Both Asoka in India and Augusta in Rome brought a period of peace through their rule as emperors. These periods of peace were both implicated after military victory. Asoka, conquered new lands for ancient India, but unlike Augustus saw the horror and destruction his war brought. After seeing what his actions had caused, Asoka converted to Buddhism and instituted a series of religious edicts which were to ensure the peace and prosperity of his nation. Augustus, on the other hand, believed that peace was a natural part of military victory. Unlike Asoka, who saw his military conquests as a corruption of peace, Augustus believed that peace could only be achieved and sustained through military might.
             Asoka was the son of the famous Bindusara and ruled over India from 269 to 232 B.C.E. The beginning of his reign followed suit with his predecessors. He set out to conquer neighboring kingdoms at the expense of the peace and prosperity of his own people. After ruling violently over India and seeing the destruction his conquests caused, Asoka converted to Buddhism. The conquest of Kalinga changed Asoka's bloodthirsty ways. There, he personally witnessed how his warfare was making the common people utterly miserable. Part of his conversion was to ensure peace within his Kingdom in remembrance of the foul deeds he had done which caused so much pain and suffering (Noss 189). He instituted a series of religious edicts, called the Rock and Pillar Edicts, which were Buddhist teachings that he now used as mandates for the rule of the people, "To this end I have issued proclamations on Dharma, and I have instituted various kinds of moral and religious instruction, (Rock and Pillar Edicts 153). Asoka believed that his people should "be united, and should practice piety and common law; let them store up merit toward rebirth in a paradise hereafter," (Noss 190). Asoka used his government to implement his new found rel...