You probably consider us responsible for all of the following as well, despite the fact the USA was just a twinkle in Vikings' or Anglo-Saxons' eyes at the time:
3000 BC is the point today's MidEastern religious barbarians have not yet advanced beyond:
3000 BC --among the Sumerians, democratic assemblies are giving way to the authority of kings. *Clerics* are becoming distinct from working alongside others in the fields. Field labor is described as deserved subservience to the gods. Hardship is seen as a product of sin. People and animals are still sacrificed to gods. Competition for power between the kings of city-states is producing wars of conquest. The warrior tradition continues with men dominating women. With commerce, writing develops.
1000 BC A shortage of rainfall sends Aryan tribes from the Indus Valley to the plains of the Ganges Valley. Aryan tribal kings have been changing from elected leaders to autocratic rulers, *allying themselves with the priesthood* and *associating themselves and their power with their gods.*
970 BC King David is succeeded by his son Solomon. Hebrews are writing a Phoenician language-includes words of Sumerian origin.Religious toleration prevails as it had under David.
394 BC Rome, now grown to about thirty by twenty miles, responds to a request from the Etruscan city of Clusium for help against an attack by a Celtic people called Gauls.
390 BC The Gauls attack and almost destroy Rome. Rome is determined to be stronger. They are to adopt new military weaponry, dropping the spear in favor of a two-foot long sword, adopting helmets, breastplates and a shield with iron edges. They reorganize their army.
360 BC Priest scribes have described the Hebrews as descendants of Noah, Noah's forebears as the first family of humankind and the god of the Jews as supreme above all other gods. Moses is described as living during the time of the kingdoms of Moab and Edom, and Abraham is described as living when the Chaldeans were in possession of Sumer.
344 BC Aristotle turns forty. He dislikes Plato's utopia and believes more in empiricism than does Plato. He likes to categorize everything, including things biological. He believes in syllogistic logic - consistency from the general to the specific. He believes in harmony and balance, that the best is between extremes, including a balance between state power and individual freedom.
600 AD Monotheistic religion has spread to Arabia. Jews have been in Arabia for centuries. Christian missionaries have been in Arabia for more than a century. The entire Arabian province of Najran is Christian. Christianity has been established in various other centers of trade, and Arabs living on the borders of Constantinople's empire and Persia's empire have been influenced by those empires.
613 AD Muhammad has begun preaching publicly in his hometown, Mecca.
622 AD Pilgrims from Yathrib visiting Mecca (a holy city before the existence of Islam) are favorably impressed by Muhammad and invite him to return with them to their town. The town has no unifying governmental authority. Muhammad is fifty-two and becomes recognized in Yathrib as a religious leader and someone to go to for settling disputes.
623 Yathrib has a large Jewish community, and its leaders reject Muhammad's claim to be a leader of Judaism. Muhammad and his followers stop bowing toward Jerusalem and begin bowing toward Mecca, and Muhammad abandons Saturday as the Sabbath and makes Friday his special day of the week.
624 Mohammad has responded to economic hardship in Yathrib by organizing raids on merchant's caravans. He has his greatest success so far, at Bedr, where the raiders kill an estimated fifty to seventy persons from Mecca. Muhammad and Mecca are hostile, Muhammad claiming God to be on his side and blaming Mecca for having rejected him.
630 Muhammad's military has grown stronger, and in his war with Mecca he emerges victorious. Muhammad conquers the rest of Arabia, puts down others claiming to be prophets.
630 Constantinople's army pushes through Mesopotamia. The Persian army has overthrown Khosru. His son is crowned Khavad II and signs a peace treaty with Constantinople and returns Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor and western Mesopotamia to Constantinople's empire.
632 Muhammad the Prophet dies.
634 The momentum generated by victories against dissidents and breakaway regions left Islamic warriors restless and feeling aggressive, and Arabia has been in an economic recession, trade having come to a standstill after ten years of war. War for booty is a tradition, and as an alternative to making raids against "the faithful" in Arabia, Muslim warriors are making raids into Mesopotamia. They meet little resistance and are encouraged to make more war. Islam's first caliph to succeed Muhammad, Abu Bakr, declares a holy war in support of the raiders, and one of the most destructive imperialist movements of all time begins.
