Essays For the Viking Final Exam
The Vikings were a group of nomads who were cited as barbarians and warriors. They had many great inventions such as their boats which had the ability to transport lots of men, sail the ocean, and sail through shallow rivers and channels. This gave them the ability to attack more cities inland of Europe. Some groups that attacked Europe during this time were: Goths, Visigoths, Anglo Saxons, Franks, Huns, Vandals, and a few others. The Vikings left their native land of the Scandinavian region because of overpopulation and decline of resources.
They wanted more land and they were in need of food to support themselves. The Vikings eventually stopped because they won their battles and had their needs met. They were able to have land to farm and live on, and food to eat. Their desire to conquer lowered and they headed towards a trend of stability. The relationship the Vikings have to English history is that they eventually settled conquered areas and began to set up governments.
For example, Vikings settled in Spain and their population grew to what it is today. Another Viking element in English history is violence and compromise. Attila the Hun was known as the most powerful Viking leader of his time. He conquered many places and was a feared man. However, he negotiated with the Pope and never attacked Rome, unlike other Viking groups.
Peasants in the Middle Ages had a very rough and hard life. They were farmers and did manual labor. They lived a life of poverty and some were slaves who were abused by their masters.
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When the black plague spread like wildfire, over ⅓ of the population was killed. Jobs were without workers and entire towns were deserted. Education was put on hold while survival became a priority. This helped Christianity because it offered peace and salvation in the after-life. Governments were in decline so the church stood up and began to support people. The monks remained literate and copied history and classical works since most works had been destroyed at this point. This preserved knowledge up until the time of Charlemagne where there would be a reemergence of education. As other monasteries were built, this trend continued to thrive.
Rome declined due to religious, economic, and political issues. During the fall of Rome, many new monotheistic religions were emerging and gaining popularity. An example of a new monotheistic religion was Zoroastrianism and Christianity. Different Roman rulers accepted each religion differently, leading to persecution of specific followers and a division within the country. An example of Christian persecution was by Emperor Nero. Christianity and monotheistic religions were looked down upon because they offered religion and salvation to anyone of any class or occupation. Military spending and controversy over taxation was another leading cause to the decline of Rome. One of the main issues for the military was Viking invasions. The Vikings would invade other lands because of overpopulation in their homelands.
An example of some Vikings were: Huns, Vandals, and the Ostrogoths. While traveling, they had no food sources so they battled and starved out cities in order to gain food supplies. The Vandals were known for their attack on Sicily. Taxation led to the decline of Rome because of the large amount of taxes people had to pay to support the empire. These taxes were used to buy luxuries, support the military, support the poor, government salaries, road and building maintenance, and much more. Citizens were frustrated and did not support the tax increase. The rulers during this time only ruled for themselves, leading to multiple murders. The empire was split into two portions, and they were unequal. The divide, inconsistent power, and constant attacks led to the decline of Rome.
Islam is a monotheistic religion that only worships Allah who is seen as the same god of Abraham. The Five Pillars of Islam are to pray for unification, participate in the Hajj, fast during Ramadan, pray five times a day in the direction of Mecca, and give to the poor. Islam originated with Muhammad by a vision from the Angel Gabriel. He found out that God was called Allah and gave his final word to humanity. Based off of what he learns, he quits his job and spreads his teachings throughout the world. It was not a huge religion before his death. It was spread by Muhammad’s followers by the Koran. They wrote this book that has Muhammad’s lessons in writing. It is the Islamic version of the Bible. The followers spread the same message as Muhammad and these teachings have led it to become one of the largest religions in the world.
The Punic Wars were between Rome and Carthage. In the end, Rome won all three. This resulted in Rome becoming a military power and expanding its empire. Rome began to slide from a Republic to a dictatorship because of senators fighting for power. The idea to balance this issue was to elect a Triumvirate. The three elected leaders were Julius Caesar and the Gracchi brothers: Pompey and Crassus. A civil war broke out and the men were split up and sent to different places. Pompey has assassinated Egypt while Crassus died in battle. This left only Caesar left in power. As Cesar made many changes, he became a dictator and was about to become an official emperor before he too was assassinated, but by his own senators. They killed him because they feared he was gaining too much power, he elected too many senators, and they wanted to keep the power with the people.
