tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20798848393123155582024-03-05T12:18:08.427+02:00History for KidsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger240125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-45917082652611669822023-04-19T01:54:00.000+02:002023-04-19T01:54:21.250+02:00Egypt Under Sadat: From War to Peace at Camp David<b>Egypt under Sadat</b><br />Nasser died in September 1970 and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat. Under Sadat’s leadership, Egypt and Syria secretly planned a war against Israel that began on October 6, 1973. Although the Arabs were successful at first, Israeli troops pushed them back and crossed the Suez Canal to occupy Egyptian land. The Israelis, however, suffered severe losses during their drive into Egypt.<br /><br />As had been true after the Six-Day War, all sides had reason to seek a compromise settlement. U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger began an intensive campaign of shuttle diplomacy moving back and forth from Israel to Egypt and Syria to try to obtain an agreement. He eventually achieved two settlements, one between Israel and Egypt and one between Israel and Syria. Thereafter, the movement toward peace seemed to run out of steam. In November 1977, however, Sadat surprised the world. He went to Israel to speak in person to the Israeli parliament and to Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin.<br /><br />Sadat’s action opened a new dialogue between Egypt and Israel, which the United States openly supported. Many months of delicate negotiations followed, aided by the direct support of President jimmy Carter. In September 1978, Carter invited the two leaders to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. After meetings and negotiations there, Sadat and Begin agreed on the framework for a peace settlement. The Camp David Accords were followed by a peace treaty that Egypt and Israel signed in March 1979. <br /><br />Egypt and Israel had achieved a great break through, but many people doubted it would end the Arab-Israeli confrontation. Most Israelis supported the peace with Egypt, but many resisted the idea of a process that might lead to a Palestinian state. The Camp David Accords led to division within the Arab world as well. While Sadat had many supporters, his opponents claimed that the Egyptian leader had sold out the Palestinians to regain Egyptian territory. In 1981 a group of Egyptian radicals assassinated Sadat, darkening hopes for peace in the Middle East.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-9414055378370287082020-10-28T01:02:00.002+02:002021-09-20T04:35:32.557+03:00Germany after World War II<b>Germany</b><br />By the late 1960s, West Germany had become a significant economic power in Western Europe. Even so, the country still faced certain political problems. Access to West Berlin and relations with East Germany, the Soviet Union, and other communist countries posed difficult foreign policy challenges.<br /><br />Ostpolitik. After his election in 1969, Chancellor Willy Brandt, a member of the liberal Social Democratic Party, tried to meet these challenges. Brandt believed that West Germany had to remain firmly allied with the rest of Western Europe and the United States. At the same time, however, he concluded that tensions between his country and the communist countries of Eastern Europe had to be reduced. Brandt’s effort to improve relations between East and West, known as Ostpolitik (German for “Eastern Policy”) resulted in West German treaties with the Soviet Union and Poland in 1970. Ostpolitik eventually led to the mutual recognition ot East and West Germany in 1973, and ultimately to the Helsinki Accords in 1975 (see page 609).<br /><br />In 1974, Helmut Schmidt became chancellor of West Germany after Brandt resigned following the revelation that a member of his staff was an East German spy. Schmidt admired and continued Brandt’s Ostpolitik. He also pursued closer economic and political cooperation with Western Europe. In the early 1980s, however, the recession hit the West German economy. For the first time since the early postwar period,<br />West Germans faced the prospect ot rising unemployment coupled with widespread inflation.<br /><br />Helmut Kohl. As in both Britain and France, economic troubles led to political change in the early 1980s. In 1982 the Christian Democrats regained control of the government after more than a dozen years out of power. Helmut Kohl, the new chancellor, charged that Schmidt and the Social Democrats had brought on the recession through high levels of government spending. The conservative Kohl promised to return the country to prosperity through policies similar to those of Prime Minister Thatcher in Britain and President Reagan in the United States.<br /><br />Chancellor Kohl also made changes in West German foreign policy. He strongly reaffirmed West Germany’s commitment to the NATO alliance, though he criticized the deployment of American intermediate-range nuclear missiles in West Germany. Kohl worked to improve relations between West Germany and the United States. This relationship remained generally strong into the 1990s, although the reunification of Germany early in the decade created new anxieties among some of Germany’s neighbors in Europe.<br /><br />Reunification. The reunification of Germany was perhaps Kohl’s greatest challenge. The process of reunification began almost immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Talks involving the two Germanies and the four victorious Allies of World War 11 Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States set October 1990 as reunification. Two months later Helmut Kohl, benefiting from the goodwill created by this significant change, was elected as chancellor of a reunified Germany.<br /><br />Although initially seen as a hero, Kohl soon began to lose popularity. By the summer of 1991, unemployment was widespread in former East Germany, and much of the promised investment and reindustrialization was yet to be seen. Germans in the western part of the country also became disillusioned as the enormous costs of reunification became apparent. The reintegration of East Germany became an increasing burden on the German economy through the mid-1990s. Helmut Kohl, however, remained in office until 1998, when he was defeated in September by Gerhard Schroeder and his Social Democratic Party. Schroeder pledged to reduce unemployment and stimulate the economy.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-62369604239454867752020-10-12T00:44:00.000+03:002020-10-12T00:44:03.718+03:00Northern Europe after World War II<b>Northern Europe</b><br />The smaller but still highly developed nations of northern Europe enjoyed a general period of prosperity during the late 1900s. The small principalities of Monaco and Liechtenstein managed to maintain their sovereignty,^ while Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands worked to foster European unity.<br /><br />Denmark, Iceland, and Norway, members of the NATO alliance, contributed vitally to Western Europe’s defense during the Cold War. Despite a sometimes heated dispute with Britain over fishing rights, the island nation of Iceland played a key role in the protection of the Atlantic shipping lanes. So did Norway, which benefited greatly from the discovery and development of North Sea oil in the 1980s.<br /><br />Although Finland, Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland maintained good relations with the rest of Western Europe, each country remained neutral throughout the Cold War. Recession in the early 1990s, however, offered a strong incentive for these countries to strengthen political and economic ties with Western Europe. Finland, Sweden, and Austria all chose to join the new European Union, while Swiss voters narrowly decided to maintain their country’s traditional neutrality. On the domestic front, Sweden implemented free-enterprise reforms, steering away from its socialist policies of the past.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-64205518556118720422019-05-16T03:37:00.000+03:002019-05-16T03:41:46.922+03:00European Cooperation after World War II<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>European Cooperation</b><br />
The spirit of cooperation among the nations of Western Europe that had developed in the years after World War II continued to grow during the later part of the 1900s. Formal institutions, such as NATO and the European Economic Community, grew in both strength and membership. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe left the structure and purpose of some of these organizations open to question. At the same time, however, it opened the possibility of an even wider union of European nations.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">European Cooperation</td></tr>
