Slave work was very difficult. Most women cooked, cleaned the house and raised the children of their white masters. Men were trained to be carpenters or masons. Most of them, however, were farm labourers. They planted and harvested crops.

Not all Blacks in America were slaves. “Free Blacks” lived and worked in big American cities, but they had very few rights. Expressing political views, carrying guns and meeting with white people was forbidden.

Americans in the northern states thought that slavery shouldn’t be allowed in a free country. As time went on, more and more people joined in the fight to end slavery. These abolitionists helped slaves escape to the North through secret routes. This system was called the Underground Railway.

In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. He was strongly against slavery. Many southern states withdrew from the union and formed their own country – the Confederate States of America. It was the beginning of the Civil War, which lasted until 1865.

In 1863 Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in the Emancipation Proclamation. The northern states won the Civil War and American slaves were free.

In the past, African Americans have been known by many names. They were called Negroes, Blacks, and Coloureds. In the last 30 years, the term African Americans has officially been used.

About half of them live in the southern states of the USA, the rest in large cities of the East, Midwest and West.

African Americans – % of total population (2010)
Source; U.S. Census Bureau
Image: Ghislain Montvernay ; Licence : CC BY-SA 3.0
via Wikimedia Commons

Image: Openclipart , Public Domain

Discovery

In 1895, a German scientist, Wilhelm Roentgen, discovered X-rays by accident. He called them X-rays because he hadn’t seen such a form of energy before. In mathematics X means something unknown. Roentgen took his first X-ray pictures of the bones of his hand. In 1901 he received the first Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery.

X-rays in medicine

X-rays are valuable in medicine because they can see through certain parts of the body. Doctors can take pictures of bones, teeth and tissue. They use these pictures to see which bones are broken or to find out which teeth have holes in them.

To produce X-ray pictures you need two things: a special plate that can capture X-rays is placed behind a part of a person’s body. A machine that produces X-rays is put in front of the person.

The X-rays are strong enough to pass through the skin and muscles but they cannot pass through hard objects like bones. In the picture you see hard objects, like bones, as white areas. Objects that X-rays go through are dark.

X-ray of a hand
Image: Creazilla , Public Domain

There are some situations in which X-rays cannot give you a clear picture. Some organs, for example, may block X-rays from showing a broken bone. For this reason computed tomography (CT) was invented. A person is put inside a scanner, which is a large tube-shaped machine. Then he is X-rayed from all sides. A computer puts together all of these images and can show doctors more than a normal X-ray can. CTs are used for brain diseases and head injuries.

X-rays, however, can also do harm to your body. Patients must wear special protection for the parts of their body that are not X-rayed. Doctors and helpers who work with X-ray machines must wear lead aprons and stand behind screens.

X-rays are sometimes used to in the fight against cancer. Doctors often beam X-rays at cancer cells in order to destroy them.

CT scanner
Image: Tomáš Vendiš, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

X-rays in science

Scientists often use X-rays to study the structure of other organisms or minerals that are in rock. By bombarding material with X-rays you can tell how old an object is.

Since the 1970s X-rays have been used to study stars and galaxies that are very far away. X-ray telescopes are put on board satellites that orbit far above the earth’s surface. They can see things that telescopes on earth cannot detect, because X-rays are absorbed by the earth’s atmosphere.

Chandra x-ray telescope, launched by NASA in 1999
Image: NASA/CXC/NGST, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Other uses

Factories use X-rays to find cracks in machines or in metal objects. At airports X-ray machines scan millions of handbags and suitcases for weapons like bombs, guns or knives.

Luggage screening at an airport
Image:User:Mattesderivative work: Cherubino,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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Greece and its colonies around 500 B.C.
Image:Thrasis, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

History of Ancient Greece

Aegean Civilizations

As Greek city-states became weaker Macedonia, a kingdom to the north of Greece, grew stronger and stronger. After King Philipp II had conquered all of Greece his son, Alexander, came to power in 336 BC. He set out to conquer Persia and got as far east as India . Alexander the Great spread Greek ideas and the Greek way of life throughout western Asia and the Middle East.

City States

After 1000 B.C. Dorians and Ionians, who settled in the eastern part of Greece started to build large cities. These cities had their own governments , their own armies and were independent .

The two most powerful city states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta was the strongest and most powerful city state with many soldiers and a huge army. It was only interested in fighting wars. Sparta united surrounding villages and sent armies to conquer its neighbours and bring back slaves .

Athens, on the other side, concentrated on trade , science and other fields. It was the first city to form a democratic government.

Sparta and Athens – the two most powerful city states

Persian Wars

At about 500 B.C. the Persian empire under Darius I invaded many Greek cities on the Asian coast. By 490 BC the Persians attacked the Greek mainland . Greek armies under Spartan leadership fought back and defeated the Persians.

Peloponnesian War

Under the rule of Pericles Athens had become the most powerful city-state and controlled most of the eastern part of Greece. Pericles wanted to make Athens a beautiful city with many temples. Art , philosophy and general knowledge became important. Sparta thought that Athens would become too powerful. In 431 BC it began a war against Athens.

In 430 BC a plague broke out in Athens and killed a third of its population. After becoming weaker and weaker it finally surrendered to the Spartan army.

Macedonian Rule

As Greek city-states became weaker Macedonia, a kingdom to the north of Greece, grew stronger and stronger. After King Philipp II had conquered all of Greece his son, Alexander, came to power in 336 BC. He set out to conquer Persia and got as far east as India . Alexander the Great spread Greek ideas and the Greek way of life throughout western Asia and the Middle East.

Alexander did not name a successor to his empire . After his death many generals fought for power and his empire broke up into many kingdoms .

Empire of Alexander the Great
Image : Generic Mapping Tools, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Roman Rule

In 140 BC Rome took over Greece and the city states. They stayed under Roman rule until 395 AD and then became part of the Byzantine empire .

Daily Life in Ancient Greece

Men were the heads of most Greek families. Richer families had slaves who were commanded by the wives. They had to look after the children and do the household work.

Most Greek families arranged weddings for their children. Women usually married at an early age, men much later.

In ancient Greece society was made up of citizens and non-citizens. Citizens were free men and noblemen. They owned land and took part in government . Non-citizens were women, slaves and serfs .

Only citizens received education. Teachers in Athens taught general subjects like music, writing, mathematics and reading. They also concentrated on physical exercise like running, jumping and wrestling . Education in Sparta was different. Boys were sent to military schools so that they could become good soldiers .

Greek people ate food made of grains , mostly wheat or barley . Bread was the main type of food. They ate fish and eggs for protein and consumed vegetables and fruit .

Greek men and women wore garments made of linen or wool that hung down to their knees. They also wore a belt around their waist . A woman’s garment usually covered her whole legs down to her ankles .

Houses were small in ancient Greece. Because of the mild climate many things were kept outside the house. Poor families lived in houses made of dried bricks and floors made of dried and hard mud . Wealthy families had stone floors and separate rooms for cooking, eating and sleeping.

