The Prosperity of Nations

Have you ever wondered how Japan is one, if not the only asian country to be considered a developed first world nation. Some might argue that the assistance of the USA after World War II was the primary factor. On the contrary, the only reason was the open mind’s the Japanese had to new change during Europe’s colonization period. When foreigner’s arrived at their shores in 1543, the Japanese eventually “threw the doors open.”However with the rise of christianity, the Japanese ended relations with Europe and closed the country, but not 250 years after, witnessing and being victim to the awesome industrial power of the new USA, the country was once again opened up. “The Japanese turned out to be the best students in all the history of the world” and “learnt all that Europe could teach them about machines for war and for peace,” before being able to level on the same playing field as the Europeans and develop their nation in nearly every aspect of society. This example is significant because it shows us that being open to change is beneficial for every nation and society. The societies that will thrive in terms of growth, prosperity and development in different aspects of society and make their mark on the world would appear at first glance to be the most powerful, influential, biggest and wealthiest societies. While this may be true in certain situations in history, these factors alone are not enough. They are the societies most open to change and different thinking in most if not all aspects of their society. This can be showed in different situations including the Pre/Early Hellenic Age in Greece, the rise of the Roman Empire and the Rise of Agriculture and Settlements.

Nations can thrive with influence and wealth, by ‘learning from other societies’.We shall start, by looking at the Greeks, about 2500 years ago. The Greeks were truly a society that “almost every year they came up with something new” as explained in E.H Gombrich’s award winning book, A Little History of the World. The author states that a prime example of Greek style change came in 594 BC, with the introduction of Direct Democracy in the city of Athens. The first example of practice of democracy, Athenian society and politics was completely altered with this new policy, leading to multiple political reforms and one of the most advanced forms of debating the world had ever seen. The Greeks were also unique in their practice of reflection “on what the world was actually made of, and what might be the cause of all events and experiences. This sort of reflection is what we call philosophy.” This debating and philosophy helped the greeks become the true intellectuals and scholars of the world and to think about topics well beyond their time.

However the Greeks weren’t just changing the culture and politics of their society. They were constantly looking to expand their horizons and that was just what happened. With new advancement in naval technology they colonized and expanded their influence beyond the Greek peninsula. However Gombrich goes on to explain that, another civilization called the Phoenicians, a maritime trade nation, heard about these Greeks and sailed to trade in the new colonies. In due time, the Greeks “learnt so much from the Phoenicians that they, too, sailed onwards.” With the new naval technology and policy of expansion and influence the Phoenicians have as well as their use of writing, another new revolutionary concept, the Greeks expanded their influence and culture just as it was changing. “It was at this point that history started to progress” as change became more common, with the Greeks “constantly changing,” that lead to them creating a thriving culture and society that spread from India to Spain. The Greeks would cease to be the learners in the future and become a model for other nations, ‘the teachers.’

Sure the nations that were the biggest and most powerful thrived but they had stronger contenders in the first place in their enemies and themselves. While Greece was starting a period of change and prosperity during the expansion of greek culture with Alexander the Great, one of the many peoples in Italy was also commencing a period of correlated change and expansion. The Romans, a small “tribe of stubborn and unruly peasants” that changed the course of history by conquering most of ‘the known world’. However “as all stories go, they had to start somewhere”. The Romans by the time of the birth of Jesus thrived in terms of their power, influence splendour and culture through multiple political, social, cultural and militaristic changes. “They loved their native city and its soil and would do anything and everything to increase its prosperity and power,” which was their own way of thriving as a society. However, to achieve power and prosperity came with multiple reforms in all aspects of their society as they grew bigger and faced new problems and dilemmas. First and foremost residing in their enemies, who many of which were stronger, bigger, wealthier and influential.

