Rome Sacked/falls to Barbarians

So I met a pretty interesting guy today... the name of this guy was Alaric. He was a, barbarian, to put it simply. Here's how it went:


Me: Hello, Alaric, is it? Mind if I ask a few questions?
Alaric: Nope.
Me: First, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Alaric: Yup. I was born, eh, around 370. I'm not too sure. But when I came to lead my fellow Visigoths, we started to dislike the whole Roman Empire thing. My motivations were profit, career, power, and food. So myself as well as my fellow Barbarians overran Italy, and rolled into Rome.

Visigoths Sack Rome

Me: Oh, wow! You were setting your sights pretty high! How did you do it?
Alaric: In 410, we surrounded Rome. We were going for the siege, so we starved them. They still seemed to be having a decent time with their chariot races and all, but they finally couldn't take it. They even reverted to cannibalism. Even I think that's gross. Anyway, soon, they opened the city gates and we rolled in. There wasn't any food though. How annoying. But I just moved on elsewhere. No big deal.
Me: What was the impact of your siege?
Alaric: Well, from what I hear, Rome, "The Mother of the World", was absolutely destroyed. The emperors weren't faring so well; there was absolute chaos. It became diseased, and they actually started calling fellow barbarians in to serve as defenders as they fell farther and farther. Now, rebellion ensued because of the Roman cruelty and disdain for us. After this, Rome lost its magic. Completely. More barbaric groups stormed into Rome, and their culture declined drastically.
Me: What do you mean by that?
Alaric: They fell into the Dark Ages.
Me: Ouch. You really accomplished some... great things. Thank you for your time!


The general Alaric died in 410. However, the Visigoths are what started Rome's fall. After these events occurred, Rome was never quite the same. They set back Rome's wonderful culture; art, architecture, science, math, and more were all halted.

Constantine the Great

Well, today was an awesome day. I got to meet with the emperor, Constantine! It was pretty amazing. Here's how it went:


Me: Hey there, Constantine! It's nice to see you! Can I ask a few questions?
Constantine: Sure, I think I have a little time. I'm a busy guy.
Me: Tell me a little bit about you and what you've done!

Constantine's vision

Constantine: Well, I ascended to the throne after Diocletian booked it. That was in 312. Now, I wasn't always a Christian guy. One day, I had a vision of a cross. I decided that if I won my current battle at the Milvian Bridge, I would convert. Of course, I won. So I became a Christian, and my whole empire followed me. I was of course, was one of the best emperors this world has ever seen.
Me: So you must have had quite the impact on the world!
Constantine: You bet I did! For starters, I established a new capital; I named it after myself (Constantinople). Not trying to brag or anything, but it was a pretty fantastic city. It turned our empire into a powerhouse. It had a prime position, being on the coast, and we had wonderful defenses. I also made huge advances for the Christian religion; a lot of people converted when I did. I'll bet in the future, that's going to mean something.
Me: I agree. Well, thank you for your time!


Constantine's capital city of Constantinople would be successful for the eastern empire until 1453. Constantine himself died in 337, but his legacy would live on. He was one of the reasons why Christianity's popularity began to increase.

Julius Caesar/Fall of Roman Republic

 I just got back from interviewing my man Julius Caesar. Here's how it went:


Me: Hello, Julius! It's nice to finally meet you. Do you have time for a couple of questions?
Julius: Sure.
Me: Well, would you mind telling me a little bit about yourself?
Julius: I was born 100 BCE. Now, let's not talk about my childhood. All that happened was some stuff with pirates and marriages. Not anything substantial. That's not when I got things done.

Julius Caesar Statue

Me: When did you get things done?

Julius: I was a war guy, in my day. I was a soldier. I was a conqueror. Now, I got kind of mad, I'll admit. My power as governor of Gaul was taken back by the Senate. Maybe I overreacted a little bit. Regardless, I did something that is pretty neat. I crossed the Rubicon river with my army. This was not heard of back then! But when I want something to happen, it does. Anyway, I got that bridge done pretty fast. As in, less than a month fast. I rolled right in, and defeated Pompey for the control of Rome! That was around 48 BCE.

