History 101 Christopher Gennari Camden County College 1
Geography Religion Military Institutions Events and Culture 2
Nomadic Societies Hunt + Gather Light Farming + Stock Raising +Hunting Horse Breeding Cavalry = Mobile Warfare Raids Immigration Slaves $ Women 3
Settled Societies Farming = stability = predictability =increase wealth =pop. growth Problem? 4
Need Protection (Part 1) walls cities (location) Government Resource Collection Economic Production Religious Temples Law 5
Need Protection (Part 2) Population growth = need more stuff Armies Taxation (subjects) Plunder (enemies) Government Expansion Increased Privileges Aristocracy cavalry Mercenaries $ imperialism 6
Mesopotamia 4000 BC - 323 BC 7
I. Geography River Valley 2 Rivers + Mountains in North, Sea and Desert in South Local Agriculture creates local societies (cities) No mineral wealth in valley = trade with mountain peoples Rivers = easy transportation and trade with other cities = dissemination 8
Dark Age Kingdoms
II. Government A. Mesopotamian Cities conflict with other cities = need to organize (walls / armies) = rise of strong man (king) + rich allies = Taxation + Law = alliance with priestly class 10
B. Imperial Expansion king + rich allies local laws remain local gods remain - less taxation of subjects - protection payment from humbled allies - sometimes local governors (regulatory oversight) economy still localized 11
III. Religion 1. local polytheistic gods gods control one aspect of nature = Superpower People! (appetites) gods give protection people pay tribute (sacrifice) -requires a place to study and gather - temple (size is important) (power of the king / rich) - need priests (interpret signs) 12
2. Role of King - gods happy = authority + legitimacy (intermediary) -alliance with priestly class (rich families) 3. War and Religion - no wars for religion = [medieval concept] -gods provide protection = fight in war with people -lost war = loser gods = change in religion = death of the gods 14
IV. Military Institutions 1. no standing defensive armies = too expensive 2. no peasant armies = why give them weapons? (trust) training? (skill) Provide own arms (no $) Need to keep on the farm = food (98% / 2%) 3. one of two kinds of armies A. Aristocratic Horse Army B. Foreign Mercenary Army 15
3A. Aristocratic Horse Army A. King + Aristocracy = Horses + Chariots -Why? cost horses need land Chariots = $$$$! Training Horse Bow 16
3A. Horse Armies B. Results - small armies -aristocracy get all the $ = get richer (war by the rich for the rich) - peasant participants are killed in battle (those who survive sell themselves as mercs) - alliances with rich of other kingdoms. 17
3B. Mercenary Armies A. Armies of Experienced Soldiers + Combo of Different Units -Why? -one stop shopping + quick - loyalty = payment - not fickle / no negotiation with aristocracy -go away after they are needed 18
3B. Mercenary Armies B. Problems -fight for pay not love (kill but not die) -$$$$$! -they get most of the plunder -could work for enemy next time. 19
V. Events 1. Sumerarian cities invent civilization 2. SargonsEmpire (2300 BC) : unifies Akkad with Sumer 3. Hammurabi s Babylon (1750 BC) : First Center of the World 4. Hittites Create Asia Minor (1800 1200 BC) 5. Bronze Age Collapse destroys Civilization 6. Assyrian Empire invents Terror and dies by the Sword (900 612 BC) Asia breaks up 7. Babylonian Captivity creates Judaism (586 BC) 8. Cyrus unifies the Middle East (almost) and Darius builds Persepolis Xerxes gets to star in a movie. 20
sargon 21
Babylon Center of River Trade = concentration of people + wealth + skills - political imperialism conquer / ally w/ nearby peoples / cities create central organization or $, trade, law. - cultural imperialism = spread of gods = spread of art and building techniques (ziggurats and kingly / aristo. architecture) = destruction of gods and laws (jewish temple) - social imperialism = movement of peoples (jews) = Code of Hammurabi punishment via caste (preserves social order) (jews and others take it) (replacement of local laws)
