The Great Schism

I have here a bishop of a Catholic church in the year of 1054.  I am going to interview him about the Great Schism.  He has chosen to leave his name anonymous.

Henry:  When did the Great Schism occur?

Bishop: The Great Schism happened in 1054 CE.

Henry:  Where did it take place, and what happened?

Bishop:  It took place in Europe.  The Great Schism was the splitting of the Eastern and Western Christian Churches.  The West became the Catholics, and the East became the Orthodox Christians.

Henry:  Why did this happen?

Bishop:  There was a dispute between the East and West traditions, both sides decided to split apart into their own religions.

Henry:  Why was this event important?

Bishop:  This Schism led to the development of Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity.

Henry:  Thank you for your time, sir.

Columbus leaves Spain

Now I am going to interview Christopher Columbus about his famous explorations:

Henry:  Tell me a little about yourself Chris.

Christopher Columbus:  Well, 16 years after I was born on an Italian port in  1451, I traveled to Iceland with my family.  By that time I had a major knack for exploration and I knew it was my life long fate.  Later in life after having my first wife die, I began a career as a map maker settling down in a little city in Spain, and came up with a plan for a fast trade route with the Indies.  I got rejected many times by numerous Kings, including Henry VII of England.  Finally, in 1492, with the help of a Priest, the Queen and King of Spain gave me the money and ships for exploration.

Henry:  What happened then?

Christopher Columbus:  I left Spain in September of 1492 to search for the Indies on a ship called the Santa Maria.  Two more ships accompanied me; the Nina and the Pinta.  The three ships carried a total of 120 men.

Henry:  Did anything go wrong during the voyage?

Christopher Columbus:  Well, you see, I had tricked the men to go on this trip; I made them believe the voyage was much shorter than it actually was.  So in mid October of 1492 I nearly got a mutiny on my hands.  But the following day, land was spotted.  It happened to be an Island in the Bahamas, West Indies.

Henry:  So the mission was a success?  And if it was, why?

Christopher Columbus:  It was a huge success.  We named the island San Salvador; I had found the passage to India and China!  Later, after the Santa Maria tragically sunk off the Coast of Hispaniola, I established the first Spanish settlement in the New World.  I did it! I discovered the New World!  In January of 1493 I journeyed back to Spain to live the rest of my life.

Henry:  Thank you so much for your time.

Charlemagne

Henry:  Thanks for coming in to get interviewed today, I have some questions to throw at you if you don't mind.

Charlemagne:  Throw 'em at me.

Henry:  Okay, When did your rule as King start?

Charlemagne:  I was crowned King of the Franks in 800 AD because I was the grandson of Charles the Hammer Martell.   And at 24 years old, I was named single ruler of the Kingdom of Europe.

Henry:  Why are you considered the greatest ruler of the Dark Ages?

Charlemagne:  I tried to bring us out of the Dark Ages by going on military conquests to expand our territory.  In my 46 year reign I went on 50 military campaigns, and I never lost a military conquest.  Also, I tried to bring education back to Europe by instituting schools for people to get an education; I built schools for all children.  I even tried to lead by example, learning to read and write.

Henry:  Why are you known for spreading Christianity?

Charlemagne:  When I conquered a town, I would make all the folk convert to Christianity.  If the people were worshiping many Gods, I would murder them.  This came to be known as The Bloody Verdict of Verdun.

Henry:  What was your style of rule?

Charlemagne:  I like to think of it as "managing by walking around".  I divided Rome into 350 countries, and monitered every one of them by going to the areas every so often.

Henry: Why and when did your rule end?

Charlemagne:  In 793 the Vikings came in and sacked cities and, most importantly, churches for treasure.  This marked the decline of my life, and in 814 CE, I died at the age of 72.

Henry:  Why was your rule important?

Charlemagne:  I brought Rome out of the Dark Ages for a little, and I spread Christianity.  Those are the two main points of my rule.

The Crusades

Today I interviewed Pope Urban II, a big name in the Crusades:

Henry:  Why and when did the Crusades come about, and when was this in relation to the Dark Ages of Rome?

