Arguably the most important series of political events in this period were the conquests of
Alexander, bringing about the collapse of the once formidable
Persian Empire and spreading Greek culture far into the east. Alexander dreamt of an east/west union, but when his short life ended in 323 BCE, his vast empire was plunged into
civil war as his generals each carved out their own separate kingdoms. Thus began the
Hellenistic age, a period characterized by a more absolute approach to rule, with Greek kings taking on royal trappings and setting up hereditary successions. While a degree of democracy still existed in some of the remaining independent Greek cities, many scholars see this age as marking the end of classical Greece.
In
India, the
Maurya Empire was founded in 322 BCE by
Chandragupta Maurya who rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western
India, taking advantage of the disruptions of
local powers in the wake of the withdrawal westward by the armies of Alexander.
China in the 4th century BCE entered an era of constant warfare known as the
Warring States period. The period saw the rapid rise of large states (such as
Chu) over smaller ones thanks to technological advancement. Though the period has usually been characterized by historians as being excessively violent compared to the
Spring and Autumn period, it was also punctuated by several cultural and social growths through the expansion of several different sects of
Confucianism and
Taoism, and the formulation of
Legalist thought.
392 BCE: A peace conference between the Greek city-states is held in Sparta. Andocides, Athenian orator and politician, goes with three colleagues to negotiate peace with Sparta. The conference is unsuccessful and Athens rejects the terms and exiles the ambassadors.
389 BCE: Early in the
Warring States period,
Chu is one of the strongest states in China. The state rose to a new level of power when
King Dao of Chu (楚悼王) names the famous reformer
Wu Qi as his chancellor.
389 BCE:
Wu Qi, the
prime minister of the
State of Chu, enacts his first series of political, municipal, and martial reforms. Wu Qi gains the ire and distrust of Chu officials and aristocratic elite who are against his crusades to sweep up corruption in the state and limit their power.
387 BCE: Under the threat of Spartan intervention,
Thebes disbands its league, and
Argos and
Corinth end their shared government. Corinth, deprived of its strong ally, is incorporated back into Sparta's
Peloponnesian League. After eight years of fighting, the
Corinthian War is at an end.
387 BCE: Romans are defeated by the
Gauls under
Brennus in the
Battle of the Allia who then go on to occupy the city of
Rome. After the Gauls leave again the Romans begin the rebuilding of their city.
384 BCE: The Greeks found the colony of Pharos at the site of today's
Stari Grad on the island of
Hvar, defeating
Iadasinoi warriors brought in for its defense.
381 BC:
Sparta increases its hold on central
Greece by reestablishing the city of
Plataea, which Sparta formerly destroyed in
427 BC.
381 BC:
Wu Qi is assassinated at the funeral of King Diao of Chu, although his assassins are executed shortly after by the newly enthroned King Su of Chu.
380 BC:
Persia forces the
Athenians to withdraw their general
Chabrias from
Egypt. Chabrias has been successfully supporting the Egyptian Pharaohs in maintaining their independence from the
Persian Empire.
376 BC: The states of
Han,
Wei and
Zhao deposed
Duke Jing of Jin and divided the last remaining
Jin territory between themselves, which marked the final end of the Jin state.
343 BC: State of
Qi wins the
Battle of Maling over
Wei that takes place in Maling, currently Dazhangjia Town,
Shen County,
Henan Province, during the
Warring States period. After the death of Pang Juan, Prince Shen was captured by Qi. The power of the state of Wei decreased considerably after this battle.
331 BC:
Alexander the Great Wins the Battle of Gaugamela, effectively ending Persian hegemony. He would spend much of the 330s conquering the remnants of the
Achaemenid Empire.
331 BC:
Chu rises to its peak in 334 BC, when it conquers
Yue to its east on the Pacific coast.
323 BC: The
Partition of Babylon sets out the division of the territories conquered by Alexander the Great between his generals. The partition is a result of a compromise, essentially brokered by
Eumenes, following a conflict of opinion between the party of
Meleager, who wishes to give full power to
Philip III, and the party of
Perdiccas, who wishes to wait for the birth of the heir of Alexander and his wife,
Roxana to give him the throne under the control of a regent.
314 BC: Upon the ascension of
King Nan,
East Zhou becomes an independent state. The king comes to reside in what becomes known as West Zhou.[1]
311 BC:
King Hui of Qin dies, follows by prime minister Zhang Yi one year later. The new monarch,
King Wu, reigns only four years before dying without legitimate heirs.
309 BC: Soon after the
State of Qin has conquered the
State of Shu (in modern-day
Sichuan province), they employ the Shu engineer Bi Ling to create the Guanxian
irrigation system, which will eventually provide for over five million people in an area of 40 to 50 square miles (130 km2), still in use today.
Starting in the year
309 BC, the later Chinese historian
Sima Qian (145 BC–90 BC) wrote that the Qin-employed engineer Bi Ling of the newly conquered
State of Shu in
Sichuan had the shoulder of a mountain cut through, making the
'Separated Hill' that abated the Mo River, and excavated two canals in the plain of
Chengdu. The significance of this was phenomenal, as it allowed the new Guardian
irrigation system to populate an area of some 40 by 50 miles (60 × 80 km) with over five million people, still in use today (Needham, Science and Civilization in China, Volume 4, Part 3, 288).
The Chinese astronomer
Gan De divides the
celestial sphere into 365¼ degrees, and the tropical year into 365¼ days at a time when most astronomers used the
Babylon division of the celestial sphere as 360 degrees (Deng, Yinke. [2005] (2005). Chinese Ancient Inventions.
ISBN7-5085-0837-8).