HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
Inhoudsopgave
1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................3
1.1 WHY.................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 WHAT................................................................................................................................... 4
2 CHINA AND EAST ASIA.......................................................................................4
2.1 WHAT IS CHINA?..................................................................................................................... 4
2.2 THE ‘WARRING STATES PERIOD’................................................................................................. 5
2.3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE STATE.................................................................................. 6
2.4 THE OVERLAND SYSTEM........................................................................................................... 8
2.5 THE TRIBUTE SYSTEM.............................................................................................................. 8
3 INDIA AND INDINAZATION................................................................................10
3.1 INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS INDIA?.............................................................................................. 10
3.2 VEDIC INDIA........................................................................................................................ 10
3.3 CLASSICAL INDIA.................................................................................................................. 11
3.4 INDIANIZATION..................................................................................................................... 12
3.5 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE............................................................................................................ 13
3.6 INDIA AS AN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM........................................................................................ 14
4 THE MUSLIM CALIPHATES................................................................................15
4.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 15
4.2 THE ARAB EXPANSION............................................................................................................ 15
4.3 THE UMAYYADS AND THE ABBASIDS......................................................................................... 17
4.4 THE ARABS IN SPAIN.............................................................................................................. 18
4.5 AN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF CALIPHATES...............................................................................19
4.6 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE........................................................................................................... 20
5 THE MONGOL KHANATES.................................................................................22
5.1 INTRODCUTION..................................................................................................................... 22
5.2 FROM TEMÜJIN TO GENGHIS KHAN........................................................................................... 23
5.2.1 Political life on the Eurasian steppe...........................................................................23
5.2.2 Genghis Khan............................................................................................................ 23
5.3 A NOMADIC STATE................................................................................................................ 23
5.4 HOW TO CONQUER THE WORLD............................................................................................... 24
5.5 DIVIDING IT ALL UP............................................................................................................... 25
5.6 AN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF KHANATES.................................................................................26
6 AFRICA...........................................................................................................27
6.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 27
6.2 THE NILE RIVER VALLEY.......................................................................................................... 28
6.3 THE KINGDOMS OF WEST AFRICA............................................................................................. 29
6.4 EAST AFRICA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN....................................................................................... 31
6.5 AN AFRICAN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM?....................................................................................... 32
, 6.6 CODA: “GLOBAL SLAVERY”..................................................................................................... 33
7 EUROPEAN EXPANSION...................................................................................35
7.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 35
7.2 A SEA ROUTE TO INDIA.......................................................................................................... 35
7.3 EUROPEANS NEW WORLD...................................................................................................... 36
7.4 A COMMERCIAL WORLD ECONOMY............................................................................................ 37
7.5 AN INDUSTRIAL WORLD ECONOMY............................................................................................ 37
7.6 THE APOTHEOSIS OF COLONIALISM........................................................................................... 38
7.7 WHAT EXPLAINS THE RISE OF THE WEST.................................................................................... 38
8 BELGIAN COLONIALISM....................................................................................40
8.1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 40
8.1.1 Colonialism denotes.................................................................................................. 40
8.1.2 Modern European colonialism................................................................................... 40
8.2 CONGO FREE STATE (1884 – 1908)...................................................................................... 41
8.3 BELGIAN CONGO (1908 – 1960)........................................................................................... 45
8.3.1 Changes and Continuity............................................................................................ 45
8.3.2 Call for independence................................................................................................ 46
8.3.3 The era of dissapointment......................................................................................... 47
8.4 RUANDA-URUNDI (1916 – 1962).......................................................................................... 47
8.5 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................... 48
9 GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY........................................49
9.1 THE ‘SYSTEM OF SOVEREIGN STATES’....................................................................................... 49
9.2 THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1815) AND THE CONCERT OF POWERS...............................................50
9.3 THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE CONCERT SYSTEM.........................................................................52
10 THE LEAGE OF NATIONS AND ITS ‘FAILURE’.....................................................53
10.1 FIRST WORLD WAR............................................................................................................. 53
10.2 ORIGINS............................................................................................................................ 54
10.3 ORGANIZATIONAL FORM....................................................................................................... 56
10.4 THE ‘FAILURE’................................................................................................................... 57
11 THE UNITED NATIONS AND DECOLONAZION....................................................59
11.1 INTRODUCTION: THE SECOND WORLD WAR.............................................................................. 59
11.2 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS..........................................................................60
11.3 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE UN CHARTER...................................................................................... 62
11.4 DECOLONAZATION AND THE BANDUNG CONFERENCE..................................................................64
, 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 WHY
Why is it useful for social scientist to study history?
it is a known thing that you can extract certain patters out of history, and they can help us
with how we tackle issues in the future. We can see how we ended up in a situation and how
we best handle in it (or how definitely not to). So, study the past to orientate ourselves in the
future.
