Biosynthesis, Metabolism, and Utilization

Biosynthesis, Metabolism, and Utilization Different ways glutathione acts to protect mammalian organisms from potentially toxic exogenous and endogenous compounds. Glutathione (GSH or gamma-glutamylcysteinylglycine) is a tripeptide and a sulfhydryl (thiol or -SH) antioxidant, enzyme cofactor and antitoxin that is made up of three amino acids namely L-glutamine, L-cysteine and glycine. The water solubility nature make it to be found in the cell cytosol and within aqueous phases of living system, although is constantly encountered in animals, plants and microorganisms (Kosower NS et al 1978 , Meister A et al 1976, Kidd PM et al 1991 and Lomaestro BM et al, 1995). Glutathione exists intracellularly in two forms in either reduced form or oxidized form which can be an antioxidant in reduced form (GSH) and sulphur-sulphur bond compound called glutathione disulphide (GSSG) in the oxidized form. Sensitive indicator of oxidative stress is the ratio of the reduced form (GSH)/ oxidized form (GSSG) which is also important in cell functioning in the organisms. Biosynthesis, Metabolism, and Utilization The homeostatical control status of glutathione by continuous self adjusting to equilibrate GSH production, its reprocessing from GSSG and its usage is a function of enzymes such as GSH synthetase, GSH reductase, peroxidises, transferases, transhydrogenases and transpeptidases. Cysteinyl moiety is the functional element of glutathione that provides the thiol reactive group which is liable for the sustenance of protein structure and functions through proteins disulfide linkages reduction, controlling of production and breakdown of protein, sustenance of immune function, defence against oxidative injury, removal of reactive chemicals. The metabolism and function of glutathione is directly decided by structural elements of glutathione which are ÃŽ ³-carboxyl peptide linkages of glutamate and C-terminal glycine presence. All mammalian cells produces GSH (Meister and Tate, 1976) and major site of biosynthesis is the liver ( Deleve and Kaplowitz, 1991). The production of GSH occurs in the cytosol of cell and its breakdown takes place outside the cell; production involves a two phase reaction catalyzed by GSH synthetase and ÃŽ ³-glutamylcysteine synthetase that uses two moles of adenosine triphosphate(ATP) per one mole of GSH while the breakdown are catalyzed by ÃŽ ³-glutamyl transpeptidase and dipeptidases present on the top surface of epithelial tissues. The first phase is under the influence negative feedback from its end product, GSH (Richman and Meister, 1975). The blockage of the regulatory site of the enzymes by excess glutamate can partially prevent feedback inhibition (Meister, 1984; Meister and Anderson, 1983; Richman and Meister, 1975). The limiting factor after the utilization of GSH and loss of feedback inhibition is the availability of cysteine. The breakdown products of GSH S-conjugates and GSH are the same (glutamate, glycine, and cysteine) and are also metabolized by same degradative enzymes which metabolized GSH and the products can be reabsorbed int o the cell for GSH production. Intracellular N-acetyltransferases can acetylate cysteine S-conjugates on the amino group of residue of cysteinyl to form mercapturic acids (N-acetylcysteine S-conjugates) which are released into the circulation or bile (Hinchman et al., 1991). ÃŽ ³-glutamyl cyclotransferase is responsible for the change of excess ÃŽ ³-glutamylcysteine accumulation, in the absence of its change to GSH which can result to 5-oxoproline and 5-oxoproline accumulation has harmful effect because of metabolic acidosis. REDOX AND CELLULAR REGULATORY ROLE OF GSH GSH Peroxidases and phospholipid hydroperoxide GSH peroxidases are antioxidant enzymes which uses glutathione has an important cofactor although GSH peroxidases exist in both selenium-dependent and non-dependent forms ( Zhang L., 1989). GSH peroxidases acts by reacting hydrogen peroxide and other peroxides with GSH in water phase to detoxify them while peroxides produced in cell membranes and lipophilic cell phase are detoxified by phospholipid hydroperoxide GSH peroxidases using GSH (Cathcart RF III., 1985). GSH can also be used by GSH transhydrogenases as a cofactor in the reconversion of dehydroascorbate to ascorbate, ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides and interconversion occurring between disulphide and thiol group. GSH reducing power source is the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate(NADPH) in reduced form which is from the pentose phosphate shunt that glutathione reductase uses as a source of electron in the reprocessing of GSSG to GSH (Cathcart RF III., 1985) and i ndicative of increased risk of oxidative injury in subjects unable to produce enough NADPH due to GSH insufficiency. Vitamin E and carotenoids which are lipid-phase antioxidant can be conserved by GSH reducing power ability (Meister A et al, 1994). There are two pools of GSH in liver which are the cytosolic GSH and mitochondrial GSH; the first has a half-life of 2-4 hours and the second half-life is about 30hours (Meister A et al, 1995). There are various disorders associated with two enzymes involved in the two phase synthesis of GSH which include peripheral neuropathy, haemolytic anaemia, aminoaciduria, CNS function defects, myopathy, spinocerebellar degeneration in inherited deficiency individuals (Meister A, Larsson A., 1995). Kosower NS. et al,. 