1.

The Aztecs (1325 to 1521)

Political control of the populous and agriculturally rich central valley of Mexico fell into confusion after
1100. Gradually assuming ever-greater power were the Aztecs, probably a northern tribe that had
migrated to the valley and occupied a minor town on the shore of the great central lake. They were a
society that valued the skills of warriors above all others, and this emphasis gave them an advantage
against rival tribes in the region. By the end of the 15th century, the Aztecs controlled all of central
Mexico as a military empire that collected tribute from rivals.

The Aztec culture drew upon the experience of those that came before it and invented little that was
new. They had an advanced agriculture that supported a very large population. They built immense
buildings of grand design and flourished in many arts. They were adept metal workers, but had no iron.
Lacking any suitable draft animal, they made no motive use of the wheel.

One of the distinctive features of the Aztec culture was its penchant for sacrifice. Aztec myths dictated
that human blood be fed to the Sun to give it the strength to rise each day. Human sacrifices were
conducted on a grand scale; several thousand in a single day were not uncommon. Victims were often
decapitated or flayed, and hearts were cut from living victims. Sacrifices were conducted at the top of
tall pyramids to be close to the sun and blood flowed down the steps. Although the Aztec economy was
based primarily on corn (or maize), the people believed that crops depended on the regular provision of
sacrificial blood.

The incessant demand for sacrificial victims meant that the Aztecs tolerated loose control over satellite
cities because frequent revolts offered opportunities for capturing new victims. During times of peace,
"garland wars" were arranged strictly as contests of courage and warrior skill, and for the purpose of
capturing victims. They fought with wooden clubs to maim and stun, rather than kill. When fighting to
kill, the clubs were studded with obsidian blades.

Despite their great agriculture and arts, the Aztecs appear in retrospect to have been a waning society.
They passed on no significant technology or ideas of religion or political theory. Their civilization was
brought to an abrupt end by the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century. Already devastated by
European disease passed by early traders, they fell to a small Spanish army armed with steel weapons,
firearms, and riding a few horses. The cruelty of the Aztecs contributed to their downfall by making it
easy for the Spanish to enlist allies among the non-Aztecs in Mexico.
 2. The Britons (500 On)

Following the withdrawal of the Roman legions to Gaul (modern France) around 400, the British Isles fell
into a very dark period of several centuries from which almost no written records survive. The Romano-
British culture that had existed under 400 years of Roman rule disappeared under relentless invasion
and migration by barbarians. Celts came over from Ireland (a tribe called the Scotti gave their name to
the northern part of the main island, Scotland). Saxons and Angles came from Germany, Frisians from
modern Holland, and Jutes from modern Denmark. By 600, the Angles and Saxons controlled most of
modern England. By 800, only modern Wales, Scotland, and West Cornwall remained in largely Celtic
hands.

The new inhabitants were called Anglo-Saxons (from the Angles and Saxons). The Angles gave their
name to the new culture (England from Angle-land), and the Germanic language they brought with
them, English, replaced the native Celtic and previously imported Latin. Despite further invasions and
even a complete military conquest at a later date, the southern and eastern parts of the largest British
Isle have been called England (and its people and language English) ever since.

In 865 the relative peace of England was shattered by a new invasion. Danish Vikings who had been
raiding France and Germany formed a great army and turned their attention on the English. Within 10
years, most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had fallen or surrendered. Only the West Saxons (modern
Wessex) held out under Alfred, the only English ruler to be called "the Great."

England was divided among the Vikings, the West Saxons, and a few other English kingdoms for nearly
200 years. The Viking half was called the Danelaw ("under Danish law"). The Vikings collected a large
payment, called the Danegeld ("the Dane's gold"), to be peaceful. The Danes became Christians and
gradually became more settled. In time the English turned on the Danes, and in 954 the last Viking king
of York was killed. England was united for the first time under an English king from Wessex.

In 1066 the Witan ("king's council") offered the crown to Harold, son of the Earl of Wessex. Two others
claimed the throne: Harald Hardrada (meaning "the hard ruler"), King of Norway, and Duke William of
Normandy. The Norwegian landed first, near York, but was defeated by Harold at the battle of Stamford
Bridge. Immediately after the victory, Harold force-marched his army south to meet William at Hastings.
The battle seesawed back and forth all day, but near dusk Harold was mortally wounded by an arrow in
the eye. Over the next two years, William, now "the Conqueror," solidified his conquest of England.

During the remainder of the Middle Ages, the successors of William largely exhausted themselves and
their country in a series of confrontations and wars attempting to expand or defend land holdings in
France. The Hundred Years War between England and France was an on-and-off conflict that stretched
from 1337 to 1453. It was triggered by an English king's claim to the throne of France, thanks to family
intermarriages. The war was also fought over control of the lucrative wool trade and French support for
Scotland's independence. The early part of the war featured a string of improbable, yet complete,
English victories, thanks usually to English longbowmen mowing down hordes of ornately armored
French knights from long range.

The English could not bring the war to closure, however, and the French rallied. Inspired by Joan of Arc,
a peasant girl who professed divine guidance, the French fought back, ending the war with the capture
of Bordeaux in 1453. The English were left holding only Calais on the mainland (and not for long).
 3. The Byzantines (476 to 1453)

The Byzantines took their name from Byzantium, an ancient city on the Bosphorus, the strategic
waterway linking the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea. The Roman Emperor Constantine had renamed this
city Constantinople in the fourth century and made it a sister capital of his empire. This eastern partition
of the Roman Empire outlived its western counterpart by a thousand years, defending Europe against
invasions from the east by Persians, Arabs, and Turks. The Byzantines persevered because
Constantinople was well defended by walls and the city could be supplied by sea. At their zenith in the
sixth century, the Byzantines covered much of the territories of the original Roman Empire, lacking only
the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal), Gaul (modern France), and Britain. The Byzantines
also held Syria, Egypt, and Palestine, but by the middle of the seventh century they had lost them to the
Arabs. From then on their empire consisted mainly of the Balkans and modern Turkey.

