

The Story of World History

The Glory of Past Civilizations

Claude Stahl

Copyright © 2018 Copyright - by Claude Stahl All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form including information storage and retrieval systems, without the permission in writing from the author and publisher"

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author.

Disclaimer: The author of this book is not liable for the actions of any reader of this book; all the information is of the author's personal opinion.

## Chapters

Chapter 1 Introduction to the History of the World

Chapter 2 The Ancient Origins of Humans and Civilization

Chapter 3 Ancient Egypt

Chapter 4 The Old Kingdoms

Chapter 5 The First Cultures

Chapter 6 Early Dynastic History

Chapter 7 The First Intermediate Perdiod

Chapter 8 The Classical Perdiod

Chapter 9 The Second Intermediate Perdiod

Chapter 10 The New Kingdom Period

Chapter 11 The Hieroglyphs

Chapter 12 Egyptian Gods

Chapter 13 Ramesses The Great

Chapter 14 Mesopotamia, Babylin and Egypt

Chapter 15 The Detoriation of Egypt

Chapter 16 The Late Period

Chapter 17 The Phonicians

Chapter 18 Ancient Greek Civilization

Chapter 19 The Cycladic Civilization

Chapter 20 The Minoan Area

Chapter 21 Towards the Classical Epoch

Chapter 22 Sparta and Athens

Chapter 23 Classic Greek Philisophy

Chapter 24 Alexander The Great

Chapter 25 The Story of The Roman Empire

Chapter 26 A City and Republic

Chapter 27 The Punic Wars

Chapter 28 Julius Caesar and Augustus

Chapter 29 Emperial Rome

Chapter 30 The Early Dynasties

Chapter 31 Pax Romana

Chapter 32 The Julio-Claudian Dynasty

Chapter 33 The Flavian Dynasty

Chapter 34 The Five Good Emperors

Chapter 35 The Devision of the Empire

Chapter 36 Constantine and Christianity

Chapter 37 United for a Last Time

Chapter 38 The Decline of the Roman Empire

Chapter 39 The Downfall

Chapter 40 The Empire Continues to Exist the East

Chapter 41 The Early and High Middle Ages

Chapter 42 Reconquest Under Roman Emperor Justinian

Chapter 43 The Byzantine Empire

Chapter 44 The Frankish Kingdom and Brittania

Chapter 45 Europe Did Not Become Islamic

Chapter 46 The Occupation of Italy

Chapter 47 Charlemagne

Chapter 48 Vikings And Sarazenes

Chapter 49 Feudalism and the Church

Chapter 50 The Holy German Empire

Chapter 51 The Islamic Arabs Press Westwards

Chapter 52 Genua, Venice and the Fall of Constantinopel

Chapter 53 The Crusades

Chapter 54 The Renaissance

Chapter 55 Revival of the Arts and Great Renaissance Humanists

Chapter 56 Pre Colombian America - The Azteks and Incas

Chapter 57 The Achievements of the Azteks

Chapter 58 The Incas

Chapter 59 Cusco

Chapter 60 Columbus and the European Conquest of the Americas

Chapter 61 The Age of Discoveries and Conquistadores

Chapter 62 Hernandez Cortez and the Conquest of Mexico

Chapter 63 Francisco Pizarro- The Ruthless Conquerer of the Incas

Chapter 64 Other European Natipns Jin the Conquests

Chapter 65 Europre's Religious Conflicts

Chapter 66 Russian History

Chapter 67 Peter The Great

Chapter 68 The Early Period of the Unitex States of America

Chapter 69 Early Settlements in Jamestown

Chapter 70 The New England Colonies

Chapter 71 Battles with Britain

Chapter 72 Asian History

Chapter 73 Early Civilizations in the Indian Subcontinent

Chapter 74 The History of India

Chapter 75 The Valley Civilization

Chapter 76 The Verdic Period

Chapter 77 The Ancient Caste System

Chapter 78 Hinduism and Buddhism

Chapter 79 Cyrus of Persia

Chapter 80 The Indian Empires

Chapter 81 The Middle Kingdoms

Chapter 82 The Golden Era

Chapter 83 The Decline of Empirers and the Beginning of Islam

Chapter 84 The Sultanate of Delhi

Chapter 85 The History of China

Chapter 86 Historic Dynasties

Chapter 87 The Shang Dynasty

Chapter 88 The Zhou Epoch

Chapter 89 The Spring and Autumn Period - The Warring States

Chapter 90 The great Wall

Chapter 91 The Confucian School

Chapter 92 The First Imperial Period

Chapter 93 The Terracotta Army

Chapter 94 The Han Dynasty

Chapter 95 The Fall of the Han and Rise of the Xin Dynasty

Chapter 96 The Tang Dynasty

Chapter 97 The Song Dynasty

Chapter 98 Genghis Khan

Chapter 99 The Ming Dynasty

Chapter 100 Admiral Zeng Discovers New Worlds

Chapter 101 The Yongle Emperor

Chapter 102 The Arrival of the Europeans

Chapter 103 The Japanese History

Chapter 104 The Age of Courtiers

Chapter 105 The Age of Warriors

Chapter 106 The Civil War

Chapter 107 Stability and Seclusion

Chapter 108 Modernization Through Westernisation

Chapter 109 North America

Chapter 110 The Great Proclamation & Birth of the United States

Chapter 111 The America Revolution

Chapter 112 The Foundation of the United States of America

Chapter 113 Advancements in the United States

Chapter 114 The American Civil War

Chapter 115 Europe: Modern 18th CenturyAchievements

Chapter 116 The French Revolution And Napoleon

Chapter 117 The Industrial Revolution and World Domination of European Nations

Chapter 118 Emerging Nationalism

Chapter 119 The Long 19th Century

Chapter 120 Prussia and the British Empire

Chapter 121 Europe - Expansion and Competition

Chapter 122 Late Imperial France

Chapter 123 The Division of China and the Colonisation of Africa

Chapter 124 Prelude to World War I

Chapter 125 World War I - The Course of the War

Chapter 126 Conclusion and About the Author
Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD

Although modern humans today live roughly for 200,000 years, they only began to record history from around the 3rd century BCE.

Throughout history, new civilizations emerged and empires crumbled. We can and should rediscover old cultures that eventually lead to our own. Especially today, it is important to get an unbiased perspective of world history, to learn the basics but also the true identities of past cultures, and furthermore to understand historical timelines of countries and areas, because every country in the world boasts its own unique history and cultural identity.

Through history, we can learn humanity, achievements, and glory by our own standards. Even through a compact book we can discover what historic glory means, and the most important civilizations all have stories to tell, from which we can draw our own personal conclusions on heritage and who we are. History actually never repeats itself; nevertheless, the past can guide us as we head into the future. By examining and comparing history and cultures and their timelines we will be able to get an unbiased overview of the development not only of historical events but of the development of great cultures so that today's culture and current events make more sense.

Chapter 2

THE ANCIENT ORIGINS OF HUMANS AND CIVILIZATION

Most scholars still agree that the "African origin" model holds that all or nearly all modern human genetic diversity around the world can be traced back to the first anatomically modern humans to leave Africa.

The first Homo sapiens came out of North East Africa, approximately 70 thousand years ago, and for at least 40,000 of those years they obtained almost all of their food sources by hunting and gathering.

This species then migrated out of Africa along a coastal route via the Arabian Peninsula to South- and Southeast Asia, and eventually reached the Pacific and Australia. About 50 thousand years ago, the first modern humans, a subspecies of Homo sapiens, migrated from Africa to Asia Minor, and over the Caucasus to Europe; regarding the history of Modern humans reached Central Europe about 40 thousand years ago. Humans also migrated to the Americas about 15 thousand years ago; most came over the land-bridge which is now called the Bering Strait.

The 10th millennium BC saw the invention of agriculture and the beginning of the ancient era.

The Neolithic Age, Era or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, which included primitive tools beginning about 10,200 BC. Hunter-gatherers of that time had access to goods and tools that prehistoric hunter-gatherers did not have, due to trade with neighboring tribes and early agrarian societies. Most modern hunter-gatherers could already forge iron, making hunting and cutting tools of stones and bones which made primitive agriculture and hunting considerably easier.

Then, within a period of about appr.8,000 years, the great majority of humans were making their living by stock breeding and farming. This age is widely considered as the beginning of the rise of mankind.

In the 7th millennium BC, the Jiahu culture along the Yellow River began in China. Their cultural symbols included one of the world's earliest examples in the history of writing, carved into tortoise shells and bones. By the 5th millennium BC, the late Neolithic culture in East Asia saw the invention of the wheel, the spread of proton-writing as well as evidence of metallurgy. This was also the time when the first armies, consisting of soldiers from city states were established to fight nomadic hordes.

The 30th century BC, referred to as the Early Bronze Age, saw the beginning of the literate period in Mesopotamia (Today Iraq). Widely considered to be one of the cradles of civilization in the Bronze Age, the area of Mesopotamia included the first civilizations such as the Sumer and Babylonian civilizations.

Agriculture moved slowly from Mesopotamia into Ancient Egypt, and around the 27th century BC, the Old Kingdom of Egypt where the system of hunter-gatherer was completely replaced by agriculture and its integrated water-management.

Chapter 3

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt is one of the most intriguing epochs of world history, as it is one of the cradles of humankind. Egypt is probably the most important ancient high-culture, that boosted and effected many others in early antiquity; until today it is seen as a mesmerizing and mystique culture, which continues to inspire mankind.

Egypt has not always been known under its famous name. Throughout history, the country on the Nile river had different names and originally the Greek mentioned it by the name of Aegyptos, which actually their own version for Hwt-Ka-Ptah, a spiritual name, meaning the guardians of the Spirit of Ptah, which was one of the earliest deities in the region.

Chapter 4

The Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom was named Kemet, which referred to the Black Land – because of the richness and black soil found on the banks of the River Nile. Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization located in Northeastern Africa and concentrated along the lower shores of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt.

Lower Egypt and the Nile Delta are the places where the earliest settlements and historic communities sprang up. Eventually it was then renamed by the Arabs as the country of Misr, meaning country, and is still used by Egyptians today.

From 8,000 to 525 BCE, Egypt was independent from neighboring civilizations in the Arabian peninsula, and during that time they developed their iconic and timeless architecture, arts, science and general cultural progression.

Throughout history, many monuments and structures survive from all periods of time, but especially the timeless monuments of Egypt inspired many other civilizations, both in antiquity and the modern era.

Around the ninth and eight centuries BCE there were already Egyptian influenced cattle raising and agriculture in the Saharan Desert, far from the Nile.

Early hunter-gatherers started to settle near the lower Nile River sometime before 6,000 BCE. Only eight hundred years later, around 5200 BCE farming commenced around the northern the Nile and its delta, which led to further developments of early regional states and the development of early local kingdoms. Trade in the eastern Mediterranean as well as urban culture emerged around 5,500 BCE, this was also around the same time when faience and sculpture workshops were appearing in the ancient city of Abydos.

The first pre-Egyptian dynastic and unifying culture was the Banarian culture, an early conglomerate of small kingdoms that sometimes gathered around one king or tribe. However, this culture was unified in language, trading customs and arts.

Chapter 5

The First Cultures

Badarian culture was followed by the Nagada-Amratian Culture, the Gerzean Culture and the Negada Culture, each of whom laid important foundations for the future Egyptian civilizations. Recorded history appears to begin around 3,400 and 3,200 BCE with the introduction of the hieroglyphic scripts, which were developed by the Nagada (III) culture. Mummification was widespread throughout society and was first utilized in the city of Hierakonpolis. The ancient city of Xois was the centre of the priesthood, but was later abandoned. However, the priests and religious leaders re-established their center of influence further to the east. Gradually, the population rose and more settlements around the Nile river formed into urban towns.

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Chapter 6

Early Dynastic History

The Earliest Dynastic history of the Egyptian dynasties dated to around 3 150 to 2,600 BCE, whereby the early dynastic period saw North Egypt and South Egypt become united under King Menes. He was originally king of Upper Egypt, who controlled the north around 3,150 BCE. Early Egypt relies mostly on resources from the chronicler Manetho, a third century BCE antiquarian, who lived amid the Ptolemy Dynasty, and whose chronologies remain one of the most recognized sources on the earliest Egyptian history.

According to early Greek sources, king Menes was conquering all of northern Egypt, and became known as the first unifier of the country.

However, many scholars still believe that Menes is actually the early king Narmer.

Nowadays, most scholars associate Menes more with King Hor Aha, or Aha, who was supposed to be his successor. Just like the roman title of Augustus, Menes is thought to be a title, translating into an early uniter of the country, and as someone who can expand a new kingdom over many generations; Menes is more of a succession to numerous rulers instead of just a king.

However, one of the most powerful monarch was king Narmer, he ruled Lower Egypt, in the north from the city of Hierakonpolis and later Memphis. He oversaw many new cultural developments; for instance, those of the famous mastaba tombs (the precursors of the pyramids) and the advancement of religious and burial methods

The so-called Old Kingdom Period from 2,613 to 2,181 BCE also developed further improvements of engineering and architecture. This was the period that produced those famous structures such as the pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza.

Ruling around 2,670 BCE, King Djoser commissioned the structure of famous the Step Pyramid, situated at Saqqara and finished it around 2,630 BCE,

But it was the successor King Khufu who built the seventh wonder of the world, the Great Pyramid, which is often referred to as Cheops' Pyrami.

Around 2,530 the rulers Khafre and Menkaure both assembled their own particular pyramids, all of which were encased in astonishing white limestone. Not only exclusively did they give the interminable resting spots to the rulers, but also displayed the riches and notoriety of the living divine rulers on earth. This was how as the ancient Egyptians saw their rulers. Throughout the years, researchers have developed different hypotheses on the matter of how these stunning landmarks were built, particularly with regards to the accessible innovation at the time. At first, it was assumed that these forcing structures were constructed utilizing slaves, yet current archeological burrows have dismissed this; it seems much more likely that gifted engineers, craftsmen, paid specialists and soldiers were all involved in constructing these extraordinary landmarks.

Chapter 7

The First Itnermediate Period

The First Intermediate Period (2,181 – 2,040 BCE) started with the break down of the country into various independent states, split with two cultural centers, one at Heirokonpolis and the other at Thebes.

Various dynasties were established in each city in Upper and Lower Egypt, until in 2,055 BCE Mentuhotep II, the ruler of Thebes, defeated the the leader of Heirokompolis and reunited the formally divided country under Theban rule.

Chapter 8

The Classical Period

This was the time when the classical period under king Theban began, which since antiquity was named the Period of kingdoms (2,040 – 1,782 BCE).

It was at this time that the country began to prosper in most sections of society including the arts, trade and technology; the country even started to export surplus of grains which eventually made other nearby civilizations dependent on Egyptian grain. The capital Thebes grew enormously prosperous and reached new heights in terms of power and culture.

The Egyptian kings marched their armies southward into Nubia, and constructed forts in order to protect their culture and trading posts from savage tribes. It was also at this time that we see major building works along the Nile river which originally protected the fields from being overflooded, but over time morphed into walls and grain bunkers.

Flooding were devastating disasters, that resulted often in famines, and around 1700 BCE it even caused a decline at the central administration at Thebes, which lead to the invasion of the Hyksos tribes who started to gain influence in northern Egypt.

Chapter 9

The Second Intermediate Period

The Second Intermediate Period, lasted from 1,782 to 1,570 BCE and refers to the era when the Hyskos ruled Egypt. Scholars still argue about the origins of the Hyksos, it is believed they have their roots in northern Syria.

They arrived in various waves at around 1,800 BCE and invaded the Sinai peninsula first before continuing on to Avaris and finally Thebes. They seized control over Lower Egypt by 1,720 BCE, subdued Upper Egypt in less than a decade, turning the local aristocracy into their vassals.

The Hyksos introduced many new type of weapons, for example, the chariot, organized cavalry and the composite bow. However, the local population was treated harshly, and sporadic rebellion began to spread through the nation.

Around the turn of the century, local fractions united and started various military campaigns to drive the Hyksos and Nubians out, yet all failed, and as a result much of lower Egypt was devastated.

Chapter 10

The New Kingdom Period

Ahmose I, a solider from Thebes, united the tribes and aristocracy and formed a new Kingdom; he became the first king of a united Egypt to defeat the Hyskos. With Pharao Ahmose I began the New Kingdom Period which lasted from1,570 to 1,069 BCE.

The ancient title of pharaoh started with king Ahmose I, before him rulers were referred to as kings. Around the ancient city of Thebes we still can see the old remnants of this rein. The famous Temples of Luxor, the Kranak Temple, Abu Simbel and the Valley of the Kings and the Queens were all built during this era.

An exceptional successful pharao was Tuthmosis I, he expanded the borders to the River Euphrates in Syria and to African Nubia.

The first female pharaoh, Queen Hatshepsut, , ruled after him peacefully for 22 years, thus establishing new trading routes to places such as Punt, and making the country wealthy once again.

Tuthmosis III continued her policies, and when he died in 1,425 BCE, the country had vastly increased in power over the region and gained prestige. In ancient times Egypt was a major producer of grain, and around 1,450 BCE various types of beer were introduced; this was also the time when Egyptian scientist introduced general healthcare practices such as hygiene and holistic treatments. It was also an era when means of leisure time became popular, for instance beautiful baths were being established as a means of leisure instead of simply just hygiene.

In 1,353 BCE pharao Armenhotep IV rose to power, and soon after taking power, he renamed himself into pharao Akhenaten, "The living spirit of Aten". The Armana Period lasted only twenty years, but brought many changes, including religious reforms and transferred the capital to a new site at Amarna.

Chapter 11

The Hieroglyphs

The Egyptian hieroglyphs were introduced around 3200 B.C and continued to be used throughout the Late Period, as well as the Persian and Ptolemaic periods. It included logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements having a total number of around 1,000 characters. By 1800 B.C, it was deployed by the priesthood and became part of their everyday communication.

Chapter 12

Egyptian Gods

The Egyptians used to worship the old gods of pantheon that included Osiris, Hathor, Ptah, Isis, Amun, but Hathor was the most common deity amongst the people. Anum was more widespread around the northern cities, and also the center of influence for the powerful priests caste who had a great power over the common people to a point that the priests in some areas were on almost equal standing with the ruling pharaoh.

