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The reign of the Roman empire
The reign of the Roman empire
The reign of the Roman empire
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After the fall of the Roman Empire, barbarian rulers divided the territory, once claimed by the Roman Emperor, into separate kingdoms. These kings proclaimed Christianity as the religion of their country. Another powerful religion was spreading across Europe: Islam. Muslims warriors, followers of Islam, conquered many of the kingdoms established by the barbarians. They began their conquest in Saudi Arabia and systematically swallowed up an area of land that stretches east into India, north toward the Caspian Sea, and west into the southern portion of Spain. The Christian rulers feared Muslim take-over, and when Muslim’s blocked the visits of Christians into Jerusalem, they became angry.
In response to this outrage, the Pope sent out
The political structure of the Arabian and Byzantine empires greatly differed from each other. The Arabian empire was ruled over by a Caliphate. The Caliphate was the successor to the great prophet Muhammad. Politically, the Caliphate sometimes caused trouble for the stability of the empire. With multiple groups such as the Umayyad and the Abbasid believing the were in charge of the Caliphate led to conflicts and violence. An example of conflict would be towards the end of the Abbasid empire when the death of Harun al-Rashid brought several full scale revolutions. Another example would be at the beginning of Abbasid empire when they went as far as too kill off all of the remaining Umayyad leaders to sustain full control with little to no interference. Politically, the Arab/Muslim empire stretched from India and the Middle East into the Africa, the Mediterranean, and Iberia. They also had a large influence in Southeast Asia. When they conquered these areas, there was no forced conversion. On the other hand, they did enforce a higher tax for non-Muslims which prompted people to convert. Only later were there violently forced conversions. A testimony to this would be when the Muslims invaded India and did not touch the Buddhist or Hindus already there. They even respected the Hindu leadership and allowed them to continue. The Muslim empire was successful in other parts of the world due to tolerance, and continued to operate in the face of power struggles.
In this case, conquest is when people take over other people’s land and force people to convert to Islam. In the 7th and 8th centuries the Muslims had conquered land in Northern Africa and the Middle East. During that time, there were four caliphs. Muhammad’s second successor, Umar (one of the four caliphs), took over the north part of Jerusalem. He gave people three options during conquest and they were: Convert to Islam, pay very heavy taxes, or die (Outside Source: Spread of Islam Background Reading Packet). Another method of conquest was from military campaigns. The military campaigns had spread from all over Europe to Asia. The cities Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Cairo, Baghdad, and Saragossa had come under Muslim control between 622 CE and 750 CE (Doc C). For centuries because of the Ghazu raids, the Arabs have been adding to their inadequate resources, but Islam came to the rescue and put an end to the raids because the Ummah (Muslim Community) was not allowed to attack others. Then, the Arabs tried to attack on the richer lands further out of the peninsula (the Persian Empire and the Byzantium Empire) and wanted to attack to preserve the unity of the Ummah. The two empires facilitated (Facilitated/Facilitate: to make something easier) for the Arabs to attack because the empires have been fighting wars for so long, they became very tired (Doc D). In the year 636 CE, the Byzantine fought against the Muslims
The Crusades were a number of military expeditions by Europeans of the Christian faith attempting to recover the Holy Land, Jerusalem, which was then controlled by the powerful Muslim Empire. In his book People of The First Crusade, Michael Foss an independent historian tells the story of the first Crusade in vivid detail illustrating the motives behind this historic event, and what had really occurred towards the end of the eleventh century. The Christian lands of Western Europe were slowly deteriorating from invasions of the North, and the passing of corrupt laws from within the clergy and the high lords. However, these were not the only challenges those of European Christian faith had to face. Islam strengthened after the conversion of the
There was a series of brutal wars undertaken by the Christians of Europe, this took place between the 11th and 14th century, that was the crusades. It happened to recover the great holy lands from the Muslims.
All across cultures in history, varying groups of beliefs have come into contact with one another. As for early Muslims, military expansion and travel were key components for spreading the Islamic religion to foreign nations. However, not all exchanges were hostile or wholly based on the conquest of exotic lands. Some interactions solely were based on capturing lands to control, while allowing non-converters to remain in the area as the military continued forward gaining new territory. The primary sources, The Viking Rus, Peace Terms with Jerusalem, and The Pact to Be Accorded to Non-Muslim Subjects provide insight on how Muslims interacted with other religious groups. Early Muslims saw the expansion of Islam through conquest, travel, and trade with foreign cultures and beliefs, all while having unusual exchanges with each faith.
Crusader who brought contact with the Muslims loosened hierarchy of feudalism. Towns and cities were growing quicker in the European society. When they returned their land with goods, which enlarged the Europeans economy. The noble churches want their own territories of the church tax and own bishops. The popes had the power to block Christians from getting the church sacraments.