When you study the historical emergence of an institution you will find out why it exists in the
first place.
1. Historical legacies
o Present behavior is somehow burdened by the past, so you can try to capture this by
looking at the past legacies
o Ex. Post-communist societies
A society that has left communist behind (post = after) -> if you abandon
communism there’s a good chance that this way the society worked before will
influence the future
There was a lot of distrust in post-communist societies and this effected them
2. The politics of historical memories
o The past is mobilized by political entrepreneurs, so the influence it not direct but its
mediated. So they manipulate how people think about the past
Not only them put also the government plays a big role in this
o Ex. Kiev and Russian foreign policy claims
Here you have multiple ways (at least 2) that there was talked about past events
o Historical memory is subjective -> it is created collectively
Political memories
– Propagated by memory activists
o The past can be remembered in different ways and this is because of different
entrepreneurs describe the history
– Based on selection and inclusion
– Depens on the ‘efficiency of political pedagogy’
– Show a high degree of ‘homogeneity’
– Relies on symbols and rites that ‘enhance emotions of empathy and identification’
3. The contingency of moral ideas and social arrangements
o Things that exist for some reason but that “shouldn’t exist” in a way that they are not
naturally given
o They are not natural in a way that they are not given so they weren’t always like this and
they can change in the future
It doesn’t mean that they are desirable and easy to change
o Ex. ‘Gender equality’ or ‘natural slavery’ or ‘sovereignty’
people speak not about ‘slaves’ but about humans that have been ‘enslaved’ to
show that it’s not natural that they are slaves
4. Lessons from history
o Maybe looking at the past can make you avoid mistakes in the present/future
, ‘maybe’ because this idea assumes that you can compare the past situation with
the present one because the conditions are never going to be exactly the same
1.2 WHAT
“IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘presentist’ -> so in the recent past (after the 19th century)”
“IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘Eurocentric’ -> mostly focusing on European history”
Is this a problem? No, because the more you focus on a certain period and region, you can
go more into detail (than it’s broader but it can become more superficial). This course takes
the broader view though
– Non-western powers are re-asserting themselves (there powers is not the same as it
was ‘assigned’ in the beginning)
o Historical legacies -> they carry their past with them (so this is the reason why it
is politically useful to study these societies)
o Historical memory
What is an ‘international system’? What is the logic of this system?
– Basic unit: state, sovereign state
– Social practices: borders, flags, anthems
– Rules & norms: sovereign equality
– Implications: anarchy, security dilemma, violence
The assumption is that in each of these regions of the world some kind of international society
developed. There was regular interaction of various kinds (conflict, trade, exchange, …)
between these regions that were aware of each other’s existence. So to organize their co-
existence there were institutions created. What these institutions are, is various in different
places and different moments in history.
2 CHINA AND EAST ASIA
2.1 WHAT IS CHINA?
China today has evolved to a nation state which means the population identifies as Chinese.
Its multi – ethnic but the government puts effort into people identifying as Chinese.
What does it mean to identify a ‘Chinese’ international system?
= there were multiple small polities that expanded and became of proper China. An
international system cannot consist of 1 polity only. There were also surrounding polities
which gained independence and China grew relations with these independent polities &
organized institutions to keep them as happy as possible.
