December 4th-December 8th

Monday-Vikings

How they came to power
- Scandinavians(Norway, Sweden, Denmark) left their homelands
- Vikings began by raiding coastal sites
- Left their mark as pirates, raiders, traders, and settlers
- Modern day Russia, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland
Raids(wars)
- 793 A.D> attacked the Lindisfarne monastery off the coast of Northfoundland
- Two years later they struck the undefended island monasteries of Skye and Iona(coast of Ireland)
- Wanted to do hit and runs for several decades
- took advantage of internal conflicts
- before long Frankish rulers were willing to pay them
Power
- Leif Eriksson: North America(Leif Eriksson was the son of Erik the Red)
- Erik the Red:Greenland(murdered a bunch of people)
How they lost power
- the christianization of Scandinavia
- The place and truce of God
- The feudal system
- The assimilation of settlers into new society
- the final blow
Goals
- Trade(raid if they didn't get what they wanted, and would take the women)
Famous leaders
- Rollo
  - Raided France
  - Became the Duke of Normandy
  - Pirating
- Erik the Red
  - Founded the first settlement in Greenland
  - Grew up in the wild
  - Set out with 24 ships
- Leif Eriksson
  - son of Erik the Red
  - Accidentally discovered America
  - Converted to Christianity
Culture
- Produced various forms of art
  - carving
  - painting
  - poetry
- buried their death in boats
- women had the same rights as men
- blonde hair
- every nine years people were sacrificed
- decorated their teeth
- exchanged swords weddings
Interesting stories
- Thors Hammer
  - Gods vs Giants
  - stolen
  - Thors goddess
- Anvardis rings
  - curse
  - 2 rings
  - murders/suicides

Bruns's review-

Men
- knew how to handle boats
Women
- did the usual women stuff when men were gone
kids
- no school, boys had to fight when they were 15 or 16
slaves
- hardest, dirtiest jobs, could be born slaves
vikings homes
- long houses, multiple families in each house
long ships
- made to go long distances, and made to go up rivers, designed for raids. Had dragon or monster heads on the front of the boat to make it look scary.Used axe and sword, and shield for defense

Tuesday- Russian Empire

Rise to power
- founded by Czar peter I
- ruled by autocratic czars(dictator)
- Ural Mountains
- Formed in 1721 from peace treaty with sweden
  - land gains
  - military victories
- decline of rival poweres
Goals/purposes
- expand and get more territory
- Establish a leadership
- dominate areas around them
Famous leaders
- Vladimir of Kiev-expanded the state West
- Yaroslav the wise-helped trading alliances, created a legal code, built he first library of Kiev. over 400 churches by the 12th century.
- Ivan the 3rd-challenged the mongol rule and became one of the most powerful princes through tax collecting
expansion
- started near the West Ural mountains which run from the black sea to the Baltic
- Mongols eventually invade Keiv and come into power.
geography
- 92% of the population lived in rural villages
- most common crops in the area bread, potatoes, cabbage, rice and buckwheat
- South hilly grasslands and North dense forest
- West Ural mountains through the baltic sea

Culture/values
- Christianity was popular
- Architecture was important
- Strongly hierachical
- Tsarist (Czar) political structures
- Rules governing land ownership
- Russia’s civil law code reinforced the hierarchy/ranking
Social ranking
- Upper class: Royalty, novility, higher clergy (12.5%)
- Middle class: Merchants, bureaucrats, professionals (1.5%)
- Working class: Factory workers, artisans, soldiers, sailors (4%)
- Peasants: Land and landless farmers (82%)
- Conquered people
  - Forced Russian culture
  - Military presence
  - Language change - to Russian
  - Disobeying lead to imprisonment , deportation, or death
Decline of power
- Russo - Japanese war
- Power shift from Romanov Monarcy to the last Czars
- Soviet Union
  - 1905 - 1917 saw many attempted reforms
  - Abdication of Nicholas II (forced out of power)
  - Victory of communist Bolshevik Party
- One of the superpowers of the world
- Empire from 1721 - 1917
War that ended the Russian Empire
- Russo-Japanese War(1904-1905)
  - sent letter to japan saying willing to fight to spot of land
  - Japan thought that Russia would lose
  - lost many soldiers and Nicholas II surrendered
    - "Humiliating power"
  - Roosevelt was mediator between the two countries
Baba Yaga
- single witch that lives on the edge of the forest
- lived in a wooden hut that stood on a pair of giant chicken legs
- long crooked fangs with an ugly nose

