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At 40, Muhammad said he experienced a revelation from the angel Gabriel

He believed that he had been chosen as the last of the prophets of Allah (God)

Began recruiting followers for this monotheistic religion called Islam founded in 570CE

Islam means “submission to the will of Allah”

Muhammad became the political leader of the community and joined his Islamic followers with Jewish locals

Slowly, Muhammad’s number of followers grew and in 630 his army of 10,000 conquered Mecca

Mecca’s citizens converted and only Allah was worshipped at the Ka’aba

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The discovery of coal led to the first "steam" engine and revolutions in machines and transportations. Trains, steam ships, and other coal powered machines transformed our lives and world. The lightbulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1878. Powered by coal, electricity further changed our world. In 1859CE oil was first successfully mined and spread across the USA then the world, this lead to another revolution in transportation, the first automobiles.

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Humans stopped hunting and gathering and started farming. It was an entirely new way of life.

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The Battle of Thermopylae ends in defeat for the Greeks 480 BCE

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The Battle of Thermopylae ends in defeat for the Greeks 480 BCE

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In 480 BCE Xerxes I, Emperor of Persia, invaded Greece. Xerxes hoped to conquer the entire country, not just one city-state

The City-States quickly met and dispatched an army of only 7,000 men.

The goal was to block the pass at Thermopylae. This pass was the only place big enough where Xerxes could march his entire army.

The 7,000 Greeks were able to hold the 100,000 Persians for 7 days. Only after they were betrayed and flanked were the Persians able to defeat the Greek Army.

The Greek Army left 300 Spartans to cover their retreat. The Spartans killed many Persians before they themselves were killed.

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Gunpowder was the first chemical energy. Gunpowder is a combination of charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur. It was an extremely disruptive tech. Gunpowder ended the dominance of the Knight on European battlefields, led to the colonization of much of the world by europeans, and the enslavement of millions of Africans. It is responsible for the majority of war related human deaths.

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The major goal of the first crusade, just like the following crusades, was to gain control of the Holy Land

The Holy Land was a territory of Rome and then Byzantium and had only recently become Islamized

Most who went sought fame, fortune, and land

He who controls the Middle East controls trade between three continents

Three crusades took place between 1097 and 1192

In the first Crusade Europeans conquered Jerusalem, the Holy City

The territory conquered was divided among European powers

After losing cities to Saladin the second Crusade was launched but was unsuccessful

The Third Crusade was launched to recapture Jerusalem. After reaching a stalemate, it was agreed that Islam would rule the city but Christians could safely pilgrimage there

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Mansa Musa was the 10th Mansa,or Emperor, of Mali and by far the most famous.

Mansa Musa was chosen by his Uncle to succeed him. His uncle sailed west to explore the Atlantic Ocean, 250 years before Columbus, but never returned.

After sometime Mansa Musa took his place as ruler.

Mansa Musa is widely considered to be the richest person in medieval history and potentially the richest person in all of world history.

He used his power and wealth to do the following…

War: Conquered 24 cities increasing the size of the empire.

Religion: Built mosques to bring Islam to his people. Went on a lavish pilgrimage where he donated huge amounts of gold to people between Mali and Mecca.

Education: Built the University of Sankore.

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The Printing Press was created by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440 in Germany and is a combination of the Screw Press invented by the Romans and Moveable Type, letter moulds that can be rearranged into words.

Prior to the printing press, books were literally hand copied. “Scribe” was a job, often done by monks, where they spent everyday copying books. Book were generally of religious value.

The average scribe could copy less the 40 pages of a book per day. The printing press could print up to 3600.

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A special court was assembled and anyone not Christian was gathered and punished

Thousands of Jews and Muslims publicly converted to Christianity but privately continued to worship as before

Thousands that refused to convert or leave were tortured, imprisoned, and killed

By the end of 1492 all still practicing Muslims and Jews were expelled from Spain

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- The Reconquista was a centuries-long series of battles by Christian states to expel the Muslims (Moors), who from the 8th century ruled most of the Iberian Peninsula.
- Visigoths had ruled Spain for two centuries before they were overrun by the Umayyad empire.

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Columbus “discovers” the Americas October of 1492

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Columbus “discovers” the Americas October of 1492

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- At the behest of the Spanish, Columbus sailed west and “discovered” the New World, not Asia in 1492
- Landed in modern Dominican Republic
- Summarily captured, enslaved, and killed natives as he encountered them
- On his second, third, and fourth voyage he commanded an army and setup Spanish colonies

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John Locke writes the Second Treatise on Government 1689

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John Locke writes the Second Treatise on Government 1689

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Very different from Hobbes, believed that people were naturally good and could improve themselves over time (Humanism).

Believed people, as reasonable beings, could govern their own lives.

Criticized absolute monarchy and favored self-government (democracy).

