Great Schism

Background: The Great Schism was the splitting of the Eastern and Western churches of the Byzantine Empire in 1054 AD.

Interview with the Pope after the Great Schism.

Q: What caused the Great Schism in 1054?
A: A disagreement between the ideas of political and theological ideas was the main reason the Great Schism happened.


Q: What were the major effects of the Great Schism?

A: The Great Schism made two different societies with two different religions. The West being catholic, the East, Orthodox.

Charlemagne

Charlemagne brought back education to the Middle Ages and fought many campaigns to expand his kingdom of Christianity.

Interview with Charlemagne.

Q: How did you get your kingdom?

A: In 800 AD I became the king of half my father's empire. When my brother died I also got that half. I ran over 50 military  campaigns to expand my kingdom and spread Christianity by force. I also opened up education to all classes. My reign was a small opening of light in the Dark Ages.

Q: How did you spread Christianity?
A: I took over areas and told them to surrender and convert to my religion or die.

Cursades

Interview with Pope.

Q: What were the Crusades?
A: The Crusades were a series of Holy Wars to gain and regain control of the Jerusalem and the Holy Land. They were all ordered by the Popes. The campaigns were all fought from 1096 until about two hundred years later.

Q: Were all the Crusades successful?
A: No. Some some did not accomplish the goal to capture the Holy City. Others were not even directed at the Middle East and Islam, but towards heretics and other groups against the Catholic church.

Q: What were important about the Crusades?
A: The Crusades were all ordered by the Pope and gave the him power over the king as well as his subjects. This power. Also, when Jerusalem was won over again by the Europeans, it showed what was happening outside of the Dark Ages in Europe and interested them of the world so different from theirs.



Columbus Leaves Spain

Background: Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas and back on a series of explorations starting in 1492.

Interview of Christopher Columbus after his first of four round trips across the Atlantic Ocean

Q: How did you prepare for this trip?
A: I was funded by Queen Isabella I of Spain for my frist voyage to the New World in 1492. I was given three ships: the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.

Q: What did you expect to find?
A: I thought it would be a faster route to Asia to trade for spices and other riches. Instead I found two islands that had precious metals and other unknown plants like tobacco and the pineapple.

Magna Carta

King John was froced by his nobles to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 after a terrible series of events he caused. This document restriced and gave rights to people.

Q: What events led up to the signing of the Magna Carta?

A: After my brother left on the third crusade I was in charge of his kingdom. I lost Normandy to France and placed a high tax and had disputes with bishops and the Pope.

Q: What were some of the major changes after the signing of the document?

A: The signing of this document limited the power of the monarchy so that the rulers have to obey rules as well as the people.

Q: How does this affect us today?

A: The Magna Carta established a parliament so the Executive branch of government so it must have clearance to pass a law.

William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror was a king during the dark ages starting on Christmas Day of 1066 AD.

Interview with William the Conqueror.

Q: How did you become King?
A: I became King by fighting my rival Harald III who claimed that he had the right to the throne. I defeated him at the Battle of Hastings.

Q: What did you do as King of England?

A: When I was King I made a book known to the people as the Doomsday Book. This kept a record of all of my people's possession for taxation purposes. My idea of this book is similar to taxation today.

Battle of Tours

Background: At the Battle of Tours in 732, the Muslims were turned back after attempting to take over the Barbarian West.

Interview with Charles the Hammer Martel.

Q: What events lead up to the Battle of Tours?

A: Muslims from the Umayyad Dynasty proceeded to expand their Empire up to modern day France. I used church funds to train men to stop them. At tours we defeated the Muslims and stopped their move forward into Europe.

Q: What were the major outcomes on both sides after the Muslim defeat?

A: This victory led to the stop of the Umayyad Dynasty's advance into Europe and allowed the Franks to stay Christian and finally go to a path to Charlemagne, my granson.



Rome Sacked/Falls to Barbarians

Background: Barbarian tribes north of the Roman Empire sacked Rome in 410.

Interview with Alaric after the Sack of Rome

Q: What events lead up to the sack of Rome?
A: After being pushed into the Roman Empire by the Huns, we became hungry and laid siege on the city of Rome. They came close to starving and opened the Salarian gate on August 24, 410 AD. We poured into the city to loot it but found little food.

Q: What were the effects of the sack of Rome?
A: The Sack of Rome in 410 marked the beginning of the Middle Ages or Dark Ages



Constantine the Great

Background: Constantine the Great was the emperor of the eastern half of the Roman Empire.

Interview with Constantine.

Q: What were some facts about your empire?
A: My empire was the eastern part of the Roman Empire after it was split in half by Diocletian. Its main religion was Christianity and flourished in trade with its surrounding areas on the Silk Road and across the Mediterranean Sea.

Q: How was the Byzantine Empire created?
A: After my victory at Battle of Milvian Bridge I controlled almost all of the former Roman Empire. I saw a symbol from the One God in the sky before the battle and He helped my win the battle in 312 AD.

Q: What is the main religion of your empire? 
A: My empire is Christian. It spread through the centuries and is now a major world religion.

Julius Caesar/Fall of the Roman Republic

Background: Julius Caesar played the main role that changed the Roman Republic into an empire.

Interview with Julius Caesar

Q: How did Rome become an empire rather than a republic?
A: I deliberately crossed the Rubicon River with a legion of soldiers which was illegal for me to do. I then defeated a revolt under Pompey and forced the senate to make me the dictator of Rome.

Q: What was the difference between Rome as a republic and empire?
A: In the Roman Republic it was ruled by the people through the senate. But when it became an empire it was ruled by only one person.