The pharaoh distanced himself from the old religious beliefs, he eventually even left the country's religious centers and transferred the capital to a new site to the city Amarna where worshiping of the old gods was prohibited. That period was called the Amarna period and dated between 1353 and 1336 BCE.

Though, the new religious beliefs were not that popular among the Egyptian people, but Akhenaten became very famous due to the many beautiful temples he built which he dedicated to Nefertiti, his wife.

After the death of Akhenaten, his son Tutankhaten, was named pharaoh but he changed his name to Tutankhamen upon ascending to the throne. Ruling between 1336 to 1327 BCE, he reflected his rejection of Atenism and his return to the country to the ways of the Anum and the old gods, and the capital was then moved backed to Thebes

Chapter 13

Ramesses The Great

The greatest pharaoh during the period of the new kingdom was Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great who allegedly fathered over 100 children and was known to construct new extravagant temples, statues and monuments, and is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the old Egyptian Empire.

He described himself as a living god after he led the Egyptians in three battles agains the Syrians, and after the Battle of Kadesh against Muwatalli 11 he forced the old Hittite Empire to peace on his terms. He even led expeditions into Black-African Nubia and is also known as the pharao who expulsed the Israelits.

He dedicated a temple to his beautiful and first queen named Nefertari just as Akhenaten did. Ramesses the Great was the longest ruling pharaoh in Egyptian history; he ruled until his death in 1,1213 BCE. Nine more pharaohs took the name Ramesses in his honor.

Around 1,100 Upper and Lower Egypt split, and after some tumultuous centuries involving wars against the Persians and Nubians, the Egyptian Empire was eventually conquered by the Macedonian Alexander the Great in 332 BC.
Chapter 14

Mesopotamia, Babylon, and Egypt

Mesopotamia, was an ancient region between the river Tigris and Euphrates located in the northern Arabian peninsula. It consisted of several city states with the capital of Babylonia and is considered as one of the cradles of civilizations.

It was a civilizations that consisted of various cultures and was known for their scripts, highly developed tools, sophisticated weaponry, advanced warfare, and even for producing early forms of beer and wine. The city states that would become Babylon and Assyria, were outward looking and engaged in trade with Egypt. Many scholars assume that the ancient Egyptians were inspired to build pyramids by the ancient people of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians.

Chapter 15

The Detoriation of Egypt

Between 1,276 and 1,178 BCE, ancient Sea People from the Aegean islands south of Greece raided the coastal regions of Egypt; they became such a nuisance that Ramses III had to forced them into battle and defeated them in 1,178 BCE at the city of Xois.

By 1,100 many impoverished people living in the conquered regions began to revolt with the help of the priesthood. The priest were the driving force for most rebellions at that time. After the re-establishment of the old gods, the priests of Amun had gained so much land and power that they could take on the pharao.

During the reign of Ramesses XI (1,107 – 1,077 BCE), corruption had reached all levels of society to a point that the government ceased to function. The priesthood took over the rule of parts of the country, resulting in the Third Intermediate Period.

During that epoch, a certain Kushite King Piye was able to reunite the divided country under his rule, which let the kingdom progress and flourish again.

Egypt reached the height of its power during the Ramesside period, also called the Era of New Kingdoms, where it rivaled various empires, among them the Hittite Empire in Asia Minor and the Assyrian Empire on the Arabian Peninsula.

Chapter 16

The Late Period

In the Late Period of Egypt, the country was continuously invaded or conquered by several foreign powers, such as the Hyksos, Libyans, Assyrians and Babylonians. The final blow came when they were conquered by the Macedonians led by Alexander the Great, who eventually founded the city of Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile.

After the death of Alexander the Great, one of his former generals, Ptolemy I Soter became ruler of Egypt until 30 BC.

Under Queen Cleopatra, it finally fell to the Roman Empire. As a Roman province and a subdued nation its main responsibilities lay in providing grain supplies for Rome.
Chapter 17

The Phonicians

Their civilization was organized in city states similar to those of Greece;, the most known were Sido and Tyre, cities of maritime people of early antiquity. The Phoenicians were a highly cultured civilization composed of independent city states which lay along the Mediterranean Sea stretching through what is today Lebanon and coastal parts of Israel.

The different Phoenilei tribes which formed the culture probably originated from what is today Turkey and the Caucasus region and arrived on the eastern Mediterranean coast about 3000 B.C. They established commerce and religious connections with the Egyptians after about 2600 B.C. and continued until the end of the Old Egyptian Kingdom and the invasion of Phoenicia by the Amorites in about 2200 B.C.

The roster of Phoenician cities changed during the near millennium-long period beginning in 1200 B.C., reflecting the waxing and waning of their individual fortunes and the impinging historical events of the Near East.

Their civilization was organized in city states similar to those of Greece;, the most known were Sido, Tyre, Arvad, Berytus and Carthage in North Africa. They even spoke the same language all over the Phoenician territories, each city-state was basically a politically independent state; it is uncertain to what extent the people viewed themselves as a single nationality.

The states only worked together and unified when it was absolutely essential for their survival.

The Phoenicians were entirely dependent on trade and seafaring. They were influenced by three nearby high-cultures, namely the Mesopotamian, the Egyptian and the Cretan. The country of the Phoenicians was exactly at the crossroads of the old trading routes and because of this, they have played an important role in ancient civilizations from an early age, perhaps even around 3000 B.C. Cedar wood was their most important article of export but their most famous trading product was the purple colored textile which were used by chiefs and monarchs from all over the Mediterranean. It is assumed that because of their exporting of textiles, they received their Greek name; Phoenician comes from phoinios, which means dark red. However, they called themselves Phoneticians

The Phoenicians were the first culture society to make extensive use of the alphabet; the original Phonetician alphabet is generally held to be one of the major ancestors of all modern alphabets.

By the eighth century B.C. the Phoenician culture began to extend south and westward.

In the 10th century B.C. the city state of Tyre rose to hegemony among Phoenician states and founded colonies throughout the Mediterranean region.

After the ninth century B.C. many cities lost their autonomy and slowly became part of the Assyrian provinces, nevertheless Cathargo in North Africa remained a Phoenician stronghold and further expanded its territory and influence.

Chapter 18

Ancient Greet Civilization

One of the most famous ancient civilizations of classical antiquity is Greece. Greece is located in southeast Europe, and the locals know it as Ellada or Hellas in Greek. Greece consists of the mainland which is a peninsula and countless islands scattered across the Aegean Sea stretching until Crete in the Mediterranean. The landscape of the country certainly effected the culture and identity of ancient Greece, because the region has only small streams and rivers that could provide for agriculture. It also had only few natural resources on land and was greatly enveloped by the sea, and so the sea provided much in the way of resources. As a result of its rather difficult geography the earliest Greeks set out to the sea, establishing colonies in the eastern Mediterranean on various islands along the coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). Ancient Greeks were merchants and traders and gained a reputation as great seafarers who traded raw construction materials, and over time they even developed a reputation as great architects who created some of the most awe-inspiring monuments in history.

This ancient civilization is credited with introducing western philosophy to humanity, the spread of democracy and development of astronomy and mathematics. Great philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle and Plato came from Greece and left their footprint for mankind; their culture is unique, even the Olympic Games originated from ancient Greece. Modern mathematics was founded in Greece; what we call science was largely part of the Greek culture. Democritus and Leucippus postulated the theory of an atomic universe. Also, Archimedes was a pioneer in engineering and physics.

The Latin alphabet was adopted in ancient Greece after the Phoenicians introduced it into the country around 800 B.C. The mainland of Greece is a enveloped by high mountain range to the north and the sea to the east, west and south, with several clusters of islands stretching southwest towards Asia Minor. The most important islands are referred to the Peloponnese and include the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, the Ionians,and Crete. Originally these areas had their own identities and cultures, but in the later part of its history, they melted into one culture.

Ancient Greek history is divided into eras. The Paleolithic era came first, with evidence of this early culture found at the Franchthi and the Petralona cave. During the Neolithic era that took place from 6,000 – 2,900 BCE), Greece started to build various small permanent, most of them in the north near Macedonia. These early settlements also marked the beginning of agriculture and domestication of animals. Archaeological evidence from places such as Thessaly, Macedonia and Sesklo in northern Greece, suggests that a large part of the population came originally from Anatolia, which can bee seen in the distinct characteristics of pottery that was found in Turkey.

These Early inhabitants in northern Greece were farmers, because the soil and fresh water supply was better suited for agriculture than the rest of Greece.

Chapter 19

The Cycladic Civilization

The Cycladic Civilization (3,200 – 1,100 BCE)

This era started in the Aegean Sea around the islands of Delos, Paros and Naxos where archeological evidence shows proof of continuous human occupation During this time, both residential and religious structures were built, constructed with fine stone, and at least was one story high.

Greece at that time was still a basic civilization, they relied on trading goods and fishing to survive.

However, this era is further separated into three sub-periods: The Early Cycladic, the Middle Cycladic and the Late Cycladic.

Through all this periods, construction, art and even warfare improved. The Middle and Late Cycladic periods also correspond with the Minoan period of Crete, where the two cultures finally combine with no recognizable differentiations.

Chapter 20

The Minoan Area

The Minoan era lasted from 2,700 to 1,500 BCE, and began on the island of Crete, on the southern edge of the country's borders, and established itself as the strongest sea culture in the eastern Mediterranean. It was the famous Archaeologist, Sir Arthur Evans , who discovered the palace of Rhodos at the turn of the 20th century and gave this culture its name after the renowned ruler of Crete, King Minos. We know that this civilization on Crete was progressing rapidly as Monoan Crete created one of the earliest writing systems of antiquity.

Known to the world as Linear A, this language has yet to be deciphered. Early Cretans were also great ship builders, skilled architects, artists and scientists, and had developed a formidable navy. Some Greek historians, such as Thucydides, name Minos as the first Cretan king to build such a strong naval power that enabled him to challenger the Phoenicians and colonize the Cyclades. Archaeological records also indicate that the Minoans probably overused their natural resources, which resulted in problems such as diminishing agriculture and deforestation. Historic records suggests that the Minoans were eventually defeated by the Mycenaeans and a gigantic volcanic eruption in Thera (modern day Santorini), sometime between 1650 – 1550 BCE, which resulted in a massive tsunami wave and caused the ultimate destruction of this great civilization. According to some scholars,

this gigantic destruction of an early civilization probably also provided inspiration of Plato's Atlantis saga.

Chapter 21

Towards the Classical Epoch

During Greece's Archaic period from around 800 – 500 BCE, kings were gradually replaced by independent republics. Athens was the first city state that introduced democracy, so that single city states could govern themselves rather than together in larger regions. This period saw the creation of the first Greek coins along with iconic pottery and marble sculptures ancient Greece is known for. It also set the scene for the new Classical period (480 – 323 BCE), which was the golden age for Athens. It was in this era that Pericles commissioned the construction of the world famous Acropolis, which still looks down upon Athens today, and also gave his renowned speech honoring the men who fell fighting against the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.

Since a large part of Greece is located on islands and coastline, Greece was a water based civilization from the beginning, and in 725 BC, they started to create a strong water- based military. During the Persian War, it was the navy that gave them the decisive advantage, it helped them defeat the Persians.

The formation of Greek city states began with the Mycenaean civilization. By 500 BC, many more civilizations would later form around the area in Greece. These city states later became all relevant to the Persian Wars because most city states choose either the Persian or Greek side in the war.

During this era, the country saw cultural developments in all fields – the arts, education philosophy, and sciences – with many of the most famous philosophers such as Plato and Aristophanes leaving their timeless mark on the identity and culture of Greece. In 480 BCE, king Leonidas and his legendary 300 Spartan army fell at Thermopylae and at the same time Themistocles gained a decisive victory over the Persian navy at Salamis. The following year the Persians again were defeated at Plataea which resulted in the withdraw of the complete withdraw of Persian influence in Europe. Also during this this period, Athens was the first city to found a democratic state. Democracy is comes from the Greek words Demos, which means people, and the Greek word Kratos, meaning power. Therefore, democracy means "power of the people". Men over 20 years old were allowed to vote within the government.

This was the time when Thales and other scholars before Socrates, gathered in forums and debated the fundamentals of philosophy, science and the art of government. Pythagoras, Xenophanes and Anaximander discovered new notions of how the cosmos works and trying to explain the world, its origins and nature. Some philosophers went much further and introduced completely new kinds of philosophical material such as Archimedes, who continued with these investigations and eventually made modern mathematics a new and seriously taken subject. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle's works all had a huge impact on Greece and the rest of the world, and modern civilization can still note the effects today. At this time, architecture and art styles kept developing, turning towards more truthful and realistic artistic expressions rather than idealistic styles. For instance, the Parthenon and its marbles was built during this period and even though the scenes and features are more mythological in style, they are crafted in much more realistic looking scenarios than they were shown in earlier periods.

This was also an classical epoch of cultural advancements. For instance the ancient Olympic Games, were introduced, which were held in the city of Olympia from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD

From the 6th and until the 2nd century BC, Athens became more powerful and centralized, The heart of government was known as Agora, which was as a public place of debate, as well as a place of worship, and and marketplace. Agora played an important role in the development of the philosophical ideals, and provided a unique democratic political system to take root in Athens.

Greece was finally able to overthrow by the Persians in 480 BCE. However, this defeat allowed them to stabilize the economy and develop their artistic styles since trade was expanding, and new alliances made the cities prosperous once again. Athens quickly became the most influential nation in the Eastern Mediterranean, building a mighty navy and collecting tributes from neighboring countries and Greek city-states, effectively ensuring that no power could intervene in their local affairs..

Chapter 22

Sparta and Athens

The Delian League was created by Athens, a coalition of allies, named after the Aegean island of Delian, established to defend all Grecian city states from any potential invasions by the Persians. However, Sparta, a formidable military state in southern Laconia, didn't trust Athens so they formed their own league, known as the Peloponnesian League. This military alliance saw Athens as the subduing power and Athens on the other hand saw Sparta as a dangerous opponent who they did not have confidence in. The tensions between Athens and Sparta broke out into open conflict and resulted into the Peloponnesian Wars. The first lasted from 460 to 445 BCE and ended in a truce, whereas the second lasted from 431 to 404 BCE and ended in an essentially impoverished Sparta but Athens being destroyed. This era is generally known as the Late Classical Period, with Sparta and Athens weakened. This void was eventually filled by a rising power from their northern neighbor, the state of Macedonia. Their king, Philip II of defeated Athens at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE, and brought all the Greek city-states his domain. His power only lasted for two years when he was assassinated, but it was his son, Alexander who took power and led the Greek world back to its former glory.

Chapter 23

Classic Greek Philosophy

The poets of Homer have been composed at some time between 750 and 650 BC, the most famous one is The 'Iliad' which tells the story of the final years of the Trojan War, focusing on the activities of the Greek hero Achilles

The Sophists were a popular teaching and social class and sometimes seen as competition to other influential public figures and social classes, but nevertheless, they were very popular with the general population. Many classical philosophers, starting with Socrates in the fifth century, introduced the concept of the so-called Sophist.

Socrates argued that reason, pursued through intense questioning, combined with soul searching, can, in fact, decipher truth.

Since the Greek society was deeply based on tradition and philosophy, he was considered a threat to Greek tradition and was eventually put to death for his ideas, even though he was still an incredibly popular figure.

His pupil, Plato, believed that fundamental truth existed beyond our physical world and called the eternal existence the Realm of Ideas. He further argued that studying this realm, that everybody can reach, would produce wise rulers and virtuous citizens.

Aristotle was another of Plato's students, and he argued that the truth can only be discovered not just by contemplating realms of ideas, but also by studying the physical world. Aristotle also wrote on numerous subjects like philosophy and poetry, but he is most well-known for developing the first cohesive system of science, and argued that logic must be used to understand the world.

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Chapter 24

Alexander The Great

Alexander III (356-323 BC), or Alexander the Great was a Macedonian king and is known as one of the most successful conquerors in history. Alexander was educated by Aristotle in science, philosophy and the political arts.

After the assassination of his father Philip II of Macedon in 336 BC, he took the throne and quickly dealt with his enemies and reasserted Macedonian power in Greece. Alexander followed his father's dream defeating of the old enemy Persia for their century-old wars against Greece.

In 334 BC, Alexander crossed the Sea of Marmara with his Macedonian and Greek army and set out to conquer the massive Persian Empire.

Alexander engaged the Persian king Darius in various battles and defeated him every time they met, until Darius was willing to leave Alexander half of the empire. However, Alexander refused and kept marching forward, conquering Palestine, Egypt and the city of Babylon. After the defeat of Darius at Gaugamela in 331 BCE, Alexander went further and marched his army to Persepolis, the capital of the Persian Empire. The Greek king was now clearly the ruler of Persia, not Darius.

Alexander moved on into present-day Afghanistan where he tried to subdue the people in this area. He eventually invaded India in 327, battled a local Indian king, but then his troops revolted, and forced him to march back to Persia. In 323 BC, while back in Babylon, Alexander got sick with a high fever and died.

Alexander legacy was that he spread Greek culture throughout the Persian Empire, including parts of India and Egypt. Alexander was a unique ruler who respected the cultures of his enemies and allowed their customs to continue.

Alexander created the Hellenistic Age, an era when Greek culture mixed with Asian cultures within the empire. This was also a time of culture and science when math, philosophy, art, and architecture prospered.
Chapter 25

The Story of the Roman Empire

Out of all the civilizations to emerge in the western world, the Roman Empire is often proclaimed as the most glorious civilization of antiquity that brought progress to its citizen and inspired mankind with eternal ideals. Rome has been an ideal to many, and many nations tried to copy it and to follow Rome's example of building a pure nation that was able to out-advance all other nations and expand its territory into the greatest empire the world has ever seen

The Romans were responsible for much of the development in the arts, engineering, education, and other ways of life that we still rely on and practice today.

Undeniably, they inspired the world by giving civilizations unique properties such as the idea of citizenship and the creations of laws.

Chapter 26

A City and Republic

The city of Rome originated as a village of the Latini in the 9th century BC. It was initially ruled by kings, but the Roman Republic was established in 509 BC, whereby the elected Senate of Rome was the heart of the early Roman Republic. Rome as a nation started as a Republic with independent, self-reliant citizens. The Roman Senate was an ancient political institution in Rome that was founded in the early Roman Republic and continued all throughout the Empire and even afterwards.

According to the Greek historian Timaeus, the first to write a history of the Romans, Rome was founded in 814 BC, the 38th year before the first Olympiad.