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The Helsinki Accords. In 1975, representatives of 35 nations, including the United States and the Soviet Union, met in Helsinki, Finland, to discuss the topics of security and cooperation in Europe. The meeting resulted in a series of agreements known as the Helsinki Accords. These agreements specified ways of improving economic and technological cooperation between East and West, endorsing the use of peaceful means rather than force to settle disputes between nations. The accords also settled a major Cold War issue by recognizing the legitimacy of certain boundaries in Eastern Europe that were established after World War II but were disputed by some countries. Perhaps the most important part of the accords, however, concerned the protection of human rights, including freedom of speech and freedom of worship. The Helsinki Accords called on all nations to respect the basic human rights of their citizens.<br />
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Although the Helsinki Accords provided for no real means of enforcement, they proved to be an important symbolic step. By showing little interest in complying with the human rights aspects of the accords, the Soviets and other Communist bloc countries undermined their own credibility in the international community. The accords also formed an important foundation for the democratic movement that ultimately swept across Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, following the collapse of communism, European nations worked to reaffirm their commitment to the principles set forth in the Helsinki Accords.<br />
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NATO. Although the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) remained the cornerstone of Western European security as the 1900s drew to a close, its policies and future role increasingly came into question. Friction between Greece and Turkey, both members of NATO, led to Greece’s withdrawal from the alliance in 1974. Greece eventually rejoined, but its relations with other NATO countries remained strained. The deployment of American nuclear weapons in Europe during the Cold War proved especially controversial. Some member countries refused to allow American nuclear weapons on their soil; others expressed serious reservations. At the same time, the United States demanded that other members agree to take on a larger share of the burden of defending Europe.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NATO</td></tr>
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NATO’s future grew increasingly uncertain following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. With the military threat from the Eastern bloc diminished, NATO seemed to many people to have outlived its usefulness. Others pointed out that threats to European security still existed, and that NATO provided a framework to deal with problems like containing the civil war in the countries of what had been Yugoslavia, or a possible revival of Russian military power. Many countries of Eastern Europe sought to join NATO. Critics argued that any expansion of NATO eastward would require a burdensome commitment from current members and might provoke Russian hostility. In 1997, despite Russian objections, NATO leaders agreed to invite Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to join the alliance.<br />
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From EEC to EU. The late 1990s saw the evolution of the European Economic Community (EEC) into the even more closely knit European Union (EU). A general expansion of the EEC preceded this transformation.<br />
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During the 1970s and 1980s, the EEC grew from 6 members to 12. After lengthy negotiations, Britain finally joined in 1973. Ireland and Denmark also joined in that year. In 1981 Greece became a full member, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986. In the early 1990s, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined.<br />
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As the EEC grew, it made headway toward setting common practices for its members in taxation, credit, and labor and monetary policies. In 1993 the EEC countries implemented the Maastricht Treaty, creating the European Union (EU). Under the terms of the treaty, they dropped trade barriers among themselves, agreed to pursue closer cooperation in defense and foreign relations, and accepted the idea of a common currency.<br />
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The implementation of the Maastricht Treaty had not come easily, however, and many problems remained unresolved in the mid-1990s. Several members of the EEC worried that the EU would undermine their sovereignty. British leaders in particular voiced misgivings. In Denmark, voters barely chose to ratify the Maastricht Treaty, but in Norway they rejected membership in the EU. As the century drew to a close, the future of the EU remained unclear. Aligning the economies of Western Europe was proving especially difficult, and the EU remained divided over whether or not to admit Turkey and various Eastern European countries. The nations of Western Europe had nonetheless achieved a real degree of unity in a century marked by two world wars.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-45064601138641486282018-02-12T00:34:00.000+02:002018-02-12T00:34:07.912+02:00Hinduism, Buddhism and Ancient Indian Civilization<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Hinduism and Buddhism</b>. Two of the world’s great religions developed in ancient India Hinduism and Buddhism. According to Hinduism, the world known to our senses is an illusion called maya, which betrays people, giving them sorrow and pain. People can be delivered from their suffering if they learn to identify maya. Because this learning takes lifetimes of experience, reincarnation the rebirth of the soul occurs to make it possible. According to Hinduism, the soul does not die with the body, but is reincarnated, or reborn, in the body of another being, either human or animal, and thus lives again. Ultimately, Hindus hope to end the repeated reincarnations and enable their souls to reunite with the universal spirit, Brahma.<br />
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Two major events in the theory in reincarnation are known as dharma and karma. Dharma is fulfillment of one’s moral duty in this life so that the soul can make progress toward deliverance from punishment in the next life. Karma is the positive or negative force generated by a person’s actions, which will determine that person’s status in the next life.<br />
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According to Hinduism, people who fulfill their dharma are rewarded with good karma and are reborn into a higher social group. People who do not live moral lives are reborn into a lower social group or even into the bodies of animals or insects.<br />
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The other great religion ot India, Buddhism, was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as the Buddha, or “the Enlightened One."</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-26395126021360236862017-06-30T23:30:00.000+03:002017-06-30T23:30:10.340+03:00Writers of the Italian Renaissance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Writers of the Italian Renaissance</b><br />
One of the first humanists, the Italian Francesco Petrarch (PEE-trahrk), lived from 1304 to 1374. Like many of the humanists, Petrarch became famous as a scholar and as a teacher. He also wrote poetry, and his sonnets to Laura, an imaginary ideal woman, are considered some of the greatest love poems in literature.<br />
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Petrarch’s main influence, however, grew out of his desire for continuity with classical writers, whom he believed were committed to virtue in both public and private life. Petrarch thought these individuals could best be imitated if one studied their writings. The study of the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans came to be called classical education. A command of classical languages, as they had been used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, became the mark of an educated person.<br />
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The humanists remained deeply committed to Christian teachings. For that reason, they sometimes felt a tension between their commitment to the study of the ancients and their commitment to Christianity. Petrarch, for instance, agonized over his lust for fame (a common Roman ambition) because he feared it would hurt his chances for salvation. Like most Italian humanists, Petrarch thought it important to lead a full and active life here on earth, even if that meant devoting less time to spiritual concerns.<br />