1978 discovered the essential role of GSH in cellular homeostasis and various cellular functions; biological processes such as cell maturation, protein synthesis, transmembrane transport, intermediary metabolism, enzyme catalysis and re ceptor action. Ondarza RN. , 1989 also observed that redox uniqueness are essential to life process with many vital enzymes and about eight taking part in glucose metabolism being regulated by redox balance (2 thiol group and disulphide). Intracellular sulfhydryl (-SH) groups of proteins are mainly pro-homeostatically regulated by GSH (Crane FL. et al,. 1988). The whole range of biomolecules are protected by combination of the reducing power of glutathione with other antioxidants and ascorbate, which also helps in regulating their function, and to assist the survival and maximum functioning of the cell as a living unit. Metallothioneins are proteins which can bind with heavy metals and potential sulfhydryl poisons due to glutathiones reducing power and its -SH character that set the redox stage and also speed up their removal from the body later (Hidalgo J. et al,. 1990). The redox state of many cellular environments are fine- tune homeostatically by glutathione reducing power. GSH plays a central role in the antioxidant defense system that protects against various free radicals and oxidative stressors which its exposed to regularly (Cross CE, Halliwell B, Borish ET, et al. 1987). The exogenous oxidative insults tends to be more easily controlled by GSH. SYSTEMIC ANTITOXIN ROLE OF GSH Organs like lungs, intestines, kidneys and liver which are directly exposed to exogenous toxins are often important to GSH, although high concentration of GSH in lower section of lungs helps neutralize inhaled toxins (cigarette smoke) and free radicals made by activated lung phagocytes (Lomaestro BM et al, 1995; Cross CE, Halliwell B, Borish ET, et al, 1987). The detoxification of substances foreign to body is mainly by the liver and also carries GSH to other organs. The activity of GSH transferase enzymes (GSTs) drains GSH in normal functioning liver while malnutrition or starvation depletes liver GSH stores (Deleve LD, Kaplowitz N. 1990; Mandl J, et al,. 1995). The electron-donating co-factor of GSTs is GSH due to definite specificity its has for it, although GSTs have fairly wide specificity for their substrates. GSH plays a fair considerable role in liver P450 conjugation activity which is responsible for about 60% of liver metabolites present in bile but GSH conjugation is certa inly of full advantage to organism though it is not positive in every circumstance. There are different classes of xenobiotics that induce P450 enzymes which produce more toxic GSH conjugates than the parent xenobiotics ( Monks TJ, et al,. 1994). Depletion of liver pool of GSH can decrease conjugation and increase xenobiotics toxicity for example are Tylenol ® (experimental acetaminophen) and bromobenzene toxicity (Kidd PM. 1985). Glutathione and also glutathione S-transferase plays important role in the regulation of both acute and chronic chemical toxicity in the lung (west et al., 2003). Detoxification function of glutathione is dependent on the ability of its synthesis in the lungs and the cellular localization (plopper et al., 2001b, West et al., 2000). In human liver, the pulmonary glutathione S-transferase activity is about 30% while in the rodents liver, it is 5-15% (Buckpitt and Cruikshank, 1997). The distribution of isoforms of glutathione S-transferase varies in the lun gs. The result of polymorphisms expression in humans and potential for similarity of this with cancer of the lungs, particularly in smokers, makes glutathione transferase a focus point of acute interest. There are equilibrium systems working between enzymes, that is a decrease in one enzymes can cause an increase in another enzymes at the same time; the location and balance of all the enzymes determines toxicity. CONCLUSION Glutathione functions in the body are numerous which include neutralization of free radicals and reactive oxygen compounds, sustaining exogenous antioxidant in their reduced forms (Vitamins E and C). It also plays important role in diverse metabolic and biochemical reactions for example enzymes activation, DNA synthesis and repair, amino acid transport, protein synthesis, prostaglandin synthesis etc. In the immune system, glutathione manifest full potential by adjusting antigen being presented to lymphocytes which might influence formation of cytokine, resulting in formation of cellular or humoral responses, magnitude of responses are increased by promoting lymphocytes production, thereby causing promotion of killing activity of cytotoxic T cells and NK cells and regulating apoptosis; thus sustaining control of immune system. REFERENCES Buckpitt AR, Cruikshank MK: Biochemical function of the respiratory tract: Metabolism of Xenobiotics, in Sipes IG, Mc Queen CA, Gandolfi JA (eds.): Comprehensive Toxicology, Vol 8, Toxicology of the respiratory system. Oxford: Elsevier Science, 1997, pp 159-186. Plopper CG, Buckpitt A, Evans M, et al.: Factors modulating the epithelial response to toxicants in tracheobronchial airways.Toxicology. 