The Rise of the Trading Cities
The Western Tradition - S1 - E30
Amid religious wars, a few cities learned that tolerance increased their prosperity.
The Western Tradition: Season 1 - 52 Episode s
1x1 - The Dawn of History
January 1, 1989
The origins of the human race are traced from anthropoid ancestors to the agricultural revolution.
1x2 - The Ancient Egyptians
January 1, 1989
Egyptian irrigation created one of the first great civilizations.
1x3 - Mesopotamia
January 1, 1989
Settlements in the Fertile Crescent gave rise to the great river civilizations of the Middle East.
1x4 - From Bronze to Iron
January 1, 1989
Metals revolutionized tools, as well as societies, in the empires of Assyria, Persia, and Neo-Babylonia.
1x5 - The Rise of Greek Civilization
January 1, 1989
Democracy and philosophy arose from Greek cities at the edge of the civilized world.
1x6 - Greek Thought
January 1, 1989
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle laid the foundation of Western intellectual thought.
1x7 - Alexander the Great
January 1, 1989
Alexander's conquests quadrupled the size of the world known to the Greeks.
1x8 - The Hellenistic Age
January 1, 1989
Hellenistic kingdoms extended Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean.
1x9 - The Rise of Rome
January 1, 1989
Through its army, Rome built an empire that shaped the West.
1x10 - The Roman Empire
January 1, 1989
Rome's civil engineering contributed as much to the empire as did its weapons.
1x11 - Early Christianity
January 1, 1989
Christianity spread despite contempt and persecution from Rome.
1x12 - The Rise of the Church
January 1, 1989
The old heresy became the Roman empire's official religion under the Emperor Constantine.
1x13 - The Decline of Rome
January 1, 1989
While enemies slashed at Rome's borders, civil war and economic collapse destroyed the empire from within.
1x14 - The Fall of Rome
January 1, 1989
Despite the success of emperors such as Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, Rome fell victim to barbarian invasions.
1x15 - The Byzantine Empire
January 1, 1989
From Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire carried on the traditions of Greece and Rome.
1x16 - The Fall of Byzantium
January 1, 1989
Nearly a thousand years after Rome's fall, Constantinople was conquered by the forces of Islam.
1x17 - The Dark Ages
January 1, 1989
Barbarian kingdoms took possession of the fragments of the Roman Empire.
1x18 - The Age of Charlemagne
January 1, 1989
Charlemagne revived hopes for a new empire in Western Europe.
1x19 - The Middle Ages
January 1, 1989
Amid invasion and civil disorder, a military aristocracy dominated the kingdoms of Europe.
1x20 - The Feudal Order
January 1, 1989
Bishop, knight, and peasant exemplified some of the social divisions of the year 1000 A.D.
1x21 - Common Life in the Middle Ages
January 1, 1989
Famine, disease, and short life expectancies were the conditions that shaped medieval beliefs.
1x22 - Cities and Cathedrals of the Middle Ages
January 1, 1989
The great churches embodied the material and spiritual ambitions of the age.
1x23 - The Late Middle Ages
January 1, 1989
Two hundred years of war and plague debilitated Europe.
1x24 - The National Monarchies
January 1, 1989
A new urban middle class emerged, while dynastic marriages established centralized monarchies.
1x25 - Renaissance & the Age of Discovery
January 1, 1989
Renaissance humanists made man "the measure of all things." Europe was possessed by a new passion for knowledge.
1x26 - Renaissance & the New World
January 1, 1989
The discovery of America challenged Europe.
1x27 - The Reformation
January 1, 1989
Voiced by Martin Luther, Protestantism shattered the unity of the Catholic Church.
1x28 - The Rise of the Middle Class
January 1, 1989
As the cities grew, new middle-class mores had an impact on religious life.
1x29 - The Wars of Religion
January 1, 1989
For more than a century, the quarrels of Protestants and Catholics tore Europe apart.
1x30 - The Rise of the Trading Cities
January 1, 1989
Amid religious wars, a few cities learned that tolerance increased their prosperity.
1x31 - The Age of Absolutism
January 1, 1989
Exhausted by war and civil strife, many Europeans exchanged earlier liberties and anarchies for greater peace.
1x32 - Absolutism and the Social Contract
January 1, 1989
Arguments about the legitimate source of political power centered on divine right versus natural law.
1x33 - The Enlightened Despots
January 1, 1989
Monarchs considered reforms in order to create more efficient societies, but not at the expense of their own power.
1x34 - The Enlightenment
January 1, 1989
Intellectual theories about the nature of man and his potential came to the fore.
1x35 - The Enlightenment and Society
January 1, 1989
Scientists and social reformers battled for universal human rights during a peaceful and prosperous period.
1x36 - The Modern Philosophers
January 1, 1989
Freedom of thought and expression opened new vistas explored by French, English, and American thinkers.
1x37 - The American Revolution
January 1, 1989
The British colonists created a society that tested Enlightenment ideas and resisted restrictions imposed by England.
1x38 - The American Republic
January 1, 1989
A new republic, the compromise of radicals and conservatives, was founded on universal freedoms.
1x39 - The Death of the Old Regime
January 1, 1989
In France the old order collapsed under revolutionaries' attacks and the monarchy's own weakness.
1x40 - The French Revolution
January 1, 1989
Liberty, equality, and fraternity skidded into a reign of Terror.
1x41 - The Industrial Revolution
January 1, 1989
Technology and mass production reduced famine and ushered in higher standards of living.
1x42 - The Industrial World
January 1, 1989
A consumer revolution was fueled by coal, public transportation, and new city services.
1x43 - Revolution and Romantics
January 1, 1989
Leaders in the arts, literature, and political theory argued for social justice and national liberation.
1x44 - The Age of the Nation-States
January 1, 1989
The great powers cooperated to quell internal revolts, yet competed to acquire colonies.
1x45 - A New Public
January 1, 1989
Public education and mass communications created a new political life and leisure time.
1x46 - Fin de Siècle
January 1, 1989
Everyday life of the working class was transformed by leisure, prompting the birth of an elite avant-garde movement.
1x47 - The First World War and the Rise of Fascism
January 1, 1989
Old empires crumbled during World War I to be replaced by right-wing dictatorships in Italy, Spain, and Germany.
1x48 - The Second World War
January 1, 1989
World War II was a war of new tactics and strategies. Civilian populations became targets as the Nazi holocaust exterminated millions of people.
1x49 - The Cold War
January 1, 1989
The U.S. and Soviet Union dominated Europe and confronted each other in Korea.
1x50 - Europe and the Third World
January 1, 1989
Burdened with the legacy of colonial imperialism, the Third World rushed development to catch up with its Western counterparts.
1x51 - The Technological Revolution
January 1, 1989
Keeping up with the ever-increasing pace of change became the standard of the day.
1x52 - Toward the Future
January 1, 1989
Modern medicine, atomic energy, computers, and new concepts of time, energy, and matter all have an important effect on life in the 20th century.