What China is NOT = a nation-state
– Imperial dynasties with pretence of being the ‘middle kingdom’
– A civilization zone sharing in a set of ritual practices
o This geographical space was also a civilization zone
What it does NOT mean to identify a Chinese international system: encompassing (= it did not
cover the whole of Asia, sometimes it expanded sometimes contracted), unchanging,
,unquestionable Confucian (but there were some elements of it)
the ruler can be overruled by another one or another system
– Overland system
o Imperial dynasty with policies to the North and the West
– Tribute system
o Organized relations of China to the South and the East
2.2 THE ‘WARRING STATES PERIOD’
There where multiple polities where each of them claimed independence. They were in
intense competition with each other, including military competition -> because each of these
states wanted to assert there power
Qin appear to achieve dominance, other ‘polities’ must respond
‘Sunzi’ The Art of War = underlines the importance of intelligence, subterfuge and
dissimulation (so not of having a clear transparent plant and attacking, but you might want to
move deceptively and strike them sideways not in the front)
You cannot reduce this period to constant warfare -> military competition went hand in hand
with economic and cultural flourishing (the once that had dominance where economically and
intellectually thriving)
“The warring states period was a period of intense and often violent political-military
competition, and yet it was a period in which China flourished. How is it possible?”
We have an idea that war is about destroying the enemy (= total war), but historically this
is a rare phenomena.
– Political competition is spurred with economic development
o Because the innovations must be financed, if you want to be successful in a war
you need money. You raise and collect more taxes. Therefore, you need a
thriving economy because otherwise there is nothing to tax.
o With this point, also the development of the government is very important (the
organization)
– Political competition is spurred with intellectual creativity
o For example, now the use of drones or AI (technological innovation)
During this period these new ideas emerged and found their receptive audience
1. Kongzi/ Confucianism: proper conduct within hierarchical, personal relations
He said to rulers that rules and laws are less important than virtue. You should focus
on cultivating virtue in urself -> you instruct people about the fact that a social
order will be most stable if people will accept that they are imbedded in these
hierarchical relations and that they have obligations within these relations
If you succeed to embed this idea in people, there is way less need for law and rules
2. Daoism
Less focused of virtue but more on spirituality. People should create a relationship
with spirits because they are responsible for people feeling like they belong in a
community.
=
3. Fajia/ Legalisme: ruthless pursuit of state interest, role of law therein, but ruler above law,
certainly in foreign affairs
It is conservative in the sense that it wants to preserve the stability of the ruler ->
unlike Confusionism it downplays the importance of virtue and upgrades the
, importance of rules. There is a need of transparence of what the rules are and what
the punishment is if people transgress them. BUT the rules is above the rules (it can
break them when it’s in the interest of the state, he can introduce new ones, …)
2.3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE STATE
‘China’ was ruled over by succession of imperial dynasties
– Plenty of struggle and competition
– Not every dynasty was of Chinese origin
o There were multiple ethnicities within China. A lot of the dynasties shared the
ancestor worship, certain philosophies, cultural practices, … but NOT ALL
– Yet also myriad elements of continuity
o In cultural terms
Confucianism was the most shared between the dynasties
o In terms of political organization
The dynasties could expand, shrink, compete with each other, …
HAN DYNASTY
– Establishment of professional administration (this Chinese bureaucracy by taking a
number of precious goods like salt) So it extracts resources from society and creates
and administration
– Adoption of Confucianism as state philosophy
o This does not mean that it forces each individual to become a Confusion, but the
administration is from that moment on inspired by Confucian ideas
– Organization of society and economy
o Roads, canals are being build, coins created, … all to facilitate economic
interaction
– Military engagement with Xiongu Federation
The silk road(s)
= are typically knows as silk road, as if it was one but there were multiple. It were roads for
caravans: people who travelled together to export luxury goods (because it was dangerous to
travel alone). Goods travel widely but mostly people do NOT because the merchants didn’t
make it to the destination (they travelled to a certain place, selled there good there and then
the buyers traveled further with the goods)
Sogdian letter
= along with goods, ideas travelled too. The evenings needed to be spend while merchants
were trading so ideas, stories, culture also travelled. The Sogdians managed the silk roads,
not the Chinese. The common langueses along the silk roads was the Sogdian.
