"How and why do civilizations succeed, fail, and evolve?" "Is the United States succeeding, failing, or evolving?"
Civilizations come to a point where it’s succeeding, failing, or evolving. How exactly did civilizations attain each point? I believe that there are many supporting factors on how a civilization reaches to each point. Succession may follow from geography, unification, and advances in technology. Failure also may have occurred by outside threats and economic issues. The other remaining factor is how a civilization evolved, or in other words, changed. They manage to evolve in unification and growth. From learning how a civilization reaches each point, I believe that the United States is currently failing.
Firstly, civilizations may succeed by such features as geography and advances in technology. With having an excellent and dependable geography, they used many waterways for trading or to defend regions throughout the empire. (The Rise of the Byzantine Empire (Overview)) For example, in the Byzantine Empire, the emperor can send support to the provinces by using the Danube River. Defending its capital wasn’t very challenging for the empire, due to its location. It can be easily defended by creating blockades from unknown enemy ships that came by from the Black Sea. In addition, since the empire was surrounded by water, it helped secure a fourth wall.
Secondly, failure in civilizations may occur by outside threats and economic issues.(Salisbury) In my civilization, the Byzantine Empire, constantly felt threatened by Islamic armies. As they grew stronger, the Byzantine Empire started to capture weakness. The empire lost many territories such as Syria, the Holy Land, Egypt, and North Africa. As The Byzantine Empire constantly felted threatened, Emperor Alexis I Comnenus called for support from the West for mercenary soldiers. With the commotion, this concluded to the series of crusades. Adding on to the crusades, there were economic issues due to the disruption of trade networks which the empire's wealth was based on those networks.
Thirdly, civilizations tend to evolve eventually. Civilizations manage to evolve by unification and growth. For example, in my civilization by many religious festivals which helped also unify the empire since Roman Catholic/Christianity was their main religion. During the Reign of Emperor Justinian I, he created the Hagia Sophia which became the imperial church, head of all Christian churches in the empire. It was also used for storage for late imperial art and for close association between politics and religious belief in the empire.
In comparison to the United States, I believe that our country is currently failing. Partly why our country is falling apart is because of the outside threats we've been receiving. Just like in the Byzantine Empire how it constantly felt threatened by Islamic armies, the US is also feeling threatened by terrorists, mostly from the Middle East. For example, on September 11, 2001, we were sorrowfully attacked by terrorists at the World Trade Centers located in New York, which caused the towers to collapse and thousands of people to pass away. President George W. Bush once said in remembrance of 9/11, “Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.” Another tragic event that recently happened was the Boston Marathon on April 15th, 2013. This event caused a lot of tension and questioning for our national security. Joey McIntyre said about the bombing, "Nothing will take away the great power and the resolve the fearlessness of the great city of Boston. We will get through this. It will take time. But we will get through this."
Works Cited:
"The Rise of the Byzantine Empire (Overview)." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 27 May 2013.
http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Topics/Display/1185289?webSiteCode=SLN_HANC&returnToPage=%2fTopics%2fDisplay%2f1185289&token=F665451D2795C8E56A2856B5D72381F9&casError=False
Salisbury, Joyce E. "Byzantine Empire: Overview." Daily Life through History. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 27 May 2013.
http://dailylife.abc-clio.com/Topics/Display/1425991
http://www.veteransunited.com/network/10-most-powerful-quotes-about-911/