The Super Summary of World History (102 page)
Read The Super Summary of World History Online
Authors: Alan Dale Daniel
Tags: #History, #Europe, #World History, #Western, #World
will take you to the important WWII battle of Kursk. Type in World War II, and Wikipedia will take you through the entire conflict. The same is true for any era of history from prehistory to the cold war.
The
Hyperwar
site discusses the US Navy in World War II:
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USNatWar
US
War
Photos
has an enormous number of excellent photos from WWII
http://www.uswarphotos.com/WWIIPhotos/index.html
The
Library
of
Congress
in online and has a vast number of resources
This is a link directly to the University of Texas maps of Europe by Perry
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/europe.html
This is a link directly to the University of Texas maps of WWII by Perry
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/history_ww2.html
This is a link directly to the historical maps by William R. Shepherd
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/history_shepherd_1923.
html
The
National
Atlas
has good resources covering historical as well as modern maps
Table
of Figures
Figure 1
Neolithic Cave Painting 30,000 BC
Figure 2
Cave Painting 30,000 BC, Valtorta Cave
Figure 3
Sargon of Agade—first conquer
Figure 4
Egypt & the Middle East
Figure 5
Babylon, The Hanging Gardens
Figure 6
Harappan Civilization
Figure 7
Maurya Empire
Figure 8
Battle of Marathon
Figure 9
Persian Wars—Xerxes Attacks
Figure 10
Alexander’s Empire
Figure 11
Hannibal at Cannae
Figure 12
Roman Empire at its height under Trajan—115 AD
Figure 13
Barbarian Invasions of Rome 100-500 AD
Figure 14
Holy Roman Empire.
Figure 15
The Mongol Empire about 1253
Figure 16
Jan van Eyck, The Ancolfini Portrait, Mid 1400s
Figure 17
Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665-1675
Figure 18
Drawing of Renaissance Ship
Figure 19
Spanish and Portuguese Empires Black Equals Portugal
Figure 20
Colonial Empires 1800
Figure 21
Aztec Capitol of Tenochtitlan
Figure 22
Meso-American Cultural Sites (Maya)
Figure 23
Jin (North) and Song(South) Dynasties 1142 AD
Figure 24
Japan, Korea area map
Figure 25
Justinian’s Empire (Byzantium) 527-585 AD
Figure 26
Byzantine Empire 867 AD
Figure 27
Islamic Caliphate to 750 AD
Figure 28
Trenton 1776
Figure 29
1776 Washington Crossing the Delaware
Figure 30
Saratoga September 1777
Figure 31
Route of the Spanish Armada
Figure 32
Napoleon’s Empire 1810
Figure 33
Monet, Hotel de Roches Noires, Trouville, 1870.
Figure 34
Westward American Expansion—Early 1800
Figure 35
The Mexican American War
Figure 36
American Civil War
Figure 37
Principle Campaigns of the Civil War—1: Split the South down the Mississippi, 2: Split the South across Georgia, 3: Defeat Lee in Virginia, 4: Maintain a tight naval blockade
Figure 38
Ft Sumter Bombardment—1861
Figure 39
Gettysburg,—Pickett’s Charge—arrow labeled 3
Figure 40
Grant’s Overland Campaign
Figure 41
Sherman Takes Atlanta—1864
Figure 42
Tesla, father of the modern world
Figure 43
The British Empire in 1923
Figure 44
Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, 1912
Figure 45
Munch, The Scream, 1893
Figure 46
Drawing of Pickett’s Charge, Gettysburg
Figure 47
Photograph of Confederate Dead at Antietam
Figure 48
Europe 1914
Figure 49
The Schlieffen Plan
Figure 50
Trench System, from English Army Manual 1914
Figure 51
Lack of Movement on Western Front (Shaded Areas with arrows Show Changes in the Front)
Figure 52
Tanks on the Western Front, Vimy 1917
Figure 53
The Fall of France 1940
Figure 54
Southern Approaches to Europe
Figure 55
Operation Barbarossa 1941
Figure 56
Pearl Harbor Air Raid, December 7, 1941
Figure 57
Japanese Advance on Singapore
Figure 58
Japanese conquest of the Philippines 1942
Figure 59
Japanese assaults on Bataan 1942
Figure 60
Japanese Conquest 1942
Figure 61
