For many generations, the ancestors of P’an Keng had considered themselves kings in northern China. Yet this family of kings, the Shang Dynasty, had never governed from a central capital. About 1380 B. C., P’an Keng decided it was time to set up a capital. He found what seemed to be the perfect site at Anyang. Situated near a bend in the Yellow River, the fertile plains were ideal for farming and pasture, while the mountains behind it had timber …
Read More »
-
The Greek Way of Life 700 B. C. – 343 B. C.
In the first years of Spartan peace, Greece was filled with wandering soldiers. Their little cities needed them no more. The new governments, which Spartans appointed, looked on them as men who might make trouble and were quick to get rid of them. Homeless and with no way to earn a living, the old campaigners roamed from place to place. They became soldiers of fortune, men who fought for any general or city that offered pay and three meals a …
Read More » -
Athens: City of Wisdom and War 700 B. C. to 500 B. C.
-
Sparta: City of Soldiers 700 B. C. – 500 B. C.
-
Kings, Tyrants and Democracy 1000 B. C. to 100 B. C.
-
Greece Fights for its Life 499 B. C.-479 B. C.
-
The City of Aeneas 1000 B. C. – 500 B. C.
The minstrels who wandered from country to country in the ancient world told a legend of Aeneas, a Trojan prince. According to the story, Aeneas escaped the Greeks who broke through the walls of Troy and fled to his ships with a little band of warriors. Rowing out onto the Hellespont, they watched while a great fire destroyed their city and they knew that they could never return to Troy. Then, the storytellers said, the gods spoke to Aeneas, telling …
Read More »
-
The Great Justinian A.D. 532-565
THE STREETS of Constantinople were thronged that Tuesday morning in January of 532. Public buildings were closed. Shops on the Street of the Silversmiths were barred and shuttered. The barracks at Strategium were occupied by regiments of soldiers which had recently arrived from the frontiers. The soldiers had orders to stay in their quarters, for this was a day of the people. It was the opening day of the great chariot races at the Hippodrome. Most of the people in the crowded …
Read More »
-
The Conquest of England 1066-1265
IN THE DIM LIGHT of early morning, the Frenchmen were preparing for battle. Squires helped the knights put on their armour, grooms brought up the horses‚ archers tested their bows, foot soldiers began to assemble, while mounted messengers hurried busily here and there. The date was October 14, 1066 and before the sun set that day a kingdom would change hands and a new era in English history would begin. The battle, one of the most decisive ever fought, would …
Read More » -
The Town and the Guild 1100 -1382
-
The Rise of Nationalism 1272 – l485
-
Charles, Called the Great 771 – 814
-
Gentlemen, Scholars and Princes 1400 – 1507
One day in the fifteenth century, the Turkish potentate of Babylonia decided to send gifts to the greatest ruler in Italy. He consulted his counselors and men who had traveled widely in Europe, asking them who best deserved this honour. They agreed that one Italian court outshone the rest and that his court must surely be the home of Italy’s mightiest sovereign. They did not name Milan, the home of the proud Sforza, nor Florence, the city of the clever …
Read More » -
The Sound of Bells and Trumpets in Europe 1300 – 1600
-
Milan, City of Splendour and War 1277-1515
-
The Italian Kings of France 1494 – 1590
-
Rome, the City of the Pope 1492-1564
-
A New World and a New Sea 1492-1522
ALONG THE DUSTY SPANISH road leading north from Granada plodded a mule. On its back, bouncing and cursing his luck, sat a glum Italian sea captain. Four years before, Captain Cristobal Colon — the English would call him Christopher Columbus — had come to Spain on horseback, like a gentleman. He had been received at court, granted audiences with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and invited to describe his daring plan to sail west across the Ocean Sea to India. …
Read More »
-
France Becomes a Great Nation 1453-1631
WHEN MORE than a century of war between England and France ended in 1453, it was the French king, Charles VII, who was victorious. Although he had driven the English out of France, Charles found himself the king of a sad land. During the wars the great French nobles had fought among themselves as bitterly as they had fought the English and they had become so powerful that they no longer respected their king. France itself was devastated, the people …
Read More »