Food preparation in ancient Greece
Image: Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China, CC0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Woman’s clothes
Image: Creazilla – Open Source

Philosophy, Science and Arts

Ancient Greece became famous for its great thinkers and philosophers. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were great men who looked for logical explanations of everyday things. Many people in Greece, however, did not believe in what philosophers had to say. In 399 B.C. Socrates was sentenced to death because of his teachings and because he did not believe in Greek gods.

Famous playwrights and poets wrote works that are still performed in theatres today. Architects designed beautiful buildings.

Scientists explored medicine, physics , biology and mathematics. They observed nature and also carried out experiments.

Bust of Socrates
Image: Photograph by Greg O’Beirne. Cropped by User:Tomisti, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Religion

People in ancient Greece believed in many gods. On one hand gods and goddesses were like normal people who showed feelings but on the other hand they possessed abilities that humans didn’t. They could foretell the future and live forever.

Normal people thought that gods and goddesses watched them and observed what they did in everyday life. They spoke to the people through oracles, holy places where priests had contact with gods. The most important oracle was at Delphi.

Zeus was the most important god. He and his wife Hera lived on Mount Olympus. Other gods and goddesses included

• Aphrodite, the goddess of love
• Eros, god of love
• Apollo, the god of light
• Ares, the god of war
• Athena, the goddess of wisdom

Democracy and Politics

The idea of democracy, which means government by the people, came from ancient Greece. Athens was the first city to set up a democratic government.

All free men were members who passed laws and were also allowed to serve on a jury .

Of the 30,000 citizens in Athens 500 were chosen each year to help run the city. They received a small amount of money because they could not continue their normal work.

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World War II was the worst war in history and killed more people than any other war before. It lasted from 1939 to 1945 and, starting out from Europe, spread to nearly every part of the world .

About 17 million soldiers died during six years of the war. Even more civilians – men, women and children – died from bomb attacks, illnesses or starvation. Millions of Jews died in German concentration camps. The war left many other people without jobs and homes.

Many cities and industries in Europe and Asia were completely destroyed by bombs and large areas of land were devastated.

Causes of World War II

There are many causes of the war and some of them go back to the end of the First World War. The end of World War I and the peace that followed in 1919 changed the face of Europe and the borders of countries completely. New nations emerged and countries that lost the war, especially Germany and Austria had to give up a lot of land. They also had to pay money to other countries for the damages and destruction that happened during the war.

Economic Problems

Feeding the poor in Germany in 1931
Image : Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-T0706-501 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE,
via Wikimedia Commons

Political Movements

The problems after the war made the governments in many countries weaker and weaker. Two movements became more and more powerful: Communism, known as “the Left”, called for a revolution of the working class. Fascism, known as “the Right”, wanted a strong national government

The Axis and Allied Powers

Two groups of nations fought against each other during the Second World War.

During the 1930s Germany, Italy and Japan led a group of nations called the Axis. The leaders of these countries were dictators. They wanted their own countries to grow and others to become weaker. In the years before the beginning of World War II all three Axis powers had strengthened and modernized their armies.

In the 1930s the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany. In 1933 the party’s leader Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor and became known as “der Führer”. He promised to take revenge on the countries that had defeated Germany in the First World War and make Germany the most powerful country in the world. He also claimed that only Germans were the true race and wanted to get rid of Jews, Communists, and other weaker people.

In Italy Benito Mussolini, known as the “Il Duce”, became the leader of the Fascist Party, which gained many supporters. He promised to bring law and order to the country and help solve its economic problems.

The Axis Powers invaded other countries and expanded their territory. At the beginning of the 1930s Japan invaded Manchuria because it had a lot of raw materials. In 1938 it attacked China and later on expanded to Southeast Asia. In 1935 Italy took over Ethiopia. Germany started its conquest of foreign territories by invading Austria. Italy and Germany also sent soldiers to help another dictator, Francisco Franco, in the Spanish Civil War.

The Allies were made up of a total of 50 countries. They were led by Great Britain, the Soviet Union, France, China and the United States and opposed the Axis.

Dictators of Axis powers Italy and Germany : Mussolini and Hitler
Image: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1969-065-24 / CC-BY-SA 3.0,
CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons

The Beginning of the War

On September 30, 1938 Great Britain, France and Germany signed the Munich Agreement. It gave Germany the right to take over the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia. The two Allies hoped it would satisfy Hitler and keep them out of the war. The agreement, however, was broken and Hitler not only invaded the Sudetenland but took over all of Czechoslovakia.

It was clear that Poland, on Germany’s eastern border, would be the next target. Great Britain and France promised to help Poland if it were attacked. In August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union signed a “non-aggression pact”, in which they promised not to attack each other. Germany did this so that it would not have to fight on two fronts.

On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland and World War II began.

Adolf Hitler and the Rise of the NSdAP

Image: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-H1216-0500-002 / CC-BY-SA, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria on April 20, 1889 and spent most of his childhood in Linz. He was not a very good student and dreamt of becoming a painter. In 1913 he moved to Munich and volunteered for the Germany Army when World War I broke out.

Germany lost the war, and the Treaty of Versailles punished the country very severely. It lost its overseas colonies and had to give up its Saar coal region to France. It was only allowed to have a small army and building ships was forbidden. The treaty also made Germany pay a lot of money to Great Britain and France for the damage caused by the war. Hitler was angry at the Allies because he thought they had treated his homeland in an unfair way.

After the war life became very difficult for the Germans. The Great Depression forced many of them out of work and made money almost worthless. Many Germans believed that only a strong leader could make their nation proud again.

After returning to Munich Hitler became the leader of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, or Nazis. The party’s emblem was an old hooked cross called swastika . Hitler was a powerful speaker and crowds of followers came to his meetings.

In 1923 Adolf Hitler tried to overthrow the German government. He failed and had to go to prison for nine months. There he wrote his book “Mein Kampf”. In it he looked for solutions to Germany’s problems.

Hitler spoke in a style that many people liked. He blamed Jews, Communists and other groups for all the problems that the country had and said that only if pure Germans, which he called Aryans, controlled the country it would return to greatness .

By January 1933 Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist party took over power. He became a dictator, a leader with complete control and created the Third Reich. The Nazis acted quickly against everyone who was against them. They outlawed all other political parties. People who opposed the new government were often murdered.

Once in control he started persecuting the Jews. He also began strengthening the German army and creating jobs for the population. This made him increasingly popular among many Germans.

The Nazis tried to get teenagers to follow Adolf Hitler and his party. These teenagers were organized in groups called the “Hitler Youth” where they chanted Nazi slogans and sang songs in honour of the Fuehrer.

By 1944 the war was going badly for Hitler and the Third Reich. Some of his officers wanted to end the war and save the country from destruction. They tried to kill him by planting a bomb in his office, but Hitler escaped without injuries. Eventually he realized that Germany had lost the war. He committed suicide on April 30th 1945 in Berlin. Eva Braun, his mistress, died with him.

