Empires: An Empire Across Three Continents and Nomadic Empires – Class 11 History Chapter 2 Notes & NCERT PDF

Introduction

This chapter covers Section II: Empires, which contains two themes: An Empire Across Three Continents (the Roman Empire) and Nomadic Empires (the Mongols). The section introduction traces empire-building from Mesopotamia onwards: Iranians controlled much of the old Assyrian empire by the sixth century BCE; Alexander of Macedon conquered North Africa, West Asia and Iran up to the Beas, spreading Hellenistic culture; Rome then controlled North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean from the second century BCE. The Arab empire and, in the thirteenth century, the Mongols under Genghis Khan followed. All these empires sought to control trade networks, built administrative systems and different kinds of armies, and often used religions such as Christianity and Islam that appealed across peoples.

Part A – An Empire Across Three Continents (The Roman Empire)

Sources

Roman historians use three groups of sources: texts (histories called 'Annals', letters, speeches, laws), documents (inscriptions and papyri, studied by papyrologists) and material remains (buildings, coins, pottery, mosaics, landscapes).

Rome and Iran

Two empires ruled most of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East until the 630s: Rome and Iran (Parthians, then Sasanians), separated by a narrow strip along the Euphrates. Rome surrounded the Mediterranean, bounded by the Rhine and Danube in the north and the Sahara in the south. Rome was culturally far more diverse; Latin (west) and Greek (east) were the languages of administration.

The early empire

The third-century crisis

From the 230s the empire fought on several fronts. The Sasanians (from 225) expanded; Shapur I claimed to have destroyed a Roman army of 60,000 and captured Antioch. Germanic confederacies (Alamanni, Franks, Goths) invaded between 233 and 280. There were 25 emperors in 47 years.

Gender, literacy, culture

Economic expansion

Controlling workers

Social hierarchies

Tacitus listed senators, equestrians, the 'respectable' people, the lower class (plebs sordida) and slaves. By the late empire senators and equites merged into one wealthy aristocracy; a middle class served the state; the lower classes (humiliores) included labourers, artisans and slaves. Olympiodorus says Roman aristocrats drew up to 4,000 lbs of gold a year.

Late antiquity

Part B – Nomadic Empires (The Mongols)

Sources and historians

Nomads produced little writing of their own, so their history comes from city-based chroniclers, travellers and officials – often hostile. The Secret History of the Mongols exists in differing Mongolian and Chinese versions. Russian scholars (Vladimirtsov, Bartold) and others (de Rachewiltz, Doerfer) made major contributions; Bartold's sympathetic view got him into trouble with Stalinist censors.

Social and political background

Mongols were pastoralists (horses, sheep) and hunter-gatherers in the steppes of modern Mongolia, living in tents (gers), divided into patrilineal lineages. Scarce resources led to raids and short-lived confederacies. They traded horses and furs with China for grain and iron; frontier wars hurt settled China more, which built fortifications later joined as the Great Wall.

The career of Genghis Khan

After Genghis Khan

Expansion came in two phases: 1236–42 (Russian steppes, Kiev, Poland, Hungary) and 1255–1300 (all of China by 1279, Iran, Iraq, Syria). Western expansion stopped after the 1260s because of family succession politics and the Toluyids' focus on China, followed by defeat by Egyptian forces.

Social, political and military organisation

Conclusion

To sedentary peoples Genghis Khan was a destroyer; to Mongols he was the greatest leader, uniting them and restoring trade. The empire was multi-ethnic and multi-religious, a model for later regimes like the Mughals. Timur called himself guregen (royal son-in-law), and modern Mongolia treats Genghis Khan as a national hero.

Timeline

Exam Focus

Key Terms

Common Mistakes