This thesis, from a comparative perspective, examines the worldview and its interplay to the frontier and military policies in early periods of the two ancient empires on Eurasian: Rome and Han... Show moreThis thesis, from a comparative perspective, examines the worldview and its interplay to the frontier and military policies in early periods of the two ancient empires on Eurasian: Rome and Han China. The first part (chapter 1 and chapter 2) concerns the formation and transformation of the world views of Rome and Qin-Han China in their respectively lengthy trajectories of empire-building. It is followed by part two (chapter 3 and chapter 4) in which I shift my focus from ideology to practical issues in attempt to observe how the distinctive world views held by the elite class of Rome and China were manifested and interacted with the actual policy-making and territorial conquests. The last part of the dissertation (chapter 5 and chapter 6) concentrates on the roles of emperors. By highlighting the distinctive roles that the Roman and Chinese emperors had played, it allows audience to have a better understanding in the similarities, and especially the crucial differences concerning the perception of the world and actual policies discussed above. Also, I hope this tentative comparative study sheds some lights on the reflection of the concept of empire in current scholarship of ancient history. Show less
The study explores the specific historical circumstances in which the Mexican state of Chihuahua was created and became integrated into the Mexican federation. Usually, historiography has... Show moreThe study explores the specific historical circumstances in which the Mexican state of Chihuahua was created and became integrated into the Mexican federation. Usually, historiography has considered 1821 as a starting point for the integration of this state to the Mexican nation when Independence was proclaimed in this country. The same happens with the independence studies that generally start in 1810 when the uprising of insurgent forces began. Thus, those temporal arcs form real historiographical boundaries which are difficult to cross. The author argues that in order to achieve a deeper analysis of the creation of the state of Chihuahua, we need to trespass those boundaries. For this purpose, he explores a series of events which took already place during the Spanish colonial rule. He provides an in-depth study of two fundamental events that marked the evolution of the Northern part of present-day of Mexico. Both events originated in Spain in 1767: the Jesuit expulsion and the Sierra Morena colonization project in Spain that was implemented in the internal provinces of Northern Mexico. He concludes that the new ethos of rationality does not begin at the declaration of independence as a new nation project definition; its ideological foundation had already been defined in the old colonial regime. In this manner, there is continuity between the expressions of the old on the Hapsburg model and the new, based in Bourbon impositions, and they were passed down to the new Republican regime. Show less