Hittites (1800 1200 BC) Anatolian / North Euphrates Horselords (chariot empire) (counterpoint to Babylon and Egypt) - fought vs coastal cities like Troy - control of european to asia trade - control trade with Caucasus / Steepe - control of metal raw materials (iron/bronze/tin) = war tech innovation forced others to do so *sackbabylon in 1595 BC *Battle of Kadash draw vs Egypt 1274 bc Around 1200 = broke into parts vs rebellious aristocracy vs small foreigners in Anatolia
Bronze Age Collapse (circa 1200 1000BC) Indo-Aryans Invade the Middle East Dorians invade Greece (linear_a vs linear_b) Everything collapses language and culture lost 24
Assyrian Empire (911 612 BC) Northern Euphrates Successor State - creation of heavy chariots for close combat - absorption of cavalry from fringe peoples (Medes, Scythians, Elamities) - camels as beast of burden - archers largest part of army - frontal assault At the command of the god Ashur, the great Lord, I rushed upon the enemy like the approach of a hurricane...i put them to rout and turned them back. I transfixed the troops of the enemy with javelins and arrows. Humban-undasha, the commander in chief of the king of Elam, together with his nobles...i cut their throats like sheep...my prancing steeds, trained to harness, plunged into their welling blood as into a river; the wheels of my battle chariot were bespattered with blood and filth. I filled the plain with corpses of their warriors like herbage Sennacherib, - terrorism = violence, depopulation (717 Israel), destruction = babylon made like a meadow - Nineveh = new capital = impress conquered people, world in minature = vast library to hold all knowledge (taken in conquest)
Revolt of 614 BC New peoples from central asia crossed into the ME. (medes, cimmarians, Schytians = new cavalry heavy - archers) babylonians, egyptians and little peoples revolt as well. 613. assur sacked, 614. Nineveh sacked, destroyed and Assyrians obliterated Neo-babylonian(Nebuchadrezzar) + Iranian horsemen (medes, persians) + Egypt + Lydia (Anatolia)
Persian Empire (550-330 BC) Persians = horsepeople in Iranian steepe Cyrus (576 530): -defeats Medes (549) after being attacked. - joins Medes and Persians - 547. Defeats Lydia after being attacked. - Ionian Greeks conquered - 539. Babylon falls no resistence -530 killed in battle in kazakstan
Cambyses conquers Phoenicia Egypt (525) failed to conquer Kush, Libya failed (Lost Army of Cambyses) Carthage never attacked (Phoenicians refuse) goes insane 29
Darius I : The Great Builder 1. Not royal. Took over after Cambyses died 2. Zoroastrian (good vs evil. Order vs Chaos) 3. Builds Persepolis as captial, melting pot 4. Builds royal roads = communication superhighway 1. Sardis to Susa = longest road in the world inns, rest stops, checkpoints 5. First Suez Canal 6. Conquered Thrace, parts of Scythia, Crimea 7. 500bc Ionian Revolt = deal with the Greeks. 30
Persian Imperialism 1. Nice 2. kept local gods, local rulers. = pay protection and donate armies 3. Persian army was: a. light (not much armor) + bows + Spears b. fast (Persians, Medes = cavalry) c. Huge (composed of some 200 different contingents) d. cheap to run (others paid for it) and always victorious e. naval. f. heterogeneous (language, culture, identity, equipment) 31
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Epochs Old kingdom 4000 2200 BC 1 st intermediate period 2200-2000 BC Middle Kingdom 2000 1700 BC 2 nd Intermediate Period 1700-1500 BC New Kingdom Era of Foreign Rule 1500-1087 BC 1087 - Present 34
Geography 1. Nile River. Egypt was the gift of the Nile - Herodotus. runs from Central Africa North. Floods every year (June Sept) based calendar on it. built settlements with high walls and dykes (think New Orleans) to direct and keep out floodwaters 5 harvests a year (vs1 in Mesopotamia) Allowed rich civ. in a well protected land. 35