The first great Byzantine emperor was Justinian I (482 to 565). His ambition was to restore the old
Roman Empire and he nearly succeeded. His instrument was the greatest general of the age, Belisarius,
who crisscrossed the empire defeating Persians to the East, Vandals in North Africa, Ostrogoths in Italy,
and Bulgars and Slavs in the Balkans. In addition to military campaigns, Justinian laid the foundation for
the future by establishing a strong legal and administrative system and by defending the Christian
Church.

The Byzantine economy was the richest in Europe for many centuries because Constantinople was
ideally sited on trade routes between Asia, Europe, the Black Sea, and the Aegean Sea. It was an
important destination point for the Silk Road from China. The nomisma, the principal Byzantine gold
coin, was the standard for money throughout the Mediterranean for 800 years. Constantinople's
strategic position eventually attracted the envy and animosity of the Italian city-states.

A key strength of the Byzantine Empire was its generally superior army that drew on the best elements
of the Roman, Greek, Gothic, and Middle Eastern experience in war. The core of the army was a shock
force of heavy cavalry supported by both light infantry (archers) and heavy infantry (armored
swordsmen). The army was organized into units and drilled in tactics and maneuvers. Officers received
an education in military history and theory. Although outnumbered usually by masses of untrained
warriors, it prevailed thanks to intelligent tactics and good discipline. The army was backed by a network
of spies and secret agents that provided information about enemy plans and could be used to bribe or
otherwise deflect aggressors.

The Byzantine navy kept the sea-lanes open for trade and kept supply lines free so the city could not be
starved into submission when besieged. In the eighth century, a land and sea attack by Arabs was
defeated largely by a secret weapon, Greek fire. This chemical weapon, its composition now unknown,
was a sort of liquid napalm that could be sprayed from a hose. The Arab navy was devastated at sea by
Greek fire.

In the seventh and eighth centuries, the Arabs overran Egypt, the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain,
removing these areas permanently from Byzantine control. A Turkish victory at Manzikert in 1071 led to
the devastation of Asia Minor, the empire's most important source of grain, cattle, horses, and soldiers.
In 1204 Crusaders led by the Doge of Venice used treachery to sack and occupy Constantinople.

In the fourteenth century, the Turks invaded Europe, capturing Adrianople and bypassing
Constantinople. They settled the Balkans in large numbers and defeated a large crusader army at
Nicopolis in 1396. In May 1453, Turkish sultan Mehmet II captured a weakly defended Constantinople
with the aid of heavy cannon. The fall of the city brought the Byzantine Empire to an end.
 4. The Celts (500 to 1500)

The Celts (pronounced "kelts") were the ancient inhabitants of Northern Europe and the builders of
Stonehenge 5000 years ago. Julius Caesar had battled them during his conquest of Gaul. The Romans
eventually took most of Britain and the Iberian Peninsula from them as well. At the end of the ancient
Roman Empire, the Celts occupied only parts of northwestern France, Ireland, Wales, and parts of
Scotland. During the course of the Middle Ages, they strengthened their hold on Scotland and made
several attempts to take more of England.

The Irish remained in small bands during the early Middle Ages. By 800 the four provinces of Leinster,
Munster, Connaught, and Ulster had risen to power under "high kings." Viking raids began in 795 and
then Viking settlements were established in the middle ninth century. The most important of these was
at Dublin. Brian Boru became the first high king of all Ireland around 1000. In 1014 the Irish defeated the
Danes of Dublin at Clontarf, although Brian Boru was killed.

An Irish tribe called the Scotti invaded what is now southern Scotland during the early Middle Ages,
settling permanently and giving the land its name. They pushed back and absorbed the native Picts who
had harassed the Romans to the south. The Scottish kingdom took its present shape during the eleventh
century but attracted English interference. The Scots responded with the "auld (old) alliance" with
France, which became the foundation of their diplomacy for centuries to come. Edward I of England
(Longshanks, or "hammer of the Scots") annexed Scotland in 1296.

William Wallace (Braveheart) led a revolt of Scotland, winning virtual independence at the Battle of
Stirling Bridge in 1297. Defeated the next year at Falkirk, Wallace waged a guerrilla war until he was
betrayed, captured, and executed in 1305. Robert the Bruce declared himself king of Scotland after
murdering his main rival. He drove out the English, winning the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Edward
III of England recognized Scotland's independence in 1328, but war between the Scots and English
carried on for several centuries. The crowns of the two countries were united in 1603, long after the
Middle Ages were over.

No prince in Wales proved strong enough to unite the country. In the late thirteenth century, Edward I
took over the government of Gwynedd, one of the strongest Welsh principalities in Wales. He
proceeded to build five great castles in Wales, effectively placing the country under English rule.
 5. The Chinese (581 to 1644)

China was reunited in 581 AD after a long period of internal war by the founders of the Sui dynasty. For
most of the 1000 years that followed, China was one of the largest and most advanced civilization in the
world. Because of its geographic isolation from the West, it was able to develop and maintain a unique
culture that spread its influence over much of Asia.

An emperor generally held supreme power as the son of heaven. Natural disasters or other calamities
were taken as proof that the mandate of heaven had been withdrawn, however, and could justify revolt.
Mandarins were conservative civil servants who operated most of the government at the local, province,
and imperial level. Mandarins earned their positions by passing detailed civil service examinations based
mainly on the works of Confucius.

