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Chapter 11

In Chapter 11 we look at the pastoral peoples of the world with a focus on those of the Eurasian steppe. Pastoral people by definition nomadic and draw their living from managing herds of animals. This lifestyle was a harsh one, filled with tough tasks, and war. War however enabled many pastoral peoples to become empires. From the early Assyrians who co-opted their pastoral neighbors use of chariots or the mongols whose superior riding ability was able to shock most contemporary armies. The culture of the pastoral people simply bred better warriors of the era, and their culture in fact may have produced more modern people. The pastoral life, draws few parallels to anything resembling modernity. Those who grew up in a rural area on a farm are the closest thing to it, as they learned the "early to bed, early to rise" lifestyle associated with livestock. However when that lifestyle is nomadic, and takes places within a semi permanent camp, life is abundantly more difficult. ...
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Chapter 4

The explosion in culture and religion in Eurasia are among the most impact full series of ideological expansions in human history. While each religion or Philosophical school of thought is different, the conditions that precipitated their creation are often similar. Following the collapse of the Zhou dynasty, China split into many warring feudal kingdoms. In this era much war and unrest created an age of mass disorder and instability for the people of China.  As a result, Legalism, the philosophical school of thought was born because of the need to bring order to the chaos of everyday life. It emphasized a strong centralized government, a relatively unopposed leader with an emphasis on severe punishment of any crimes. When thinking about Legalism a parallel can be drawn to the modern idea of “Marshall law” where police are heavily empowered to clean up the streets, and enforce a strict set of codes. Another school of thought in China was that of Confucianism. In stark contra...
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Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Chapter 9 allows us to look closer at Islam as religious movement, and the foundation it is built upon. While we also examine the social consequences that have occurred as a result of said movement. A thing of note is that the book labels pre-Islamic Arab culture as “Bedouin” this is at best a half truth. As non muslim bedouins existed before and after the founding of Islam, and to this day still exist in a variety of middle eastern countries. However their lifestyles closest modern parallel is that of the bedouin people, who live and embody the nomadic ideals of a loyal, close knit, hospitality crazed, clan/ tribe or family. These clans controlled the Arabian peninsula, and its valuable oasis in piecemeal. The prophet Muhammad was able to unify these clans, and tribes through various forms of conversion, ultimating unifying the the peninsula. The man and the message to unify the peninsula, was the the Quran, and the man was the prophet Muhammad. Muhammad's messag...
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