Me: Oh, wow! What happened next?

Julius: They still didn't want me to become dictator. Ridiculous. Anyway, I then forced the Senate to make me dictator! I just wanted absolute power. Not that big of a request, in my opinion.

Me: So what were your impacts on this world?

Julius: Well, for starters, I destroyed the Roman Republic, and turned it into an empire. All of the credit goes to me there. Now, I also got my calender going; they call it the Julian Calender. I have a feeling that very good things will come from this.
Me: I hope so! Thanks for your time.


Julius Caesar was too power-hungry, and was assainated by Senate members in 44 BCE. However, the Roman Empire would come back.

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Wow. Today, I ran into Alexander the Great in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, he had some time to spare, so I got a couple questions in. Here's how it went:


Me: Wow! Alexander, it's wonderful to meet you!
Alexander: I know. It is.
Me:  Okay... well, tell me a little about yourself and your accomplishments!
Alexander: I was born in 356 BCE. Now, my dad was pretty intense. He took down Greece. The sad thing is, he got killed. Please, save me your condolences. I was taught by Aristotle, so it's not like I'm an idiot. Anyway, I got the power of being the King of Macedon. I got an idea of rolling into the Persian Empire and taking it down. So I did. I hated them with a passion; there was a long lasting feud between myself and their ruler.
Me: Was that difficult, taking them down?
Alexander: Well, it certainly wasn't easy. I started my conquest of Persia in 334 BCE. Now, I knew that I needed a plan, and a good one, at that. So, what I did was lure them out to where I had the advantage of environment, so then I had the upper hand. After they were out of my way, I felt much much better. By the end of my time, I had gone everywhere, far and near. I took over Egypt, and I also reached India in 327 BCE. I was pretty popular in Egypt, I must say.
Me: What were the effects of your conquests? 
Alexander: I started the first world economy. Without me, you'd still be living in your little town in the dark, not knowing what else is out there! This was also the first time the West spread its culture. Basically, we started to mix and blend a bit more. They say that I am the creator of the hellenistic culture, which is the mixing of all of the cultures together, like Greek, Egyptian, Syrian, and all of the other places that I rolled into. I'm sure, say, in 2010, there's going to be even more blending of the cultures.
I also had cities popping up wherever you look; of course, I liked to take a little of everyone's culture and throw it in. My cities were successful, complete with economic powerhouses that consisted of trade, art, architecture, and agriculture. We also made some advances in the science field. Women had more rights.
Me: Wow! You've accomplished so much! You must feel pretty good when you look at your reflection.
Alexander: You bet I do.
Me: Well, nice meeting you and thank you for your time!


Alexander the Great viewed himself as a god. Unfortunately, he passed away in 323 BCE at Babylon. He had a huge impact on the West, and we can still see the effects today.

Axis Age/Golden Age of Greece

Statue of Socrates

So today, I got the honor of interviewing a pretty cool guy by the name of Socrates. I must say, this guy really knows his stuff. It was life changing to chat with him. Anyway, here’s how it went:

Me: It’s fantastic to meet you, Socrates. To kick off of this interview, I want to ask. Thousands of people want to know this answer. How did you become so wise?

Socrates: I am the wisest man alive; for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.

Me: Interesting...very vague. Nonetheless, words of wisdom right there. Well, tell me a little bit about yourself!

Socrates: I was born in 469 BCE in Athens. As a young boy, I was always interested in things. Quite curious. I have seen much.

Me: What kinds of things were going on in your past?

Socrates: I have seen everything from peace to violent warfare. First, we warred with the Persians from 546 – 479 BCE. The whole point of this was to punish Athens, and I still recall Damius, a Persian leader, launching a pretty gruesome battle in 490 BCE. Of course, we rolled in and won the war. From here, there was the Golden Age.

Me: Now, what exactly was the “Golden Age”? Why was it so important?

