Anomalies of History
by J. O. Quantaman
Intro (Below)
Geocentric Evidence
Heliocentric Evidence
History: Recent
History: Dark Ages
History: Renaissance
History: Classical
Lense of Time
Intro
Angular separations between Venus and Mercury follow a recurring
pattern over forty years or tentatively 14,600 days. The 40-year cycle
covers two distinct phases separated by six-year Transition periods.
I have discovered this behavior while doing a statistical analysis of
the angular separations between Venus and Mercury. The analysis will
be shown in the opening sections of this report. Then I will match
historical events that concur with the six-year Transition periods. The
events include many examples of cultural reforms in the wake of social
upheavals, revolutions, wars and technological breakthroughs.
Please do not confuse this report with a deterministic approach to
history. Quantum theory has shown that determinism is impossible,
for the universe doesn’t have enough storage space to chain-link every
effect to its cause. The arrow of time points in one direction only.
When a soft-boiled egg rolls off the table and splatters across the floor,
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there is no easy way to reverse the process and make the egg whole
again.
Each of us has many choices to deal with whatever circumstances.
But life doesn’t work like a digital network. In real-life, you can’t take
back a bad chess move. Nor can you take back a serious physical injury
as if it was a matter of restoring a corrupted OS to its former state. You
must live with your choices and bear the results of your actions.
Suppose Time represents more than a linear chronology. Suppose
Time has quality components that manifest at regular intervals. If so,
there must be a class of events that manifest around such qualities.
Let us focus on events that influence or trigger cultural changes.
Such events include regional conflicts, pitched battles, changes in
political leadership, social upheavals and technological innovations.
The history of culture can be viewed as the revaluing of longterm
memory. History shows that memory has become depersonalized and
reinvested in the public domain.
Indeed, everyone retains bone-marrow memory. All of us have the
urge to survive: to eat when we’re hungry, to drink when we’re thirsty
and to sleep when we’re tired. But life involves more than breathing
and slouching before a TV. We must earn the right to shelter and
modest happiness.
Luckily, humans have been social creatures from the very start. If
someone in a hunting & gathering tribe knows how to start a fire, all
members of the tribe stay warm overnight. If another is swift of foot
and strong of arm, all members of the tribe will have cooked meat to
eat for dinner.
As the tribe gathers around the glowing embers, a 3rd-person may
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chant praises of the hunter’s bravery and the firemaker’s skills. So the
entire tribe learns of the methods used to slay a stag or coax a fire after
torrential downpours. When the heroes grow older or succumb to
injuries, younger members of the tribe have the basic know-how to fill
these vital roles.
In prehistoric times, word of mouth language was all that was
needed to spread knowledge from one generation to the next.
The earliest agricultural societies set aside a cadre of bards who
were charged with keeping the history of the people. In Celtic Europe,
druids would wander of village-to-village. During festivals and tribal
gatherings, the druids would sing of heroes and villains, wise
counselors and fools, glorious victories and tragic defeats. Although
Celts didn’t record history, the highlights from scores of generations
were preserved in the songs of the bards.
Eventually human social interactions grew more complex.
Merchants needed reliable grocery lists, inventories of products,
customer orders and accounts. They used posters as calendars to mark
the dates when debts would be collected or paid off. Bankers issued
written receipts for gold or silver they held in trust.
The first languages were largely iconic or hieroglyphic with separate
glyphs for numbers. Wealthy businesspersons no longer had to
remember every facet of their holdings. Instead they called their chief
scribes who’d read the particulars from clay tablets or scrolls.
The Phoenicians invented an alphabetical script which was soon
emulated by the Greeks and Romans. The Egyptians provided durable
papyrus sheets that rolled into compact scrolls for easy conveyance. A
new class of scribes used ink to scribble vital facts and figures for
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governing magistrates, high priests or commercial financiers. Popular
ballads were written down. These included Gilgamesh, The Iliad and
Odyssey. Historians began to record current events as well as myths
and popular conceptions of prehistorical eras. A group of scribes on
the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea gathered myths from
Mesopotamia and combined these with Egyptian tales and local
folklore. Over many years the edited texts became the present-day
versions of the Bible, Torah and Koran.
In the last century of the Roman Republic and the 1st-century of the
Roman Empire, books existed only in private or municipal libraries.
There was no easy way to duplicate a book other than to copy it
painstakingly word for word. Most of the folks who lived around the
Mediterranean were illiterate. Even fewer were able to write, although
many Roman citizens were fluent in Latin, and most Roman aristocrats
knew both Latin and Greek.
Young men who enlisted in the Roman legions were taught to read
and write. This practice was adopted around 100 B.C. by Marius who
was also the 1st-general to enlist commoners in the legions.
Subsequent generals continued to bring language tutors into winter
quarters until about 250 A.D. when legions were supplemented with
foreigners and mercenaries, many of whom were captured or
conscripted barbarians from outlying tribes.
During the Greco-Roman era, rhetoric was far more important than
written proclamations. Successful leaders were capable public
speakers. Tutors required students to memorize large sections of
popular books, such as the Iliad and other fictional histories as well as
the texts of playwrights, philosophers, geometers and historians.
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Students learned by rote. Politicians spoke from memory.
Entrepreneurs had the knack for summing figures in their heads. Since
it was difficult if not impossible to distribute copies, written laws and
edicts were engraved in copper at the governor’s palace. Such bylaws
were spread through the district by word of mouth.
Recorded texts allowed the bureaucracy to function, but most dayto-day arrangements happened face-to-face with spoken words. Men
and women needed keen memories to keep their wits on track.
As Roman culture collapsed and human misery grew with the
dissolution of the Empire, another cadre of scribes gathered around
Christian bishops and abbots. Monks and impoverished scholars
helped to preserve a few of the important books during the Dark Ages.
Nonetheless, literacy fell to all-time lows. Noteworthy kings had to call
on their scribes before they could decipher their wives’ memos.
This sorry state of affairs continued until the 13th-century when
Mongol hordes conquered huge tracts of Asia and Eastern Europe.
They promoted trade throughout their vast empire. A Chinese
entrepreneur managed to mass produce playing cards using block type.
Card games were very popular among the folks who accompanied
caravans hauling trade goods over vast distances: from Damascus to
the Beijing, from Baghdad to Delhi or from Hong Kong to Moscow.
200 years later, Gutenberg invented the printing press. Yet,
superstition had become so embedded that it took several centuries
before printed books made significant impact. If anything, printed
books helped westerners recover their long-lost heritage via
translations of Arabic texts. Major innovations came more often from
ocean explorers who found new continents and brought back wild tales
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and hoards of gold.
While Luther was handing out pamphlets that questioned the
supremacy of the Catholic church, school kids in China were reading
finely bound textbooks of botany, astronomy and philosophy. The
Mongol-inspired expansion of international trade helped dig
Europeans out from the dismal Dark Ages. New knowledge, fine silks
and spices also brought fleas and the Black Death, which spread plague
and overfilled graveyards from Manchuria to Iceland and from Thailand
to Morocco. City folk suffered the most. Thus, populous China lost
more than half its citizens in a few short years. Western Europe
observed wretched sanitary practices, which offered a bonanza for fleainfested rats. Europeans lost nearly a third of their fellows.
Gutenberg’s printing press helped to bring on 300 years of insane
religious wars (also abetted by ethnic rivalries and plain-old personal
vendettas). It took longer for printed books to make positive impacts.
The most important was the innovation of public schools, although
parents had to be members of the upper classes before their kids
would be included. Tutors were suddenly faced with ballooning class
sizes. They had to devise new methods to test and grade their charges.
The learning process was still largely by rote, but the amount of source
material increased by a hundredfold. A few misguided crackpots had
the nerve to teach students how to think. But their modest results
raised such a ruckus that the crackpots were soon given one-way
tickets to the Americas or Australia.
Pamphlets were the biggest beneficiaries of the printing press.
Pamphlets appeared on every street corner. Folks couldn’t walk their
dogs without getting handed two or three. In those days, folks hadn’t
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learned the downsides of junk mail. Many took the pamphlets home.
Some even managed to read them. Others who couldn’t read treasured
them as if they could.
The pamphlets contained everything from fantastic recipes for
cheese-stuffed dumplings to Elmo’s famous hair restorative. Pamphlets
also contained diatribes on almost every topic, including incitements to
revolution. Soon the police were out in force, questioning every
pamphleteer. The police arrested dozens, but the left the most flagrant
junk dealers alone.
Pamphleteers evolved into newspaper conglomerates that printed
dailies, weeklies and monthlies. Some of the monthlies included
purloined booklets for the ladies. Newspapers had scores of adverts on
every other page. The news sections contained valuable information,
such as weather predictions, special events, train schedules and the
visits of ships to local ports. Folks began to see things beyond the
sightlines of their neighborhoods. They began to see themselves as
members of a city, or some cases, citizens of a nation. Knowledge of
simple everyday events became more widely known. For instance,
readers of newspapers would learn about freak fires at apple orchards,
so they’d run down to the store and stock up on apples before the
prices went through the roof. Information became a convenient
advantage, though folks soon forgot about yesterday’s news when
tomorrow’s news promised another bag of goodies.
Let us jump to the present. The public media is pervasive. We are
deluged with radio waves, television images, billboards on transit
buses and advert banners on almost every website. We have millions
of options and appeals at our fingertips. We have musical
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accompaniment in elevators, shopping malls and grocery stores. We
can play games with others or ourselves online. We’re linked to dozens
of friends and retailers. 99.9% of what we hear and see is irrelevant. It
goes in one ear and out the other. Yet the info never stops, not for a
minute, not for a second.
Without written and/or electronic records, we would be lost as
polar bears on tropical islands. Without proper credentials, we
couldn’t even get to 1st-base, let alone close the deal on a new car or a
new house. To arrive where we are today, we’ve had to relinquish our
personal memories and bequeath them to the public domain. We’ve
thrown our two-cents worth in with everyone else’s, and somehow
everyone benefits. Never in history have folks enjoyed so many
conveniences, so many options and freedoms.
If we look back at recent history, we see that innovations have
driven changes in the social fabric. Even so, upstart technologies don’t
take root until folks are ready to embrace them. Wars and social
conflicts create powerful incentives to adopt new gadgets, especially
when the gadgets promise to turn defeats into victories.
I will show how violent conflicts occur more often during the sixyear Transition periods. The evidence for this is presented in the later
sections of this report. Technological innovations will furnish the
impetus for both conflicts and stalemates.
And don’t forget...
The development of nuclear weapons has postponed the advent of
World War III. The great powers haven’t dared to risk civilizationending chaos. The most lethal weapons known to man have idled in
their silos for more than 60 years.
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I’ve studied many proposals for cyclical history. All of these have
been way up in the clouds or focused too narrowly to encompass the
sweep of culture. None of the proposals, to my knowledge, has been
put to a rigorous statistical analysis.
The 40-year cycle may prove no better than others. It won’t predict
the weather ten years from now. It won’t help you get rich in the stock
market. It won’t predict with certitude the occurrence of future wars.
If anything, the 40-year cycle will let you appreciate the tidal flows of
history. Regard the six-year Transition Periods as anomalies from a
commonly accepted norm.
Index
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Geocentric
If you watch the night sky with binoculars after sunset or before
sunrise, you will observe the geocentric positions of Venus and
Mercury. From the perspective of earth, they will be separated at
angles between zero degrees and 73°.
Using published ephemerides, I’ve recorded the daily MercuryVenus separations from 1891 through 2050. [See Endnote #1] The
results are documented annually in 160 Excel workbooks or Open
Office Calc spreadsheets. Either format includes 58,439 individual
recordings. The individual workbooks as well as a summary workbook
can be made available to academics who wish to confirm the primary
data.
Mercury and Venus orbit at different speeds depending on their
positions with respect to Sun. When they track behind the Sun, they
move faster since their motions are added to the apparent motion of
the Sun. When they pass before the Sun, they appear to move
backwards for short periods. This backward motion is an illusion
caused by our geocentric perspective. Astronomers call backwards
motion retrograde passage. Mercury goes retrograde about three times
per year, whereas Venus goes retrograde once every year and a half.
Their angular separations change rapidly whenever one of the planets
goes retrograde, since the forward-moving planet will leapfrog the
planet tracking in reverse.
There is a consistent pattern in the angular separations of these
planets. For periods of 11 years, Venus and Mercury tend to range
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close together. Less than 15° from each other. Let us call these Near
periods. Next there are periods of 17 years when Venus and Mercury
tend to fall further apart. Between 46° and 73°. Let us call these Far
periods. Lastly, there are six-year Transition periods sandwiched
between the Near and Far periods. Eleven years plus seventeen years
plus two six-year periods make up 40-year cycle.
The table below sums the angular separations of Mercury and Venus
for the Near Periods. In other words, for the years 1902-12 & 1942-52
& 1982-92 & 2022-32.
The percentage deviation may seem small, but it represents a
significant difference in the behaviors of angular separation between
Mercury and Venus.
During the Near periods, Mercury and Venus will hug each other like
young lovers for two or three months at a stretch. They will separate
out to 15° or 25° only to resume close contact once again. On rare
occasions when maximum separations occur, the planets will split
apart as far as 73°.
During the Far periods, Mercury and Venus will exchange places
frequently, with Venus leading the way, then Mercury leading the way.
Their angular separations change from 65° to zero degrees two or
three times in the same year.
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The table below sums the angular separations of Mercury and Venus
for Far Periods. In other words, for the years 1891-95 & 1919-35 &
1959-75 & 1999-2015 & 1939-2050.
The difference of behavior is so distinctive that ancient astronomers
must have noticed. Early astronomers may have used the span of the
40-year cycle to cross-reference the length of the year. Accurate
knowledge of the year’s length allowed high priests to predict spring
floods and the best times for planting and harvesting crops. The
Babylonians, Egyptians and Mayans used 360 as a 1st-guess for the
seasonal year. Later they added five extra days. The Egyptians advised
Julius Cæsar to add an extra day every four years. This proved a great
boon for the Romans whose calendar strayed by more the 60 days from
the seasons. The Julian calendar worked fine for 15 centuries until
Pope Gregory XIII shifted the calendar 13 days and then devised a
scheme for skipping the leap year once per century, except for certain
centuries according to a complex rule of thumb. This calendar (with
minor revisions) is still used today, and astronomers have gaged the
seasonal year at 365.242191 days. [See Endnote #2]
Index
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Heliocentric
The heliocentric behaviors of Mercury and Venus follow the true
orbital positions of the inner planets. Imagine you are looking straight
down on the plane of the Earth’s orbit around Sun and from a great
distance directly above the Sun. For each orbit of Earth, Mercury
travels about four orbits around the Sun, whereas Venus travels 1.6
orbits around the Sun. Venus and Mercury catch each another every
four or five months. During these connections, the Earth may be joined
with the inner planets or directly opposite them on the other side of
the Sun, or ranging at any angle before or after them.
To see why this is important, consider the analogy of a baseball
game. Imagine home plate is the place of the Sun. The inner planets
occupy the infield while the outfield represents the viewpoint from
Earth. The batter hits a hard bouncer toward the 2nd-baseman, who
jogs to his right to field the grounder. Meanwhile the baserunner
scampers from 1st-base to 2nd-base. The catcher at the heliocentric
perspective sees the baserunner crossing before 2nd-baseman. At the
same moment, the left fielder observes the same play from a geocentric
perspective. He watches the runner advancing toward 2nd-base, while
the 2nd-baseman fields the ground ball on the outfield grass. The left
fielder sees the runner and 2nd-baseman separated by a fair distance.
If the "geocentric" sun lies behind a Mercury-Venus conjunction,
both inner planets will go retrograde at the same time. The duration of
joining will appear longer when viewed from earth.
If the "geocentric" sun is at 90° at a Mercury-Venus connection, the
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inner planets will appear to hang loosely apart between 10° and 20°,
until they pass before or behind the sun when they reconnect.
Angular relationships of Earth to the inner planets are crucial to the
40-year cycle. I have extended the heliocentric study another 40 years
into the past. [See Endnote #3]
Below you will see a graph of the daily separations of Venus-Earth
during the Near periods covering the years 1851-2050, when Mercury
and Venus are within 9° of each other. The recorded periods are 186272 & 1902-12 & 1942-52 & 1982-92 & 2022-32.
During the Near periods, the Venus-Earth separations cluster
around zero degrees, 90° and 180°. This graph will look almost
identical to the graph of Mercury-Earth separations, since both samples
would be taken when Mercury and Venus are close together.
During the Far periods, the Earth-Venus angular separations cluster
around 45° and 135° while avoiding those separations common for the
Near periods.
Below is a graph of the Venus-Earth daily separations during Far
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periods covering the years 1851-2050, when Mercury and Venus are
within 9° of each other. The recorded periods are 1851-1855 & 18791895 & 1919-1935 & 1959-1975 & 1999-2015 & 2039-2050.
If sun is at 45° or 135° during Mercury-Venus connection, bizarre
changes in perspective may take place. Mercury and Venus may
exchange lead positions, wavering between conjunctions and wideseparations, only to reverse the process. Heliocentric behaviors
account for the differences in geocentric actions of Mercury and Venus.
For the Transition periods, the Earth-Venus separations avoid the
zero degree, 90°, 180° maximums of the Near periods. They also avoid
the 45° and 135° maximums of the Far periods. Indeed they are
migrating between the Near and Far distributions.
Below you will see a graph of Venus-Earth daily separations
covering the years 1851-2050, when Mercury and Venus are within 9°
of each other. The recorded periods are 1856-61 & 1873-78 & 18961901 & 1913-18 & 1936-41 & 1953-58 & 1976-81 & 1993-98 & 201621 & 2033-38.
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Without expert confirmation I must rely on statistical evaluations
alone. Therefore I am reluctant to extend the 40-year cycle more than
75 years beyond the 200 years that have been meticulously recorded.
The 200-year span of heliocentric recordings confirms statistically
the Mercury-Venus aspect cycle of 40 years. Determining the exact
length of the cycle requires a solution of the N-body problem, which I
will leave to someone with a better grasp of celestial mechanics.
Nonetheless I believe the orbital period of Earth must be intertwined
with harmonic behaviors of the two inner planets.
The era, 1776 to present, accompanies remarkable technological
development. Intercity travel that once required horse-drawn
carriages is now accomplished in high-speed trains or jet aircraft.
People who once lived in small villages now dwell in sprawling
metropolitan regions. Life expectancy has doubled wherever there is
access to good nutrition and regular hygiene. Social customs have
become more refined. Justice systems in prosperous nations have
grown less corrupt and more complex. The volume of world trade has
multiplied many times over, while personal expectations and attitudes
have changed dramatically.
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The 6-year Transitional periods are of special interest to historians.
Transitional periods of the 40-year cycle coincide with major
developments on many cultural levels.
Index
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Recent History
Democracy, as we know it, is neither perfect nor complete. It has
become more commonplace in recent times. In the last 250 years a
growing percentage of citizens are able to vote. More nations hold free
elections and fewer of those exclude women or ethnic minorities from
the electoral pageant.
No one likes to admit it, but present-day modernity has been
patchworked together on the ruins of wars and revolutions. Old
customs and attitudes haven’t surrendered without a fight. Soldiers
who risk their lives seldom grasp their desperate struggle in cultural or
socioeconomic terms. Worse, they may suffer emotional hang-ups that
remain long after the smoke clears.