160:173-80, 2001b. West JA, Van Winkle LS, Morin D, et al.: Repeated inhalation exposures of the bioactivated cytotoxicant naphthalene (NA) produce airway specific clara cell tolerance in mice. Toxicol sci 190:286-293, 2003. West JA, Chichester CH, Buckpitt AR, et al.: Heterogeneity of clara cell glutathione. A possible basis for differences in cellular responses to pulmonary cytotoxicants. Am J Respir cell Mol Biol 23:27-36, 2000. Kosower NS, Kosower EM. The glutathione status of cells. Intl Rev Cytology 1978;54:109-160. Meister A. Glutathione metabolism and transport. In: Nygaard OF. Simic MG, ed. Radioprotectors and Anticarcinogens. New York, NY: Academic Press: 1976. Kidd PM. Natural antioxidants-first line of defense. In: Kidd PM, Huber W. Living with the AIDS Virus: A Strategy for Long-Term Survival. Albany. California: PMK Biomedical-Nutritional Consulting: PMK Biomedical-Nutritional Consulting: 1991:115-142. Lomaestro BM, Malone M. Glutathione in health and disease: pharmacotherapeutic issues. Annals Pharmacother 1995:29:1263-73. Meister A. Minireview: Glutathione-ascorbic acid antioxidant system in animals. J Biol Chem 1994(April1);269(13):9397-9400. Meister A, Larsson A. Glutathione synthetase deficiency and other disorders of the gamma-glutamyl cycle. In: Scriver CR, et al eds. The Meatbolic and Molecular Bases of Inherited Disease (volume 1). New York: McGraw-Hill;1995;1461-1495 (chapter 43). Meister A. Glutathione, ascorbate, and cellular protection. Cancer Res (Suppl) 1994(Apr 1);54;1969S-1975S Meister A. Mitochondrial changes associated with glutathione deficiency. Biochim Biophys Acta 1995;1271:35-42. Meister A (1984) New aspects of glutathione biochemistry and transport-selective alteration of glutathione metabolism. Nutr Rev 42:397-410. Meister A and Anderson ME (1983) Glutathione. Annu Rev Biochem 52:711-760. Meister and Tate SS (1976) Glutathione and related gamma-glutamyl compounds: Biosynthesis and utilization. Annu Rev Biochem 45:559-604. Hinchman CA, Matsumoto H, Simmons Tw and Ballatori n (1991) Intrahepatic conversion of a glutathione conjugate to its mercapturic acid: Metabolism of 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene in isolated perfused rat and guinea pig livers. J Biol Chem 266:22179-22185. Richman PG and Meister A (1975) Regulation of gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase by nonallosteric feedback inhibition by glutathione. J Biol Chem 250:1422-1426. Wei wang and Nazzareno Ballatori (1998) Endogenous glutathione conjugates: Occurrence and biological functions. Pharmacological reviews Vol. 50, No 3. Zhang L. Phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidise: specific activity in rats of different ages. Biochim Biophys Acta 1989;1006:140-143. Cathcart RF III. Vitamin C: the nontoxic, nonrated-limited, antioxidant free radical scavenger. Med Hypotheses 1985;18:61-77. Crane FL. Morre DJ. Low H (eds). Plasma Membrane Oxidoreductases in Control of Animal and plant Growth. New York: Plenum Press; 1988. Ondarza RN. Enzymes regulation by biological disulfides. Bioscience Reps 1989:9:593-604. Hildalgo J. Garvey JS. Armario A. On the metallothionein. Glutathione and cysteine relationship in rat liver. J Pharmacol Exptl Ther 1990:225:554-564. Cross CE. Halliwell B. Borish ET. Et al. Oxygen radicals and human disease (proceedings of a conference). Ann Intern Med 1987:107:526-545. Kidd PM. Liver biotransformation of xenobiotics, foods, and drugs to free radicals oxidants. In: Levine SA. Kidd PM Antioxidant Adaptation- Its Role in Free Radical Pathology. San Leandro. CA: Biocurrents: 1985:222-281. Deleve LD, Kaplowitz N. Importance and regulation of hepatic glutathione. Seminars Liver Dis 1990;10:251-266. Mandl J, Banhegyi G, Kalapos MP, et al. Increased oxidation and decreased conjugation of drugs in the liver caused by starvation. Altered metabolism of certain aromatic compounds and acetone. Chem Biol Interact 1995;96:87-101. Monks TJ, Lau SS. Glutathione conjugation as a mechanism for the transport of reactive metabolites. Adv Pharmacol 1994;27:183-206. Kidd PM et al. (1997) Glutathione: systemic protectant against oxidative and free radicals damage. Alternative medicine review vol.2 No 3, pp 155-176. Stryer L. Biochemistry (3rd ed) New York NY: WH Freeman:1988. Hinchman CA and Ballatori N (1994) Glutathione conjugation and conversion to mercapturic acids can occur as an intrahepatic process. J Toxicol Environ Health 41:387-409.