German Summer Offensive 1942
Figure 62
Invasion of Italy 1943
Figure 63
Italy—Allied Assaults on Gustov Line and Anzio 1943-4
Figure 64
American Dual Offensives Against Japan
Figure 65
Betio (Tarawa) Map
Figure 66
Marines at Tarawa
Figure 67
New Guinea & Rabaul Offensives
Figure 68
US Assault on the Philippines 1944
Figure 69
The D-Day Plan
Figure 70
D-Day Plus Six
Figure 71
D-Day and Beyond
Figure 72
Battle of the Bulge, Dec 1944
Figure 73
Soviet Operations 1943-1944
Figure 74
Planned Assault on Japan, Op Olympic & Coronet
Figure 75
President Ronald Reagan
Figure 76
Map of Korean War
Figure 77
MacArthur’s Advance North
Figure 78
US Marine March from Chosen
Figure 82
F-86 Saber
Figure 80
Vietnam & Ho Chi Minh Trail
Figure 81
US Helicopters lift off
Figure 82
Marines in Vietnam
Figure 83
B. Marden, Vine, 1992-1993
Endnotes
[
1
]
The four fundamental forces in the universe: gravity, the strong and weak nuclear forces, and the electromagnetic force.
[
2
]
The repeated word
sapiens
—meaning wise—is correct, but hereinafter we will stick to one
sapiens
after
Homo
.
[
3
]
There are some indications in Java that Homo erectus was still around forth to fifty thousand years ago. For a completely different take on ancient man and the case for different time frames for human existence, see
Bones of Contention
, Lebenow, Baker Books, 2004 or
Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth, Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution Is Wrong
, Wells, Regnery Publishing, 2002. Another alternate explanation is
Darwin’s Black Box, The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution
, Behe, Free Press, 2006.
[
4
]
Used fire, but they did not make fire. It seems the art of creating fire from scratch was not mastered.
[
5
]
Prior to this, art in any form is nearly nonexistent. It seems proto-humans were not able to create art or what they did create was lost. Note this art is a form of communication and can tell us a lot about the world at the date it was made. These wonderful cave paintings, in full color, are at
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_painting
.
[
6
]
Current theory (AGAIN). Please note that the current theory means the
current widely accepted theory
. There are always many other theories around, but one is generally the current accepted theory (meaning widely accepted). EVERYTHING is open to better theories, but most never make it because they cannot overcome the current widely accepted theory. I now theorize this is getting dull . . .
[
7
]
China’s ability to keep secret how silk was made for 2,000 years also contributed to the monopoly.
[
8
]
Another choice is to defend behind your walls, but that means a siege during which the population faces starvation and numerous assaults from the invader attempting to breach the walls. If your city was well prepared with lots of stored food and ample water it would be wise to try and hold out inside the walls. What would you do if you led the city?
[
9
]
The term Pharaoh comes from the New Kingdom. In earlier times Egyptian rulers were just kings. I will use the term Pharaoh for all the Egyptian rulers.
[
10
]
The architect, Imhotep, is one of the few names of lesser officials surviving into our time.
[
11
]
We should note the stone part of Stonehenge in England was constructed about 2900 BC, nearly 400 years before the Great Pyramid. 400 years is nearly twice as long as the USA has been a nation. One of our greatest challenges is understanding Stonehenge. What makes it so hard is its complexity, as it is tied into the surrounding countryside and other local ceremonial monuments.
[
12
]
In ancient Egypt, the east was associated with life and the west with death. This was because the sun rose from the east giving life, and set in the west bringing darkness and death. By going east, the Hebrews were symbolically traveling toward life. Dr. Richard Buehrer’s concepts.