That’s why we need historians to make sense of the aftermaths, and
then politicians willing to usher in those cultural changes without the
penalties of war.
1776-1781 (American Revolution)
American Revolutionary War was waged between frontier colonists and
absentee British overlords. The conflict began as a disagreement over arbitrary
taxation and soon turned into a bitter struggle that lasted five years.
As soon as the revolution got underway, the French and Spanish saw an
opportunity to challenge British naval supremacy. They began a siege to capture
Gibraltar from the British garrison. When the siege failed, the French sent a
naval fleet to the colonies. French vessels blocked the supply lines to the British
expeditionary forces. This and the dogged resistance of the colonists forced the
British to concede defeat.
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The colonists formed a democratic republic with a constitutional government
and a clever balance of powers that has stood the test of time. The constitution
rejected the birthright entitlements of the old world and allowed citizens to
succeed on merit before birthright. This signaled a major paradigm shift from
Old World culture. In the following decades, millions of Europeans who were
scapegoated at home would venture across the Atlantic to make a fresh start on a
level playing field.
Technology: Developments included the inventions of the breech-loading
rifle, threshing machine and circular saw. The world’s 1st-bridge built entirely of
cast iron was erected across the River Severn in Shropshire. Edward Gibbon
published the first volume of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire.
Discoveries: Captain James Cook, with ships HMS Resolution and HMS
Discovery, visited Oahu then Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands of the Pacific Ocean,
which he named the Sandwich Islands. Sir William Herschel discovered the
planet Uranus.
Near (11 years)
1793-1798 (Consequences of the French Revolution)
European aristocrats watched in horror as heads rolled under the guillotine.
For the monarchists, the French Revolution was a dangerous boil on the status
quo. European governments exerted overt and covert influence in their efforts to
set back the clock.
French Universal Conscription was decreed as follows: "The young men shall
go to battle and the married men shall forge arms. The women shall make tents
and clothes and shall serve in the hospitals; children shall tear rags into lint. The
old men will be guided to the public places of the cities to kindle the courage of
the young warriors and to preach the unity of the Republic and the hatred of
kings."
Paul Barras and a young artillery officer (Napoleon Bonaparte) crushed the
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Royalist riots in Paris. Britain, Russia and Austria formed the Alliance of St
Petersburg against France. In the Battle of Lodi, Bonaparte defeated the Austrian
rearguard at a bridge crossing the River Adda in Italy. Austrians were again
defeated in the Battle of Bassano. Napoleon conquered Venice, ending the city’s
1,100 years of independence. Napoleon landed troops in Egypt where he
defeated the Marmelukes in the battle of Shubra Khit and captured Cairo.
Napoleon again defeated Ottoman forces near the Pyramids.
Napoleon’s brilliant military victories gave Frenchmen a sense of national
pride. His troopers were promoted on the basis of merit. Common folk benefited
from the new regime without realizing they had replaced one tyrant with
another. On the upside, Napoleon encouraged scientists who gave the world a
simple measuring system that was usable for beggars as well as the tutored
gentry.
Russian General Alexander Suvorov stormed Warsaw in the war against the
Polish uprising and captured Praha, killing many civilians.
The British Royal Navy began to carry lemon juice to prevent scurvy. Annual
British iron production reached 125,000 tons.
Technology: Developments included the inventions of cotton gin, ball
bearings and the hydraulic press.
Far (17 years)
1816-1821 (South American Liberation)
In the Battle of Chacabuco, the Argentine-Chilean patriotic army defeated the
Spanish. The Pernambucan Revolt broke out in Brazil. Chile proclaimed its
independence from Spain. Simón Bolívar defeated the Royalist Army in the
Battle of Boyacá, and Colombia declared its independence from Spanish
Monarchy. A revolt began in Santa María Chiquimula, Totonicapán department of
Guatemala. In the Battle of Carabobo, Simón Bolívar won Venezuela’s
independence from Spain.
The nations of South and Central America became junior partners instead of
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mere cash cows. However the plight of indigenous folk didn’t change. They
continued to labor for minimal wages at the mines and plantations of European
immigrants.
The Ottoman government blamed Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory V of
Constantinople for the Greek independence movement, and then hung him
outside the main gate of the Patriarchal Cathedral. Greek rebels massacred 3,000
inhabitants of the city of Navarino. Afghans defeated a Persian invasion at the
Battle of Kafir Qala.
Discoveries: An Imperial Russian Navy expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von
Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev sighted the coast of Antarctica.
British Royal Navy captain Edward Bransfield landed on the mainland of
Antarctica.
Technology: Robert Stirling patented his Stirling engine, then known as
Stirling’s air engine. A rail capable of supporting heavy locomotives was
developed. The bicycle was invented in Europe. The Union Chain Bridge across
the River Tweed opened between England and Scotland. Captain Samuel Brown
designed a wrought-iron suspension bridge whose span of 137 meters was the
world’s longest vehicular bridge. Other technological developments included the
electric telegraph and caffeine.
Near (11 years)
1833-1838 (Britain outlaws Slavery)
While the slave trade had been discouraged by European nations, slavery
itself was still widely practiced until the Emancipation Bill passed British
Parliament. A few years later, Trinidad became the 1st-British colony to grant
freedom to former slaves.
Texas Revolution: In the battle of Gonzales, Mexican soldiers tried to disarm
the people of Gonzales, but they met stiff resistance from a hastily assembled
militia. The Army of the Republic of Texas captured San Antonio. Mexican army
defeated the rebels in siege of the Alamo. 342 Texan prisoners were shot and
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killed in the Goliad Massacre. Then Sam Houston defeated General Santa Anna at
San Jacinto, Texas. After this decisive victory, Sam Houston was elected the first
president of the Texas Republic.
The Sixth Xhosa War involved severe clashes between white settlers and
Bantu peoples in Cape Colony. Dutch-speaking settlers colonized the area north
of Orange River.
Civil war erupted in Uruguay between supporters of Blanco and Colorado
parties.
An assassin tried to kill President Andrew Jackson in the US Capitol. The first
assassination attempt against a President of the United States. Financial panic of
1837 began a lengthy economic slowdown in USA. Joshua Giddings of Ohio was
the first abolitionist elected to US Congress. Transatlantic steamship service was
established. People of the Cherokee Nation were forcibly relocated during the
Trail of Tears.
Discoveries: HMS Beagle anchored off the Chonos Archipelago on the voyage
of 1831–1836 with Charles Darwin.
Technology: Developments included the inventions of automatic revolving
cylinder gun (Colt 45), telegraph, naval steam ram, steam shovel, combine
harvester, electric motor and Charles Babbage’s Analytic Machine, forerunner of
the modern computer. Thomas Davenport installed his DC motor in a small
model car, creating one of the first electric cars. Carl Friedrich Gauss and
Wilhelm Weber obtained permission to build an electromagnetic telegraph in
Göttingen. John Herschel discovered the open cluster of stars now known as NGC
3603.
Far (17 years)
1856-1861 (USA stumbles into Civil War)
The Second Opium War between several western powers and China began
with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River.
Indian rebellion of 1857: The 3rd-Light Cavalry of the British East India
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Company’s rebelled against its British officers, thus beginning the rebellion.
Insurgents captured Delhi from the East India Company. British troops retook
Lucknow. The last rebels of the Indian Mutiny surrendered in Gwalior.
Mahtra War: Peasants in the Estonian Governorate of Russian Empire
revolted against serfdom, which had been officially abolished in 1816.
Panic of 1857: Speculation in US railroad shares and collapse of the Ohio Life
Insurance Company triggered a financial crisis which extended to Europe.
Slave labor raised ethical questions and polarized two cultural traditions in
the USA. Disagreements grew bitter after the split of Democratic Party into
"northern" and "southern" wings. Then John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry led
to the US Civil War.
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the United States Union.
Jefferson Davis was elected as the Provisional President of the Confederate States
of America. Fort Sumter surrendered to Southern forces. Confederate army
defeated Union army at Manassas Junction in the in First Battle of Bull Run. The
USS San Jacinto stopped a British mail ship and arrested two Confederate envoys,
sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.
The British Empire established bases in Lagos, Portugal to stop the slave
trade.
Technology: Developments included the inventions of the burglar alarm,
magneto-electric lighthouse and the seismometer. Charles Darwin and Alfred
Russel Wallace delivered papers on their theories of evolution to the Linnaean
Society of London.
Near (11 years)
1873-1878 (Fossil-Fueled Trains & Factories)
The financial crisis of 1873 spawned widespread economic depression.
Nations reacted by raising tariffs which only exasperated the problem. Greater
numbers of the poor Europeans sought greener pastures in the "new" worlds of
America and Australia.
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Emancipation Day for Puerto Rico: Slaves were freed, with a few exceptions.
After attaining independence, the Pacific island of Franceville became the first
self-governing nation to practice universal suffrage regardless of sex or race.
Carlist and Republican factions engaged in monthly battles, sieges and
counter-sieges throughout the Spanish countryside.
The Ottoman Empire declared partial bankruptcy and placed its finances in
the hands of European creditors. The Russian Empire declared war on the
Ottoman Empire.
In retaliation for the dramatic American defeat at the Battle of the Little
Bighorn, United States Army troops under General Ranald S. Mackenzie sacked
Chief Dull Knife’s sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder
River; the soldiers destroyed the villagers’ food and clothing, then slashed their
ponies’ throats.
Technology: Developments paved the way for the next century’s adaptation
of electricity. The inventions included barbed wire, electric candle, grain silo,
four-stroke internal combustion (Otto cycle), the electric motor, hydrofoil craft,
the tubular steel bridge, electric dental drill (battery powered), mimeograph and
the telephone.
Far (17 years)
1896-1901 (Women Fight to Vote, Electric Age)
Nations fought over commercial turfs, including the Sino-Japanese War, the
Boer War and the Boxer Rebellion. 10,000 Afghan and Orakzai tribesmen
attacked a British outpost in northern Pakistan.
Spanish-American War: The United States Navy began a blockade of Cuban
ports while the USS Nashville captured a Spanish merchant ship. Commodore
Dewey destroyed the Spanish rescue squadron. After the Spanish-American War
concluded, the Philippine-American War began when hostilities broke out in
Manila.
American anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot US President William McKinley at the
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Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley died eight days later.
The first modern Olympiad was staged in Athens. The British Parliament
established the Commonwealth of Australia, a nation of castaways and criminals.
Madagascar proclaimed its citizens were free to choose a personal religion.
Carrie Chapman Catt succeeded Susan B. Anthony as president of the National
Women’s Suffrage Association. Women’s groups yearned to join the public
debate. When the crusades against obscenity began, feminists supported the
formation of the American Puritan Alliance. In this case, their celebrity brought
mixed results, for it reinforced the stereotype of women as silly fussbudgets.
Technology: Developments included the discovery of electrons and the
inventions of solid rubber tires, 4-cylinder car motor, remote-controlled model
boat, RDX (explosive), typewriter, tape-recorder, alkaline storage cells,
photoelectric cell and reliable submarines. Nikola Tesla’s alternating-current
dynamos gained wide acceptance, replacing Edison’s direct-current systems.
Near (11 years)
1913-1918 (Trench Warfare, Russian Revolution)
World War I (1914-18) was the bloodiest to date. Common soldiers in the
trenches experienced atrocious conditions. At the conclusion of hostilities, the
victors drew up vindictive peace arrangements that enforced financial hardships
on the losers who would in two decades start another war.
Although the war affected few civilians directly, many more suffered from
enforced rationing of common staples. Women had to do the jobs of men who
were away on the battlefields. This experience would embolden women to
demand the right to vote in the years following the debacle. Common soldiers
began to question their highborn leaders. Socialism and shop unions would
emerge after the war.
Russia fared badly in the WWI. Civil war in broke out between Reds
(Bolsheviks) and Whites after the Czar was executed. Fair-minded idealists lost
ground to hardline pragmatists. Much later with Stalin’s consent, former Czarist
J. O. Quantaman ©2013 <25>
autocrats weaseled into the revolutionary command structure. Russians found
themselves oppressed by the same old gang spouting new slogans and sporting a
new style of clothes.
Technology: Developments included the construction of Panama Canal and
the inventions of the biplane, hydraulic hoist, stainless steel, assembly-line
manufacturing, quantum theory, aluminum foil, multiprop heavy bomber, battle
tank, water-cooled machinegun and mustard gas.
Far (17 years)
1936-1941 (Nazism & Fascism, WW2 Starts)
Chancellor of Germany for three years, Hitler used the Nuremburg Laws to
scapegoat Jews and gypsies, and to establish a death camp at Dachau. Germany
occupied the Rhineland, annexed Austria and tested German air power during
Spanish civil war, then gobbled half of Czechoslovakia. Japan invaded China,
while Italy broke ties with the League of Nations. Only the brain-dead could have
missed the signs of war. But Europeans were still dazed from the last war and
punch-drunk from years of financial crises and economic turmoil.
Germany invaded Poland, then surmounted the Maginot Line (using a
surprise attack of twenty hang gliders), gobbled half of France and chased the
British back to their island. By the end of 1941, German panzer divisions had
advanced across Poland, France, the Balkans, North Africa and began a wholesale
assault on Russia. Likewise, Japan had overrun Korea, Manchuria and much of
China.
WW2 would cause far more havoc among civilians and noncombatants.
Several cities were carpet-bombed to near extinction. National borders dissolved
while the Axis empires grew and shrank. Nine million humans died in Germany’s
death camps. For many residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, death came in a
blinding flash.
Meanwhile in the Indian subcontinent, Mahatma Gandhi was demonstrating
the power of non-cooperation and peaceful resistance. Fresh from the successful
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Salt March, Gandhi exposed the hypocrisy of the British who held a tight rein on
their colonial subjects while exhorting the same subjects to join the struggle
against the Nazis. Gandhi was imprisoned during the war, but he was freed and
would live to see his homeland gain independence. His method of peaceful
demonstration has been copied and emulated hundreds of times since: by Martin
Luther King, by velvet revolutionaries, by the instigators of Arab Spring. The
"Occupy Wall Street" movement follows the same script. Peaceful gatherings in
public spaces have become the most productive means to garner widespread
support against social injustices.
Technology: Developments during WW2 inspired rampant consumerism in
the years afterward. The inventions included VHF television, vinyl polymers,
electro-mechanical calculator, jet engine, helicopter, offshore oil well, radio
telescope, pressurized high-altitude airliner, ejection seat, fluorescent lighting,
color television, nuclear fission, nylon stockings, DDT and FM radio.
Near (11 years)
1953-1958 (Television Brings Home the World)
USA emerged from WWII with 90% of the world’s wealth. Wisely it aided the
global recovery efforts of both allies and opponents, including Germany and
Japan. Europeans surprised everyone when their governments, which had been
at each other’s throats for 1,500 years, agreed to share a common market for coal
and steel, and later agreed to cut out most trade barriers.
The standoff (East against West) at the Korean DMZ symbolized the state of
global politics. Red China had shrugged off the last vestiges of Western meddling
and emerged as USSR’s junior partner. The development of atomic warheads aka
hydrogen bombs presented military strategists with a thorny dilemma. An
escalated nuclear exchange threatened to destroy global civilization, so MAD
(Mutually Assured Destruction) became the mantra of the times. East and West
squared off nose-to-nose in what was dubbed the Cold War.
The fledging UN survived its 1st-test as a forum of peace and diplomacy,
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while the new media of television showed the dramatic images of important
global events to viewers in developed countries. Despite or because of the
looming specter of nuclear holocaust, consumers rushed out to buy the latest
gizmos. The middle class sped along fast tracks of optimism and bought
laborsaving devices by the truckload.
Technology: Developments included the discoveries of DNA and RNA as well
as the inventions of nuclear-powered submarines, human growth hormone,
transistor radios, computer memory, hovercraft, air-to-air guided missiles,
transoceanic telephone cables, ultrasound, polio vaccine, Sputnik (paving the
road for comsats), rotary-blade lawnmower and the hula-hoop.
Rocket-like fins on Detroit’s automobiles lampooned the dawn of the Space
Age.
Far (17 years)
USA and Russia raced to be the first to send a man to the moon. NASA won
and then aborted its lunar exploration program.
1976-1981 (Integrated Circuits & InfoTech)
The Green Revolution in agriculture encouraged farmers around the world to
buy fertilizer, pesticides and high-yield seeds. The proponents of "progressive"
monoculture promised endless increases in crop yields. Fishers around the
world utilized better nets and winches and caught fish in record numbers.
Consumers of developed nations thrived amidst a cornucopia of conveniences.
They expected a future of unlimited abundance.
Meanwhile, the largest oil providers formed the OPEC cartel. OPEC limited
production levels, which led to dramatic rises in oil prices that in turn bred
runaway monetary inflation. Western leaders bemoaned the "take-no-prisoners"
approach of the Middle East oil barons. Consumers were forced to rely on credit
to save face and keep pace.
In China the Gang of Four was ousted. The new leadership embraced science
and technology, setting the country on the road to becoming a major economic
J. O. Quantaman ©2013 <28>
power. Iraqi troops crossed the Iranian border and began the Iraq-Iran War.
Soviets launched a full-scale invasion of Afghanistan.
Supertankers ran aground in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, spreading lethal
oil slicks. Scientists began to document the hazardous effects of pollution in the
environment. Social pundits warned that population growth could result in
shortages for both rich and poor.
The Supreme Court of the USA ruled that blacks and other minorities would
be entitled to retroactive job seniority. "Liberated" women demanded equal
status, equal leverage and free choice regarding childbirth. Their struggle set off
a controversy that continues to the present.
Technology: Developments included the inventions of solar-powered boats,
supercomputers, neutron bombs, the space shuttle (reusable LEO orbiter),
telephonic fiberoptic cables, ABS brakes, electronic typewriters, maglev highspeed trains, test-tube babies, satellite navigator (prototype GPS), CMOS
(modern computer architecture) and Dolby sound systems. NTT launched a fully
automated cellular network for commercial usage in Japan.
Near (11 years)
1993-1998 (Internet, World Wide Web, Social Media)
The Commission on Global Governance met to report on the future of the UN.
The report examined governance within and as an output of the international
system. It was aimed at addressing those issues that affect everyone irrespective
of national borders.
Microsoft’s introduction of Windows 95 made personal computers a viable
option for the majority of non-geek consumers. Commercial vendors discovered
the marketing possibilities of the World Wide Web. This enterprise was aided
and abetted by the advent of Digital Versatile Discs (DVD), high-capacity Hard
Drives, Liquid Crystal Displays, fiberoptic modems with superfast online access.
The global haul of fish from the oceans reached its peak and then began a
gradual decline. Higher costs of fertilizers and overuse of fresh water reserves
J. O. Quantaman ©2013 <29>
slowed the gains in agriculture production. World feedstocks shrank while
hungry mouths continued to multiply. Misguided policies to grow crops for fuel
gave cars more priority than 3rd-world hunger.
Communications (via the Internet and comsats) furnished instant reportage
of events anywhere on the planet. Social networking via online forums would
lead to global nexuses such as Facebook and Twitter, and instant text-messaging
polls.
This didn’t stop tyrants from abusing their citizens, but it brought human
rights’ violations into the open for the world community to scrutinize.