The Blitzkrieg

On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. At the same time the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east. It was divided among the two countries before the Allies were able to help.

Germany’s attack was carried out with fast tanks and troops that were supported by warplanes. Because the German army moved very quickly this phase of the war was called “Blitzkrieg”.

In the following spring Germany invaded Norway and Denmark. Both countries were occupied by the German army by June. On May 10, 1940 Hitler’s troops invaded the Low Countries- Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and days later they surrendered.

In the middle of May German soldiers crossed into France and by June 14 the Germans had entered Paris. On June 22 France signed a peace agreement with Germany. German forces then occupied northern France and the Atlantic coast. A new government that was friendly to the Germans was formed in Vichy. On the other side General Charles de Gaulle escaped to Great Britain and started his free French movement. In a radio broadcasts he urged the French people to fight against the Germans.

The Battle of Britain

Hitler next wanted to invade the island of Great Britain. He attacked the British Air Force in order to control the skies over the island. It was history’s first major air battle.

In June 1940, the German Luftwaffe began bombing airfields and other targets in southern England. German warplanes attacked from airports in France. At the end of the battle the British had shot down about 1700 German planes. Hitler saw that he could not defeat England’s air force , so he gave up his idea of invading Britain. Instead, he sent the Luftwaffe to bomb British cities and towns. In London alone, more than 12,000 civilians were killed.

German Messerschmidt bomber during the Battle of Britain

Image: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-662-6659-37 / Hebenstreit / CC-BY-SA 3.0,
CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons

The Battle of the Atlantic

During the war Great Britain got most of its food, war materials and other supplies from North America. Throughout the war Germany tried to destroy the ships that brought goods to the island. German U-boats or submarines were the biggest threat to the British navy. At first, these U-boats were very successful in tracking down British cargo ships and sinking them. They often attacked in groups called wolf packs.

To survive such attacks British ships travelled in groups called convoys. They were protected by destroyers and also supported by planes. As time went on America gave British ships more and more protection.

In 1943 the Allies began to escort the convoys with small aircraft carriers. The planes that could take off from the carriers and long-range bombers from land began to attack and destroy more and more German submarines. The Allies began winning the sea war also because they started using an underwater radar system called sonar to locate submarines. By the middle of 1943 the Allies were sinking U-boats faster than the Germans could replace them.

Officers on board a British destroyer on the lookout for German U-boats
Post-Work: User:W.wolny, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Holocaust

Under Adolf Hitler the National Socialist German Worker’s Party became very powerful in Germany from 1933 to 1945. The Nazis, as they were called, wanted to get rid of people who they thought were not as good as they were. They especially hated Jews and thought they were evil. At the beginning they made life hard for the Jews in Germany and all over Europe. Later on, they decided to kill them. This mass killing was called the Holocaust.

After 1939 about 6 million Jews were killed in the countries that Hitler controlled. But Jewish people were not the only ones murdered by the Nazis. Gypsies, homosexuals, mentally and physically disabled people and others who were against Hitler were killed in the Holocaust.

Hating Jews and treating them badly is called anti-Semitism. Hitler started this as soon as he became chancellor of Germany in 1933. Jews lost their jobs and their shops were closed and often destroyed.

In 1935 the Nazis passed a new law . Jews were no longer citizens of Germany and they were not allowed to marry other Germans. They lost all of their rights. Every Jew had to wear a yellow Star of David. Many Jews were afraid of Hitler and tried to escape before World War II started.

On November 9th and 10th, 1938 the Nazis destroyed all Jewish synagogues and other public places the Jews went to. This event was called the “Kristallnacht” or “Night of Broken Glass”.

Shop destroyed in Magdeburg during the Night of Broken Glass

Image : Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1970-083-42 / CC-BY-SA 3.0,
CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons

Soon thousands of Jews were arrested and locked up in special camps. Others had to live in overcrowded parts of cities called ghettos where they got nothing to eat and suffered from many diseases. The most famous ghetto was in Warsaw, Poland. About half a million Jews had to live in an area that usually was home for 10,000 people. By 1943 only 70,000 had survived.

The Nazis decided that they had to solve what they called “the Jewish problem” once and for all. On January 20, 1942 the Nazi leaders met at the Wannsee Conference near Berlin and decided that all Jews should be killed.

All across Central Europe the Nazis built special death or concentration camps to kill Jews and other people who were not worth of living. The biggest camps were built in Poland. Some well-known camps were Auschwitz, Treblinka, Dachau, Sobibor and Belzec.

At first, the outside world thought that these camps were places where Jews and other prisoners had to work. A sign reading “Arbeit macht frei” hung over the gate at Auschwitz.

Those who were lucky became slaves. They had to work hard and didn’t get enough to eat. Some of them died of starvation. Most of the Jews, however, were brought to the gas chambers that often looked like big showers. There they were killed with poison gas, then taken away and burned.

Main entrance at the Auschwitz concentration camp
Image : xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Selection ramp at Auschwitz – Birkenau.
Jews were either sent to work or directly to the gas chamber
Image : Yad Vashem , Public Domain

Although the countries that fought against Hitler knew about the death camps there wasn’t anything they could do about them.

Many Europeans who were against Hitler’s ideas tried to help the Jews. They often hid them, gave them false documents and helped them escape. A famous book called “The Diary of Anne Frank” tells the story of a Jewish girl whose family hid in Amsterdam for two years but were then caught.

Hitler killed himself shortly before the war was over because he realized that he had lost. When it ended in 1945, Allied soldiers entered Germany. They liberated the concentration camps but were shocked when they saw what had happened there.

Jews who survived the Holocaust had no place to go. They waited to find a new home. In 1948, the United Nations decided to give homeless Jews a new place to live. The state of Israel was founded and hundreds of thousands of European Jews went there to start a new life.

The Holocaust is one of the most terrible periods of human history. In many countries memorials have been built to remember those who died. Museums in Europe and America try to show what happened and help our generation understand the horrors of the Second World War.

Holocaust memorial in Berlin
Image: K. Weisser, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons

Operation Barbarossa – Invasion of the Soviet Union

Although Adolf Hitler conquered many western European countries during the first years of the war, he saw the Soviet Union as his main enemy. He was afraid that the Russians would expand towards central Europe and he also wanted to control the Soviet wheat and oil fields. Hitler signed a treaty with dictator Joseph Stalin in 1939 that would keep the Soviet Union out of the war while he overran western Europe.

On June 22, 1941 Germany started Operation Barbarossa—the invasion of the Soviet Union. The attack surprised the Soviets and German tanks smashed through the Russian battle lines. In the first few weeks hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers were captured. As the Germans went forward, the Soviet population destroyed factories, dams, railroads, food supplies and other things that might help the Germans. The Germans were heading for a fast victory but then they started making mistakes.

