The Great Schism

I interviewed a Christian who was alive during the time of the Great Schism to find out some general information out about the Great Schism. What he told me was that The term Great Schism is used to refer to two major events in the history of Christianity: the division between the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman) churches, and the period (1378 - 1417) during which the Western church had first two, and later three, lines of popes. 

Columbus Leaves Spain

I emailed Christopher Columbus so i could ask him when he left spain. He finally emailed me back and told me he left Spain in 1492.

CharlemagneI

I interviewed charlemagne in order to find out some information out on his past. His response was, "In 768, when Charlemagne was 26, he and his younger brother Carloman inherited the kingdom of the Franks. In 771 Carloman died, and Charlemagne became sole ruler of the kingdom. At that time the Franks were falling back into barbarian ways, neglecting their education and religion. The Saxons of northern Europe were still pagans. In the south, the Roman Catholic church was asserting its power to recover land confiscated by the Lombard kingdom of Italy. Europe was in turmoil."

The Crusades

The Franks were a part of the Crusades which is my reasoning for interviewing a few of them. My first question was who were involved in the crusades? They responded "The crusades were a series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Roman Catholic Europe, Particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire." My next question was, what was the point of the crusades? The Franks responded "The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between 1095 and 1291. My final question was, who were the main fighters in the crusades? what i learned is that the crusades were fought mainly by Roman Catholic forces against the Muslims.

The Magna Carta

To find out more information on the Magna Carta I interviewed King John. I first asked him what the Magna Carta is. He replied "The Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215, and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions that omits certain temporary provisions, including the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority. The charter first passed into law in 1225."

 My final question was how did the Magna Carta get passed? King John replied "The Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an English King by group of his subjects, which were the Barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded and directly influenced by the 1100 Charter Liberties, when King Henry the 1st had specified particular areas where his powers would be limited." 

The Battle of Tours

I interviewed Charles Martel in order to have my questions answered about the Battle of Tours. I had many questions such as, Who was this battle between? He told me that it was between the Franks and the Caliphates. He also answered my question on who the the leaders and commanders were. He told me the Caliphates Leader was Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi and the Franks commander was himself, Charles Martel. He also told me that the battle took place on October 10, 732 near Tours, France. My final question was, What were the ending results? he taught me that the Franks had won the battle after 23 years of fighting.

William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror taught me much about himself during my interview with him. He was kind enough to meet up with me downtown and discuss his life in history. I had many questions to ask him, my first being, Why are you an important figure in history? he responded " I was the first Norman King of England." I than asked, How did you press your claim to the English crown? "I invaded England in 1066, leading an army of Normans, Bretons, Flemings, and Frenchmen to take victory over teh English forces of King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.

Barbarians Sack Rome

I interviewed Alartic, who is one of the most famous barbarians last weekend in order to find out more about the mark he made in history. He granted me a few questions and my first was what group of barbarians captured Rome? His response was the Goths which he was in fact the leader of during the time of the conquering. I than asked him what the Goths truly wanted from Rome when capturing it. "We looted all of Rome and took all expensive items, although what we were really looking for was food. What we discovered was there was not much food after we had killed the Romans and many of us had died of starvation." My final question was, what did you do after the capturing of Rome? He answered "I traveled south with the intention of crossing over to Africa, but i was hindered by the storms along the Mediterranean coast."

Constantine the Great

Over the weekend I met up with Constantine the Great at Panera in order to interview him on his past. I first asked him to tell me about himself? He said "I was the Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 and i was best known for being the first Christian Emperor. I reversed the persecutions of my predecessor, Diocletian, and ordered the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of Christians throughout the empire."

My last question was, Where you also the general of your empire? He responded "Yes, I was the general of Roman Empire and i defeated the emperors Maxentius and Licinius during civil war. I also fought successfully against the Franks, Alamanni, Visigoths, and Sarmatians during my reign."

Julius Caesar and the Fall of the Roman Republic

Earlier this week I video chatted with Gaius Julius Caesar, with the reasoning to interview him with the goal to find out more information about his past. I asked about what he did in the past history and he responded, "I was a Roman General and statesman." He said he played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. "In 60 B.C I entered into a political into a political alliance with Crassus and Pompey that was to dominate Roman politics  for several years. I than asked if Roman Senate agreed with this, Caesar said "Our attempts to amass power for ourselves through populist tactics were opposed within the Roman Senate by the conservative elites." My final question was, What were your accomplishments? Julius responded saying "I conquered Gaul which extended Rome's territory to the North Sea, and in 55 B.C. I conducted the first invasion on Britain." Julius was considered to be a dictator and was power hungry.

Alexander the Great

I sat down for a meeting with famous philosopher Aristotle, in order to gather information about Alexander the Great. My first question was, Who was Alexander the Great. The response i received was a gasp, he seemed as if he was surprised I didn't know about him. He said "Alexander was born in 356 B.C. and his father Philip was assassinated which made Alexander the hair to the throne of the Macedonian Empire. The throne was given to him at an outstanding time, he now possessed an extremely expensive army with huge numbers of solders."

I than asked another question, Did Alexander the Great have any accomplishments. Aristotle then said, "Alexander had many fantastic accomplishments, such as when he invaded Persian rule in 334 B.C. He broke the power of Persia through an outstanding number of battles. Alexander also overthrew the Persian king Darius the 3rd and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. Because of this the Macedonian Empire now stretched from the Adriatic sea to the Indus river." Aristotle taught me much about Alexander the Great and how he played such an important role in history

The Golden Age of Greece

I asked a couple of the Athens soldiers about the Golden Age of Greece. My first question was, when did the Golden Age of Greece began? The response i received was, "it began with the brilliant victory of the Greeks over the imperial rule over Persia during the Persian war between the years of 546 and 479 B.C."

My next question was, what is the Golden Age of Greece? The Athens soldier said that "the Golden Age was also known as the Axis Age. He said in the Golden Age of Greece the Grecian states in the peninsula achieved a high status in culture and political constancy. During this period Greece achieved outstanding success in their government, art, philosophy, drama and poetry."

I then emailed another soldier with the question, Did this Age set any type or form of a precedent? "Of course it did, he stated very clearly, This era showed the birth of a democracy, which during that period of time was very rare to see."