The T'ang dynasty ruled China from 618 to 907. China under the T'ang was large, wealthy, and powerful.
There was extensive foreign trade and interest in the arts among the upper class. Printing and
gunpowder were invented. The last 100 years of T'ang rule witnessed tumultuous peasant revolts,
however, and wars between local military rulers that the imperial court could not end. The years from
907 to 960 were known as the Five Dynasties period. Northern China was held by barbarians, and
southern China split into 10 rival states. From one of these, an army general named Zhao Kuang-ying
seized power and unified the southern states, founding the Song dynasty. His descendants reunited
China within 20 years.

The Song dynasty ruled at least part of China until 1279. This was another period of cultural brilliance,
and it was considered the great age of Chinese landscape painting. There was a dramatic improvement
in economic activity, including a large overseas trade. Population and cities grew, food production grew
faster than population, a money economy developed, and industrial output increased. No city in Europe
could approach the populations of Chang An, Beijing, and Guang Zhou, all with more than 2 million
inhabitants.

The wealth of China attracted enemies, however, and the Mongols began attacks in 1206. By 1279 they
had completed the conquest of Song China and moved the capital to Beijing. The dramatic economic
improvement of the Song dynasty ended with the Mongol conquests and the estimated 30 million
deaths that they caused. The Mongol Yuan dynasty reunited China and reestablished it as a great
military and world power. Chinese influence was spread into Asia. Hanoi was captured three times and
tribute was extracted from Burma. Trade with India, Arabia, and the Persian Gulf was developed. Marco
Polo visited China during this period.

Natural disasters and higher taxes in the fourteenth century caused rural rebellions. A Buddhist monk
rose to be one of the leaders of the Red Turbans, a secret society opposed to the emperor in Beijing. The
rebels seized Nanjing in 1356 and drove the Mongols from Beijing 12 years later, establishing the Ming
dynasty. The Ming presided over another cultural flowering and established a political unity that
outlasted the Ming and continued into the twentieth century. The Ming clamped down a strict
conservatism and isolation, however, discouraging change and innovation, banning foreign travel, and
closing the Silk Road.

Some of the most noteworthy aspects of medieval China are the technologies that were invented there,
usually many centuries before a similar technology was invented in, or transmitted to, the West.
Important Chinese inventions included the compass, the wheelbarrow, the abacus, the horse harness,
the stirrup, the clock, iron-casting, steel, paper, moveable type (printing), paper money, gunpowder, and
the stern-post rudder.
 6. The Franks (509 On)

The Franks were one of the Germanic barbarian tribes known to the Romans. In the early part of the
fifth century, they began expanding south from their homeland along the Rhine River into Roman-
controlled Gaul (modern France). Unlike other Germanic tribes, however, they did not move out of their
homelands but, rather, added to them. Clovis, a Frankish chieftan, defeated the last Roman armies in
Gaul and united the Franks by 509, becoming the ruler of much of western Europe. During the next 1000
years, this Frankish kingdom gradually became the modern nation of France.

The kingdom of Clovis was divided after his death among his four sons, according to custom. This led to
several centuries of civil warfare and struggle between successive claimants to the throne. By the end of
the seventh century, the Merovingian kings (descendants of Clovis) were rulers in name only. In the
early eighth century, Charles Martel became mayor of the palace, the ruler behind the throne. He
converted the Franks into a cavalry force and fought so well that his enemies gave him the name of
Charles the Hammer. In 732 the Frankish cavalry defeated Muslim invaders moving north from Spain at
the Battle of Poitiers, stopping forever the advance of Islam from the southwest.

Charles Martel's son, Pepin, was made king of the Franks by the pope in return for helping to defend
Italy from the Lombards. Pepin founded the dynasty of the Carolingians, and the greatest of these rulers
was Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, who ruled from 768 to 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom
into an empire and was responsible for a rebirth of culture and learning in the West. Charlemagne's
empire was divided among his grandsons and thereafter coalesced into two major parts. The western
part became the kingdom of France. Later kings gradually lost political control of France, however.
Central authority broke down under the pressure of civil wars, border clashes, and Viking raids. Money
and soldiers could be raised only by making concessions to landholders. Fiefs became hereditary and fief
holders became feudal lords over their own vassals. By the tenth century, France had been broken into
feudal domains that acted as independent states.

In 987 the French nobility elected Hugh Capet their king, mainly because his fief centered on Paris was
weak and he was thought to pose no threat. He founded the Capetian line of kings, who worked slowly
for two centuries regaining the power by making royal roads safe, adding land to their domain,
encouraging trade, and granting royal charters for new towns and fiefs in vacant lands. By allying
themselves with the church, the Capetians took a strong moral position and benefited from the church's
cultural, political, and social influence. Royal administrators were made loyal to the king and more
efficient by eliminating the inheritance of government offices.

Beginning with Philip II in 1180, three superior rulers established France as one of the most important
nations in Europe. They improved the working of the government, encouraged a booming trade,
collected fees efficiently, and strengthened their position atop the feudal hierarchy. Although a national
assembly called the Estates General was established, it held no real power and was successfully ignored.

From 1337 to 1453 France and England fought the long conflict called the Hundred Years War to decide
ownership of lands in France that had been inherited by English kings. The eventual French victory
confirmed the king as the most powerful political force in France.
 7. The Goths (200 to 714)

The Goths were a Germanic tribe on the Danube River frontier known to the Romans from the first
century AD. Pressured and then displaced when the Huns moved west out of Central Asia, the Goths
moved west into Europe and over the Danube River to escape the oncoming hordes. After taking part in
the fall of Rome, they vied with other barbarians for the leavings of the Western Roman Empire during
the Early Middle Ages.

The Goths originated on the island of Gotland in the Baltic, to the best of our knowledge, and split into
two groups as they migrated south across Central Europe. The Visigoths, or West Goths, settled in
modern Romania during the second century. The Ostrogoths, or East Goths, settled farther to the east
on the northwest coast of the Black Sea. In 376 AD the Visigoths were driven from modern Romania by
the Huns and moved south across the Danube. Their strength was estimated at 60,000 men, women,
and children. They defeated a Roman army from Constantinople, settled briefly south of the Danube,
and then pushed into Italy. In 409 they sacked Rome under their king Alaric and then moved north into
Gaul. The Romans gave them southwestern Gaul. From there they eventually extended their rule into all
of modern Spain and Portugal.