Unfortunately, sympathy proved cheaper than direct intervention. The UN
commanded no standing army and was obliged to ask member nations for troops
and equipment. Hence, the world community sat on its hands while 800,000
Tutsis and their Hutu sympathizers were hacked to death in a frenzied display of
genocide. UN diplomats contended themselves with sending formal protests to
the power-mad rulers of Myanmar, Sudan, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Somalia and
elsewhere. Taliban marched into Kabul and brought 90% of Afghanistan under
its control.
Technology: The world community limited the use of aerosols that were
depleting the O-zone layer. However, the damage was long-term, and the World
Health Org (WHO) warned of more casualties from eye damage and skin cancer.
Europeans launched the European Community (EC) and made plans to admit
former East-Bloc nations. Astronomers thanked their lucky stars, for the Galileo
spacecraft was well positioned to watch the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crash into
the Jovian atmosphere. Cassini-Huygens was launched from earth on a 7-year
interplanetary voyage to Saturn.
Far (17 years)
Summary [See Endnote #4]
The Transitional periods coincide with many pivotal events over the
past 225 years. The span covers a wealth of scientific discoveries and
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technological wonders. The social changes include longer lifespans
and greater creature comforts. Democracy has progressed from a
fledging idea to a regular pageant. Laws have multiplied and grown
evermore complex. In order to participate in contemporary society,
youngsters need specialized skills beyond simple literacy and common
sense arithmetic. Hence, education has become synonymous with
classroom curriculums that run circles around the clumsy efforts of
parents. Travel has gone from hiking and horseback to comfy seats on
high-speed trains, aboard jet airplanes and via cars speeding across
asphalt roadways.
Folks enjoy longer and healthier lives with leisure opportunities
galore. Yet only one-third of the world’s population has access to the
latest conveniences and techno windfalls. Another one-third strives
like mad to achieve parity, while the rest grasp for a few hand-medowns and little else. Climate change has turned once-fertile fields into
parched deserts. Many 3rd-world farmers are worse off than they were
100 years ago. In desperation, they’ve become the influx of rural folks
into overcrowded cities.
New modes of media have brought the world into everyone’s den.
Yet I wonder how the subsistence farmers of Malawi feel when they see
the reruns of North American sitcoms. They must feel like beggars,
their noses pressed outside the glass windows of five-star restaurants.
Everyone hopes to stay in sync with the prevailing culture, but
underlying truths are lost in the media hoopla. Folks seldom anticipate
the next war until soldiers begin marching in lockstep.
Folks receive steady influxes global news via the plethora of media
links. Too often, people feel powerless to influence newsworthy events.
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They feel disconnected from political leaders who should be taking
decisive actions. Individuals may debate the complexities of global
policies, but they have little meaningful sway in the outcomes.
Personal input is unwelcome when democratic governments scale up to
service millions or billions. Layers of hierarchy and channeled detours
(aka voicemail and helpdesks) make it difficult, if not impossible, for
someone on the ground floor to connect with anyone at the top.
The lulling effect of commercial media only exasperates individual
alienation. With TV remotes in hand, folks are immune to the opinions
and calamities of others. But witnessing from afar and experiencing
firsthand are not the same.
Political debate has become more of a catfight than a vital exercise.
The candidates’ remedies seldom go beyond trivial concerns and
familiar clichés. Disregard for things foreign or alien epitomizes the
silent majority. "Not in my backyard" has become the common refrain.
More disturbing, competition among vendors doesn’t always serve
the best interests of consumers. A handful of providers hawk wares
that are essentially identical and often mediocre. Disposable
throwaways consume energy and then bloat the transient dumpsites.
The longterm consequences are hidden amidst the tidal wave of ad
campaigns that encourage short-term convenience and ignore true
functionality or durability.
Index
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Way-Back History
The significance of cultural change becomes clearer as we look back
farther in time. Folks who live in the present must choose among a
host of competing ideas without knowing which will prove successful
in the long run. Historians have the bonus of hindsight. They know
beforehand which socioeconomic policies will survive the test of time.
They can focus on the "winners" of any given epoch. "Winners" tend to
stand out with greater clarity, while "losers" fade into the background
noise.
To extend the 40-year Cycle to the distant past, the author has
assumed its length to be 14,600 days and this duration to neither
expand nor contract over the centuries. For instance, if one 40-year
Cycle begins on January 1st, 1500, it will end on December 22nd, 1539.
Over a period of 1,461 years, the 40-year Cycle will have slipped all the
way around the annual calendar and began once again on January 1st.
However, only 1,460 years will have passed in chronological reckoning.
Meanwhile, the dates of events grow evermore hazy as we scrutinize
the distant past. Conflicts may continue for more than a single
campaign season. Historians often disagree as to the exact day or
month of births or deaths, decisive battles, palace rebellions or
coronations. So the author has grouped all events by year of
occurrence, regardless of the day or month they may have happened.
Around 1000 AD., the author has shifted the 40-Year Cycle over one
year. Another year disappears for events on the B.C. side of the
timeline, because the year zero was ignored when early Christians
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rewound their calendar. [See Endnote #4]
Renaissance (1456-1775)
European Exploration: After an entire millennium, Europeans are
recovering the savvy and creature comforts that were lost at the fall of
the Roman Empire. Trade with the Muslim cultures of North Africa and
the Middle East is a big reason for this recovery. Europeans feel secure
in their homelands and look outward for new challenges beyond their
horizons.
The Italian merchants of Venice and Genoa have grown wealthy with
trade across the Mediterranean Sea. The Portuguese are exploring new
markets along the western coast of Africa. The Spanish will strike new
ground as they sail west and discover the western hemisphere. Before
long the British and Dutch will summon their Viking heritage and
become Europe’s premier shipwrights. So the race begins to find and
claim new lands for personal fame and homeland glory.
Long voyages beyond the sight of land require new technologies.
Explorers soon realize there is a constant need for more and better
tools. As the explorers grow bolder, the demand for new technologies
increases. All the while, explorers return with exotic tales, strange new
foods like potatoes, corn and tasty spices, new drugs like tobacco and
opium, new commodities like gold, silver, elephant ivory, snow-white
polar bear pelts, balsa wood, etc.
Stay-at-home Europeans remain skeptical when they hear the exotic
tales from returning explorers, but the seeds of change are planted
nonetheless. Peasants don’t fancy being chained to their fields when
J. O. Quantaman ©2013 <34>
opportunities abound among the growing merchant class. As if the
explorer’s bug is contagious, young folk risk their lives on dangerous
voyages to the western hemisphere, to Australia or the Orient, where
they can make a fresh start.
Technological innovations encourage more explorations, which in
turn breed social changes.
Transition Period (1456-1461)
Muslims: The Turks conquer Athens and issue a decree to protect the
Acropolis.
In the 2nd-Battle of Oronichea, Ottoman forces of 15,000 march into Albania
where they are defeated by Skanderbeg’s smaller force. The Battle of Ujëbardha
is one of Skanderbeg’s most important victories against the Ottoman army in the
open field.
The Empire of Trebizond: The last major Romano-Greek outpost on the south
shore of the Black Sea falls to the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II, after a 21day siege.
Europe: Battle of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade): Hungarians under John
Hunyadi rout the Ottoman army of Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of
Constantinople. Pope Callixtus III orders a noon bell to commemorate the
victory throughout the Christian world.
Battle of Towton: Edward IV routs Queen Margaret’s army to make good his
claim to the English throne. It is considered the bloodiest battle ever fought in
England.
China: The Ming Dynasty, military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the
Tianshun Emperor. He sets fire to the eastern and western gates of the Imperial
City (Beijing), which are doused by pouring rains during the daylong uprising.
Cao Qin finds himself hemmed in on all sides by imperial forces, loses three of his
brothers in the fight. Instead of facing execution he flees to his home in the city
and commits suicide by jumping down a well inside his walled compound.
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Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1473-1478)
Muslims: Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople,
defeats the White Sheep Turkmens led by Uzun Hasan at Otlukbeli. In the battle
of Vaslui, Stephen III of Moldavia defeats the Ottoman forces of Mehmed II. In
the battle of Valea Albă, Mehmed II gets the best of the Moldavians.
Europe: The Catholic Inquisition in Spain begins, accompanied by brutal
torture and flagrant injustice.
Technology: Music, maps and posters are printed mechanically.
Far (17 years)
Christopher Columbus reaches West Indies in 1492
Transition Period (1496-1501)
North America: Columbus leaves Hispaniola for Spain, ending his 2nd-visit
to the Western Hemisphere. During his time here, he has forcibly subjugated the
island, enslaved the Amerindians and laid the basis for a system of land grants
tied to the Amerindians’ labor service.
Europe: First Battle of Lepanto: The Turkish navy wins a decisive victory
over the Venetians.
Technology: Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine. He
finishes painting The Last Supper on the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle
Grazie in Milan. Michelangelo returns to his native Florence and begins work on
the statue David.
Technological developments: toothbrushes are used in China; Jacob Nufer of
Switzerland performs a successful a Cæsarian section on his wife.
Near (11 years)
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Transition Period (1513-1518)
Europe: In the battle of Novara: Swiss troops defeat the French under Louis
de la Tremoille, forcing the French to abandon Milan. Duke Massimiliano Sforza
is restored. Battle of Orsha: The Belarusians and Poles defeat the Russian army
in one of the biggest battles of the century.
Muslims: In the battle of Chaldiran, Selim I crushes the Persian army of Shah
Ismail I. Then he declares war on the Mameluks and invades Syria. In the battle
of Yaunis Khan, Ottoman forces under the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the
Mameluks near Gaza. Battle of Ridaniya: Turkish forces of Selim I defeat the
main Mamluk army under Touman Bey.
China: Portuguese merchant Fernao Pires de Andrade meets Ming Dynasty
officials at the Pearl River estuary. Fernao lands in the jurisdiction of Hong Kong.
Technological Developments: Johannes Schöner produces his 1st-globe.
Europeans explore the Río de la Plata when Spanish navigator Juan Díaz de Solís
traverses it during his search for a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans. Martin Fernandez de Encisco publishes his Suma de Geographie in
Castile, a summary of world geography incorporating the latest discoveries in the
New World.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1536-1541)
Europe: War resumes between Francis I of France and Charles V, the Holy
Roman Emperor. Francis relinquishes control of Savoy and captures Turin.
Charles enters Rome in victory on the Via Triuphalis and delivers a speech before
the pope and College of Cardinals publicly challenging the king of France to a
duel.
Africa: Battle of Preveza: The Turkish fleet under the command of Barbarossa
Hayreddin Pasha defeats the Holy League fleet under the command of Andrea
Doria. The fleet of Barbary pirate Ali Hamet (a Sardinian in league with the
Ottoman Empire) sacks Gibraltar. Many of its leading citizens are taken as
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captives to Morocco.
North America: Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto introduces pigs into
North America when he lands in Florida and journeys to the Mississippi River.
Spaniards bring the potato to Europe.
Technology: Work begins on the Piazza del Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill),
designed by Michelangelo. Pope Paul III moves the Equestrian Statue of Marcus
Aurelius to the Capitoline Hill. Jean Ruelle publishes De Natura stirpium libri tres
in Paris, the first general descriptive botany to be printed. Niccolò Fontana
Tartaglia publishes La Nova Scientia in Venice, applying mathematics to the study
of ballistics.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1553-1558)
India: Second Battle of Panipat: Fifty miles north of Delhi, a Mogul Army
defeats Hindu forces of General Hemu, to ensure Akbar the throne of India.
South America: Arauco War. Battle of Mataquito in present-day Chile:
Spanish forces of the Governor Francisco de Villagra launch a dawn surprise
attack against the Mapuche headed by their toqui Lautaro.
Europe: Pope Paul IV creates the first Jewish ghetto in Rome.
Battle of St. Quentin: the Spanish and English under Duke Emanuel Philibert
of Savoy decisively defeat French forces under Marshal Anne de Montmorency.
Montmorency himself is captured, but the victors refuse to press their advantage
and withdraw to the Netherlands.
Nature; The Shaanxi Earthquake of 1556, the deadliest earthquake in history,
occurs with its epicenter in Shaanxi province, China; 830,000 people may have
been killed.
Technological developments: sealing wax (including shellac), equals sign
"=", enamels.
Far (17 years)
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Transition Period (1576-1581)
Europe: Francis Drake leaves Plymouth, England, aboard the Pelican
accompanied by four other ships on an expedition against the Spanish along the
Pacific coast of the Americas, which will become a circumnavigation.
Battle of Gembloux: Spanish forces under Don John of Austria and Alexander
Farnese defeat the Dutch. Alexander Farnese begins to recover control of the
French-speaking Southern Netherlands.
Africa: Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir: The Moors defeat the Portuguese. King
Sebastian I of Portugal is defeated and killed in North Africa, leaving his elderly
uncle, Cardinal Henry, as his heir. This initiates a succession crisis in Portugal.
Technology: Norman Diggs fashions a magnetic needle dip. Tycho Brahe
opens Uraniborg observatory. Galileo investigates pendulum motion.
Near (11 years)
Rough seas and swifter English ships defeat the great Spanish Armada, 1588.
Transition Period (1593-1598)
Europe: Battle of Calugareni: The Wallachians, led by Michael the Brave,
accomplish a great victory against the vast army of the Turks, numbering over
150,000 men, led by Sinan Pasha. It is a Wallachian tactical victory. In the Battle
of Giurgiu, Michael the Brave again defeats the Turkish army led by Sinan Pasha,
pushing them on the south side of the Danube.
Technological developments: Gerhard Kremer, a Flemish mathematician,
fashions a map atlas.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1616-1621)
China: Battle of Sarhu: Manchu leader Nurhaci is victorious over the Ming
forces. Battle of Cecora: The Ottoman Empire defeats Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth–Moldavian troops.
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Europe: Thirty Years’ War – Battle of Věstonice: Bohemian forces defeat the
Austrians. Battle of Humenné: Polish troops assist the Holy Roman Emperor by
defeating a Transylvanian force, forcing Gabor Bethlen to raise his siege of
Vienna. 27 Czech lords are executed on the Old Town Square in Prague, following
the Battle of White Mountain.
Technological developments: William Oughtred devises a rectilinear sliderule. The modern violin is developed.
Nicolaus Copernicus’ De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543) is placed on
the Index of Forbidden Books by the Congregation of the Index of the Roman
Catholic Church until corrected. Galileo Galilei meets Pope Paul V in person, to
discuss his position as a defender of Copernicus’ heliocentrism.
Kepler unveils three Laws of Planetary Motion. His equation [ M = E - e *
SIN(E) ] remains a valuable tool for evaluating elliptic orbits. Kepler will die as
collateral damage during the Thirty Years War.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1633-1638)
Europe: Battle of Smolensk: King Ladislaus IV of Poland defeats the Russian
army. Spanish troops under Ferdinand of Austria defeat a much larger Dutch
force near Antwerp at the Battle of Kallo during the Eighty Years War.
China: Admiral Weddell undertakes the first English venture to China when
he sails into port in Macau and Canton during the late Ming Dynasty. English
trade ventures break regional domination by Portuguese and Spanish. Six
European ships dock at a port in China, bringing 38,421 pairs of eyeglasses to
China during the late Ming Dynasty, the first recorded European-made eyeglasses
to enter China.
Technology: Chinese encyclopedist, Song Yingxing, publishes his Tiangong
Kaiwu (Exploitation of the Works of Nature), considered one of the most valuable
encyclopedias of classical China.
The Roman Catholic church forces Galileo Galilei to recant his heliocentric
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view of the solar system.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1656-1661)
Europe: Anglo-Spanish War: France and England form an alliance against
Spain. Battle of the Dunes: A Spanish force tries to lift a siege of Dunkirk, but
French and English defeat the would-be rescuers. England is then given Dunkirk
for its assistance in the victory.
Russo-Swedish War: At conclusion, Russia surrenders to Sweden all captured
territories.
Battle of the Lines of Elvas: The Portuguese beat the Spanish in the
Portuguese Restoration War.
China: Sarhuda’s Manchu fleet annihilates Onufriy Stepanov’s Russian flotilla
on the Amur.
Technological developments: Robert Boyle publishes New Experiments
Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air and its Effects. The 2ndedition in 1662 will contain Boyle’s Law. Christiaan Huygens files a patent and
makes use of pendulums for more accurate clocks. Gregor Mendel starts his
research on genetics. William Herschel initiates fingerprinting in Bengal as a
means of identification.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1673-1678)
Europe: First Battle of Schooneveld: The sea battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch
War is fought off the Netherlands coast. The Dutch win with the fleet of the
United Provinces (commanded by Michiel de Ruyter) against the allied AngloFrench fleet commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Second Battle of
Schooneveld: The Dutch fleet again defeats the Anglo-French fleet.
Polish and Lithuanian military units under the command of soon-to-be-king
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Jan Sobieski defeat the Turkish army in the Battle of Khotyn. In this battle,
rockets of Kazimierz Siemienowicz are successfully used. The Russo-Turkish
War (1676–1681) begins.
Battle of Landskrona: Sweden defeats the Danes.
North America: Metacomet, known as "King Philip" and leader of the
Algonquian tribe of Wampanoag, travels westward to the Mohawk nation,
seeking an alliance with the Mohawks against the English colonists of New
England; his efforts to forge an alliance end in failure. Shortly after, Major John
Talcott sweeps Connecticut and Rhode Island, captures large numbers of
Algonquians and exports them out of the Thirteen Colonies as slaves.
Technological developments: Robert Hooke devises a universal joint to
manipulate his helioscope to observe the sun safely.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1696-1701)
Europe: Battle of Zenta: Prince Eugene of Savoy crushes the Ottoman army of
Mustafa II and effectively ends Turkish hopes of recovering lost ground in
Hungary.
Lithuanian Civil War: Battle of Olkieniki results in victory for the anti-Sapieha
coalition.
The Great Northern War: Denmark and Poland-Saxony invade Swedish
territory in Germany and Latvia. Sweden has control of the Baltic Sea and holds
territory that includes Finland, Estonia, Latvia and parts of northern Germany.
To challenge Swedish power, an alliance is formed between Tsar Peter I of Russia,
King Frederick IV of Denmark and Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and
Elector of Saxony. Sweden’s ruler is the militaristic Charles XII, known as the
Swedish Meteor.
China: The Manchu of the Qing Dynasty conquer Outer Mongolia.
Technology: Inflated girdle, steam-powered mining pump, portable fire-hose
pump are being used. Christiaan Huygens, in his posthumously published book
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Kosmotheoros, argues that other planets in the solar system could contain
extraterrestrial life, starting a debate that extends into the 21st-century.
Near (11 years)
Technology: Denis Papon toys with an experimental steam engine. Bank
notes and Epsom salts are introduced.
Transition Period (1713-1718)
Europe: Second Treaty of Utrecht between Britain and France ends the War
of the Spanish Succession. France cedes Newfoundland, Acadia, Hudson Bay and
St. Kitts to Britain. Battle of Gangut: The Russian Navy gains its first important
victory.
Battle of Petrovaradin: 83,300 Austrian troops of Prince Eugene of Savoy
defeat 150,000 Ottoman Turks under Damad Ali Pasha. France declares war on
Spain, leading to the two-year War of the Quadruple Alliance.
Technological developments: James Puckle develops a prototype repeating
gun. The chambers are flintlock loaded. Seven chambers fire 63 times in seven
minutes.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1736-1741)
North America: Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw Native Americans
defeat French troops.