Rome fought the Italian Etruscan but became the most dominating Mediterranean nation after it had subdued Greece in 272 BC, consequently making it a direct competitor with Carthage, a powerful nation in North Africa.

Chapter 27

The Punic Wars

The North African city of Carthage (modern day Tunis) was Rome's main competitor; When war broke out, it 's most famous general Hanibal even marched around the Mediterranean and crossed the Alps to eliminate Rome, but he lost. Rome challenged Carthage, and after three wars, known as the Punic Wars, it destroyed its rival completely. In early antiquity, Rome was often involved in civil war; but he most significant was undoubtedly the civil war in 56 BC. The outcome was that their most successful general and leader, Julius Caesar, became Rome's first absolute head of state.

Chapter 28

Julius Caesar and Augustus

Galius Julius Cesar expanded Romes territory over most of Western Europe, including Gaul (modern day France) and conquered new provinces as far as Egypt.

Octavian, the adoptive son of Cesar became the first real emperator and founder of the Roman monarchy, all his successor ruled under the title of Augustus. By the first century Rome had become the dominant power in all of Western Europe and around the Mediterranean.

In detail, at its peak around 120 CE, Rome spread across much of modern-day Europe, North Africa, Britain and parts of the Middle East.

Rome's exterior frontiers remained stable for centuries; it had even defended itself consistently from its barbarian neighbors in the north and waged long wars against its powerful competitor, the Persian Empire from the east.

However, internally Rome slowly became a corrupted empire where corruption, huge inequality and cronyism was part of daily life. From the end of the second-century Christianity began to spread from the east and slowly brought a shift in loyalty to its population, and eventually undermined the fighting spirit of its soldiers, and also changed the pagan beliefs of the Romans to a point of no return.

By the third century, it had spread itself far too thin to be ruled from Rome, and was divided into Western and Eastern divisions, with a co-ruler leading each section.

Chapter 29

Emperial Rome

The rise and fall of the Roman Empire has fascinated scholars for centuries. Nonetheless, the real rise of Rome's glory and fading is all part of the Imperial Empire where Rome was an extended monarchy that ruled the world for half a millennium.

The epoch of Imperial Rome, where Rome became a monarchy is incomparable with its previous history; it had changed the culture of the Romans, people, and territories.

From 31 BCE the civilization around the Mediterranean Sea was known as the Roman Empire; it started when Octavian renamed himself as Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome. By many historian standards it remained an empire until the fall of Romulus Augustulus by the king of the Herulians, Odoacer.

Chapter 30

The Early Dynasties

After Caesars dead his adopted son Ocatavian led Rome to new heights. He took power through the help of Crassus and Mark Anthony, and he defeated Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and her husband, his former co-ruler general Mark Anthony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. Octavian declared himself the first emperor of Rome and from then became known as Augustus Cesar.

Nevertheless, the Senate granted Cesar's adoptive son Octavian the title of Emperor, as he had conquered Rome's enemies and restored stability.

Ocativan became the Emperor Augustus, and ruled the Roman Empire between 31 BCE and 14 CE, establishing a series of religious, military and social reforms that shaped the empire for the nest two hundred years. He introduced new laws, consolidated the borders, and constructed various new landmarks and buildings, most of which were overseen by Agrippa, his leadership secured the functioning and security of the Empire. Under Augustus reign, the Empire encompassed all of the Mediterranean and stretched from the British Island in the West to Syria in the East; under his rule, Rome became greatest power of antiquity.

Chapter 31

Pax Romana

For two centuries, Rome was at peace under the so- called Pax Romana, but it still was able to expand its empire north of the Balkans into Dacia. Generally, the power of Rome brought great harmony and wealth to its people, except for the thousands of slaves, on which her wealth was partially built.

After Augustus died in 14 CE, he was succeeded by Tiberius, who many consider the first tyrant, but nevertheless, continued with many of the emperor's policies.

Chapter 32

The Julio-Claudian Dynasty

Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero were part of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. Caligula has long been known for his immorality and lunacy, but his early reign was, in reality, quite successful. Claudius, who was lame, and many of his contemporaries didn't take take him seriously, but he was actually one of the few emperors who was able to expand the Empire; he did what even Cesar couldn't accomplish, he conquered Britannia. Nero, on the other hand, was more an artist but also insane, he supposedly had Rome burnt down for his own pleasure and ended up committing suicide. Both Claudius and Caligula were killed, the former by his wife, the latter by his guards. After the fall of the Julio-Claudian emperors, the Roman dynasties' changed into a short era referred to as the Year of the Four Emperors.

This was a short but important historical period of the Roman Empire, in which four emperors ruled in succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. The suicide of the Emperor Nero , who is said to have burned Rome for selfish reasons in 68 was followed by a brief period of civil war until General Vespasian was encouraged by his legions to march on Rome and assume the title of Augustus for himself. However, eventually, his own legions assassinated Vitellius and Vespasian was declared emperor.

The period, which followed was known as the Flavian Dynasty.

Chapter 33

The Flavian Dynasty

This era is recognized for its domination of Roman power, its wealth, massive new building projects, and expanding the empire's frontiers to the east. Vespasian, who besieged Jerusalem during the Jewish rebellion,ruled for ten years and was the founder of the Flavian dynasty. It was during his reign he began to build the Flavian Amphitheater, that later became know as the Coliseum. Flavian was succeeded by his son Titus (79 – 81 CE) who completed the Coliseum, and was considered a good emperor by contemporary historians. During Titus' reign, Mount Vesuvius erupted, which destroyed Pompeii and was praised for his generosity when it came to dealing with the aftermath of this catastrophe. His brother Domitian was another successful ruler, restoring Rome from the fire in 80 CE and securing the borders of the Empire.

Chapter 34

The Five Good Emperors

After Domitian's assassination came the founding of the Nervan-Antonin Dynasty (96 – 192 CE). This was a prosperous era for the Empire; Rome saw a great expansion of its borders to the east, it increased its wealth and prestige. The five emperors of Rome in this period were Nerva (96 – 98 CE), Trajan (98 – 117 CE), Hadrian (117 – 138), Antoninus Pius (138 – 161), and especially Marcus Aurelius (161 – 180 CE) after whom the period was named the era of the five good emperators. Between these five emperors, the Roman Marcus Aurelius defeated the Phartians, and subdued many Germanic tribes who threatened the Empire north of the Danube river.

Under Aurelius the Empire reached the height of its power, it increased its political and economic strength, expanding the borders further than any time before.

Commodus was Marcus Aurelius son, history portraying him as one of the worst emperors Rome suffered in her history as he devalued the currency until Rome almost became bankrupt, but staged and took part in spectacular gladiatorial combats.

Eventually, Septimus Severus took control of the throne and reigned as sole emperor between 193 and 211 CE. His reign was the beginning of the Severan Dynasty. Within his rule he was able to conquer the eternal rival of Rome, the Parthians

Unfortunately, his military expeditions in Britannia and North Africa drained Rome's coffers and the empire began to experience financial problems. Caracalla and Geta, his sons, were co-rulers upon his death but both were assassinated. However during Caracalla's rule, the concept of Roman citizenship was expanded; which meant that free men regardless of origin or past status could become Roman citizens.

After Alexander Severus was killed in 235 CE. the Roman Empire fell into a chaotic period for almost half a century.

Rome fell into civil war as numerous generals and usurpers wrestled with each other to take the diadem. Furthermore the large Empire had become unmanageable for just one ruler in order to collect taxes without corrupted officials taking the better part of it, or to crush rebellions in time when necessary.

Chapter 35

The Division of the Empire

The Empire became divided into different areas and zones of influences. Diocletian, emperor from 284 to 305 brought these areas back together reorganized the empire's provincial divisions, and established new administrative centers closer to the frontiers.

Diocletian became the first Roman emperor to abdicate the position voluntarily In 305 CE,.

From Diocletian onwards, emperors ruled in an openly monarchic style[ and did not preserve the nominal principle of a republic, such as deliberating the Senate, but the contrast with "kings" was still maintained; although in reality the imperial succession was generally hereditary

The successors of Diocletian Maxentius and Constantine thrust the entire empire back into civil war.

Chapter 36

Constantine and Christianity

After defeating four rival emperators, Constantine unified the the Empire under his rule in 324 AD. He moved the capitol from Rome to Constantinople.

Constantine reigned between 306 and 337 CE and ruled the Empire as sole emperator. He established the Edict of Milan which allowed people freedom of religious belief, and granted freedom of worship to all, regardless of deity, and also brought an end to the Age of Martyrs, the prosecution of Christian, which had begun after Jesus' death.

While numerous Romans had become Christians, large parts of the Empire were still dedicated to paganism, at that time even the Roman nobility disliked the religious changes.

Under Constantine's reign a new gold coin, the solidus was introduced to combat inflation. It would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years.

Earlier Roman rulers had forged ties with a particular god or goddess in order to boost their authority and prestige (for example, Julius Caesar claimed he was descended from the goddess Venus on his father's side, with Diocletian it was Jupiter), and Constantine chose Jesus Christ to cement his divine rights.

Julian was the last pagan emperor of the Roman Empire and would go down in history as Julian the Apostate for his hatred of the faith, which he regarded as the cause of Rome's downfall.

Chapter 37

United For A Last Time

It was Theodosius I (Theodosios the Great) who took on the responsibility of leading the empire; under his leadership the Roman Empire was united for the last time.

The emperator Theodosius invested much energy to make Christianity the sole religion of the Empire, a task he regarded as his obligations being the undisputed sovereign for the whole Roman Empire.

His two sons inherited each half of the Empire, and when Theodosius died in 395, his son Honorius, who then was still a child and inherited the Western half, would become the Western Emperor residing in Ravenna whose actions would bring down the Western half, from which it would never recover again.

Chapter 38

The Decline of the Roman Empire

In the fifth century, the Roman Empire had become, internally, only a shadow of its former glories. Their armies became smaller due to the decrease of its population. Foreign mercenary soldiers, especially the all-important cavalry were in the hands of paid foreign warlords.

The population within the Roman Empire was chocking under ever increasing taxes, and the people's faith and loyalty belonged to the church, not to the Empire.

Chapter 39

The Downfall

Rome declined into a progression of fights against the Goths, a tribe originally from Scandinavia that had settled in the steps north of the Black Sea.

Known as the Gothic Wars, Emperor Valens lost at the Battle of Adrianople. This is the occasion most scholars decided was the beginning of the downfall of the Roman Empire. After the Visigoths had raided and settled in large parts of the Balkans (Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia), the Romans were never able to push the Barbarians out of their empire again.

This was also a time when the general population of the Empire declined and less and less native soldiers joined the army, and as mentioned earlier, a shift in loyalty of the Roman population occurred. For large parts of the Romans it was safer and more righteous to live under Germanic rulers, than being a slave of Rome, or being extorted by by Roman tax commissioners.

Germanic tribes such as the Vandals, the Suebes, Alans and Burgundians all crossed the Rhine frontier in 406. The Vandals under king Geiseric even made it to Africa where they established a powerful kingdom and cut off grain supplies for Rome.

The Visigoth established themselves in France and Spain, and the huns, a wild tribe from Central Asia devastated Italy. More and more peaces of the Western Empire were taken by the barbarians who established their own unchallenged kingdoms on former Roman territories. Rome was plundered twice, first by the Visigoths under their leader Alaric in 410, then again by the Vandals in 455 BC.

The great general Flavius Aetius was able to repulse foreign invaders for a short period, and in one of the greatest battles in history; the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, Aetius, together with his Visigoth allies, brought the Huns and their allied Germanic tribes to a standstill that saved Rome from its downfall for another generation. But Aetius was eventually murdered by the late emperator Valentinian III. Afterward, only puppet emperors existed and were unable to change the inevitable.

However, some prominent historians such as Edward Gibbon, assumed that it was Christianity itself that led to the fall of the realm, because, it did not have the ethics that upheld the social traditions of the Roman individuals.

Another, perhaps more plausible assumption is the hypothesis that Rome simply ran out of resources to supply a large army, and the wealthy aristocrats refused to help and contribute to the army, thereby bankrupting the state by withholding finances and recruits for the army. Furthermore, Rome was under constant attack from large armies, and while the barbarians' territory and people grew, Rome's shrunk along with its population and resources.

But the fact is, the Western Roman Empire never fell, because, in the fifth century, there was no empire to fall. By the end of the fifth century, all that was left of the Western Empire were parts of Italy and a mercenary army that consisted of barbarians who directed the Romans and the puppet emperor.

In September 476 CE King Odoacer, a rebel and leader of the Roman mercenary army, overthrew the child Emperor Romulus Augustus and sent his insignia to Constantinople. The last legitimate Western Roman Emperator Julius Nepos was assassinated 480 CE in Dalmacia.

Chapter 40

The Empire Continue to Exist in the East

Nevertheless, the Empire continued to prosper in the Eastern part with its capital Constantinople and regained much of its former territory under the Emperor Justinian. However, the Eastern Roman Empire slowly changed its character and morphed into a Greek monarchy under the name of the Byzantine Empire, which technically lasted until 1453 when its final death blow came from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. But in Western Europe, after the 5th century, the glories and potential revival of the old Western Roman Empire would inspire new European kingdoms, and under the Frankish king Charlemagne the Great, and later under the German kings – the Roman Empire would re-emerge – but these were not empires but large medieval kingdoms with a powerful church, and were very distinct in character from that of the ancient Roman Empire.
Chapter 41

The Early and High Middle Ages

During the period of decline and transformation of the Roman Empire during the 5th century, Rome had begun to face a series of invasions from Germanic tribes, as well as facing a shift in loyalty of the population towards the church, in addition to racial transformation and corruption, especially within the Western Empire.

Eventually the Western Roman Empire vanished and was quartered into various germanic kingdoms, and Europe saw itself being a hotchpot of tribal territories. However, the Roman Empire continued to exist in the East, and from the late 5th century Constantinople had become the sole capital of the Empire, It regained much of its earlier power and even reconquered large parts of the Western part under the Emperor Justinian.

Chapter 42

Reconquest under the Roman Emperor Justinian

Emperor Justinian, reigning between 527 and 565 CE, he attempted to expand the Roman Empire by conquering back those territories that once belonged to the old Roman Empire but had been lost to Germanic kingdoms, namely Italy, North Africa and parts in what is now Spain.

He achieved the downfall of the Vandal kingdom in North Africa and also the Ostrogothic kingdom that was founded under king Theoderic the Great in Italy, with the help of his legendary generals Belisarius and Narses.

While he was successful at the start, Italy couldn't be hold for long . The campaigns were far too expensive and and in 568 the Lombard's were seeking territory in Italy, resulting in the Italian peninsula being split into a northern Lombard Kingdom, and southern Italy controlled by the Empire.

Chapter 43

The Byzantine Empire

At the turn of the seventh century CE, the East Roman Empire slowly had changed into the Christian-Orthodox Byzantine Empire that held a small strip of territories in North Africa, Parts of Egypt, Anatolia, Syria Thrace, and the Balkans.

The Byzantine Empire was facing the strength of the Avars the descendants of the huns, as well as the Sassanid's from Persia who had now taken control of much of Anatolia and Syria from the empire. The Sassanid's were eventually defeated by the emperor Heraclius, but his success didn't last long. By the mid of the century Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa was overrun by the powerful forces of the Arabs who were driven by religious conquest; they were able to remove the Byzantine forces from the region, except for Eastern Anatolia.

Chapter 44

The Frankish Kingdom and Brittania

The Franks meanwhile, had become the dominant power in the West; while the Visigoths possessed the majority of Iberia and strips in Southern Gaul (modern day southern France). Britannia was invaded by the Angles, Danes, and Saxons. The invasions continued until the sixth century and is considered the beginning of the history of England. But the modern foundations of medieval Europe was laid after the movement of barbaric tribes after the sixth century.

The old roman province of Gaul, which is roughly the area of modern France, had become divided between the Franks, the Visigoths and the Burgundians before the establishment of the Frankish Merovingian dynasty, ruled by King Clovis who became the most feared Lord of Western Europe. Most scholars consider the Merovingian dynasty rather than the following Carolingian dynasty as the beginning of the history of France.

The only remnants of the old Roman Empire were the Bishops and their leader; the Pope of Rome who tried to mediate between the demands of the kings and the warlords of different fractions.

The Frankish King Pepin II went on to reunite the country by crushing every resistance from competitive lords and local rebellions. The next king became one of the most famous kings of the early middle ages.

Chapter 45

EUROPE DID NOT BECOME ISLAMIC

I was Pepin's son Charles Martel who would continue his father's work by expanding Frankish rule in the eastern regions of Europe as well as subduing the Islamic forces.

In 732 CE Charles Martel fought a decisive victory over Islamic forces in the battle of Tours; he overthrew the last advancement of the Islamic armies who already had conquered Spain and southern France.

Charles's victory is widely believed to have stopped the northward advance of Umayyad forces from the Iberian peninsula and to have preserved Medieval Europe and Christianity.

Chapter 46

The Occupation of Italy

The Merovingian King Pepin III, defeated the Lombard's in Italy with the help from the pope; therefore, in 752, Pope Stephen II awarded the king with the title "Protector of the Romans", and forging a new and lasting relationship with the Merovingian dynasty. With the help of the Franks, the Catholic Church was able to expand their powers and secured that all of Western Europe became Catholic and those tribes that still kept their Arian belief were forced to convert. Pepin also rewarded the Pope for his support by giving him land north and south of Rome, that formally belonged to the Lombards until the 10th century; these lands became the so-called Papal States.

Chapter 47

Charlemagne

The son of Pipin II, Carlos Magnus, who would reign as Charlemagne from 768 to 814 CE and later became known as Charlemagne the Great, began the Carolingian dynasty. The central government was located in the city of Aachen, and his first ambition was to exterminate all the remaining pagan people in Western Europe.

He slaughtered the Saxons, subdued the Bavarians and forced the remaining population to convert to Catholicism. He expanded his sphere of influence to all of Central Europe to the river Elbe and established marks in Northern Spain and what is today Austria.

The Pope Leo III convinced him to send his army into Italy, suppress the Lombard's and exert political power in the region. In 800, the Pope rewarded Charlemagne with the title of Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and indeed his territories had almost reached an area of similar size as the old West Roman Empire. Charlemagne the Great is considered not only the founder of France modern but also the central historical figure of the history of Germany. However, his reign didn't last long, his heirs would continue fighting among themselves, and the empire was split between his three sons, which later would re-emerge as France and Germany, but during the 9th century, there was a sharp decline of the Carolingian empire, it has lost much of its central power.