Germany attacks the Soviet Union
Image: Dhammika111, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Hitler’s generals wanted to capture Moscow before the winter started but Hitler himself had a different plan. He ordered the German army to wait until new forces came to help them. This gave the Soviets time to strengthen their army. By December 1941 the Germans had surrounded Leningrad and were in the suburbs of Moscow. But then a harsh winter set in early and temperatures dropped to –40°C. German troops did not have enough clothing and many soldiers suffered from frostbite. Tanks and other weapons broke down in the bitter cold. The Russians started a counterattack and the German army had to retreat.

Although Hitler had lost many soldiers and a lot of Russian territory his army was still strong enough to continue fighting. In the summer of 1942, he turned his attention to the Caucasus, an oil-rich mountainous region in southern Russia. In August Hitler attacked Stalingrad. It was the biggest battle of World War II. German artillery destroyed the city, but the Russians defended it with what they had left. When winter began they counterattacked and drove the Germans back. After having lost more than 200,000 men the German army surrendered at the end of January 1943. The defeat was the worst that Nazi Germany suffered, and Stalingrad became a turning point in the war.

The Germans had to withdraw from the Caucasus and as time went on the Soviets drove them out of their whole country. From this point on the Russian army got stronger and stronger and started their march towards the west.

Pearl Harbour – America Enters the War

When war broke out in Europe in 1939 Japan decided to start expanding its territory to the Asian mainland. The Japanese occupied parts of China and conquered Indochina as well. The United States was against the Japanese invasion of Asia. They thought they could stop them by halting the sales of petroleum and other raw materials which the Japanese desperately needed. Japanese generals realized that only the United States had the power to stop them. The American navy was so strong that it had to be destroyed.

On the morning of December 7, 1941 Japanese warplanes attacked U.S. warships at Pearl Harbour naval base in Hawaii. It came as a complete surprise to the Americans. Within hours bombs and torpedoes sank six American ships and killed more than 2,000 Americans. The Japanese had destroyed the heart of the American fleet.

The next day the United States declared war on Japan and a few days later on the other Axis powers, Italy and Germany.

The attack on Pearl Harbour was the beginning of the war in the Pacific. On the same day the Japanese also invaded the Philippines and attacked Hongkong. In the first few months the Japanese were very successful and captured many important islands but in June 1942 the tide turned . A strong fleet of Japanese warships wanted to capture Midway Island. American warplanes attacked from aircraft carriers and destroyed much of the Japanese fleet.

American battleship USS West Virginia destroyed during the attack on Pearl Harbour
Image :  U.S. Navy, Office of Public Relations,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

D-Day – Allied Forces Invade Europe

The Germans had been expecting an Allied invasion of Northern France for long time. However, they were not sure where the invasion would take place . The Germans concentrated their troops near Calais because it was nearest to the British Isles.

Early on June 6,1944 Operation Overlord, the code name of the invasion, began. Commanded by Dwight D. Eisenhower about 3,000 ships and 176,000 soldiers crossed the English Channel and landed, to the surprise of the Germans, on the beaches of Normandy, much farther to the west than Hitler’s generals had expected. Paratroopers dropped behind the German defence lines and captured bridges and railroad tracks.

Although Germany was surprised by the attack, they fought back fiercely . At one landing site, named Omaha Beach, Allied troops came under heavy fire and had difficulty staying on the shore. At the end of the day, Allied forces had managed to secure the coastline and create a harbour where more troops could land. By the end of June, 1944 about a million Allied troops had reached France.

After heavy fighting, American and British armies were able to move inland . They captured Paris on August 25, 1944. After advancing to eastern France and Belgium the Allied offensive moved on but as winter came was halted west of the Rhine River.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Japan Surrenders

In 1939 German born scientist Albert Einstein informed US president Roosevelt about the possibility of making a super bomb that would cause an explosion that nobody had ever seen before. Large amounts of energy could be released by splitting an atom. Einstein and other scientists were afraid that the Germans could develop such a bomb first. In 1942 the Americans set up the Manhattan Project, a secret program to make such a bomb. The first atomic bomb was tested in the New Mexican desert in July 1945.

Even though the United States was winning the war against Japan some generals thought that they would have to invade the island nation to defeat the Japanese. Experts thought that hundreds of thousands of American soldiers might die in such an attack.

After the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman became president. He learned about the successful test of the bomb. In July 1945 Truman warned the Japanese that the United States would destroy the country with a powerful bomb if they did not surrender at once. In spite of the warning Japan continued fighting.

On August 6,1945 an American bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion killed 70,000 to 100,000 people and destroyed about 13 square kilometres of land. Three days later a much larger bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. It killed about 40,000 people. Thousands of people died of injuries and radiation in the years that followed. On August 14, the Japanese government agreed to surrender. Many officers committed suicide. On September 2, 1945 World War II officially ended.

Mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Image: George R. Caron,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Life During World War II

Resistance Groups

Even though most of the population supported the rulers in the Axis countries many people were against them. Resistance groups emerged in almost all of the countries that the Axis occupied. These groups worked together in an attempt to overthrow the ruling parties and dictators. They published and distributed illegal newspapers to inform the population. They rescued Allied pilots who were shot down and gathered information about the enemy. Bombing bridges and important roads was also a part of their work.

Some of the work of these groups turned out to be very important in the war. The French resistance helped the Allies during the Normandy invasion in 1944. Yugoslavia had the most effective groups of all. Partisans drove the Germans out of Yugoslavia in 1944.

Even in Germany itself there was a small underground group that was against the Nazis. In 1944 , a group of German army officers planted a bomb that was to kill Hitler. The bomb exploded near the Fuehrer but he escaped with minor injuries.

Those who worked against the Nazis risked a lot. If they got caught, they were almost always killed. Sometimes the Germans gathered hundreds of civilians and shot them as an act of revenge.

Meeting of a French resistance group
Image:  Donald I. Grant, Department of National Defence,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Propaganda

All the nations that were in the war used propaganda to help support their ideas. Radio broadcasts reached many people. Films and posters were also used . In Nazi Germany Joseph Goebbels controlled the media. He wanted to convince people all over the world that Germany was the most powerful nation and that the Germans had the right to rule the world.

Many Germans listened to radio programmes of the Allies. The BBC broadcast news programmes to the mainland to inform the people of the real situation of the war.

Life in Germany

Germany’s early victories started to make people believe in the war. There was enough food and clothing during the first years and goods came in from the countries that the Nazis occupied. But the situation changed by 1942. The army was defeated on the Russian front and there were fewer reports of victories to cheer people up. The Allies bombed German cities and towns day and night. Yet the people continued to work for the war.

Everyone was afraid of Hitler’s secret police, the Gestapo. They arrested everyone that was against Nazi beliefs in Germany and other countries.

Life in the United States

In the United States and Canada most people supported the war. They hated the Nazis and wanted to defeat the Axis powers, especially the Japanese, who bombed Pearl Harbour. America produced an enormous amount of weapons for the war. Old factories were turned into weapons industries, car factories began producing tanks and aircraft.

