Unit 1,

The Roman Empire, Lesson 1, From Republic to Empire. In the 140s BC,
Rome ruled over the Mediterranean Sea. The Romans had a type of government
called a republic, and the citizens chose their leaders by vote. These leaders were
called senators, and every year, Two consuls were elected from them. The consuls
were the highest leaders, and they could cancel each other's plans. Having two
consuls prevented anyone from becoming a dictator. In 59 BC, a young Roman
general named Julius Caesar started to conquer all of Gaul, which is France today.
This greatly expanded Roman land. and made Caesar very popular with the
Romans. Afterwards, he wanted to become the only leader of Rome. In 49 BC, he
marched his soldiers back to Rome and started a civil war. A civil war is a war
between people within one country. He took the city of Rome by force and became
a dictator. Julius Caesar was a fair ruler. and he changed many things to help the
ordinary people of Rome. However, there were other powerful senators who
thought that he was becoming too strong. They were not happy with the dictator. In
44 BC, a group of senators assassinated Caesar. Though they said that the republic
was saved from a dictator, most Romans were angry and wanted revenge. Two men
promised to get revenge for Caesar. One was a very brave, strong general named
Mark Antony. The other was Caesar's shy young nephew, Octavian. Octavian and
Antony defeated the senators who were responsible for Caesar's death. They
became rulers and decided to share the lands of Rome. Octavian took the west and
Antony took the east. For years, Octavian and Mark Antony were good friends.
Then, problems started when Antony married Cleopatra, the beautiful queen of
Egypt. Octavian believed that Cleopatra and Antony wanted Rome for themselves.
Another civil war began. In 31 BC, Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra in the
sea battle of Actium. The two lovers went back to Egypt and killed themselves.
After that, Octavian was the only ruler of Rome. That was the end of the Roman
Republic. Octavian became the first emperor of the Roman Empire in 27 BC. He
ruled all lands of Rome, which stretched from Spain to Egypt. The senators gave
Octavian a new name, Augustus. it means respected one. During the reign of
Augustus, Rome became a much greater city. He started a peaceful period called
the Pax Romana or Rome in Peace. For the next 200 years, Rome was a wealthy
and powerful state. However, a new religion was coming to change the ancient
world forever.

Unit 1, The Roman Empire Lesson 2, Julius Caesar Today, our teacher said
Rome was not built in a day. He explained that it means it takes a long time to
create something special. Before becoming a great empire, Rome had many serious
problems. Because it conquered many new lands and became wealthy, Rome was
unchallenged. However, it was only a few politicians who became powerful and
rich. These men always fought each other and started civil wars, and poor people
suffered because of them. When Julius Caesar saw this, he thought that the
Republic government was damaging his country. He also thought that having two
leaders in the government was not a good system. Caesar believed that if he ruled
Rome alone, he could make it a better place. So, he became a dictator and he made
many reforms. He gave land to his soldiers and food to poor people in the city. He
also let people from conquered countries like Greece and Spain become citizens of
Rome. The people of Rome supported him and he became very popular. However,
many senators were afraid that he was becoming like a king. To prevent Caesar
from ruling for a long time, some senators made a plan to kill him. This group of
senators, led by a man named Brutus, assassinated Caesar. The dictator was gone,
but he changed Rome forever. Because he was a very successful king, Rome
couldn't go back to being a republic again. During Caesar's life, Rome was already
becoming an empire. About 15 years after his death, his nephew Augustus
became the first emperor of the Roman Empire and finished the work that Caesar
started.