The Ostrogoths broke away from Hunnish rule and followed their cousins into Italy late in the fifth
century. They were encouraged to invade by the Eastern emperor, who wanted deposed the barbarian
then ruling as viceroy. Under Theodric, king of modern Switzerland and the Balkans already, the Goths
entered Italy in 488, completing its conquest in 493.

Theodric's kingdom did not last long following his death in 526. Using a struggle for succession as an
excuse, the Byzantines sent an army to Italy in 536 led by their great general Belisarius. The Byzantines
hoped to regain Italy and restore the old Roman Empire in the West. The war dragged on, devastating
the countryside in conjunction with plague and famine. In 552 the Ostrogoths were finally defeated in
Italy. They ceased to exist as a separate group by the late sixth century when northern Italy was invaded
by a new group of barbarians called the Lombards.

The Visigoth kingdom lasted somewhat longer. In the late fifth century Clovis of the Franks pushed the
Visigoths out of France and over the Pyrenees Mountains. Following the death of Clovis his kingdom
fragmented and the Visigoths were temporarily left alone. In 711 a new threat appeared from the south.
Islamic armies crossed over from North Africa and destroyed the last Gothic kingdom in four years.

The Goths are remembered for being the first to sack Rome and thereby beginning the final collapse of
the ancient world order in Europe. Their admiration for Rome and attempts to preserve it, however,
allowed much of the Roman culture to survive. For example, the modern languages of Italy, France,
Spain, Portugal, and Romania are derived from Latin influenced by later settlers. They are not variations
of German, as was the case in England.
 8. The Huns (408 to 453)

The Huns were a nomadic people from around Mongolia in Central Asia that began migrating toward the
west in the third century, probably due to climatic change. They were a horse people and very adept at
mounted warfare, both with spears and bows. Moving with their families and great herds of horses and
domesticated animals they migrated in search of new grasslands to settle. Due to their military prowess
and discipline, they proved unstoppable, displacing all in their path. They set in motion a tide of
migration before them as other peoples moved to get out of their way. This domino effect of large
populations passed around the hard nut of Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire to spill over
the Danube and Rhine Rivers, and ultimately overwhelm the Western Roman Empire by 476.

Finding lands to their liking, the Huns settled on the Hungarian plain in Eastern Europe, making their
headquarters at the city of Szeged on the Tisza River. They needed large expanses of grasslands to
provide forage for their horses and other animals. From this area of plains the Huns controlled through
alliance or conquest an empire eventually stretching from the Ural Mountains in Russia to the Rhône
River in France.

The Huns were superb horsemen, trained from childhood, and some believe they invented the stirrup,
critical for increasing the fighting power of a mounted man charging with a couched lance. They inspired
terror in enemies due to the speed at which they could move, changing ponies several times a day to
maintain their advance. A second advantage was their recurved composite bow, far superior to anything
used in the West. Standing in their stirrups, they could fire forward, to the sides, and to the rear. Their
tactics featured surprise, lightning attacks, and the ensuing terror. They were an army of light cavalry
and their political structure required a strong leader to hold them to a purpose.

The peak of Hun power came during the rule of Attila, who became a leader of the Huns in 433 and
began a series of raids into south Russia and Persia. He then turned his attention to the Balkans, causing
sufficient terror and havoc on two major raids to be bribed to leave. In 450 he turned to the Western
Empire, crossing the Rhine north of Mainz with perhaps 100,000 warriors. Advancing on a front of 100
miles, he sacked most of the towns in what is now northern France. The Roman general Aetius raised a
Gallo-Roman army and advanced against Attila, who was besieging the city of Orleans. At the major
battle of Chalôns, Attila was defeated, though not destroyed.

The defeat at Chalôns is considered one of the decisive battles of history, one that could have meant
collapse of the Christian religion in Western Europe and perhaps domination of the area by Asian
peoples.

Attila then invaded Italy, seeking new plunder. As he passed into Italy, refugees escaped to the islands
off the coast, founding, according to tradition, the city of Venice. Though Roman forces were depleted
and their main army still in Gaul, the Huns were weak as well, depleted by incessant campaigns, disease,
and famine in Italy. At a momentous meeting with Pope Leo I, Attila agreed to withdraw.

The Hun empire disintegrated following the death of Attila in 453 with no strong leader of his ability to
hold it together. Subject peoples revolted and factions within their group fought each other for
dominance. They eventually disappeared under a tide of new invaders, such as the Avars, and
disappeared from history.
 9. The Japanese (500 to 1340)

Located 100 miles off the mainland of Asia, at its closest point, Japan was a land of mystery at the edge
of civilization. Isolated at first by geography and later by choice, the Japanese developed a distinctive
culture that drew very little from the outside world. At the beginning of what were the Middle Ages in
Europe, the advanced culture of Japan was centered at the north end of the Inland Sea on the main
island of Honshu. Across the Hakone Mountains to the east lay the Kanto, an alluvial plain that was the
single largest rice-growing area on the islands. To the north and east of the Kanto was the frontier,
beyond which lived aboriginal Japanese who had occupied the islands since Neolithic times.

Some believe that by the fifth century AD the Yamato court had become largely ceremonial.
Independent clans, known as uji, held the real power behind the throne. Clan leaders formed a sort of
aristocracy and vied with each other for effective control of land and the throne.