Europe: Russo-Turkish War: Russian forces under Field Marshal Munnich
storm the Ottoman fortress of Ochakov and take 4,000 Turks prisoner; Austria
enters the Russo-Turkish War. The Treaty of Belgrade ends the Russo-Turkish
War. Frederick II of Prussia invades the Habsburg holdings in Silesia, starting the
War of the Austrian Succession.
Java: Batavia massacre: Troops of the Dutch East India Company massacre
5,000–10,000 Chinese Indonesians in Batavia.
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Explorations and Inventions: Vitus Bering, a Dane hired by Russia,
"discovers" Alaska. Philippe Buache draws 1st-map with contour lines. Charles
Valoue builds pile-driving machine. Benjamin Martin fashions pocket-sized
microscope.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1753-1758)
Europe: Seven Years’ War begins as Britain and Prussia contend against
France, Spain, Austria and Russia. This war will expose national holdings in
North America, Asia and Africa. British commander, Robert Clive, defeats
Nawwab of Bengal. This marks the beginning of British rule in India.
Nature; Earthquake hits Lisbon, Portugal. Over 60,000 deaths.
Technology: Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary first published; Friedrich van
Knauss develops a clunky prototype of the modern typewriter; Procopius Divis
conducts experiments with a lightening conductor. M. Garvin designs an irongirded bridge; William Cookworthy finds high-quality "kaolin" clay, which makes
excellent porcelain. Joseph Black, a chemist, isolates carbon dioxide; Captain
John Campbell designs a sextant that greatly improves a seaman’s ability to
acquire astronomical bearings; John Dollond builds the first achromatic refractor
telescope.
Far (1759-1775)
China experiences an era of great prosperity. Its population is growing
rapidly, doubling in less than 70 years.
Index
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European Dark Ages (496-1455)
Western Europe occupied by squabbling barbarian invaders.
Peaceful trade routes, road maintenance, postal services all
disintegrate. Civil authority devolves to local warlords. Personal
hygiene is neglected, and illiteracy becomes the norm.
I find nothing of cultural value happening in Europe. China plods
through its dynastic cycles. Confucian bureaucrats keep society from
falling into total chaos, and new blood rises to fill the voids of
decadence. In the Middle East, Arabs are rediscovering and readapting
Greco-Roman culture. In the Western Hemisphere, Mayan cultures rise
and fall.
Societies are divided into four classes: clerics, warriors, merchants
and farmers. A minority of oligarchs ride herd on everyone else. I
don’t see significant changes from this mold, so I refrain from noting
the brush wars and contemporary gossip.
Transition Period (497-502)
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (514-519)
Far (17 years)
India: Aryabhata and Varamihara (mathematicians) introduce the decimal
system.
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Transition Period (537-542)
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (554-459)
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (577-582)
Iron-chain suspension bridge is constructed in China.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (594-597)
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (617-622)
Porcelain vessels are introduced in China.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (634-639)
Muslims: Arab armies invade Syria and Iraq. Khalid Ibn Walid captures
Damascus. In engagements along the Yarmouk River, Muslim forces of the
Rashidun Caliphate (led by Khalid ibn al-Walid) defeat the armies of the Eastern
Roman-Byzantine Empire, completing the Muslim conquest of Syria. Called the
battle of Yarmouk, it is deemed one of the most decisive in military history.
Rashidun Caliphate takes the Persian capital of Ctesiphon then conquers
Jerusalem, Aleppo and Antioch (Antakya).
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China: Tang Dynasty: Emperor Taizong invades the Xianbei/Tibetan state of
Tuyuhun. Tang commander Li Jing crushes the Tuyuhun forces, which results in
the assassination of their leader (Busabuo Khan Murong Fuyun) and the
dissolving of their state. Emperor Taizong’s campaign against Tufan results in
the marriage alliance between the Tang Dynasty and the Tibetan Empire, as the
Chinese Princess Wencheng is wed to Tibetan ruler Songtsän Gampo.
The Chinese historian Yao Silian completes the Book of Liang.
Far (17 years)
First windmill used in Persia to grind wheat.
Transition Period (657-662)
Muslims: The Battle of the Camel between Ali and Aisha, part of the first civil
war in Islam, takes place in present-day Basra, Iraq. Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib is
assassinated. His death ends the Rashidun Caliphate, and Muawiyah I founds the
Umayyad caliphate.
Technology: Emperor Gaozong of Tang commissions the pharmacology
publication of an official materia medica, which documents 833 different
substances taken from various stones, minerals, metals, plants, herbs, animals,
vegetables, fruits and cereal crops used for medicinal purposes. The Tang
Dynasty Chinese Buddhist monks and engineers Zhi Yu and Zhi You recreate
several South-Pointing Chariots for the Japanese Emperor Tenji. The mechanicaldriven directional-compass vehicle is an adaptation of a 3rd-century device
originally made by Ma Jun.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (674-679)
Muslims: The first Arab siege of Constantinople begins and lasts four years
before the Arab besiegers withdraw in defeat.
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Far (17 years)
Transition Period (697-702)
Muslims: Arabs under Hassan ibn al-Nu’man capture Carthage from the
Byzantine Empire and destroy it. The defeated Byzantine fleet revolts and
proclaims Tiberius III who deposes Leontius. After a brief siege of
Constantinople, Tiberius III becomes Byzantine Emperor. Musa bin Nusair
defeats the Berber army in Algeria, ending resistance against the Arabs there.
The Umayyad prince Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik captures the Byzantine
stronghold of Theodosiopolis.
Muhammad ibn Marwan invades the Byzantine Armenian provinces east of
the Euphrates; the local commander Baanes surrenders before the large Arab
army and the population accepts a Muslim governor.
Technology: Fine porcelain vessels are used and will become the highly
valued artifacts of the Chinese Tang dynasty. Buddhist influences from India
have merged with Chinese social practices.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (714-719)
China: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang starts to rule. He liquidates the highly
lucrative Inexhaustible Treasury, which is run by a prominent Buddhist
monastery in Chang’an. This monastery collects vast amounts of money, silk, and
treasures through multitudes of rich people’s repentances, left on the premises
anonymously. Although the monastery is generous in donations, Emperor
Xuanzong issues a decree abolishing their treasury because their banking
practices were fraudulent, collects their riches and distributes the wealth to
various other Buddhist monasteries, Daoist abbeys. These funds are used to
repair statues, halls and bridges in the city.
Muslims: Seville and Mérida fall to the Arab armies of Musa bin Nusair. The
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Ummayads conquer Lisbon. Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik begins the 2nd-Arab
siege of Constantinople, which will last for nearly a year. Battle of Covadonga
marks the start of the Reconquista by a Christian military force (under Pelagius of
Asturias) of the Iberian Peninsula, following the Umayyad conquest of Hispania.
Damascus flourishes as the center of Muslim culture, and the earliest Islamic
paintings appear. Caliph Omar II grants tax exemptions to all Muslim believers.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (737-742)
Europe: Battle of Avignon: The Frankish army under Charles Martel expels
Umayyad forces from the city.
Battle of Narbonne: The Frankish army defeats the Umayyad forces but fails
to retake the city.
Battle of Nîmes: The Frankish army expels Umayyad forces from the city and
destroys it.
Muslims: Thawra revolt in Tanger against the Umayyad rulers. Maysara, a
humble water carrier, leads a revolt against oppressive taxes levied on the newly
converted Muslims and the non-Muslims alike. Maysara declares himself caliph
and rules the city brutally. He is soon replaced by a rival, Khâlid al-Zanâti. The
revolt spreads rapidly to the region and the rebellious areas adopt the Kharijite
movement of Islam against the Umayyad Sunnis.
The Umayyad caliphate of Syria sends a 4th-expedition to crush the rebellion
in the Atlas region. They are defeated in the plain of the Ghrab (Morocco). The
counterattack of the Kharijite rebels to the East is successful but fails to conquer
Kairouan from the loyalists. A more radical branch of the Tunisian Kharijites, the
Sofrists, manages to take the city soon after.
Byzantium: Battle of Akroinon in Anatolia (west-central Turkey) results in
significant Byzantine victory over the Umayyads and halts the impetus of Arab
attacks into Anatolia.
Mesoamerica: The powerful Mayan city-state Xukpi (Copán) is defeated by a
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rival city-state, Quiriguá. Xukpi leader Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil (Eighteen
Rabbit) is deposed thereafter.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (754-759)
Europe: The Franks capture Narbonne; the Saracens are completely driven
out of France.
China: Emperor Suzong of Tang ascends to the throne, after his father
Emperor Xuanzong abdicates while fleeing to Sichuan during the An Lushan
rebellion. The Tang army, led by Zhang Xun, wins the Battle of Yongqiu.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (777-782)
Europe: Battle of Roncevaux Pass (Roncesvalles): Charlemagne’s army suffers
a terrible defeat at the hand of the Basques. Among those killed is Roland, lord of
the Breton March; the 11th-century Song of Roland is loosely based on the events
of this battle. Charlemagne continues to fight Moors in Spain.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (794-799)
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (817-822)
Byzantium: General Thomas the Slav secures control over most of Byzantine
Anatolia (west-central Turkey) and gains recognition from the Abbasid Caliphate.
Thomas crosses over into Europe where the emperor Michael II is blockaded in
Constantinople, but Thomas’ first attack on the city fails.
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Math: Muslim mathematician Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Kwārizmī founds
algebra.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (834-839)
Byzantium: The emperor Theophilos is badly defeated at the Battle of Anzen
by the Abbasids. Caliph al-Mu’tasim then proceeds to capture and raze Amorium
(near Cakmak, Turkey), the native city of the Byzantine Empire’s reigning
Amorian dynasty.
Technology: The construction of Mosque of Uqba (Kairouan, Tunisia) begins.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (857-862)
China: An enormous flood along the Grand Canal of China inundates large
tracts of the North China Plain, killing tens of thousands of people and adding to
the further decline of the Tang Dynasty.
Africa: The University of Al Karaouine is founded in Fes, Morocco. It is
recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest university in the
world.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (874-879)
China: A widespread failure of the agricultural harvest in Tang Dynasty China
leads to a widespread famine; in the previous century the central government
was able to curb famine with large grain stores, but this time the central
government is already in decline and too weak to properly face the disaster.
Muslims: After a siege of eight months, Syracuse is captured by the Aghlabids
of Ifriqiya. The construction of Mosque of Uqba (Kairouan, Tunisia) is completed.
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Far (17 years)
Transition Period (897-902)
Technology: The Persian scientist Rhazes distinguishes smallpox from
measles in the course of his writings. Holding against any sort of orthodoxy,
particularly Aristotle’s physics, he maintains the conception of an "absolute" time
as a never-ending flow.
Concave plow (curved-iron moldboard) first used in China.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (914-919)
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (937-942)
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (954-959)
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (977-982)
China: Zhang Sixun, a Chinese astronomer and engineer, employs the use of
liquid mercury in order for the escapement mechanism of his astronomical clock
to function and for metal parts not to rust by using hydraulics (water) or to
freeze in winter.
Technology: One of the Four Great Books of Song, the Tàipíng guangjì is a
Chinese encyclopedia documenting various stories of Chinese myths and subjects
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of theology. Divided into 500 volumes, it consists of over 3-million written
Chinese characters.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (994-999)
Spain: The Muslim de facto ruler of al-Andalus, al-Mansur, with the support
of the Christians Portuguese knights, sacks one of Christendom’s holiest sites of
pilgrimage, Santiago de Compostella. On their way they sack the cities of Zamora
and Leon.
Technology: Hamid Ibn al-Khidr al-Khujandi (Arab astronomer) constructs
giant sextant (17 meters).
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1017-1022)
India: Largest amphibious invasion force in history happens when the Chola
army that invades Sri Lanka with a massive manpower of 150,000 troops.
The huge Kandariya Mahadeva Hindu Temple is completed in the Chandela
capital of Khajuraho.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1034-1039)
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1057-1062)
Middle East: The Muslims expel 300 Christians from Jerusalem, and
European Christians are forbidden to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
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Near (11 years)
Battle of Manzikert is fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuq
Turks near Manzikert (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive
defeat of the Byzantine army and the capture of the Emperor Romanos IV
Diogenes play an important role in undermining Byzantine authority in Anatolia
and Armenia, and allows for the gradual Turkification of Anatolia.
Transition Period (1074-1079)
Muslims: Suleyman I of Rûm becomes the leader of the Seljuk Sultanate of
Rûm in modern Turkey. The Seljuk Turks capture Nicæa and Jerusalem.
al-Khayyami establishes himself as curator of the observatory at Isfahan.
Although his excellent tables have been lost and his plans for calendar reform
never realized, his calendar would have been off by less than one day every 5,000
years.
China: Chancellor Wang Anshi of Song Dynasty China creates a new bureau of
the central government called the Directorate of Weapons, which supervises the
manufacture of military armaments and ensures quality control. The iron
industry in Song Dynasty China is producing a total weight of 127,000 tonnes of
iron product per year.
Far (17 years )
Transition Period (1097-1102)
Europe: In 1095 Pope Urban II calls for a Crusade to retake the Holy Land.
Other Crusades will be called in the following decades. Each will prove less
successful than the first, which meets with marginal success, due to the sheer
novelty of the crusaders’ advent in the eastern Mediterranean. The crusaders
bear clumsy broad swords, the sight of which would have driven a veteran
Roman centurion to fits of laughter. Arab opponents can’t rightly be called
disciplined troops, but they carry decent swords at least.
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Middle East: A large band of Crusaders approaches Speyer and massacres
the Jewish population. The Norman crusaders join the rest of the army during
the siege of Nicæa.
The city of Nicæa falls to the Crusaders after a month siege. Crusaders win
the Battle of Dorylaeum and capture Latakia from the Seljuk Turks. At the battle
of Harenc, the crusaders defeat the troops from Aleppo trying to come to the
relief of besieged Antioch (Antakya). After eight months, the crusaders take
Antioch.
15,000 starving Christian soldiers march around Jerusalem. Christian
soldiers under Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert II of Flanders, Raymond IV of
Toulouse and Tancred take Jerusalem after a difficult siege.
Technology: Rockets and fire-lances are used in China.
Near (11 years)
Chinese naval vessels use lodestone magnetic compasses for navigation.
Transition Period (1114-1119)
Europe: Pope Pelagius II grants the status of Crusade to the Christian effort
in the Ebro valley, which attracts numerous Gascon, Occitan and Norman knights.
Alfonso the Battler expels the Moors from Zaragoza. The troops of Ramon
Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona led by archbishop Oleguer Bonestruga capture
Tarragona from the Moors.
China introduces the modern book where separate pages are stitched
together.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1137-1142)
Europe: Battle of Ourique: The independence of Portugal from the Kingdom
of León is declared after Prince Afonso Henriques defeats the Almoravids led by
Ali ibn Yusuf.
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Peter Abelard writes the Historia Calamitatum, detailing his relationship with
Héloise. A church court in Sens, France condemns Pierre Abelard for heresy.
Africa: Abd al-Mu’min declares jihad on the Almoravids, charging them with
decadence and corruption. He unites the northern Berbers against the
Almoravids, overthrowing them and forming the Almohad Empire. During this
period, northwestern Africa becomes thoroughly Islamized. It sees the spread of
literacy, the development of algebra and the use of the number zero and
decimals.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1154-1159)
Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire becomes the largest city of
the world, taking the lead from Merv in the Seljuk Empire.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1177-1182)
Muslims: A fleet led by Abd Allah Ishaq Jami attacks Lisbon, but is repelled
by the Portuguese admiral D. Fuas Roupinho near the Cape Espichel. The
Portuguese admiral later manages to enter in the harbor of Ceuta and destroy a
number of Muslim ships. It is the beginning of a four-year naval conflict between
Almohads and Portuguese. After a series of defeats, the Almohad navy under the
admiral Ahmad al-Siqilli crushes the Portuguese fleet and reasserts its control
over the Atlantic Ocean.
China: Hangzhou, capital of Southern Song China, becomes the largest city of
the world, taking the lead from Fes in the Almohad Empire.
Science: Chinese and Japanese astronomers observe what has since come to
be understood as a supernova. One of only eight supernovae in the Milky Way
observed in recorded history, it appears in the constellation Cassiopeia and is
visible in the night sky for about 185 days. The radio source 3C58 is thought to
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be the remnant from this event.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1194-1199)
Middle East: Bohemond I, the new crusader ruler of Antioch (Antakya),
grants the commercial use of warehouses (fondaco) and cedes the church of
Saint John to the Republic of Genoa. This marks the beginning of Italian
merchant settlements in the Levant.
Mongols: Genghis Khan has survived incredible hardships as a teenager and
young adult. He establishes his leadership for a small but feisty horde within the
borders of Mongolia.
Mesoamerica: The Aztec civilization begins in Mexico.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1217-1222)
Mongols: Fresh from pillaging northern China, Genghis Khan leads his horsearchers west where they devastate Kyrgyz and make inroads to northern India.
Mongols under the leadership of his eldest son Jochi conduct a 2nd-campaign
against the Kyrgyz. The Mongols first invade the Abbasid Caliphate where
Bukhara and Samarkand (Uzbekistan) are taken. The Mongol Army under Jochi
captures the city of Gurganj (now Kunya-Urgench), and massacres the
inhabitants. Contemporary scholars report over a million killed, although
probably only a fifth or a tenth of that number in reality.
The windmill is first introduced to China with the travels of Yelü Chucai to
Transoxiana.
Near (11 years)
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Transition Period (1234-1239)
Mongols: Song Dynasty Chinese and Mongolian armies occupy the Jurchen
capital at Caizhou, marking the collapse of the Jin Dynasty (1115–1234). Four of
58 districts in Sichuan, China, are captured from the Southern Song by the
Mongols under Ögedei. The population of Chengdu, roughly one million
inhabitants, is summarily slaughtered after the Mongols take the city with little
effort.
After 15 years of campaigns the Caucasus, Asia Minor and Persia, Batu Khan
leads representatives of all four khanates of 150,000 Mongol, Turkish and
Persian troops into Europe with the resumption of the Mongol invasion of Russia.
Battle of the Sit River: The Mongol Hordes of Batu Khan defeat the Russia under
Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir-Suzdal.
Far (17 years)
Roger Bacon (Oxford, England) builds a practical magnifying glass.
Transition Period (1257-1262)
Mongols: General Baiju (operating under Hulagu Khan’s command) leads his
forces in a victory over Kay Ka’us II of the Sultanate of Rüm, thereby capturing
Anatolia (west-central Turkey). Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the
Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran and overruns Baghdad, a
leading center of Islamic culture and learning and capital of the Abbasid
Caliphate. Mongols burn the imperial city to the ground, killing as many as
1,000,000 citizens. Hugalu Khan establishes the Ilkhanate dynasty of Persia,
which will become one of four main divisions of the Mongol Empire.
The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Galilee, marking
their first decisive defeat and maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire.
Kublai Khan begins a twofold attack on the Song dynasty of southern China.
On one hand, he sends armies to subdue the western provinces of the Song.
More important, he begins wholesale reforms in the areas of China he controls.
He reduces taxes, improves roads, minimizes torture of suspected criminals,
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codifies laws that apply to people of all ranks, decrees religious freedom for all,
establishes thousands of public schools where subjects are taught in the
colloquial languages of the neighborhoods. While such measures embody an
ingenious PR campaign to promote his administration style over that of the Song
dynasty, the measures foreshadow democratic initiatives that won’t take root in
Europe from many centuries to come.