Jewish persecution :: essays research papers

Jewish Persecution The Jewish Persecution began during 1933. The Jews were faced with the terrorist group called the National Socialist German Workers party (Nazi) hate this happened when Hitler came into power. He devised labor camps where he would send individuals who opposed his ideas, and Jews. The conditions in these camps were so bad that it is hard to describe them. The prisoners were treated very badly. In this time, the Nazi government continued to deprive Jews of their rights and possessions. In 1938 Jewish homes and schools are looted or destroyed. Jews could not sit on park benches or swim in public pools. The government seized Jewish businesses as well as personal property. Jews were beaten, more than 90 are killed, and 30,000 Jewish people were sent to concentration camps. They beat Jews in the streets and attacked them in their homes. Jews had to sell their businesses and other property to the government at unnaturally low prices. The night became known as Kristallnacht, a German word meaning Crystal Night. In 1939, 300,000 Jews had been eliminated from the German community. Millions more Jews came under German control. Jews in Poland are forced to wear a yellow Star of David on their chests or a blue-and-white Star of David armband. By the end of the war, the Nazis had killed about 6 million Jewish men, women, and children that’s more than two-thirds of the Jews in Europe. Many of the Holocaust victims were killed in specially constructed gas chambers, and their bodies were then burned. The Nazis also moved many Jews from towns and villages into city ghettos. During 1942-1943 German government officials discuss the "Final Solution," their plan to kill all Jews in Europe. This policy called for the murder of every Jewish man, woman, and child under German rule. Jews are deported from Nazi-occupied countries throughout Europe to ghettos, concentration camps and killing centers in Poland. In the early 1940's, several new camps were established, with specially constructed gas chambers disguised as showers. The Nazis herded the Jews into railroad freight cars to be taken to the camps. As many as 2,000 prisoners were sent into the gas chambers at one time. The guards shaved the heads of the corpses and removed any gold teeth from their mouths. Then they burned the bodies in crematoriums or open pits. The well prisoners had their heads shaved and

Compareison/ Han China an Roman Empire Essay

EMPIRE AND CULTURAL IDENTITY: PATTERNS OF IMPERIAL EXPANSION Arising out of preexisting territorial kingdoms, the Roman and Han empires marked a different scale and quality of empire building. With a population of over 50 million people and up to 4 million square miles under its control, the Han Empire had vast resources on which to draw. The Roman Empire governed equally vast land and territories, yet the two empires had separate patterns of development. The Chinese envisaged imperial culture as an ideal from the past to be emulated by the civilian magistrates and bureaucrats who managed the state. The Romans, in contrast, transformed—through experimentation and innovations—from a city-state ruled collectively by citizens into one-man imperial rule. And both empires became principal models for successor states. The Qin Dynasty King Zheng of Qin claimed the mandate of heaven and forged a central state far more powerful than that of the Zhou dynasty. He forced the families of  defeated states to move to his capital at Xianyang so he could ensure that they were not gathering armies against him. And he took the title Shi Huangdi—First August Emperor. ADMINISTRATION AND CONTROL Zheng divided China into thirty-six provinces (or commanderies) and each province into counties. Each commandery had a civilian and military governor, both of whom answered to an inspector general. Regional and local officials answered directly to the emperor, and they could be removed at the emperor’s discretion. Civilian governors rotated offices to prevent them from building an independent power base. All males were registered by clerks, providing lists for conscription and taxation. All able-bodied men were expected to serve in the army and provide labor for public works. The Qin took control over education and learning. Censorship of books was strongly enforced, and books in private residences confiscated and burned. Teachers were forbidden from using outlawed books. A new standard written script was created to facilitate communication. Standard weights and measures and currency were also established. An idea of â€Å"grand unity† emerged as the Qin began to extend the boundaries of China. The Qin chief minister Li Si subscribed to the principles of Legalism and established strict laws and punishments in order to provide social stability and order. The Qin also established a road network connecting the Qin capital to all parts of the empire. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHANGES Building on trends in landownership that began during the Warring States period, the Qin dynasty championed free farmers who could be individually taxed by the state. By supporting agricultural production, the state could expand its tax revenues. As agriculture shifted from self-sufficient royal manors to farmers producing goods for the marketplace, landowners began to use contracts and money to strike bargains with laborers and with each other. The practice of farmers and traders using contracts was coming to replace the tradition of ties of blood dominating public and private  affairs. A class of merchants grew as long-distance trade expanded, aided by the new roads and canals built by the Qin dynasty. The Qin state, however, believed trade produced nothing of lasting value and encouraged the production of crops over trade. NOMADS AND THE QIN ALONG THE NORTHERN FRONTIER As the Qin dynasty sought to extend its borders to the north and west, it encountered the nomadic Xiongnu who traversed a large zone of the Inner Eurasian steppe. The Xiongnu sought to protect their pasturelands from the Qin and also engaged in trade and diplomacy with them. In order to secure the Xiongnu pasturelands for settlement, the Qin established a road and a massive defensive wall along the northern border and settled 30,000 colonists in the steppe lands of Inner Asia. In response, the Xiongnu formed a loose confederation among the steppe tribes and reconquered their lands when the Qin fell in 207 BCE. This pattern of trade and diplomacy punctuated by armed hostility persisted for centuries. THE QIN DEBACLE Qin rule collapsed quickly. Heavy tax and labor requirements resulted in mutinies from conscripted laborers, who were joined by local military leaders, influential merchants, and others. When Qin rule collapsed in 207 BCE, civil war erupted in which an unheralded commoner, Liu Bang, declared himself the prince of his home region of Han and in 202 BCE declared himself the first Han emperor. Liu Bang turned to Confucian scholars to