Chapter 48

Vikings and Sarazenes

By the mid ninth century the Vikings, also known as the Normans, began launching raids into the coastal areas of France and England, and for almost two centuries not even Spain and Italy were save. It was about the same time when the Islamic Saracens raided all of the Mediterranean from their Spanish and North African bases. The border and fringes of France, England and Italy almost became inhabitable by the turn of the tenth century.

The Saracens even started establishing centers in Sicily, Northwest France, and Apulia. However, Sicily became a center of many cultural influences. It was at Sicily and Apulia that the Normans were able to overthrow the Islamic invaders and establish a new kingdom that consisted of various cultures.

Chapter 49

Feudalism and the Church

The repulsed invasions, the change of agriculture, and all these developments caused a stronger and more centralized monarchy because before then, central power had been mostly lost to the local chiefs, warlords, and bishops, as can be seen with the appearance of feudalism that was founded on the individual bond between master and vassals. Under feudalism, the lord would grant his vassals land in return for various service.

At that time, the only remaining centers of influences were the monasteries and the still powerful Bishops. Sometimes they took over the role of real governors, to provide ethical supervision, justice, and management of different areas. From the early seventh century, the Catholic Church had extended its political hierarchy, became more independent of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and was soon breaking away from Constantinople. This can be seen in the variations between the doctrines of the church and those at Constantinople. Over time, many church schisms followed between these two Christians religions, but this constant struggle between the doctrines led to more local monasticism that was eventually stimulating the Catholic Church for reforms. The new reforms brought about originated in the East during the late 9th and 10th centuries. The Church wanted to continue their influence with traditional lessons and also reduce the scale of hostilities throughout the continent, but still, encourage the people to take back the Holy Land from Islamic forces.

The mayhem brought by the pagan raiders, and the further intrusions of the Islamic Saracens brought political chaos into Europe where the church, and their now fortified monasteries were often the only anchor that could provide safety for the people.

By the mid-tenth century, the post-Carolingian aristocracy rose Conrad and Henry I as the new kings.

Chapter 50

The Holy Roman Empire

By this time, the power had shifted away from the Frankish state to the German-speaking countries, namely of Saxony, Bavaria, Thurengia and German Franken. They formed a common alliance, mainly to defeat raiders, especially from the eastern Majars, a wild half-Asian tribe with centers in Hungary.

Otto I, the Saxon king became one of the most important historical figures during this restless time. Ruling between 936 and 973 CE, Otto I continued to overthrow the duchies in the eastern regions as well as defeating the pagan Magyars in the battle of the Lechfeld in 955 CE. This victory earned Otto a reputation as a savior of Christendom and secured his hold over the kingdom.

By 961, Otto had conquered the Kingdom of Italy and extended his realm's borders to the north, east, and south, whereby converting the East European Slavic tribes to Christianity.

He was the overlord of the German states, and Italy, and had become a glorious and powerful king Europe had not seen in centuries; he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962 by Pope John XII in Rome.

Otto was the founder of a new dynasty as his, grandson Otto III also became emperor in 996 with the approval of his cousin Pope Gregory V. The spiritual and political influence of the Church continued to expand as the pope and emperor were in competition who was the highest authority on earth and who had divine rights and power.

Yet, medieval France, under the Carolingians, continued to exist in a complex web of feudal duchies. while all the coastal areas continued to experience devastation from Vikings and Saracens. Hugh Capet was declared king in 987, ruling a largely ruined and limited kingdom.

Chapter 51

The Islamic Arabas Press Westwards

In the early medieval period, the Islamic Arabs continued to press westward. They laid siege to Christian Constantinople, but were thoroughly defeated by the Byzantine fleet with its advanced military and navy that possessed secret weapons, such as flame throwing devices.

However, Byzantine struggled to continue, it was plagued by corruption and internal feuds, and had to forge several uneasy agreements with the Arabs, who still threatened the eastern part of the Empire.

The Byzantine emperors also defended Orthodox Christianity against the influences of the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church had over the centuries developed their own doctrines and culture which can be seen in the appearance of religious mosaic art, religious icons and architecture that all reflected a deep religious society; the old empire had morphed into a Theocracy.

However,in the 10th century, Byzantine experienced a temporary revival. This was because the Arab Muslims were in a political chaos of their own and also suffered profound defeats inflicted by the Byzantine army.

The Byzantine Empire was victorious over their arch rival, the Bulgars under the leadership of emperor Basil II (963 - 1025 CE) who also recovered the Eastern Mediterranean, including the islands of Cyprus and Crete from the Islamic forces who had retreated back into Eastern Anatolia.

With the turning of the 12th century, the Church had enough strength and the right organization, to demand a Crusade from the people to take back the Holy Land from the Muslims.

In 1054, the Byzantine Empire and Europe were finally divided between Catholicism and Orthodox faiths. Over the next century the Byzantine Empire lost most of its territory to the Arabs and also split into various sub-kingdoms. When the Byzantine Emperor was suffering from internal deterioration and decay, the Seljuk Turks were able to conquer the western forces in 1071 at Manzikert, turning the decline from within to an exterior one.

Chapter 52

Genua, Venice, and the Fall of Constantinopel

Its weakness didn't go unnoticed in the West. The city states of Genoa and Venice envied the trading power and prestige Constantinople still had, It also had become an indispensable supplier for the crusaders on their way to the Holy Land. But even it had become small and weak the capitol of Constantinople still had the aura of the old East Roman Empire; however city had become a sought price for many, like a ripe fruit ready to be taken.

Eventually, Byzantine was attacked, taken and transferred into a feudal Crusader state, founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade. The Latin troops attacked Constantinople in 1204 while on their way to Palestine. The city was swiftly taken, and the Latin Empire, which was basically a command of French aristocrats, consisted not much more of some small strips of land in and around Constantinople and a few areas in Anatolia. The Latin kingdom lasted until 1261 when the Greeks took the city back in a surprise attack.

Chapter 53

The Crusades

The pope Urban II propagated the liberation of Jerusalem from the Muslims and called for a people's crusade where sins would be forgiven once Jerusalem had become liberated and Christian again. In 1096, the First Crusade was launched, lasting for three years and resulted in the Christian forces taking back Jerusalem; however it was a dirty victory, because all the Muslim inhabitants were butchered without consideration.

The feudal nobles of Europe, especially the French established small Christian kingdoms all over Palestine, but the Muslim forces inflicted heavy casualties among the raiding crusaders, and eventually the leader of the Islamic forced, Saladin besieged Jerusalem which was delivered to him in 1187 and allowed safe passage for the Christians.

A second, less successful Crusade known as the Crusade of 1101 followed in which the Turks defeated the Crusaders.

The German King Conrad III and the French King Louis VII led armies from their countries to Jerusalem and also Damascus without winning any major victories. The thirteenth century saw popular outbursts of ecstatic piety in support of the Crusades such as the Children's crusade in 1212 which ended in thousands of Christian children sold into slavery.

The Third Crusade started in 1189 and lasted two years. it was also known as The Kings' Crusade, and came under the command of the King of England Richard Lionheart; his aim was to reconquer Jerusalem from Saladin.

The Emperor of The Holy Roman Empire of German Nations, Frederick Barbarossa also responded to the call to arms, leading a massive army across Asia Minor, but he drowned in a river in the summer of 1190 before reaching Palestine. The small Christians kingdoms in Palestine were never united, and often fought among themselves. The end of the thirteen century saw a decline in influence and territory of the Crusaders and Christians in the area.

The crusader states were extinguished with the fall of the North African city Tripoli in 1289 and Palestine Acne in 1291.

Chapter 54

The Renaissance

After the Middle Ages, Europe saw the birth of the Renaissance which started as a cultural movement in Italy. It had its roots in the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy. They not only drew inspiration from classic Greek and Roman works and combining them with concepts from Catholicism, but also led to a new thinking that became manifested in art, architecture, politics, science and literature.

The Renaissance was born in Italy but it quickly found its way throughout Europe.

Out of all the Italian city-states, the strongest and most influential for the Renaissance period were Milan, Florence, Venice and the Papal State.

The Renaissance was a cultural movement and an "epoch" that deeply affected European intellectual, artistic and scientific life in the early modern period that started in Italy, and spread to the rest of Europe by the 16th century; its influence was felt in literature, philosophy, art, music, politics, science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry.

Chapter 55

Revival of the Arts and Great Renaissance Humanists

In the revival of Neo-Platonism, the Renaissance humanists did not reject Christianity per se; quite the contrary, many of the Renaissance's greatest works were devoted to it, and the Church patronized many works of Renaissance art.

The rediscovery of antiquity and classic humanistic ideas had its sources from Greek scholars who had fled Constantinople when it fell to the Muslims. The new philosophies were reflected most in art, especially in paintings.

The most significant aspect of the Renaissance era was the development of art, that included new styles of art, materials, and methods. Giotto was one of the most important painters in the early fifteen century; Ghiberti's new developments was revolutionary in the world of sculpting. Other artists like Donatello and Botticelli, would further refine these techniques; nonetheless, the innovations these new artists would later be seen as the period of the High Renaissance.

This era also saw developments in literature and revolutionary inventions. The printing press, invented in Germany allowed literature including the Bible to flourish throughout European daily life.

Some of the greatest writers of that time – included Machiavelli, Pico and Boccaccio; new techniques made it possible to spread their writings much faster and cheaper; Renaissance artists were even able to gain influence beyond Italy.

The greatest artists and men in general emerged from this period of time. Painters, thinkers and artists such as Michelangelo, Rafael, and Leonardo de Vince belong to the greatest men ever. But at the same period of time, other areas in Europe, especially in what is now the Netherlands and Germany, saw a revival of art and humanistic developments.

Artists like the Van Eyck brothers, Tizian and Dürer and especially the former mentioned Italian masters are unreached until today and are internal evidence of supreme European culture.

Furthermore, powerful families such as the influential Medici family supported the finance of private buildings , art and church-independent enterprises, which in turn awoke the jealousness of powerful monarchs abroad.

The heartland of the Renaissance was Italy which was split into various dukes and city states, and remained relatively free and independent during this time. Venice and Milan were the most influential cities and and become wealthy and totally independent from the Pope or any foreign power.

The epoch remained prosperous and alive until foreign forces re-discovered Italy as a rich land that could not be left alone without out a king that had control over the richest land in Europe. In 1494, Italy found itself being invaded by the French and for some time, various European powers strove to carve off pieces of Italy for themselves. The Spanish and Habsburg imperator Charles V defeated the French and also crushed the independent cities in Italy. He sacked Rome in 1527, burning it to the ground, and putting an end to an area. 
Chapter 56

Pre-Colombian America

The Azteks and Incas

The Aztecs originated somewhere near the northwestern vicinity of what today is Mexico.

The Aztecs were also known as Mexica or Tenochca. The historical Tenochca was a legendary patriarch who gave his name to Tenochtitlán, the metropolis of the Aztecs, that was an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Central Valley of Mexico.

As soon as the Aztecs achieved political supremacy over the northern parts of Mexico, Nahua became the lingua franca of an area nearly as big as present-day Mexico.

From their legendary land of Aztlán, the Aztecs came in contact with the equally evolved Toltec civilization and its capital, Tula, which was the home of a powerful priest-class. Tula had an impressive city centre with pyramids, temples and even ball courts.

From the beginning of the 12th century to the start of the 13th century, the Aztecs wandered in search of a new location to settle. At some stage during this period, Chichimec tribes, under the leadership of chieftain Xólotl, installed a capital in the province of Tenayuca and later in Texcoco

Chapter 57

The Achievements of the Azteks

Aztec officials produced codices that administered the provinces of the empire and also ruled the payment of tribute from local chiefs. Montezuma basically rebuilt the country, he introduced a large army, and religious reforms, that also included taxes courts of justice, building of navy garrisons, city messenger services as well as various civil institutions.

Within fifty years after the founding of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec had extended their rule all throughout the valley

Their long journey for new land ended in1325). on a small island in Lake Texcoco where they finally settled.

They built their capital inside the middle of a lake and named it Tenochtitlan. After just a few decades the city had become the most significant city of the hemisphere, with causeways, pyramids and temples.

By 1428 the Aztecs' ruler, Itzcoatl ("Obsidian Snake"), and his chief adviser, Tlacaelel, led the Aztecs in conquering their old allies and overlords.

The Aztecs dominated the Valley of Mexico for 100 years, until their downfall at the hands of Hernan Cortez and his conquistadors in 1521.

The high productivity of the systems resulted in a heavy density of population in the Valley of Mexico and the development of large urban centers. In the early 16th century, the population of the valley may have fluctuated around 2,000,000, with some cities approaching or exceeding 100,000.

The Aztec empire, however was fundamentally a theocracy and a culture of aggression. During the reign of Montezuma II, the ninth Aztec king (1502–20 AD), Aztec officials produced codices that recorded the organization of the empire into provinces and the payments of tribute according to the production of each region. In the early fifteen hundreds a gigantic administrative and religious bureaucracy was built up, with Aztec governors, tax collectors, courts of justice, and military garrisons that stretched from the Central Valley to the Pacific coast

By 1518, just before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Aztec cycle of conquest and exploitation was at its peak. More and more conquered people provided tribute, which was the basis of the Aztecs' immense wealth. Their culture, however, was still based on war and oppression of neighboring tribes that often included cruel rituals such as sacrificing humans.

Chapter 58

The Incas

The Incas were a flourishing civilization in what today is Peru, that two centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards, conquered an area half the size of Western Europe.

In the Peruvian Andes, centering on the city of Cuzco lay the heart of the empire. Their domain included the coastal and mountain regions of what is now southern Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and the northern parts of Chile, which was actually the only true empire existing in the western hemisphere at the time of Columbus, and the Inca Empire was also the greatest political achievement of all the American Indians.

The Incas called their empire Tahuantinsuyu, or Land of the Four Quarters. It stretched 2,500 miles from Quito, Ecuador, to beyond Santiago, Chile. Within its domain were rich settlements, high mountain valleys that produced agriculture, rain-drenched tropical forests full of resources, but also fast areas of deserts. The Incas controlled perhaps 10 million people, speaking a hundred different tongues. It was the largest empire on earth at the time. Yet when Pizarro executed its last emperor, Atahualpa, the Inca Empire was only 50 years old.

The native people of this varied region all lived under the rule of a single man, the emperor, addressed as "Chief Inca", "Son of the Sun," and "Lover of the Poor."

The empire as a whole was divided into four administrative quarters, but all were governed from the capital, Cuzco, at the center.

Chapter 59

Cusco

From the years a.d.1000 to 1300 the Tiahuanaco Empire dominated also most of the coastal cultures, which is evident in the symbol of their culture the motive of the weeping god.

The legendary founding of Cusco is placed about a.d. 1100 by the first Inca, Manco Capac.

In the 12th century, however, the Incas were only one of many cultures that occupied the Andes area.

Around a.d 1200 the Incas began extending their empire by enlarging their hold beyond the immediate valley of Cusco, and by 1350, during the reign of Inca Roca, they had conquered all areas close to Lake Titicaca in the south as well as the valleys to the immediate east of Cusco.

In less than a century, during the 1400s, they had built one of the largest, most tightly controlled empires the world has ever known. Their skill in government was matched by their feats of engineering. Roads, walls, and irrigation works constructed by the Incas are still in use today. This all changed after the arrival of the Spaniards.

The last indisputable Inca was Huayna Capac, who came to power in 1493, the year after Columbus landed in America;this Inca made final conquests to the north; when he died in 1526 the empire was divided among his sons. After the Spanish conquerors had captured the last Inca emperor in 1532, they almost immediately began to break up the empire.

Chapter 60

Columbus and the European Conquests of the Americas

In 1492, a Spanish-based maritime expedition across the Atlantic Ocean by Christopher Columbus led to the discovery of the Americas, a continent which was previously unknown in Europe, leading to the colonization of the Americas.

For a long time, it was believed that Christopher Columbus and his sailors had been the first Europeans to make landfall in the Americas. However, they were not the first Europeans to reach this hemisphere, having been preceded by the Vikings, especially by the expedition led by Leif Erikson in the 11th century. But Columbus' voyages led to the inauguration of a period of conquest and colonization that has lasted several centuries. His discoveries also laid the foundations for the rise of the Spanish Empire.

Columbus was an Italian–born navigator searching for providers of ships, so he could establish trade with the Khan of China and to access the sources of spices and other oriental goods.

The trade routes to Asia were closed at that time, because all the important land and sea routes where controlled by the Turks and Arabs, the enemies of the Christians, who sold Asian products such as silk and spices for enormous sums to the West.

Columbus was an experienced sailor and trader originally from Genoa, Italy. He tried for years to convince the courts of Portugal and Spain to finance his voyage to Asia, as he was well aware of the rewards such a risky venture could bring. But at first, he wasn't successful in getting the funds from the monarchs, but he had friends, and so eventually a monk persuaded the Queen of Castile, Isabella, to grant him a second audience. He demanded high rewards, such as, he was to be knighted, appointed grand admiral and viceroy of all the lands he discovered, and he would keep a tenth of all taxes levied there. First his request were rejected, and he was already on his way to France, but then the Spanish monarchs gave in, Columbus was recalled, and all his demands were met. He was provided two sailing ships in poor condition and bought a third one himself and set sail southward to the Canary Islands, where he was delayed, and after that turned westwards, determined to reach the East Indies.

He had left Spain on 3 Augus1492. He voyaged further to the west, but even after over two months, there was no sight of the Indies. The impatience of his crew turned to despair, even he managed two charts, one true for himself, the other to fool the frightened sailors who desperately wanted to turn back. At last, on 11 October 1492, at two o'clock in the morning, a cannon fired from one of the ships signaled the discovery of land.'

Columbus was nowhere near India, but on an island off America. Thanks to his mistake we still call the original inhabitants of America 'Indians', and the islands where Columbus landed the 'West Indies. The real India (or East Indies) was still an interminable distance away.

At the time, he thought he was in the Indies, he took possession of the island in the name for the Spanish crown. During his later voyages, he continued to maintain that the lands he had discovered were the outer parts of India.

He imagined being Viceroy of the Indies, the land of his dreams.