Cataracts limit the ability to move North/South 1 st Cataract was limit of Egypt in O.K. Frontierlandbetween 1 st and 2 nd Kush south of the Second. 36
Religion 1. Polytheism: Herodotus = Egypt discovered the 12 true gods. 2. individual cities had own special / local gods 3. kingship was a divine natural power = key to upholding order/stability/justice in society = intermediary between people and gods 4. Animal characteristics: = animal important to god + aspect of ability better than human. 37
Military Institutions: 1. Pre Dynasty = personal militas 2. O.K. = none + no armor, no units, no wheels. 3. Intermediate Period = pre dynasty + mercenaries from Kush 4. MK. = border guards (mercs) + local royal garrisons 5. Hyskos Invasion= change 6. NK = Chariots + Bows + Royal Army of Noblemen. 38
Events. OK first unification of egypt pyramids = legitimacy size = power = resources/men/time = obsession = disintegration of power 39
MK (2000 1700) 1. legitimacy does not = pyramids; = image + Stories = Classical Age 2. control borders + push into border zones (Sinai + South Frontier) 3. Hyskos Invasion Destroys everything. (traumatized people) 40
NK (1500 1085) 1. Imperial Age 2. Hero Warrior Kings (Ahmose, Thutmose III, Ramses II 3. New Mesopotamian Like Armies (Chariots, bows, mercenaries) 4. Absorption of border areas 5. Expansion against non-egyptian peoples -1500 Thutmose I -Conquest of Kush (till 1050bc) - 1457 bc Battle of Megiddo Egypt vspalestine tribes control access of Levant to Sinai -1274 bc Battle of Kadesh fought Hittites to a draw - 41
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Post NK: Bronze Age Collapse (1100-1000) 850 Kushite(Nubian) kings conquer Egypt 670 Assyrians conquer Egypt from Nubians 525 Cambyses conquers Egypt goes insane 330 Alexander Arrives, conquers Egypt, build Alexandria 320 Ptolomeysets up a greekdynasty 50bc - Julius Caesar Arrives, Cleopatra and Antony Conquest by Octavian 350 AD- rules from Constantinople as part of Byzantine Empire 650s Arab armies arrive. 43
Hebrews 44
Geography 1. arid land between River Jordan and the sea, south of Phoenician cities 2. crossroads between babylon and egypt a. good? b. bad? 3. Jerusalem nowhere near the sea. Hebrews not exploratory people. 45
Religion 1. Monotheism. = 1 god with aspects of many = become chosen people. = god gets involved and cares = personal relationship = morality most important + god gets angry (fair but terrible) 2. Chosen People Introverted Culture = born jewish to be = no conversion, not much political expansion (promised land) = individual responsibility (response to slavery) 3. Center of Society - history = god get involved - priest (early) / rabbi = most important person - architecture = jerusalem + temple 46
Military Institutions 1. Tribal based mass battles to regain control Of Judah/Palestine (Promised Land) 2. Led by Religious Leaders 3. Invoked Power of God 47
4. Not professional armies 48
5. Lots of bloodshed. complete destruction of enemy tribes 6. Limited Territory and Goals 7. Torn apart by professional armies of Assyria, Babylon, Persia 8. Military disaster = Religious Response 49
Events 1. 1250 Moses leads Hebrews out of Egypt, creates ancient kingdom by clearing out the Caananites. 2. 1000 bcking David carves out large kingdom builds jerusalemas center 3. 950 bcsolomon takes over builds the Temple center of religion = priests Solomon entertains Queen of Sheba. 4. 930. Solomon dies, sons can not agree Palestine breaks up into two kingdoms = Israel and Judah. 5. 717. Israel (more powerful of two) joined alliance against Assyrians. Alliance defeated and Assyrians destroy Israel, depopulate area and move new people (Samarians) in. 50
586: Nebuchadnezza of Babylon goes to war against Egypt Smashes and sacks Jerusalem, takes Jews to babylon. Babylon Captivity = Why did God let this happen? = not punishment (Assyrian invasion) = must be a test. Stay true. 545 bc. Cyrus the Great conquers Babylon frees and names the Jews gives them money to rebuild the temple. Cyrus is only non-jewto be called a Messiah 51