Pope:  The first Crusade was launched in 1095; these wars happened because us Romans, the Christians, thought that we should be the rulers of the Holy Land, or Jerusalem.  After we defeated the Vikings, there were a ton of soldiers with nothing to do, so we decided to launch the Crusades.  The Crusades took place at the end of the Dark Ages.

Henry:  How many Crusades did it take to settle the outcome, and who ended up victorious?

Pope:  There were 9 Crusades all together.  Really, there was no winner of the Crusades if you're reffering to dominance, but in the long run the Romans won.

Henry:  Who called for the Crusades?

Pope:  I did.  I strongly believed that Christians should rule the Holy Land because we were the only correct religion.

Henry:  Why would you say the Romans prospered from the Crusades, and what was important about that?

Pope: Well, even though we returned with no conquest, we came back with knowledge, books, languages, medicine, and much more.  This knowledge and those resources helped lift Rome out of the Dark Ages; we became cultured, and our economy and government totally changed, along with all of Europe.

Henry:  The Crusades ended with no winner; how did they stop?

Pope:  The Church intervened and told the soldiers that if they attacked, the spirits of the Earth would attack them; the Church made the soldiers not attack anyone who wasn't defenseless.  That's how the Crusades ended.

Henry:  Thank you for your time, Pope, you've been a big help to my project.

The Magna Carta

Henry:  What were the reasons of the Magna Carta coming about?

King John:  Well, I gotta tell ya, I wasn't being the best ruler of England.  I had lost land, had a struggle of power with the pope, and because of that the churches went on strike.

Henry:  When and how was the Magna Carta formed?

King John:  The Barons of England rebelled against my taxes and violation of their rights, so they forced me to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, which stated three things: I must obey the law (I am not above it), I shall not raise new taxes without consulting the Grand Council of Lords, or parliament, and that the government must go through due process of law.  This means that the government must follow a set of rules for a fair trial.

Henry:  What were the effects of the Magna Carta?

King John:  It established parliament, or in other words, congress.  These people have the power to decide where money goes.  Also, due process of law is a huge attribute to trials today.

Battle of Tours

I am now going to ask Charles "The Hammer" Martell a few questions:

Henry:  How did you establish yourself as the famous person you are today?

The Hammer:  I stopped the Moores from invading France, and probably all of Europe, in the Battle of Tours.

Henry:  Please explain the Battle of Tours. 

The Hammer:  Well, in 732 AD, the Moores, an army of 50,000 men who were Muslim, tried to invade France and the rest of Europe.  I led an army to stop them and we called ourselves the Franks.  We were Christian.  You could say that this matchup was the Muslims against the Christians.

Henry:  Who won the battle?

The Hammer:  After 6 days of the two armies standing around, the Moores attacked- we took them from behind and invaded their bases, and won the war, stopping the Muslims from invading.  I had taken money from the churches to supply weapons and training for my army, and that definitely contributed to our victory.

Henry:  Why was this victory so important for Europe?

The Hammer:  Well, it simply saved Christianity from being eliminated from Europe.

William the Conquerer

Here's William the Conquerer. He's going to answer a few of my questions:

Henry:  How did you come to be the ruler of Britian?

William:  Well, when King Edward of England died in 1066, their was no heir to the throne.  The nobles then picked Harold Godwinson as King of England in the beginning of 1066.  I thought that I deserved the throne over Harold, so later that year I, Duke of Normandy, took my army and fought in the Battle of Hastings.  My army and I won the battle, and on Christmas day of that year I was crowned King of England.

Henry:  What actions did you take at the beginning of your rule?

William:  I immediately changed the rule of the land sections; I split the sections up between Normans, churches, and left some for myself.  I wanted to get on the good side of the churches early, because they have critical power.  Another act I did was creating the Doomsday Book.

Henry:  What exactly is the Doomsday Book?