[
13
]
The Rosetta Stone, a slab of stone with Egyptian hieroglyphics and two other later known languages carrying the same message, enabled the hieroglyphics to be deciphered.
[
14
]
The sarcophagi in all three great pyramids are gone, apparently stolen by grave robbers in the distant past. In the Great Pyramid everything is gone except the lower stone shell of the sarcophagus. The Valley of the Kings is the burial place of over 60 Pharaohs.
[
15
]
Inside the Great Pyramid, there is a kind of graffiti above the vault in the kings’ chamber saying a certain group of workers built it for Khufu; however, the discovery of these markings is in question. Originally, the markings were in candle smoke that may have been made by the workers on the expedition finding the markings, but this too is speculation.
[
16
]
Tigris and Euphrates—Tigris being the upper river (T = top). The irrigation systems lasted until the Mongols murdered everyone in the area about AD 1200, then they silted up never to be repaired. (See the Mongols in the Dark Ages section)
[
17
]
p. 21, Bauer,
The History of the Ancient World,
2007, WW Norton & Co
[
18
]
One exception may be the Philistines who are spoken of in the Bible and whom the Israelites engaged in constant warfare.
[
19
]
P. 276 et seq, Bauer,
The History of the Ancient World,
2007, WW Norton. Ms Bauer calls them “Sea Peoples”. The problem with a migration is the people in a mass migration normally settle down in the conquered areas. No settlement took place after the Sea Peoples came through.
[
20
]
The Urnfield culture cremated their dead and placed the ashes into urns. These urns (clay) were buried in cemeteries (fields); thus, the Urnfield culture. (
urn
in a
field
? Now do you get it? Come on, wake up! Swill down some coffee.)
The Penguin Atlas of World History
, Vol 1, p18.
[
21
]
p. 106-107, Bauer, The History of the Ancient World, WW Norton publisher
[
22
]
See:
China
for a more complete discussion of Buddhism.
[
23
]
Normally, I will use the term “god” for “the gods” or “gods” interchangeably. So when reading the word
god,
understand that it means gods or the gods as well, because most societies in the ancient world were polytheist Poly = many, thus many gods. Pantheist were also about. Pan = all; thus a god in everything, including the person.
[
24
]
In Egypt the Pharaoh was considered a god on earth, plus he was backed by a powerful priesthood.
[
25
]
As shown by godless Communist governments that have destroyed well over 94 million lives in their short history (
The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression,
by Stephan Courtois, 1999
)
.
[
26
]
OK, this is somewhat overstated since the raid was designed to kick Athens sideways and then leave. It was a punishment raid to teach the Greek snobs a lesson to stay out of Persian affairs; instead, it made them even more confident. We must still consider the idea that a successful raid may have encouraged the Persians to continue the conquest, one cannot know. In addition, other historians give an entirely different account of the battle (See p. 72,
With Arrow, Sword and Spear . . .
Bradford, 2001, Fall River Press). All these millennia later, it is tough to know exactly how it happened.
[
27
]
So, naturally, we try to measure it even though we were not there. The general consensus is Xerxes fielded about 250,000 to 300,000 men, a truly vast army for 480 BC.
[
28
]
They had united during the first invasion by Darius, but the Athenians won the victory before the Spartans, or other city states, could arrive. The Spartans were also consulting soothsayers about the timing of battle (they always did), and they did what these magicians ordered.
[
29
]
The trireme was the principle warship of the ancient world at this time, being made up of three decks of rowers and a metal ram to the front which would sink or heavily damage ships when it was driven into their sides. The crew was about two hundred.