Unit 2 The Spread of Christianity Lesson 1 Christianity in the Roman

Empire When Augustus was emperor, a boy named Jesus was born in Judea. Judea
was a small province on the eastern Mediterranean, which was under the rule of
the Roman Empire. It was the homeland of the Jews, who were also called the
Israelites. They had their own kingdom in the past. but now they were ruled by the
Romans. In about 30 AD, Jesus became a wandering teacher and healer. He had
many disciples or followers, and he taught them many new ideas about God and
religion. However, many Jews thought that Jesus' teachings were against their
beliefs. The Romans also saw Jesus as a troublemaker because he challenged their
beliefs. Jesus was arrested and executed on a cross a few years after he started
teaching. After the execution of Jesus, his disciples started spreading his teachings
among the Jews across the empire. This was the start of Christianity, a religion
which is based on the life and the teachings of Jesus. The followers of Christianity
are called Christians. They believe that Jesus is the son of the Jewish God, and he
will return to earth in the future. At first, Christianity was popular with slaves and
poor people. As it spread in Rome, some Roman leaders thought that Christians
were traitors to the Roman Empire. To prevent Christianity from spreading, some
emperors persecuted Christians and closed their churches. In the 60s A.D.,
Emperor Nero killed many Christians. Sometimes they were killed by wild animals
in the Colosseum. Even though Christians were not tolerated, Christianity
continued to spread. In 312 A.D. there was another civil war in Rome. Two
generals were fighting to become emperors. Before the battle of the Milvian
Bridge, one of the generals, Constantine, had a vision in which he saw a cross.
The cross is the symbol of Christianity. Hoping it would help him win the battle,
Constantine told his men to paint the cross on their shields. He won the battle, and
he became a Christian. In that same year, he was made Emperor of Rome.
Constantine helped reform the Roman Empire. made a new capital city called
Constantinople. He was the first emperor to support Christianity. In 313 AD, he
made a new law called the Edict of Milan. The laws said that Christians were free
to follow their religion. Constantine also gave money and land to Christians, and
they built many churches across the empire. Christianity spread more quickly. In
380 AD, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
 Unit 2, the spread of Christianity. Lesson 2, Disciples and Missionaries. In
class today, we learned about how Christianity started in the Roman Empire and
spread to other places. My teacher said that the disciples of Jesus were
missionaries. So, after Jesus was executed, They went to different countries and
spread this new religion. A famous early Christian was a man named Paul of
Tarsus. He was a Jew who converted to Christianity and then became the leader of
the church. He wrote letters to Christians to tell them how they should act and how
they should organize their places of worship. Those letters are now part of the
Christian Bible. The life of the early Christians in Rome was not easy. Romans
believed in many gods and religions, and some emperors were even worshipped as
gods. The Christians refused to worship the emperors, so they were persecuted by
them. They were seen as traitors to Rome for hundreds of years. However,
Christianity still spread quickly for a number of reasons. One reason was that the
religion said everyone was equal and there was no difference between the rich and
the poor. Most of the people of Judea did not become Christians and remained
Jewish. They too had trouble living in the Roman Empire. In 66 AD, they started a
rebellion against the Romans. The Roman army marched into Judea and attacked
the city of Jerusalem. The Temple of the Jews was destroyed. In the 100s AD, the
Romans even forced the Jews to leave Judea. They lived in many different parts of
the world after that. Even though early Christians and Jews suffered in the Roman
Empire, both religions are still practiced today, all over the world.

Unit 3, The Fall of the Roman Empire Lesson 1, Barbarian Invasion The
time of Roman peace or pox romana ended in 180 AD. For the next century,
rebellions broke out across the Roman Empire. Barbarians were attacking Rome's
borders. The Roman emperors fought against the rebels and barbarians, but they
were unsuccessful. Rome could no longer control its huge empire. In 285 AD,
Emperor Diocletian decided that it needed two leaders instead of one. Soon, the
empire was divided into east and west, and each was ruled by an emperor. In 395,
east and west were officially divided, and they became different countries. In the
late 300s, Germanic tribes began to invade the Western Roman Empire. These
tribes were called the Goths, Vandals, and Franks. The Romans thought they were
barbarians because they were not skilled farmers and they did not live in cities.
They migrated into the Roman Empire because their homelands were conquered
by a people from Central Asia called the Huns. The Huns were the most terrifying
tribe to invade Europe. They were brave horsemen from the plains north of China.
In the 400s, they migrated to Europe. A leader named Attila ruled the tribe from
434 to 453. Attila had conquered many weaker barbarian tribes, so his army had
grown very big. It moved through Roman territory, sacking the cities and taking
slaves. Finally, the Romans did something very surprising. They allied with
Germanic barbarian tribes to fight Attila. In 451, they fought a great battle at
Chalans in Gaul. Thousands of men were killed in the day-long battle, but Attila
was finally stopped. He left Roman lands and went back to his homeland, where he
died two years later. The Western Roman Empire became very weak after its battle
against the Huns. It only lasted a short time longer. In 476, a Germanic chief
named Odoacer forced the last emperor of Rome to leave the city. It was the start
of the Dark Ages. For hundreds of years, Western Europe became a much poorer
place than during Roman times. people were now ruled by Germanic kings. The
Eastern Roman Empire, however, survived for another thousand years. It became
known as the Byzantine Empire. Its capital city of Constantinople had very strong
walls, so no barbarian army could conquer it. The people spoke Greek, and they
kept the text of ancient Greece and Rome. Unlike the people in Western Europe,
They continued to have an advanced culture. The Byzantine Empire was the
strongest state in the Middle East until the 600s. That was when a new empire was
expanding from the desert of Arabia.