Believed all people born free and equal with a right to life, liberty, and property.

Purpose of government is to protect these three rights.

If a government fails to protect these rights people have a right to rebel.

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Being the home to the Kings of France between 1662 and 1789, the Palace of Versaillesis one of the most important landmarks in French history.

Started as being a simple and modest hunting accomodation until Louis XIV was nominated King and decided Versailles would be a potential place to build a palace.

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US Constitution Written September 17, 1787

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US Constitution Written September 17, 1787

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The ideals of the enlightenment greatly influenced the America’s founding fathers

They argued for the protection of natural rights in the Declaration of Independence

The American Revolution changed everything. (1765-1783)

American Colonists argued that the British Government had violated their rights in establishing taxes without their consent and the Boston Massacre.

The Revolutions was ultimately successful because of French intervention and English overextension

The U.S. Constitution, written by James Madison, established a federal republic, the first real republic since Rome

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King Louis XVI Executed January 21, 1793

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King Louis XVI Executed January 21, 1793

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Once Louis XIV reached maturity he quickly decided to rebuild France. He would create the first absolute monarchy.

He built the Palace of Versailles and forced his nobles to live there.

It became an honor to be a servant of the king, nobles fought to become servants.

Required clothing and fashion constantly changed. Nobles spent their fortunes in an effort to keep up.

Slowly, the nobles lost more and more power and authority.

Louis refused to appoint nobles to positions of real power. Instead creating the intendant system where commoners, totally loyal to the King, held power.

Famously declared, “I am the state.” All power belonged to the King. Using his power he...

Waged wars across Europe in an effort to grow the size of his country.

Spread French culture through art, music, and fashion.

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Unlike European countries, in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) the reigning Sultan chose which of his sons became the next Sultan. Generally the rest of his sons were killed.

Selim III was well liked by his father. Both were highly educated and wanted to enact reforms across the Empire.

Selim III encouraged investment in the arts and music. He wrote poetry and composed music himself.

Attempted to make peace with the countries of Europe and setup embassies in Britain, France, Prussia, and Austria.

This ultimately failed. Selim III was attacked by France in 1798.

Attempted to create a new and modern standing army to suppress revolts and protect the people.

Ultimately, Selim III’s reforms were too much. He was deposed by his cousin and then assassinated.

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Haiti Gained Independence January 1, 1804

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Haiti Gained Independence January 1, 1804

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Haiti was a French colony in the Caribbean that grew sugar.

It was known as the “Jewel of the Caribbean” because it was the most valuable colony in the Americas.

Because the natives mostly died they were replaced by African slave labor.

Haiti is a very hot place close to the equator. Diseases and insects caused a high mortality among the African population.

Only about 6% of the population was French, the rest was African.

Brutalized by slavery, enslaved Africans in Haiti rose up against their French masters.

Thousands of formerly enslaved people took up the machetes they used to harvest sugar cane and traveled from plantation to plantation killing white French slave owners.

United by General Toussaint Louverture, the African population quickly took over the country.

Toussaint was educated in the Enlightenment by his godfather, who was free.

Several attempts by the French to reclaim the island were repelled by Toussaint.

The first African Republic was founded but was short lived and replaced by a dictatorship.

Because no one wanted to trade with a country of former slaves the country became very poor, it remains so today.

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- In little more than a century, plastic has gone from being hailed as a scientific wonder to being reviled as an environmental scourge.
- It was in 1907 that the first modern plastic, bakelite, was invented.
- In the late 1950s and early 1960s, improvements in manufacturing processes brought the cost of making plastics down dramatically, paving the way for cheap mass production.

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In 1916 the UK, France, Russia and Italy met in secret and began planning for the split of the Ottoman Empire. Their intent was to split the empire amongst themselves.

Arabs, the people that lived in the middle east, were not consulted.

No consideration for ethnic or religious differences was taken.

The chief interest of Europeans was the control of Middle Eastern resources, notably the growing demand for middle eastern oil.

The agreement greatly influenced the often odd political boundaries of most middle eastern countries today.

Sunnis now lived with Shias in the same country. All under European control.

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By 1916 the war still waged and the entente powers were ready to end the war.

The British and French would attack the Germans entrenched in the Somme Valley. This offensive was intended to be overwhelming and spell the end for the German Army.

But the Germans were prepared…

For 5 days the British Army shelled the German trenches with artillery.

However, the German trenches were unusually deep and the Germans took their machine guns and hid in the bottoms of the trench.

On the 6th day the British ordered their soldiers out of their trench in a mad dash across no mans land to attack the German trenches.

Disaster ensued

Thousands of mostly british soldiers were cut down by German machine gun fire and chemical weapons.