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Niccolo Machiavelli (mahk-yah-VEL-lee) of Florence, a diplomat and historian who lived from 1469 to 1527, ranks as one of the most illustrious of the many Renaissance writers. In 1513 he wrote a famous essay, The Prince, which described government not in terms of lofty ideals but as Machiavelli felt government actually worked.<br />
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Machiavelli can be considered a humanist because he looked to the ancient Romans for models and because such matters as the workings of politics interested him. However, the lack of concern for morality that he wrote about in The Prince set him apart from other humanists, who considered virtue their main aim.<br />
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Baldassare Castiglione (kahs-teel-YOH-nay) was an Italian diplomat and writer who lived from 1478 to 1529. In 1528 he published what was probably the most famous book of the Renaissance, The Book of the Courtier. Castiglione’s work is a book on courtesy as well as an explanation of the role of the refined courtier as opposed to that of the coarse knight of the Middle Ages. As nobles lost their military role, Castiglione gave them a new idea of refined behavior. The setting for the book is the court at Urbino, an Italian city-state where the author lived many happy years. Castiglione’s characters are real people who reflect in fictional conversations on how gentlemen and gentlewomen ought to act in polite society.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-22634312568822689192017-06-30T14:30:00.000+03:002017-06-30T14:30:43.924+03:00The Humanities and The Origins of the Italian Renaissance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The Humanities</b><br />
Beginning in the 1300s, a number of Italian scholars developed a lively interest in classical Greek and Roman literature. Medieval scholars who had studied ancient history had tried to bring everything they learned into harmony with Christian doctrine. By contrast, the Italian scholars studied the ancient world to explore its great achievements.<br />
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These Italian scholars stressed the study of grammar, rhetoric, history, and poetry, using classical texts. We call these studies the humanities; people who specialized in the humanities were called humanists. Humanists searched out manuscripts written in Greek and Latin. Often they would find more than one copy of a work. If the copies differed, humanists compared the different versions to try to determine which was most authentic. In doing so they displayed a critical approach to learning that had been lacking.<br />
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As humanists studied classical manuscripts, they came to believe that it was important to know how things worked. This belief led them to emphasize education. However, they also felt that a person should lead a meaningful life. Humanists became convinced that a person had to become actively involved in practical affairs such as patronage of the arts.<br />
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Humanists viewed existence not only as a preparation for life after death but also as a joy in itself. Along with a belief in individual dignity came an admiration for individual achievement. Many individuals of this period displayed a variety of talents, such as being both poet and scientist.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-76558536399108008582017-06-30T01:00:00.000+03:002017-06-30T01:00:00.190+03:00The Origins of the Italian Renaissance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The Origins of the Italian Renaissance</b><br />
A renewed interest in Greek and Roman literature and life characterized the Renaissance, In many ways it was natural that this interest would reawaken in Italy. Ruins of the mighty Roman Empire served as constant reminders of Roman glory. The tradition of Rome as the capital city of a vast empire lived on in the popes, who made Rome the seat of the Roman Catholic Church. The Crusades and trade with Africa and Southwest Asia introduced new ideas and brought Italians into contact with the Byzantine civilization, whose scholars had preserved much learning from classical Greece and Rome. Arab and African developments in such disciplines as medicine and science fired the curiosity of many Italian scholars.<br />
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Italian cities such as Florence, Rome, Venice, Milan, and Naples had grown rich through trade and industry. Their citizens included many educated, wealthy merchants. In Florence, for example, the Medici (MED-ee-chee) family grew wealthy first as bankers and then as rulers of the city-state. As leader of Florence, Lorenzo Medici became a great patron of the arts and influenced Florence’s artistic awakening.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-6116218941592459672017-06-29T22:00:00.000+03:002017-06-29T22:00:24.837+03:00History of Africa <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Africa and the Americas</b><br />
The civilizations of Europe, Southwest Asia, and East Asia were all in contact with each other. Consequently, developments in one often found their way to the others and often had great influence. In Sub-Saharan Africa and especially the Americas, however, such early contact with other regions of the world was minimal or non-existent. Consequently, these civilizations developed in unique ways.<br />
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<b>Africa's early history</b>. Scholars rely on many methods to understand the history of Africa. Linguists study the development and spread of language groups like Bantu, for example, to understand the spread of African peoples throughout the continent. Oral traditions poems, songs, or stories passed from one generation to the next have also been a major source of information about specific African clans, villages, and dynasties. Scholars believe that most Africans lived in small, independent villages and were farmers, herders, or fishers. Relationships established by kinship and age provided the ties that bound the different societies together. Religion was an important part of life in many African societies. Elders usually exercised authority over the village. Life in African villages was closely bound to the agricultural cycles of planting and harvesting. Through the rise and fall of numerous kingdoms, the village survived as the basic unit of society and the economy.<br />
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<b>African city-states and kingdoms</b>. While some African peoples lived happily without developing state structures, others came together to establish small city-states, kingdoms, and even empires. These states were as diverse as the African geography and peoples that created them.<br />
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Along the Nile River, south of the major centers of ancient Egypt, arose a powerful kingdom known as Kush. At first, Kush maintained close cultural and economic ties with Egypt. Beginning in about 1300 B.C., however, Kush started to become more independent. Then in about 710 B.C. it conquered Upper Egypt. For about 40 years a Kush dynasty ruled a unified Egypt. Then the Assyrians, who were armed with iron weapons, invaded in 671 B.C. With the Assyrian invasion the kingdom of Kush weakened. Later, the kingdom of Aksum arose in the Ethiopian Highlands. As Kush declined, Aksum became a major competitor for control of trade in this area.<br />
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No large kingdoms such as Kush and Aksum emerged on the coast of East Africa. Instead, a series of city-states emerged and dominated coastal trade in the Indian Ocean. The growth of Indian Ocean trade after the A.D. 900s dramatically increased the demand for gold. The Shona people, who immigrated onto the plateau land of what is today Zimbabwe, achieved control over local peoples and mining activities. The spread of Islam also created favorable conditions for trade and gave rise to a new society along the coast that merged African, Arabic, and even Persian elements as the language it produced, Swahili, testifies.<br />