In 536 the Soga clan became predominant and produced the first great historical statesman, Prince
Shotoku, who instituted reforms that laid the foundation of Japanese culture for generations to come. In
645, power shifted from the Soga clan to the Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwara presided over most of the
Heian period (794 to 1185). The new leadership imposed the Taika Reform of 645, which attempted to
redistribute the rice-growing land, establish a tax on agricultural production, and divide the country into
provinces. Too much of the country remained outside imperial influence and control, however. Real
power shifted to great families that rose to prominence in the rice-growing lands. Conflict among these
families led to civil war and the rise of the warrior class.

Similar to the experience of medieval western Europe, the breakdown of central authority in Japan, the
rise of powerful local nobles, and conflict with barbarians at the frontier combined to create a culture
dominated by a warrior elite. These warriors became known as Samurai, ("those who serve"), who were
roughly equivalent to the European knight. A military government replaced the nobility as the power
behind the throne at the end of the twelfth century. The head of the military government was the
Shogun.

Samurai lived by a code of the warrior, something like the European code of chivalry. The foundation of
the warrior code was loyalty to the lord. The warrior expected leadership and protection. In return he
obeyed his lord's commands without question and stood ready to die on his lord's behalf. A Samurai
placed great emphasis on his ancestry and strove to carry on family traditions. He behaved so as to earn
praise. He was to be firm and show no cowardice. Warriors went into battle expecting and looking to
die. It was felt that a warrior hoping to live would fight poorly.

The Kamakura period (1185 to 1333) was named after a region of Japan dominated by a new ruling clan
that took power after civil war. The Mongols attempted to invade Japan twice, in 1274 and 1281, but
were repulsed both times. A fortuitous storm caused great loss to the second Mongol invasion fleet.
 10. The Koreans (314 - 1598)

When Europe fell into its Dark Age, Korea had been divided into three competing kingdoms: Koguryo to
the north, Paekche to the southwest, and Shilla to the southeast. In alliance with China, Shilla conquered
the other two kingdoms in the 7th century and then expelled their erstwhile Chinese ally. The central
authority of Shilla disintegrated in the 8th-9th centuries, however, under pressure from local lords.
Korea was unified once again as Koryo in the 10th century and after that, recovered territory reaching
up to the Amnok River border with China in 993. The civilian nobility was thrown out of power by a
military coup in 1170 and military rule then lasted for sixty years.

The Mongols invaded in 1231, initiating a 30-year struggle. The Mongols were often distracted by their
wars in China and elsewhere but eventually brought enough power to bear that Koryo made peace with
the invaders in 1258. Under the Mongols the Koryo maintained their distinct culture and were inspired
to demonstrate their superiority to their conquerors through a burst of artistic accomplishment.

Land reform, the rise of a new bureaucracy, the diminishment of Buddhism, and the rise of
Confucianism around 1400 were part of the creation of a new kingdom, the Choson, that would rule
Korea until the 20th century. China heavily influenced the Choson politically and culturally. Korea
became an important center of learning, aided by the invention of movable type and the woodblock
technique of publishing around 1234.

The greatest test of the Choson dynasty was invasion by samurai armies from Japan in 1592 that
ostensibly planned to conquer China. Although seven years of fighting left much of the Korean peninsula
devastated, the Japanese were forced to withdraw because their fleets could not keep open sea lines of
supply and reinforcement back to Japan. The great Korean admiral Yi Sun-Shin defeated the Japanese at
sea. One key to the Korean naval victories was their innovative turtle ships, the first cannon-bearing
armored ships in history. The Japanese had no answer for these slow but powerful weapons.
 11. The Mayans (250 to 1546)

The Mayans occupied the Yucatan peninsula, modern Honduras, and modern Guatemala. They date
back perhaps to the second millennium BC, but peaked between 600 and 900 AD. Though they lived on
lands of marginal agricultural value, they created monuments and ceremonial centers nearly as
impressive as those in Egypt. The extent of the ceremonial building is surprising because their religion
was relatively simple. Their architecture was also less developed, though undeniably impressive,
compared to contemporary advances made elsewhere in the world. They invented a unique written
language that is only being deciphered today. Three Mayan books survive to the present, the remnants
of a much larger number destroyed by Europeans who feared they contained heresy.

The Mayans were very proficient in mathematics and astronomy. The understanding and predictability
of star and planet movements was critical to the calculation of their calendar and the dating of
important ceremonies. They lived in small hamlets that have not survived but congregated at their
centers for important events. Noble warriors and priests controlled their society.

The Mayans went into decline in the tenth century, perhaps due to earthquake or volcanic eruption.
Many of their important ceremonial sites were thereafter abandoned. Warriors from central Mexico
then invaded their territory and they broke into small town groupings in the rain forest. The last Mayan
center was captured by the Spanish in the 17th century, but as many as two million people of Mayan
descent reside in the Yucatan today.
 12. The Mongols (1206 to 1405)

The Mongols were nomads from the steppes of Central Asia. They were fierce warriors who fought each
other over pasturelands and raided developed civilizations to the east and south. At the beginning of the
thirteenth century, the Mongol clans united and began a campaign of foreign conquest. Following in the
hoof-prints of the Huns, their predecessors by a thousand years, they carved out one of the largest
empires the world has yet seen.

The Mongols inhabited the plains south of Lake Baikal in modern Mongolia. At its maximum, their
empire stretched from Korea, across Asia, and into European Russia to the Baltic Sea coast. They held
most of Asia Minor, modern Iraq, modern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet, parts of India, parts of
Burma, all of China, and parts of Vietnam.

The Mongol clans were united by Temuchin, called Genghis Khan ("mighty ruler"), in the early thirteenth
century. His ambition was to rule all lands between the oceans (Pacific and Atlantic) and he nearly did
so. Beginning with only an estimated 25,000 warriors, he added strength by subjugating other nomads
and attacked northern China in 1211. He took Beijing in 1215 after a campaign that may have cost 30
million Chinese lives. The Mongols then turned west, capturing the great trading city Bukhara on the Silk
Road in 1220. The city was burned to the ground and the inhabitants murdered.

