Medieval Japan

Japan consist of hundreds of small islands of which four are major island- Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu & Shikoku. Almost the entire country was unified into a single state by around the 7th century AD.In the 8th century Edo(modern kyoto) became the capital and continued to be the seat of the emperors of Japan for over 1000 years. the real power, however, was in the hands of an aristocratic family.

   Toward the end of the 12th century, a new political institution Shogun came into being. The Shogun or the General became the commander of Japan's army and ruled Japan , while the emperor remained at his capital at Edo. Until 1867, The Shoguns were the real ruler of Japan. Tokugawa Leyasu was the founder of last shogun dynasty. In 1867 the last Shoguns of Tokugawa dynasty was overthrown and the power was restored to the emperor. Now Japan launched itself on the road of industrial development, modernization and expansion.

   Samurai or the warriors were similar to the knights of western Europe. The most unique contribution of medieval Japan to literature was a form of poetry called Haiku. Haiku poems are short poems of only 17 syllables.The important contribution of medieval japan to art was Ikebana or the art of flower arrangement, which is being imitated throughout the world.

      Buddhism reached Japan early in the 6th century from China through korea and during the course of centuries it became widespread. In certain periods it even eclipsed Shintoism, the old religion of Japan.Gradually , tha Japanese developed their own distinct schools of Buddhism, the most famous of which is Zen Buddhism. The word Zen is derived from 'Dhyana'

Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was one of the most significant events of 20th century. It established  the ideology of Marxism. It was a great revolution after French revolution which was not limited to Russia but affected several countries of the world. The great revolution in Russia took place in two stages. The first stages of Russian revolution began in march 1917 with the overthrow of the Czar Nicholas II. The second stage in nov. of same year led to the establishment of the world's first communist state by Bolsheviks under Lenin.

                    The basic causes of the revolution were deep seated. The government was Autocratic. The Czar was the source of all authority and his powers were vigorously exercised by corrupt and inefficient bureucracy. The general standard of living of the people was tragically low. There was little social freedom. All Russian were forced to support the orthodox church.The intermediate cause of the event was however  the suffering and confusion caused by Russian disastrous defeats during world war I.Her armies lacked arms and ammunition. Prices soared high and economy was in shambles.Russian revolution began with March Revolution . Disorder broke out in Petrograd, the Russian capital in march 1917.Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate.

                   A provisional government composed of liberal and democratic elements under the successive premiership of Prince Lvov and then Aleksandr Kerensky lost ground to the radical wing of the social Democratic labour party.The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, seized power in Petrograd on nov 7, 1917- November Revolution. The Kerensky Government was overthrown and authority was vested in council of commissioner with Lenin as Premier. The new Government immediately decreed the abolition of private land ownership and set up a dictatorship of the Proletariat- actually of the communist party, as the Bolsheviks came to called.

             The Bolsheviks extended their authority over a large part of European Russia, but elsewhere they faced the resistance of the anti-Bolshevik Parties. the resulting civil war lasted till 1920 and was complicated by foreign intervention. The communists were ultimately in undisputed control of the country.In the period between 1917 and 1920, the communists took drastic action against

internal enemies . Former Landlords, capitalists, Czarist officers, etc. were arrested, exiled or executed, the Czar and his family were killed. In 1923, the Union Soviet Socialist Republics came. Its constitution declared the establishment of a 'republic of workers and peasants'. Ownership of the means of production, including land, factories, mines, banks, and railroads was vested in the state. The state is officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also commonly referred to as the Soviet Russia, or just Russia.

First World War

First world war was happened from july 28, 1914 to november 11, 1918.

Causes:- The causes of first world war are as under:-

• Militarism:- This means the dangerous and burdensome mechanism of great standing armies and large navies along with an espionage system.
• Narrow Nationalism or competitive patriotism:- The love of one's country demanded the hatred of the other. Love of Germany demanded the hatred of France and vice versa.
• Economic Imperialism:- It led to international rivalries. Every country tried to capture markets in every nook and corner of the world. This led to bitterness and heart burning.
• Anglo-German rivalry & the character of William II:- Anglo- German rivalry proved to be the main cause of world war I. Germany had become a great industral country and wanted to have more markets for trade.Germany was jealous of the colonial and naval Greatness of England. William II, emperor of Germany was very ambitious and wanted to gain influence in Turkey by linking berlin with baghdad by a railway line. This gave rises to a great rivalry between England and Germany.