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In West Africa, between Lake Chad and the Atlantic Ocean, several important African societies and empires flourished. They included the empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay. The wealth and strength of these kingdoms depended on control of the trade routes across the Sahara Desert. At the desert’s edge, traders exchanged gold, extracted from mines south of the desert region, for salt, which was mined in the Sahara itself. The spread of Islam in the region was often an important factor in the creation of great empires. Mali and Songhay both, for example, were Muslim states.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-1566015507664844912017-06-29T10:30:00.000+03:002017-06-29T10:30:01.569+03:00The Empires of Mexico and Peru & The earliest Americans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The earliest Americans</b>. The first people in the Americas lived by hunting and gathering. Gradually, a new way of life emerged farming. In what are now the United States and Canada, many different cultures and societies thrived. The cultures of these peoples often depended on the geography of the region they inhabited. In the dry, desert-like conditions of the Southwest, for example, farmers lived in permanent settlements made up of communal houses, rather like apartment buildings, built out of adobe a sun-dried brick. On the northwest coast of North America, on the other hand, people relied primarily on fishing and carved great totem poles with their family histories from the enormous trees that forested the region. On the Great Plains, tribal peoples survived by hunting buffalo, following the herds wherever they went. More sophisticated cultures developed in the diverse environment of the Eastern Woodlands. The Hopewell Culture, for example, left many mounds, presumably burial sites, as well as the foundations of buildings, which archaeologists have recently uncovered.<br />
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<b>The empires of Mexico and Peru</b>. In Central and South America a variety of cultures also developed. Early cultures in Mesoamerica included the Olmecs in Mexico and the Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula. The Maya were farmers who were also skilled architects and engineers. They built steep pyramid-shaped temples to their gods and invented the only writing system in the Americas. Despite the brilliance of their civilization, however, which was scattered among many city-states throughout the Yucatan region and into present-day El Salvador, about A.D. 900 they suddenly abandoned their ceremonial centers.<br />
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Meanwhile, further north, other civilizations had also developed in central Mexico. About A.D. 650 a people called the Toltec invaded central Mexico from the north. Ruled by a military class, the Toltec soon spread their influence as far south as the Yucatan. Around 1200 A.D. other peoples from the north also invaded central Mexico. One of these peoples, the Aztecs, soon emerged as the strongest. The Aztecs incorporated into their culture the inventions of peoples they conquered or with whom they traded. They also made and acquired the use of the calendar and mathematics. To sustain their gods, they practiced human sacrifice.<br />
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At about the same time that Aztec civilization was at its height, another civilization was expanding in the Andes Mountains of South America. These people the Inca based their religion on worship of the Sun and moon. Their name meant “children of the Sun." By the late 1400s, the Inca Empire extended along most of the west coast of South America and far into the Andes, covering much of the present-day nations of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile. The Inca built fortresses and irrigation systems and laid roads, many of them paved. The rulers of the empire prevented local famines by maintaining storehouses and distributing food supplies when crops failed. After conquering their neighbors, the Inca sought to eliminate regional diversity in their empire. They established an educational system, particularly for the children of the nobility, that taught the imperial language, Inca religion, and history. Although the Inca did nof have a writing system, they kept records by means of the quipu, a kind of knotted string used to assist the memory. They were also quite advanced in the practice of medicine, using anesthetics and even performing operations on the brain.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-92097446182508422022017-06-29T03:00:00.000+03:002017-06-29T03:00:01.504+03:00Japan, Korean, and Southeast Asian<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia</b>.<br />
<b>Chinese civilization</b> also greatly influenced surrounding peoples. Civilization in Japan was largely inspired by contacts with China, and the Japanese initially developed a centralized imperial political system modeled in many ways on that of China. Chinese Buddhism also heavily influenced the Japanese, many of whom accepted it side by side with their own native religion, now called Shinto, which was based on a belief in gods or nature spirits called kami. The Japanese also adopted the Chinese style of writing, as well as such things as artistic designs, road engineering, medical knowledge, and even styles of clothing.<br />
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While imperial rule was usually centralized in China, a different pattern developed in Japan after about 800. Although the emperor remained an important spiritual symbol, power gradually shifted to great war lords. Eventually a decentralized kind of political system developed that resembled feudalism in Europe. Under the theoretical authority of the emperor, a shogun, or supreme military commander, ruled loosely over powerful local lords, who were in turn supported by warriors known as samurai. Eventually, the most powerful lords, known as daimyo, or “great names,” fought among themselves for power, while the emperor and the shoguns were relatively powerless.<br />
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Chinese influence was even more pronounced in Korea, the rugged, mountainous peninsula south of Manchuria on the east coast of Asia. China had conquered Korea under the Han dynasty. After the fall of the Han, three kingdoms emerged in Korea, which struggled for control of the peninsula. Eventually, the strongest, Silla, united Korea under its own rule. Thereafter, apart from conquest by the Mongols, Korea retained its political independence, but continued to be heavily influenced by Chinese culture. Koreans adopted the Chinese civil service system, for example. Korean scholars also studied the Confucian Classics. Chinese Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism, became extremely influential in Korea. Nevertheless, the Koreans retained their own sense of identity, expressed in such things as their own language and their native dress.<br />
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Chinese influence even penetrated to Southeast Asia, where the modern-day countries of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Thailand (formerly Siam) are found. China controlled northern Vietnam, for example, a region then known as Nam Viet, for much of its history. Other parts of Southeast Asia, on the other hand, such as Cambodia, were heavily influenced by contacts with Indian civilization and Hinduism, as well as Indian versions of Buddhism.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-27990012135288923472017-06-28T20:30:00.000+03:002017-06-28T20:30:21.331+03:00The Mongol Empire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The Mongol Empire</b><br />
While China continued to develop and become prosperous, to the north a new power emerged in the form of the Mongols, a fierce nomadic people who had adapted to life in the great steppes of Mongolia Empire . Under a new leader, who became known as Genghis Khan, or “Universal Ruler,” the Mongols created a vast empire that eventually stretched from Europe to China and the borders of India. In the early 1200s, the Mongols captured the city now called Beijing in northern China. Under Kublai Khan, one of Genghis Khan’s grandsons, the Mongols completed their conquest of China and Kublai Khan proclaimed the beginning of his own Yuan dynasty in 1271.<br />
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Over a century of warfare and invasion the population of China had declined from about 100 million to about 60 million, but after the consolidation of Mongol rule, China once again began to prosper in many ways. The population began to increase again, and Kublai Khan extended the Grand Canal all the way to Beijing. The Mongols also linked China to India and Persia by new roads, and encouraged trade throughout their vast empire. During Mongol rule, contacts between China and Europe increased, as Christian missionaries and merchants like Marco Polo travelled to China and back. Despite such benefits, however, the Chinese always regarded the Mongols as invaders and in 1368 the Chinese overthrew the last Mongol emperor and established a new Chinese dynasty, the Ming, on the throne.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-17707639819111366102017-06-28T13:00:00.000+03:002017-06-28T13:00:13.355+03:00China under the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The Civilizations of East Asia</b><br />
