This exploration will be conceptually challenging because we will take concepts we learned before and combine them to help explain the world we live in today. The logic must be clear, so if anything is confusing or debatable, it's worth pausing to consider. First, I will explain the

The Renaissance was an intellectual revolution in Europe that would ultimately change the fate of the continent. It was a re-imagining of classical Greece in a Christian European context. The Renaissance combined classical Greece with Christian Europe to create modernity. The ideas and values that underpin modernity—the world we

Today we will explore the Crusades, which will lead us into the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Islamic Revolution. We will look at three questions: What were the Crusades? Why did they happen? And why did they stop? To explain the answers, I first need to provide a lot

The Mongols have a terrible reputation for their brutality and atrocities. Today, I want to make the argument that what they did, given the circumstances and the constraints they were under, was actually logical and understandable. The World of the Steppe The Mongols are a steppe people. The steppe is

For the longest time, China was the civilized civilization par excellence in the world. It gave us all the great inventions that would make modernity possible, including the compass, paper, printmaking, and gunpowder. But after the Song Dynasty, which is about the year 1200, China seemed to stop being creative.

Today, we will look at Islam, focusing on the Islamic Golden Age. We will explore three major questions: 1. While Europe was in its Dark Ages, Islam embarked on its Golden Age. How did this divergence happen? 2. What ended the Islamic Golden Age? Why did this period come to

Today we continue our look at the Vikings, specifically their worldview and cultural system. I believe that Viking culture is truly one of the outstanding cultures in Western civilization. The problem, however, is that we know very little about it for several reasons. First, they were purposefully an oral tradition.

The Vikings are extremely interesting, and I believe that they are one of the most underappreciated and misunderstood European cultures in the Western tradition. There are two main pillars: the Greco-Romans and the Judeo-Christians. The four traditions—the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, and the Christians—have been over-studied and

The Byzantine Empire is considered the continuation of the Roman Empire in Eastern Europe. The Holy Roman Empire is considered the continuation of the Roman Empire in Western Europe. When we think about the Holy Roman Empire in the West, we think of the famous Voltaire quotation. Voltaire was a

Today we are examining the Byzantine Empire, and I will be looking at three questions. 1. Why do we have the Byzantine Empire? Historically, we have seen the Byzantine Empire as a continuation of the Roman Empire. We have the Byzantine Empire because Constantine the Great, in 330 CE, transferred