RISE & FALL OF THE EMPIRES

The Aztec empire began with message from the God Huitzilopochtli commanding the Aztec people to leave their hunting and gathering existence and move to a land, "where the cactus grows, on which the eagle sits happily...". After two hundred years of searching, the Aztecs settled on the swampy island in Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. Beginning of he 1300s the Aztecs began to improve their agriculture methods and began to trade with more powerful and more civilized tribes. The Aztecs became soldiers in the armies of these tribes where they learned important military skills. Later they Aztecs formed alliances with two other tribes forming a powerful triple alliance. In the years that followed the Aztecs began to conquer neighbouring tribes and expand the size of their empire, until it covered the southern third of Mexico and the northern part of Guatemala. In 1502, Moctezuma replaced Ahuitzotl as ruler of the Aztec empire and the empire continued to grow in strength.

In 1519, the Spanish arrived on the shores of Central Mexico. The Spanish were led by Herando Cortes. They brought with them horses and weapons (canons and guns) that the Aztecs had never seen before. This caused great worry among the Aztecs. At the same time, a civil war began to rip apart the empire. The Aztecs were forced to fight many battles through out the empire. The cost of the civil war, and reduced amounts of tribute from conquered people and a famine all caused Moctezuma to demand more tribute from members of the empire.Tribute was kind of like a tax that was collected through out the empire. Unrest in the empire and the arrival of the Spanish signaled the end of the Aztec empire.

The Roman empire began its rise in the year A.D 14, under the rule of Emperor Augustus. Emperor Augustus was able to end the chaos and fighting over leadership that had existed after Julius Caesar's assassination. The Roman Empire now began to expand. Lands and people were conquered. By A.D 17 the size of the Roman Empire had grown to its largest size. It reached into Britain, Northern Africa, Spain and Syria. For many years the empire functioned well. Rome was protected and receiving great amounts of taxation and resources (food, minerals, and labour) from conquered areas.

By A.D 161 cracks began to appear in the Roman Empire. Two main reasons that the empire began to collapse were problems with their boarder and political problems. The boarder was a problem because the size of the empire was so large there were not enough Roman soldiers to guard it from invading barbarians. These Barbarians were not willing to live peacefully under the rule of Rome. In the late 300s A.D many Barbarians entered the empire in order to escape the Huns who were invading from Asia. So now there were large numbers of Barbarians living in the empire who did not wish to follow Rome's rules. These people were also heavily armed and were able to reach deep into the Roman Empire. Rome was no longer as safe as it once was.

Political problems also lead to the fall of the Roman Empire. From 193 A.D on many generals and politicians tried to gain control of the empire. Different parts of the army supported different generals. The military were promised more money for supporting various candidates. This caused problems because Rome did not have the money to give to the army.

Difficulties with invading Barbarians and the Roman army lead to chaos in the country. Farmers were no longer able to produce food so the cost went up. Higher food cost caused unhappiness. Rome tried to increase the size of the army in order to chase all the Barbarians out. This caused more problems because a greater army required more money and Rome was no longer as wealthy as it once was. Eventually Barbarian armies conquered Roman territory and in A.D 476 the last of the Roman Empire was overthrown, bringing the end to the Roman Empire.