Unit 3, The Fall of the Roman Empire. Lesson 2, Nomadic Peoples. In

history class, we have been learning a lot about many great civilizations and their
people. My teacher told us that in the 300s and 400s AD, a different kind of
people moved into Europe. They were nomads who moved around from place to
place with their herds of animals. They looked for grass for their animals to eat.
They often attacked cities and stole valuable things that they did not have in their
own land. The nomads who moved into Europe were called the Huns. They came
from the plains north of China. My teacher said that their land was barren, so it
was not good for farming. It was also very hot in the summer and very cold in the
winter. Maybe that was why the Huns became nomads. In ancient times, they
attacked China many times. In 141 BC, the Huns tried to attack the Han dynasty of
China. However, they were unsuccessful and were chased away from their
homeland. My teacher told me that they migrated to Europe in the late 300s and
lived in a place that is now Hungary. The Huns fought with many Germanic tribes
in Europe. Even though the Germanic tribes were powerful, They were no match
for the Huns. The Huns were feared and many people moved into the Roman
Empire to escape from them. These barbarian tribes began sacking Roman cities.
The Western Roman Empire became weak and collapsed. The Dark Ages began
after the fall of the Roman Empire. I was quite surprised with what I learned today.
The Huns helped to destroy a very powerful empire, which had lasted for hundreds
of years.

Unit 4 An Empire of Faith Lesson 1 Islam Arabia, also called the Arabian
Peninsula, is an area of deserts surrounded by Europe, Africa, and India. It's an
important place because many trade routes passed through it. The Arab people
lived there for centuries. Most of them were nomads who had herds of sheep and
goats. but there were also some wealthy traders. 1500 years ago, two trading cities
grew quickly on the Arabian Peninsula. One was called Mecca and the other was
called Medina. In about 570, a boy named Mohammed was born in Mecca. Like
many people of that city, he became a successful trader. Traveling in caravans
through the Middle East, He got to know about the religions of the Christians and
Jews. When he was 40, he had a vision in which the angel Gabriel spoke to him.
The angel told Muhammad that he was the prophet of Allah. Allah means God in
Arabic. Muhammad was told by the angel to spread this message to the people of
Mecca. At first, Muhammad was scared of telling other people about his vision.
However, his wife encouraged him to share the message. It was the start of a
religion called Islam. Over the years, he gained followers who were called
Muslims. Muslim means one who submits to Allah. As the number of Muslims
grew, the leaders of Mecca began to fear them. Muhammad and his followers were
persecuted. In 622, they were forced to flee from Mecca to the city of Medina.
That event is known as the Hijra. In Medina, the number of Muslims grew even
more. Muhammad returned to the city of Mecca with his followers and conquered
it in 630. His army was small, but the men were very enthusiastic. After
Muhammad's conquest, Most people of Mecca became Muslims. Muhammad
made Mecca the holy city of the new religion Islam. Today, millions of Muslims
around the world visit Mecca on pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is a visit to a holy place.
Muhammad died in 632, but his messages were recorded in a book called the
Quran, so that Muslims could remember his commands. The Muslim leaders
selected a new leader called the Caliph. The Caliph was like a king of all Muslims.
The first four caliphs led Muslims to conquer new lands and spread Islam. They
also built beautiful Muslim temples called mosques. The Islamic Empire grew
quickly and conquered land to the east and west. Only ten years after Mohammed's
death, Muslims had conquered Syria, Egypt, and Palestine. They conquered big
parts of the Byzantine Empire and the coast of Africa. The spread of Islam was
unstoppable.