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Adolf Hitler fought in WW1 and received two Iron Crosses, the highest German War Medal

He joined the young NAZI party in 1919

Because of his speaking and organizing abilities he was chosen to be the leader of the party

After the great depression struck Germany Germans turned to Hitler for security

Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and soon after established an authoritarian government in Germany

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Treaty of Versailles Ends WWI June 28, 1919

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Treaty of Versailles Ends WWI June 28, 1919

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New Technologies

8.5 million dead soldiers and 21 million injured

War cost about $338 billion dollars

League of Nations

Treaty of Versailles

Germany lost land

Severe limits on size of German military

Germany solely responsible for war

Nation-states carved out of the multiethnic empires of Europe

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One of the first outcomes of WW2 was the outing of the holocaust

Hitler believed that “Aryans” what he called Germans were a master race that deserved to own the world

This led to the imprisonment and genocide of approximately 6 million Jews in Europe

Another 5 million people including gypsies and the handicapped were also executed by Hitler

People Hitler considered undesirable were housed and executed in concentration camps

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American and British soldiers massed in North Africa, now German colonies, and beat back the German army

In Russia Germany lost over 200,000 soldiers at the battle of Stalingrad

With North Africa captured the allies attacked and captured the island of Sicily, part of Italy, the Italian people kicked Mussolini from power and the allies marched on the rest of Italy

In May 1944 the Allies launched D-Day, the invasion of France on the beaches of Normandy

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An atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki August 9th 1945

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An atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki August 9th 1945

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“Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9th 1945

The bomb exploded with the equivalent energy of 21 Kilotons of TNT.

35-40,000 people were disintegrated in an instant.

On August 12th, after fierce debate within the Japanese Government, Emperor Hirohito formally surrendered the country and ended WWII.

The dropping of the atomic bombs have had a profound impact on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Thousands that didn’t instantly die later died of their injuries and cancer.

Cancer rates remain elevated to this day.

The soil, water, and air were contaminated.

The Japanese refused to surrender.

The USA began planning Operation Downfall, the operation to invade mainland Japan.

The Japanese viewed their emperor as a god. There could be no surrender. With that in mind American forces knew that the Japanese would fight to the death.

The Generals assumed 1,000,000 dead Americans.

An alternative was proposed: the atomic bomb.

The atomic bomb was developed in secret in Nevada by American and European scientists. Many of who had escaped from the Nazis.

Albert Einstein, a Jew, was among them

It was decided to drop these bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The belief was two bombs, two planes, and two cities was better than a million dead Americans.

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On January 1, 1942, representatives of 26 nations at war with the Axis powers met in Washington to sign the Declaration of the United Nations endorsing the Atlantic Charter, pledging to use their full resources against the Axis and agreeing not to make a separate peace.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issue a declaration, signed by representatives of 26 countries, called the “United Nations.”

The signatories of the declaration vowed to create an international postwar peacekeeping organization.

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After WWII, European countries were broke and could no longer support their overseas colonies.

Many, including countries in the ME gained independence.

However, political boundaries didn’t change. Different ethnicities and religious denominations were now trapped inside countries they were expected to share.

After the Holocaust many Jewish people believed they needed their own country. Only through political power could they ensure they were never attacked for their beliefs again.

Jews rallied around the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and with the support of the USA and UN, began immigrating to Palestine. They founded ISrael in 1948.

Religious tension grew as many Arabs believed that Israel belonged to them.

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The USSR looked in awe at the atomic bombs dropped on Japan by the USA.

They wanted their own bombs.

Thanks to Soviet spies, the USSR stole US atomic bomb blueprints and in 1949 tested their own.

The idea is simple. If we have nuclear bombs no one will bomb us. Or else we bomb them back.

Over the next half century atomic bombs would become nuclear weapons. Enough would be built to destroy the world many times over.

Thankfully it works. MAD prevents WWIII. Instead of a true World War we get local conflicts between democratic andcommunist actors.

Korean Conflict 1950-1953

Vietnam War 1955-1975

Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

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The renovation of agricultural practices begin in Mexico in the 1940s. Because of its success in producing more agricultural products there, Green Revolution technologies spread worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s, significantly increasing the number of calories produced per acre of agriculture.

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Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon 1969

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Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon 1969

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In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR, Modern day Russia) were in a technology race. The two countries were competing to be the dominant country not only on the planet but in space. This “Space Race” had underlying motives, and that was to decide what political system was the best.

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Imperial Japan was technically an absolute monarchy. However, advisers close to the Emperor, heads of the Army etc. effectively ruled as an oligarchy.

Before the breakout of WWII, Hirohito attempted to influence his advisers to seek peace with the western powers.

However, he then appointed General Tojo, a hawkish Army General to the position of Prime Minister.

The Japanese Military commited a number of atrocities in the Pacific Theater WWII

Most infamous the Rape of Nanking

After the dropping of the Atomic Bombs the heads of the Japanese Military refused to consider surrender.

