Compare one civilization that seemed particularly successful at coping with external invaders from the steppe during the eleventh and twelfth centuries with one that was less successful. What elements contributed to or prevented success?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary but correct responses should include: The most successful civilization to deal with external invaders was the Song dynasty in China. The Chinese worked to convert invaders to their own culture,usually successfully, and the Song coped by opting for coexistence and peaceful persuasion, bribing and coaxing the foreigners intoremaining quiet. Despite the concessions they had to make to these invaders, Chinese unity never seemed perfect or stable, but remained actively pursued and ultimately recoverable. In the Byzantine Empires, they dealt with invaders through diplomacy, bribery, intimidation, and displays of cultural superiority. Without assimilation and concessions to the invading peoples, they could not truly gain unity or stability with the constant threats that assailed them. Byzantium's wealth was a magnet and its weakness a motive which ended in the breaking up of the Empire from external forces and the division of most of what was left of the Byzantine Empire in Europe among the victors. Success or failure in coping with external invaders seems to revolve around the ability to facilitate the nomads' assimilation, adoption, and toleration of settled ways of life.