TANG DYNASTY
– Entrance examinations (meritocracy)
o The main thing about it was knowledge of the Confusian classics because you
were meant to act from this
– China spreads its cultural influence (China becomes a reference point in the region)
o People from other countries wanted to be like a Chinese (ex. Japanese rules
started to have the form of Chinese rules)
– China shows itself open to foreign influences
RELATIONS
Inhoudsopgave
1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................3
1.1 WHY.................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 WHAT................................................................................................................................... 4
2 CHINA AND EAST ASIA.......................................................................................4
2.1 WHAT IS CHINA?..................................................................................................................... 4
2.2 THE ‘WARRING STATES PERIOD’................................................................................................. 5
2.3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE STATE.................................................................................. 6
2.4 THE OVERLAND SYSTEM........................................................................................................... 8
2.5 THE TRIBUTE SYSTEM.............................................................................................................. 8
3 INDIA AND INDINAZATION................................................................................10
3.1 INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS INDIA?.............................................................................................. 10
3.2 VEDIC INDIA........................................................................................................................ 10
3.3 CLASSICAL INDIA.................................................................................................................. 11
3.4 INDIANIZATION..................................................................................................................... 12
3.5 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE............................................................................................................ 13
3.6 INDIA AS AN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM........................................................................................ 14
4 THE MUSLIM CALIPHATES................................................................................15
4.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 15
4.2 THE ARAB EXPANSION............................................................................................................ 15
4.3 THE UMAYYADS AND THE ABBASIDS......................................................................................... 17
4.4 THE ARABS IN SPAIN.............................................................................................................. 18
4.5 AN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF CALIPHATES...............................................................................19
4.6 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE........................................................................................................... 20
5 THE MONGOL KHANATES.................................................................................22
5.1 INTRODCUTION..................................................................................................................... 22
5.2 FROM TEMÜJIN TO GENGHIS KHAN........................................................................................... 23
5.2.1 Political life on the Eurasian steppe...........................................................................23
5.2.2 Genghis Khan............................................................................................................ 23
5.3 A NOMADIC STATE................................................................................................................ 23
5.4 HOW TO CONQUER THE WORLD............................................................................................... 24
5.5 DIVIDING IT ALL UP............................................................................................................... 25
5.6 AN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF KHANATES.................................................................................26
6 AFRICA...........................................................................................................27
6.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 27
6.2 THE NILE RIVER VALLEY.......................................................................................................... 28
6.3 THE KINGDOMS OF WEST AFRICA............................................................................................. 29
6.4 EAST AFRICA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN....................................................................................... 31
6.5 AN AFRICAN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM?....................................................................................... 32
, 6.6 CODA: “GLOBAL SLAVERY”..................................................................................................... 33
7 EUROPEAN EXPANSION...................................................................................35
7.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 35
7.2 A SEA ROUTE TO INDIA.......................................................................................................... 35
7.3 EUROPEANS NEW WORLD...................................................................................................... 36
7.4 A COMMERCIAL WORLD ECONOMY............................................................................................ 37
7.5 AN INDUSTRIAL WORLD ECONOMY............................................................................................ 37
7.6 THE APOTHEOSIS OF COLONIALISM........................................................................................... 38
7.7 WHAT EXPLAINS THE RISE OF THE WEST.................................................................................... 38
8 BELGIAN COLONIALISM....................................................................................40
8.1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 40
8.1.1 Colonialism denotes.................................................................................................. 40
8.1.2 Modern European colonialism................................................................................... 40
8.2 CONGO FREE STATE (1884 – 1908)...................................................................................... 41
8.3 BELGIAN CONGO (1908 – 1960)........................................................................................... 45
8.3.1 Changes and Continuity............................................................................................ 45
8.3.2 Call for independence................................................................................................ 46
8.3.3 The era of dissapointment......................................................................................... 47
8.4 RUANDA-URUNDI (1916 – 1962).......................................................................................... 47
8.5 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................... 48
9 GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY........................................49
9.1 THE ‘SYSTEM OF SOVEREIGN STATES’....................................................................................... 49
9.2 THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1815) AND THE CONCERT OF POWERS...............................................50
9.3 THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE CONCERT SYSTEM.........................................................................52
10 THE LEAGE OF NATIONS AND ITS ‘FAILURE’.....................................................53
10.1 FIRST WORLD WAR............................................................................................................. 53
10.2 ORIGINS............................................................................................................................ 54
10.3 ORGANIZATIONAL FORM....................................................................................................... 56
10.4 THE ‘FAILURE’................................................................................................................... 57
11 THE UNITED NATIONS AND DECOLONAZION....................................................59
11.1 INTRODUCTION: THE SECOND WORLD WAR.............................................................................. 59
11.2 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS..........................................................................60
11.3 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE UN CHARTER...................................................................................... 62
11.4 DECOLONAZATION AND THE BANDUNG CONFERENCE..................................................................64
, 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 WHY
Why is it useful for social scientist to study history?
it is a known thing that you can extract certain patters out of history, and they can help us
with how we tackle issues in the future. We can see how we ended up in a situation and how
we best handle in it (or how definitely not to). So, study the past to orientate ourselves in the
future.