Unit 4 An Empire of Faith Lesson 2 The Determined Muslims Today, at the

start of the class, my teacher showed us a map of the world. On the map, he drew
trade routes called the Silk Road across Asia. They connected Asia with Europe.
He told us that during the 500s, it was dangerous for traders to travel on the Silk
Road. This was because the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Empire were at
war. So, caravan traders went through the Arabian Peninsula to find a safer route.
Arabian cities became wealthy centers for trade. By the 600s, Christianity was
practiced in Europe and North Africa. Hinduism was the religion in India, and
Jewish people practiced Judaism in Mesopotamia. On the Arabian Peninsula, a
wealthy caravan trader named Mohammed started a new religion called Islam. He
conquered the whole Arabian Peninsula with a small army. His army was made up
of his followers called Muslims. After the conquest, many Arabs became Muslims.
My teacher said this is how Islam started to spread all over the Arabian Peninsula.
After Muhammad died, a new religious leader was elected called the Caliph. The
Caliphs represented Muhammad. It was their job to carry out his commands.
Furthermore, they wanted their Islamic empire to grow. They were able to conquer
the Persian Empire. It had become weak after a long war with the Byzantine
Empire. After conquering the Persian Empire, Muslims were determined to
expand their empire further. They even thought about conquering the whole world.
I've been wondering how Islam spread so quickly throughout the world. Now, I
understand that it was by conquering a lot of land that Islam spread faster than any
other religion that came before it.
 Unit 5, The Islamic Golden Age Lesson 1, The Civilization of Baghdad
Muslims expanded their new empire through conquest. the early 700s, a Muslim
army moved west into Spain and conquered it. For hundreds of years, Muslims
ruled Spain. They built great cities and mosques. They tried to conquer France too.
But a French general named Charles Martel defeated them at the Battle of Tours in
732. This prevented the Islamic Empire from expanding further into Europe. The
Muslim armies also moved east of Arabia. They conquered Persia and parts of
India. They even fought against the Chinese for control of Central Asia. The
Muslim armies were unstoppable for a long time. Once a place was conquered,
most of the people in that place became Muslims. In 750, a new caliph named
Asafa took over the Islamic Empire. He started the Abbasid dynasty, which lasted
for hundreds of years. Before the Abbasid dynasty, the Arab Muslims were
dominant. over everyone in the lands they conquered. Non-Arab Muslims were
treated as second-class citizens. However, that changed during the Abbasid
dynasty. Persian culture became significant and influenced the Islamic Empire. The
capital city was changed from Damascus to Baghdad, which is close to Persia. The
years from 750 to 950 were a golden age for the Islamic Empire. The people of the
Islamic Empire accepted the cultures and inventions of other countries. They
started adopting new ideas. They copied numerals from India. They learned how to
make paper from the Chinese. They produced thousands of books. The Arabs
translated many books from Persian and Greek into Arabic. Great schools were
started in Baghdad and Spain. There people studied science, architecture, and
medicine. In 922, a writer named Ibn Falad was sent from Baghdad on a mission.
His mission was to meet the Vikings on the Volga River and start trade with them.
They came from Scandinavia in the north of Europe. They traveled down the river
to trade with the wealthy Islamic Empire. The Vikings built many settlements
along the long rivers like the Volga and Dnieper. These rivers helped them travel
between Scandinavia and Arabia. The Viking settlements became cities and they
joined together to become the country of Russia in the 900s. The Vikings and
Arabs both thought that Western Europe was weak and poor. They both often
invaded places like Italy and France in the 800s and 900s. The people of Western
Europe were terrified of these invaders, so they built the first castles for protection.

Unit 5 The Islamic Golden Age Lesson 2 Islamic Culture In history class
today, we learned about Islamic civilization. My teacher told us that during the
600s, the Islamic Empire expanded very quickly into Egypt and the land around
the Mediterranean Sea. Muslims conquered land that had been influenced by the
Greeks for many centuries. At first, they ruled without caring for other cultures.
However, during the Abbasid dynasty, Muslims started to tolerate foreign customs
and ideas. During the 700s and 800s in the schools and libraries of Baghdad,
books of the ancient Greek philosophers and scientists were translated into Arabic.
Muslim scholars adopted the learning of ancient civilizations. They especially
liked the writings of Plato and Aristotle. However, Muslims also contributed many
new ideas to the world. One great Muslim thinker was named He was a doctor
who wrote books about medicine. He discovered many new ways to treat sickness.
Another important Muslim scholar was named Averroes. He wrote books that
explained Aristotle's difficult ideas to ordinary people. During the Dark Ages,
Europe had forgotten about ancient philosophy, but Europeans learned about it
again by reading the books of Averroes. This supports what my teacher said, that
the Dark Ages were not a dark time for every country in the world. In the Islamic
Empire, they were a time of learning and science. Islamic civilization was much
more advanced than its neighbors for hundreds of years. An old book called The
Thousand and One Nights tells wonderful stories about the time when Baghdad
was a city of light and learning.