Millions of women started working in the war production after the men had left for Europe. They worked in shipyards and aircraft factories and replaced men on farms.

American woman working in a factory during World War II
Image:  Alfred T. Palmer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Life in the Soviet Union

Life was especially difficult in the Soviet Union, where intense fighting went on for four years. Stalin ordered his retreating soldiers to burn down everything in their way, so that they didn’t leave anything behind for German soldiers to use. But this also caused great problems for the Soviet population. Millions of civilians died of starvation and diseases.

The End of the War

The Soviet victory at Stalingrad ended Germany’s advance in eastern Europe. In the following years, the Soviet army received supplies from Great Britain and the United States and started moving westward.

Soon after the Normandy invasion Stalin’s armies attacked along a 700 km front. In July 1944 Soviet troops reached Warsaw and in the following months drove the Germans out of most of eastern Europe.

The final attack on Germany began in early 1945. Soviet soldiers reached the Oder River, about 65 km east of Berlin and Allied forces set themselves up along the Rhine River by March.

By this time, it was clear that Germany could not fight much longer, even though Hitler ordered his men to fight to their deaths. A large number of German soldiers surrendered to the Allies every day.

The Allied leaders– U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin—met in Russia for the Yalta conference. There they planned Germany’s defeat and the occupation of the country.

Meanwhile the Soviet army pushed on through Germany and by April 25, 1945 they had surrounded Berlin. Adolf Hitler realized that the war was over and committed suicide in his bunker on April 30. Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945.

As they marched on through Germany Allied soldiers discovered terrifying evidence of Nazi brutality. Even though they freed death camps thousands died of starvation after Germany’s surrender.

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta Conference

Image:  Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives.,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

German commander surrenders
Image: Lt. Moore (US Army); restored by Adam Cuerden,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Results and Aftermath of World War II

After the end of the war, a conference was held in Potsdam, Germany, to set up peace treaties. The countries that fought with Hitler lost territory and had to pay reparations to the Allies. Germany and its capital Berlin were divided into four parts. The zones were to be controlled by Great Britain, the United States, France and the Soviet Union. The three western Allies and the Soviet Union disagreed on many things and as time went on Germany was divided into two separate countries: East Germany , which had a Communist government and West Germany, which was a democratic state . Berlin was divided into East and West Berlin. Austria was also occupied by the four Allies from 1945 to 1955.

German occupation zones after World War II

Image:  svg version created by glglgl, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

One by one, the Russians started to take over countries in eastern Europe and install Communist governments there. The division of Europe was the beginning of the Cold War between the democratic nations of the west and the Communist countries of eastern Europe. The Iron Curtain marked the border between these two regions.

After the war many Nazi leaders were arrested and punished for what they had done in the war. The most famous war trials were held at Nuremberg, Germany. Those who were responsible for brutal crimes were sentenced to death.

Many problems arose after the war was over. One of them focused on the city of Berlin which was deep inside the Russian zone. In June 1948, the Soviet Union tried to drive the western powers out of Berlin by blocking all routes to the city. For a whole year the Allies flew in food, fuel and other things that the population needed to survive. Finally, the Russians gave up and the blockade ended. In 1961 the East Germans built a wall around Berlin to stop their citizens from escaping to the west.

The biggest task was to rebuild Europe, which lay in ruins. In 1948 the United States set up the Marshall Plan to help Europe’s economy. 18 nations received 13 billion dollars worth of food machines and other goods.

During World War II, four of the Allied powers—the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China— agreed to create an organization that should work for peace . In April 1945 fifty countries signed a charter and gave birth to the United Nations.

Key Figures of World War II

Benito Mussolini founded Fascism and ruled Italy as a dictator for more than 21 years. He dreamed of making Italy into a great empire. He banned all other parties and took control of industry, schools, the police and the media. Il Duce joined an alliance with German dictator Adolf Hitler. Both countries sent soldiers to Spain to support General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. In 1943 Mussolini was arrested but soon later rescued by German commandos. In 1945 Italians who were against fascism captured Mussolini as he wanted to escape to Switzerland. The next day he was shot to death.

Benito Mussolini
Image: www.historynet.comwww.gettyimages.it,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

FDR, as he was also called, was the only president elected four times. He served for more than 12 years, longer than any other person. Roosevelt became president during the Great Depression, which was a hard time for the American economy . One out of four workers had lost their jobs and many families had no money to buy food or clothes. President Roosevelt created a programme called the New Deal in which the government helped poor people, gave them work and paid for food and shelter. President Roosevelt tried to keep America out of World War II, but when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour the United States entered the war. Roosevelt was a strong leader throughout the war. He died shortly before the war ended in 1945.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Image : FDR Presidential Library & Museum

Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Second World War. He was a strong leader and a talented speaker, writer and painter. Churchill held speeches that gave the British people hope and courage during the horrible years of the war. After Germany’s surrender in 1945 Churchill lost his job as Prime Minister but returned in 1951. In 1953 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Winston Churchill

Image : BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives, CC BY 2.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the USSR from 1929 until 1953. During his rule, the Soviet Union became one of the world’s greatest powers. In the late 1800s Stalin joined a group of Marxist revolutionaries. Although Stalin had not played a big role during the Russian Revolution, he started gaining power. When Lenin died Stalin took control. He was a ruthless dictator, in many ways like Hitler, and had millions of people killed or exiled because they threatened his power or opposed his plans. After World War II the Soviet army stayed in the eastern part of Europe and Stalin set up communist governments there.

Joseph Stalin

Image Unknown authorUnknown author; image flipped by Gaeser,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Harry Truman became American president in the spring of 1945, shortly before the war in Europe ended . In August of the same year Truman decided to use the atomic bomb to end the war against Japan

Harry Truman

Image: National Archives and Records Administration. Office of Presidential Libraries. Harry S. Truman Library.,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Eisenhower became the leader of the Allied forces in Europe. He planned the invasion that led to the end of the war . After the war “Ike” became a very popular figure in the US and was elected president in 1952.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Image: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Himmler was one of the most loyal followers of Adolf Hitler. As the head of the German police, he ordered the deaths of millions of people. He committed suicide in May 1945 after the Allied troops had captured him.

Heinrich Himmler

Image: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-S72707 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE,
via Wikimedia Commons

Goebbels was Nazi Germany’s propaganda minister. He tried to persuade the Germans and the outside world to believe in Hitler’s regime . Goebbels controlled newspapers, radio programmes, motion pictures and the arts in Germany. At the end of the war Goebbels and his wife poisoned their six children and then he asked a Nazi soldier to kill them both.

Joseph Goebbels

Image: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1968-101-20A / Heinrich Hoffmann / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE,
via Wikimedia Commons

General Charles de Gaulle was the most outstanding French patriot, soldier and statesman of the 20th century. He led the French resistance against Nazi Germany and restored order in France after World War II. He was the architect of a new constitution and became president in 1958.