justify his ascendancy by depicting the Qin as cruel, immoral despots. Yet the Han adopted much of the Qin bureaucratic system and penal codes while affirming the Confucian idea of the moral and cultural foundations of state power. The Han Dynasty The Han dynasty became China’s formative empire, extending Han rule in all directions. The Han relied on conscripted labor and state revenues from state lands, along with a land tax. The western Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE)  was marked by economic prosperity and expansion of the empire. After a usurper seized power from 9 to 23 CE, the Han claimed authority and the eastern Han dynasty lasted from 25 to 220 CE. FOUNDATIONS OF HAN POWER The Han Empire was distinguished by a tight-knit alliance between the imperial family and the new elite—the scholar-gentry class—who united in their effort to impose order on Chinese society. Economic and social supports, as well as a strong military and bureaucratic administration, contributed to the strength, expanse, and longevity of the Han Empire. Power and Administration In order to secure support, Liu Bang provided land grants to his military supporters and relatives who had helped to overthrow the Qin. Power emanated from the ruling family, whose kin were made nobles and given land over which they had direct power. Governors who administered the commanderies remained under central control, and a grand counselor headed the civil bureaucracy drawn from the educated men representing powerful local communities. At the outset of the Han dynasty, the central government refrained from interfering with regional communities. Thus, the emperor and his family and court represented a strong, centralized monarchy, but practical considerations always restrained the ruler’s power. The Han-centralized bureaucracy became an enduring source of state power. The Han court soon tightened its control over regional administration and removed powerful princes or regional lords. Regional officials came to govern these aristocratic enclaves as commanderies of the empire. A civilian official and military commandant administered each commandery, each with immense responsibilities. They were accountable for political stability and the collection of taxes. The state established schools to promote the scholar-official ideal, and eventually established a university with over 30,000 members who studied not only the Confucian classics but numerous aspects of the natural world. Officials selected students on the basis of recommendations, and at graduation these young men began careers in the bureaucracy. Increasingly, local elites encouraged their sons to become masters of Confucianism as a means to enter and advance in the ruling class.  The Confucian classics soon became the heart of the autocratic state. Over time, a bureaucratic political culture emerged that balanced the interests of the authoritarian emperor with the officials he needed to rule—a partnership between China’s rulers and its educated and economic elites. Confucian Ideology and Legitimate Rule The Han used Confucian thought as the primary ideological buttress of the empire, in which the welfare of the people was the foundation of legitimate rule. Not only were local elites expected to be supported, but the people were also expected to be civilized. By 100 BCE, the Confucian ideals of honor, tradition, respecting the lessons of history, and emphasizing the emperor’s responsibility to heaven became the official doctrine of the empire. By embracing Confucian political ideas, the Han established a polity that created a careful balance between the emperor and his officials and empowered officials to criticize bad government and even to impeach corrupt leaders. THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER AND THE ECONOMY The genius of the Han was their ability to win support of diverse social groups by forming alliances with key leaders. A massive agrarian base provided the Han with tax revenues, as did a variety of special revenue sources, such as tribute from outlying domains. The state also promoted growth in silk and iron production and established state monopolies in salt, iron, and wine to fund military campaigns. Government monopolies undercut the independence of merchants, forcing them to become partners with the rulers. Daily Life Wealthy families lived in lavish homes with women cloistered in inner quarters. Women from less wealthy backgrounds worked the fields or joined troops of entertainers. Silk was abundant and worn by members of all classes, and the rich exposed their wealth by the fashion of their meals. Music and entertainment became divorced from ritual occasions, although funerary rites were taken very seriously. Social Hierarchy At the base of Han society was a free peasantry who owned  and worked their own land. Peasants were honored for their productivity while merchants were subjected to a range of controls. Poor tenant farmers and hired laborers eked out an existence, and at the bottom of society resided convicts and slaves, who represented a small percentage of the population. Confucians and Daoists supported this hierarchy. The empire’s most loyal social group was the scholar-officials, who linked the imperial center with local society. By 99 BCE, local uprisings forced the Han to relax its efforts to control local lords, and landlords and local magnates became the dominant powers in the provinces. Disenfranchised agrarian groups turned to religious organizations to provide the organizational framework for dissent and revolt. Religion and Omens Under the Han emperor Wu, Confucianism slowly took on religious overtones with Confucius possessing aspects of divinity. Religion linked scholars and officials to the peasantry. A cluster of calamities or celestial omens was taken as a sign that the emperor had lost the mandate of heaven. EXPANSION OF THE EMPIRE AND THE SILK ROAD The Han created a powerful army that expanded the borders of the empire and created stable conditions for the transit of goods over the Silk Road. Emperor Wu made military service compulsory. Conscripts served in their local areas. The standing army totaled more than one million men. Roman field armies, in contrast, rarely exceeded 30,000 men. Expanding Borders The army expanded borders in all directions, including into northern Vietnam and Korea but struggled more in the south and southwest due to mountainous terrain and malaria. The Xiongnu, the Yuezhi, and the Han Dynasty The most serious military threat to the Han came from the nomadic peoples to the north, especially the Xiongnu. Emperor Wu launched offensive campaigns against the Xiongnu, eventually splitting the Xiongnu tribes in half. The southern tribes surrendered to the Han, while the northern tribes moved westward. The Chinese Peace: Trade, Oases, and the Silk Road After the defeat of the Xiongnu, a Pax Sinica ensued that allowed a period of extended peace and prosperity. Long-distance trade flourished, and the Han enjoyed