides suffering heavy losses.
05:18The Gallic warriors inside the town made several attempts to break out,
05:22but they were repelled by the Roman forces.
05:25The tide of the battle turned in favor of the Romans when a second Gallic army,
05:30led by Vercingetorix's ally Commius, attempted to relieve the siege.
05:35Caesar sent a detachment of his forces to intercept the Gallic reinforcements.
05:40After a fierce battle, the Roman soldiers emerged victorious.
05:44With his forces surrounded and facing starvation, Vercingetorix was forced to surrender.
05:50He emerged from Alesia and offered himself as a prisoner to Caesar,
05:54effectively ending the Gallic resistance to Roman rule.
05:58Throughout the next two years, Caesar crossed the Gallic Empire,
06:02conquering and implementing it into Rome.
06:04The Gauls were implemented into Rome, even gaining citizenship within the empire.
06:14However, the Senate was not happy with Caesar.
06:18Even though he had great success against the Gauls, the Roman Senate wanted him to stop.
06:23They did not like the popularity Caesar was gaining, nor the power he was controlling.
06:28So the Roman Senate called upon Caesar to resign his command and disband his army,
06:33or risk being declared an enemy of the state.
06:36This led Caesar to an essential choice to make.
06:39Will he either follow the wheel of the Roman Senate,
06:42or ignore them and start a bloody civil war?
06:45Roman law at the time prohibited any general from crossing the Rubicon River
06:50and entering mainland Italy with a standing army
06:53without the expressed permission of the Roman Senate.
06:56To do so would be treason,
06:59and this tiny stream would reveal Caesar's intentions and mark the point of no return.
07:04Civil war was imminent as Caesar and his army marched over the Rubicon.
07:09Battles in Corfinium and Pharsalus showed the Senate that Caesar was a worthy foe.
07:14So the Roman Senate appointed his son-in-law,
07:17Gnaeus Pompey, to lead the Roman forces against his father-in-law.
07:22Both parties knew the importance of Spain,
07:24due to it providing a link between Italy and the rest of Europe.
07:28The two armies clashed near the town of Leda in northeastern Spain.
07:32Caesar's army was significantly outnumbered,
07:36but he could use his superior military tactics and training
07:39to gain the upper hand in the battle.
07:41After several days of intense fighting,
07:44Caesar emerged victorious, forcing Pompey's forces to retreat,
07:49declaring Caesar as the new leader of Rome.
07:53When Caesar made it back to Rome, the crowds were chanting,
07:56Hail Caesar! Hail Caesar!
07:58The people then decided that he would be the dictator of Rome for life.
08:03Caesar immediately set to work,
08:05implementing a series of reforms and policies aimed at improving ordinary Romans' lives
08:11and strengthening the central government's power.
08:13He ordered the construction of new infrastructure,
08:16such as roads, bridges, and aqueducts,
08:18which helped to connect different parts of the city and improve trade and commerce.
08:23Caesar also enacted a series of political and social reforms,
08:27including granting citizenship to many people living in the Roman Empire
08:32and creating new laws and customs that were based on Roman practices.
08:37He encouraged the spread of the Latin language and culture throughout the city
08:41and established the Julian calendar, which is the basis of the calendar we use today.
08:47However, Caesar's reign was short-lived, because two years later, in 44 BC,
08:54he was stabbed to death by two loyal senators, Cassius and Brutus.
09:00The assassination of Caesar led the Roman world into disarray.
09:04The world was filled with factions vying for government control without a strong leader.
09:12Octavian, Caesar's son, who was 18 then,
09:15came to Rome to claim his inheritance and assert his place in the political landscape.
09:20He quickly aligned himself with Caesar's loyal lieutenant, Mark Antony.
09:24Together, they defeated Caesar's assassins at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BCE.
09:30However, tension soon arose between Octavian and Antony,
09:34as both men vied for control of the Roman Empire.
09:37In 31 BCE, their forces clashed in the naval battle of Actium,
09:42which resulted in Octavian emerging as the clear victor.
09:46Antony fled to Egypt with his lover, Cleopatra, and the two committed suicide the following year.
09:52With Antony's defeat, Octavian emerged as the undisputed ruler of Rome.
09:58In 27 BCE, he was appointed Augustus and became the first Roman emperor.
10:04Luke 2.1.
10:10During Augustus' reign, a man who had changed the world was born in the Roman-occupied city of
10:16Bethlehem, Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Luke says,
10:20In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
10:25This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria,
10:29and all went to be registered, each to his own town.
10:33Luke 2.1-3.