In Europe the Western Roman Empire never recovered after its collapse in the late 400s. In China the Han dynasty collapsed about the same time. However, the Hun and other nomadic invaders from Tibet and Mongolia eventually settled down, established kingdoms, and adopted Chinese customs. In the late 500s, a unified empire was re-established in China.<br />
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<b>China under the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties</b>. The short-lived Sui dynasty reunited China in 589. During their brief period in power, Sui rulers began building the Grand Canal, an engineering marvel that connected northern and southern China for the first time in history. When the Sui tried to conquer new territory in Manchuria and Korea, however, they were defeated by invading Turks. In 618 an uprising ended and the Sui dynasty and ushered in a new dynasty the Tang. Although also relatively shortlived, the Tang dynasty, like the Han dynasty, began a golden age of steady cultural development in Chinese history. The Tang dyanasty reached its height in about 750, and then gradually declined until it was overthrown in 907. In 960, the Song dynasty came to power.<br />
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Although numerous foreign invaders threatened northern China, eventually even forcing the Song to move their capital south to Hangzhou, trade, the arts, and technological development flourished. Hangzhou and Guangzhou became major bases for overseas commerce. Exports included gold, silver, copper, and “cash” strings of copper coins. Porcelain, a fine translucent pottery, became one of China’s most valuable exports. Song artisans perfected the art of making porcelain, while Song artists, partly inspired by the Daoist love of nature, produced beautiful landscape paintings.<br />
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The Song further improved the civil service system that produced administrators for the empire. In technology, they developed such innovations as moveable type, though it was nof widely used in China because of the number of characters in the Chinese language. The use of gunpowder as an explosive for war, appeared under the Song. Under both the Tang and the Song, technological improvements in agriculture, particularly extensive water control projects, as well as the introduction of new strains of quick-ripening rice from Southeast Asia, improved food supplies. Also, a new crop, tea, began to be cultivated. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-42116079798146327432017-06-28T01:30:00.000+03:002017-06-28T01:30:10.450+03:00The Europe in Transition and the Islamic Empire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The Islamic Empire</b><br />
While the Byzantine Empire spread Christianity to the north, in the south Arab armies inspired by a new religion, Islam, swept out of the Arabian peninsula and overran much of the old Byzantine territory.<br />
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<b>Prophet Muhammad and Islam</b>. In the A.D. 600s, the prophet Muhammad began preaching Islam, today the world’s second largest religion. The central message of Islam is that there is only one God. The holy- book of Islam is the Qur'an, which according to Muslims is the word of God revealed to Muhammad through a series of revelations. The Qur'an presents God’s laws and teachings and outlines what is expected of all good Muslims. According to the Qur'an, Muslims must meet five important obligations known as the Five Pillars of Islam: (1) Recite the profession of faith, “...there is no deity except Allah [God] and Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger.” (2) Pray five times a day facing Mecca, the holy city of Islam. (3) Give alms money or food to the poor. (4) Fast from first light to sunset during the month of Ramadan. (5) If possible, make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-20975350504202673042017-06-27T21:30:00.000+03:002017-06-27T21:30:22.377+03:00The Byzantine Empire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The Byzantine Empire, Kievan Russia, and the Mongols</b><br />
While barbarians plundered the western part of the Roman Empire in the A.D. 400s and 500s, the Byzantine Empire continued to thrive. Although surrounded by enemies, the Byzantine Empire maintained its independence and even expanded its influence to the north.<br />
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<b>The Byzantine Empire</b>. By the early 500s, the Western Roman Empire had broken down into a group of Germanic tribal kingdoms. The Eastern Roman Empire, on the of her hand, had defeated the barbarians and was primed for a great political, economic, intellectual, and artistic revival. Emperor Justinian, who ruled from 527 to 565, led this revival. In addition to recovering some of the old Roman territories in Italy and the Mediterranean, Justinian proved a capable ruler who preserved and further codified Roman law. During the Middle Ages, the Justinianic Code became the basis of many European legal systems and its influence continues today.<br />
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After Justinian’s death, however, the empire suffered from bofh internal civil wars and conflicts with the Persians to the east and Slavic and Germanic tribes to the north and west. During the 600s, a new power also emerged in the south, from the deserts of Arabia, inspired by the religious faith of Islam. Muslim armies soon overran major parts of the Byzantine Empire in North Africa and the Fertile Crescent. Under such blows, after 650 the Byzantine Empire was reduced to little more than Asia Minor, the southern Balkan peninsula, parts of Italy, and nearby islands of the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean.<br />
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In addition to preserving Roman law, the Byzantine Empire also profected and perpetuated its own brand of Christianity, sometimes called Orthodox Christianity. Because religion was so closely bound up with the state, Byzantine leaders saw controversies over religious doctrines and rituals as important matters of state. Such attitudes often involved the state in major controversies. One of the most important, for example, was the debate over the use of icons holy portraits of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the saints in the 700s and early 800s. Those who favored their use in worship fought the iconoclasts, who thought of icons as idols and wished to suppress their use. Eventually, the iconoclasts lost the debate, but in the meantime the state had been seriously disrupted. Despite such debates, Christianity remained one of the most important aspects of Byzantine society and proved instrumental in expanding Byzantine influence among the Slavic tribes that threatened the northern borders of the empire.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-11773423051128090822017-06-27T11:00:00.000+03:002017-06-27T11:00:10.331+03:00The rise of the Mongols<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The rise of the Mongols</b>.<br />
After the death of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, in 1054, Kiev declined in power and wealth. Disputes among Kievan princes as well as raids on the state’s trade by Turkish peoples to the south weakened the state. After groups of princes sacked Kiev in 1169 and again in 1203, the city’s prosperity was ruined. As the princes continued to fight among themselves, new invaders from Central Asia took advantage of Kiev’s weakness. These invaders, the Mongols, came from the Asian steppe east of the Ural mountains. By 1240, the new invaders had conquered and burned almost every city in Kievan Russia.<br />
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The Mongols did nof try to impose their way of life on the Slavic peoples whom they conquered. They wanted only to collect wealth from the region. In time, Mongol power weakened and the princes of the region grew more independent. During the early 1300s, Moscow, or Muscovy, became the strongest principality, partly because its ruler, Prince Ivan I, cooperated with the Mongols. In return for his cooperation, the Mongols granted Ivan the title of Grand Prince. By the time of Ivan III, also called the Great, who ruled from 1462 to 1505, Moscow had become so powerful that Ivan was finally able to overthrow Mongol rule altogether in 1480. Uniting the principalities and conquering more territory to the west, he became the first ruler of the independent state of Russia.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-42980297495377500462017-06-27T02:00:00.000+03:002017-06-27T02:00:07.792+03:00The Rise of Ancient Russia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The rise of Russia</span></b><br />