Following Genghis Khan's death in 1227, his son Ogedei completed the conquest of northern China and
advanced into Europe. He destroyed Kiev in 1240 and advanced into Hungary. When Ogedei died on
campaign in 1241, the entire army fell back to settle the question of succession. Europe was spared as
Mongol rulers concentrated their efforts against the Middle East and southern China. Hulagu, a
grandson of Genghis, exterminated the Muslim "Assassins" and then took the Muslim capital of Baghdad
in 1258. Most of the city's 100,000 inhabitants were murdered. In 1260 a Muslim army of Egyptian
Mamelukes (warrior slaves of high status) defeated the Mongols in present-day Israel, ending the
Mongol threat to Islam and its holy cities.

Kublai Khan, another grandson of Genghis, completed the conquest of China in 1279, establishing the
Yuan dynasty. Attempted invasions of Japan were thrown back with heavy loss in 1274 and 1281. In
1294 Kublai Khan died in China, and Mongol power began to decline in Asia and elsewhere. In 1368 the
Yuan dynasty in China was overthrown in favor of the Ming.

In the 1370's a Turkish-Mongol warrior claiming descent from Genghis Khan fought his way to leadership
of the Mongol states of Central Asia and set out to restore the Mongol Empire. His name was Timur Leng
(Timur, "the Lame," or Tamerlane to Europeans and the Prince of Destruction to Asians). With another
army of 100,000 or so horsemen, he swept into Russia and Persia, fighting mainly other Muslims. In
1398 he sacked Delhi, murdering 100,000 inhabitants. He rushed west defeating an Egyptian Mameluke
army in Syria. In 1402 he defeated a large Ottoman Turk army near modern Ankara. On the verge of
destroying the Ottoman Empire, he turned again suddenly. He died in 1405 while marching for China. He
preferred capturing wealth and engaged in wholesale slaughter, without pausing to install stable
governments in his wake. Because of this, the huge realm inherited by his sons fell apart quickly after his
death.
 13. The Persians (220 to 651)

The Persian Empire had existed for many centuries when the Middle Ages began. It had been
reassembled following the conquest by Alexander in the fourth century BC and the subsequent breakup
of his empire in later centuries. The Persians had been fighting the Romans since the third century AD.

The Persian Empire stretched from Mesopotamia to India and from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf,
encompassing the modern nations of Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. They fought the Romans, and later the
Byzantines, for control of modern Syria, Turkey, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, and Arabia. The capital of the
Persian Empire was Ctesiphon, called Baghdad today.

During the third and fourth centuries, the Romans made several attempts to subdue the Persians. In 364
a peace treaty was signed between the two that allowed the Persians to consolidate their power to the
east and north. Beginning with the sixth century, the Persians began attacking the Byzantine Empire in
Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and modern Turkey. The war between the two powers went back and forth. In
626 the Persians besieged Byzantium itself without success, and the Byzantines were able to invade
Persia the following year. Peace was made between the two exhausted empires in 628.

The Persians were unprepared for the fury of the Islamic Arabs in the seventh century. The Sassanid
dynasty of Persia ended in battle in 636. The Persians did not have a capital with defenses comparable
to those of Constantinople. Muslim conquest of Persia was complete by 651.
 14. The Saracens (613 On)

The name Saracen applied originally to nomadic desert peoples from the area stretching from modern
Syria to Saudi Arabia. In broader usage the name applied to all Arabs of the Middle Ages. These desert
nomads erupted suddenly in the seventh century and established a far-reaching empire within a century
and a half. Their conquest was fueled by faith and high morale. Following the teachings of the prophet
Mohammed, their intent was to change the religious and political landscape of the entire planet.

By 613 the prophet Mohammed was preaching a new religion he called Islam. Largely ignored in his
home city of Mecca, he withdrew to Medina, built up a strong following there, and returned to attack
and capture Mecca. Following his death in 632, his teachings were collected to form the Koran, the
Islamic holy book. In 634 his followers began their jihad, or holy war. Within five years they had overrun
Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Their tolerance of Jews and Christians eased their conquest because these
people had been suffering some persecution under the Byzantines.

In the next 60 years, both North Africa to the west and Persia to the east fell to Islam. In the early eighth
century, Saracens from Tangiers invaded the Iberian Peninsula and conquered the Visigoth kingdom
established there after the fall of Rome. In Asia they took Asia Minor from the Byzantines and attempted
to capture Constantinople with a combined attack from land and sea. The great walls of the city
frustrated the land attack and the Saracen fleet was defeated at sea. In the west, Charles Martel of the
Franks stopped a Saracen invasion of modern France in 732 at Poitiers.

Frustrated in the west, the forces of Islam turned east. By 750 they had conquered to the Indus River
and north over India into Central Asia to the borders of China.

In 656 the Muslim world fell into civil war between two factions, the Sunnites and the Shiites. They
differed on several points, including who should be caliph and interpretation of the Koran. The result of
the 60-year war was that the Islamic state broke into pieces, some governed by Sunnites (the Iberian
Peninsula) and others by Shiites (Egypt and modern Iraq). The new Islamic states acted independently,
thereafter.

Muslim Spain developed into one of the great states of Europe during the early Middle Ages. Muslims,
Jews, and Christians lived together in relative harmony, and a rich culture rose out of these multiple
influences. There was a flowering of the arts, architecture, and learning. By 1000, however, Muslim
Spain had divided into warring factions. This civil war facilitated the slow reconquest of the peninsula
(the Reconquista) by the emerging states of Castile and Aragon, completed finally in 1492.

Asia Minor and the Middle East were conquered by Muslim Turks in the early eleventh century. In
response to a call for aid from the Byzantines, a series of Crusades was launched from Europe to regain
Palestine from the Turks. The independent Muslim states in the area lost Palestine and the Eastern
Mediterranean coast to the First Crusade. In the last part of the twelfth century, the great Saracen
leader Saladin succeeded in uniting Egypt, Syria, and smaller states, and he retook Jerusalem.