William:  It is a census of the Kingdom; messangers went around gathering the number of cattle, people, and other resources around the whole territory.  The Doomsday Book helped me accurately tax people.  This served to be the basis for the English tax system.

Henry:  Last question: What branch of the current United States government would you compare your rule to?

William:  I'm going to have to say the Executive Branch, comparing myself to the President.

Rome sacked/falls to Barbarians

I am now going to interview Aleric, the leader of the Vizagoths, about the fall of Rome:

Henry:  Who destroyed Rome, and when?

Aleric:  I led the Vizagoths, a group of Vikings, into Rome in 410 AD; it took two years to penetrate the walls of Rome that had kept out defenders for 800 years.  We surrounded the walls of Rome, and simply starved them out, until 410 AD when it took us 3 days to destroy and sack Rome because they were defenseless.

Henry:  Did you stay in Rome once you sacked it?

Aleric:  No, we went in, took everything, and got out.

Henry:  Why was this sacking of Rome important to the future?

Aleric:  It started the Dark Ages of Rome for the next 700 years.  In the next 50 years after we destroyed the city, Rome had 24 rulers; this really started the downfall of Rome.

Constantine the Great

I now have the priveledge of talking to the great Constantine, founder of Constantinople.

Henry:  When did you come into the Roman picture?

Constantine:  I was always in the counsel of Rome, but I took sole control over the entire Roman Empire in 324 CE.  Immediately i founded the city of Constantinople and made that the capital of Rome.

Henry:  What is the biggest aspect of your rule?

Constantine:  Well, I legalized christianity in 313 CE.

Henry:  Would this effect anyone?

Constantine:  Oh yes, definitely.  In fact, it would spread christianity throughout Rome and eventually throughout all of Europe.  Legalizing Christianity would make Christianity a religious superpower in years to come.

Henry:  And Constantinople? Did it prove to be a worthy city?

Constantine:  Yes.  It became the center of everything in Rome, but in 410, it would serve to be a major problem.

Julius Caesar/Fall of the Roman Republic

Now Im going to interview Julius Caesar:

Henry:  Tell me a little about how you came into sole Roman power.

Julius:  Well, in 49 BC my army and I (I was on the consul of Rome at that time) crossed the Rubicon River and defeated Pompey for the control of Rome.  At that time there was not one sole ruler, but I, wanting complete power, forced the Senate to make him the one dictator of Rome. And in 44 BC, I declared myself dictator for life.

Henry:  What would you say was one significant thing you did during your rule?

Julius:  I developed the Julian Calender.

Henry:  Why was your rule so short?

Julius: Well, sadly enough, on March 14th in 44 BC, I got assassinated by my own Senate members.  I guess they really didn't like me.

Henry:  And when was the fall of the Roman Republic?

Julius:  The Roman Republic fell in 476 CE, after slowly declining.  There were 26 emperors
in 50 years, taxes got too high, we were too reliant on slaves, and outsiders like Barbarians invaded.

Alexander the Great

I am now going to interview one of the warriors and personal friends of Alexander the Great:

Henry:  When did Alexander the Great start his rule over the Greeks and why?

Warrior:  Alexander was a Macedonian who came in to power in 356 BC because his father, Phillip II, died at age 32.

Henry:  Who taught Alex the Great?

Warrior:  Aristotle.

Henry:  Explain to me "Hellenistic Culture".

Warrior:  Well, once Alexander the Great conquered a city, he made them adopt to Greece culture and basically transform themselves into a Greek city.  The city developed theaters, aquaducts, agoras (market places), and other Greek characteristics.

Henry:  Can you tell me how Alexander the Great prospered in Egypt?

Warrior: Of course; after defeating Persia, Alex took his army to Egypt, looking for expansion, but more importantly food.  The Egyptians looked up to him so much that in 331 BC Alex was declared Pharoah.

Henry:  Would you say Alex rightfuly earned his title "Alexander the Great"?

Warrior:  Oh definitely.  By 325 BC, the Greek Empire under Alex the Great spread 3,000 miles.  Alex concluded his rule in 323 BC having been a great ruler.