On his return from this first voyage to Spain, Columbus was given a hero's welcome. But during his later voyages, his pride and his ambition, and especially his meager returns made him unpopular with the king and Spanish aristocracy, eventually to the point that the king had his own viceroy and admiral arrested and brought home from the West Indies in chains. Even after he returned to royal favor, honor and riches, at that time he was not recognized as the discoverer of a new world nor the discoverer of a new route to Asia.

Chapter 61

The Age of Discoveries and the Conquistadores

During the Age of Discovery, an age of European exploration from the end of the 15th century to the 18th century, explorers, adventurers and warriors, also called conquistadors, sailed beyond European seas to the Americas, Africa and Asia, conquering new territories and opening trade routes that had been closed by Islamic countries. The conquistadors colonized much of the Americas for Spain and Portugal in the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries. The colonization wiped out many old native American civilizations and were replaced by colonial governments from Spain, Portugal, France and Britain. Some parts of the Spanish conquests were eventually taken over by the British who were Spain's fiercest competitor. European explorers cartographed much the Western hemisphere, always on the search for new westbound passage that would give access to the Pacific Ocean. Throughout the 16th century, great discoverers found new sea routes and civilizations. One of the most famous ones was the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan who led the first voyage to circumnavigate the globe in 1522, in search for spices and bringing Christianity to foreign lands.

Chapter 62

Hernandez Cortez and the Conquest of Mexico

One conqueror in particular, a former student of law, the Spaniard Hernando Cortez, made his name by being the first European who conquered an empire in the Americas.

In 1518 Hernandez Cortés landed on the coast of what today is Mexico, and founded the city of Veracruz; he then pushed forward into central Mexico with only about 500 soldiers who included some horsemen. After a few skirmishes with natives, he had reached a lake where in its middle lay an island, with the capitol of this land that was called Mexico.

In the meantime, the mighty Aztec emperor Montezuma had sent messengers to the Spaniards with gifts. This king believed in prophecies, and according to an ancient saying, one day white gods, the sons of the sun, would come from the east to take possession of Mexico. He actually believed the Spaniards where these gods.

The Spaniards were amazed when they were led across a long causeway into the city and saw the splendor, beauty and might of this great capital that was as big as any city in Europe.

Although the Aztecs soon learned that the Spaniards were not gods, they let them pass through their land and even allowed them to make alliances with hostile tribes near the lake.

Cortes aim was clear, and his leadership was relentless; he fought with his troops and allies to the heart of the capital, by conquering the causeways first, and decimating the Aztec army in countless skirmishes. After several attempts, he finally stormed the city where he captured Montezuma. In 1521 Cortés had not only taken the capital of Tenochtitlan, but also had subdued most of what is now Mexico, he even build the first port on the Pacific Ocean.

The Spaniards began building a new capital with the erection of a Christian cathedral on the stones of the city's patron, Huitzilopotchli's temple.

Chapter 63

Francisco Pizarro - The Ruthless Conquerer of the Inca Empire

An even more glorious conquest was achieved by an outstanding soldier and strategist from Spain, Francisco Pizarro (147 -1541). He was a Spanish conquistador who led a small expedition with a few ships and horses that conquered the mighty Inca Empire within two years.

Pizarro arrived at Tumbes on May 13, 1532; he left a part of his troops near the coast began his march inlands toward the city of Cajamarca with only 180 Spanish soldiers.There managed to capture the Inca king and took him hostage, while the king's 7000 soldiers were ordered to stand by. Pizarro's priests asking their emperor Atahualpa to give up the Inca religion, to accept Christianity, and the King of Spain as ruler. When the Inca Emperor refused, Pizarro took him prisoner and threatened to burn him on the stake. To gain his freedom, Atahualpa promised Pizarro gold and silver to fill a whole room. In the fall of 1533, after the Incas paid a ransom of 24 tons of gold, Pizarro had Atahualpa killed.

But Pizarro didn't stop there, he still needed to win a few decisive battles, but eventually he was able to claim all the lands for Spain.

This left the Inca Empire without a central leadership. The Spaniards had to fight more fierce battles in the south to gain control of the vast country. In the process of bringing Christianity and civilization to the people, large parts of the culture were destroyed, largely because many of the natives couldn't adapt to the demands, and many died because of new diseases which, in contrast to the Spaniards, they had no natural defenses against.

But that was only the beginning. There, and in other parts of South America, the Spaniards proceeded to conquer old civilizations using their superior arms and strategy, but they exterminated many ancient civilizations in the process, however, they also brought progress and eliminated cruel pagan customs such as human sacrifices.

Chapter 64

Other European Nations Join the Conquest

Meanwhile, the Portuguese had discovered the sea route to the Indies, and even before Columbus they had sent Vasco da Gama who found a trade route around the southern tip of Africa to India. They also explored much of East Asia and were the first Europeans to establish trading colonies in this hemisphere, such as in Goa, India and Macau in China. But all the wisdom of ancient India did not mean much to them. They also wanted gold, and in the end a lot of gold and spices reached Europe from India and America, which enriched the kingdoms, a few adventurers and landowners, while the masses in Europe remained poor.

The Portuguese, however, were able to claim land in what today is Brazil, and colonized the northeast of the South American continent with the help of African slaves. The British slowly pushed the Spanish in the Caribbean aside and established slave trade with Africa. However, Spain remained the dominant power in the transatlantic gold trade that continued to make the Spanish crown rich and powerful. But because all the ships sailed westwards and returned from the west, it was Europe's western ports that benefited most and grew in power and importance. The new trades affected not only cities in Spain and Portugal, but also seaports in France, England and Holland. However, Germany played no part in these overseas conquests, for they had far too many religious wars, and internal conflicts to deal with at home.

Chapter 65

Europes's Religious Conflicts

Since the mid-16th century, Europe had become entangled with religious controversies that resulted in the split between Catholic monarchs from Spain and Austria on the one side, and Protestants and other break-away churches on the other. Martin Luther, a German monk, introduced reformations and started the Protestant movement, and in England, Henry VIII founded his own church. By the beginning of the 17th century, the religious conflicts had intensified beyond consolidation, which along with monarchial disputes, eventually lead to the 30 year war (1618-1648) in Central Europe that resulted in a completely ruined and split Germany.

Externally, the Catholic Europeans, especially the monarchy of Habsburg and the Venetians fought almost constantly against the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, which dominated the eastern Mediterranean coastlines and threatened the Christians until the end of the 17thcentury.

The league of holy nations eventually defeated the Ottomans in the sea-battle of Lepanto in 1571 and pushed the Turkish armies back into the Balkans after the battle of Vienna in 1683.

Chapter 66

Russian History

The country of the Rus is thought to have originated during the ninth century. Viking traders settled on the rivers that lead to the Black Sea, especially on the Volga and lower Dnepr around the city of Kiev. Those river posts became their first areas of settlements; the early Rus were probably a mixture of East Slavs and Scandinavian Vikings. The new Kievan state founded by prince Oleg in the late ninth century prospered due to its abundant supply of furs and slaves for export to Constantinople.

In the early 12th century all the territories north of the Black Sea were invaded by the Mongols, which contemporaries also named the Golden Horde.

The Mongols had conquered a huge territory from Central Asia via the Middle East to the plains of Russia. They remained there, where they taxed the Russians and became their masters. After centuries of occupation by the Mongolian Tatars, Russia lay oppressed in ruins and only recovered slowly.

Tsar Ivan The Terrible (1530-1584) defeated the Tatars in various battles and expanded his territory to the Volga River by conquering the Khanate of Kazan in 1552. He eliminated the Russian nobility and crushed any resistance, even when it meant massacres to entire cities (Novgorod in 1570). With the help of the Cossacks, he eventually conquered huge territories of Siberia, expanding his influence deep into Asia.

Chapter 67

Peter The Great

The next important tsar who shaped this young nation was Peter the Great. Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs when he was nominally already a king. The ruling of this young nation was instead exercised by his mother Naryshkina. It was only when she died in1694 that Peter could become an independent sovereign.

One of his main objectives was to gain seaports to open trade with the West. To gain access to the Mediterranean nations he needed a port on the Black Sea, and to open trade with the West he desperately needed an ice-free seaport, preferably on the Baltic Sea.

While visiting the what today is The Netherlands, Peter learned much about life in Western Europe, he even studied shipbuilding in Zaandam.

Although he was diplomatically isolated, he eventually conquered several ports on the Black Sea, defeating the Krim Tartars in the process, and thereby outmaneuvering the Ottoman Emperator, his main enemy from the south.

Peter implemented sweeping reforms aimed to modernize Russia. Heavily influenced by his advisors from Prussia, Britain, and Holland, he reorganized the army and carefully started building a small navy.

However, his most important gains where in the North; the Baltic Sea and what are today the Baltic States belonged to the King of Sweden, and only after many years of war, and defeating Swedish king Charles XII, who had invaded Russia in 1708. Peter was eventually successful, not only in defeating the Swedish, but also by building a new city on the Baltic, that was named after him, St. Petersburg.

From the late 16th century to after the Russian October Revolution in 1917, Russia was largely controlled by the Romanovs, a powerful dynasty that provided the tsars of Russia, and over the centuries expanded the country towards Asia and Europe.

Chapter 68

The Early Period of the United States of America

The earliest Europeans were settled by the Spaniard in Hispaniola, the Caribbean island what today is the Dominican Republic and Haiti. By the early fifteen-hundreds Spanish immigrants had settled in Mexico, on the Atlantic coast of Central Florida and in North Carolina; the latter became de facto the first European settlements in North America. In 1526 the Spaniards endeavored to establish the first real colony. Those who didn't die from disease or starvation returned to Spain or abandoned the settlement. Four decades later, general Menendez de Aviles established a colony at modern day St. Augustine in Florida, which became the earliest permanent colony in North America.

The first attempt by England was made by Walter Raleigh who in 1778 led an expedition to establish a colony in North America but was forced to turn back six months later

In 1584 more ships were send out to explore the coastline, they eventually discovered an area they believed suitable for settlements. The land was named Virginia after the Virgin Queen herself.

Chapter 69

Early Settlers in Jamestown

Although Jamestown and Virginia are one of the most famous early settlements in North America, they were ill-prepared adventures of a few desperate pilgrims and they failed due to lack of resources and support.

The primary reason for the settlers to leave Europe was escaping religious persecution as they opposed what the Church of England was teaching,

They embarked on their journey across the Atlantic Ocean on board of the Mayflower, and set foot in North America in December 1620. Around half of those who arrived died within a year, and to their rescue came the native Indians who educated them in growing crops, allowing them to survive.

The situation of the settlers improved only after the establishment of the North American Virginia Company that would allow the colonist to own land and to import certain supplies.

The Virginia Company gave potential settlers a choice, they could either pay for the voyage or would be given 50 acres of land. Those who couldn't pay had to work for the Virginia Company as servants.

Chapter 70

The New England Colonies

After the turn of the century more waves of settlers arrived in Jamestown, but the majority still had to endure extreme hardship that included diseases, shortage of supplies and warfare with the Native Americans. However, the Company was dissolved in 1624, with the English monarch taking over of the colony. By the mid17th century, the population had grown to over 80,000.

The New England colonies slowly changed their base of existence from agriculture and fishing to commerce, timber, and shipbuilding,

With the arrival of more settlers came also a number of diseases to which most of the Europeans were immune, but the Native Americans had no natural immunity, which consequently, resulted in a high number of deaths among all the Natives, particularly those located on the eastern shores of the continent. Towards the mid-century the Europeans and Natives found themselves in bloody conflicts with each other as the arrivals of more Europeans increased.

Chapter 71

Battles with Britain

The American colonies soon ended up in conflicts and strained relationships with Britain.

For the British, the colonies were primarily needed to provide ships, timber and raw materials to help to expand the British Empire

In 1651 the British enacted a trade law that restricted colonial trade in the mother country and prevented American colonist from selling their goods to Britain. This was the start of a series of navigation acts for two decades, which the colonist disobeyed and eventually let to the Revolutionary War. 
Chapter 72

Asian History

Over the last several thousand years, the Asian continent has seen the rise and fall of some incredible civilizations. From the glory of the Chinese Empire, one of the longest reigning cultures in world history, to the grandeur and socially complex of India, Asia boasts some of the most spectacular civilizations and developments of mankind that continue to inspire and fascinate even until today.

Chapter 73

Early Civilizations in the Indian Subcontinent

The name India originated from the Indus River. However, the land is often referred to as "Bharata" within the government's composition in reference to an ancient legendary emperor, whose tale is retold within the Mahabharata. The fifth century CE texts, called the Puranas, tells how Bharata managed to seize control over India, ruling peacefully for years. As a result, India was called Bharatavarsha. The archaeological record shows that the earliest human ancestors have lived in India for the last 250,000 years, making it one of the oldest occupied areas around the world. Archaeological digs have unearthed a variety of artifacts that were used by the earliest humans, such as stone tools. Whilst other ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Rome and Greece have often been praised for contributing to various areas of modern culture, ancient India has often been overshadowed by these civilizations, whilst still boasting an extraordinary rich culture.

Chapter 74

The History of India

The history of India includes ancient settlements and cultures in the Indian subcontinent and also the many advancement of civilization originating from the Indus Valley to the eventual blending with the Aryan culture to form the Indian Vedic Civilization.

However, modern day India, Nepal and Pakistan have been inhabited by early humans for over 250,000 years, with archaeologists discovering a wealth of artifacts and bones from some of these early humans. They include Homo Heidelbergensis, a predecessor of contemporary Homo sapiens, who had been in the Indian sub-continent long before Homo sapiens journeyed to the European continent.

Chapter 75

The Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization is one of the earliest civilizations to emerge in the Indian sub-continent. It spread through the lower Ganetic Valley area up to Malwa.

A number of artifacts that originate from the Indus Valley Civilization have been discovered at Mesopotamian sites.

Considered one of the cradle of civilizations, the Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent from 3300 to 1300 BCE, was the first major civilization in South Asia

A technologically advanced sophisticated urban culture developed in the Mature-Harappan period, from appr. 2600 to 1900 BCE. This ancient civilization collapsed at the beginning of the second millennium BCE and was later succeeded by the Iron Age Vedic Civilization.

Around 1,500 BCE, a new race, known as the Aryans, migrated into the country via the Khyber Pass, merging into the existing civilization.

It was also at this time (1,700 – 1,500 BCE) that the Harappa people seemed to have suffered a deterioration of their culture.

Chapter 76

The Verdic Period

The Vedic customs emerged after the Aryan migration to India around 1,500 BCE.

The arrival and subsequent influence by the newcomers led to the beginning of what is regarded as the Vedic Period (1,700 – 150 BCE). This period saw a rustic lifestyle and dedication to the Vedas, a collection of religious scriptures.

The Vedic Civilization extended over much of the northern Indian plains and witnessed the rise of major polities known as the Mahajanapadas. These were small republics, kingdoms and rather unimportant monarchs. Some of these little kingdoms, mainly the Magadha, Gautama and Mahavira, propagated their diverse shamanic beliefs, ranging from accepting or denying the concept of soul, fatalism to free will, and idealization of extreme asceticism. They emerged during the fifth and sixth century BCE.

However, most of the subcontinent was conquered by the Maurya Empire, a historic power and one of the largest empires of the world during the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE.

From the 3rd century BCE onwards, Prakrit's literary languages was patronized by ancient Indian kings and used in Buddhism. In the North and the Tamil Sangam, a more poetic social class accepted in southern India, started to flourish

Chapter 77

The Ancient Caste System

During this time, the people were separated into four social classes, known as the Varnas, or the caste system. Scholars and priests, known as the Brahmana, sat at the top of the caste system, with the warriors (or the Kshatriya) following. Next came the farmers and the traders (known as the Vaishya) and lastly, the laborers (known as the Shudra). The last were the "untouchables", who everybody tried to avoid at all costs.

Chapter 78

Hinduism and Buddhism

It is generally accepted that the religious beliefs of the Vedic Period date back to earlier periods, but at this period, they transformed into the Sanatan Dharma, (Eternal Order) Modern day "Hindu religion". The name, Hinduism, originates from the Indus River, where people came together to worship.

While Hinduism is accepted as a polytheistic faith (made up of numerous deities) in reality it is a monotheistic religion because there is only one deity, Braham

During the sixth century BCE, Vardhaman Mahavira (549 – 477 BCE) and Siddhartha Gautama (563 – 483 BCE) founded their own religious systems – Jainism and Buddhism.

Due to the prosperity of these major urban centers, India started to attract other civilizations looking to expand and grow.

Chapter 79

Cyrus of Persia

One of the most important invaders was Cyrus of Persia. In 530 BCE, he moved into India. Within ten years, Persia, during the reign of his son Darius I, had complete control over India (modern day Pakistan and Afghanistan to be exact). Everyone in India were expected to follow Persian rules and culture. This resulted in a merging of religious beliefs, which a number of academics pinpoint as a rationalization for additional religious and societal changes.

Chapter 80

The Indian Empires

The Great Empires of Northern India remained under the control of the Persian Empire until the arrival of Alexander the Great in 327 BCE. Within a year, the great Greek leader had conquered the Achaemenid Empire and controlled India.

After he withdrew from India, the Maurya Empire (322 – 185 BCE) rose to power.

Northern India remained under the control of this new empire until the latter part of the third century BCE.

Ashoka the Great (304 – 232 BCE) ruled India between 269 and 232 BCE at the height of its power and influence. After eight years on the throne, Ashoka obliterated the city state of Kalinga, where over 100,000 people were massacred. The death and destruction he caused led him to converting to Buddhism, and he set about teaching the principles of Buddhism to the people.

Chapter 81

The Middle Kingdoms

This period began after the fall of the Maurya Empire. The Satavahana dynasty began with Simuka in 230 BCE. The Middle Period lasted for some 1500 years, and ended in the 13th century with the rise of the Sultanate of Delhi.

During the 2nd century BCE, the Maurya Empire became a collage of regional powers with overlapping boundaries. The whole northwest attracted a series of invaders between 200 BCE and 300 CE.

After this, India began to divide itself into numerous smaller kingdoms and empires, including the Kushan Empire. This period was recognized for its increased trading with the Roman Empire. It is also referred to as the Indian Golden Age. There was a flourishing arts and cultural scene throughout the numerous kingdoms and empires.

Chapter 82

The Golden Era

The Gupta Empire emerged around 240 BCE.