Unit 6, the early middle ages, lesson 1, Western Europe and feudalism.
Western Europe was a dangerous place to live in the 800s and 900s. The Vikings
attacked from the north and Muslims controlled the Mediterranean Sea. During this
time, kings gave land to wealthy people called nobles. The nobles were loyal to
kings and they had knights to protect them. The knights defended the land of
nobles as well as the peasant farmers. In return, the peasants had to work on the
land of the nobles. This relationship between kings, nobles, knights, and peasants
is called feudalism. In the year 800, the most powerful king in Western Europe
was Charlemagne. He ruled a huge territory. He protected the Pope, so the Pope
crowned him as the new Emperor of the Romans. People were happy because they
believed Charlemagne could bring back the peaceful times of the Roman Empire.
However, Charlemagne died in 814, and his grandsons fought for control. of his
land. In 843, his empire was divided into three territories. These territories later
became France, Germany, and Italy. Europe could not go back to the time of the
Roman Empire because there were many kingdoms with different languages and
cultures. Instead of one emperor, there were many kings. Strangely, kings of
Germany called themselves Roman emperors. However, they did not have the
authority or power of an emperor. Most of them were actually very weak. Although
Europeans did not live in one state, they were united by their religion, Christianity.
The pope was seen as the true leader of all Christians. Popes lived in Rome and
were very wealthy and powerful. The church and ordinary people all listened what
the Pope said. If a king did not listen to the Pope, he could be banished from the
Christian community. Kings were very afraid of being cut off from the church
because it was so powerful. In 1075, Pope Gregory VII had a problem with
Emperor Henry IV, who ruled over Germany and Italy. The emperor was
appointing church leaders, and the pope did not like it. When the emperor refused
to listen, the pope banished him. The pope even told people that Henry was no
longer the emperor. In 1077, Henry IV went to meet the Pope at a place called
Canossa. In the winter snow, Henry stood in his bare feet and begged the Pope to
forgive him. After three days, the Pope came outside and forgave him. This shows
that even though Popes had no large army, their powers were sometimes absolute.
In 1095, another Pope, Urban II, commanded all Christians to fight against
Muslims. That was the start of wars that lasted for two hundred years.
 Unit 6, the Early Middle Ages Lesson 2, The Sword and the Cross Today in
class we learned about Charlemagne. He was the king of the Franks and his
ancestors were some of the barbarians that invaded the Roman Empire. My
teacher told me that after the fall of Rome There were many kingdoms in Western
Europe, but there were no strong leaders for many centuries. Charlemagne was
seen as the first great king since the time of the Roman emperors. Charlemagne
ruled a kingdom that stretched from Spain all the way to Eastern Europe. He sent
his soldiers to Rome in 800 to help the Pope. who was being attacked by the
citizens of Rome. The Pope was very thankful, so he crowned Charlemagne as the
new emperor of Rome. I think it is funny that Charlemagne was crowned as
emperor, even though his ancestors had actually destroyed the Roman Empire.
Charlemagne is sometimes called the father of modern Europe. In his lifetime,
people hoped that he could bring back the glory of the Roman Empire. After he
died, his kingdom developed into the countries of modern Europe, like France,
Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland. Even though nobody could bring back the
Roman Empire, Its legacy continued in the Middle Ages. Today, the influence of
Rome can be seen in many areas. For example, European languages all use words
which come from Latin, the language of the Romans. In English, words like
government, territory, and animal are all Latin. The Romans first introduced the
Republic system of government. This was an innovative system in Roman times,
because it prevented one man from having absolute power.