Christianity was so appealing to the Europeans after the fall of Rome because it was a sign of hope and stability. With virtually no government, or just failing governments, people were lost. Religion and the church stood up and took advantage of the situation. Christianity was available to all people: women, children, slaves, men, sinners, and everyone else. Christianity offered the idea that life on Earth might be terrible, but good moral actions and repentance can grant you an eternity of paradise, no matter your background. Slaves of Rome connected to Christianity because they were told about moral consequences which detailed that their afterlife would be lavish while their brutal masters would suffer for their actions.The Benedictine Monks were the first group of Christian monks under St. Benedict.
He outlined the harsh rules and rigors of being a monk. They did farm work and literature to help their community. They focused on service and helping others. The Benedictine Monks were important in the spread of Christianity in Western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire because they were the few literate people in the area. With everything falling to shambles, life had declined. Most of history had been destroyed so the monks copied books and literature and helped spread the word of god. With all of the Vikings, usually, those areas were paganistic, but Christianity gained popularity because of the monks and their teachings. Popes align themselves with the Frankish kings like Pepin because it offered protection and support. Pepin wanted to support his empire in Germany along with the Benedictines and the papacy. Pepin wanted more land for the Pope and to have the power of the church in his hands. The Popes aligned themselves with the Frankish kings because they had a powerful empire behind them while they were conflicting with the Byzantines and Rome over Iconoclasm.
The characteristics of Ancient China were mountainous regions along the coast. There were multiple dynasties that ruled the area for ages. Their language had different dialects, but they all had one single written language so that no matter where you were from, there was some form of possible communication.The language started out with pictures and their positioning determined their meaning. Most of the people were farmers who had advanced ways to farm such as using human defecation as fertilizer. Geography was so important to Chinese development because it allowed communities to develop their own towns and cities without interaction. The mountains acted as a source of protection along with the ocean. Much later, the ocean would be beneficial for travel and trade. The flooding rivers were dangerous but helped renew the land for agriculture.
Confucianism is more philosophical rather than religious. Confucius’ teachings taught citizens to obey and to listen. Confucianism was about conforming and not causing turmoil. People are taught respect, loyalty, and love. Legalism is the belief that a powerful government is a key to a successful empire. Legalism is a very strict and harsh system in comparison to Confucianism. They believe that people are naturally going to stray and disobey, the strict system regulates this. They control everything (books and media) just like a totalitarian ruler or dictator. Taoism is a religion that is about balance and living in harmony. Every person has their own journey to connect with Tao, which is not concretely defined. This focuses on yourself and can be connected through nature, yoga, and martial arts.
They are similar because all three of them create a specific lifestyle with guidelines or actions to follow. They all focus on trying to reach a specific goal or to please someone. They are different because Confucianism and Taoism focus on love and harmony where Legalism focuses on power. Confucianism and Legalism focus on conformity whereas Taoism focuses on your personal journey and searching for what you want in life. Each of these three religions had different responses to the problems of the world. Confucianism had the response of having a secret curriculum where obedience and conformity was taught. They would deal with issues by listening to the leader and going with the flow. Legalism deals with world problems with power and fear. They would make an example of someone who went against them and would not hesitate to take someone’s life. Taoism would deal with a problem by asking each person to look within and to search for what they think is right. They would find a balanced situation with compromises.
Charlemagne was the son of Pepin and is known as one of the best emperors in history. Charlemagne had many primary accomplishments in regards to social, economic, and religious development in Europe. Socially, he implemented education. People learned the German language but learned how to read and write in Latin to copy original works. Economically, because he conquered so much territory that was based on agriculture, he was able to help the economy and become a wealthy empire. Farming techniques were perfected and new technologies were created. The conquering and total control of the church led to lots of power and economic gain. Religiously, Charlemagne spread Christianity across Europe and was very close with the Pope. The Pope and the church were under his control and Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day, this did not benefit the church.
Of all of the things I learned about in this class, the most intriguing thing I learned about was ancient Egypt. I have always loved learning about Egypt because of its mystery, power, and mention within the Bible. It was really cool to learn in-depth about their religion and how it changed from ruler to ruler. Learning about Hatshepsut and how her step-son attempted to erase her from history was very intriguing. She was able to prove her worth and eventually the son had power when he was of age. It shows how women still had an important role and were able to have a positive impact on their country such as creating new trade routes and bringing in foreign luxuries. All of their history and technological advances have had a significant impact on our modern world. Some of their inventions that have been used recently or impacted us were oxen-driven plows, written language, paper, and ink. Even with our technological advances, oxen are still used on farms and we use paper every day. Egypt lit a spark in advances in irrigation, language, medicine, religion, and more.
Essays For the Viking Final Exam. (2021, Dec 13). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/essays-for-the-viking-final-exam/