tribute from peoples far outside the Han territory. The Xiongnu even began to serve as middlemen in the Silk Road trade. Wu extended the northern defensive wall and established a series of garrison cities. Military and farming settlements began to develop this area with support from the government. A similar system of oases was developed on the rim of the Taklamakan Desert. Traders could now find food and fodder along this route, which soon became part of the Silk Road. SOCIAL CONVULSIONS AND THE USURPER The vast Han army stretched over long distances requiring huge expenditures. Emperor Wu raised taxes, which strained the small landholders and peasants, but by the beginning of the first century CE the Chinese empire was financially drained. Economic decline ensued as natural disasters led to crop failures. Many free peasants fell into debt and were forced to sell their land to large landholders. The social fabric of Han society tore apart as fast-growing populations confronted land shortages. Rebel movements soon formed. Wang Mang, a Han minister, seized the throne, believing the Han had lost the mandate of heaven. Wang Mang enacted reforms to help the poor and sought to redistribute land equitably. He increased taxes on artisans, hunters, and silk weavers to pay for a storehouse system to alleviate grain shortages, but his reforms failed. NATURAL DISASTER AND REBELLION Wang Mang’s reign was quickly undermined by a violent upheaval that united peasants and large landholders against central authority. In 11 CE, the Yellow River broke its dikes and switched course to the south. The entire region was plunged into famine and banditry, affecting nearly half of China’s population. Wang Mang’s regime was unable to cope with the disaster. Daoist clerics led a march on Wang’s capital, and by 23 CE, they had  overthrown Wang Mang. The Han returned to the throne and repudiated Wang Mang’s reformist policies as well as adopting a conservative ethos favoring hereditary privilege. THE LATER HAN DYNASTY The Later Han dynasty restored Han rule by accepting social, political, and economic inequalities. These problems slowly diluted the central power of the emperor and the court into the hands of great aristocratic families who obtained even more private property and turned free peasants into tenants. Social turmoil emerged as inequality grew, and full-scale rebellion erupted in 184 CE. Popular religious groups championed new ideas among commoners and elites, and Daoist ideas gained popularity. At this propitious moment, Buddhist clerics arrived in northern China preaching a new religion of personal enlightenment for the elite and millennial salvation for the masses, and their ideas were warmly welcomed. Yet Daoism offered the greatest challenge to the Han dynasty as Daoist masters challenged Confucian ritual conformity. Religious groups such as the Yellow Turbans emerged across the empire and championed Daoist millenarian movements. As agricultural conditions further deteriorated, people refused to pay their taxes or provide forced labor, and internal wars engulfed the Han dynasty. After the 180s CE, three competing states replaced the Han. The Roman Empire Whereas the Han dominated an enormous continental landmass, the Romans dominated the lands along the world’s largest inland sea, the Mediterranean. Through almost unrelenting wars, the Romans forged an unparalleled number of ethnic groups and minor states into a single large political state. FOUNDATIONS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE The Romans had no great imperial ancestors from which they drew imperial models. Up until 350 BCE, Rome was one of several city-states on the Italian peninsula, but then it entered a period of military and territorial  expansion. Within a century it controlled most of the Italian peninsula, due largely to the migration of foreign peoples and to Roman military and political innovations. Population Movements The invasion of Gallic peoples into the Italian peninsula in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BCE undermined the dominance of the Etruscans in that region. While the Gauls were repulsed, the Etruscans never reestablished their dominance over the other peoples in Italy, including the Romans. Military Institutions and the War Ethos The Romans created unassailable military power by organizing the communities they conquered in Italy into a system that provided huge reservoirs of manpower for the army. Beginning in 340 BCE, Rome defeated its fellow Latin city-states and then continued on to defeat other communities in Italy. Rome demanded that defeated communities provide men for the Roman army every year. Thus, the Roman army grew as its victories accumulated. By 265 BCE, Rome controlled the entire Italian peninsula and launched a series of three wars against Carthage. Through these Punic Wars, Rome established a dominant position in the western Mediterranean. Most dramatically, the Roman defeat of Hannibal during the Second Punic War demonstrated that the resources in terms of manpower and material that the Roman army could draw upon were of a qualitatively different character than those of a city-state such as Carthage. Such resources provided the Romans a decisive advantage. The Romans also created a war ethos in which honor precluded Roman soldiers from ever accepting defeat, pushing themselves into battle again and again. Roman soldiers also faced fierce discipline in which minor infractions were punishable by death. The Romans drafted and trained a large number of men—at its peak about 10 percent of the adult male population was drafted into military service. By 146 BCE the Romans had a monopoly of power over the entire Mediterranean basin. Military victory for generals brought not only glory and territory for the state but enormous personal rewards. Men of great talent and ambition were drawn into military service—and vast numbers died in Roman wars. Political Institutions and Internal Conflict Once the rush of military success slowed in the second century BCE, social and political problems in the Italian peninsula began to surface. The political institutions of the Roman city-state were now inadequate to manage a vast empire. Rome’s elite seized the wealth flowing into Rome from its empire and acquired huge tracts of land and imported slaves to work them. Poorer, free- citizen farmers were driven off their lands and into the cities, which resulted in a severe agrarian crisis. The Gracchus brothers, who served as tribunes to protect the interests of the common people, sought to institute land reforms but were assassinated. Poor Roman citizens increasingly looked toward army commanders to provide them with land and a decent income. Thus, generals became increasingly powerful political figures who ignored the state institutions and traditional rules of politics. In 90 BCE, a long series of civil wars began. EMPERORS, AUTHORITARIAN RULE, AND ADMINISTRATION After a half century of brutal civil war, Roman leaders