Unit 7 Religious Conflict Lesson 1 The Crusades Jerusalem was sacred to

Christians because it was the city where Jesus was crucified. It was sacred to
Muslims too because it was the home of many prophets before Muhammad. A
conflict started between Christians and Muslims over the control of Jerusalem. In
1095 Pope Urban II requested that the Christians of Europe conquer Jerusalem.
The city was ruled by Muslims for hundreds of years. These wars were called the
Crusades. Christians who volunteered to fight were called crusaders. They came
from all over Europe. Together, old men, women, and children marched to the
Holy Land, which is Palestine today. Many of them were killed by Muslim Turks
on the roads through Anatolia. However, more crusaders came. In 1099, the
crusaders conquered Jerusalem. and killed almost all Muslims who lived there. The
Europeans also conquered the surrounding cities and ruled Palestine for almost 100
years. Muslims were shocked that Christians had conquered all of Palestine. They
wanted to retake it, but they could not because they were often fighting each other.
Finally, Muslims were brought together by a skillful general named Saladin. He
defeated the crusaders and reclaimed Jerusalem in 1187. The strongest kings of
Europe wanted to defeat Saladin and regain control of Jerusalem. Philip II of
France, Frederick I of the Holy Roman Empire, and Richard I of England gathered
massive armies. They marched to the Holy Land in 1190. This was the third
crusade. However, Frederick died on the way to Jerusalem, and his army went back
home. Philip got very sick and left the Holy Land soon after he arrived. Only
Richard and his English army continued to fight Saladin. Richard was known as
the Lionheart because he was a courageous warrior. However, Saladin was
courageous too. For three years, the two kings clashed in many battles. but
Saladin's army defended Jerusalem. The Third Crusade was a failure for Christians.
Richard and Saladin were both exhausted from years of war. They made a peace
treaty. Saladin allowed Christians to visit Jerusalem. Richard did not like the treaty
because he felt defeated. He left for Europe without visiting the city. The Crusades
continued for another hundred years. but Christian armies were always defeated.
Muslims continued to hold Jerusalem. Saladin died in 1193, and Muslims fought
each other again. They did not know that a more dangerous group of people was
coming from the east. They were the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan.

Unit 7. Religious Conflict. Lesson 2. Holy War. Today, in class, we learned

about the Crusades. My teacher told us that they started when a group of Turks
moved into a place called Anatolia to the east of the Byzantine Empire. For
centuries, Christians passed through the area when they visited Jerusalem. The city
was a sacred place for Christians because it was where Jesus was crucified. The
Turks were Muslims and they sometimes attacked Christians who were passing
through Anatolia. Christians became furious. The Turks also clashed with the
Byzantine Empire. They conquered Byzantine territory and they were getting close
to the capital city of Constantinople. The emperor was very worried and he
requested help from Pope Urban II. The pope responded by asking all Christian
kingdoms to join together in a holy war called a crusade. Soon, Christians from all
around Europe got ready for war. The first crusade was successful for Christians.
They captured the city of Jerusalem. Over the next 200 years, there were eight
large crusades fought in the Holy Land. The crusades were the longest religious
wars that ever happened. Great numbers of Christians and Muslims were killed.
Many other people died too. My teacher said that the Pope had less authority by
the end of the Crusades. European kings lost interest in the wars and they started
to refuse the requests of the Pope. Therefore, the kingdoms of Europe became
more independent.

Unit 8, the Mongol Empire Lesson 1, Genghis Khan The Mongols were a
group of nomads who lived in the cold, dry steppes to the north of China. For
centuries, the Mongols moved around from place to place with their herds of
horses and goats. They lived in tents called yurts, and their life was not easy. A
man named Temujin changed the life of the nomads. He became the leader of all
Mongol tribes after many brutal wars. In 1206, he was elected as Genghis Khan,
which means great king. Genghis Khan made new laws for the Mongols. He also
told them that it was their destiny to conquer the whole world. For the next 20
years, he and his army fought continuous wars in Central Asia, against other
wealthier countries. Many important cities along the Silk Road were completely
annihilated by Genghis Khan and his army. The Mongols were so strong that their
Muslim and Christian enemies thought that the Mongol leader was a punishment
from God. The Mongol army was made up of archers. They wore simple armor and
traveled on small, fast horses. Genghis Khan died in 1227 after conquering much
of Asia. His sons and grandsons succeeded him as Khan, and the Mongols
continued their conquests. They invaded the Middle East and did a lot of damage.
When the Mongols took Baghdad, a city of almost a million people, they killed
most of the residents of the city. They even killed the last Abbasid caliph. In 1279,
Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan finished conquering China. He started the
Yuan dynasty, which ruled China for almost a hundred years. The Mongol Empire
was the biggest that the world ever saw. It had good roads and the Mongols used
horsemen to deliver messages from one part of the empire to the other. Still, it was
difficult for the Khan to control such a large empire. Mongol generals began to
make their own kingdoms. After Kublai Khan died, the Mongol Empire fell apart.
Most Mongols kept their nomadic way of life, but they were influenced by the
civilizations they met. The Mongol emperors were very interested in East Asian
inventions and culture. However, because the Mongol army killed many people,
they were hated in China and other lands they conquered. In 1368, the Chinese
drove out the Mongols and regained their independence. The new Chinese emperor
started the Ming dynasty. Korea got rid of the Mongols at the same time and began
a new period in its history.