When you study the historical emergence of an institution you will find out why it exists in the
first place.
1. Historical legacies
o Present behavior is somehow burdened by the past, so you can try to capture this by
looking at the past legacies
o Ex. Post-communist societies
A society that has left communist behind (post = after) -> if you abandon
communism there’s a good chance that this way the society worked before will
influence the future
There was a lot of distrust in post-communist societies and this effected them
2. The politics of historical memories
o The past is mobilized by political entrepreneurs, so the influence it not direct but its
mediated. So they manipulate how people think about the past
Not only them put also the government plays a big role in this
o Ex. Kiev and Russian foreign policy claims
Here you have multiple ways (at least 2) that there was talked about past events
o Historical memory is subjective -> it is created collectively
Political memories
– Propagated by memory activists
o The past can be remembered in different ways and this is because of different
entrepreneurs describe the history
– Based on selection and inclusion
– Depens on the ‘efficiency of political pedagogy’
– Show a high degree of ‘homogeneity’
– Relies on symbols and rites that ‘enhance emotions of empathy and identification’
3. The contingency of moral ideas and social arrangements
o Things that exist for some reason but that “shouldn’t exist” in a way that they are not
naturally given
o They are not natural in a way that they are not given so they weren’t always like this and
they can change in the future
It doesn’t mean that they are desirable and easy to change
o Ex. ‘Gender equality’ or ‘natural slavery’ or ‘sovereignty’
people speak not about ‘slaves’ but about humans that have been ‘enslaved’ to
show that it’s not natural that they are slaves
4. Lessons from history
o Maybe looking at the past can make you avoid mistakes in the present/future
, ‘maybe’ because this idea assumes that you can compare the past situation with
the present one because the conditions are never going to be exactly the same
1.2 WHAT
“IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘presentist’ -> so in the recent past (after the 19th century)”
“IR as a scholarly discipline is ‘Eurocentric’ -> mostly focusing on European history”
Is this a problem? No, because the more you focus on a certain period and region, you can
go more into detail (than it’s broader but it can become more superficial). This course takes
the broader view though
– Non-western powers are re-asserting themselves (there powers is not the same as it
was ‘assigned’ in the beginning)
o Historical legacies -> they carry their past with them (so this is the reason why it
is politically useful to study these societies)
o Historical memory
What is an ‘international system’? What is the logic of this system?
– Basic unit: state, sovereign state
– Social practices: borders, flags, anthems
– Rules & norms: sovereign equality
– Implications: anarchy, security dilemma, violence
The assumption is that in each of these regions of the world some kind of international society
developed. There was regular interaction of various kinds (conflict, trade, exchange, …)
between these regions that were aware of each other’s existence. So to organize their co-
existence there were institutions created. What these institutions are, is various in different
places and different moments in history.
2 CHINA AND EAST ASIA
2.1 WHAT IS CHINA?
China today has evolved to a nation state which means the population identifies as Chinese.
Its multi – ethnic but the government puts effort into people identifying as Chinese.
What does it mean to identify a ‘Chinese’ international system?
= there were multiple small polities that expanded and became of proper China. An
international system cannot consist of 1 polity only. There were also surrounding polities
which gained independence and China grew relations with these independent polities &
organized institutions to keep them as happy as possible.
