Jackson Barry March 21, 2013 History Period 2 Qin Shi huangdi Brilliant Leader or Brutal Tyrant While

e Qin Shi huangdi had many great achievements and was a great warrior, he also was very cruel and harsh leader. He did many human sacrifices. Qin Shi huangdi was born by the name of Prince Zheng near the end of the Warring States Period. He was the prince of the state of Qin. When he turned about 13, he became king. He then conquered all of the Warring States (in about 20 years) and created the first ever empire. He then renamed himself Qin Shi huangdi, which stands for the first emperor of China. Qin Shi huangdi was a very cruel leader. He believed that everybody was born bad and that nobody could trust each other. He had a society where everyone would tell on each other, even family members would tell on other family members, for doing even just the slightest thing wrong. Even if what the person be punished did was not that bad, the punishments were still very extreme. Some punishments included forced labor, pay in gold, get a hand cut off, or even death. Qin Shi huangdi is known as one of the most brutal leaders and this was just the start of some of the many things he did. Even though he was a harsh leader, he had many great achievements. Qin Shi huangdi accomplished many things from building the Great Wall, to the terra cotta warriors. Qin Shihuangdi started the historic structure known as the Great Wall of China. He built the wall for protection from invaders. Qin Shihuangdi was part of the great building of the terra cotta warriors. There were so many terra cotta warriors and each face was different! Some were fat, skinny, had freckles, smiled, etc. Lastly, the terra cotta warriors formed the worlds first assembly line. Qin Shi huang dis last achievement was he created the worlds first empire. He did this by conquering all the Warring States, one-by-one, over the course of about 20 years. I think that Qin Shi huangdi was both a brilliant leader and brutal tyrant. He had many achievements and was very successful, but he also had harsh punishments. Qin Shi huangdi wanted his empire to last 10,000 generations but in fact, it only lasted about 15 years. He also wanted to live forever but he died when he was about twenty-five. He died because somebody poisoned him. Qin Shi huangdi changed China forever.