Unit 8 The Mongol Empire Lesson 2 Horsemen from the East In class
today, my teacher asked us if we knew which empire was the biggest of all time. I
thought of the Roman Empire and the empire of Alexander the Great. Surprisingly,
it was the Mongols who had the biggest empire. Their king, Genghis Khan, was so
ambitious that he wanted to conquer the world. The Mongol Empire conquered
parts of Europe, the Middle East, and much of Asia. Like the Huns we studied
earlier, the Mongols were nomads and lived to the north of China. Many Mongol
tribes moved around in the vast steppes. The Mongols rode horses from a very
early age. They used a bow and arrow to hunt animals. They were very skilled
archers and horsemen. They didn't have a single ruler until Temujin's reign. The
Mongols gave him a new name, Genghis Khan, and their conquest began. My
teacher told us, that although Genghis Khan was a brilliant military commander, he
was a very brutal man. Wherever his army went, villages were annihilated and
many people were killed. For this reason, people in Europe, the Middle East and
Asia still remember Genghis Khan as a brutal warrior rather than a great leader.
The Mongol Empire continued to grow after the death of Genghis Khan in 1227.
Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan conquered all of China in 1279. However,
after Kublai Khan died in 1294, the Mongol Empire divided into many kingdoms.
The biggest empire simply faded from history.

Unit 9, the Joseon dynasty of Korea, Lesson 1, King Sejong. In the late 14th
century, the Mongols were driven from China by the new Ming dynasty. The Ming
emperor demanded that Korea return some of its northern territory to China. The
king of Korea refused and chose to fight the Ming. He sent a general named Yi
Songgye to the border. However, the general took his army back to Korea and
made himself king in 1392. Yi Songgye started the new Joseon dynasty, which
lasted for more than 500 years. Yi allied with Ming China, so Korea was strongly
influenced by Chinese culture. He also decided to adopt the philosophy of
Confucius from China, and it became the major belief in Korea. Before the Joseon
dynasty, Korea had been strongly influenced by Buddhism. Joseon dynasty kings
lived in the new capital city of Hanyang, which is Seoul today. Sejong was one of
the greatest kings to ever rule in Korea. He was very wise when he was a young
prince. For this reason, he was chosen to become king in 1418, even though he was
not the oldest son. The new king did many things for his people. He protected his
country's borders from invasion. He attacked the nomads in Manchuria. He also
defeated the Japanese pirates who were sacking the villages of Korea. However,
there is one thing that King Sejong is most admired and respected for. Koreans did
not have their own writing system, so they used Chinese characters. They were
very difficult to learn. Only educated men could read and write them. King Sejong
wanted all Koreans to be literate, so he developed a Korean writing system called
Hangul in 1444. It was so easy that people were able to learn it in a few days. King
Sejong made many more reforms to improve the country. He liked science and new
technology. He invited talented people to his court, even if they were from low
social class. When a scientist named Jang Young-sil was invited, Sejong's courtiers
complained. Jang came from a family of servants. However, he invented many
things, including the most advanced clock of that time. A lot of Korean courtiers
wanted a good relationship with China. They thought that using Hangul was going
against China. They did not like new technology either. The ideas of Confucius had
made Koreans very conservative, so they did not like changes. When King Sejong
died in 1450, many of his new ideas ended with him. However, his life story shows
people what one great leader can do to help their country.

