Editing Autocracy (section)

=== Early history ===
[[File:Julius Caesar te paard C. Ivlivs Caesar (titel op object) Romeinse keizers te paard (serietitel) Imperatorvm XII. A svetonio descriptorvm effigies resqve gestae (serietitel), RP-P-1963-135.jpg|thumb|upright|Julius Caesar (engraved {{circa|1587|1589}})]]
Autocracy has been the primary form of government for most of human history.{{Sfn|Tullock|1987|p=8}} One of the earliest forms of government was the chiefdom that developed in [[tribal societies]], which date back to the [[Neolithic]].{{Sfn|Earle|1997|p=15}} Chiefdoms are regional collections of villages ruled over by [[tribal chief]].{{Sfn|Beliaev|Bondarenko|Korotayev|2001|p=373}} They are an emergent form of governance, originating from societies that previously lacked a centralized authority.{{Sfn|Earle|1997|p=14}} Historical chiefs often held only tenuous power over the chiefdom,{{Sfn|Beliaev|Bondarenko|Korotayev|2001|p=377}} but they trended towards autocracy as [[heterarchical]] governance was replaced with [[hierarchical]] governance.{{Sfn|Beliaev|Bondarenko|Korotayev|2001|p=381}}

Early states were formed by [[warlords]] ruling over conquered territory.{{Sfn|Grzymala-Busse|Finkel|2022|loc=How Autocracies Emerge}} The first states were the city-states of [[Mesopotamia]], which first developed around the 35th century BCE.{{Sfn|Finer|1997|p=104}} These early states were ruled by kings who were both political and religious leaders.{{Sfn|Brisch|2013|p=38}} These were followed by the first empire, the [[Akkadian Empire]], when they were conquered by [[Sargon of Akkad]] in the 24th century BCE.{{Sfn|Schrakamp|2016}} The blending of autocratic rule with religious significance continued under the Akkadian Empire, as the king [[Naram-Sin of Akkad]] was the first of several kings to be [[Apotheosis|recognized as a god]] over the following centuries.{{Sfn|Brisch|2013|p=40}} [[Ancient Egypt]] also existed as an autocratic government for most of its early history,{{Sfn|Finer|1997|p=66}} first developing states at the end of the fourth millennium BCE.{{Sfn|Finer|1997|p=136}}

China has been subject to autocratic rule almost without interruption since its ancient feudal society was replaced by the [[Qin dynasty]] in 221 BCE,{{Sfn|Fu|1993|pp=1–2}} and even its feudal government had stronger elements of autocracy than other instances of feudalism.{{Sfn|Fu|1993|p=16}} The early Chinese philosophy of [[Confucianism]] emphasized the importance of benevolent autocratic rule to maintain order,{{Sfn|Fu|1993|pp=31–33}} and this philosophy heavily influenced future Chinese thought.{{Sfn|Fu|1993|pp=33–34}}

City-states in [[Ancient Greece]] and the [[Etruscan civilization]] were often ruled by tyrants, though myth and historical revisionism later re-imagined these tyrants as kings with hereditary succession.{{Sfn|Morris|2003|pp=1–2}} The [[Roman Republic]] introduced the concept of the [[Roman dictator]] who would be temporarily invested with unchecked power to restore stability during periods of crisis.{{Sfn|Kalyvas|2007|p=413}} This temporary dictatorship was eventually subverted by [[Julius Caesar]] when he became [[Dictator perpetuo|dictator for life]] in 44 BCE, ending the Roman Republic and ushering the creation of the autocratic [[Roman Empire]].{{Sfn|Zeev|1996|p=251–253}}

Several early military dictatorships formed in East Asia during the [[post-classical era]]. These include the rule of the [[Goguryeo]] kingdom by [[Yeon Gaesomun]] in 642,{{Sfn|Lee|1984|p=48}} the [[Goryeo military regime]] beginning in 1170,{{Sfn|Shultz|2000|pp=1–2}} and the [[shogunate]] in Japan between the 12th and 19th centuries.{{Sfn|Gordon|2003|p=58}}

Parliamentary monarchies became common in the 13th century as monarchs sought larger advising bodies that were representative of the kingdom.{{Sfn|Grzymala-Busse|Finkel|2022|loc=How Autocracies Are Sustained}} European nations moved away from feudalism and towards centralized monarchy as the primary form of government in the 14th century.{{Sfn|Grigg|2014}}