During the Middle Ages, the politics and religious systems of the former western Roman Empire changed in many ways due to a number of events and interactions. One of the most important and defining events of this period was the rise of both Latin Christendom and the rise of the Islamic Caliphates. More specifically, is was the ensuing interactions between the two as both faiths struggled to establish their dominance. The rise of the heirs to the Roman Empire, Byzantium, the Caliphates and Latin Christendom, led to conflict and a more clearly defined and structured western world. This “new” western world was no longer simply divided along geographical and political lines, but was now demarcated by an additional principal characteristic:
The Roman Empire In 27 BC, Augustus became the first emperor of Rome, thus creating a strong leader figure, which could shape and mold the Republic system into what was best for the empire or themselves. During the reign of the emperors, the political policies for Rome would vary according to, which emperor was in power. Not only were politics shaky, but there never was a clear-cut method of succession for the man who controlled those politics. Rome had created the position of emperor in hopes that men like Augustus would continue to lead her into prosperity, however the office of emperor struggled in attempting to find great men to lead Rome. The office never truly evolved into something greater than when it had been created, but rather the office varied according to the personality of the man in the position.
Just outside the boundaries of the Roman empire of the first and second centuries, beyond the Rhine River, and occupying the area of Central Europe of what is today Germany, lived the tribes of the Germanic people. In Germania, the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus gave an account of the lifestyles and organization of these peculiar barbarians. These descendants of modern Germans proved peculiar in that they adopted many qualities typical of barbaric cultures, yet they simultaneously practiced virtues more befitting of advanced civilizations, values more ethical than even the Roman empire of the time. The German warriors had a rigid code that defined how to live honorable lives and shameful acts to avoid committing, and the warriors also adhered to strict tradition in their relationship with their king or chief.
Throughout history, no other era was more significant than that of the Roman Empire. The power and influence of the Roman government and it=s rule over the world was accomplished by the Roman Army. The Roman army was the ultimate weapon of war because of the well trained men, their effective weapons and their brilliant battle tactics.
In the fifth century Barbarians collapsed the Roman Empire and Europe entered the Dark Ages. Around this time the Visigoths expanded their empire by heading for Spain. Upon arriving in Spain, the Visigoths encountered Jews whom they treated somewhat gently until the Visigoths converted to Catholicism; the Visigoths then overran Jews. Soon after, Muslims from North Africa known as Berbers decided to invade the Iberian Peninsula in hopes to take control of Spain and expand the Muslim reign, which they did. This sudden change in rule of the territory provided a sense of relief for all the people living in Spain. The reason for this was because the Muslims treated everyone equally so long as they abided by Muslim authority and paid taxes. After all, the Christians...
It is a common thing: an innocent, kind, humane person joins the military, goes to war, and comes back as a psychological disaster. They either become paranoid, depressed, anything to this nature. However, there are also individuals who go to war with prior psychological conditions. In J.M. Coetzee’s novel “Waiting for the Barbarians”, is reflective of these two situations. In the novel, war breaks out between an Empire and a group of nomads, the barbarians. In between all of this, is the protagonist, the magistrate, a man with a position of power in the military, who opposes the war. Much like actual war, there is an array of different psychological disorders portrayed through the characters, with some characters having disorders before that influence their performance in battle, or those who get them after, as a result of the horrific acts of torture and violence they either see or experience. While characters like Colonel Joll and Mandel have psychological conditions that make them ideal torturers, their victims display their own psychological disorders that result from the torture inflicted upon them. And though the citizens are not directly fighting in this war, they fall victim to the pressures of war and Colonel Joll and compromise their personal beliefs and morals in favor of the majority rule.
Charlemagne is often regarded as the greatest ruler of the Middle Ages (500-1500). He had created an empire that stretched from the North Sea to Italy (Monroe 13). Louis the Pious was Charlemagne’s only surviving son. This made things easy, because when the time came, Louis the Pious would be the clear choice for an heir. Louis the Pious reigned from 814 to 840 (Macmillan).
After the Pope gave his speech, he surprised himself with the terrific response he got. Huge amounts of Christens From Western Europe responded to the Pope’s speech and were very enthused and excited about it too. The Crusaders regained control of Jerusalem for the first time in almost five hundred years in July of 1099. Then the Christens set up several Latin states as the Muslims vowed to wage holy war, to eventually regain control over the region. The relations were diminishing between the Crusaders and their Christen allies in the Byzantine Empire, because of the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the third Crusade. Almost one century after the Crusaders got control of the Holy Land the rising Mamluk Dynasty in Egypt had the final blow on the Crusaders, destroying the stronghold of the coast in Acre and pushing the European invaders out of Palestine and Syria in 1291. However, the Crusaders made a peace treaty that guaranteed them the Kingdom of Jerusalem was theirs, and this was how the end of the third Crusade happened.
A fierce group of warriors that had a fervor to overthrow the relentless Roman Empire, would stop at nothing to end the Romans reign of terror over their people. Consisting of Asian and European backgrounds, the Huns were not the people you wanted to see walking down your neighborhood. The insane battle techniques that they had would make you drop to your knees and beg them not to harm you. If you were ever killed by a Hun, your head would be hanging off of him like a trophy. If you were as unlucky as stepping under a ladder while a black cat is crossing you, then you must have felt like the Romans as the Huns stopped by.