                             William II was arrogant, haughty and ambitious. He wanted germany to be the strongest power in the world. He believed in the policy of "world power or downfall".

• Lack of international organisation:- There was an international organisation to control international relation .

          Immediate cause:- The immediate cause of the war was the murder of Archduke Ferdinand who was the heir to the Austrian throne. He and his wife sophie were killed at Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia, an annexed territory of Austria, by a Serbian.The Austrians held government of Serbia responsible for the murder and ultimately attacked Serbia. There was strong Rivalry alredy between austria- Hungary and Serbia in the balkans.

   Course of war :- To begin with, Austria was in favour of local war but as time passed, the situation became more grave. Other countries jumped into the fray. Germany, austria- Hungary turkey and Bulgaria were on one side; they were called central powers.

On the other side were England, France, Serbia, Belgium, Japan and Russia; they were called the Allied powers.The allied power joint by Italy in 1915 and USA in 1917. The war started on july 28 1914 and ended on november 11 1918.

Peace Settlement (1919-1920):- The central powers were completely defeated by the allied powers and an armistice was signed on nov 11, 1918, followed by ap peace conference at Peris. The defeated countries were not represented at the peace conference. though the number of countries represented at the peace conference was 27, the terms of peace treaties were really decided by three countries- USA, Britain and France. The three persons who played the determining role in framing the terms of treaties were woodrow Wilson(president of USA), Lloyed, George (prime minister of Britain) and George Clemenceu(prime minister of France). After prolonged discussion , the treaty of Versailles was signed between the allies and allies and germany on june 28 1919. This Treaty rearranged the boundaries of Europe, and many new states - Polland , Czechoslovakiya,Yugoslavia,Estonia,Lithuania, etc were formed. William II, the German emperor , abdicated and took asylum in the Netherland 

                 The peace settlement of 1919 to 1920 has been severely criticised. The terms of the treaty of Versailles were harsh and humiliating for Germany.The peace settlement was based on the principal :-' To the victors belong the spoils and allies are the victors'. Meanwhile the many suggestions were made from time to time for the creation of an international organisation which could check wars in the future. at the instance of Woodrow Wilson, the president of America, the League of Nations officially came into existence of jan 10 1920. It's headquarter was fixed at geneva in Switzerland.      

Ancient India

The oldest name - Indus civilization. According to archelogical tradition, the most appropriate name- Harrapan Civilization (Harrapa- the first discovered site).According to geographical point of view, the most suitable name - Inuds-Saraswati Civilization. The most accepted period - 2500 BC - 1750 BC. John Marshall was the first scholar to use the term 'Indus civilization'. The Indus civilization belongs to Proto- Historic period.Scholar generally believed that Harrapan- Ghaggar- Mohenjodrao axis represent the heartland of the Indus civilization.

                    The northern most site of Indus civilization- Ropar (sutlej)/Punjab (earlier); Manda (chenab)/ Jammu kashmir(now).
                    The southern most site of Indus civilization- Bhagatrav(Kim)/ Gujarat(earlier); Daimabad(pravara)/ Maharashtra(Now).
                    The Eastern most site of Indus civilization- Alamgirpur (Hindon)/Uttar pradesh. The Western most site of Indus civilization- Sutkagendor(Dashk)/Makran Coast, Pakistan- Iran border.

Site                          Archaeological Finds

Harrapa  -    6 Granaries in a row, working floors,workmen's quarters, virgin -Goddess (seal), cementery, stone symbols of lingum (male se organ) and yoni (female sex organ) painted            pottery , clay figures of Mother Goddess, wheat                                 and barley in wooden mortar, copper scale.

Mohenjodaro -   Great granary, great bath( the largest building of  civilization), assembly hall, shell strips, pashupati Mahadeva, bronze image of nude woman dancer,Human skeleton huddled together, Brick kilns.

Chanhudaro  -  Lipstick, metal workers, Terracotta model of  bullock cart, bronze toy cart.

Mohenjodaro is the largest site of Indus civilization, Rakhigarhi is the largest Indian site of Indus civilization.