Q: How did you die?

A: I died in 44 BC by being stabbed to death by the senate.


Alexander the Great

Background: Alexander the Great was a commander that fought in vengeance of his father.

Interview with Alexander the Great.

Q: What were some of your accomplishments?
A: I conquered almost half of the known world at the time including Persia which was a very powerful empire at that time. It covered the Middle East and parts of North Africa, as well as Asia Minor and Syria. I spread a Hellenistic culture.

Q: When did these events happen?
A: When I was twenty in 336 BC I became the King of Macedonia and started my military campaign to defeat the Persian empire shortly after.

The Golden Age of Greece

Background: Many philosophers came out of this period in Greek history. Theatre and other arts and sciences also flourished roughly from 500-300 BC. 

Interview with Socrates, a philosopher during the Golden Age of Greece

Q: What made this time period the Golden Age?

A: During this period there were changes in philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy as well as art. Sculptures, drama, and even music was very advanced at this time. The idea of humanism developed during this time.

Q:Who were some other people that came out of this time period?

A: Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle taught during this age.

Q: What made this time period important?

A: This time period produced the idea of humanism which is a mojor part of our society today.



Tang Dynasty

During the Tang Dynasty, China created many of its greatest poetic works. Li-Po, a man in exile who traveled along the trading routes where he created his works, along with Du Fu made wonderful poems in the 700s AD. The Silk Road was very important during this period of China. This age is definitely China's Golden Age of Poetry.

Mike Wood

Mongols Take China

The mongols are a vicious tribe of nomads to the North of our empire. They are mainly herders, riding horses; a very harsh life that many others would despise. The leader of these nomadic clans, Ghengis Khan, literally "the greatest prince between the two oceans" set out in conquest to rule the continent. He started with Peking in the early 1200s. China was the first empire to fall to the Mongols. They invented the stirrup, a technology used so the rider could stand up while on a horse and use both hands at once, mainly to shoot a bow. The Mongols lived under a strict rule while in battle, if you surrender immediately, your life is spared and you become their slave. If you do not surrender, you will die.

Mr Carleton's Ancient Video Tape

The Han Dynasty

During the reign of the Han Dynasty, succeeding the Qin, the wall was rebuilt and ideas like Legalism, Taoism and Confucianism were accepted. Cooking was considered a work of art and expression for the Chinese people and scholars exceled in mathematics, physics, astronomy, and philosophy. This period is a time of economic prosperity.

wikipedia.org

Buddhism Comes to China

During the high point of the Silk Road, Buddhism came to our empire during the Han Dynasty. Merchants brought this religion to us and it became a part of the three main streams of thought for the Chinese culture. This states that we can only find balance through Taoism: the road, focusing on nature and the will to change, Confucianism: the idea of goodness and leading an empire by example, and Buddhism: the art of reaching Enlightenment through medidation, awakening from all of this world, seeking beyond this universe. Without all three we lose the Mandate of Heaven.

Mike Wood:The Legacy

The Great Wall

The first emperor of United China of the Qin Dynasty (210-207 BC) created a wall to protect his empire from nomad tribes attacking from the North. Under my reign during the Han Dynasty it has expanded the Great Wall of China. I have doubled the size, number of outposts, and length of the wall to keep my empire safe from the Mongols. The walls are now much stronger due to the material and method used to build it. My people have given their lives to protect us. There is tension between my people and me. I sense a rebellion.

Engineering an Empire

Sung Dynasty

China's Golden Age was at its highest peak during the Sung Dynasty around the year 960 AD. We have many precious goods that other parts of the world desire greatly; silk, tea, and a large surplus of food, mainly a fast growing type of rice we obtained through trade from Vietnam. We have many scholars in science and math, our technology is above many other societies in the world, and our arts flourish in poetry and literature. 

Mr. Carleton

Zheng He

I am now on my Seventh journey of the Treasure Fleet. My journeys started after I gained the emperor's trust, I became in charge of over three hundred ships in the year 1405. He told me to trade, explore, and conquer the seas. Over my first six journeys, I controled the trade routes over the Western sea, and visited over 37 countries. I may have even discovered a new land on the other side of the ocean.

Engineering an Empire

Lao Zi and Daoism

I have made a revolutionary concept in Chinese culture in the 5th Century BC. It focuses on nature, the universe, and and balance. I discovered the concept of Yin Yang; there cannot be a dark without a light and a light without a dark. No words can fully describe this philosophy but we must attain that balance. We must go with the force of nature, not against it. We must accept the changes that happen in the world. I, Lao Zi, have made my imprint on Chinese culture.

The Legacy: Mike Wood

Confucuius

There is a man that was at one time one of us in the 6th century BC. He was in our government until he proposed one idea for the empire. We fired him after he suggested that we be good and the people would follow, keeping society together. He said strange, terrible things like 'We should encourage our people to tell us that we're doing things wrong. We listen to them and also be their role models.' and so on. In the end Confucius was fired. Although he was gone, we still heard rumors of the walking teacher and his ideas. I can almost guarantee you his teachings will never become a way of government nor do I want them to.

  Mike Wood/Mr. Carlton (World History Bros)

The Unification of China

During the period of the warring states in China around the 2nd century BC we, the Qin Dynasty, rose above the other states and conquered them. We used of our advanced warfare technology and spread our borders over all of the states and beyond. Not only did we have horses, but also large quantities of metals used for armor, weapons, and other inventions the other states did not have. Under our rule we have unified China for many generations to come.

Mr Carleton's Slide Show