Throughout the Guptas, Indian society and culture flourished and has long been regarded as the country's Golden Era. Architecture, philosophy, technology, astronomy and various other subjects progressed, resulting in some of the best known successes humanity has ever created.

The Gupta Empire saw a series of weak emperors, which caused a steady decline. As a result, by 550 CE, the Gupta Empire had fallen completely.

Chapter 83

The Decline of Empires and the Beginning of ISlam

In 712 CE, Muhammed bin Quasim invaded India, controlling what is modern day Pakistan. The Muslim armies established a new era, with the old native empires coming to an end. The rise of independent city states became the norm. In Pakistan, the Islamic Sultanates started making their ways over the northwestern regions, and the country saw a new foreign influence on Indian history.

Chapter 84

The Sultanate of Delhi

The most important Sultanate was the Sultanate of Delhi. The Delhi Sultanate was a Muslim kingdom based mostly in Delhi and stretched over large parts of the subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526). The sultanate expansion reached its peak during the Tughlaq dynasty, occupying most of the Indian subcontinent This was followed by a decline due to continuing Hindu-Muslim wars. States such as the Vijayanagara Empire in South India asserting independence, and new Muslim Sultanates breaking off. The Sultanate of Delhi was eventually succeeded after 1526 by the Mughal Empire. Later, India was split into smaller regions or territories.

As a result, the cultural and societal advancements that were made during earlier times, such as during the Gupta Empire, were hard to achieve from after the Mughal Empire broke off into smaller chiefdoms. Until the mid-20th century, India was dominated by numerous foreign powers such as Portugal, France and Britain, until India under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, declared independence in 1947.
Chapter 85

The History of China

The Chinese Empire has long fascinated historians and artists, with thousands of years of history and culture. It is considered the oldest culture and civilization in world history.

The history of China, as documented by ancient writings, dates back some 3,300 years. Ancient cultures flourished between 2500 and 2000 B.C. in central China along the lower Huang He or Yellow River Valley of north China.

The Romans named the old Chinese empire Seres and translates, "Where the silk comes from". In medieval times, north China was also known by the name of Old Cathay,and 13th century traders have introduced the name Cathay to Europe.

However, China takes its name from the Sanskrit word Cina, which in turn was derived from the Qin Dynasty, the first imperial dynasty. The name China first appeared in history in 1516 in the chronicles of Barbosa. Marco Polo, the Venetian servant of the Khan, called the country Cathay, whilst the Chinese called their homeland Zhongguo, translated to the the Middle Kingdom. One of the earliest journals was that of the State of Lu which covered the period from 722 to 481 BC and are among the earliest surviving Chinese historical annals.

Chapter 86

Historic Dynasties

Historically, China consists of 19 legitimate dynasties and more than one hundred "illegitimate dynasties". China has been inhabited by modern humans since prehistoric times, with human settlements and farming regions along the large central rivers.

The Xia Dynasty is considered the first, dating from 2,070 to 1,600 BCE. Until recently it was assumed that Yu the Great, who established the Xia Dynasty was only a legend.

The ruler of that time, a certain Shun, named Yu as his heir, He introduced a system of heirs inheriting the throne, which later established a hierarchy of rules to the throne.

The rulers and the aristocratic classes would live in major urbanized centers while the workers and peasants, who supported them remained poor and lived in the countryside. Beginning with Qi the throne remained in Yu's family. But when he was defeated by Tang at the battle of Mingtiao in 1,600 BCE it was an end of an era and the beginning of the Shang period.

Chapter 87

The Shang Dynasty

Proof of this dynasty comes from thousands of archaeological finds located in and around the Huang He Valley, the cradle of Chinese civilization. This was the period when metallurgy was used in large parts of China making the region effectively the Bronze Age of Asia.

However, the Shang Dynasty originated from the Shang kingdom and is generally accepted to have lasted between 1,675 and 1,646 BCE.

King Tang was the first significant figure from the Shang kingdom. Tang took control of the people. He lowered the taxes, stopped the excessive construction projects and ruled so wisely and competently, that the country began to make great strides in art and cultural works.

During the Shang Dynasty, the earliest writing system was created (which hasn't changed much in the last several thousand years), the religious beliefs developed and architecture progressed. Before the establishment of the Shang Dynasty, the Chinese people worshipped a variety of deities, with the highest god being Shangti.

In China it was Shangti the Great Ancestor of the people. He was the patron of agriculture, the god warfare,the protector of climate and generous administrator of the people. However, the people felt distance from their god, they required a more connection with their faith. This notion developed that eventually they started to worship their own ancestors. The ruler would then act as the intermediary between his subjects and the dead. This was another reason why the people saw the king's rule as divine.This"Mandate of Heaven" where the ruler was destined to rule over became the new religion of the country, and this concept of divine ruling lay the foundations for the Zhou Dynasty.

Chapter 88

The Zhou Epoch

The last Shang ruler was overthrown by a chieftain of a frontier tribe called Zhou, which had settled in the Wei Valley in modern Shaanxi Province.

In 1,046 BCE, King Wu of the state of Zhou, campaigned against the King and subduing his army at the Battle of Muye and thus established the Zhou Dynasty. He won this battle by introducing new kind of weapons. The dynasty lasted between 1,046 to about 230 BCE. During the Shang Dynasty, the chariot had been introduced into the country but it was within the Zhou Dynasty that it progressed into something much more suitable for warfare.

The term feudal has often been applied to the Zhou period because the Zhou's early decentralized rule has been compared with medieval rule in Europe.

Chapter 89

The Spring and Autumn Period andThe Warring States

Named after the chronicles known as the Spring and Autumn Annals, this period marks the time between 772 and 476 BCE. The old chronicles are actually a collection of journals which records tell of the government from this period reaching back to the legendary ruler Sun Tzu)

Scholars often refer The Spring and Autumn period along with the Warren (476-221 BCE) period as the Golden Age of China. It was a time of new inventions, when coinage and many technological improvements such as metallurgy were introduced. Iron came into general use, making it possible to not only forge weapons of war but to also to manufacture agricultural implements,.

Its government transferred the capital to Luoyang in modern day Henan Province. It is here that some of the greatest Chinese thinkers emerged onto the scene, along with the foundations of Taoism, Confucianism and Mohist philosophies.

Chapter 90

The Great Wall

The Great Wall of China was started in the Zhou dynasty, somewhere around.400 BC to protect their kingdom against the nomadic tribes from the North and West that had threatened the north for centuries. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Great Wall of China was considerable expanded. Building continued until c.1500 AD when it eventually reached a length of 2400 kilometers.

This was also a time when many provinces aimed for independence. Some of the most important regional states, the Zhao, Yan, Chu, Qin, Wei, Han and Qi, all of whom who declared themselves powerful enough to be independent but none of whom declared themselves a monarchy or possessing the Mandate of Heaven, which was still possessed by the state of Zhou in Luoyang.

Chapter 91

The Confucian School

In 260 BCE, the state of Qin conquered Zhao at the Battle of Changping. It was Shang Yang of Qin (d. 338 BCE) who began a series of extensive reforms, including the belief that victory in wartime should come at any cost.

Most scholars think it is likely that Shang Yang was familiar with "The Art of War", accredited to Sun Tzu.

This was also a period when philosophy started to prosper. The body of thought that had the most enduring effect on subsequent Chinese life was that of the School of Literati, often called the Confucian School in the West.

Confucius (551-479 BC), also called Kong Zi, or Master Kong, looked to the early days of Zhou rule for an ideal social and political order. He believed that the only way such a system could be made to work properly was for each person to act according to prescribed relationships. "Let the ruler be a ruler and the subject a subject"

Some practical and useful aspects of Confucianism and Legalism were synthesized during the Han period (206 BC-220 AD). The Chinese had refined a complicated but practical system of governmental administration which was copied by many Asian nations, and actually remained intact until the late nineteenth century with the arrival of the Europeans. Taoism, the second most important stream of Chinese thought, also developed during the Zhou period

Chapter 92

The First Imperial Period

In 221 BCE, the King Ying Zheng united all the seven states under his own strength and declared himself Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of China of the Qin Dynasty, which lasted only fifteen years.

During this period, in the western Chinese state of Qin, the most aggressive of the Warring States, subjugated the last of its rival states

Early Defensive Structures to keep Barbarians Out

The Qin Dynasty is famous for tearing down the fortified walls that had separated the various states and had them joined together to create a single defensive structure to protect his territory from invading nomads from steppes of the north. This defensive structure would later be known as the Great Wall of China. The original wall that the First Emperor created barely stands today, but later dynasties would continue his work and is today one of the top tourist attractions in the country. Shi Huangdi also made great contributions to society through the construction of roads, which in turn, increased the ease of trading and means of travel. He expanded the borders, started the first construction of the Grand Canal in southern China, reallocated lands and acted justly at the beginning of his rule. Despite his great construction projects and his military victories, Shi Huangdi soon found himself being resented by the people due to his strict policies. Declaring that he possessed the "Mandate of Heaven", he destroyed all the philosophies of the day except for Legalism, which had been advanced by Shang Yang, as well as burning all historical and philosophical books which did not reflect the emperor himself or that of Legalism.

Chapter 93

The Terracotta Army

Abandoning his duties, minister Shang Yang who designed the capital Xianyang in 350 BC

started seeking immortality. He began construction of a lavish palace as his tomb, and ordered 8,000 warriors made from terracotta to guard his eternal resting place. Unfortunately, he consumed an elixir which did not give him eternal life, but instead took it from him. It's generally believed amongst historians that the First Emperor died from mercury poisoning.

After the death of the First Emperor, the dynasty quickly fell into ruin due to the corruption of the second emperor, Li Sui and his infamous advisor, Zhao Gao. Soon enough, Liu Bang was able to overthrow the corrupted Qin dynasty and establish the Han Dynasty.

After the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, the country found itself in turbulent and bloody times. The two main generals to rise to great heights at this point were Liu Bang from Hanzhong and King Xiang Yu from Chu, both of whom were fighting to seize control of the throne. Xiang Yu fought against the Qin, and gave Liu Bang the title of King of the Han after he had defeated in the Qin. Liu Bang didn't want the country to be split and so broke the truce and began to attack Xiang Yu's armies. In 202 BCE, they met at the Battle of Gaixia where he was able to defeat the Chu army. Liu Bang declared himself as emperor (he would later be known as Emperor Gaozu). What marks Liu Bang's early career is that he treated his prior enemies with respect and reunited the country. The Xiongnu tribes were expelled from China and he quickly established friendly relationships with the other independent states that had opposed the Qin. For the next four centuries, excluding a short disruption from Wang Meng, the Han Dynasty (206- 220 AD) ruled the country successfully; the Han Dynasty emerged with its capital at Chang'an.

Chapter 94

The Han Dynasty

Until today the "people of Han" are the ethnic majority in China. This period saw great achievements in society, culture, and technology. The Han period also produced China's most famous historian, Sima Qian (145-87 BC), whose Shiji historic records provides a detailed chronicle from the time of a legendary Xia emperor to that of the Han emperor Wu Di (141-87 B.C.).

Technological advances also marked this period. Many of the great Chinese inventions such as paper, porcelain, ink, brushes, irrigation, water clocks, sundials, and seismographs all date from Han times.

The Han dynasty was also noted for its military prowess. The empire expanded westward as far as the rim of the Tarim Basin, making relatively secure caravan traffic across Central Asia possible. This caravan route stretched across Central Asia to Syria, Baghdad, and Rome. The paths of caravan traffic are often called the "silk route" because the route was used to export Chinese silk to the Roman Empire.

During the Han Dynasty, China began trading with western civilizations. While the Zhou Dynasty was the first to produce a written history of the country, the first emperor had destroyed a vast amount of ancient literature. Most historians generally agree that the Han Dynasty was the first period in which written histories were produced. However, all historians accept that the Han Dynasty saw great advancements in nearly all areas. Gunpowder was improved and made better under the Han. The Chinese first produced paper, writing was refined and the government established Confucianism as the main philosophy, one that continued to influence future administrations, even in China today. As such, the country enjoyed a long period of stability, with culture flourishing. Out of all the Han emperors, it was Wu Ti who took the country to one of the greatest cultural times in history. During Wu Ti's rule, the borders were expanded and secured, public buildings were created and new cultural innovations emerged. Under his command, in 138 BCE diplomat Zhang Qian was sent west, resulting in the formal establishment of the Silk Road eight years later.

Transportation was re-organized, and more trading networks created. This created employment for millions of subjects. When Wu Ti died, his successors carried on with much of his policies and saw almost just as much success as he did.

Chapter 95

The Fall of the Han And Rise of the Xin Dynasty

The country and its people began prospering for the most part, with large estates being established, except for the peasants. For them, life had started becoming harder and in 9 CE, the dynasty official Wang Mang overthrew the Han rulers, seized the throne and claimed the "Mandate of Heaven". This was the beginning of the Xin Dynasty, which lasted between nine and 23 CE. During this period there was a lot of redistribution of land and wealth, and even the peasants supported him at first.

With the declaration of the Xin Dynasty, came the end of what is regarded as the Western Han period. When the Xin Dynasty itself fell only a few years later, the Han rulers were reinstated and it marked the beginning of the Eastern Han period. The new emperor gave the previous landowners back their lands and brought calm to a chaotic country. The old policies were reinstated but the emperor found himself constantly trying to stop the uprisings in the modern-day Korean peninsula and what is today Vietnam; Eventually he brought these areas all back under Chinese rule.

Despite the increase in prosperity, there were still reoccurring arguments between the rich landowners and the peasantry, which caused trouble with the Imperial Court. This can be seen in the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion and the Yellow Turban Rebellions of 184 CE.

After the battle of the "main rebellions" in 208 CE, the empire was divided once more into three kingdoms – Shu, Wei and Wu. The period that followed would be known as the Three Kingdoms era.

Within the reigns of Emperors, China saw sections of the Great Wall repaired and then enlarged, as well as the construction of the Grand Canal. Also, Chinese army was increased substantially.

After the reign of emperators from the mid third century to the beginning of the seventh, the Chinese empire underwent gradual disintegration. It wasn't until the rise of the T'ang Dynasty in 618 CE that China would rise again to be a great empire

The Tang Dynasty lasted between 618 and 907 CE and it is often referred to as China's Golden Era. The emperor continued running the government as it had been done previously but with a few more improvements. He stopped spending on excessive building projects and military campaigns. The modern Chinese government is run in a similar way to Gao Tzu's administration.

Chapter 96

The Tang Dynasty

However, despite the amazing achievements during the Tang Dynasty, there were still resentment towards the government and various rebellions broke out.

The An Lushan Rebellion, in 755 CE, was the most significant of these. An Lushan, a General and much-loved among the imperial court, staged a revolution against the government. Leading more than 100,000 men, he announced that he was now Emperor. In 763 CE, An Lushan was overthrown but the damage had been done. Numerous other uprisings carried on throughout the dynasty since the origins of the rebellions had not been addressed. Population decrease was one of the most significant results of the An Lushan. Scholars have estimated that around 36,000,000 people died due to the general's revolt through battles, punishments, diseases or lack of resources. Not only this, but the trading networks started to dry up, taxes were not collected and the Imperial Court had abandoned the capital at Chang'an and headed for safety elsewhere. After another rebellion between 874 and 884 CE, the Tang Dynasty was effectively in decline.

In 907 CE the dynasty was finished and would splinter off into various states proclaiming themselves legitimated dynasties, a period known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907 – 960 CE).

Chapter 97

The Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty lasted from 960 AD to 1223 AD.

This was mainly an era when law and order was re-established. Gunpowder was used for military rockets, strengthening the Chinese armies again. The compass was adopted and this greatly improved sea trade. Large ocean-going junks traveled to the East Indies, Africa, and India.

The Song remained quasi-separated from northern China, because the Jin occupied strong positions around the Huang-He river and Beijing. But the southern Song provinces found new ways to bolster its strong economy and defend itself against the powerful Jin dynasty monarchs.

Chapter 98

Genghis Khan

By the middle of this period, the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan (r. 1206–1227), initially invaded the Jin dynasty in 1205 and 1209, engaging in large raids across its borders. Nevertheless, the southern Song provinces remained largely unharmed by these invasions.

To stabilize trade and defense, the Song dynasty established China's first permanent navy in 1132, with its headquarters at Dinghai. With a permanent navy, the Song were prepared to face the naval forces of the Jin on the Yangtze River in 1161, in the Battle of Tangdao

China remained divided during this entire epoch of the Song Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, China began to experience internal stability. New laws, organizations and practices were introduced with older ones improved on. Neo-Confucianism would become the main philosophy that went on to influence the central administration and the rest of society, many of which are still used in Chinese culture today. This was also a period of religious freedom as the major deities of Daoism and Buddhism, ancestral spirits, and the many deities of Chinese folk religion were worshiped then.

However, the affluent landowners and the peasantry rose up frequently to fight officials and occupy armies.

Nevertheless, social life during the Song was vibrant. The spread of literature and knowledge was enhanced by the rapid expansion of woodblock printing and the 11th-century invention of movable-type printing. Technology, science, philosophy, mathematics, and engineering flourished over the course of the Song

The influence of the Mongols conquered the remaining song all over China and the monarchists were influenced by the grand sons of Kublai Khan to a point of dependence and deposition.

Chapter 99

The Ming Dynasty

The Great Ming dynasty (1368 AD to 1644 AD) was founded by the peasant rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang.

In 1368, the Ming army under Yuanzhang captured Beijing then known as Dadu, the capital city of Yuan, and rid China of most of the remaining Mongols

The Ming, described by some as "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history," was the last imperial dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese.

The Hongwu Emperor (ruled 1368–98) attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: The empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the navy's dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world

Chapter 100

Admiral Zeng Discovers New Worlds

He first set sail in 1405, commanding over sixty ships and 27,00 men. He was the leader and explorer of seven expeditions that opened diplomatic doors for China in many parts of Asia and beyond. The fleet visited countries in the South-China Sea and followed the coasts of what is today Vietnam and Thailand, passed through the strait of Malacca, eventually reaching Java and Calcut, India. A smaller part of the fleet even made to the coast of East Africa. A few contemporary scholars claim that the fleet even sailed via Cape Horn into the Atlantic Ocean, but there is few evidence to support this notion. But fact is, Admiral Zeng not only discovered large parts of Asia, but made numerous contacts with far-away civilizations such as Persia, Arabia, and India.