[
30
]
Alcibiades was not there for the defeat in Sicily. Athens wanted him back to stand trial for desecrating the gods. He fled to Sparta and gave them good advice about how to defeat Athens. Then, after being caught with the wife of a Spartan King, he fled to Persia, and gave them good advice about how to defeat the Greeks. After all of this, he returned to Athens where he was again given a command (!!), and suffered an immediate defeat. He fled again to Persia, eventually being killed in Persian Phrygia after Lysander (a Spartan) asked that he be killed. Guess the Persians owed Lysander a favor. This fellow Alcibiades was the mother of all traitors. How dumb were the Athenians to take him back? Sounds like Eva Peron in Argentina(oops, we don’t cover that. You’ll have to look it up elsewhere—Wikipedia maybe).
[
31
]
Father of Alexander the Great
[
32
]
Not every opponent was smashed. The Gauls (Celts) sacked and burned Rome around 390 BC. Rome had been engaged in a brutal war with two cities near the city of Rome, Fidenae and Veii, and the arrival of the Gauls simply overwhelmed their exhausted and depleted legions. Rome often lost, but the Romans were amazingly tenacious. 10 year wars were nothing to them. And they were willing to replace losses by bearing higher taxes almost endlessly as well. Could we do that? Nah . . .
[
33
]
The main ship of this war was the quinquereme which had
five
banks of oars. This ship was larger than the trireme which had three banks of oars and had been the mainstay of the Persian Wars.
[
34
]
These figures are difficult to compute. A legion was six thousand men, so four legions would be twenty-four thousand troops; however, the Romans also had auxiliary troops to assist the legions, and they may have numbered another twenty-four thousand plus supply units. At any rate, a lot of people died.
[
35
]
One ship was purported to be 400 feet long. Such large construction requires great expertise in ship building.
[
36
]
Originally, the head of each clan making up the Roman Republic would comprise the Senate. As time went on, the power of the person was as important as the clan he or she came from.
[
37
]
Another widely used unit, a
century,
consisted of 100 men led by a centurion. Note that every centurion Jesus encountered in the Bible was an upright man of great personal character. Maybe that is the fundamental reason Rome lasted so long.
[
38
]
p. 200,
With Arrow, Sword, and Spear . . . ,
Bradford, 2001, Fall River Press.
[
39
]
In the city of Rome, the poor constituted a huge percentage of the population. Politicians had given patronage to these poor for years in return for their votes; thus, from the start, the wealthy had gained and maintained power through buying votes from the poor. The net result was Rome was ruled by a few wealthy families who could pay the patronage. Hannibal added to the problems, because as he ravaged the countryside the rich bought up the land of the destitute farmers sending them into the city to join the poor while the rich grew ever richer. After the defeat of Hannibal, the rich used slaves to work the farmland on their massive estates thus increasing their wealth further and driving up the number of poor in Rome itself. Caesar had made a name for himself redistributing land to the poor, so he was one up in the bidding war as crossed the Rubicon.
[
40
]
Caesar lived from 100 BC to 44 BC. His life was ended by murder in the Roman Forum.
[
41
]
Modernly, someone who has crossed the Rubicon has committed himself to an unalterable course of action.
[
42
]
Cleopatra
VII, Queen of Egypt, last of the Ptolemies, played a role in this part of the drama. She was impregnated by Caesar, had his child by caesarean section (note the name), and returned to Rome with him. None of this endeared him to members of the Senate. After Caesar’s death she returned to Egypt, became the lover of another famous Roman general, Mark Anthony, had twins by him, and committed suicide after her armies were defeated by Octavian in 31 BC. Who could make this stuff up?
[
43
]
Caesar began to mean prince or king, and the words
Kaiser
(German) and
Czar
(Russian) came from the word
Caesar
.
[
44
]
This the only major religion started by a penniless dead man, with no children, and zero followers remaining out of only twelve to begin with, one of which had sold him out to the authorities.
[
45
]
Nero liked to burn Christians lashed to poles along the streets at night as street lights. Imagine the smell. If no one complained the city must have smelled pretty bad beforehand.
[
46
]
It was under the Emperor Trajan in AD 117 that the empire reached its greatest geographic extent. After Hadrian took over he began to reconsolidate the empire and went over to the defense.