China is one of the world’s oldest and
longest-lived civilizations, and as such, has a long history of war and fighting within itself. Obviously, each instance of war, usually happening after or during the collapse of a dynasty, has its own unique causes. But, recent research suggests that almost all of those instances can be liked to climate changes. Comparing 2 sets of data, scientists discovered that when a dynasty, such as the Han and Ming collapsed, it often occurred partly due to food shortage. These food shortages were caused by slight drops in the climate ruining the steppe grasses used to feed critical livestock, forcing food prices to sharply rise, ruining the economy, and in turn, the empire. These climate changes occur naturally every few hundred years, but recent studies suggest global warming may speed up the process, which means that more food shortages may be on the way.
China's Wars Driven by Climate : Discovery News
By George B., Period 8
1 comment:
At first when I read the title of this blog I thought that it would be about the Chinese fought for some strange reason like just the weather. Not climate affecting crop growth, leading to food shortages, and then war. Its still interesting though and it does make sense now that climate can actually cause people to go to war for certain reasons. Its actually very interesting that most of the wars in China happenned around food shortages.
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