Chapter 101

The Yongle Emperor

In 1402, the Prince of Yan ascended the throne as the so called Yongle Emperor

The Yongle Emperor demoted Nanjing as a secondary capital and after a year in power, he announced the new capital of all China was to be at his power base in Beijing.

In this period there were enormous construction projects, including the restoration of the Grand Canal, the restoration of the Great Wall as it is seen today, and the establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing during the first quarter of the 15th century.

The Ming dynasty is, for many reasons, generally known as a period of stable effective government. It had long seen the most secure and unchallenged ruling house that China had known up until that time. Its institutions were generally preserved by the following Qing dynasty. An extensive civil service was introduced that dominated the government to an unprecedented degree. During the Ming dynasty, the territory of China expanded (and in some cases also retracted) greatly.

The Mongol threat to China was at its greatest level in the 15th century, although periodic raiding continued throughout the dynasty. Like in the Tumu Crisis, the Mongol leader Altan Khan invaded China by the mid-16th century and at times raided as far as the outskirts of Beijing.

The16th century was largely embossed by the Wanli emperor who ruled China from 1572 for 48 years, but brought a decline of Chinese central power, while foreign nations gained influence in this period.

Chapter 102

The Arrival of the Europeans

The Portuguese sent a large subsequent expedition in 1517 to enter port at Guangzhou to trade with the Chinese merchants there.

In 1557, the Portuguese managed to convince the Ming court to agree on a legal port treaty that would establish Macau as a Portuguese trade colony on the coasts of the South China Sea.

This treaty opened the doors not only for the Portuguese, but from this date forward, it showed to be a first step for the Europeans to dominate China in the coming centuries.

Chapter 103

Japanese History

The first recognizable epoch in Japanese history to emerge was the Neolithic J_mon era (named after a 'rope mark' style pottery), from around 10,000 BCE. The J_mon were mostly hunter-gatherers, with a preference for coastal regions, though agriculture started to develop from around 4000 BC and this brought about greater stability in settlement and the emergence of larger tribal communities.

The J_mon were primarily hunter-gatherers, with a preference for coastal regions, agriculture started to develop from around 4000 BC and this brought about greater stability in settlements and the emergence of larger tribal communities. The present-day indigenous Ainu people of northern Japan are almost exclusively of J_mon descent.

From around 400 BC Japan was effectively invaded by waves of immigrants later known as Yayoi (their name derives from the sites where their distinctive reddish wheel-thrown pottery was first found). They first arrived in the southwest, probably through the Korean Peninsula.

The Yayoi had spread to the middle of Honsh_ island by the 1st century AD, but Northern Honsh_ was still considered 'J_mon' until at least the 8th century. With the exception of the Ainu people, present-day Japanese are overwhelmingly of Yayoi descent.

According to Chinese sources, by the end of the 1st century AD there were more than a hundred kingdoms in Japan, and by the mid-3rd century these were largely subject to an 'over-queen' named Himiko, whose own territory was known as Yamatai (later Yamato).

However, the name Yamato was eventually being applied to Japan as a country, even though Japan was considered dependent on China; Yamoto acknowledged her allegiance to the Chinese emperor through tribute.

The first verifiable emperor was Suijin (97 BC – 30 BC), most likely also of the Yamato clan, though some scholars believe he may have been the leader of a group of knights who appear to have come into the northern island of Hokkaido around the start of the 4th century, originally coming from the Korean peninsula.

The period also saw the adoption of sing-writing, based on Chinese, but first introduced by monks from the Korean kingdom of Paekche around the mid-5th century. Monks from Paekche also introduced an early form of Buddhism a century later.

Though Buddhism originated in India, it was seen by the Japanese as a Chinese religion, even though Buddhism evolved into a complex, but very popular philosophy in Japan. Nonetheless, China has been seen as the dominant culture around this time, and Japanese rulers tried to copy from them as much as possible, especially techniques of ship-building and modes of warfare.

In 604 the regent Prince Sh_toku (573–620) enacted a local constitution that consisted of 17 articles, with a Confucianist flavor, esteeming harmony, obedience and hard work.

Japan was one of the earliest civilization in East Asia that adopted a centralized government and systematic administration along with a binding legal code for other local rules. Japan never had internal conflicts with ethnic minorities, even thought the Ainu people from the northern islands were generally considered the cultural leaders of this country. By the 8th century, Japan had already an estimated population of around five million people and had become one of the first state-nations of Asia.

Chapter 104

The Age of Courtiers

In 710 AD the first permanent capital was established at Nara (Heij_), but Emperor Kammu (781–806) decided to relocate the capital to various locations, and in 794 the capital was re-established in Kyoto.

Kyoto was to remain Japan's capital for more than a thousand years, and it was home of most of the Japanese emperors, although it wasn't always the real center of power, which over the centuries shifted between local rulers and powerful warlords.

However, Kyoto reached a pinnacle of refined artistic achievements and refined cultural etiquette, unreached in most other civilizations.

The two main ruling families were the Minamoto, also known as Genji clan, and the Taira or Heike; these two clans were basically in constant war and competition over territories.

Another one was that of the influential Fujiwara family, who tried to employ the other clans to assist them in their own conquers (1156). The most devastating feuds and local wars took place between the Minamoto and the Taira clans in the Gempei war (1180 - 1185) over the dominance of the imperial court and control of Japan.

By 1185 the capital Kyoto had fallen and the Taira had been pursued to the fringes of the island of Honsh_. A naval battle ensued at the battle of Dannoura, in 1185 which the Minamotu defeated the Taira forced and led to the first Shogunate in Japan under the shogun Yoshitsune.

Chapter 105

The Age of Warriors

The system of government now became feudal, much like in medieval Europe, centered on a lord and vassal system in which loyalty was a key value that also featured the extended oya-ko relationship ('parent-child', in practice 'father-son'). This 'familial hierarchy' was to become a typical feature of Japan society.

By the mid 13th century, Japan was threatened by invasion from the Mongols, who already had conquered most of China and Korea. In 1259 Kublai Khan sent requests to Japan to submit to him, but his petitions were ignored.

His expected first invasion came in November 1274, allegedly with an armada of 900 ships, carrying around 40,000 Mongol warriors.

But a violent storm damaged around a third of the fleet, and the remainder of the army could not get a hold on the land and had to return to Korea.

Another attempt was made seven years later , this time from mainland China. Allegedly, Kublai Khan had amassed a huge fleet of over 4000 vessels to carry an invasion force of 140,000 men that landed on the island of Ky_sh_ in August 1281. This time a typhoon destroyed half their fleet and the Japanese repulsed the remainder of the Mongol army.

This historic event deeply affected the Japanese history and mentality, as the Japanese felt that their land was protected by divine powers and was indeed the "land of the gods".

The following centuries saw the country turning more inwards; Buddhism was revived in various forms; it was the time when the monk Nichiren Daishonin (1185–1333), who had warned against the Mongol invasions, gathered more followers for his school of Buddhism, and also when Zen Buddhism and its disciplines established it roots in large parts in the country.

In 1333 the Kamakura shogunate was toppled by a rival, establishing the Muromachi period. During the Muromachi period regional warlords called Daymyo grew in power at the expense of the shogun.

Chapter 107

Civil War

Over the following centuries the power of the emperor and the imperial court gradually declined and passed to the military clans and their armies of samurai warriors, which led to the absence of a centralized government and control, which in turn led the country slip into civil war.

Eventually, starting with the _nin War (1467–77), the country entered a period of virtually constant civil war.

However, it was during the Muromachi period in the 15th century that many new arts were introduced and refined cultural customs became more common.

Chapter 108

Stability and Seclusion

The Tokugawa shogunate which governed from Edo (modern Tokyo), presided over a prosperous and peaceful era known as the Edop period (1600–1868).

Portuguese Christian missionaries arrived in the late fifteen hundreds, though not greatly popular, began to threatened the authority of the priests and shogunates. Thus all foreigners and all Christian missionaries were expelled in 1614.

Only the Protestant Dutch were allowed to keep a tiny trading base on the man-made island of Dejima, near the southern city of Nagasaki.

For the next tho hundred years, Japan became a secluded country (the era of skoku)

Even though it had become an isolated country, trade with China flourished; Japan also became a more pleasure and merchant-oriented culture. Many new forms of entertainment were introduced such as bunraku (puppet theatre), haiku (verses), and literature.

By then the era of the old Samurai warriors had ended, although they were still part of the culture and traditions. Well educated, most ended up as official administrators and influential local clan leaders.

Chapter 109

Modernization Through Westernisation

Since the start of the 19th century a number of Western vessels had appeared in Japanese waters. In former times, any Westerners who dared to land, even through shipwreck, were almost always met with expulsion or even execution.

This was not acceptable to the Western powers, especially the United Stated which was keen to expand its interests across the Pacific and had numerous whaling vessels in the northwest that needed regular re-provisioning.

In 1853, and again the following year, American Commodore Matthew Perry steamed into Edo Bay (modern Tokyo) with gunships and demanded the opening of Japanese harbors for trade and re-provisioning. The sh_gunate realized they had to submit to Perry's demands, their old medieval ships were no match for Perry's firepower.

Restoration, was put into effect in early 1868, and a teenage emperor Mutsuhito (1852–1912), later to be known as emperor Meiji became the new head of state.

The shogunal base at Edo became the new capitol, and was renamed Tokoy.

The Meiji era of Japan was outwardly democratic, but internally retained many authoritarian features. Nevertheless, the country's main industry was textiles and its main export silk, but later in the Meiji period, with judicious financial support from the government, it moved increasingly into manufacturing and heavy industry, becoming a major world shipbuilder by the end of the period.

Japan was also fortunate in that it hadn't become the object of desire of Western powers, especially the British Empire that had already exploited and colonized large parts of Asia.

The samurai class was eventually phased out by the end of the 19th century, and a conscript army, trained by the Prussians, along with industrialization, had made the country the first Asian competitor of Western powers.

Following Prussian army renovation and British (navy) models, Japan soon built up a formidable military force.

Russia, a direct neighbor, send a fleet around the world to protect its interest in the Far East, but was the first European power that was defeated by the Japanese. (Russian-Japanese War of 1904–05). Western nations also had to recognize Japan's interests in Korea, which it proceeded to annex in 1910.

By the time of emperor Mutsuhito's death in 1912, Japan was indeed recognized as the first Asian world power, and in the following First World War, Japan successfully defended it's interests on the side of the Allied Powers.

Chapter 110

North America - The Great Procalamtion & Birth of the United States

The Great Proclamation

After the mid-18th century relations between Britain and the North American colonies continued to decline. Canada was part of the British Empire but hadn't been profitable nor were the colonies successful.

The British issued the Great Proclamation in 1763, which states that new colonists could settle only near the start of some rivers and certain confined areas. This proclamation was disobeyed, but tensions continued to grow throughout the colonies.

The next year saw the passing of the American Revenue Act which was also known as the Sugar Act.

The British government believed they should pay more taxes on molasses and sugar-related products, and had started to enforce their laws which only deepened the resentment of the colonists.

But it really was the Stamp Act, issued in 1765, which brought the colonists to the barricades.

in the saying "No Taxation Without Representation", the British started taxing cards and newspapers, which hurt the colonists, so they started boycotting imported goods from Britain, and eventually stopped paying debts to British traders.

Trouble at Boston and the Boston Tea Party.

The following year the Stamp Act was repealed, but they also issued the Declaratory Act, which meant the British government ruled the colonies in America. Then again, two years later, Charles Townshend imposed taxes o tea, oil, and other goods. Just as before, the Americans called for boycotts of British goods, and again, Britain had to repeal the taxes. In 1770, the only taxes on goods were on tea. For most colonists, the British had become an occupational force without any remuneration.

In March of 1770, British soldiers, killed five and wounded another six with gunfire for unimportant animosities. The Americans were outraged at the British for not executing anyone. Three years later, the British East India Company arrived in Boston to sell 298 boxes of tea. At the time, Boston hated the British and so a number of Americans disguised themselves as Indians and dumped the tea into the water, an act that would come to be known as the Boston Tea Party. The British Prime Minister of the time was Lord North who wanted to finally subdue the rebellious colonist and imposed a succession of new laws known as the Intolerable Acts.

More resentment followed in 1774 when the British attempted to obtain loyalty of the French Catholics through the Quebec Act allowing the northern borders to expand south and west of Quebec.

Believing that the British wanted to relocate the French-Catholics in the Protestant areas in order to gain more influence, the Continental Congress rejected this idea and arranged a meeting with British officials. Congress wanted both the previous acts to be repealed and the establishment of the colonists being able to assert their own laws-and taxes as they wished; nevertheless the British rebuffed any notion of compromising with the Americans

In February of 1775, the British tried to crack down on the rebellion and their forces, they were well armed, but the Americans increased their resistance as they had formed their own militias. The militia faced the British and with close to a hundred British soldiers dead and 200 either missing or dead conflicted substantial casualties on them. This was the start of the American Revolution.

In May 1775, the American Congress came together for another meeting in which they arranged to start a Continental Army. George Washington, the senior officer in the colonial militia was named Commander in Chief; he became the new hope that he and his new professional army could make the British bend to successions. However, King George III declined all peaceful proposals, he proclaimed that all of the colonies were in state of rebellion.

The Continental Congress then agreed that the royal administration would be stripped of its power and the American people must be granted the right to govern themselves. As a result, the American Congress created its own state constitutions, which replaced British imperial laws. "Common Sense" by Tom Paine was published in which the author demanded that Congress should not be negotiating with Britain and that America should become totally independence from the old motherland.

On the seventh June 1776, the Continental Congress was issued with a document by Richard Henry Lee that stated that America was to be a completely independent nation and that Congress should forge diplomatic relations with other countries, even when it meant to fight Britain. On the fourth of July 1776 a group selected by Congress signed the Declaration of Independence.

Chapter 111

The American Revolution

When the American Revolution started, the British had the upper hand in almost all political and military affairs; their army was larger, better equipped, and they had access to the resources of the British Empire. But their main disadvantage was the need for constant supplies and the long delays in communication. At that time it generally took around seven weeks to sail from Britain to America. The Americans won their first victories at Trenton and then Princeton.

The British won at Brandywine in 1777 where they defeated the American Army and forced them to withdraw toward the American capital o Philadelphia, yet general Washington won a decisive victory at Saratoga the same year. British forces, marching down from Canada attacked from the north, but were surrounded by the Americans and had no choice but to surrender.

The French saw an opportunity to beat their old enemy, the British, by helping and supplying American forces and thereby throwing the British off the continent. In 1778, France started collaborating with America forces, cutting off British supplies and providing the Americans with arms and transport. The following year saw Spain joining against the British as did the Dutch a year later.

The British suffered severe losses and had no choice but to surrender in the 1781 Yorktown campaign, which helped seal the American triumph in the war. But even this defeat did not end the conflict: localized skirmishes with various fractions of the militia and sporadic fighting continued; the revolution carried on for another two years before it officially ended in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris and the official independence of all the colonial states.

Chapter 112

The Foundation of the United States of America

The Thirteen Colonies were grouped together in a somewhat loose confederation back in 1777, yet all states had very similar political, constitutional, and legal systems, and were dominated by Protestant English-speakers. They were part of Britain's possessions in the North America which also included colonies in present-day Canada and the Caribbean, as well as in Florida.

After the defeat of the British in the Independence War, a new constitution was created in 1787 and two years later, George Washington was elected as the First President of the United States of America. After the American Declaration of Independence the government created a federal Constitution. Largely to the efforts of James Madison, the Bill of Rights officially became part of the Constitution in December 1791.

Despite the wars with Britain and economic hindrance during the 18th century, the population of the United States continued to grow at a rapid pace.

Immigrants from all over Europe settled in America while the Americans themselves started migrating westward; they founded new cities; fords and trading posts became towns, land was purchased and acquired at a rapid pace. At the turn of the 19th century, America purchased Louisiana from France.

Chapter 113

Advancements in the United States

By the turn of the 19th century, it is estimated that the population had reached 7 million people, the population growth had become the highest in the world. By 1820 it was more than 9 million, and twenty years later the country had reached over 17,000,000 people. America added more states to its collection, with Indiana in 1816, and in 1867 Alaska was acquired from the Russian Empire.

In the early 1800's cotton became the main crop of the South, and it was one of the main products that fed the Industrial revolution, and the American economy started to develop quickly. On the opposite side of the Atlantic, Britain was encountering an enormous surge in the cotton business that was entirely dependent on American raw material.

By the 1850's more than half the cotton in the world was produced within America. The United States started to experience a surge in new industries, mainly in the north of the country along with new sweeping technologies, with the coal mining industry thriving during the early 19th century.

In 1817, a canal was commissioned from the Hudson River to Lake Erie and completed in 1825. This permitted a monumental reduction in the cost of transporting goods. Within three years' time, America's first railway was created. By 1814, Native Americans in Florida and Americans in Georgia became afflicted by cultural tensions.

The natives permitted runaway slaves to hide amongst their ranks, much to the displeasure of the Americans. This course of action engendered the Seminole War in 1821. The Seminole war was led into Florida by Andrew Jackson, despite the fact that Florida was currently under the Spanish rule. Later that year, the Americans recovered Florida from Spain and joined as a new American state.

Chapter 114

The American Civil War

The American Civil War was fought from April 1861 to April 1865.

In the 1860 presidential election, Abraham Lincoln, who supported banning slavery in all the US states and territories at the time, was constitutionally elected the first Republican president. Nevertheless, the Southern US states depended on agriculture and slavery, and in 1861, among the 34 US states, seven Southern States individually declared their secession from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked a Union fortress in Fort Sumer, South Carolina. Meanwhile the Confederacy grew to include eleven states.

By mid April Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the Southern rebellion, a move that prompted the states of Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina to shift sides and vote in favor of secession.

The Confederacy was not diplomatically recognized by the Union government nor by any foreign state. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal were known as the Union or the North. All war actions were divided into the Eastern Theater, which primarily comprised of Washington D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the coast of North Carolina. The Atlantic Coast farther south was the Lower Seaboard Theater. Over the years many bloody battles were fought, but the long war only exhausted the resources of the Confederates, while the industrialized Union States were better equipped and the large resources of manpower and navel power gave their army a long-term edge.

