1. Brief History of Western Civilization
World Lit II

2. Classical Age: Ancient Greece
1200BC-300BC:
from Kings, to Democracies, to Emperors
The Height: Alexander the Great (336BC-323BC):
Founding of Alexandria and burning of Persepolis
Campaign as far as India
Rules as a divine, absolute monarch

3. Classical Age – the Roman Empire
500 BC – 500AD:
from Kings, to Republics, to Emperors
The Height: Emperor Trajan (53AD-117AD)
From Brittania to Aegyptus
Christianized under Emperor Constantine the Great ( AD)

4. Map of the Roman Empire at the Death of the Justinian I

5. The Middle Ages: Fall of the Roman Empire, Rise of the Roman Catholic Church
500AD-1500AD
Roman Empire split between East (Byzantine Greek Orthodox) and West (Roman Catholic) beginning 500 AD, officially by 1100 AD.
Western part mostly divided into little Christianized kingdoms, with allegiance to Roman Catholic Church. (Exception: Spain conquered by Muslim Moors through Africa, around 800 AD).
1st crusade (ordered by Pope Urban) to take back Holy Land from the Muslims, 1095 AD.
800-early 1490’s: Muslim rule of Spain; ends with the “Reconquista”, which also supported Christopher Columbus’ exploration to the New World.

6. Renaissance and Reformation
1500s AD-1600s AD
Rediscovering Ancient Greek and Roman science
Rising Protestantism, weakening of Roman Church.
Rising “democratic” principles.

7. Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Empire: 1600-1800s
Increased exploration leads to nationalism, colonialism, and capitalism.
Rise of technology, science, individualism, “progress.”
Revolutions leading to more “democratic” forms of government – examples: French republic, British constitutional monarch

8. The British Empire:
Early 1700s-Early1900s

9. Map of Europe: 1797

10. Map of Europe: 1900

11. Modernism & Post-Modernism: The 20th & early 21st Centuries
Things Fall Apart & Then Come Together
World War I
World War II
Official end of Empire ( ): independence, post-colonialism & its aftermath
Cold War
Globalization & World Markets
9/11/2001 & aftermath