The Muslim states remained independent long after the Middle Ages and eventually developed into the
modern Arab nations of the Middle East and North Africa. They went into economic decline, however,
when the European nations opened trade routes of their own to Asia in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries.
 15. The Spanish (712 On)

The history of Spain in the Middle Ages is written in three principal chapters: the creation of Visigothic
Spain, then Muslim Spain, and then Reconquista, the reconquest of Spain by Christians.

The Iberian peninsula was an appendage of the Roman Empire that was discarded as the empire
disintegrated because it could not be defended in the face of barbarian invasions that brought
devastation to the streets of Rome itself. The peninsula was occupied in large part by one of the
migrating barbarian groups, the Visigoths, who had come most recently from the southwestern plains of
modern Russia, displaced by the Huns. The Visigoths became Christian and occupied the center of the
peninsula for several centuries.

When one of the Visigoth lords appealed to Muslims in North Africa in the 8th century for aid against
the king, the door was opened for Muslim expansion across the Straits of Gibraltar. Within 50 years the
Muslims had taken most of the peninsula, leaving only small areas in the mountains and to the north
outside their control. Muslim, or Moorish, Spain quickly developed into one of the most advanced
European civilizations of the Middle Ages. It prospered in relative peace thanks to good agriculture,
trade, coinage, and industry. It benefited from the spread of learning throughout the Muslim world.
Cordoba became the largest and most sophisticated city in Europe after Constantinople, featuring a
population of over 500,000, wonderful architecture, great works of art, a fabulous library, and important
centers of learning.

Peace and prosperity were disrupted by internal disruption, however, as important local rulers
competed for overall power, and by external attack, both from the Christian north and Muslim North
Africa. By the middle of the 13th century, Muslim Spain was reduced to a single kingdom centered on
Granada. The Christian kingdoms of the north gradually ate away at Muslim power, though their effort
was often dispersed when they fought with each other. Portugal split off and created a separate
kingdom. Muslim Granada survived for several centuries thanks to liberal tribute paid to the Christians
to its north and to clever diplomacy that played their enemies against each other. In 1469, however,
Isabel I of Castile married Fernando II of Aragon, uniting the two competing Christian kingdoms and
foreshadowing the end of Muslim Spain.

Spain of the Middle Ages was a world of contrasts. It featured the great advantages of a multi-ethnic
society, merging Latin, Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Muslim influences into a unique and rich culture. At
the same time, however, many of these same cultural forces clashed violently. When two different
cultures clash, the result is often grim. The reconquest dragged on for eight centuries, mirroring the
Crusades in the holy land and creating an atmosphere that became increasingly pitiless and intolerant.
The Christian warriors who eventually expelled the Muslims earned a reputation for being among the
best fighters in Europe.

Granada fell to the forces of Aragon and Castile at the start of 1492, a momentous year, as under the
patronage of Queen Isabel, Christopher Columbus subsequently discovered for Europeans the great
continents of the New World and their native populations.
 16. The Teutons (919 to 1250)

The origin of Germany traces back to the crowning of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in 800.
Upon his death the empire was split into three parts that gradually coalesced into two: the western
Frankish kingdom that became France and the eastern kingdom that became Germany. The title of Holy
Roman Emperor remained in Charlemagne's family until the tenth century when they died out. In 919
Henry, Duke of Saxony, was elected king of Germany by his fellow dukes. His son Otto became emperor
in 962.

The Holy Roman Empire that Otto I controlled extended over the German plain north to the Baltic,
eastward into parts of modern Poland, and southward through modern Switzerland, modern Austria,
and northern Italy. From the outset, the emperors had a difficult problem keeping control of two
disparate regions-Germany and Italy-that were separated by the Alps.

The Holy Roman Empire was successful at first because it benefited the principal members, Germany
and Italy. The Germans were not far removed from the barbarian condition. They had been conquered
by Charlemagne only a century earlier. They benefited greatly from Italian culture, technology, and
trade. The Italians welcomed the relative peace and stability the empire ensured. Italy had been invaded
time and again for the previous 500 years. The protection of the empire defended the papacy and
allowed the city-states of Italy to begin their growth.

The imperial armies were manned partially by tenants of church lands who owed service to the
emperor. A second important contingent were the ministriales, a corps of serfs who received the best
training and equipment as knights but who were not free men. These armies were used to put down
revolts or interference by local nobles and peasants or to defend against raids by Vikings from the north
and Magyars from the east.

Because Germany remained a collection of independent principalities in competition, German warriors

became very skilled. The most renowned German soldiers were the Teutonic Knights, a religious order of
warriors inspired by the Crusades. The Teutonic Knights spread Christianity into the Baltic region by
conquest but were eventually halted by Alexander Nevsky at the battle on frozen Lake Peipus.

A confrontation between the emperors and the church over investiture of bishops weakened the
emperors in both Germany and Italy. During periods of temporary excommunication of the emperor and
outright war against Rome, imperial authority lapsed. The local German princes solidified their holdings
or fought off the Vikings with no interference or help from the emperor. In Italy, the rising city-states
combined to form the Lombard League and refused to recognize the emperor.