sought to establish political stability, but such stability came at a price: one-man authoritarian rule. Peace depended on the power of one man who possessed sufficient authority to enforce orderly competition among the Roman aristocracy. Julius Caesar’s adopted son Octavian reunited the fractured empire and emerged as its undisputed master by 30 BCE. He assumed the name Augustus (the Revered One) and concentrated authority in his hands. The emperors were frequently cultivated as semidivine, yet they were careful to present themselves as civil rulers whose power depended on the consent of Roman citizens and the power of the army. Some emperors, such as Caligula, acted in the arbitrary ways that Romans associated with tyrannical kings. The position of emperor was fraught with difficulty, as fifteen of the twenty-two emperors between Augustus and the beginning of the third century died by murder or suicide. Emperors ruled with the help of several institutions, most importantly the army. Augustus transformed the army into a professional force. One joined for life and swore allegiance to the emperor and his family. The empire was divided into forty provinces, each headed by a governor appointed by the emperor. Governors depended on  lower-ranking officials to aid them. Compared to the Chinese bureaucracy, the Roman Empire was relatively underadministered. Governors were expected to maintain peace and collect taxes. TOWN AND CITY LIFE The emperor had to count on the local elites of the empire to see him as a presence that guaranteed stability and their personal well-being. Municipalities The towns in the empire provided the backbone of local administration. Roman town centers were dominated by an open-air forum around which were arranged the town’s main public buildings. In smaller towns, sanitation and health appear to have been reasonably good. Rome Rome, however, had over one million inhabitants. While aqueducts provided fresh water and basic food supplies were guaranteed, living conditions were appalling. Housing was dangerous and cramped, and crime and violence was rampant. The lack of sanitation led to a disease-ridden environment that killed off many inhabitants as new immigrants arrived. Mass Entertainment Every significant Roman town had a theater and an amphitheater, the most famous of which was the Colosseum in Rome. The Colosseum was a state-of-the-art entertainment facility, used most infamously for gladiatorial games in which well-trained men fought, sometimes to the death, for the enjoyment of huge crowds. The creation of public entertainments stresses the importance public citizens had in Roman life. Han Chinese elites, in contrast, created large palace complexes to impress and amuse themselves, not the general public. SOCIAL AND GENDER RELATIONS Men and women of wealth in the Roman Empire acted as patrons to clients of the lower classes. The wealthy made generous distributions of food and entertainment. These relationships were formalized in legal definitions of responsibilities of patrons to clients. The essence of Roman society,  however, was the presence of formal relationships governed by Roman laws and courts. The legal code featured not only a rich body of written laws but also institutions for settling legal disputes and educated men who specialized in interpreting the law. The apparatus of Roman law appeared in every town and city of the empire, and its influence long outlived the empire itself. The civil laws placed the family at the foundation of the Roman social order. The paterfamilias headed the family and had near total power over his dependents, yet compared to the women in the Greek city-states, Roman women had much greater freedom and control over their own wealth and property. They frequently entered into contracts and conducted business and personal transactions. ECONOMY AND NEW SCALES OF PRODUCTION Rome achieved a staggering transformation of scale in the production of agricultural, manufactured, and mined goods in the Mediterranean basin. The Romans also built an unprecedented number of roads and drew up complex land maps on which all major roads and the distances between towns were specified. They also coordinated the road network with sea routes to support the flow of commerce. Coinage was produced in massive quantities to facilitate the exchange of commodities and services. Large-scale commercial plantation agriculture emerged on estates called latifundia. Specializing in cash crops for urban markets, these estates required large numbers of slave laborers. These economic developments were supported by a firm belief in private property, which was codified into Roman law. RELIGIOUS CULTS AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY The political unification of the Mediterranean under one empire suggested that the beliefs of the people might also be unified. The municipal charters of towns required town councilors to institute and maintain the support of a wide variety of official and semiofficial religious cults. Christianity emerged from a direct confrontation and dialogue with Roman imperial authority. Jesus was tried by a Roman governor and executed by the standard Roman penalty of crucifixion. Disciples of Jesus attempted to write about  his life and record his sayings in four books that came to be called the Gospels, explaining that Jesus had been divine. Jesus’ preachings were deeply Jewish, with Jesus as the shepherd of his people. Through the textual portrait of Jesus drawn in the Gospels and the preaching of a Jewish Roman citizen named Paul, the image of Jesus as divine began to spread through the Mediterranean. Followers formed a church in which death was the hallmark of faith: the death and resurrection of Jesus and their own deaths as witnesses and martyrs to God. The persecution of Christians remained sporadic and local. Not until the middle of the third century CE was a formal, empire-wide attack on Christianity directed by the state. By the late third century, Christian communities reflecting different strands of the movement were present throughout the empire. THE LIMITS OF EMPIRE The Romans extended their empire to its ecological limits to the west (the Atlantic Ocean) and the south (the Sahara Desert). To the east, the Romans were prevented from expanding beyond the Mediterranean periphery by the empire of the Parthians and their successors the Sasanians. The nomadic Parthians and Sasanians had a decisive advantage on the arid plains of Iran and Iraq against the cumbersome Roman infantry. In the lands to the north, the illiterate kin-based agricultural societies were led by warrior elites. Their relationships with the Romans were characterized by war and violence. The only commodity that these societies produced that was in demand in the Roman world was slaves, and the slave trade out of this region was immense. The Romans became enmeshed with these northern tribal societies, and the tribal societies were drawn into internal conflicts among the Roman elite.

