The Roman Empire, the Han Dynasty, and Surprising Similarities.
Superficially, the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty appear divergent; however, they are surprisingly similar. The respective differences are in a broad range of categories, from economy and government to the common proletariat. Their similarities, on a social level, were remarkable. Social class structure was an enormous part of both societies, not only by economic class, but also by ethnicity. Case in point, the Hans were, for the most part, ethnically homogeneous, whereas the Roman Empire was extremely heterogeneous.
The easier route is Comparing Rome and the Han Dynasty as it is backed by more proliferated research. Both empires had very similar views on government, especially concerning the foreign policy (which many attribute greatly to their respective collapses). The nomadic tribes and barbarians (called barbarians because of the lack of civility) received the brunt of this foreign policy by either battle or subjugation. Much credit is given to the barbarians for the collapse of the two empires as they were constantly attacking and thus raising the price of maintaining a professional military for the two empires. These so-called barbarians were not as barbaric as the empires thought; mostly they just did not speak the same language as the Romans or Hans. The best examples of barbarians becoming civilized would be the Gauls and the Britons/Celts/Gaels, they were considered barbaric at the time, but they rose to be great nations and also out lasted Rome. These constant border attacks are the main reason for the construction of the Great Wall of China, which could not be completed before the fall of the Han Dynasty because of the raised taxes needed to construct it. The Roman Empire started a similar downward spiral when it raised taxes to support its military.
Decentralization played a key factor in the disintegrating of the two empires.