While engaged in a war with the Mongols, the Song Chinese official Li Zengbo
records the city of Qingzhou is making one to two thousand strong iron-cased
gunpowder bombshells a month, dispatching to Xiangyang and Yingzhou in
batches of 15,000 bombs.
Technology: The earliest extant Chinese illustration of ‘Pascal’s triangle’ is
from Yang Hui’s book Xiangjie Jiuzhang Suanfa, published in this year, although
knowledge of Pascal’s Triangle existed in China as early as 1100.
Natural Events: One of the largest volcanic eruptions of the Holocene epoch
occurs, possibly from a tropical location such as Mount Rinjani, Indonesia; El
Chichón, Mexico; or Quilotoa, Ecuador. Observed effects of the eruption include
the following anecdotal accounts: dry fog in France; lunar eclipses in England;
severe winter in Europe; a "harsh" spring in Northern Iceland; famine in England,
Western Germany, France, and Northern Italy; and pestilence in London, parts of
France, Austria, Iraq, Syria and Southeast Turkey.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1274-1279)
Byzantium: The Constantinople suburb of Beyoğlu (then known as Pera) is
given to the Republic of Genoa by the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII
Palaeologus in return for Genoa’s support of the Empire after the 4th-Crusade
and the sacking of Constantinople.
Mongols: The 200,000 multiethnic troops of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty,
headed by the Turkish commander Bayan, face a Chinese Song Dynasty army of
130,000 led by the Song Chancellor Jia Sidao. The result is a decisive victory for
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the Yuan Dynasty, and soon after the much-vilified Jia Sidao is stripped of rank
and title, and killed by one of his own guards after the Song court exiles him to
Fujian. The court of the Southern Song Dynasty of China and hundreds of
thousands of its citizens flee from Hangzhou to Fujian and then Guangdong to
escape an invasion by Kublai Khan’s Yuan Dynasty.
Kublai Khan attempts the first of several invasions of Japan. 30,000 soldiers
and support personnel sail from Korea. After the Mongols capture outlying
islands, they are repulsed on the main island at the Battle of Bun’ei by amassed
Japanese warriors and a strong storm which batters their forces and fleet.
Battle of Ngasaunggyan: Burma’s Pagan Empire begins to disintegrate after
being defeated by Kublai Khan at Yunnan near the Chinese border. Battle of
Elbistan, Turkey: Mamluk sultan Baibars invades the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and
defeats a Mongol army.
Technology: Chinese astronomers observe a total eclipse of the Sun in China.
Giles of Lessines writes his De usuris. He estimates that accrued-credit contracts
need not to be usurious as "future things are not estimated to be of such value as
those collected in the instant." The prevalence of this view in the usury debate
allows for the development of the financial industry in Catholic Europe.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1297-1302)
Africa: Empire of Mali (Sub-Saharan Africa) reaches its peak. Queen Amina
of Zazzau expands the Zaria emirate through a series of wars.
Europe: Charles, Count of Valois, enters Florence with the Black Guelphs who
destroy much of the city, kill many of their enemies and install a new government
under Cante de’ Gabrielli da Gubbio as podestà, leading to Dante’s permanent
exile from the city.
Technology: The Chinese governmental minister Wang Zhen (official) invents
wooden movable type for printing. Bi Sheng invented ceramic movable type in
the 11th-century.
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Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1314-1319)
China: Wang Zhen, Chinese agronomist, government official, and inventor of
wooden-based movable type, publishes the Nong Shu (Book of Agriculture).
Far (17 years )
Transition Period (1337-1342)
Europe; The 100 Years War between France and England begins. The Battle
of Sluys is fought between the naval fleets of the Kingdom of England and the
Kingdom of France. The former is under the command of Edward III of England
and the latter under that of Admiral Hugues Quiéret and treasurer Nicholas
Béhuchet assisted by Genoese mercenary galleys under Egidio Bocanegra. The
French fleet is virtually destroyed and both commanders are killed.
Muslims: Nicomedia is captured by the Ottoman Empire.
Near (11 years)
Bubonic plague spreads east from the orient and devastates Europe. More
than one-third of the population is killed between 1347-51.
Transition Period (1354-1359)
Muslims: The Turks capture the cities of Kallipolis and Didymoteicho from
the Byzantine Empire.
Bahri Sultan An-Nasir removes the limestone casing stones from the Great
Pyramid of Giza. He uses them to build fortresses and mosques in the nearby city
of Cairo, leaving the first of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in the stepstone condition in which it remains today.
China: Nanjing in Mongolian China becomes the largest city of the world,
taking the lead from Hangzhou in Mongolian China.
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Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1377-1382)
Muslims: The Venetians and Ottomans invade Constantinople and restore
John V Palaiologos as Byzantine co-emperor. Andronikos IV Palaiologos is
allowed to remain as Byzantine co-emperor but is confined to the city of Silivri
for the remainder of his life.
China: In Ming Dynasty China, the lijia census-registration system that began
in 1371 is now universally imposed during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor.
The census counts 59,873,305 people living in China in this year. This depicts a
drastic drop in population since the Song Dynasty, which counted 100 million
people at its height in the early 12th-century. The historian Timothy Brook, in
his The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China, states that
the Ming census was inaccurate, as China in the late 14th-century had at least
65,000,000 inhabitants, if not 75,000,000.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1393-1398)
Muslims: The Ottoman Turks capture Turnovgrad (now Veliko Tarnovo), the
capital city of east Bulgaria. Emperor Ivan Shishman is allowed to remain as
puppet ruler of east Bulgaria. The Ottomans begin an eight-year siege of
Constantinople.
Europe: Battle of Rovine: With the help of the Hungarians, Wallachia resists
an invasion by the Ottomans and their Serb and Bulgarian vassals.
Africa: Most of Great Zimbabwe stone buildings are completed.
Technology: Ming Dynasty Chinese records 720,000 sheets of toilet paper
(.61 by .91 meters) being produced for the various members of the imperial
court at Beijing. The Imperial Bureau of Supplies orders 15,000 sheets of toilet
paper made of soft-yellow tissue and perfumed.
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Far (17 years)
Transition Period (1416-1421)
Europe:
The battle of Agincourt happens on the cusp of this period, in the late autumn
of 1415. The smaller army of English peasants use the longbow to defeat a
swarm of French knights in heavy armor. This victory shows that it’s possible to
defeat armored cavalry (and infantry) with a powerful new weapon. It also
shows (once again) that commoners could fight as bravely as landed gentry.
Henry V used this victory and subsequent clashes to bring Normandy under
English rule. The French recognize him in the Treaty of Troyes (1420) as the
regent and heir to the French throne. His marriage to Catherine of Valois, the
daughter of King Charles VI, cements his ascension to power.
The Republic of Ragusa is the first state in Europe to outlaw slavery.
Portuguese sea captains João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, at the
service of Prince Henry the Navigator, discover the Madeira Islands.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (1433-1438)
The Ming Dynasty in China disbands its naval fleet after the last great
maritime expedition led by Admiral Zheng He, altering the balance of power in
the Indian Ocean and making it easier for Portugal and other Western naval
powers to gain dominance over the seas.
A significant portion of the southern grain tax is commuted to payments in
silver, known as the Gold Floral Silver (jinhuayin). This comes about because the
clerical and military arms of government demand payment in silver instead of
grain. Some counties have trouble transporting all the required grain to meet
their tax quotas, so it makes sense to pay the government in silver, a medium of
exchange that is already abundant amongst landowners through their own
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private commercial affairs. As a result, more silver is drawn into nationwide
circulation.
Just two years after the court of China allowed landowners to pay their grain
tax in silver instead, the Ming court decides to close all silver mines and to ban all
private silver mining in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. This is a concerted effort
to halt the increase of silver circulating into the market. Illegal mining of silver
becomes an offense punishable by death. The high demand for illegal mining
also makes it very lucrative, so many choose to defy the government and
continue to mine silver.
The Florentine polymath Leon Battista Alberti begins writing the treatise On
Painting, in which he argues for the importance of mathematical perspective in
the creation of three-dimensional vision on a two-dimensional plane. This
follows the ideas of Massacio and his concepts of linear perspective and
vanishing point in artwork.
Far (17 years)
Muslims: For decades the Ottoman Turks have ravaged Byzantine holdings in
the Peloponnese, Asia Minor and the Balkans. At long last, the Sultan Mehmet II
captures Constantinople after brief siege and sea blockade. This marks the final
dying gasp of the Roman Empire.
Europe: The first black African slaves are brought to Europe at Lagos,
Portugal.
Index
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Classical History (504 BC - 495 AD)
I have focused on the rise and fall of Greco-Roman culture, selecting
(I hope) those events that influence the most significant changes. The
decline of the Roman Empire might be especially instructive for
modern readers. The Roman Empire was primarily secular and
generally tolerant of the many religious faiths held by its subjects. In
this way, Rome simulates the hodgepodge of cultures that embody the
world today.
Romans embraced practical applications of technology, whereas the
Greeks were content with theoretical speculations. Romans built finearched buildings, aqueducts, straight-arrow roads. Their waterworks
and sewage systems could stand proudly with much of the current
urban infrastructure. Romans built wonderful public baths throughout
the Empire. The cost of bathing, even for the poor, was relatively
cheap. This custom of almost universal cleanliness raised the status of
women who often refused intimacy with their partners until they
washed the stink of the road from their bodies.
The downside, of course, was the lead lining of the plumbing.
Romans didn’t understand that lead absorption weakened bones and
brought on premature rheumatism and arthritis. This too shows a
similarity with today’s culture, since we moderns have introduced
thousands of industrial molecules and organic compounds for which
there is little known about side effects over the long run.
Roman swords were sized correctly for close-quarter engagements
and had razor-sharp edges. Legionaries had three kinds of spears for
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use in different military situations. A legion’s artillery pieces
(crossbows and rock hurlers) were designed to cause havoc among
enemy formations.
Nowadays folks look with distaste at societies that condoned
slavery, but slavery in ancient times was commonplace. It solved the
problem of what do with the vanquished in the aftermath of war. The
victors couldn’t allow captured enemy soldiers off Scott-free unless
they were prepared to fight them again. Whereas the salvage of
valuables from vanquished cities helped pay for the costs of military
campaigns, the sales of soldiers and civilians into slavery turned costly
campaigns into profitable ventures.
The fates of enslaved soldiers were harsh, since they were inducted
into the legions or condemned to hard physical labor in underground
mines or rock quarries. But civilian slaves faced brighter futures, since
they performed the tasks of domestic servants or concubines.
Occasionally they became wives or consorts. On the deaths of their
owners, slaves often gained free-person status in the dominant culture.
Many Greek scholars volunteered to become slaves for Roman masters.
They toiled as child tutors, consultants or soothsayers, gaining respect
for their philosophical or medical know-how. Their careers advanced
further than they would have as "free" men back home. If you ignore
the minority of slave owners who were abusive and sadistic, the
livelihoods of slaves in antiquity were not much different from the
livelihoods of wage earners today.
The Roman ethos makes a good parallel for our current global
culture. In its declining years, the Empire came under threat from the
influx of barbarians. The imperial kingpins came from a landowner
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class that either misunderstood or ignored basic economics. Not many
emperors were good at being inspired military leaders as well as
capable civil administrators. One skill or the other went lacking, and
some emperors could do neither.
Wealthy merchants were allowed to corrupt bureaucrats, elude
taxes and disregard regulations. This created a rich-poor dichotomy.
The poor marched in the legions, guarded the outlying borders and
maintained roads and sea-lanes; whereas wealthy merchants reaped
the benefits without paying their fair share toward the enforcement of
peace and order.
The emperors collected money through indiscriminate confiscations
that bore no resemblance to logic or justice. Eventually, their bloated
bureaucracy and corrupt style of governance could no longer maintain
the borders or civil order.
Nowadays the world community regards economic issues from
nationalistic perspectives. Leaders bicker over trivial issues while they
overlook the causes of global disparity, terrorism and climate change.
Regional alliances aren't prepared to deal with global threats that
require a broader consensus.
Circa 6th-century BC: There are thriving urban cultures in China,
the Indian subcontinent, Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley and sub-Saharan
Africa. Persians dominate the Middle East. Greek and Phoenician ships
pursue trade in the Mediterranean. Greeks have a lock on commerce
around the Aegean Sea. Their trading outposts defy the edicts of
Persian Kings.
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Transition Period (503-498 BC)
Persian Empire attacks Aegean city of Naxos. Aristagoras, governor of
Miletus, induces the Ionian cities of Asia Minor to revolt against Persia, thus
instigating the Ionian Revolt and beginning the Greco-Persian Wars between
Greece and Persia.
China: Confucius is appointed governor of Chung-tu.
Near (11 Years)
Transition Period (486-481 BC)
Middle East: Here marks the lull between Persian invasions. The Greeks
have been heartened by the victory of Marathon in 490 BC. They are bracing
themselves for another invasion. The Persians are busy assembling a grand army
and naval taskforce.
Indian Subcontinent: Death of Gautama Buddha is recorded in 483 BC.
Far (17 Years)
Greece: Athenians move their citizens to an island and thumb their noses at
the Persian land force, which outnumbers them many times over. They defeat
the Persian navy in 480 BC. Disheartened, the king will return to Persia. A
combined Athenian and Spartan army will drub the Persian land force. These
victories will set the stage for the Golden Age.
Greek city-states enjoy prosperity and population growth. Greek culture
flourishes among the cities of the Aegean Sea. Greek influence will spread as far
as Cyprus, Crete, Sicily and Massilia (Marseilles) on the southern coast of France.
The plays of Aeschylus are performed. Greeks absorb Egyptian geometric
insights. Thought experiments are born.
Transition Period (463-458 BC)
Greece: Relations are strained between Athens and Sparta, but Kimon of
Athens counsels reconciliation. When faced with a slave revolt in 465 BC, Sparta
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asks for Athenian assistance. Kimon leads an Athenian army to the rescue, but
somehow he manages to irk the Spartans who proceed alone. Athenians take this
as a grave insult, and they launch the 1st-Peloponnesian War in 460 BC. The
hostilities will prove inconclusive. But after a brief truce, Spartan and Athens
will commence a long and bloody series of wars, which will drain the military
might of Greece for centuries to come.
Near (11 Years)
Transition Period (446-441 BC)
Greece: A revolt breaks out in Boeotia as the oligarchs of Thebes conspire
against the democratic faction in the city. The Athenians under their general
Tolmides bring 1,000 hoplites plus other troops from their allies. They march
into Boeotia to take back the towns revolting against Athenian control. They
capture Chaeronea, but are attacked and defeated by the Boeotians at Coronea.
As a result, the Athenians are forced to give up control of Boeotia as well as
Phocis and Locris, which all fall under the control of hostile oligarchs who quit
the Delian League.
Pericles is concerned over the draining effect of years of war on Athenian
manpower. He looks for peace with the support of the Assembly. Athenian
diplomat, Callias, goes to Sparta and after much bargaining arranges a peace
treaty with Sparta and her Peloponnesian allies, thus extending the five-year
truce for another 30 years.
Pericles commissions the architects Kallikrates and Iktinos to design a larger
temple for the Parthenon and the construction begins on rebuilding the great
temple of Athena (the Parthenon) on the Acropolis at Athens soon afterwards.
Sophocles writes Antigone.
Rome: In the Battle of Corbione, Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus leads
Roman troops to a victory over the Aequi of northeast Latium and the Volsci of
southern Latium.
Far (17 Years)
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The pulley is invented and the first true arch is constructed.
Transition Period (423-418 BC)
Peloponnesian War: Demosthenes captures and fortifies the port of Pylos in
the Peloponnesus, giving Athens a strong base close to Sparta. Meanwhile, a
Spartan army, commanded by Brasidas, lands on the nearby island of Sphacteria
(Sfaktiria), but is repulsed by the Athenians. An Athenian fleet summoned by
Demosthenes bottles up the Spartan navy in Navarino Bay.
Cleon joins Demosthenes in the invasion by Athenian troops of Sphacteria.
The resulting Battle of Pylos results in an Athenian victory leading to the
surrender of many of the Spartan troops. Pylos remains in Athenian hands, and
is used as a base for raids into Spartan territory and as a refuge for fleeing
Spartan helots.
Following the failure of peace negotiations between Athens and Sparta, a
number of Spartans stranded on the island of Sphacteria (Sfaktiria) after the
Battle of Pylos are attacked by an Athenian force under Cleon and Demosthenes.
The resulting Battle of Sphacteria leads to a further victory by the Athenians over
the Spartans. The Spartans sue for peace, but the Athenian leader Cleon
persuades Athens to refuse.
Near (11 Years)
Transition Period (406-401 BC)
Peloponnesian War: The Spartan admiral Lysander refuses to be lured out of
Ephesus to do battle with Alcibiades. While he is away seeking supplies, his
helmsman Antiochus takes command of the Athenian squadron. The Spartan
fleet attacks and wins the Battle of Notium (or Ephesus). The defeat gives the
enemies of Alcibiades an excuse to strip him of his command. He never returns
to Athens.
To relieve Conon, the Athenians assemble a new fleet composed largely of
newly constructed ships manned by inexperienced crews. This inexperienced
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fleet is inferior to the Spartans, but its commanders employ new and unorthodox
tactics, which allow the Athenians to secure a dramatic and unexpected victory at
the Battle of Arginusae, and the blockade of Conon is broken.
The Spartan king Pausanias lays siege to Athens while Lysander’s fleet
blockades Piraeus. This action closes the grain route through the Hellespont,
thereby starving Athens. Theramenes tries to negotiate with Lysander. He is
away for three months while Athens is being reduced to starvation. Then he
heads the embassy that negotiates the terms of capitulation to the Spartans.
Theramenes secures terms that save the city of Athens from destruction. The
Spartans allow Athens to retain its independence. However, Athens loses all its
foreign possessions and what is left of its fleet and is required to become an ally
of Sparta. The Long Walls around Athens are pulled down. Greek towns across
the Aegean Sea in Ionia are again the subjects of the Persian Empire.
Thrasybulus leads the democratic resistance to the oligarchic Thirty Tyrants
who have been imposed on the city by victorious Spartans. He commands a
small force of exiles that invades Attica and defeats first a Spartan garrison and
then the forces of the oligarchic government (including the Spartan general,
Lysander) in the Battle of Munychia. Critias, the leader of the Thirty Tyrants, is
killed in the battle.
The Battle of Piraeus is fought between Athenian exiles who have defeated
the government of the Thirty Tyrants and occupied Piraeus. The Spartan force
has been sent to put down the revolt. The Spartans narrowly defeat the exiles,
both sides suffering large numbers of casualties. After the battle, the Agiad King
of Sparta, Pausanias arranges a settlement between the two parties which allows
the reunification of Athens and Piraeus, and the re-establishment of democratic
government in Athens.
Sicilian War: The Carthaginians again invade Sicily and attack Agrigentum
(Agrigento). Plague breaks out in their camp and Hannibal Mago dies. Himilco
assumes command and captures Agrigentum, Gela and Camarina. Gela is
destroyed and its treasures sacked. The survivors take refuge in Syracuse. The
plague is carried back to Carthage by its soldiers.