Wednesday-Bruns's Review on the Russians

Slaves
- Slaves are the largest ethne-linguistic group in Europe
Christianity
- Princess Olga converts to Christianity after visiting Constantinople and brought its message to Kiev
- Vladimir(Olgas grandson) eventually converted to Christianity
- Didn't want to become Islamic because they thought it was ok to drink
cultural differences
- imported teachers from Byzantine empire
- Eastern Orthodox was the faith of the Russian empire
Kiev's power and decline
- breaks tradition of giving land to the eldest sons and gave it to all 4 sons and it helped with the down fall of the

Thursday-Byzantine Empire

How they came to power
- When the Roman Empire split it into 2 seperate Empires
- The Eastern Roman Empire was the Byzantine Empire
- The Western Empire
  - The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 B.C.E.
  - The Byzantine Empire continued on for 1000 years after that
Byzantine
- the term byzantine comes from byzantium
- Byzantium was an ancient Greek Colony
- Byzantium was founded by Byzas
Location
- The Byzantine Empire was located on the European side of the Bosporus
  - the strait linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea
- Served as a transit and trade point between Europe and Asia minor
- the Capital City was Constantinople
  - largest and wealthiest city in Europe at that time
Goals
- Emperor Justinian 's goal was to reunite the Roman Empire
  - he sent out his army to battle the Barbarians
  - they grained control in the west
  - they took back parts of Africa and most of Italy
- There were several leaders who wanted to copy the greatness of Rome
- They established the organization "Bureau of Barbarians"
Bureau of Barbarians
- they granted information about the Emperor rivals
  - they got information from the preist
- they found information about the different Nations historical roots
How they expanded over the years
- Justinian won back territory in North Africa, Italy(which included Rome, and part of the Western Empire)
- during the reign of Maurice the Empires Eastern frontier expanded and the North became stabilized
Major Wawrs
- The Byzantine -Bulgarian War
  - series of conflicts
  - Bulgarians started to win
  - Byzantines eventually won
  - Bulg. lose their independence
Treatment to the captured
- captured arabians
  - killed them at first
- by ninteenth century
  - treated them better(weren't killed)
- Byzantines had religious tolerance
  - toward Arab prisoners
    - Muslim prisoners of war
      - treated very well
      - not forced to eat pork
      - were not subjected to toture
Daily lives
- Men
  - spent their free time relaxing
  - faced no punishment if caught being unfaithful to their wife
  - could do just about anything without being judged
- Women
  - devoted themselves to raising the children
  - had less control of marriage
  - if caught being unfaithful in a marriage-were shamed or sent away
  - Improper for women to sit with men unless they were close relatives(father, husband, brothers)
  - could be married as young as 12 or 13 years old-arranged by her parents
- children
  - birth of a boy-meant rejoicing and festivals
  - birth of baby girl-meant nothing;went unnoticed
  - amusement-rattle and basket full of toys
    - girls growing up;given dolls and puppets
    - boys growing up;given a whistle, clay wagons, and a leather ball

Friday-

Schooling
- all boys had a right to get education
- at 6 years old boys went to a teacher to learn literature from the book of psalms and arithmetic by counting on their fingers
- they wrote letters on a tablet covered in wax
- a basic education was completed by religious instructions and singing, which lasted 3 years
- only girls from wealthy families that could afford in home tutors
- girls went to lessons with their brothers only if they were held at home by private tutors
- at age 10 or older, only the sons of the richest families continued their studies. they learned math, music, and astronomy. theology was taught in church schools
How they lost power
- Bubonic plague
- lots of eenmy attacks
- ottoman turks attacked constantiople
- built powerful cannon to take down sturdy walls
- went in through left open gate
- "blood flowed in the city like rain water in the gutters after a sudden storm"
Emperor Justinian 1
- AD 527-565
- Justinian code-5,000+ laws
- Re-unite rome
- rebuilt Hagia Sophia
  - dedicated to the Holy wisdom
- built schools and hospitals
Empress Theodora
- wife to Emperor Justinian 1
- expanded women's rights
- banned trafficking of young girls
- protected monophysites(believe Christ has one nature)
Constantine the Great AKA Constantine 1
- 1st Christian Roman Emperor
- ended christian persecution
- signed edict of milan
  - accepted religion
- unified roman empire
General Belisarius
- appointed full command of army
- successful because of unique and unfamiliar strategies
- took back African provinces
- secured boundaries of empire
Story's
- Emperor Zeno buried alive in sarcophagus
  - lost his senses
  - woke and called for help
  - wife wouldn't let anyone open it
- Justinian 1 had General Belisarius blinded
  - became beggar on Constantinople streets
  - myth
- unpopular ruler could be replaced
- many died violent deaths
  - constants 2 clubbed with dish soap while in bath
  - Michael 3 lost both hands while blocking a sword
  - Leo the Armenian ambushed by assassins disguised as choir of monks
    - battle around him until he died then threw him into a toilet

Blogs

December 4th-December 8th

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