What China is NOT = a nation-state
– Imperial dynasties with pretence of being the ‘middle kingdom’
– A civilization zone sharing in a set of ritual practices
o This geographical space was also a civilization zone
What it does NOT mean to identify a Chinese international system: encompassing (= it did not
cover the whole of Asia, sometimes it expanded sometimes contracted), unchanging,
,unquestionable Confucian (but there were some elements of it)
the ruler can be overruled by another one or another system
– Overland system
o Imperial dynasty with policies to the North and the West
– Tribute system
o Organized relations of China to the South and the East
2.2 THE ‘WARRING STATES PERIOD’
There where multiple polities where each of them claimed independence. They were in
intense competition with each other, including military competition -> because each of these
states wanted to assert there power
Qin appear to achieve dominance, other ‘polities’ must respond
‘Sunzi’ The Art of War = underlines the importance of intelligence, subterfuge and
dissimulation (so not of having a clear transparent plant and attacking, but you might want to
move deceptively and strike them sideways not in the front)
You cannot reduce this period to constant warfare -> military competition went hand in hand
with economic and cultural flourishing (the once that had dominance where economically and
intellectually thriving)
“The warring states period was a period of intense and often violent political-military
competition, and yet it was a period in which China flourished. How is it possible?”
We have an idea that war is about destroying the enemy (= total war), but historically this
is a rare phenomena.
– Political competition is spurred with economic development
o Because the innovations must be financed, if you want to be successful in a war
you need money. You raise and collect more taxes. Therefore, you need a
thriving economy because otherwise there is nothing to tax.
o With this point, also the development of the government is very important (the
organization)
– Political competition is spurred with intellectual creativity
o For example, now the use of drones or AI (technological innovation)
During this period these new ideas emerged and found their receptive audience
1. Kongzi/ Confucianism: proper conduct within hierarchical, personal relations
He said to rulers that rules and laws are less important than virtue. You should focus
on cultivating virtue in urself -> you instruct people about the fact that a social
order will be most stable if people will accept that they are imbedded in these
hierarchical relations and that they have obligations within these relations
If you succeed to embed this idea in people, there is way less need for law and rules
2. Daoism
Less focused of virtue but more on spirituality. People should create a relationship
with spirits because they are responsible for people feeling like they belong in a
community.
=
3. Fajia/ Legalisme: ruthless pursuit of state interest, role of law therein, but ruler above law,
certainly in foreign affairs
It is conservative in the sense that it wants to preserve the stability of the ruler ->
unlike Confusionism it downplays the importance of virtue and upgrades the
, importance of rules. There is a need of transparence of what the rules are and what
the punishment is if people transgress them. BUT the rules is above the rules (it can
break them when it’s in the interest of the state, he can introduce new ones, …)
2.3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE STATE
‘China’ was ruled over by succession of imperial dynasties
– Plenty of struggle and competition
– Not every dynasty was of Chinese origin
o There were multiple ethnicities within China. A lot of the dynasties shared the
ancestor worship, certain philosophies, cultural practices, … but NOT ALL
– Yet also myriad elements of continuity
o In cultural terms
Confucianism was the most shared between the dynasties
o In terms of political organization
The dynasties could expand, shrink, compete with each other, …
HAN DYNASTY
– Establishment of professional administration (this Chinese bureaucracy by taking a
number of precious goods like salt) So it extracts resources from society and creates
and administration
– Adoption of Confucianism as state philosophy
o This does not mean that it forces each individual to become a Confusion, but the
administration is from that moment on inspired by Confucian ideas
– Organization of society and economy
o Roads, canals are being build, coins created, … all to facilitate economic
interaction
– Military engagement with Xiongu Federation
The silk road(s)
= are typically knows as silk road, as if it was one but there were multiple. It were roads for
caravans: people who travelled together to export luxury goods (because it was dangerous to
travel alone). Goods travel widely but mostly people do NOT because the merchants didn’t
make it to the destination (they travelled to a certain place, selled there good there and then
the buyers traveled further with the goods)
Sogdian letter
= along with goods, ideas travelled too. The evenings needed to be spend while merchants
were trading so ideas, stories, culture also travelled. The Sogdians managed the silk roads,
not the Chinese. The common langueses along the silk roads was the Sogdian.
TANG DYNASTY
– Entrance examinations (meritocracy)
o The main thing about it was knowledge of the Confusian classics because you
were meant to act from this
– China spreads its cultural influence (China becomes a reference point in the region)
o People from other countries wanted to be like a Chinese (ex. Japanese rules
started to have the form of Chinese rules)
– China shows itself open to foreign influences