Hirohito, speaking to his advisers, told them that the war was over.

The Military attempted a coup to prevent the surrender but failed.

Ultimately, the war ended only after Hirohito mandated peace. He remained as Emperor until his death in 1989.

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In 1991, Yugoslavia’s republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia) had a population of 4 million.

It Consisted of 4 ethnic groups:

Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim, 44 percent)

Serb (31 percent)

Croat (17 percent)

Yugoslav (8 percent)

On April 5, 1992, the government of Bosnia declared its independence from Yugoslavia.

The creation of an independent Bosnian nation that would have a Bosniak majority was opposed by Bosnian Serbs

Bosnian Serbs launched a military campaign to secure coveted territory and “cleanse” Bosnia of its Muslim civilian population.

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By the 1980s the USSR’s communist economic system couldn’t keep up with capitalism’s constant innovation.

The USSR was quickly falling behind the USA in key metrics like GDP, population, military spending, and new technology.

The USA far outpaced the USSR in computers and internet technologies.

In an effort to save it Mikhail Gorbachev instituted three reforms

Glasnost: Freedom of speech

Perestroika: Economic restructuring

Democratization: Limited election

The belief was that the limited acceptance of some democratic principles would jumpstart the Soviet Economy.

Instead, people began criticizing the communist dictatorship. They called for its end.

The USSR collapsed soon after. The Enlightenment and democracy had won!

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The apartheid system in South Africa was ended through a series of negotiations between 1990 and 1994 and through unilateral steps by the de Klerk government.

These negotiations took place between the governing National Party, the African National Congress, and a wide variety of other political organisations.

Negotiations took place against a backdrop of political violence in the country, including allegations of a state-sponsored third force destabilising the country.

The negotiations resulted in South Africa's first non-racial election, which was won by the African National Congress.

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The World Trade Organization is founded 1995

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The World Trade Organization is founded 1995

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- Founded in 1995, The World Trade Organization encouraged countries around the world to enter into free trade agreements, meaning that goods imported from other countries would not have to pay import tariffs.
- At the same time, the internet began to grow and the world could now share ideas and conversations around the world the world in seconds.
- Companies like Amazon grew during this time and have continued to grow the world economy.

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Al Qaeda orchestrated the 9/11 Attacks 2001

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Al Qaeda orchestrated the 9/11 Attacks 2001

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On September 11th 2001 terrorists hijacked civilian airplanes and purposefully crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The USA didn’t see the attack coming.

9/11 was a wake up call for the USA and democracies around the world.

For the first time since Pearl Harbor Americans were killed on US soil.

In anger the USA struck out at Afghanistan and Iraq. It was believed Afghanistan was hiding Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the attack, and Iraq was his ally.

The USA looked weak.

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Facebook is now the behemoth of Social Media.

Facebook averages 2.7 Billion monthly active users.

Social Media hosts user created data. No longer are website owners the ones creating information. Instead, owners are providing a place for users to create and share.

The premise of social media was simple. Create a space where people can connect with each other. Friends that move away, relatives states away, people you meet on vacation, social media promised to keep these connections alive. It also created an easy way to update all of your connections with what’s going on in your life.

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The Syrian Civil War began in 2011 after the arrest and torture of teenagers accused of painting Pro Democracy slogans on school walls. By June of 2013, the United Nations (UN) said there were more than 90,000 Dead (by 2015, 250,000 were dead). The Civil War has been made worse by blocking Civilian (Non Combatant) access to food, water and medical services. In 2013, Chemical weapons were used by the Pro-Government Forces against the suburbs of the capital, Damascus

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Cambridge Analytica was a company based in the UK that used data to try and influence elections.

The way it worked: Cambridge Analytica created a personality survey on facebook. (You know those stupid quizzes your friends make you do.)

In order to take the quiz you consented to CA taking all of the data on you facebook page as well as all the data on your friends facebook page.

They then used this data, along with data from other sources, to create personality profiles and political preferences for every adult American.

They claimed to have over 5000 data points for every adult in the USA.

They then created propaganda (think fake news and memes) specifically targeted to individuals in order to alter their voting behavior.

Some people they needed to entice to vote. In others they wanted to create apathy.

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After the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR Russia failed to reform into a functioning democracy.

Vladimir Putin was “elected” (appointed) President of the country in 1999.

He has ruled the country ever since.

Since his power is almost absolute. Many consider him to be a dictator.

Unlike under communism, private property exists. However, the government heavily directs its use.

Russian Nationalism is glorified through art, TV, music, and history

Putin sees the collapse of the USSR as a great tragedy and wants to resurrect his countries past.

Russia invaded neighboring Georgia (the country) in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014.

War had returned to Europe.

Putin continues to try to influence US Presidential Elections through hacking, information leaks, and social media manipulation.