Charles de Gaulle

Image: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F015892-0010 / Ludwig Wegmann   DescriptionGerman photographerAuthority control: Q109374788VIAF: 18152501139410682865GND: 1156657059creator QS:P170,Q109374788 / CC-BY-SA, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE,
via Wikimedia Commons

Timeline of Events

• 1923

  Hitler tries to overthrow government and goes to prison

• 1931

  Japan invades Manchuria

• 1933

  Hitler is appointed German leader

• 1938

  Germany, Great Britain and France sign Munich Agreement
  Night of Broken Glass – Jewish synagogues and shops are destroyed

• 1939

  Germany invades Poland. World War II begins

• 1940

  Germany invades the Low Countries and France
  Battle of Britain begins

• 1941

  Operation Barbarossa – invasion of the Soviet Union – starts
  Japanese attack on Pearl Habour Naval Base

• 1942

  Battle of Stalingrad
  Wansee Conference – Nazi leaders agree on the Final Solution

• 1944

  D-Day – Normandy Invasion
  Attempt to assassinate Hitler fails

• 1945

  Yalta Conference – Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt meet
  Hitler commits suicide in Berlin
  Germany surrenders
  Atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  Nuremberg war trials begin

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Although the ship’s owners said the Titanic was unsinkable many problems before the first voyage were overlooked. Safety regulations at that time were not very strict. The ship only had 16 life boats, enough for about 1 500 passengers. It was only tested for a few hours and never went at full speed. The telegraph system on board was new and not many people knew how to operate it.

The Titanic leaving Southampton on April 10, 1912
Image: Francis Godolphin Osbourne Stuart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

During the night of April 14, 1912 the waters of the North Atlantic had a temperature of about -2° C. At noon on that day the radio operators got messages from other ships about icebergs that were nearby. The Titanic’s captain, Edward Smith, did not care about these warnings. He was captain of a steel giant that could not sink. The only thing he cared about was setting up a new world speed record. The Titanic was to be the fastest ship that ever sailed from Southampton to New York.

The night was clear and the Titanic sped on. When a big iceberg was sighted the first officer shut down all the engines. But it would have taken the ship about half a mile to come to a full stop. Even though, on the surface, the ship stayed clear of the iceberg, it ripped a big hole in the hull. At once the compartments began to flood with cold, icy water. The bulkheads were lowered but it was too late. Water flooded at least five compartments.

The collision with the iceberg was so slight that the passengers hardly heard it. Most of them didn’t take any notice and continued dancing and having fun. Some passengers were asleep in their cabins.

The bow of the ship dipped under the water’s surface and the back part of the ship began to rise. After a short time the Titanic broke into two pieces. When Captain Smith realized that the Titanic was sinking he had a distress signal sent out but the nearest ship was a hundred kilometres away.

As time went on chaos emerged and passengers rushed to the boat deck. Women and children were allowed on the lifeboats first. Lights flickered and electricity was finally gone. At 2:20 a.m. the Titanic disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Carpathia, which was the nearest ship, came to the scene about two hours later and picked up the freezing passengers in their lifeboats. By early morning the news of the disaster had gone around the world. The world’s largest ocean liner, the Titanic, had sunk on its maiden voyage, killing 1513 people.

The Titanic’s maiden voyage across the North Atlantic
Image: Prioryman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Quadrant on display in Madrid
Image: Dorieo [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By the end of the 15th century many things were changing in Europe. The population started to grow more quickly and a new class of merchants emerged. They wanted to buy and sell expensive and valuable products from Asia – like gold, jewels and silk.

In those days, people had no refrigerators to preserve their food. They dried meat and often used salt to make it last longer. To make food taste better they used spices , like pepper or cinnamon.

For centuries Europeans brought these goods on a land route from Asia over thousands of dangerous kilometres . In the 15th century the overland routes were being controlled by the Turkish Empire, which made it even more difficult for European merchants to pass through.

As a result, some European countries, like Spain and Portugal, decided to find out if there was a sea route to India. With the help of new kinds of ships that could sail faster and instruments , like the quadrant, they started the Age of Exploration.

Portuguese Explorers

At the end of the 15th century the Portuguese started to explore the west coast of Africa. They set up trading posts and collected gold and silver. They were convinced that by sailing around the coast of Africa they would find a route to India.

In 1487 , the Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias sailed around the southern part of the continent and got as far as the east coast of Africa, but a storm made him turn back. On his return voyage, he saw a piece of land that stretched out into the sea. The Portuguese named it the Cape of Good Hope because they were hopeful of finding a passageway to India.

In 1497 Vasco Da Gama set out from Lisbon, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. He reached the west coast of India in May 1498. He took some spices and gold back with him to prove that he had reached India.

Vasco da Gama’s route to India

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was probably the most famous explorer of the era. He achieved fame by sailing west in search of a sea route to India. Instead of reaching India he discovered that there was an unknown mass of land in between, land that the Europeans knew nothing of.

Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451 and during his early years his father took him on various sailing trips and wanted to make a merchant out of him.

Like many navigators of that time, Columbus also wanted to sail to India and the Far East. He thought that if he sailed west he would also reach the Spice Islands of Asia and India. He went to the king of Portugal to present his plan, but it was rejected. Queen Isabella of Spain admired young and brave men like Columbus and so she gave him three ships – the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria – and a crew of 90 men.

Christopher Columbus
Image: Sebastiano del Piombo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Models of the ships of Christopher Columbus
E. Benjamin Andrews [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Columbus left Spain on August 3, 1492. After two months of sailing westward, he landed on an island of the Bahamas, San Salvador, on October 12, 1492. Because he thought he had reached the islands near India he called the natives Indians.

All together, Columbus made four voyages to the New World between 1492 and 1504. He explored the coasts of Cuba, Jamaica , Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. On his last two voyages, Columbus reached the mainland of Central and South America and travelled as far south as the mouth of the Orinoco River.

After he came home from his fourth voyage, Christopher Columbus fell ill and died in 1506.

After sailing westward for two months
Columbus reached the West Indies on 12th October 1492

Other Spanish Explorers

During the early 1500s Spanish explorers travelled across most of Central and South America. They founded colonies and brought settlers to the New World. They also made the native Indians work for them. The Spaniards brought new products to the Americas ,like wheat, horses, cattle and sheep. In exchange , they grew plants that were not known in Europe, like corn and potatoes and brought them back to the Old Continent.

In 1513 the Spanish explorer Vasco de Balboa landed in Panama, the part of Central America that is very narrow. With his men, he fought his way through 50 miles of jungle and was surprised to see a new sea , the Pacific Ocean.

One of the most important Spanish conquistadors was Hernando Cortes. He conquered the Aztec empire in 1521. In 1532 and 1533 Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas. These natives ruled an empire that expanded from Columbia to the northern parts of Argentina. The Incas had great riches, vast amounts of gold and silver. When the Spanish got there they took all of it away from the Incas.

