Qin Shi Huang founded the Qin Dynasty after unifying the Six Kingdoms, but within 15 years of his death, this once glorious dynasty quickly collapsed. Why is that? This article will attempt to analyze this issue from multiple perspectives.
Let's look at the internal situation of the Qin Dynasty. In the process of unifying the world, the Qin Dynasty implemented a series of strict policies, such as burning books and pit Confucianism, and harsh punishments. These policies have ensured social order to a certain extent, but at the same time, they have also caused the aggravation of social contradictions. In particular, the burning of books and the pit of Confucianism caused intellectuals to have a strong antipathy and resistance to the Qin Dynasty, which posed a threat to the rule of the Qin Dynasty. And the harsh laws have made the people live in dire straits, and there are many complaints.
The economic policies of the Qin dynasty were also problematic. The Qin Dynasty carried out a large-scale military expansion in order to expand its territory, which made the country's finances increasingly strained. In order to solve this problem, the Qin Dynasty implemented a policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, restricting the development of commerce, which was not conducive to economic prosperity. Moreover, the Qin Dynasty also requisitioned a large number of migrant workers to carry out public works construction, such as the construction of the Great Wall and the construction of imperial tombs, which increased the burden on the people's lives and intensified social contradictions.
Let's look at the external situation of the Qin Dynasty. Although the Qin Dynasty unified the six countries, in the process of unification, it adopted harsh measures against the rulers of various places, which made the rulers of various places full of hatred for the Qin Dynasty. Moreover, after the unification, the Qin Dynasty did not give enough autonomy to various localities, but strengthened the centralization of power, which undoubtedly increased the contradiction between the local and the local.
Let's look at the power vacuum after the death of Qin Shi Huang. After the death of Qin Shi Huang, he was succeeded by his son Hu Hai, but due to his young age and unable to handle state affairs, power fell into the hands of Zhao and others. For their own selfish interests, they manipulated the emperor, causing chaos and social turmoil.
The reason why the Qin Dynasty fell quickly after the death of Qin Shi Huang was mainly due to the intensification of its internal social contradictions, economic policy mistakes, the intensification of external local contradictions with **, and the chaos of the court and government caused by the power vacuum.