Political power in both Germany and Italy shifted from the emperor to the local princes and cities. The
ministriales rebelled, taking control of the cities and castles they garrisoned and declaring themselves
free. During desperate attempts to regain Italy, more concessions were given to the local princes in
Germany. By the middle of the thirteenth century, the Holy Roman Empire existed in name only. The
throne remained empty for 20 years. The German princes cared only about their own holdings. The
Italian city-states did not want a German ruler and were strong enough to defend themselves.
Future emperors in the Middle Ages were elected by the German princes but they ruled in name only,
controlling little more than their own family estates. Germany remained a minor power in Europe for
centuries to come.
 17. The Turks (1030 On)

The name Turk refers to two different Muslim groups of the Middle East-first the Seljuks and then the
Ottomans. The Seljuks, nomads from the steppes near the Caspian Sea, converted to Islam around the
tenth century. Approximately 70,000 Seljuks started as mercenaries to fill the ranks of the Islamic army
of the caliph of Baghdad. These mercenaries converted to the Sunni branch of Islam. In 1055 they
became the real power behind the caliph in Baghdad and began extending their rule. Their leaders took
the title sultan, meaning "holders of power." By 1100 they controlled most of Anatolia (taken from the
Byzantines), Palestine, the lands surrounding the Persian Gulf, the holy cities of Arabia, and as far east as
Samarkand.

In 1071 the Seljuks achieved a stunning victory over a Byzantine army at Malazgirt in modern Turkey,
which led to Turkish occupation of most of Anatolia. At nearly the same time, they successfully captured
Jerusalem from its Egyptian Muslim rulers. These two events shocked the Byzantines, the papacy, and
the Christian Europeans. The result was the Crusades, which carried on for the next 200 years.

The Seljuk Turks were worn down by the recurring wars with the Crusaders, even though they were
successful ultimately in regaining control of Palestine. They were threatened simultaneously by the
activities of the Assassins, a heretical sect of Islam. Internally, Islam entered a period of introspection
because of the popularity of Sufi mysticism. During this period of exhaustion and weakness, they were
attacked suddenly by the Mongols and collapsed. Baghdad fell to the invaders in 1258 and the Seljuk
Empire disappeared.

Islamic peoples from Anatolia (modern Turkey in Asia Minor) were unified in the early fourteenth
century under Sultan Osman I and took the name Osmanli, or Ottomans, in his honor. The Ottomans
swore a jihad against the crumbling Byzantine Empire and took their campaign around Constantinople
into the Balkans. In 1389 the Serbs were defeated. In 1396 a "crusader" army from Hungary was
defeated. Ottoman successes were temporarily halted by the Mongols under Tamerlane, but he moved
on with his army and the Ottomans recovered.

Sultan Mehmed II ("the Conqueror") at last captured Constantinople on May 29, 1453. The great walls of
Constantinople were battered by 70 guns for eight weeks and then 15,000 Janissaries led the successful
assault.

The Ottomans pushed on into Europe following the capture of Constantinople and threatened a sort of
reverse Crusade. They were stopped by a Hungarian army at Belgrade in 1456, however. Attacks on
Vienna were repulsed in 1529 and again in 1683. At its peak in the sixteenth century, the Ottoman
Empire reached up into Europe to Budapest and Odessa and included all of Greece and the Balkans, the
lands surrounding the Black Sea, Asia Minor, the Levant, Arabia, Egypt, and most of North Africa. The
Ottoman Empire remained a significant world power until World War I in the twentieth century.
 18. The Vikings (500 to 1100)

The Vikings (meaning "northmen") were the last of the barbarian tribes called Germans by the Romans
to terrorize Europe. Spreading out from their homelands in Scandinavia, they struck suddenly across the
seas from their dragon boats (called such because of the dragon heads carved on the bow and stern).
They began by raiding, pillaging, and withdrawing before any serious armed resistance could be
mounted, but they gradually grew more bold. Eventually they occupied and settled significant parts of
Europe.

Being pagan, they did not hesitate to kill churchmen and loot church holdings, and they were feared for
their ruthlessness and ferocity. At the same time, they were remarkable craftsmen, sailors, explorers,
and traders.

The Viking homelands were Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. They and their descendants controlled, at
least temporarily, most of the Baltic Coast, much of inland Russia, Normandy in France, England, Sicily,
southern Italy, and parts of Palestine. They discovered Iceland in 825 (Irish monks were there already)
and settled there in 875. They colonized Greenland in 985. Some people think that the Vikings reached
Newfoundland and explored part of North America 500 years before the voyage of Columbus.

Vikings began raiding and then settling along the eastern Baltic Sea in the sixth and seventh centuries. At
the end of the eighth century, they were making long raids down the rivers of modern Russia and setting
up forts along the way for defense. In the ninth century, they were ruling Kiev and in 907 a force of 2000
ships and 80,000 men attacked Constantinople. They were bought off by the emperor of Byzantium with
very favorable terms of trade.

Vikings struck first in the West in the late eighth century. Danes attacked and looted the famous island
monastery at Lindisfarne on the northeast coast of England, beginning a trend. The size and frequency
of raids against England, France, and Germany increased to the point of becoming invasions.
Settlements were established as bases for further raids. Viking settlements in northwestern France came
to be known as Normandy ("from the northmen"), and the residents were called Normans.

In 865 a large Danish army invaded England, and they went on to hold much of England for the next two
centuries. One of the last kings of all England before 1066 was Canute, who ruled Denmark and Norway
simultaneously. In 871 another large fleet sailed up the Seine River to attack Paris. They besieged the
city for two years before being bought off with a large cash payment and permission to loot part of
western France unimpeded.

In 911 the French king made the Viking chief of Normandy a duke in return for converting to Christianity
and ceasing to raid. From the Duchy of Normandy came a remarkable series of warriors, including
William I, who conquered England in 1066, Robert Guiscard and his family, who took Sicily from the
Arabs between 1060 and 1091, and Baldwin I, king of the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem.

Viking raids stopped at the end of the tenth century. Denmark, Sweden, and Norway had become
kingdoms, and much of their king's energy was devoted to running their lands. The spread of Christianity
weakened the old pagan warrior values, which died out. The Norse were also absorbed by the cultures
into which they had intruded. The occupiers and conquerors of England became English, the Normans
became French, and the Rus became Russians.