Surkotada(kutchh districy, Gujarat) is the only Indus site where the remains of horse have actually been found.

Main corps:- wheat and Barely; evidence of cultivation of rice in Lothal and Rangpur(Gujarat) only. other corps are Dates, mustard, seasamum, cotton etc. Indus people were the first to produce the cotton in the world.

Animal:- sheep, goat, humped and humpless bull, buffalo, boar, dog. cat , pig, deer, tortoise, elephant, camel, tiger etc.

• A very interesting feature of this civilization was that Iron was not known to people.
• The sumerian text refers to trade relation with 'Meluha' which was the name given to the Indus civilization.
• Shatughai and Mundigaq were the Indus sites found in Afghanistan.
• The Harrapan were the earliest people to produce the cotton.
• As there is no evidence of coins, barter is assumed to have been the normal method of exchanges of goods.
• The Harrapn people didn't worship their God in temple. No temple in fact has been unearthed. An idea of their religion is formed from the statues and figurines found.
• The most commonly found figurine is that of Mother Goddess(Matridevi or shakti).
• Shiva Shakti worship, the oldest form of worship in India, appears to have been part of the religious belief of Harrapan people.     

Arab civilization

Arab civilization in the 7th century, a new religion, Islam, arise in Arabia which led to the establishment of a began empire. Muhammad, the prophet of Islam,was born in Mecca in 571 AD.When he was 40,he had 'vision of truth' and became a prophet. Muhammad's vision completely convinced him that Allah was the only God.He forbade the worship of idols and made many enemies.Ultimately he had to leave Mecca and take refuse in Medina.This event took place in 622 AD and he is known as the year of Hijira and from it Muslim date their era.

           The Quran, the holy book of Islam is divided into a number of suras , or chapters, and contains the teaching of Muhammad. Beside the Quran , the life of Muslim is guided by the sunna, the   practices of Muhammad and the Hadees, the saying of Muhammad.
Muhammad was not only a religious leader but also a political leader. After his death(632 AD), his successors were  known as  Caliphs, or Khalifas who held both religious and political authority.

         Nearly all Arabia had accepted the new religion and became a unified state before the death of prophet Muhammad in 632 AD.From Arabia, Islam spread very fast to many other parts of the world. With in a 100 years, the khalifas and their general, had conquered Iran, Syria, Egypt, central asia, North Africa and Spain. The Arab Empire was the largest that  world had so far seen.The first three Khalifa ruled from the city of Medina. Then the capital was shifted Kufah.

      By 660 AD, when the Omayyad dynasty took over the reins of government the principal city was Damascus.About 750, the Omayyad were overthrown by Abbasids, who made Baghdad their capital. Harun Rashid, famous in many legends, was an Abbasid ruler.The Abbasid ruler for about 300 years, till the Seljug Turks took Baghdad and the Arab rule. During the next four centuries, the Turks dominated the Islamic world. In the 15th century , most of these territorries came under the domination of the Ottoman Turks. It was the ottoman Turks who took Constantinople and ended the eastern Roman empire in 1453.

Contribution of Arab civilization

• The establishment of vast empire facilitated the coming together of intellectual and scientific tradition of various civilization, particularly Greek, Iranian. The Arab made their knowledge their own and developed in further.
• Al Razi, an Arab scientist discovered the true nature of small pox, and Ibn Sina discovered that tuberculosis is infectious.
• In mathematics, the Arab learned the Indian numerals and spread their use far and wide, so that in the West they are to this day called Arabic numerals.
• The Arabs developed their own decorative designs. Their buildings had bulblike domes, small minerals, horse shoe arches and twisted columns.
• The Arabs also developed a decorative style of writing called Calligraphy and made book illumination an art. 