Playwright Berthold Brecht Life, Work, and Political Views

One of the most provocative and famous playwrights of the 20th-century, Berthold Brecht, wrote popular plays like Mother Courage and Her Children and Three Penny Opera. Brecht has been a great influence on modern theater and his plays continue to address societal concerns. Who was Berthold Brecht? Playwright Eugene Berthold Brecht (also known as Bertolt Brecht) was deeply influenced by Charlie Chaplin and  Karl Marx.  This strange combination of inspiration produced Brecht’s twisted sense of humor as well as the political beliefs within his plays. Brecht  was born on February 10th, 1898 and died on  August 14th, 1956. Aside from his dramatic work, Berthold Brecht also wrote poetry, essays, and shorts stories.  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹ Brechts Life and Political Views Brecht was raised in a middle-class family in Germany, although he often fabricated stories of an impoverished childhood. As a young man, he was attracted to fellow artists, actors, cabaret musicians, and clowns. As he began to write plays of his own, he discovered that the theater was the perfect forum to express social and political criticism. Brecht developed a style known as â€Å"Epic Theatre.† In this medium, actors did not strive to make their characters realistic. Instead, each character represented a different side of an argument. Brecht’s â€Å"Epic Theatre† presented multiple viewpoints and then let the audience decide for themselves. Does this mean Brecht didn’t play favorites? Certainly not. His dramatic works blatantly condemn fascism, but they also endorse communism as an acceptable form of government. His political views developed from his life experiences. Brecht fled Nazi Germany before the onset of World War II. After the war, he willingly moved to Soviet-occupied East Germany and became a proponent of the communist regime. Brecht’s Major Plays Brechts most acclaimed work is Mother Courage and Her Children (1941). Although set in the 1600s, the play is relevant to contemporary society. It is often regarded as one of the finest anti-war plays. Not surprisingly, Mother Courage and Her Children has frequently been revived in recent years. Many colleges and professional theaters have produced the show, perhaps to express their views on modern-day warfare. Brechts most famous musical collaboration is Three Penny Opera. The work was adapted from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, a successful 18th-century â€Å"ballad opera.† Brecht and composer Kurt Weill filled the show with humorous scoundrels, riveting songs (including the popular Mack the Knife), and scathing social satire. The play’s most renowned line  is: Who is the bigger criminal: he who robs a bank or he who founds one? Brechts Other Influential Plays Most of Brechts best-known work was created between the late 1920s and mid-1940s though he wrote a total of 31 plays that were produced. The first was Drums in the Night (1922) and the last was Saint Joan of the Stockyards which did not appear on the stage until  1959, three years after his death. Among the long list of Brecht plays, four stand out: Drums in the Night (1922):  Part romance, part political drama, the play is set during a violent worker’s revolt in 1918 Germany.Edward II (1924):  Brecht loosely adapted this regal drama from the 16th-century playwright, Christopher Marlowe.Saint Joan of the Stockyards (1959): Set in Chicago (and written shortly after the Stock Market Crash) this 20th-century Joan of Arc battles cruel-hearted industrialists only to be martyred like her historical namesake.Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (1938): Brecht’s most overtly anti-fascist play analyzes the insidious way the Nazis came into power. Complete List of Brechts Plays If you are interested in more of Brechts plays, heres a list of every play produced from his work. They are listed by the date that they first appeared in the theater. Drums in the Night  (1922)Baal  (1923)In the Jungle of the Cities  (1923)Edward II  (1924)The Elephant Calf  (1925)Man Equals Man  (1926)The Threepenny Opera  (1928)Happy End  (1929)Lindberghs Flight  (1929)He Who Says Yes  (1929)Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny  (1930)He Who Says No  (1930)The Measures Taken  (1930)The Mother  (1932)The Seven Deadly Sins  (1933)The Roundheads and the Peakheads  (1936)The Exception and the Rule  (1936)Fear and Misery of the Third Reich  (1938)Seà ±ora Carraras Rifles  (1937)The Trial of Lucullus  (1939)Mother Courage and Her Children  (1941)Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti  (1941)Life of Galileo  (1943)The Good Person of Sezuan  (1943)Schweik in the Second World War  (1944)The Visions of Simone Machard  (1944)The Caucasian Chalk Circle  (1945)The Days of the Commune  (1949)The Tutor  (1950)The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui  (1958)Saint Joan of the Stockyards  (1959)