Why was shi huangdi cruel

He was king of the small state of Qin by the age of 13, and started as he meant to go on - removing one possible threat to his throne by having his mother's lover executed, along with his entire clan. A hundred years later the famous historian Sima Qian said of the young king:.

When he is in difficulty he readily humbles himself before others, but when he has got his way, then he thinks nothing of eating others alive.

Qin Shi Huang built a formidable fighting machine. His army is easy to imagine because he left us the famous terracotta warriors in Xian. One by one, Qin Shi Huang defeated neighbouring states, swallowed their territory into his growing empire and enslaved and castrated their citizens. He was a ruthless tyrant. And you've got one man ruling all of it. Peter Bol credits Qin Shi Huang not only with creating China, but with establishing the world's first truly centralised bureaucratic empire.

And the fact that Chinese writing remains unified after this point has everything to do with Qin Shi Huang. The axle widths are now all the same, so all the roads may now be passable. The people all knew what the rules were," says Wood. Notably, Chile was one of the best-performing economies in Latin America from the mid-'80s to the late '90s. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App.

Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. Elena Holodny and Amanda Macias. Qin Shi Huang. Attila the Hun. Wu Zetian. Genghis Khan. Tomas de Torquemada. Timur aka Tamerlane.

Queen Mary I aka Bloody Mary. Maximilien Robespierre. King Leopold II of Belgium. Vladimir Lenin. Benito Mussolini. Joseph Stalin. Adolf Hitler. Khorloogiin Choibalsan. Francisco Franco. Mao Zedong. Pol Pot. Idi Amin. Augusto Pinochet. And now, check out the Loading Something is loading. During this time, all tried to overcome the enemy in order to expand their territory. In the Qin state, a growing leader was about to prosper. His name was Lu Buwei.

On that day, Lu Buwei had arranged with the king to meet his lovely wife, Zhao Ji. As soon as they met, the King Zhuangxiang of Qin felt an attraction to her. He was the first Emperor of China, and helped form it into the country it is today.

He built many new things to help China improve throughout his reign. He did many good and bad things, but was a very effective leader. Shi Huangdi was a bad ruler because he killed many people, burned history and literature books, and sent his own son into exile. Regardless of his few accomplishments for China, his reign was a one of fear and intimidation for the people.

Although, he only ruled for 15 years, he successfully united China after centuries of civil war and built an empire that has lasted to this very day, he is known as both a brutal tyrant and a great leader. Qin Dynasty was the first unified, multi-national and power-centralized state in the Chinese history. It lasted from BC to BC. Although surviving only 15 years, the dynasty held an important role in Chinese history and it exerted great influence on the following dynasties.

Construction — Emperor Qin made a number of improvements to the infrastructure of China. He had a vast network of roads and canals built throughout the country.