Though through multiple changes in military, they were able to ‘rise to the challenge’ as seen with their conflict against the wealthy Carthaginians, offspring of the far-ranging Phoenicians whose naval power was already advanced and powerful on it’s own. “But one day a Carthaginian ship ran aground off Italy. Using it as a model, and working in furious haste, the Romans managed to build a whole fleet of identical ships within two months.” By learning from their foes and changing, the Romans turned out to be the victors and at the same time their navy became a force to be reckoned with. The changes in military that took place throughout the span of Rome made it the most powerful and influential army force in the known world. Another major change for the Romans happened twice, concerning their government and political system. During the beginning of Rome in 509BC, the political system was a kingdom, run by kings, but with many political and social issues facing the system, Rome was reformed by the people and made into the first Republic in the world. This allowed social and public stability. Other changes came including the gained rights of the common people of Rome, the professional military reform all of which lead eventually to the transformation of the Republic to an Empire, as the growing society and borders demanded. Through these changes, Rome lasted for over 1500 years and influenced the culture and society of Europe even until today. Growing from the change they underwent and experienced, the Romans met every challenge they faced and eventually, they would be the biggest and strongest of societies.

Nevertheless, big change can bring about big growth and prosperity. Change in almost every single aspect of society. If you were to look at Europe, many would attribute the word to power, wealth and privilege. Many would argue that this is only because of their intelligent minds and superior culture, or because of their ability to learn from nations including China and the Arabs. While this may be true, what Jared Diamond thinks, in his book Guns, Germs and Steel is that is was only because of their open minds to change sooner rather than later back before permanent shelters even existed when it came to the introduction of agricultural based societies. Societies in China, Europe and the Middle East when they were still hunter gatherers altered their system of acquiring food with the idea of agriculture anywhere from 10,000 BC to 7,000 BC, for most early agricultural communities. With this in mind, the author states that “by selecting and growing those few species of plants and animals that we can eat,” agricultural communities then “can feed many more herders and farmers- typically, 10 to 100 times more- than hunter gatherer tribes.” This lead to population booms in many societies that opened up to this change. This is also elaborated on in John Green’s crash course video on the agricultural revolution which explicitly divulges the fact that complex society including jobs in commerce like merchants and political roles like officials and monarchs, cities and settlements as well as culture and entertainment would not be possible if the agricultural revolution did not take place. The increased efficiency of food production meant people could do other jobs as stated above. This preaches the benefits to those who opened to the change of the agricultural revolution, as many others did not for a long time, because they gained the ability to focus on anything else besides survival and instinct.

With the importance of crops in new agricultural society also came the importance of livestock and animals. By opening up to agriculture, you also experience the change of animal domestication which has its own advantages.“In addition, the largest domestic mammals interacted with domestic plants to increase food production by pulling plows” among many other farming uses. Also “Big domestic mammals further revolutionized human society by becoming our main means of land transport until the development of railroads in the 19th century. The advantages of opening up to the new change the agricultural revolution and the domestication of animals brought lead to the thriving of many peoples in political, social, economic and cultural aspects of society and gave these communities the ‘head start’ that lead them to advance and grow far beyond and before the rest of the world. These new systems of food production lead to world wide development, with whole societies changing and evolving in “machines for peace and machines for war.”

In many of the most famous nations and powerful nations in terms of either wealth, influence, power and size, you can view societies that were open to change and development. They might be the most powerful, influential, biggest and wealthiest societies until you consider that they had to start somewhere and face many challenges to get there. Being the most powerful isn’t enough. Societies that grow and evolve, thrive and prosper are the societies most open to change and different thinking in most if not all aspects of their society. Overall, societies that can change in their given circumstance tend to thrive into the future. However, of late I have been thinking about how long a powerful society that has developed and grown due to change it has experienced might last. Also, when thinking about modern societies, our current situations when it comes to topics like climate change, limited stock resources, pollution and poverty also urge me to consider a few things. These historical examples of societies that have thrived due to experienced new change in their different aspects of society prompts the questions of how we could adapt more change into our modern world. As the Romans did, we should confront the challenges we face stated above by opening and implementing change and adapting to our situation. Instead of thriving for a short period like so many historical societies did, we want to extend and expand the lifespan of our modern society, not just prosper. The solution is in our hands. Implementing things such as sustainable policies and infrastructure with worldwide co-operation might just be the answer to our problems and help us move forward in progress, to thrive as a society. We need to embrace change to face our challenges, not for society but for all humanity.