10:35This census was an essential factor in Roman society because it established the population
10:40counts in these various communities, making it possible to tax these various citizens.
10:46So the highly pregnant Mary and her betrothed husband Joseph had to travel 90 miles on foot
10:52from Nazareth to Bethlehem to complete this legally required Roman census.
10:58When they arrived in Bethlehem, many other descendants of the King of David,
11:02or members of the Jewish faith, were also going to Bethlehem for the census.
11:07They found out that there was no room for them in the inn,
11:10so they were forced to take shelter in a stable where Mary gave birth to Jesus.
11:15Jesus was later named King of the Jews.
11:18After Jesus' birthday and the completion of the census,
11:21Mary and Joseph returned to Nazareth with their extraordinary son.
11:26As the years of Jesus went on, stories about him grew.
11:30More and more followers began to worship Jesus as their Messiah.
11:34They claimed that he can catch an endless amount of fish,
11:37they claimed that he can cure the blind, and they claimed that he was the son of God.
11:43So these followers, specifically his disciples, started to write down his entire life journey.
11:49Four of his closest disciples, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
11:53wrote down the main chunks of the book in these parts called Gospels.
11:58Each of these Gospels covered almost all of the same events,
12:01the narrative life of Jesus Christ.
12:04This narrative testimony of a child born in a stable changed the world forever.
12:12Even though many loved Jesus, some viewed him as a threat.
12:16Emperor Tiberius succeeded Augustus and reigned from 14 AD to 37 AD.
12:23Tiberius was notorious for his deletors,
12:26a network of informants rewarded for spying and reporting on suspected traitors and criminals.
12:32Criminals reported on by the deletors had to face a treason trial,
12:37often resulting in executions or forced suicides.
12:41His prefect of Judea at the time, Pontius Pilate,
12:45was no stranger to the harsh punishment of traitors.
12:48As Jesus was influencing more and more people, he became more of a political threat.
12:54So, following the guidelines of Emperor Tiberius,
12:57Pilate was given no practical political choice other than to execute Jesus on the cross.
13:04Roman law was evident then, one must follow the Emperor's will or else they will perish.
13:10As Jesus was crucified on the cross, a new religion was born, Christianity.
13:17In the beginning, Christianity was just a small sect of Judaism.
13:21Nevertheless, its growth would be unparalleled.
13:27Paul of Taurus would take the word of his chosen Lord across the known world.
13:32From Greece to Turkey to Syria, the word of Jesus Christ spread.
13:36His missionary tales are now documented in the New Testament as the Book of Acts.
13:42The more Paul went to different places, the more followers he gained.
13:46On the same token, it created more enemies.
13:49The divide between monotheism and polytheism was on the rise.
13:54It was beginning to get a lot tougher for Romans to accept
13:57a religious population that didn't believe in gods like Mars and Jupiter.
14:02So, when the Great Fire of Rome occurred in July of 64 AD,
14:07Emperor Nero quickly blamed it on the Christians.
14:11The Great Fire was an event that destroyed two-thirds of the city of Rome.
14:16So, in order to pay for these massive repairs, Nero instituted heavy tributes across the empire.
14:22To meet at least a proportion of the costs, Nero also started to print more Roman currency,
14:28creating an inflationary effect for the first time in the empire's history.
14:33However, the individuals who lived under Roman rule,
14:36which wasn't in Rome proper, were upset by this new policy.
14:40So, in the holy city of Jerusalem in 66 AD, a revolt was on.
14:46At first, the first Jewish revolt succeeded,
14:49and the Jewish forces quickly expelled the unprepared Roman army.
14:54Then, the rebels gained some traction in the neighboring villages in Galilee.
14:58In response, the Roman Emperor Nero sent the General Vespasian to meet the Jewish forces.
15:05An endeavor that pushed most rebels into Jerusalem proper
15:09by the time Vespasian was proclaimed Emperor in 69 CE.
15:14Then, around Passover in 70 AD, Vespasian and his forces sieged the city,
15:20depleting it of food and water within the walls of Jerusalem.
15:24The Jews started to quarrel within, leaving them more vulnerable to attack.
15:29By August, the Romans breached the defenses,
15:32killed much of the population, and destroyed many of their holy sites.
15:37With the Jews decimated, the strength of polytheism lived long.
15:44Then, in 98-117 AD, under Emperor Trajan,
15:49the Roman Empire was able to expand its greatest territorial extent,
15:54spanning all the way from modern-day Britain to the Persian Gulf.
15:59Roman rule was everywhere.
16:01Well, except for in the Americas, because the Romans didn't even know they existed.