Definition Of An Empire

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An empire is an extension of political rule by one people over and it is categorized by the way it is established and maintained. There are two major ways an empire is acquired; the first is called “hegemony”. If an empire is brought forth by hegemony, the subjects willingly accept the new leadership. This is done peacefully and without the use of force. The conquered are usually better off with the new form of government, which is why they accept. The other way of acquiring an empire is the use of force, which is called “dominance”. If a empire forms using this technique, the subjects have been forcefully overthrown by the use or threat of military force. The overthrown people reject the foreign rule and are despondent to the idea of a new governance.
The Persian empire was built through the use of dominance. Cyrus The Great forcefully spread the reaches of his empire using military force. Up until Cyrus, no culture or individual had ever really thought this one up. Territorial conquests, like monarchical power, were justified on religious grounds, but these religious grounds never gave rise to the notion that one's religious duty was to conquer the whole entire world. Cyrus had conquered all of Persia and defeated the Medes for control of the region. He soon conquered Lydia in Asia Minor, Babylon in 539 BC and, by the time he died in 529 BC, he had conquered a vast territory—in fact, he probably was the greatest conqueror in human history. Although the internal structure of the Persian imperial government was somewhat shaky, the conquests and fire for conquest continued after Cyrus's death. His son, Cambyses, conquered Egypt in 525 BC, but the Chaldeans revolted in Mesopotamia and the Medes revolted east of the Tigris. Cambyses's son, Darius I (reigned 522-486 BC), or Darius the Great, quelled the Chaldeans and Medes and worked on firming up the state. His great innovation was to divide the huge empire into more ...