<b>The expansion of Orthodox Christianity</b> from Constantinople also affected the emergence of new civilization to the north, where, beginning in the A.D. 200s, Slavic tribes settled in much of eastern Europe. Ofher peoples, like the Huns, Avars, and Magyars, often invaded the region and for a time made the Slavs their subjects. During the 800s, Vikings from Scandinavia also swept into eastern Europe. The Vikings came more as traders than conquerors, however, and several cities sprang up along the Viking trade routes.<br />
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Two such cities were Novgorod, south of Lake Ladoga, and Kiev, on the Dnieper River. In 862, a people called the Rus, under their war leader Rurik, took control of Novgorod and established a dynasty. Eventually the Rus, whose name is probably the origin of the name Russia, also took control of Kiev and several ofher principalities. By the 800s, they had come to mle over all the Slavic tribes along the Dnieper River. Kiev especially prospered because of its location along the rich trade route that extended north from Constantinople to the Baltic Sea. Kiev grew to become the most important principality in Kievan Russia.<br />
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Despite the Kievan prince’s predominant position, a centralized government never fully developed. Instead, the rulers of ofher principalities simply paid tribute to Kiev and largely ran their own affairs as they liked. At times, the princes of the cities of Kievan Russia ruled with the advice of councils of boyars, or nobles. Anofher important institution widely used in bofh Kiev and Novgorod was the town meeting, where the heads of all households gathered at the command of the prince to consider such matters as war, disputes among princes, and special measures to deal with emergencies.<br />
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As the Kievan state developed, it came increasingly under the influence of Constantinople to the south. In 988, the Kievan ruler Vladimir I converted to Orthodox Christianity, partly out of a desire to marry the Byzantine emperor’s sister, Anna. Thereafter, the Byzantine Church became increasingly important in Kievan Russia. The patriarch of Constantinople chose the chief bishop, or metropolitan, of the Kievan Church. New monasteries in the region soon became centers for social services, education, and artistic expression.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-11470114331236611812017-06-26T21:00:00.000+03:002017-06-26T21:00:32.248+03:00The Fall of the Roman Empire in the West<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The fall of the Roman Empire in the west</b>.<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-language: AR-EG;">The success of Christianity within the empire was in part due to a growing sense of insecurity among many people. During most of the A.D. 200s, the Roman empire experienced dreadful confusion, civil war, and barbarian invasions. If not for the efforts of two emperors, Diocletian and Constantine, the empire probably would have collapsed. Their reforms and reorganization of the empire postponed final collapse for about 200 years. Diocletian divided the empire administratively and appointed a co-emperor to help govern the vast territory more efficiently. Constantine continued these reforms and established a second capital at Constantinople, from which the eastern provinces of the Roman empire could be more efficiently administered. After Constantine’s death, however, the administrative division eventually became a permanent division into what ultimately became to two separate empires<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-EG"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-language: AR-EG;">As the two parts of the empire drifted apart, both came under increasing pressure from invading barbarian tribes like the Huns. The wealthier and more populous eastern half was able to defend itself better than the relatively poor, agrarian western half. Weakened within as well as by attacks from outside, eventually the western half of the empire collapsed in A.D. 476, when Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of Rome in the west, was defeated and killed by invading barbarians. Actually, no such thing as a single fall occurred, but instead the empire gradually disintegrated. Despite this “fall” of the Roman Empire in the west, the eastern Roman empire, usually called the Byzantine Empire, continued to exist for nearly another thousand years. Roman imperial traditions were preserved even after the collapse of the western empire through the continuance of the Roman Church, the only imperial institution to survive relatively intact. Through the church, Roman ideas and civilization remained an important base on which a new civilization would eventually be built in western Europe<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-EG"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-19016961681476721652017-06-26T13:30:00.000+03:002017-06-26T13:30:08.164+03:00the Rise of Christianity in Ancient Rome<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The rise of Christianity</b>.<br />
One of the world’s major religions in this time, Christianity, originated during the Roman Empire in the Roman-controlled territory of Judaea. It was founded by a Jewish teacher known as Jesus of Nazareth. Roman histories say very little about Jesus. Our knowledge of Jesus comes mainly from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John the first four books' of the New Testament of the Christian Bible.<br />
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According to these accounts, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, worked for a time as a carpenter, and began preaching as an adult. The teachings of Jesus have become one of the greatest influences on the Western world. He accepted the Hebrew Ten Commandments as guides to right living, but he gave them added meaning. He summarized the Ten Commandments in two great rules: people must love God above all else, and they must love others as they love themselves.<br />
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Both the conservative Jewish hierarchy in Jerusalem and the Roman authorities felt threatened by Jesus’ message. Eventually the Romans put Jesus to death by crucifixion, a common form of execution for criminals in the Roman world. According to the Gospels, however, Jesus arose from the dead, remained on Earth another 40 days, and then ascended into heaven. His followers believed that his resurrection and ascension proved that Jesus was the Messiah, the savior of mankind sent by God, and they called him Jesus Christ after the Greek word for Messiah Christos. His followers began to preach that through the death of Jesus Christ, the son of God who had died for the sins of the human race, all people could achieve redemption.<br />
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Believing that the day of God’s final judgment was close at hand, Jesus’ disciples set out to spread his message. At first they worked mainly in the Jewish communities of Palestine. Eventually, however, the Christian message was spread into the Greek and Roman world by a new convert, a Jew named Saul of Tarsus who took the name Paul after becoming a Christian. It was Paul who emphasized that Christianity was for everyone, not just Jews. He journeyed throughout the eastern Mediterranean establishing Christian churches and encouraging them through his Epistles, or letters which still form an important part of the New Testament. According to tradition, he was eventually put to death while visiting Rome. His message continued, however, and within 400 years, Christianity had spread to all parts of the huge Roman Empire. The true success of the church was marked when the emperor Constantine proclaimed himself a Christian in A.D. 312. After A.D. 391, when the emperor Theodosius banned the old pagan religion of Rome, Christianity became the sole official religion of the entire empire.<br />
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During the later years of the Roman Empire, Christianity developed a definitive church organization. Priests conducted services and performed baptisms and marriages. Above the priests were the bishops, who headed the church in each city. The bishops of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, the most important administrative centers of the church, were called patriarchs. Over time, the bishop of Rome assumed the title of pope, from a Latin word for father, and claimed supremacy over the church.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-11501946170438356412017-06-26T03:00:00.000+03:002017-06-26T03:00:28.295+03:00Roman society and culture<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Roman society and culture</b>.<br />