651 Almost thirty years have passed since Muhammad's death. The third caliph since Muhammad tries to put an end to quarreling over Muhammad's legacy and orders a committee to collect Muhammad's messages into a standard word, to be called the Koran, drawing from the memories and the oral tradition. The result is a compilation of various people and communities across Arabia with rival interpretations.
654 Christian missionaries from Ireland are beginning to evangelize across England.
656 In Medina (Yathrib) Uthman is assassinated. The leaders of the sect that assassinated Uthman proclaims Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law, caliph. Civil war erupts.
660 The Koran is published for the first time. Muhammad's main concern after his conquest of Mecca was resistance by recalcitrant tribes in Arabia and claims by rival prophets among the resisters. Reflecting this struggle, the Koran describes non-believers as evil and people who can expect war from God. But the Koran also advocates peace with enemies. Muhammad wanted people within his realm, including Christians and Jews, to get along. He wanted to tax Christians and Jews, and in the Koran are verses about Christians and Jews not fearing or grieving. Drawing as Muhammad did from the biblical tradition that had entered Arabia, the Koran mentions biblical figures and repeats the biblical message of God's love and grace.
661 An assassination attempt has been made on Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad, and he dies of his wounds, aggravating a split between his supporters, called Shia Muslims. Their rivals, Sunni Muslims, are establishing a new caliphate at Damascus, in Syria.
664 The civil war among the Muslims ends. Led by caliph Mu'awiyah in Damascus, Islam renews military expansion.
711 A Muslim army crosses the Strait of Gibraltar and begins a conquest of Spain. Jews welcome them as liberators.
717 Arabs have conquered Lisbon and in the Caucasus, including Armenia.
718 Constantinople, ably led by a general called Leo the Isaurian, has held off Muslim attacks by land and sea for more than a year. Leo is now Emperor Leo III. South-Central Europe is to remain Christian.
731 English histriorian and theologian, Bede, writes Ecclesiastical History. He begins numbering the years from the time of Christ rather than from the reign of kings.
732 Muslims were making piratical raids from Spain northward across the Pyrenees into territory of the Franks. Charles Martel leads an army that defeats the Muslim army.
870 A Sufi, Tayfur Abu Yazid al-Bistami has been spreading his wisdom. Muslims are no longer looking to a god that is a glorious conqueror. Instead they are looking for a sense of well-being through a personal relationship with Allah. The Sufi movement is bringing Allah down from his heights and sees Him as a loving friend - the way Christians see Jesus.
970 Córdoba, on the Iberian Peninsula, is Europe's intellectual center and the world's most populous city. Constantinople is the only other European city in the top ten of the world's most populous cities. Córdoba is a Muslim city. Caliph al Hakam II has been in power since 961 and is contributing to the building of Cordoba's libraries. Córdoba has Europe's best university, with a spirit of free inquiry. It has medical schools. Work is being done also in math and astronomy. The city is tolerant toward its Jewish and Christian minority.
1001 Mahmud, an Afghani and militant Muslim, has secured his rule. He vows to take the word of Allah to the Hindu kingdoms of India every year, by sword and fire.
1055 Turks have been moving westward into Persia. Islam has been fragmented and unable or unwilling to rally to defend its frontier. The Turks have conquered much of Persia and now from the Fatimid Dynasty they conquer Baghdad.
1066 William I of Normandy conquers England ending Anglo-Saxon rule and becomes its first Norman king of England. Many French words are to become English words.
1085 Christianity has been expanding against Muslims since Charlemagne took Barcelona in 801. The Christian king of Castile and Galicia, Alfonso VI, has been inviting Christians in Islamic Spain to his kingdom. Now he expands militarily to Toledo, in central Spain. The Christian reconquest of Spain is underway.
1091 Normans were originally hired by Italian principalities as mercenaries. Now they conquer Sicily, ending two centuries of Muslim rule there. Arabs are allowed to continue working in public administration.
1095 The Seljuk Turks have been expanding against the empire centered at Constantinople. They have conquered Jerusalem. The Turks were also Muslims, however they did not allow Christians to visit their holy sites. Pope Urban II responds to a call for help from the emperor at Constantinople and organizes what was to become known as the First Crusade. |
