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.
Map of the world in 400 BCE, the beginning of the fourth century BCE.Map of the world in 323 BCE.Map of the world in 300 BCE, the end of the fourth century BCE.
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 BCE: Sparta increases its hold on central Greece by reestablishing the city of Plataea, which Sparta formerly destroyed in 427 BCE.
381 BCE: 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 BCE: 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 BCE: 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 BCE: 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 BCE: 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 BCE: Chu rises to its peak in 334 BCE, when it conquers Yue to its east on the Pacific coast.
323 BCE: 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 BCE: 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 BCE: 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 BCE: 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 (130km2), still in use today.
Starting in the year 309 BCE, the later Chinese historian Sima Qian (145 BCE–90 BCE) 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 × 80km) 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).