<b>The Pax Romana</b> meant prosperity to many people, but the wealth was not evenly distributed. Rich citizens usually had both a country home and a city home. Such houses were often equipped with modern conveniences like running water and baths. The average Roman on the other hand lived in a poorly constructed apartment building with very little furniture. Most residents of the city of Rome were farmers or artisans who barely made a living. To divert their attention from their problems, the Roman government provided free grain to residents of the capital, as well as public entertainment. Romans were fond of the theater, especially satires and comedies. Their favorite pastimes, however, were more brutal sports such as chariot racing in the huge Circus Maximus racetrack in Rome, where spectacular crashes might occur. They also enjoyed gladiatorial combats between humans or beasts or sometimes both in the Colosseum, Rome’s great amphitheater. So important were such entertainments in <b>Roman society</b> that the poet Juvenal once observed that only two things interested the Roman masses: “bread and circuses.”<br />
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The practical Romans applied the scientific knowledge they gained from the Greeks in planning cities, building water and sewage systems, and improving farming and livestock breeding. Roman engineers surpassed all ancient peoples in their ability to construct roads, bridges, aqueducts, amphitheaters, and public buildings. Perhaps the most important contribution of Roman architects was the use of concrete, which made large buildings possible in terms of both cost and engineering. The Romans often based their buildings on Greek models. Unlike the Greeks, however, they also knew how to build the arch and vaulted domes, and emphasized size as well as pleasing proportions. <br />
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Greek influence was also strong in the arts, though a number of Romans produced works of great originality, especially in literature. Virgil, a contemporary of Augustus, was one of the greatest Roman poets and author of the Aeneid an epic poem that told the story of a Trojan prince named Aeneas, a legendary ancestor of the Latins. The poet Ovid wrote love lyrics and the Metamorphoses, a collection of myths written in verse. Another poet, Horace, wrote of human emotions in his odes, satires, and letters. The Romans also valued works of history, such as the Annals, a history of Rome under Augustus and his immediate successors, written by Tacitus.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-84168295536216431202017-06-25T21:00:00.000+03:002017-06-25T21:00:07.912+03:00The Roman Empire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The Roman Empire</b>.<br />
By 133 B.C. the<b> Roman Republic</b> faced many problems. Although several leaders attempted reforms, their programs angered many senators, and as a result some leaders were violently overthrown. Expansion of the <b>Roman empire</b> brought changes in the army, and eroded the old reliance on citizen- farmers as the backbone of the legions. As the values of the old republic began to break down, many new leaders struggled for power. Emerging from such a power struggle, in 44 B.C. Julius Caesar became dictator for life. He proved to be an able politician. He granted citizenship to many people in the provinces and gave land to veterans and grain to the poor in Rome. His new position angered conservative Roman families and on the Ides of March (March 15), 44 B.C., conspirators stabbed Caesar to death in the Senate Chambers.<br />
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<b>Caesar’s death</b><br />
Caesar’s death soon led to a division of the Roman world between his heir, Octavian, and his friend and ally, Marc Antony. As Octavian built up his power in Rome and the western half of the empire, Marc Antony allied himself with Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and made his base in the eastern part of the empire. Eventually, civil war between the two split the Roman empire. Finally, in 31 B.C., Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra at the great naval battle of Actium and became master of the Roman world. In 27 B.C. the Senate proclaimed him Augustus Caesar, or Augustus “the revered one.” Historians agree that Augustus was the first real Roman emperor and they mark his reign as the end of the old republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire.<br />
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Augustus and his successors established Roman power throughout the Mediterranean world and imposed what became known as the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace. Law, military organization, and widespread trade and transportation held the empire together and brought about peace and economic prosperity for more than 200 years.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-11660694373836606732017-06-25T11:00:00.000+03:002017-06-25T11:00:10.368+03:00Roman Expansion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The Roman World</b><br />
The spread of Hellenistic and Greek culture occurred not only in the eastern Mediterranean, but also in the west, where it had a great influence on the a new power in the Italian peninsula, the city of Rome.<br />
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The founding of the Roman Republic. Many peoples had inhabited Italy since ancient times.<br />
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<b>Roman Expansion Timeline</b><br />
Sometime around the mid-700s B.C., a group of people called Latins built villages along the Tiber River. Located near a shallow river crossing, the Latins had settled in the middle of important trade routes that spread out in all directions. Eventually, these villages united to form the city-state of Rome. In the late 600s B.C., Rome came under the control of the Etruscans, from whom the Romans learned many of the arts of civilization. Rome was also influenced by Greek settlements in Sicily and southern Italy.<br />
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Latins, Etruscans, and other peoples living around Rome gradually came to be called Romans. In 509 B.C., the Roman aristocracy overthrew the last Etruscan monarch and set up a republic, a form of government in which voters elect their leaders. Only adult male citizens who owned land could vote. Three groups of citizens helped govern Rome: the Senate, various popular assemblies, and officials known as magistrates. After the end of the monarchy, Roman society was also split between the powerful aristocratic class, known as patricians, and the nonaristocrats known as plebeians. Over time, the plebeians successfully forced the patricians to grant them greater political participation. By about 300 B.C., wealthy plebeians had even joined with the patricians to form a new Roman nobility that soon controlled the state.<br />
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For more than 200 years after the founding of the republic, the Romans fought many wars against neighboring peoples in Italy. By 265 B.C., the Romans controlled all of Italy south of the Rubicon River on the northeast coast. Both military organization, based upon legions made up of Roman citizen-soldiers, and wise policies that gradually granted full or partial citizenship to the inhabitants of other Italian cities, helped the Romans achieve their victories.<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-language: AR-EG;"><b>Roman expansion</b>. As Roman power grew, the Romans came into conflict with Carthage, a powerful city located on the coast of North Africa. In a series of three wars, called the Punic Wars, the Romans completely destroyed their rivals and took over their colonies around the Mediterranean. At the same time, they also began to conquer the eastern parts of the Mediterranean world. As the Roman Republic created this vast new empire, the role of the citizen-farmer and the traditional values of earlier Roman society weakened. As land and slaves became more expensive, and military service kept many citizen-farmers away from their farms, many lost their lands and moved to the cities, where they joined the unemployed masses. In addition, the pressures of ruling such a large empire placed strains on a government that had been designed to rule a small city-state<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-EG"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-49731946713613003482017-06-25T02:00:00.000+03:002017-06-25T02:00:12.496+03:00Ancient Greek art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Greece's Golden and Hellenistic Ages</b><br />
Despite the failure of political unity in the Greek world, during the 400s B.C. Greek culture reached new heights. It was a period so magnificent that it is often called Greece’s golden age.<br />