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Dionysius the Elder rises to power as the tyrant of Syracuse. He makes peace
with the Carthaginian general, Himilco (whose army has been weakened by the
plague), and fortifies Syracuse. This treaty leaves Carthage in control of most of
Sicily. Dionysius the Elder ruthlessly consolidates and expands his power. He
builds a wall around Syracuse and fortifies Epipolae. The Greek citizens of
Naxos, Catana and Leontini are removed from their cities; many of them are
enslaved and their homes are given to Sicilian and Italian mercenaries.
Marquis Wen of Wei ascends to power in Wei. He sponsors Confucianism and
employs able political advisers such as Li Kui, Wu Qi and Ximen Bao.
Far (17 Years)
Transition Period (383-378 BC)
Greece: King Amyntas III of Macedon, forms a temporary alliance with the
Chalcidian League. Sparta, whose policy is to keep Greeks disunited, sends an
expedition northwards to disrupt the Chalcidian League, a confederation of cities
of the Chalcidice (Khalkidhiri) peninsula, east of Macedonia.
The Spartan commander Phoebidas, who is passing through Boeotia on
campaign, takes advantage of civil strife within Thebes to gain entrance to the
city for his troops. Once inside, he seizes the Cadmeia (the citadel of Thebes),
and forces the anti-Spartan party to flee the city. The government of Thebes is
placed in the hands of the pro-Spartan party, backed by a Spartan garrison based
in the Cadmeia. Many of the previous leaders of Thebes are driven into exile.
In punishment for his unauthorized action in the previous year of taking over
Thebes, Phoebidas is relieved of his command, but the Spartans continue to hold
Thebes.
Theban exiles, led by Pelopidas, infiltrate the city of Thebes and assassinate
the leaders of the pro-Spartan government. Epaminondas and Gorgidas lead a
group of young men who break into the city’s armories, take weapons and
surround the Spartans on the Cadmea, assisted by a force of Athenian hoplites.
In the Theban assembly the next day, Epaminondas and Gorgidas bring Pelopidas
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and his men before the audience and exhort the Thebans to fight for their
freedom. The assembly responds by acclaiming Pelopidas and his men as
liberators. Fearing for their lives, the Spartans surrender and are evacuated. The
Thebans of the pro-Spartan party are also allowed to surrender; they are
subsequently executed.
Rome: After a revolt against Rome, the district of Tusculum (Fraseati) is
pacified and conquered. The people of Tusculum express complete submission
to Rome, so they become the first municipium cum suffragio, and thenceforth the
city continues to hold the rank of a municipium.
Catapults are used as siege weapons.
Near (11 Years)
Transition Period (366-361 BC)
Greece: Theban leader Pelopidas goes on an embassy to the Persian king
Artaxerxes II and induces him to propose a settlement of the Greek states’
disputes according to the wishes of the Thebans. Artaxerxes II issues an edict
consisting of peace terms for the Greeks, but his edict is not obeyed by any of the
Greek states.
The Theban general, Epaminondas, makes a bold attempt to challenge Athens’
naval empire. With a new Boeotian fleet, he sails to Byzantium, which results in
a number of cities in the Athenian Empire rebelling against their now threatened
masters.
The outbreak of civil war in the Arcadian league leads to Mantinea fighting
alongside Sparta and Athens, while Tegea and others members of the league side
with Thebes. The Theban general, Epaminondas, heads the large allied army in
the Peloponnesus. He is met by Sparta (led by Spartan general Archidamus III),
Athens and their allies in the Battle of Mantinea. In the battle, Epaminondas is
victorious, but is killed. His dying command to make peace with the enemy is
followed by all sides and a general peace is established in Greece. The period of
Theban domination of Greece ends.
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China: The Chinese astronomer Gan De from the State of Qi reportedly
discovers the moon Ganymede, belonging to Jupiter, and makes the earliest
known sunspot observations.
Far (17 Years)
Transition Period (343-338 BC)
Sicily: Syracuse grows sick of tyrant Dionysius II and appeals to its mother
city of Corinth. The Corinthian general Timoleon is chosen to lead a liberation
force to Sicily. Landing at Tauromenium (Taormina) in the summer, Timoleon
faces two armies, one under Dionysius and the other under Hicetas (tyrant of
nearby Leontini), who has also called in Carthaginian forces. By shrewd tactics
Timoleon defeats his enemies and occupies Syracuse.
Persia: Artaxerxes III, the King of Persia, heads an invasion of Egypt. The
Persians are keen to seize Egypt’s gold and corn supplies. The town of Pelusium
in the Nile Delta puts up resistance, but Pharaoh Nectanebo II is forced to retreat
to Memphis. As the situation deteriorates, Nectanebo II leaves for exile in Nubia.
His departure marks the end of the 30th Dynasty, the last native house to rule
Egypt.
Greece: King Philip II of Macedon marches against Cersobleptes, King of
Thrace, defeats him in several battles and reduces him to the condition of being a
tributary.
Philip II invites the Greek philosopher Aristotle to his capital at Pella to tutor
his son Alexander. As the leading intellectual figure in Greece, Aristotle uses his
intellectual acumen to prepare Alexander for adult leadership.
When King Philip II of Macedon attacks Perinthus and Byzantium, King
Artaxerxes III of Persia sends support to those cities. Philip II fails in his siege of
Byzantium. He is forced to respond to attacks by the Scythians near the mouth of
the Danube. His son Alexander is regent while his father fights against
Byzantium and the Scythians.
Philip II attacks the Scythians, using as an excuse their reluctance to allow
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Philip to dedicate a statue of Heracles at the Danube estuary. The two armies
clash on the plains of modern-day Dobruja. Ateas, the 90-year-old King of the
Scythians, is killed during the battle and his army is routed.
Rome: The Battle of Mount Gaurus is fought between the Romans and the
Samnites. The battle is a success for the Romans, who are led by Marcus Valerius
Corvus. Fought at the foot of Mount Gaurus, near Cumae, it is the most notable
engagement of the First Samnite War. The Roman-Samnite army under consuls
Decius Mus and Titus Manlius Torquatus attack and defeat the Latins and
Campanians near Mount Vesuvius in the Battle of Vesuvius.
The Romans succeed in detaching the Campanians from their alliance with
the Latins (through their fear of the Samnites) and induce them to make a
separate peace. Three Campanian cities, including Capua and Cumae, are granted
Roman citizenship. This results in the major acquisition by Rome of the rich land
of Campania with its capital of Capua, and the Roman state now extends to the
Bay of Naples.
In China during the Warring States Period, the army of the state of Qi defeats
the army of the state of Wei in the Battle of Maling. This battle involves the
military strategy of the general Sun Bin (descendant of Sun Tzu), and is the 1stbattle in recorded history to give a reliable account of the handheld crossbow
with a trigger mechanism.
Near (11 Years)
Alexander The Great conquers the known world.
Transition Period (326 -321 BC)
Egypt: In 323 BC, the first Ptolemy retrieves the body of Alexander and places
it in a crystal tomb, which gives his stronghold a popular tourist attraction. Ever
after, Alexandria flourishes as one of the most populous and sophisticated urban
centers of antiquity. Though founded eight years earlier, the city is unique
because it is laid out from scratch. The urban design incorporates a rectangular
grid of roadways surrounding rectangular blocks, where the streets are oriented
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either north-south or east-west. Urban planners will emulate this grid design
with great success until the 20th-century. The advent of the automobile makes
four-way intersections cumbersome and unwieldy. Stop & go semaphores have
reduced accidental collisions at the expense of reducing traffic flow. This
problem remains unsolved well into the 21st-century.
Far (17 Years)
Transition Period (303-298 BC)
Greece: Antigonus I Monophthalmus sends his son Demetrius to conquer
Rhodes, which has refused him armed support against Ptolemy. Demetrius
shows ingenuity in devising new siege engines in his unsuccessful attempt to
reduce the city. Among his creations are a battering ram 60 meters long and
requiring 1,000 men to operate it and a wheeled siege tower named Helepolis or
Taker of Cities, which stands 40 meters tall and 20 meters wide and weighs 180
tons. This siege of Rhodes earns Demetrius the title Poliorcetes (City Besieger).
Mesoamerica: Mexican Sun Temple Artetello is built at Teotihuacán.
Near (11 Years)
Transition Period (286-281 BC)
Rome: A new law, Lex Hortensia, gives much greater power to the plebeian
Assembly compared to the Senate. This law is passed following a threat from
plebeian soldiers to secede. In the face of this threat, the Senate yields to
plebeian demands for political power and recognition of their labors. The law is
named after Quintus Hortensius, a plebeian, who is made dictator to settle the
controversy.
In theory the Lex Hortensia is supposed to dissolve the political distinctions
between the patricians and the plebeians. In practice the coalition of leading
plebeian families keeps control and largely nullifies the power of the assemblies.
So Roman government continues to be oligarchic in character.
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The Gallic tribe called the Senones, who has settled on the Adriatic coast
north of Picenum, attacks Arretium in Etruria. While attempting to relieve this
allied city, the Romans under the command of Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter
suffer a costly defeat in the Battle of Arretium. Aroused by this disaster, a Roman
army under Manius Curius Dentatus invades the Senones’ territory, defeating
them and driving them out of the Italian peninsula.
At the Battle of Lake Vadimo, Roman forces finally quell the allied Etruscans
and Gauls. Consul Publius Cornelius Dolabella leads the Roman army. Rome is at
last undisputed master of northern and central Italy.
Egypt: A 110-meter tall lighthouse on the island of Pharos in Alexandria’s
harbor is completed. It serves as a landmark for ships in the eastern
Mediterranean. Built by Sostratus of Cnidus for Ptolemy II of Egypt, it is one of
the seven wonders of the ancient world. It is a technological triumph and is the
archetype of all lighthouses since. A broad spiral ramp leads to the top, where a
fire burns at night.
Ptolemy II enlarges the library at Alexandria and appoints the grammarian
Zenodotus to collect and edit all the Greek poets. The canal from the Nile River
to the Red Sea, initially started but not completed by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho
II and repaired by the Persian king Darius I, is again repaired and made
operational.
Far (17 Years)
The famous statue (Colossus at Rhodes) is built.
Transition Period (263-258 BC)
1st-Punic War: The naval battle of the Lipari Islands (Lipara harbor) in 260
BC marks the 1st-encounter between the fleets of Carthage and the Roman
Republic. The resounding Carthaginian victory results from an ambush more
than a fixed battle. The defeat sends Romans a wake-up call.
Within two months the Romans build a fleet of over 100 warships. Because
they know that they can’t defeat the Carthaginians with traditional tactics of
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ramming and sinking enemy ships, the Romans add the corvus, an assault bridge,
to Roman ships. The hinged bridge swings toward enemy vessels with a sharp
spike and stops them. Roman legionaries can then board and capture
Carthaginian ships. This innovative Roman tactic checks the Carthaginian naval
advantage in ship-to-ship engagements, and allows Rome’s superior infantry to
be used in naval conflicts.
Egyptian Technology: Archimedes constructs a mechanical device to lift
water uphill. Afterwards it is known as the Archimedean screw.
Near (11 Years)
Transition Period 246 BC - 241 BC)
Egypt: Ptolemy III wins major victories over Seleucus II in Syria and Anatolia
and briefly occupies Antioch (Antakya). These victories are marred by the loss of
the Cyclades to Antigonus II Gonatas in the Battle of Andros. Babylon and Susa
fall to the Egyptian armies of Ptolemy III.
The war in Asia Minor and the Aegean Sea intensifies as the Achaean League
allies itself to Ptolemy III of Egypt, while Seleucus II secures two allies in the
Black Sea region. Ptolemy III’s armies reach as far as Bactria and the borders of
India in their attacks on the Seleucid Empire.
When Ptolemy III returns from Syria to put down a revolt in Egypt, Seleucus
II is able to regain control of Mesopotamia and parts of Northern Syria. Ptolemy
III carries home large amounts of treasure and works of art, including many
statues of Egyptian gods carried off to Persia by Cambyses.
The destruction of the Egyptian fleet by the Macedonians ends the naval
supremacy of the Ptolemies but does not force them to relinquish their
territories in Syria and the Aegean Sea.
Greece: Drawing upon the tradition of the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus, the
young Eurypontid king of Sparta, Agis IV, seeks to reform a system that
distributes the land and wealth unequally and burden the poor with debt. He
proposes the cancellation of debts and the division of the Spartan homeland into
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separate lots for each of its citizens. Full citizenship is to be extended to many
perioeci (voteless freemen) and foreigners. In addition to pursuing these
reforms, Agis seeks the restoration of the Lycurgan system of military training.
Agis is supported by his wealthy mother and grandmother (who surrender their
property), by his uncle Agesilaus, and by Lysander, who is an ephor (magistrate
with the duty of limiting the power of the king).
China: An irrigation canal about 160 kilometers long is built across the
current-day province of Shaanxi in China, greatly adding to the agricultural
productivity of the area and to the military potency of the Qin dynasty.
Far (17 Years)
Transition Period (223-218 BC)
Rome: The Romans, led by Consuls Gaius Atilius Regulus and Lucius Aemilius
Papus, decisively defeat the coalition of Cisalpine Gallic tribes at the Battle of
Telamon thus extending Roman influence over northern Italy. On the Roman side
Gaius Atilius Regulus, commander of the Roman cavalry, is killed in the battle.
On the Gallic side, one of the leaders, Concolitanus, is captured in battle, while
the leader of the Gaesatae, Aneroëstes, kills himself when the battle is lost.
Mediolanum (modern Milan) is the stronghold of the Gallic tribe of the
Insubres (led by Viridomarus). Mediolanum falls to Roman legions in Lombardy
(led by consul, Marcus Claudius Marcellus), in the Battle of Clastidium. Rome
strikes again against the Illyrian pirates precipitating the Second Illyrian War.
Carthage: Following the assassination of Hasdrubal, Hannibal, the son of the
Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barca, is proclaimed commander-in-chief by the
army and his appointment is confirmed by the Carthaginian government.
Hannibal immediately moves to consolidate Carthage’s control of Spain. He
marries a Spanish princess, Imilce, then begins to conquer various Spanish
tribes. He fights against the Olcades and captures their capital, Althaea; quells
the Vaccaei in the northwest; and, making the seaport of Cartagena (Carthago
Nova, the capital of Carthaginian Spain) his base, wins a resounding victory over
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the Carpetani in the region of the Tagus River.
Hannibal lays siege to Saguntum thus initiating the 2nd-Punic War between
Carthage and Rome. Saguntum is an independent Iberian Peninsula city south of
the Ebro River. In the treaty between Rome and Carthage concluded in 226 BC,
the Ebro has been set as the northern limit of Carthaginian influence in the
Iberian Peninsula. Saguntum is south of the Ebro, but the Romans have
friendship with the city and regard the Carthaginian attack on it as an act of war.
They send envoys to Carthage and demand the surrender of Hannibal.
China: Qin Shi, the 1st-emperor, unifies China in 221 BC. He begins a system
of tree-lined roads to interconnect all parts of China, and begins to join regional
walls to form the beginnings of the Great Wall (Wan li chang cheng). His
alchemists and engineers perform experiments with gunpowder.
Apollonius of Perga explores the geometric attributes of the ellipse and
hyperbola.
Near (11 Years)
In Syracuse (Sicily) Archimedes designs heavy-lift cranes and catapults to
defend the city against Roman naval assaults.
Transition Period (206-201 BC)
2nd-Punic War: After many embarrassing defeats at the hands of Hannibal,
Romans adopt a more cautious approach suggested by Fabius Maximus. The
adversity of 2nd-Punic War has strengthened Roman resolve and honed their
military skills.
The Battle of the Metaurus, fought near the Metaurus River in Umbria, is a
pivotal battle during the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage.
Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal Barca leads the Carthaginians, and the consuls
Marcus Livius Salinator and Gaius Claudius Nero lead the Roman armies. The
Romans defeat the Carthaginian army and Hasdrubal is killed in the battle. This
major loss by the Carthaginians ends Hannibal’s hopes of success in Italy.
Publius Cornelius Scipio ignores Hannibal’s presence in Italy and flouts
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opposition from the Roman Senate. He decides to go after Carthaginian holdings
in North Africa. He crosses to Sicily with an army consisting partly of volunteers,
since the Roman Senate won’t assign him an army. Scipio sends the Roman
general Gaius Laelius to North Africa to prepare the way for his later invasion.
Scipio besieges Utica in Carthaginia. He can’t withstand the combined forces
of the Hasdrubal Gisco’s Carthaginians and the Syphax’s Numidians, so he’s
forced to abandon the siege. Then Scipio makes a surprise attack on the
Carthaginian camp and destroys it. He sweeps down on the forces the
Carthaginians and Numidians are mustering near the upper Bagradas River (in
Tunisia), and Scipio smashes them in the Battle of the Great Plains. Syphax and
Hasdrubal Gisco manage to escape separately.
Hasdrubal Gisco urges the Carthaginian bigwigs to raise a new army and send
for Hannibal from Italy. Hannibal finally leaves Italy and returns to Carthage.
The Battle of Zama (130 kilometers southwest of Carthage) ends the Second
Punic War and destroys the power of Carthage. Roman forces under the
leadership of Publius Cornelius Scipio and his Numidian ally, Masinissa, defeat a
combined army of Carthaginians and their Numidian allies under the command
of Hannibal, who loses 20,000 men and narrowly escapes pursuit. Carthage is
forced to capitulate.
Romans now see themselves as the dominant force in the Mediterranean
basin.
China: The Qin emperor is overthrown. Han warlords begin a rapid
expansion to the west. The Han dynasty will survive until 220 AD.
Far (17 Years)
Transition Period (183-178 BC)
Rome: The Roman statesman Titus Quinctius Flamininus is sent to the court
of Prusias I, king of Bithynia, to demand the surrender of the former
Carthaginian statesman and general Hannibal. When Hannibal finds out that
Prusias is about to agree to the Roman demands and thus betray him, he poisons
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himself in the village of Libyssa in Bithynia.
Rome founds a colony at Aquileia (Trieste), on the narrow strip of land
between the mountains and the lagoons, as a frontier fortress to check the
advance of the Illyrians. Rome completes its subjugation of all of Italy with the
defeat of the Ligurians in a battle near modern Genoa. Rome deports 40,000
Ligurians to other areas of the Republic.
The Pons Aemilius is completed across the Tiber River in Rome. It is
regarded as the world’s first stone bridge.
Near (11 Years)
Transition Period (166-161 BC)
Middle East: King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, after the failure of his Egyptian
campaign, marches against suspected Judean rebels and orders his soldiers to cut
down without mercy those whom they meet and to slay those who have taken
refuge in their houses. In the space of three days, 80,000 are lost in Jerusalem,
40,000 meeting a violent death and the same number being sold into slavery.
The Battle of Beth Zur is fought between Jewish rebel forces led by Judas
Maccabeus and a Seleucid army led by the regent Lysias. Judas Maccabeus wins
the battle and is able to recapture Jerusalem soon after. Judas purifies the defiled
Temple in Jerusalem, destroys the idols erected there by Antiochus IV and
restores the service in the Temple. The reconsecration of the Temple becomes an
annual feast of dedication in the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah.
Anatolia: Construction of the detail of the frieze from the east front of the
altar in Pergamon, Athena Attacking the Giants, begins and ends eight years later.
