If Severus had just extended Britain's border toward France, rather than shifting eastern France's border to the vicinity of the Rhine River, Zhang Tao might have thought of the Hundred Years' War instead of Napoleon.
During that period, Paris was not France's capital; the capital was in the Loire Valley. It was only because Joan of Arc fought so bravely and recaptured New Orleans from the British that the people of France regained their confidence, following Joan of Arc northward to recover France's occupied lands.
That meant Britain and France's borders had to be redrawn once more. Many people equated a nation's strength with the size of its territory: the larger its land area, the stronger its national power. To achieve this, monarchs sometimes launched wars abroad.
Alexander the Great, Caesar, Attila, Genghis Khan, Timur, and so on—becoming a conqueror was the dream of many men. But whether they could hold such vast territories and preserve their integrity and unity was another matter entirely. The once-powerful Roman Empire had now fragmented into countries large and small. "Dominion" differed from "domination." Dominion meant rule as a sovereign, while domination leaned more toward cruel control or subjugation.
Spartacus was a Thracian. When Rome invaded northern Greece, he was captured. Yet instead of working in a quarry or on a farm like ordinary slaves, he became a gladiator, relying on bloody performances to "entertain" Roman citizens.
Later, he incited his companions to seize weapons and flee to Mount Vesuvius, where they launched an uprising. The rebel force swiftly grew from seventy gladiators to more than a hundred thousand men, repeatedly defeating the Roman armies sent to suppress them. Faced with the rebels' unstoppable advance, the Roman Senate had no choice but to declare a state of emergency and order the famed Roman general