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<b>Ancient Greek art.</b><br />
<b> Greek art</b> reflected the way in which Greeks viewed themselves and the world. The pride people took in their city-states was perhaps most effectively displayed in the great temples and public buildings the Greeks built to adorn their cities.<br />
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Structures such as the magnificent Parthenon, an engineering masterpiece in its own right, were decorated with the finest sculptures the Greeks could produce. The golden age in Greece produced some of the finest sculptors who have ever lived men like Myron, who created the famous Discus Thrower; Phidias, who created the statue of Zeus at the Temple of Olympia; and Praxiteles, renowned for his delicate, lifelike, and often life-sized figures. In addition to sculpture, the Greeks also painted their best preserved paintings are found on vases. Vase paintings illustrated everyday life as well as myths.<br />
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Thinkers and writers of the golden age. Even before the golden age, the Greeks displayed a keen interest in the things of the mind philosophy, mathematics, science, and literature. As they investigated the natural world, Greek thinkers moved away from the myths of the past and sought natural explanations for the phenomena around them. In the 500s B.C., for example, before the golden age began, the philosopher Pythagoras wrote that everything could be explained or expressed through numbers and the relationships, or ratios, between them. Hippocrates, considered the founder of modern medicine, taught that disease comes from natural causes, not as punishment from the gods.<br />
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During the golden age itself, Greek philosophers increasingly turned their attention to' human nature and the human mind. Socrates, for example, who lived in Athens from 470 to 399 B.C., wanted people to think for themselves and established a method of learning through questioning. Today we call this the Socratic method. In this way, he believed, people might acquire wisdom. Accused of corrupting the minds of the youth and for showing irreverence for the gods, he was condemned to death by his enemies in Athens. His pupil, Plato, founded the Academy, a school devoted to teaching philosophy. Plato was interested in discovering the true nature of things, which he expressed in his theory of forms the idea that everything physical is but an imperfect expression of a perfect universal form, or idea. Plato was also interested in politics and wrote the Republic, outlining his idea that society should be organized so that the best and brightest might govern it a meritocracy in which all people would do the work for which they were best suited.<br />
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One of Plato’s students at the Academy was Aristotle, who was determined to apply philosophical reasoning and logic to every branch of human knowledge. Aristotle concluded that the Greek ideal of style in the arts balance, order, and restraint also represented the highest ideal in terms of human behavior an ideal that was most likely to bring people the greatest happiness. Applying his reasoning skills to politics, Aristotle concluded that the best form of government was one that combined certain elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy into a kind of limited democracy in the hands of the middle class.<br />
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The Greeks also applied this method of logical reasoning to human affairs, particularly to the writing of history. Herodotus and especially Thucydides, who wrote the History of the Peloponnesian War, were the first great historians of the Western world. Combining reason with beauty, however, they also saw history as a branch of literature. Another branch was drama. Greek playwrights explored the conflicts of human existence in terms of both tragedy, in which the major characters struggle unsuccessfully against their fate, and comedy, in which they succeed in solving their problems.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-44817182598819672722017-06-24T23:30:00.000+03:002017-06-24T23:30:03.658+03:00The spread of Hellenistic Culture<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The spread of Hellenistic culture</b>. After Alexander’s death, his generals murdered his family and divided his short-lived empire among themselves into a number of kingdoms, including Macedonia, Egypt, and Syria. Despite this political division, Hellenistic society continued to spread through trade and the exchange of ideas among scholars in many lands, who could-all communicate in Greek. Trade routes now connected the entire Mediterranean world and reached as far as India. The growth of trade in turn led to the growth of a middle class, a middle class that fostered a rise in education and levels of literacy. The decline of the old Greek ideals of the polis also led to new developments in religion and philosophy.<br />
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Some people adopted the practice of ruler-worship. Others sought to counter the feelings that they had lost control over their own destinies by turning to new mystery religions that promised immortality after death. Still others turned to philosophy.<br />
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Hellenistic philosophers were more concerned with ethics than with basic questions of reality and human existence. Four chief schools of philosophy emerged: Cynicism, Skepticism, Stoicism, and Epicureanism. Cynics believed that people should live according to nature, scorning pleasure, wealth, and social position. Skeptics philosophized that no definite knowledge is possible because everything is always changing. Stoics believed that divine reason directs the world, and that only by trying to follow the path laid down by the divine spark within every person could one find true happiness. Epicureans taught that the aim of life is to seek pleasure and avoid pain and that one of the ways to achieve this was by limiting one’s desires, rather than trying to fulfill all of them.<br />
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While people grappled with the problems brought on by living within a more complex and sophisticated world, Hellenistic scientists were also learning more and more about how the world around them functioned. Many advances were made in mathematics. The Greek mathematician Euclid further systematized geometry. Archimedes, considered the greatest scientist and inventor of the Hellenistic period, applied geometry to measure spheres, cones, and cylinders and to advance developments in mechanics. Other scientists used mathematics to calculate the daily positions of the planets and stars, and even to calculate the circumference of Earth with amazing accuracy. Hellenistic physicians learned much about the human body and greatly increased medical knowledge by dissecting human bodies.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2079884839312315558.post-33981043332316708172017-06-24T20:30:00.000+03:002017-06-24T20:30:12.856+03:00Alexander the Great<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Alexander the Great</b>. So long as the Greeks remained disunited, to a considerable extent the achievements of their civilization also remained relatively limited in their impact on other peoples and civilizations. In 359 B.C. this changed when Phillip II became king of Macedonia and began to unite Greece under his own rule by conquering the Greek city-states. The process of Greek unification and expansion was taken even further by Phillip’s son, Alexander the Great. Alexandw the Great was one of the greatest military leaders in world history. Picking up where his father had left off, Alexander not only completed the conquest and unification of the Greek world, but also set out to conquer the rest of the known world.<br />
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By 331 B.C., he had conquered Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the rest of the Persian Empire and was attempting to conquer the plains of northern India. After a long campaign in India, however, he was forced by his men to turn back home. In 323 B.C., he died in Babylon. He was not yet 33 years old. In his short life, he had laid the foundations of an empire that would spread Greek ideas to other parts of the world and in turn expose Greek civilization to new influences and ideas from outside its borders. A new civilization, often called Hellenistic, meaning Greek-like, emerged in those areas ruled by Alexander and his successors.</div>
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