Rome: Private documents collected by the Romans when they capture
Perseus of Macedon incriminate political leaders of the Achaean League. Many
influential Greeks are deported to Rome. On his way back to Rome, the Roman
general Lucius Aemilius Paulus is ordered by the Roman Senate to inflict a brutal
revenge on Epirus for being an ally of Macedonia. Seventy towns in Epirus are
destroyed and at least 100,000 citizens are sold into slavery. These actions take
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place despite the fact that Epirus has not aided Perseus in his war with Rome.
Persia: The Parthians capture the key central Asian city of Herat. This
victory effectively chokes off the movement of trade along the Silk Road to China
and means that the Hellenic kingdom of Bactria is doomed.
Indian Subcontinent: The Sunga Empire is established in Indian
subcontinent. Pusyamitra Sunga becomes the 1st-ruler after a palace coup. He
and his offspring rulers patronize artisans and urbane culture. They follow the
Brahman tradition, although Buddhism flourishes in outlying portions of the
empire.
China: Laoshang leads 140,000 Xiongnu cavalry in a raid in Anding, and they
reach as far as the royal retreat at Yong.
Far (17 Years)
Transition Period (143-138 BC)
Rome: The Spanish Insurrection ends when Quintus Caecilius Metellus
Macedonicus crushes the Celtiberian rebels.
The Aqua Marcia aqueduct is built in Rome. Venus of Milo is sculpted. A
Rhodian admiral uses flame-throwing devices to burn enemy ships.
China: Emperor Wu of Han sends envoys into Bactria, Parthia and Ferghana.
Near (11 Years)
Transition Period (126-121 BC)
Rome: Marcus Fulvius Flaccus proposes the extension of Roman citizenship
to the northern Italians, but the Senate reacts by sending him off to deal with
disturbances around Massilia (Marseilles). In doing so, he commences the
conquest of Transalpine Gaul.
Rome’s victories around the Mediterranean have brought great wealth to the
aristocrats who have bought huge tracts of land, which they farm with slave
labor. Small farmers have been forced to sell their lands and migrate to the cities
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(mainly Rome) where they find they can barely make ends meet. Gaius Gracchus
recognizes the potential to improve the lives of Rome’s common folk, when he is
elected Roman tribune for the 2nd-time. He and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus propose
a number of radical reforms. They pass a law requiring the state to provide
weapons and equipment for the soldiers in the Roman army, but they fail to
muster enough support among the poor, so the aristocrats of the Senate snuff
them out.
Far (17 Years)
Transition Period (103-98 BC)
Rome: The eternal city is in a state of emergency, for the way to Italy lays
open to the Germanic invaders. Gaius Marius, the conqueror of Jugurtha, is
elected consul for the second time. Gaius Marius defeats the Scirii and Teutones
at the Battle of Aquae Sextae. The Cimbri defeat the Consul Quintus Lutatius
Catulus in the Adige Valley. The Roman consuls Gaius Marius and Manius
Aquillius defeat the Cimbri in the Battle of Campi Raudii.
Marius gains widespread popular acclaim because he has allowed commoners
to enlist in his legions. This gives the poor a sense of entitlement. Roman
soldiers, after serving in the war, expect a reward of land. This drives a wedge
between the military commanders and the wealthy landowners who make up the
Roman Senate.
China: The Chinese under Emperor Wu of Han besieges and captures Kokand
of Dayuan in the Hellenistic Ferghana Valley, during a two-year war with the
Yuezhi.
Chinese ships reach the east coast of India. Silk-reeling machinery comes into
use. Clothiers make drawn-looms for figured weaves.
Near (11 Years)
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Transition Period (86-81 BC)
Rome: Cinna is elected consul of Rome, thus returning the rule of Rome back
to the Marian faction.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla arrives in Greece and besieges Athens. He orders
Lucius Licinius Lucullus to raise a fleet from Rome’s eastern-Mediterranean
allies. Sulla arrives in Greece and besieges Athens. He captures Athens from the
Pontic army, removing the tyrant Aristion. Lucius Licinius Lucullus decisively
defeats the Mithridatic fleet in the Battle of Tenedos. The Roman forces of Sulla
defeat the Pontic forces of Archelaus in the Battle of Chaeronea. Sulla again
defeats Archelaus in the decisive Battle of Orchomenus.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla returns to Italy from his campaigns in Greece and
lands with his legions unopposed at Brundisium (Brindisi). Gnaeus Pompeius,
age 22, raises a private army of three legions from his father’s veterans and
clientalae in Picenum. He joins forces with Sulla.
Lucius Licinius Murena, the Roman governor of Asia, clashes with the Pontic
forces of Mithridates VI, starting the Second Mithridatic War.
Sulla defeats 90,000 Samnite allies in the Battle of the Colline Gate, and takes
control of Rome. Gaius Marius the Younger is besieged at the fortress city of
Praeneste in Latium. After a fierce resistance, Marius commits suicide. Sulla
orders Gnaeus Pompeius to stamp out democratic rebels in Sicily and Africa,
while the young Gaius Julius Cæsar is acting as a subordinate of Sulla in the east.
Far (17 Years)
Transition Period (63-58 BC)
Rome: Pompey destroys the kingdom of Pontus; Mithridates VI commits
suicide after escaping to the Crimea. This action follows Pompey’s decisive
victories to rid the Mediterranean Sea of pirates.
Julius Cæsar becomes governor in Hispania and creates 10th-Legio Gemina
(3,500 men). He puts down the Callaici and Lusitani rebellions.
Julius Cæsar, Pompeius and Crassus form a mutual Triumvirate. Each has
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political clout and substantial wealth. They command the loyalties of soldiers
which allow them to dominate the debate club that is the Roman Senate.
Cæsar rushes to Further Gaul to stop the incursions of the Germanic Helveti.
Thus begins a nine-year campaign that will bring all of Gaul under the Roman
jurisdiction.
Near (11 Years)
Transition Period (46-41 BC)
Rome: Dictator Julius Cæsar and his ally Cleopatra VII of Egypt defeat the
forces of the rival Egyptian Queen Arsinoe IV in the Battle of the Nile. Ptolemy is
killed; Cæsar then relieves his besieged forces in Alexandria. Cæsar defeats
Pharnaces II of Pontus, king of the Bosporus, in the Battle of Zela. A year later at
Thapsus (North Africa), he defeats the combined army of Pompeian followers
and Numidians under Metellus Scipio and Juba. In his last victory, Cæsar defeats
the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the younger in the Battle of
Munda in Spain. Labienus dies in battle, Pompey the younger is executed but
Sextus Pompey escapes to take command of the remnants of the Pompeian fleet.
This battle ends "Republican" resistance throughout the Roman world.
Cæsar reforms the Roman calendar. 365 days plus an extra day every 4thyear.
After Cæsar’s death, the assassins Brutus and Cassius remove themselves
from Rome. There is confusion in the Senate, while the common folk of the city
openly mourn the passing of a hero. Octavian returns from Apollonia in Dalmatia
to Rome to take up Cæsar’s inheritance.
Marcus Junius Brutus at Dyrrachium defeats Gaius Antonius. Brutus
proceeds to secure his position in Thrace and Macedonia. Gaius Cassius
Longinus campaigns in Syria and defeats the army of Publius Cornelius Dolabella
at Laodicea.
In the 1st-Battle of Philippi (Mousthéni), the Triumvirs Mark Antony and
Octavian Cæsar fight an indecisive battle with Cæsar’s assassins Marcus Brutus
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and Cassius. In the 2nd-Battle of Philippi, Brutus is defeated by Antony and
Octavian. The Triumvirs smash through the weakened Republican center and
take Brutus’s right wing in its flank. In consequence, Octavian and Antony divide
the Roman world between them. Antony receives the best provinces and legions.
Octavian must find land for retired soldiers.
Far (17 Years)
Rome: The rivalry between Antony and Octavian continues. Antony’s
disastrous campaign against the Parthians contrasts with Octavian’s victory over
Sextus Pompey’s pirate den. Antony’s marriage to Cleopatra gives Octavian an
excuse to go to war against his rival. Agrippa, Octavian’s admiral, defeats the
fleet of Antony and Cleopatra. The rest is a mop-up operation.
Transition Period (23-18 BC)
Rome: Octavian founds the city of Nicopolis in Egypt to commemorate his
final victory over Mark Antony. Peace treaty between Rome and Parthia, in which
the captured eagles of Marcus Licinius Crassus and Mark Antony are returned.
Following coinage reform, the as coin is struck in reddish pure copper,
instead of bronze. The denominations of sestertius and dupondius are introduced
as large bronze coins.
The Nubians, led by queen Candace Amanirenas, take the initiative against
the Roman Empire, and attack the Roman province of Egypt moving towards
Elephantine. The Roman governor of Egypt, Gaius Petronius, marches with 12thlegio Deiotariana and 3rd-legio Cyrenaica up the Nile where he destroys the
Nubian capital of Napata.
King Herod the Great begins renovation of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa completes the Aqua Virgo; the aqueduct is 20
kilometers in length and supplies the city with about 100,000,000 liters of water
every day.
Marcus Verrius Flaccus’ De verborum significatu is published. It is one of the
first great dictionaries in history.
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Near (11 Years)
Transition Period (6 BC - 1 BC)
Middle East: Possible birthdate of Jesus, marking appearance of a very bright
triple conjunction of the royal star Jupiter and Saturn in the sign of Pisces.
Rome: Emperor Augustus sends ferrets to the Balearic Islands to control the
rabbit plagues.
Following Herod’s death, Publius Quintilius Varus, the Governor of Syria,
assembles three of his four legions, including the 10th-Legio Fretensis, and
marches down to Jerusalem from Antioch (Antakya) to restore order. He
crucifies 2,000 Jewish rebels.
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus commands the Roman army in Germania and
crosses the Elbe. He builds a pontoon viaduct over the marshes between the
Rhine and the Ems.
Emperor Augustus is proclaimed Pater Patriae, or "father of the country" by
the Roman Senate; this bestowed title is the logical consequence and final proof
of Augustus’ supreme position as princeps, the first in charge over the Roman
state.
Far (17 Years)
Transition Period (17 AD - 22 AD)
Rome: Emperor Tiberius I acquits himself well enough, having been the
express choice of Cæsar Augustus, the first acknowledged emperor.
A Roman army of 50,000 men commanded by Germanicus gains a great
victory at Idistaviso, defeating the German war chief Arminius and recovering the
lost eagles of Varus’ legions. Germanicus employs North Sea fleet to avoid
dangerous rivers, embarking an army in the Rhine delta aboard circa 1,000 ships.
He defeats the Germans at Amisius river estuary and the Weser, but during its
return the Roman fleet is partially destroyed by storms.
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China: Water-powered trip hammer mill appears.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (34-39 AD)
China: Although the usurpation of Wang Mang and the Chimei Rebellion are
behind him, Emperor Guangwu now faces a new threat to the Han Dynasty, the
Rebellion of Gongsun Shu in the Sichuan province. Gongsun’s naval forces are
unsuccessful against Han General Cen Peng, so Gongsun decides to fortify his
position by blockading the entire Yangtze River with a large floating pontoon
bridge, complete with floating fortified posts. He erects forts on both banks of
the river for further missile fire and protects his barrier with a large boom.
After Cen Peng is unable to break through, he constructs several castle ships
with high ramparts and ramming vessels known as colliding swoopers, which
break through Gongsun’s lines and allow Cen to quell his rebellion. Gongsun Shu
is totally defeated three years later.
Middle East: Herod Antipas suffers major losses in a war with Aretas IV of
Nabatea, provoked partly by Antipas’ divorce of Aretas’ daughter. According to
Josephus, Herod’s defeat was popularly believed to be divine punishment for his
execution of John the Baptist. Emperor Tiberius orders his governor of Syria,
Vitellius, to capture or kill Aretas, but he is reluctant to support Herod and
abandons his campaign upon Tiberius’ death.
Rome: Following tradition, Emperor Tiberius chooses his successor, but his
choice proves not very wise. The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius’s will and
proclaims Caligula Roman Emperor. Caligula becomes an even worse choice.
Naevius Sutorius Macro is said to gain favor in the empire by prostituting his
wife Eunius to Caligula.
A financial crisis hits Rome, due to poorly chosen fiscal policies. Land values
plummet, and credit is increased. These actions lead to excessive land
speculation, a lack of cash and a crisis of confidence. The primary victims are
senators, knights and the wealthy. Many aristocratic families are ruined.
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The problem of succession is proving to be the Achilles heel of the Empire.
Weak emperors squander whatever good will the strong emperors amass.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (57-62)
Middle East: War between Rome and Parthia breaks out due to the invasion
of Armenia (Azerbaijan) by Vologases I, who had replaced the Roman supported
ruler with his brother Tiridates of Parthia. Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo,
commander in the East, launches his Armenian offensive against Parthia. He
leads a Roman army (four legions) through the mountainous country of Armenia
(Azerbaijan), against the fortress at Volandum, to the southwest of Artaxata
(Kirovabad). After a siege of eight hours, Corbulo takes the city. The
legionnaires massacre the defenders and plunder Volandum to their hearts’
content.
Corbulo marches to Artaxata crossing the Aras River, along the valley he is
shadowed by tens of thousands of mounted Parthian archers led by king
Tiridates I. The city opens its gates to Corbulo, just as it had to Germanicus four
decades before. When he takes the 250-year-old Armenian capital, Corbulo gives
the residents a few hours to collect their valuables and burns the city to the
ground.
Corbulo captures Tigranocerta (near Cizre), Mesopotamia. He installs
Tigranes VI, a Cappadocian prince, as ruler of Armenia (Azerbaijan). For the next
four years, a cohort from 6th-Legio Ferrata and 10th-Legio Fretensis are
supported by 1,500 auxiliaries and stationed in the capital as bodyguard to the
king.
Briton: Paulinus defeats the rebels at the Battle of Watling Street using a
flying wedge formation, and imposes wide-ranging punishments on native
Britons. The Romanization of the island continues.
The Emperor Nero uses a miniature reading lens, which is a transparent
gemstone affixed as a ring.
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Near (11 years)
Transition Period (74-79)
Rome: The Roman governor Lucius Flavius Silva lays siege to Masada, the last
outpost of the Jewish rebels following the end of the First Jewish Revolt. The
Roman 10th-Legio Fretensis surrounds the mountain fortress with a seven-mile
long siege wall and builds a rampart of stones and beaten earth against the
western approach. After the citadel is conquered, 960 Zealots under the
leadership of Eleazar ben Ya’ir commit mass suicide.
Emperor Vespasian begins a vindictive sweep of the territory east of the
upper Rhine and south of the Main. In addition, he reorganizes the defenses of
the upper and lower Danube.
China: Historian Ban Gu develops a theory of the origins of the universe.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (97-102)
Rome: Trajan is the first Roman Emperor born outside Italica, near Seville. A
brilliant soldier and administrator, he enters Rome without ceremony and wins
over the public. Continuing the policies of Augustus, Vespasian and Nerva, he
restores the Senate to its full status in the government. He has a specific vision
of the Empire, and keeps a close watch on finances. Normal taxes are sufficient
during his reign to pay the full costs of the imperial budget.
Emperor Trajan returns to Rome from the inspections of the troops along the
Rhine and Danube frontiers. The Roman Army throughout the Empire is
numbered at 300,000 soldiers (45 Legions plus shipboard marines).
Emperor Trajan starts an expedition against Dacia (Romania), exceeding the
limits of the Roman Empire set by Augustus.
Technology: Hero, a Greek mathematician of Alexandria, invents an olive-oil
beam press, a grape-screw press, a screw-powered cutting machine, water- &
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wind-powered musical instruments, a "Holy Water" slot machine and a steampowered whirling aeoliphile.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (114-119)
Middle East: Osroes I of Parthia violates the treaty with Rome by installing a
puppet ruler in Armenia (Azerbaijan). The 60-year-old emperor, Trajan, marches
east without first attempting to use diplomacy to resolve the disagreement. He
defeats the Parthians and overruns Armenia and northern Mesopotamia. He
captures the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon (Baghdad).
Lusius Quietus, Trajan’s governor of Judea, begins a brutal campaign to
maintain the peace in the region.
Emperor Trajan completes his invasion of Parthia by capturing the cities of
Seleucia, Babylon, Ctesiphon and Susa, marking the high-water mark of the
Roman Empire’s eastern expansion. Trajan makes Syria a province of Rome and
crosses the Tigris to annex Adiabene. He proceeds with his army to the Persian
Gulf and conquers territory that becomes the province of Parthia.
Trajan sends two expeditionary forces. One consists of elements of 3rd-Legio
Cyrenaica to suppress the revolt in Judea; the other consists of the 7th-Legio
Claudia to restore order on Cyprus. Emperor Trajan dies of a stroke at Selinus in
Cilicia at age 63, while en route from Mesopotamia to Italy. The Roman Empire is
at its greatest territorial extent.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (137-142)
Rome: The war against the Suebi begins. In 138 they will be defeated by the
senator Tiberius Haterius Nepos Atinas, governor of Pannonia (Serbia). The
silver content of the Roman denarius falls to 75 percent under emperor
Antoninus Pius, down from 87 percent under the reign of Hadrian.
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Middle East: Tax laws are passed for trade in Palmyra (Tadmur). The
caravan city grows rich by importing rare products from the Persian Gulf, and by
exporting items manufactured by the Mediterranean world to the East.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (154-159)
Rome: Emperor Antoninus Pius starts a new war against the Parthians who
are led by Vologases IV. The war is brief and results in an inconclusive peace.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (177-182)
Rome: Commodus becomes Roman Emperor. He accepts advice from the
wrong people. He becomes weak and paranoid and vengeful. His reign marks
the start of the Empire’s decline.
Technology in China: Gimbals, rotary ventilation fan and lamp cover
revolved by ascending air.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (194-199)
Rome: The Senate chooses Publius Helvius Pertinax, against his will to
succeed the late Commodus as Emperor. Pertinax is forced to reorganize the
handling of finances, which has been wrecked under Commodus, and to
reestablish discipline in the Roman army. Pertinax suspends the food programs
established by Trajan. This provokes the ire of the prætorians, who storm the
imperial palace and assassinate him. The Empire is auctioned off. Marcus Didius
Julianus, the highest bidder, offers 300-million sesterces as a bonus for the
prætorian Guard.
Septimius Severus enters the capital and has Julianus put to death. He
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replaces the prætorian Guard with a 15,000-man force from the Danubian
legions. Severus takes control of the Roman Empire.
In Britain Clodius Albinus allies with him by accepting the title of Cæsar.
British tribes take advantage of the disorder caused by the civil war and damage
Hadrian’s Wall. The legionaries carry out extensive repairs to the defensive
works.
Emperor Septimius Severus marches with his army (12 legions) to Cilicia and
defeats Pescennius Niger, governor of Syria. Pescennius retreats to Antioch
(Antakya) and is executed by Severus’ troops. King Vologases V and other
eastern princes support the claims of Pescennius Niger. The province of
Mesopotamia rises in revolt with Parthian support. Severus travels to
Mesopotamia to battle the Parthians.
Decimus Clodius Albinus, who had been proclaimed emperor in Britain,
crosses into Gaul with his legions, while at the same time recruiting new soldiers.
He is soon the head of an army of 150,000 men. Severus, still in Mesopotamia,
marches hastily west where he defeats the self-proclaimed emperor Albinus at
Lugdunum (Lyon). Albinus commits suicide.