Francisco Pizarro and Hernan Cortes
Image : Urituguasi [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The Voyages of Balboa in Central America
Image : No machine-readable author provided.
Taichi assumed (based on copyright claims). [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

English and French Explorers

The French and the English concentrated their journeys on the northern part of the continent, because they thought that there also had to be a north-western route to India.

In 1497, John Cabot, an Italian who sailed for England, landed on the east coast of Canada. In 1534 Jacques Cartier sailed down the St. Lawrence River and reached the Great Lakes. He claimed this territory for the king of France.

During the 1600s the French and English began to set up colonies. The French concentrated on the St .Lawrence valley and the Great Lakes and founded towns like Montreal, or Detroit.

At the end of the century Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette sailed down the Mississippi River. The land near the Gulf of Mexico was called Louisiana, in honour of the French king. Settlements like St. Louis or New Orleans show French origin.

The first permanent settlement in North America was founded at Jamestown , Virginia in 1607. In 1610 Henry Hudson sailed around north-eastern Canada and discovered a huge body of water which he thought was the Pacific Ocean. Today it is known as Hudson Bay.

Jacques Cartier’s first voyage to the New World
Image : Jon Platek, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Henry Hudson’s voyages to the New World
Image: Jon Platek, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian-born explorer who explored the mainland of America at the end of the 15th century. A German mapmaker believed that Vespucci was the first to reach the New World ,so he suggested naming the new land America.

Although Vespucci was probably not one of the greatest explorers of the time, he was the first navigator who explored South America.

Magellan Sails Around the World

In 1519 the Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan set out to find India by sailing around South America. He sailed for Spain because the Portuguese didn’t give him any money for this expedition.

Magellan had 5 ships and a crew of 240. When he reached the southern tip of South America, he got into bad, stormy weather. Two of his ships were badly damaged and couldn’t continue the journey. With three ships he sailed through a strait, that later was named after him , the Strait of Magellan.

When he reached the Pacific Ocean, he sailed for three months without any sight of land. Finally , in April of 1521 he landed on the Philippine Islands. Magellan got into a fight with native islanders and was killed there.

Only one ship could continue the voyage. It crossed the Indian Ocean and sailed around the Cape of Good Hope. With only twenty people on board it reached Spain three years after it had set out.

Magellan’s journey around the world
Knutux [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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Ancient Rome was the center of one of the largest and most powerful empires in history. With its center in today’s Italy, the Roman Empire conquered the whole Mediterranean region and spread its influence to the Middle East, Northern Africa, Western and Central Europe. It reached the height of its power between 100 and 200 A.D. Afterwards the Roman Empire began to collapse because it became too big to rule. The West Roman Empire ended in 476 A.D. when Germanic tribes invaded, the East Roman Empire continued to exist for many centuries.

The ancient Romans influenced countries and civilizations in the following centuries. Their language, Latin, became the basis for many other European languages. Governments and legal systems in the western world were founded on Roman law. The ancient Romans were the first to build bridges, concrete roads and a sewage system that took waste water away from houses and homes.

The Roman Empire at the height of its power
Image : User:Jrockley / User:Kasper Holl, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

History of Ancient Rome

According to legends, ancient Rome was founded on 7 hills in the 8th century before Christ by Remus and his brother Romulus, who became the first king of Rome. Its early inhabitants were called the Latins, who lived on the fertile plains of Latium. During its early history ancient Rome was controlled by the Etruscans, people who lived in northern Italy. At that time they were the most modern civilization in Italy. Rome grew steadily under Etruscan influence. At about 500 B.C., the Etruscan occupation ended and Rome became a republic.

The Roman Republic

The republic was governed by two consuls. They were chosen by an assembly of men. The Senate was an institution that advised the consuls. Although it was weak at first, its power grew gradually. By this time Rome was the largest city in Latium. In the following centuries it conquered many smaller towns around it. By the third century B.C. Rome ruled over most of the Italian peninsula.

At about 400, Rome was under attack by Gauls, who occupied northern Italy. Although they invaded Rome and burned down the city in 390 B.C., the Romans fought back and defeated the Gauls. Between 264 and 146 B.C. Rome fought three wars against Carthage, a sea power located in today’s Tunisia.

The Punic Wars brought most of Northern Africa and Spain under Roman control. A famous Carthaginian general, Hannibal, wanted to attack Rome from the north. He led his soldiers over the Alps and invaded Italy from the north, but in the end he was defeated. In 146 Carthage was destroyed.

Ancient Carthage and the lands controlled by it
Image (altered) : Aldan-2, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By 150 B.C. Rome had expanded its influence eastward and took control of Greece, which became one of Rome’s richest provinces. Because faraway territories could not be directly ruled, governors, called proconsuls, were put in charge of the conquered territories. Many people were taken as slaves and brought back to Rome to work as servants or on farms.

In the first century B.C. ancient Rome suffered from power struggles and civil wars. Senators, generals and tribunes fought for power. When an important Roman general, Julius Caesar, came back to Italy after defeating Gaul another civil war began. Caesar’s supporters helped him win over his rivals and Julius Caesar became the sole ruler of Rome. However, many Romans didn’t trust him and in 44 B.C. he was assassinated.

The Roman Empire

The assassination of Julius Caesar led to the downfall of the Roman republic. Augustus became the first Roman emperor in 27 B.C. After the government of the people had been destroyed, the Romans wanted a strong ruler who would give them peace and prosperity. For the next 200 years Roman emperors were very strong.

Although the emperors had ultimate power, Senators and other representatives elected by the people still existed. Augustus controlled the army and appointed new Senators and consuls. He also created strong fortifications along the borders of the Roman Empire, which extended to Britain and the Danube River.

Economically Rome was now at its height. There were large farms in rural areas that produced food for an ever growing population. Throughout the empire the Romans built roads that made it possible to bring troops and supplies to other parts of the empire.

Section of Hadrian’s wall – a border wall in the north of the U.K.

Image: quisnovus from Gloucester, England, CC BY 2.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Decline of the Roman Empire

One of the reasons for the Roman Empire’s decline is that it became too much too big. A single ruler could not efficiently rule such a large territory. During the second century A.D. Germanic tribes from the north started attacking Rome. The empire was defended by Marc Aurelius one of the great emperors of the period.

When Diocletian became emperor in 284 A.D. he tried to reorganize the empire and divide it into smaller areas. One of his successors, Constantine the Great, permanently divided the empire into two parts: an east Roman Empire with its capital Constantinople and a west Roman Empire with Rome as its capital city. Constantine granted freedom to the Christians and promised not to persecute them any longer. He also became the first ruler to convert to Christianity.

In the 5th century Germanic tribes kept moving to the south and invaded the Roman Empire. Vandals invaded Rome and plundered the city. In 476 A.D. Odoacer, a German tribal leader forced the Roman emperor to give up power. The east Roman Empire survived for almost another thousand years. In 1453, the Ottomans conquered Constantinople and made it centre of the Ottoman Empire.

