-
Western Rome's collapse pins the fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces. Rome had tangled with Germanic tribes for centuries, but by the 300s “barbarian” groups like the Goths had encroached beyond the Empire's borders. -
Charlemagne was crowned “emperor of the Romans” by Pope Leo III in 800 CE, thus restoring the Roman Empire in the West for the first time since its dissolution in the 5th century. -
During the First Crusade, Christian knights from Europe capture Jerusalem after seven weeks of siege and begin massacring the city's Muslim and Jewish population.
The Crusades were organized by western European Christians after centuries of Muslim wars of expansion. Their primary objectives were to stop the expansion of Muslim states, to reclaim for Christianity the Holy Land in the Middle East, and to recapture territories that had formerly been Christian. -
The Magna Carta (“Great Charter”) is a document guaranteeing English political liberties that was drafted at Runnymede, a meadow by the River Thames, and signed by King John on June 15, 1215, under pressure from his rebellious barons. -
Between 1845-52 Ireland suffered a period of starvation, disease and emigration that became known as the Great Famine. The main cause was a disease that affected the potato crop, upon which a third of Ireland's population was dependent for food.
-
The disease originated in central Asia and was taken to the Crimea by Mongol warriors and traders. The plague then entered Europe via Italy, carried by rats on Genoese trading ships sailing from the Black Sea. The disease was caused by a bacillus bacteria and carried by fleas on rodents.
-
The East–West Schism was the break of communion which occurred in the 11th century between the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church.
