Western Civilization I / Unit 1 WC1 0013 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Walls, Conscripts, and Chariots: Why No Empires Yet
Captions available
The idea
From about thirty-five hundred B.C.E. cities fought constantly, yet none built an empire for a thousand years. Walls the anchor puts at thirty feet high and sixty thick beat any attack, armies were peasant conscripts, and early chariots were four-wheeled carts.
In practice
War as raids and displays of strength, not conquest.
Where people slip
Defense beat offense. That balance, not a lack of ambition, delayed empire.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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