The Unionists were able to secure an important win at Shiloh in April of 1862 to the west. The Confederates could win some of their own important successes, but they found themselves incapable of driving the unionists away entirely.

In 1862 both forces clashed in various fields on the East Coast and Mississippi, especially the two battles of Manasses, Shiloh the battle of Richmond and the Siege of Corinth, had left its early mark in terms of casualties for both sides.

The tide of war shifted noticeably in favor towards the Union in 1863, despite a brilliant victory by the Confederate's general Robert E. Lee in the battle of Chancellorsville. The "Confederate Gibraltar," Vicksburg in Mississippi, fell to the Union's general S. Ulysses Grant on July 4 after a 47-day siege.

In 1863, General Robert E. Lee's Confederate incursion in the north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg. Western successes led to general Ulyysis S Grant's command of all Union armies in 1864. Inflicting an increasingly tightening naval blockade of Confederate ports, 1864 saw more inflaming battles in Virginia and Tennessee, most of them successful for the Confederates. The last murderous battles raged around the Siege of Petersburg. However the Confederates were never able to break the naval blockade or conquer Washington. General Lee tried various times to march north without final breakthrough, and eventually Lee's escape attempt ended with his surrender at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865.

This war was one of the earliest industrial wars. Railroads, the telegraph, steamships, and mass-produced weapons such as the machine gun were employed extensively. The Civil War remains the bloodiest war in American history, leaving over 600,000 death on both sides.

The end of the war resulted in the end of slavery; the Union was forcefully re-established whereby the concept and limits of states' rights would never be the same.

Chapter 115

Europe: Modern 18th Century Achievements

In Europe, the eighteenth century was an era of intellectual ferment and geographic discoveries. This period is often referred to as the Age of Enlightenment, for it was in the 18th century that many of the ideas of the previous centuries were implemented on a broad scale

The 18th century also saw a new dawn in science.

Beginning in the late 17th century, there were many developments in academia that would bring about a rapid increasement and democratization of scientific knowledge. The most significant ones of that time were the foundation of the Paris Academy and the Royal Society of London, public institutions whose primary purpose was to do scientific research, and report their discoveries to the public.

Mathematicians such as Isaac Newton laid the foundations for classical mechanics.

Explorers and scientists were commissioned to find new worlds and fields of advancements. Thomas Cook discovered Antarctica and through his geographic reports he opened the South Pacific for many trades. The scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt laid the foundation for the field of biogeography and geophysical measurements.

Chapter 116

The French Revolution and Napoleon

Just at the end of the 18th century, the European monarchs realized that the French Revolution which had killed the French king and a large number of aristocrats had given way to the Thermidorian regime, a blood thirsty committee that triggered many rebellions after its execution of the leader of the French Revolution, Robespierre, and many members of the Paris Commune.

It was then that one of the greatest European military leaders would emerge onto the scene, that was Napoleon Bonaparte, a soldier from Corsica.

In 1799, he was elected as First Consul, a title that hadn't been used since Roman times, leading France into becoming one of the dominating powers at that time. .

Under Napoleon, the French army crushed domestic uprisings, but did not wipe out the Bourbon dynasty, which years later would eventually take over the country and establish another absolute kingdom after Napoleon was gone. However, by the turn of the century the French had seized lands within Italy, and exerted its strength over other territories, mainly in German speaking states. In 1801, Napoleon forged new relationships with the Church and reconstructed the laws in France through the Napoleonic Code, which basically gave him dictatorship for life, but kept many of the revolutionary laws that limited the influence of the aristocracy, and even introduced a few basic rights for the citizens.

Three years later, Napoleon had amassed enough power to declare himself as Emperor. As French Emperator Napoleon marched his armies across Europe, beating the Prussians and Austrians on every battlefield, all European powers were defeated one by one due to the Emperator's geniality as a general. He won Marengo in 1800 with more victories afterwards agains the old empire Austrian Hungary, which in 1806 he forced them to abdicate their old title "The Holy Roman Empire of German Nations".

The only nation he could not direct or submerge were Britain, he didn't even attempt to cross the channel, but instead invaded Egypt.

In 1805 he found himself losing at the turn of the century was the Battle of Trafalgar with the Royal Navy. One year later he imposed the Continental System with the objective to prevent Britain from being able to trade with Europe, but it backfired, and it was France who became blockaded by the British.

Napoleon went on to establish small buffer states that were loyal to him, and eventually had dominion over much of continental Europe. However, resistance grew all over Europe. German nationalism among the common people rose all over central Europe and romanticism, the dream of national unity and civil freedoms, emerged.. But the old monarchs of Europe, who fought each other over the last thousand years became united, and were determined to crush the usurper. The 2Continental System", that aimed to isolate Britain resulted in the "Peninsular War" in Spain, the first modern guerrilla war which caused Napoleon to half hearted divert his troops.

The Russian czar pulled Russia out of the Continental System in 1810. Two years later, Napoleon started the Grand Arme, numbering over 600 000 men, marching into Russia. He took Moscow, but couldn't force the Russian army to engage him in battle, and then the bitter cold winter crippled his forces. Less than 90,000 returned to France.

The following year saw the climax of the Napoleon Wars at the Battle of Leipzig, where all nations faced a reduced French army. Napoleon lost.

In 1814 Napoleon suddenly fell from grace, He was ordered into exile to Elba Island while France saw the coronation of the old Bourbon, Louis XVIII. Napoleon fled Elba Island, returning to France and establishing a new army. This period is referred to as the Hundred Days. In 1815, Napoleon faced his final battle, the all deceive battle near Waterloo. Blucher the Prussian and Wellington the British on one side and Napoleon without ready reserves on the other.

At Waterloo the French were almost annihilated. After this debacle, he asked the British for political asylum which they accepted. He was shipped to the South Atlantic isle of Saint Helena where he died there six years later in 1821 due to poisoning.

At the Congress of Vienna in 1815 Europe was reconstructed and the old monarchs of Austria, Prussia and France retook their places as nothing had happened. None of the achievements and principles of humanity that the French Revolution had produced were ever adopted.

Chapter117

The Industrial Revolution and World Domination of European Nations

The Industrial Revolution was an historically important period in the late 18th century and early 19th century, when major changes in agriculture, and new inventions in manufacturing and transport affected the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Germany and Britain, and subsequently spread throughout Europe and North America, and eventually the world, a process that continues as industrialization.

Mechanical progressions, most eminently the innovation of the steam motor by Scottish designer James Watt, were real advances in the industrialization of Britain and later, to other parts of the world.

The 19th century and the industrial revolution were paralleled by many breakthrough technological inventions and advancements that catapulted Europe and North America into a new era and profoundly changed civilization. Engineer Nicolas Otto invented the four stoke engine, the predecessor of many modern engines. American, Thomas Edison and British scientist Joseph Swan, who each invented the wire filament, heated light bulbs in their respective countries in 1878.

Alexander Bell was one of the most important contributors to the development of the modern telephone. At the turn of the century the Wright brothers pioneered the first airplanes, and French Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for her research on radioactivity.

The industrial revolution began in Britain by the mid-18th century, and shortly thereafter spread to Germany and North America, beginning with it the automation of material-producing enterprises, such as with the improvement of iron-production systems and the expanded utilization of refined coal. This was an age when the first industrial factories opened, a time when the steam engine, the motor vehicle and the first artificially lit lamps were designed and mass-produced.

Trade expansion toward the second half of the 19th century, was enabled by the constructions of trans-continental canals, paved roads and railways. The introduction of steam power and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing) achieved a dramatic increase in production capacity. The development of all-metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. However, the Industrial Revolution did not necessarily improve living conditions for common people. The Industrial Revolution deeply affected living conditions in large parts of the population. A new working class arose in the industrialized cities and sea portsand its effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the mid-19th century, eventually affecting most of the world. The impact of this change on society was enormous.

Chapter118

Emergin Nationalism

The political development of nationalism and the push for popular national sovereignty resulted in the ethnic revolutions of Europe, especially the Germans dreamed to become a united nation. However during the 19th century, extreme nationalism became a significant political and social force over the next century. This national extremism along with a web of binding contracts and blank checks to allies is typically listed among the top causes of World War I

Most European countries had become constitutional rather than absolute monarchies by 1871. In Germany and Italy, many small city-states merged to become united nation-states.

Chapter 119

The Long 19th Century

The "long 19th century", from 1789 to 1914 had dramatic social, political, scientific and economic changes initiated by the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Following the reorganization of the political map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Europe experienced the rise of Nationalism, the rise of the Russian Empire, the continued expanse of the British and French Empires, the further decline of the Spanish and Portuguese Empire, and the consolidation of Germany. The peak of the British Empire, which was paralleled by the decline of other empires such as the Austria-Hungarian and the Ottoman Empire initiated the course of events that culminated in the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

Chapter 120

Prussia and the British Empire

Germany with its core state of Prussia in particular, increasingly dominated the continent in terms of economics and political power. Nevertheless, on a global scale, Great Britain, with its British Empire, unmatched Royal Navy, and powerful bankers, became the world's first "global super power".

The sun never set on its territories, while an informal empire operated through British financiers, entrepreneurs, traders and engineers who established operations in many countries

and largely dominated Africa, India and Australia. The British were backed by international financing for constructing railways around the world.

The British had developed their empire early, starting with strongholds in the Caribbean, and its colonies in North America. But its East India companies, slowly morphed into a colonial administration and power extension in India. South Africa was conquered from the Dutch Boors, and even though they lost their North American colonies due to the American Revolution, Canada remained part of the Empire. By the mid-19th century, Great Britain had established a massive Empire on four continents. Its crown jewel was India, which was connected with oversights in South East Asia, Australia and the Pacific territories.

British involvement in India during the 18th century can be divided into two phases: one ending and the other beginning at the mid-century. In the first half of the century, the British were a trading presence at certain points along the coast. From the 1750s, they began to wage war on land in eastern and south-eastern India and to reap the reward of successful warfare, which was the exercise of political power.

The Anglo-French conflicts that began in the 1750s ended in 1763 with a British ascendancy in the southeast, most significantly in Bengal. The local ruler actually took the Company's Calcutta settlement in 1756, only to be driven out of it by British troops under Robert Clive, whose victory at Plassey in the following year enabled a new British satellite ruler to be installed

Despite the loss of the North American colonies, the British remained the undisputed world power, as the East India Company in India expanded its authority, which over time had become the prolonged arm of the British crown, which meant that the East Indian Company had to submit to close supervision by the British state and to periodical inquiries by parliament.

The directors of the East India Company's commercial settlements became eventually governors of provinces, and although the East India Company continued to trade, many of its servants became lower rank administrators in the new British regimes.

Chapter 121

Europe - Expansion and Competition

In central Europe, France and Germany remained competitors for world dominance; France triggered the Franco Prussian War in 1870–71 and the concurrent Unification of the German states, which resulted in the founding of the so called Second Reich in Versailles in 1874 with a German Kaiser as head of state.

The German chancellor Bismarck tried to balance nationalistic tendencies and even strengthened the unions, which had become influential all over the continent.

Bismarck, however, was undermined by the Kaiser Wilhelm II, who started a naval arms race with England, and at the end, Germany, France and Britain remained enemies rather than partners, held together by weak contracts and financial interests.

Chapter122

Late Imperial France

Competing with Spain and Portugal, and later Great Britain, France began to establish colonies in North America, the Caribbean and India in the 17th century.

A series of wars with Great Britain and other European major powers during the 18th century and early 19th century resulted in France losing nearly all of its conquests. France rebuilt a new empire, mostly after 1850, concentrating their colonies in Africa, as well as Indochina and the South Pacific.

Chapter123

The Devision of china and European Colonisation of Africa

China was also divided among the European nations. China had an emperor only in name, but Great Britain used its influence of traders to get major contracts with local authorities in order to get a hold on the Country's resources. The Chinese emperor remained weak and distant.

In 1899 the Chinese uprose against foreign expansion and Christian presence, but under the eight-nation-alliance, the Germans united with the British and crushed the resistance with their superior firepower and military strategies.

The late 19th century saw the peak of European power and international colonialism. Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, France, Portugal and Spain were the rulers of the world, dividing the continents, mainly Africa and South Asia with the might of their military and established colonies. Even European people were effected, for instances the Dutch Boers in South Africa were brutally subdued by the British. The British had established colonies in South and East Africa while the French kept large part of West Africa. Challenged only by the rising influence of the United States, Russia and Japan, the European power nations did not keep the world for themselves for long. Chain reacting contracts that would break alliances and trigger immediate war among the European nations was in the making after the Berlin Conference of 1884 - 1885. This conference also marked the climax of the European competition for territories in Africa.

The web of contracts basically gave blank cheques to less powerful nations, and this, along with the rise of independence tendencies in occupied areas, especially in the Balkans, plus the all-corrosive power of international finance, made sure that the established powers did not remain consolidated for long, and eventually led to the prelude of the First World War.

Chapter 124

Prelude to World War I

The first global war that the world had ever seen began in the Balkans in late July 1914 and ended in November 1918 in Belgium leaving 17 million dead, whereby three former monarchial empires crumbled, never to rise again.

By mid 1914 a web of alliances around the European nations existed and many of them required the participants to agree to collective defense if attacked

Germany and Austria-Hungary on the one hand, and Russia, France, Serbia and Great Britain on the other – had come into conflict by 1914.

The crisis was followed by a series of diplomatic clashes among the old European Powers (France, Germany, Britain, Austria-Hungary, Italy and Russia) over European and colonial issues in the decades before 1914 that had left tensions high.

History had never witnessed world powers with the ability to mobilize massively equipped armies with advanced warfare capabilities. The Monarchs at the time had immense power and their narcissistic attitudes were considered a virtue. However, the crisis escalated as the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia came to involve Russia, Germany, France, and ultimately Belgium and Great Britain. Other factors that influenced the diplomatic crisis that preceded the outbreak of the war included misperceptions of intent.

In 1887 a German and Russian alliance was secured by a secret protocol, a so-called Reinsurance Treaty arranged by the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck. But three years later the treaty was allowed to expire in favor of a dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Bismarck was aware of the French desire for revenge; therefore he was keen to isolate France and he preserved the peace by balancing the ambitions of Austria-Hungary and Russia in the Balkans. During his later years, he tried to encourage the French by involving them in trade deals and have them concentrating on their overseas expansions. However, anti-German sentiment remained throughout the continent.

The British Government rejected German alliance overtures not because Germany began to pose a threat to Britain, on the contrary, because they realized Germany had nothing to offer, and she did not pose a threat.

Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in October 1908 of Bosnia and Herzegovina upset the fragile balance of power in the Balkans, enraging pan-Slavic nationalists throughout Europe.

In 1913, Britain and Germany signed an agreement over the Portuguese African territories, because the old empire was expected to collapse imminently.

In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the presumptive heir the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo by a bunch of assassins.

The German Kaiser felt obligated to its southern neighbor and provided Germany's unconditional support for war with Serbia with a so-called "Blank Cheque". In response Russia agreed to a secret partial mobilization of over one million men of the Russian Army that also included naval mobilization of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleet.

Thus, in response to Russian mobilization Germany ordered the state of "Imminent Danger of War" and declared war on Russia on 1 August 1914. Two days later, to keep up with the Von Schliefen plan, Germany declares war on France, then on August 4th 1914 Britain, as guarantors of Belgium's neutrality declared war on Germany.

Chapter 125

World War I - The Course of the War

On June 28 1914, a Serbian nationalist assassinated the heir of Austria-Hungary. Russia and France were allies, and Germany felt threatened by Russia, and attacked France first through neutral Belgium to eliminate any threat from the West before facing Russia in the East.

Britain and the other great powers of Europe tried to guarantee Belgium's borders. Belgium appealed to Britain and Britain declared war on Germany.

The Germans followed their own plan of attack, outlined by General von Schlieffen, which foresaw overrunning Belgium and conquering northern France first, and establishing an eastern front to fight Russia afterwards. As the German army advanced towards Paris, French and British soldiers counterattacked along the line of the River Marne which brought the German attack to a standstill.

After bloody battles, with over 250,000 casualties on both sides the war intensified; the Germans and Allied Powers trying to outflank each other, while the German army was still trying to reach the British Channel. Defensive lines were drawn right across north-east France. This marked the end of mobile battles and the beginning of four years of trench warfare on the Western Front.

In March 1916, French and German forces accumulated their forces and engaged in the battle of Verdun, which lasted for 303 days and became the longest and one of the most costly battles in human history with a total of 710,000 casualties. The war at sea remained inconclusive for almost the length of the war; however, German submarines remained on the attack, and were partially successful in cutting off supplies of Britain, but also resulted in the sinking the US passenger ship Lusitania, which brought America into the war on the side of the Allied Powers.

The Germans were successful in the East, inflaming the Russian revolution under Lenin in October 1917, and forcing Russia to sign a peace treaty while occupying large parts of Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States.

By mid-1918, the Allied Powers had out-resourced Germany on guns and manpower, and an armistice was signed on 11 November, 1918, that eventually concluded with the Peace Treaty of Versailles, which left Germany with less territory, the takeover of all its colonies, and the re-population of German areas with the Polish, who founded a new country. Another part of it was the breakup of Austria-Hungary, which was divided into various small countries.

Many historians see World War 1 as the most unnecessary war in modern history, nevertheless, the period from the turn of the century until 1914 saw Europe at height of its power, and many contemporaries thought of the time as the Golden Era. Most historians agree, that before the outbreak of war, by mid-1914, a web of alliances between most of the European nations existed, and many of them were required to honor their alliance to go to war collectively if attacked
Chapter 126

Conclusion and About the Author

Historians and archaeologist discover more about our past on a regular basis, whether it was many thousand years ago or just a few decades, so history continue to be rewritten with every new detail discovered. So, history never ends and history certainly doesn't repeat itself,

I hope you could gather a little of the greatness of civilizations, perhaps you could even rediscover some especially interesting events of history.

Most importantly, I hope his book was able to help you to learn more about history and further develop historical skills.

About the Author

Claude Stahl is a hobby historian and teacher and has assisted several researchers in carrying out their research about WW1 history projects. Claude also joined the French War Museum for the European for Citizens project.

Thank you for purchasing this book. For suggestions an questions you can email me anytime at: authorclaudestahl@gmx.com

If you enjoyed this book, then I'd like to ask you a favor, would you be kind enough to leave a review for this book? It'd be greatly appreciated!

Thank's again and all the best!

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