ROMAN CIVILIZATION

• The center of Roman civilization was italy, the peninsula that projects into the mediterranean sea in the west of Greece.The river Tiber on which the city of Rome is located runs through the central part of the peninsula.
• The city of Rome was founded about 1000 BC by Romulus, in the district of Latium.
• The early Romans had a king, an assembly and a senate.
• Toward the end of the 6th century BC the king was overthrown and a republic was established .Under the republic the Roman conquered other parts of the peninsula, and by 265 BC controlled all of italy. The political system of the Roman republic consisted of two consults, the senate and the assembly.
• The Roman was involved in a series of wars with carthage, a city on the north coast of Africa.The danger of Carthagnian occupation of Sicily led the Roman to attack Carthage.The wars that followed, known as the Punic Wars, lasted from 264 BC to 146 BC.The carthagnian were defeated in the war.
• By the beginning of Ist century BC the Roman had conquered Greece and Asia Minor and established a protectorate over Egypt.
• Rivalry for power grew between generals,Pompey &Julius Caesar war between them followed and Pompey was murdered by his enemies in the Egypt.Caesar remained in Egypt for some time,attracted by the captivating beauty of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra.On his return to Rome ,in 46 BC,he made himself dictator.However, on the charge that Caeser intended to become a king, he was assassinated in 44 BC,in a senate meeting.
• After the Assassination of caesar ,power passed into the hands of Mark Antony and Lapidus, Caeser 's friends and Octavian,Caeser's grand nephew. The leader of the cospiracy, Brutus and Cassius, fled and organised a large army, but they were captured and slain.
• In 37 BC, Octavian became the most powerful man in the Roman empire.He ruled for 44 years under the titles of Augustus Imperator, meaning 'holy victorious-general'.He also called himself Princeps,'first citizen of the states'.
• The period of Roman history beginning with his rule up to 284 AD is called 'the principate'.His rule and the period following it were peaceful and are known in history as Pax Romana,which means 'Roman Peace'.
• In 284 AD, Diocletian became ruler, From this time on , Roman civilization declined more rapidly.One of Dioclectian's successor,Consrantine, built a new capital called Constantinopole, on the site of ancient Byzantium,in 330 AD. Not long after, the Roman empire was divided into two empires-western & Eastern. The Western part soon broke into many pieces. But Eastern part, called as Byzantine empire,continued for a thousand years more.
• The final blow to the Roman empire at the hands of northern invaders they were German tribes.By 476 Ad, the once powerful Roman empire was no more.
• The Roman worshipped as many Gods & Goddesses as the Greeks.Jupiter sent rain for the corps; Mars helped them in war;Mercury carried their messages;Neptune, the god of sea; Vesta guarded the home;Juno protected their women.

Contribution of Greek civilization

In my last blog i was talking about greek civilization.Now i am talking about the contributon of Greek civilization on entire world

• The glory of Greece that the world has never forgotten was largely the glory of Athens at the time of Pericles
• The Olympic games were first held in 776 BC by the Greeks in honour of God Zeus at Mouut Olympus in Greece,hence the name and they continued till 394 AD.From 394 Ad these games started degenerating and by 580 Ad they altogether vanished.They were banned by the Roman Emperor theodosius as Pegan manifestation.
• It was the French Baron,Pierre de Coubertin,who revived these games in 1894 and the modern series of Olympic games started in 1896 at Athens and since then they are being held every fourth year.
• Homer's 'illad' and 'Odysesey' are among the best epics of the world.The Illad is the story of seize and destruction of the city of Troy,as the western coast of Asia Minor.The Odyssey describe the adventures and home coming from Troy ,of a Greek hero,Odyssey.
• The founder of Greek tragedy was Aeschylus author of 'promethus Bound'.Sophocles is considered the greatest of Greek tragedians.His famous plays are 'Oedipus Rex','Antigone' and 'electra'.
• Greek produced the some of the world's earliest great historian e.g Herodotus(known as the father of history)
• The most famous philosophers of Greece were Socrates,Plato and Aristotle.Aristotle was both philosopher and scientist.He made important contribution to philosophy,medicine,biology and astronomy.
• The Greek made many contributions to mathematics,especially to geometry as is seen in work of Euclid and Pythagoras.
• In medicine,Hippocrates laid the foundation of modern medicine.He is known as the 'father of medicine'.
• The most important astronomers were: Aristarchus, Ptolemy, Hipparchus,Eratosthenes etc.Ptolemy's belief that the earth was the center of the universe was accepted as truth until the 16th century.Eratosthenes prepared a fairly accurate map of the globe and was the first to suggest that one could reach India from Europe by sailing west.
• The temple of Athens,the parthenon, is the best example of Greek architecture.Myron and Phidias are two best known sculptors of ancient Greece.It was Phidias whom Pericles appointed to supervise the construction of Acropolis in athens