Socrates: The right question, young lass, is what wasn’t the Golden Age? During the Golden Age, our leader Pericles, who reigned from 460-429 BCE, achieved wonderful things. First, we achieved a direct democracy, which gave the people much more power..Not to mention how we advanced our culture! Us Greeks are huge on the theatre; plays were thriving! Sciences were improved as well, and of course, you can’t forget about philosophy! This is where people like me come in. Philosophers such as myself really study the meaning of life, the right method of conduct, and try to understand what makes our world goes ‘round. We pass on our knowledge by teaching others. Some other philopshers that I am familiar with are Aristotle and Plato. Now, Aristotle contributed a lot to mathematics as well as to the sciences. Plato made a lot of advances in the astronomy field.

Me: Wow! I’m impressed! Without the Golden Age, I bet those folks in 2010 would really suffer. They'd still be hunting and gathering! Hm, what happened to make all of this end?

Socrates: Sadly enough, in 431 BCE, we went into war with Sparta, our rivaling city-state. Now, these Spartans were not to be messed with. They were pretty hard-core, I’ll admit. For a long time, we were in war with them, which is what is now called the Peloponnesian War. This went on for quite some time, all the way to 404 BCE. The war went deeply against my morals, but I suppose it was unavoidable. Unfortunately, we lost. But by the end of this whole thing, we wore them down so far that Thebes rolls in and takes out the Spartans! So really, no one won the war.

Me: Thanks for informing me on all of this! Can you give me any advice?

Socrates: The unexamined life is not worth living.

Socrates died in 399 BCE. His lasting impacts on the world were the Socratic Method and his views on life. The Socratic Method is a way of teaching that includes making the student answer from his own knowledge in quetion-and-answer form. He, along with Plato and Aristotle, were Europe’s great contributions to the Axis Age.

Zheng He

Replica of one of the boats

The great Zheng He died today; I heard the news. It's 1435, and he passed away in China.
The Ming Dynasty has been ruling us since 1368, and restored Chinese culture after the Mongol invasion. It means "brilliant", which is pretty cool.
But let's go back to Zheng He. In 1405, he commanded the first of seven expeditions he would make to explore the outside world. He explored Africa as well as many other places outside of China. Some even say he discovered the Americas, but he didn't get the credit. When the fleets got back, the Ming destroyed and banned the building of the ships. Scholars didn't have interest in the outside world. This strict Chinese tradition eventually led to China's downfall. This was pretty important because he started a bit of dislike for Western culture as well as the outside world; Zheng He also started interest in the outside world from the common people.

Mongols take China

Mongols attacking

I just paid my tributes to the Mongols, and I am extremely grateful to be alive right now. :O
Let me tell you what happened recently; it's pretty crazy!
In 1206,  a guy named Genghis Kahn united all of the nomadic people who called themselves the Mongols. Now, this guy is not so nice. He has this belief that you must have committed a sin if he harms you or your city; he would be the punishment.
Anyway, he rolled into China. These people didn't even have a dominant culture to ours, but they had one thing that was so powerful it took us down. They had archers on horseback, and they could pick you off before you even knew what was going on. Besides China, they rolled across most of Asia only to be stopped at Ain Jalut. They even achieved the only successful winter attack on Russia. Once they were in power, they weren't all that bad, so many say. I am just afraid of them.
Genghis died in 1273, but his grandson, Kublai Kahn, wasn't done with China yet. He was what they called the 5th Great Kahn, and he conquered Southern China. He wanted to preserve Mongolian culture, and only wanted Mongols in high governmental positions or the army. The only issue with that was that there was too few Mongols, and a large amount of China. In 1271, the Yuan Dynasty was established. Kublai wanted to learn different cultural approaches, so he invited many to come. For example, Marco Polo came from Italy and wrote a book on Chinese culture. These records sparked interest in the riches of Asia.
The Mongols were important because they reshaped Chinese culture, and created one of the largest empires on History. They also revolutionized war strategies by inventing the stirrup, and the archer on horseback.