On the other hand, did it stay divided? Did structures like the Catholic Church and Holy Roman Empire represent a credible continuation on the Roman Empire and what it represented to its populace? Could we say that there were parallel developments in a "national empire" of the Han Chinese and a "religious empire" of Western Christendom?
See the answers in China is famous for going through a cycle of strong empires and fracturing and civil wars. But did people during times of small kingdoms see it as a “civil war” or as a war between separate states? Was there a desire or expectation that they’d all be united again eventually? by /u/touchme5eva and /u/necksbetrim and /u/Dongzhou3kingdoms.