Unit 9, the Joseon dynasty of Korea. Lesson 2, a great writing system. In

class today, we learned about Hangul, the Korean writing system. Some Koreans
say that it is one of the greatest inventions in Korean history. My teacher told us
that there are thousands of different languages in the world. However, not many
languages have their own writing systems. There are only about 40 major writing
systems that are used now. So, it is a great achievement for a country to have its
own writing system. Before Sejong the Great, Koreans used the Chinese writing
system. It was very difficult to learn. and the Chinese language was very different
from the Korean language. That is why only people with a high rank like scholars
and nobles could read and write. King Sejong believed even common people
should know how to read and write. He invested a great amount of time and effort
to make a Korean writing system. The result was Hangul. Sadly, Hangul was not
admired by most scholars when it was first introduced. It took scholars more than
ten years to learn Chinese characters. When these conservative scholars saw that
Hangul could be learned in only a few days, they made fun of it. They said that it
was too easy. and it was a writing system for kids. However, Sejong wasn't
discouraged by those people. He made a book explaining how to learn Hangul
easily and sent it out to the ordinary people of Korea. Today, in Korea, more than
99 % of people are literate.
 Unit 10, The End of the Middle Ages Lesson 1, Joan of Arc The kingdoms
of Europe became more prosperous in the 1300s. After the Crusades, cities started
to grow and traders traveled between countries to sell their goods. France and
England were two of the wealthiest kingdoms. When the French king died without
a son, the English king, Edward III, demanded the crown of France. The French
refused to have an English king, so Edward invaded France in 1338. This started a
war that lasted more than a hundred years. During the war, England won most of
the battles. Their most famous victory was at Agincourt in 1415. English archers
used longbows to kill thousands of French knights. For a long time, French knights
were unstoppable, but now they were defeated by a small army of archers. Neither
the French nor English were strong enough to win the war because millions of
people died from a pandemic in 1348. This pandemic spread through all of Europe
and killed one out of three people. It was called the Black Death. because people's
bodies got black spots before they died. In the 1420s, it looked like the French
were losing the war. Their king died and the English owned half of their country. In
1424, a poor peasant girl named Joan of Arc heard strange voices. They were
telling her that she was sent by God to save France. Joan tried to meet with the
Prince of France. The courtiers of the Prince thought that she was crazy and
refused to set up a meeting. That did not stop Joan. The next time she met with the
courtiers, Joan made a prediction about the English. Her prediction came true. This
earned her a meeting with the Prince. Joan met with the Prince and asked for
permission to lead a French army against the English. In 1429, the prince put her in
command of an army. To everyone's surprise, she led the French to many victories,
even though she was only seventeen. In the same year, the prince was crowned
King Charles VII of France. Sadly, a year later, Joan of Arc was captured by the
English. They accused her of being a witch and burned her to death. After she was
killed, the French fought even harder. The French used a new weapon called the
gun very effectively. Furthermore, large guns called cannons were used to knock
down castle walls. Both armies used this technology, but the French had better
cannons. They were able to reclaim all of France by 1453. The Hundred Years' was
finally over. and so was the time of knights and castles. The Middle Ages were
coming to an end.

Unic 10 The End of the Middle Ages Lesson 2 The Black Death Today in
class, we learned about the Black Death. It was an illness that became a pandemic
during the 1300s. My teacher told us that the illness came from the Gobi Desert in
China and spread along the Silk Road. Rats spread the illness by getting on ships
that were taking goods to Western Europe. Then, sailors caught the illness and
spread it to ordinary people. The Black Death spread quickly and killed about 30 %
of the European population. My teacher explained that people suffered very badly
when they caught the illness. Giant black spots appeared on their bodies. Sufferers
had a high fever and most of them died within seven days. My teacher said that the
black death was so terrifying that people didn't go outside to meet other people.
Sometimes parents abandoned their children when they got the illness. Streets were
filled with dead bodies. and whole families disappeared forever. Even whole
towns disappeared forever in Europe. Nobody knew how to prevent the illness or
how to cure it. Imagining all this made me quite scared. The Black Death killed so
many people. However, after it ended, there was an important change in European
society. The class system, called feudalism, no longer worked. Peasants demanded
wages from the nobles and knights. They became free to travel and trade goods.
This change made Europe more prosperous. The Black Death helped end the long
period in Europe that is called the Middle Ages.