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The Sung Dynasty: Barbarians Threaten the Empire A. D. 960 – 1279
DURING THE turbulent Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era, the main outside threat to China came, as usual, from the
The Sui and T’ang Restore the Empire A.D. 589-979
IN 589, a warlord named Sui Wen Ti conquered the last dynasty in the south and so became emperor of
The Six Dynasties: Turmoil and Change A.D. 220-589
THE three states into which China had split were soon split up themselves into even smaller divisions. For three and
Early Civilizations to Modern Age
Rome, the City of the Pope 1492-1564
In 1492, young Giovanni de’ Medici bade farewell to his father, Lorenzo the Magnificent and left Florence to take his
Venice, City in the Sea 1350 – 1590
The houses of Venice are “like sea-birds half on sea and half on land,” said Cassiodorus. An officer of a
The Italian Kings of France 1494 – 1590
In all Europe there was no greater admirer of Italy than Francis I, king of France. Francis practiced Italian manners
Distant Past and New Challenges
Milestones of History
The Roman Republic is Reborn with Imperial Splendour (73 – 31 B.C.)
The happy judgment of the historian Polybius on the strength of the Roman constitution, because of its mixture of popular,
The Emperor Augustus (B.C. 31)
The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. initiated thirteen years of bloodshed, during which the people who had plotted
Octavian and the New Roman Empire (B.C. 31 – 9 A.D.)
Octavian delivers the state from that was plunged into depression. A few weeks after January 1 in the year 29 B.C. the
