The Fall of the Ming Dynasty: China's Last Native Empire | The Final History

This video covers the full rise and fall of the Ming dynasty: a peasant emperor's rise to power, the golden age of the Forbidden City and Zheng He's treasure fleets, China's mysterious decision to abandon naval dominance entirely, the silver-based economy that made Ming China one of the richest states on Earth, and the perfect storm of climate crisis, currency collapse, court corruption, and one general's fateful decision at a mountain pass that brought it all down in less than a decade. Why did the wealthiest, most populous empire in the world collapse this fast once seriously tested? We break down exactly what went wrong. CHAPTERS 00:00 – The Emperor's Final Night 01:30 – A Peasant Becomes Emperor 04:30 – The Forbidden City and Zheng He's Treasure Fleets 07:00 – Why China Abandoned the Seas 09:00 – Silver, Trade, and the Ming Economy 11:30 – Court Eunuchs and the Rise of Wei Zhongxian 13:30 – The Little Ice Age and Famine 15:00 – The Silver Crisis and the Manchu Threat 17:30 – Li Zicheng's Rebellion 19:30 – The Fall of Beijing 21:30 – Wu Sangui's Fateful Decision 23:30 – Why the Ming Really Fell Subscribe for more deep dives into the rise and fall of history's greatest empires — new videos on The Final History roughly every [frequency]. #MingDynasty #ChineseHistory #History #ForbiddenCity #TheFinalHistory