Severus forms new naval units. He equips the triremes in Italy with heavily
armed troops for war in the East. Soldiers embark on an artificial canal between
the Tigris and Euphrates. The Roman army marches east to repel a Parthian
invasion of Mesopotamia. They loot the royal palace at Ctesiphon (Baghdad) and
capture an enormous number of its inhabitants as slaves.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (217-222)
Rome: The degenerate Elagabalus becomes the Emperor. From this time
forward, the imperial court holds itself above military affairs, and non-Romans
are increasingly recruited for the legions.
Near (11 years)
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Transition Period (234-239)
Rome: Within five months of 238, five Emperors declare themselves and
meet untimely deaths. Maximus Thorax is murdered by troops in Aquila.
Gordian I and Gordian II commit suicide in Carthage. Propienus and Balbinus are
murdered by the prætorian guards.
With so much uncertainty and confusion, the reins of government fall to the
bureaucrats. These officials may be efficient at their jobs, but they seldom have a
keen grasp of the entire sweep of government policies. Without direction from
above, officials will protect their turfs and step on each other’s toes. Worse yet,
greedy functionaries will take every opportunity to siphon public funds for their
personal agendas. Each violent change of emperors causes more civic decay and
social malaise.
Persia: King Ardashir I defeats Artabanus IV at Hormizdegan (modern
Shushtar), destroying the Parthian Empire and establishing the Sassanid dynasty.
Artabanus’s brother Vologases VI will continue to rule with Armenian and
Kushan support over outlying parts of Parthia. King Ardashir I, ruler of the
Sassanid dynasty, defeats Artabanus IV and is crowned "King of Kings" of the
Persian Empire. This begins of the 400 year-reign of the Sassanid Empire.
China: A merchant from the Roman Empire (called "Qin Lun" by the Chinese)
arrives in Jiaozhi (modern Hanoi). The merchant is taken to see Sun Quan, king
of Eastern Wu, who requests him to make a report on his native country and
people. He is given an escort for the return trip including a present of ten male
and ten female "blackish-colored dwarfs." However, the officer in charge of the
Chinese escort dies and Qin Lun has to continue his journey home alone.
The Battle of Jieting and the Battle of Shiting are fought in China.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (256-261)
Rome: Cities in the Roman Empire start to build walls as the defense of the
frontiers begins to crumble. The Franks cross the Rhine, the Alamanni reach
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Milan. The Goths appear at the walls of Thessalonica. In Africa, the Berbers
massacre Roman colonists. King Shapur I invades Mesopotamia and Syria. He
conquers and plunders Antioch (Antakya).
The future emperor Aurelian inspects and organizes the defenses along the
Rhine. He defeats the Goths and brings many prisoners back to Rome.
Goths invade the Balkan Peninsula where they commandeer boats of all kinds
to raid coastal communities around the Black Sea. Encouraged, they embark on
further raids, force their way through Hellespont and pillage wealthy cities
around the Aegean Sea.
Emperor Valerian recovers Antioch from the Persian king Shapur I. Then he
leads an army (70,000 men) to relieve Edessa (Urfa), besieged by the forces of
king Shapur I. An outbreak of a plague kills many legionaries, weakening the
Roman position in Syria.
Near modern Milan, Roman legions under Gallienus defeat a Germanic
confederation of 300,000 Alamanni who have crossed the Alps. Gallienus repeals
the edict of 258, which led to the persecution of the Christians.
The amount of silver in the Roman denarius falls below 10%. The crisis ruins
craftsmen, tradesmen and small farmers. They are forced to bartering.
Landowners expand their holdings as they buy up cheap land.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (273-278)
Rome: Emperor Aurelian recovers the Gallic Empire (Gaul and Britain).
Tetricus I surrenders his army near Châlons-sur-Marne, France. Aurelian issues
an important reform of Roman currency.
Germanic tribes stream across unguarded borders, since the Roman legions
have been redeployed during the civil war. The Franks pillage and depopulate
large areas of Gaul, including Paris. The Rhine border is lost for 20 years. Franks
settle into southern Netherlands, northern Belgium and Rhineland.
Emperor Aurelian prepares a campaign against the Sassanids in Asia Minor.
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In Thrace, while waiting to cross the Bosphorus with his army, he hands out
severe punishments to corrupt soldiers and makes a list of high-ranking officers
marked for execution. Aurelian falls victim to a conspiracy of the prætorian
Guard and is murdered near Byzantium.
Florianus becomes Roman Emperor; he breaks off his campaign against the
Heruli and marches from the Bosporus with support from the Roman legions in
Britain, Gaul, Spain and Italy to fight an indecisive battle with Marcus Aurelius
Probus in Cilicia.
Emperor Probus travels with his army west across the Euxine Sea and
through the provinces of Thrace, Moesia, and Pannonia (Serbia) to defeat the
Goths along the lower Danube. He acquires from the troops the title of Gothicus.
Probus defeats the Alamanni, advancing through the Neckar valley. He expels the
Franks from Gaul and reorganizes the Roman defenses on the Rhine. He resettles
the Germanic tribes in the devastated provinces of the Roman Empire.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (297-302)
Rome: Constantius Chlorus assembles two invasion fleets with the intent of
crossing the English Channel. The first is under the command of Asclepiodotus,
Constantius’ long serving prætorian Prefect who sails from the mouth of the
Seine, and lands near the Isle of Wight where his forces defeat the usurper
Allectus in Hampshire. Constantius leaves with his fleet Boulogne and occupies
London, saving the city from an attack by Frankish mercenaries who are roaming
the province. Constantius rebuilds the cities Eboracum (York), Londinium
(London) and Verulamium (St Albans).
Emperor Maximian, mobilizes an army, consisting of prætorian cohorts,
Aquileian, Egyptian and Danubian legionaries marching through Spain. He
crosses the Strait of Gibraltar into Mauretania (modern Morocco) to protect the
area against Frankish pirates. He begins an offensive against the Berbers in
Mauritania, driving them back into their homelands in the Atlas Mountains.
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Constantius Chlorus defeats the Alamanni in the territory of the Lingones
(Langres) in Gaul. He strengthens the border along the Rhine frontier.
Galerius signs a treaty with the Persian king Narseh that will last for 40 years.
The Persians accept Roman dominion over Armenia (Azerbaijan) and northern
Mesopotamia. The Tigris becomes the boundary between Rome and the Sassanid
Empire.
The Franks penetrate into what is now northern Belgium.
Emperor Diocletian issues his Edict on price controls. Instead of halting
rampant inflation and stabilizing the economy, the controls add inflationary
pressures by flooding the economy with new coinage and by setting price limits
too low. He begins the construction of new roads in the Roman Empire.
Indian Subcontinent: The Kama Sutra, an Indian handbook on the art of
sexual love, is probably produced around this time by the sage Vatsyayana.
Tiridates III makes his kingdom of Armenia the first state to adopt
Christianity as its official religion.
China: The magnetic compass for navigation is invented.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (314-319)
Rome: Edict of Milan: Constantine the Great and co-emperor Licinius meet at
a conference in Mediolanum (Milan). They proclaim a policy of religious freedom
for all, ending the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire and returning
property confiscated from Christians.
In the Battle of Tzirallum, Licinius defeats his rival Maximinus II and becomes
Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. Maximinus flees to Nicomedia and
commits suicide.
In the Battle of Cibalae, Constantine the Great defeats his rival Licinius near
the town of Colonia Aurelia Cibalae (modern Vinkovci, Croatia). Licinius is
forced to flee to Sirmium, and loses all of the Balkans except for Thrace. Peace
negotiations are initiated between the two Augusti, but they remain unresolved.
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Constantine battles the Sarmates, the Goths and the Carpians along the
Danube. He leads a punitive expedition into Dacia (Romania) and reestablishes
the Roman fortifications of the frontier. In the Battle of Mardia, Constantine I
defeats his rival Licinius and senior officer Valerius Valens near the town of
Harmanli (Bulgaria).
Emperor Constantine the Great issues an edict prohibiting the punishment of
slaves by crucifixion or facial branding.
China: The Chinese Empire loses its territories to the north of the Yangtze
River, to the benefit of the Xiongnu and the Xianbei. The Former Zhao state is
proclaimed; Liu Can and the state ruling family at Pingyang is executed by a coup
d’état of Jin Zhun, who is in turn overthrown by Shi Le and Liu Yao.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (337-342)
Rome: Constantine the Great dies in Achyron near Nicomedia at age 65 after
he is baptized by Eusebius of Nicomedia. Constantine is the first Christian
Roman Emperor of the Western empire (312–324) and of the Roman Empire
(324–337).
King Shapur II of Persia begins a war against the Roman Empire. He sends his
troops across the Tigris to recover Armenia (Azerbaijan) and Mesopotamia. He
besieges the Roman fortress of Nisibis (Syria) and repulsed by the forces under
Lucilianus.
Emperor Constantius II hastens to his territory in the East, where a revived
Persia under king Shapur II is attacking Mesopotamia. Shapur II begins a
widespread persecution of Christians. Ordering forcible conversions to the state
religion, Zoroastrianism, lest the Christians disrupt his realm while he is away
fighting the Romans in Armenia and Mesopotamia. For the next 11 years,
Romans and Persians engage in a war of border skirmishing with no real victor.
Western Emperor Constantine II crosses the Alps and at Aquileia (Trieste)
attacks the army of Constans I who ambushes and kills his rival. Constans I
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becomes the sole ruler of the Western Roman Empire, co-ruling with his brother
Constantius II in the East.
Emperor Constans I bans pagan sacrifices and magic rituals under penalty of
death. He begins a successful campaign against the Franks.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (354-359)
Rome: In the Battle of Mons Seleucus, Emperor Constantius II defeats the
usurper Magnentius, who commits suicide in Gaul in order to avoid capture. The
armies of the West have withdrawn to participate in the battle, which allows
hoards of barbarians (Franks and Alemanni) to cross the upper Rhine and invade
the lands of the Helvetians. Constantius becomes sole emperor and reunifies the
Roman Empire.
Emperor Constantius II raises his cousin Julian the Apostate to the rank of
Cæsar. Julian takes command of the western provinces and marries Constantius’
sister, Helena. In the Battle of Reims, the Alemanni at Reims defeat Julian. In the
Battle of Brumath, Roman forces pursue Germanic insurgents through the Gallic
countryside. Julian wins an open battle near Brumath (Alsace). He builds in Gaul
a fleet to secure the corn supply from Britain for the garrisoned forts along the
Rhine. In the Battle of Strasbourg, Julian wins an important victory against the
Alemanni, driving the barbarians across the Rhine.
Emperor Constantius II builds new forts to secure upper Mesopotamia.
Persia’s king Shapur II sends an emissary to Constantinople with gifts and a
letter wrapped in white silk. He asks Constantius II to return the lands of his
ancestors from the Euphrates to the frontier of Macedonia. Constantius II
tactfully refuses to cede any territories.
The Salian Franks capitulate to Julian the Apostate in Gaul. He allows them to
form a Roman foederati in Toxandria. Frankish settlers are established in areas
in the north and the east to help with the defense of the Rhine frontier.
China: Wang Xizhi, Chinese calligrapher, produces Preface to the Poems
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Composed at the Orchid Pavilion in running script style. It becomes a model for
future calligraphers.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (377-382)
Rome: Barbarian horsemen wipe out Emperor Valens and six imperial
legions in Thrace. The defeat spells the death knell for Pax Romana.
Near (11 years )
Transition Period (394-399)
Rome: Theodosius reunites empire for the last time and establishes
Christianity as the official religion.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (417-422)
The Visigoths occupy Aquitaine and invade Hispania.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period 434-439)
The Huns under Rugila devastate Thrace and move steadily towards
Constantinople. When the citizens are preparing themselves for a long and ugly
siege, Emperor Theodosius II bribes the Huns (after the death of Rugila) to keep
the peace in the Eastern Roman Empire.
Vandals retain Mauretania and a part of Numidia. They use Hippo Regius
(Annaba) as a seaport for their expeditions and establish a merchant fleet to
transport goods and armies between Africa and the Italian mainland. The
Vandals will eventually sack Rome and their name will be forever associated with
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senseless and wanton destruction.
Far (17 years)
Transition Period (457-462)
Chinese mathematicians calculate PI to better than six decimal places.
Western mathematicians don’t equal this feat for another 700 years and then
only by cribbing info from Arab scholars.
Near (11 years)
Transition Period (474-479)
Last Roman Emperor of the West relinquishes his title.
Far (17 years)
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Place Names of Antiquity
Bactria covers parts of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Bithynia is a Roman province in northwest Turkey.
Briton coincides with present-day England.
Cilicia is a Roman province located in present-day Turkey on the north shore of
the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea.
Etruria is an ethnic area northeast-central Italy.
Euxine Sea coincides with present-day Black Sea.
Gaul covers present-day France, Belgium, southern Netherlands and western
Switzerland.
Helot is the contemporary Greek name for slave.
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Parthia covers the territories of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.
Thrace is located in present-day northern Greece and southern Bulgaria.
Umbria is an ethnic area in northwest-central Italy.
Index
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The Lens of Time
Some of you may doubt the soundness of linking astronomical
events with broad cultural changes. There doesn’t seem to be a sure
physical link between the two. Neither is there a sure physical link
between seasonal weather and human behavior. But I can assure you
that folks in Canada tend to go swimming more often in July or August
than they do in December or January. But the reverse can happen as
well. In Vancouver there is the annual Polar Bear event that takes place
on New Year’s day. A few hardy celebrants will plunge themselves into
the frigid waters of English Bay. The drastic emersion is supposed to
be a sure-fired cure for overindulgence on New Year’s eve. The Polar
Bear plunge is an exception and not recommended for the faint of
heart.
Sensible readers should treat the 40-Year Cycle in the same way. It
is not a constraint but a useful tool.
Transitional periods cover 30% of the chronological timeline. After
examining the sections of Way-Back History, you have gained a good
historical prospective by skimming events in the Transition Periods.
That in itself supports my contention that six-year Transition Periods
feature the dynamic moments of cultural change. I liken this
phenomenon to a stew pot that simmers for many years before coming
to a boil and causing humans to get off their behinds to perform great
deeds. I can’t answer why this should be. My intent has been to draw
your attention to the historical evidence.
Near and Far periods represent 70% of occurrences during the 40J. O. Quantaman ©2013 <104>
year cycles. For example, the Fall of Constantinople and the defeat of
the Spanish Armada happened outside of Transition Periods. Neither
of these events is as important as scholars would have you believe. The
Byzantine Empire had become irrelevant long before the sack of its
capital city. As for the Spanish, the loss of their fleet was the least of
their problems. They had hitched their wagons to the Vatican’s
outdated notions of usury, so their hoards of gold and silver from the
Americas were never assimilated effectively into the European
economy.
Another episode outside the Transition Periods was Hannibal’s
alpine invasion of Italy and his brilliant victories over the Romans, but
his efforts resulted in defeat for Carthage. Alexander the Great
conquered the known world, but he founded a kingdom that didn’t
survive his death. Likewise are the early victories of Genghis Khan in
Mongolia and northern China. These would inspire further conquests
of Asia and Eastern Europe. Yet the Mongol onslaughts, though
bloodthirsty and disruptive, triggered a brief economic boom which
collapsed during the Black Plague. Afterward, Chinese, Hindus and
Muslims reverted to their cultural roots. The Apollo moon shots have
inspired worldwide praise, but they lifted off like a PR exercise and
returned nothing but a pail of rocks.
Near and Far periods are not subjects of this report, yet they
deserve a few cursory observations. During the Near periods,
socioeconomic changes tend to be plodding and tentative, yet
productive. For example, Australia extended voting rights for women
to all of its provinces and territories. Its parliament enacted the
Conciliation and Arbitration Act, which recognized trade unions and
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established a sensible framework for settling labor disputes. At the
time, other nations found this legislation controversial. It would take
two world wars before the UN drafted its white paper on Human
Rights, extending similar democratic principles across the globe.
During Far periods, economic progress tends to be volatile and
speculative, while organizations and individuals often bite off more
than they can chew. The meteoric rise and fall of Napoleon happened
during a Far period. Another Far period encompassed the Roaring 20’s
followed by the stock market crash of 1929. More recently, we have
witnessed the DOT-COM boom and bust as well as the financial crisis of
2008.
While seminal events have been shown to occur during the six-year
Transition Periods, the root causes for these outbreaks must be
incubating over years and decades beforehand. It would be foolish to
wait until a Transition Period arrives to correct social imbalances. We
must be on the constant lookout for whatever injustices that could
build and erupt in future catastrophes. There is no time like the
present to look at our lifestyles and ourselves and to make whatever
changes need changing.
The 40-year cycle may be a fluke or mere coincidence. On the other
hand, the 40-year cycle may prove a valuable tool for policymakers if
the oscillations can be better understood. The 40-year cycle may give
insights toward solving the grave issues of climate change and global
disparity. We ought to find ways to prosper without ruining our
natural heritage. We should be able to diffuse terrorism with
knowledge, not smart bombs.
One question remains. What is the exact length of the 40-year
J. O. Quantaman ©2013 <106>
cycle? That question requires someone with more astrodynamic
expertise than myself. Once the exact length of the 40-year Cycle is
determined, historians will have an extended road map. They can focus
on those events of antiquity that are regarded noteworthy by a
consensus of minds. Transition periods can be mapped with
confidence only if the 40-year cycle lasts 14,610 days. Otherwise I
suspect the periods will slide forward or backward in time.
Index
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Endnotes
1. Geocentric angular separations between Venus & Mercury have been
taken from the following sources: Max S. Metz, Ephemeredes 1890-1950. Neil
F. Michelson, The American Ephemeris for the 20th-century (Revised Edition).
Neil F. Michelson, (Revised by Rique Pottenger) The American Ephemeris for
the 21st Century (2001-2050). Back.
2 The length of the Tropical Year has been quoted from J. M. A. Danby,
Fundamentals of Celestial Mechanics, (Revised 2nd-edition), Willmann-Bell,
Inc., 1988. Back.
3. Daily heliocentric positions of Earth, Venus and Mercury have been
calculated using my own shareware program. With special thanks to Jean
Meeus, Astronomical Formulae for Calculators (4th-Edition, Revised &
Enlarged), Willmann-Bell, Inc., 1988.
Back.
4. Historical data has been selected vis-à-vis the author’s knowledge from
his reading of many original sources. The actual events and dates have been
excerpted from the following sources: Wikipedia; World Almanac 19931996; Time Almanac 2001-2006; Kevin Desmond, A timetable of Inventions
and Discoveries, M. Evans & Company, Inc., 1986. And special thanks to
Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.net Back.
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I welcome anyone with astrodynamic expertise to confirm my statistical
approach. So far, I’ve determined the triple conjunction of Earth, Venus and
Mercury occurs once every 40 years less about ten days, but this doesn’t prove
the length of the cycle, since the triple conjunction could migrate with the cycle’s
J. O. Quantaman ©2013 <108>
duration. I need outside help to make an accurate reckoning on the length of the
cycle and where its boundaries should be drawn. Once confirmed, the 40-year
cycle can be extended far into the past with confidence. If someone reading this
report is interested in collaborating, please contact me.
J. O Quantaman (Pen Name)
<psignoman@uniserve.com>
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