Turns of History

TURNS OF HISTORY

History is a very interesting subject. History has its own pace and phase. However, some events changed the pace and phase of the ever-flowing stream of history. This is an attempt to recall such events till 1000 AD. 

The River Valley Civilisations: Egypt, Sumer, Harappan, and later, Assyrian, Median, and Babylonian pour life into the region between Turkey and India.

Abraham and the founding of Judaism : Abraham founded Judaism and gave a religion to the Middle East.

 Destruction of Jerusalem: Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon destroyed the Israelites' home aborting the dawn of a world Empire.

Exodus: Jews return to Canaan from Egypt led by Moses. Judaism finds a home again.

Battle of Marathon : Europe finally wins over its mother, Asia. Civilisation comes to peak in Europe with Greece as its cradle.

Alexander the Great : He unified Western civilisation and forced it into a single umbrella changing all frontiers. His death broke the world into fragments that shaped the world: Lysimachid, Cassandrian Empire, Ptolemaic Egypt, Antigonid Empire, Seleucid Persia. 

Qin Empire: Qin Shi Huang Di founds the Qin Empire by unifying confederacies in China. Another part of the world becomes notably important. 

 Buddha and Asoka: Buddha gave light to Asia and offered an alternative to the world in cultural terms. Ashoka, as an India Emperor helped in propagating this religion.

Migration of Etruscans: Amid the Civilisation of the Greeks, the Etruscans with their language Latin form confederacies in Italy, founding the Kingdom of Rome. Rome outshines Greece turning the Spotlight to Italy.

Caesar aspires to become Dictator: The Republic State and the Senate are destroyed by Julius Caesar, an ambitious commander; paving the path to the formation of the Roman Empire.

Cleopatra: Due to the alliance of Cleopatra with Caesar, and his ally, Antony, Rome exerts control over Egypt, and subsequently the whole of Middle East. 

Second Triumvirate: Octavian, Mark Anthony, and Lepidus ruled jointly. Octavian killed the other two to give rise to the Roman Empire. 

Birth of Jesus of Nazareth: A man was born in the Roman Province of Judea. He was destined to resolve the problems of the Jews, thus forming a new religion, currently, the one with the most adherents, Christianity. He was however crucified by the Roman authorities after complaints from Jews.

Post Mauryan Conflict in Central Asia and North India: After the Fall of the Mauryan Empire, the Sunga, Shatavahana, Kanva, Kharavela kingdoms rose in India's interiors. In its frontiers, to add competition, Kushanas and Sakas from China  and Central Asia competed with the Pahlavas of Persian Parthia. There was constant rivalry. This led to the fall of all three states.

Rise of Sassanids: Under Ardeshir, the Pahlavas were defeated and the Zoroastrian Sassanid Empire rose in its place and for 4 centuries it was the sole dynasty in Persia. It prevented expansion of Roman Empire. 

Roman Empire splits: Roman Emperor Diocletian split up the Roman Empire into East and West and established Co-Emperors under him. This facilitated growth of the Mid-East.  

Capital shifted: Under Constantine, the Capital of the Roman Empire was shifted from Rome to Byzantium. This led to constant deterioration of the West and growth of the West.

Christianity made state religion: Under Theosodius, Christianity became state religion. 

The scourge of God: Attila the Hun becomes the chief of the Huns. The Huns under Attila vandalize Europe and Europe goes into its dark ages.

Fall of Guptas:After the Guptas fell in India, there was vacuum formed in Interior of India and outside India, this changed boundaries of Central Asia and Persia.

Prophet Muhammad: Prophet Muhammad was born in Arabia. He founded a new Abrahamic religion named Islam, which believes in no other God but God(Allah). It's holy book was Quran. The former holy spot of Kaaba of the Arabs still remained holy to the Muslims. As a duty, every Muslim must embark upon Hajj, a journey to Mecca. Muslims had to and must do Namaz five times a day from their station facing Mecca.

Caliphates: After Muhammad's death, the whole Islamic community fell into a chaotic situation. They did not know who would save them. So they chose Abu Bakr as a Khalifa, or the leader of the faithful, followed by three other rightly-guided Khalifas(Rashidun), Umar, Uthman, and Ali Ibn Abi Talib.Under the first two Caliphs, there was widespread conquest in the middle East. This was a competition to Christianity.

Ummayads: After assassination of the fourth Caliph, Ali. There was a confusion among Muslims, so the power shifted from Arabia to Damascus in Syria. The family of Uthman(The third Caliph), founded a power, the Ummayads. It was under the Ummayad reign that took Islam to its peaks. Islam was the most popular religion all the way from Persia to Egypt and Libya.  

Abbasides: However, the Ummayads' power also deteriorated. With this as the backdrop, the descendants of Abbas (Muhammad's uncle) founded their Caliphate, shifting the Capital to Baghdad. This event was important because this event helped in further expanding Islam into the East.

Moors in Europe: The greatest threat to Europe were for a period, the Arab Moors. Muslims through Northern Africa and Morocco entered Spain and invaded it and sought to expand throughout Europe. Their invasion was stalled in Tour of France.

Islam in India: Muhammad Qasim and later of Muhammad of Ghazni invaded India and Islam entered India. 

Franks occupy Europe: Charlemagne occupied large amounts of Europe in order to revive a Pan-European State like the Roman Empire. Unlike the Romans, these people adhered to the Church and were identified as a legitimate state. Pope Leo presented Charlemagne the crown of 'Holy Roman Emperor'. The Holy Roman Empire did not receive efficient leaders for a century.

Holy Roman Empire: King Otto was the king of the Teutons. He ascended the throne of the Holy Roman Empire and from that point, Europe gained power again. 

England starts to emerge: King Alfred, Anglosaxon King of Wessex defended England from Viking attacks hence empowering England with Political power, name, and fame.

Europeans in America: Leif Erikson of Scandinavia traveled to Greenland and Canada establishing bases there. 

* There is a major drawback in this article because there is limited mention of China, and no mention of Korea, Japan, Far East Nations, and the new world. It has, for me, seemed difficult to involve events from these parts.