The East and West Roman Empire in 395 A.D.

Image (altered) : AKIKA3D, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Life in Ancient Rome

Country and City Life

Roman cities were very modern places in which people lived, traded and worked. The center of these ancient cities was a forum, a large open space surrounded by markets, baths, arenas and other public buildings.

Wealthy Romans could afford living in large luxurious houses, which often lay on the outskirts of the city, far away from the noise and smell of the city center. They had servants and slaves to do everyday work for them. The poor population had to live in overcrowded, dirty buildings. They were always in danger of collapsing or being burned down.

Life in the countryside was more relaxed. The population was made up of farmers who raised animals and planted crops. During the summer they often fought in the army. A latifundium was the large farm of a rich landowner. He was able to make a higher profit by working with slaves.

Normal people lived in small houses or huts that were not as big and luxurious as those of the city. Many inhabitants of Rome had country houses, which they went to in order to escape the hectic city life.

Model of a Roman town house for upper class people
Image:Arnaud 25, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Roman Family

Head of the Roman family was the paterfamilias, the oldest male. He controlled the whole household and had power over all the members of his family. In the upper classes, slaves and servants also lived with a family. Romans often married for political reasons. Many rich Romans arranged marriages for their children so they could stay in the higher classes and keep their influence and power.

When Rome was still a republic, women had very few rights. They had to stay at home and care for the household, prepare meals and look after their children. They were not allowed to own land. This changed when ancient Rome became an empire. Women were allowed to have their own shops and businesses, and they were able to buy land. They could also get a better job.

Food

While many Romans ate simple meals, wealthy inhabitants had the best food the empire could offer. They ate white bread, olives, fruit and cheese, as well as fish. Breakfast was usually a slice of bread or a pancake with dates and honey. Romans usually had a small lunch at about 11 in the morning. Dinner was the main meal of the day. It was normally taken in the late afternoon or early evening. Fish, cooked meat and a variety of vegetables were served. Sometimes they had a small cake with honey for dessert.

Clothes

Roman clothing was made out of wool, which women spun into cloth. Richer citizens could afford to buy clothes made out of silk, linen or cotton, which the Romans obtained from other parts of the empire.

Citizens of Rome wore a tunic, a piece of loose clothing that fell down to the knees. On special occasions they were allowed to wear a toga, an elegant piece of white clothing that was wrapped around their body.

Women wore tunics and later on stolas, which reached down to their feet. They liked jewelry and experimented in dyeing their hair.

Outdoors, Romans often wore shoes that were closed around the toes, when in the house, they liked to wear sandals.

Toga worn by men in the Roman empire
Image : Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

Leisure Time

Bath houses were the centre of Roman leisure life. Men and women often got together in separate bath houses. There they could relax, get massages, exercise, take baths and gossip. People of all social classes got together in such public bath houses. Going to a bath was a symbol of cleanliness, of being purer and better than others.

Ancient Romans celebrated religious holidays very often. Almost every god and goddess had their own holiday. Festivals and entertainment were arranged in honor of them.

Amphitheaters were the ancestors of modern stadiums. The Colosseum in Rome was, by far, the biggest amphitheater. It could hold over 50 000 spectators. Gladiators entertained the audience by fighting against wild animals and often combating each other.

The Circus Maximus was the center of chariot races. Up to 250 000 people attended such a race. Chariot racing had been popular in ancient Greece and was one of the highlights of ancient Olympic Games. Each chariot was pulled by four horses.

Roman citizens went to the many theatres in the city that showed plays of famous Roman playwrights. Most of the plays were comedies, in which actors wore masks that showed if they were happy or sad.

Ancient Roman bath house
Image:Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Colloseum – Rome’s largest amphitheatreImage: FeaturedPics, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chariot race in ancient Rome
Image:Midx1004 at English Wikipedia, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

Education

During the early centuries of ancient Rome children were mostly educated at home by their parents. Fathers taught their sons how to read and write , as well as the basics of law and religion. Mothers showed their daughters how to cook, weave and spin.

Later on, rich Romans started sending their children to school, which they had to pay for. There they learned to read, write and solve mathematical problems. One of the main tasks was to teach child to become a good speaker. Older pupils studied Greek language and literature, as well as, astronomy.

Famous Romans

Julius Caesar may be regarded as Rome’s most important general and statesman. He was a great military leader and won many battles that helped him gain power and, in the end, made him the sole ruler of Rome.

During his military career he conquered Gaul, invaded Britain and kept Germanic tribes out of the empire.

Julius Caesar

Image: Unknown author, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

Augustus was born as Octavian, son of a rich Roman banker. His great-uncle Julius Caesar adopted him and made him his heir. After Caesar’s death Octavian formed an army to fight against Mark Antony, who took over control of Rome from Caesar. The two men came to an agreement and shared control of the Roman Empire. They also defeated Caesar’s murderers. When Octavian found out about the love relationship between Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt he saw this as a threat to the Roman Empire and turned against Antony. After Antony’s death, Octavian was given the name Augustus and became Rome’s first emperor.

Under his reign Augustus expanded Rome’s territory. He conquered the Iberian Peninsula and pushed the boundaries of the Roman Empire north to the Danube River. He also gave orders to restore old buildings that needed repair and built roads to the outskirts of the empire.

After his death Augustus was worshipped in Rome because of his successful reign .

Bust of Augustus
Image : © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons

Nero was 17 when he became emperor of Rome in 54 A.D. He turned out to be a ruthless ruler who had his mother killed. But at first Nero was good-natured and a sensible leader. He focused on improving trade and the cultural life of the empire. However, as time went on, Nero became more violent and unpredictable.

According to rumors, he laid a fire that destroyed most of Rome. He blamed Christians for setting the fire and persecuted them throughout his reign. In 68 A.D. Nero saw that he no longer had the support of the Senate and committed suicide.

Romulus and Remus were twins who supposedly founded the city of Rome. According to the legend, their parents abandoned them at an early age, placed them into a basket and put it into the river Tiber. A wolf discovered the basket and brought it to a shepherd who brought up the twins.

When they became adults the brothers argued over which hill to build a city on. After a following fight Remus was killed and Romulus became the first king of Rome. He was a popular ruler and a great military leader.

Marcus Brutus was a Roman statesman who helped assassinate Julius Caesar because he wanted to break his power. On March 15, 44 B.C. Brutus and other men stabbed Julius Caesar to death as he entered a meeting of the Senate. After the Senate took over control of Rome again, Brutus was sent to govern the eastern part of the Roman Empire. In 43 B.C. Brutus killed himself after he had been defeated by Octavian and Mark Antony in the Battle of Philippi.

Hadrian became Roman emperor in 117 A.D. He was especially known for construction projects. He completed the Roman Pantheon and built a stone wall across northern Britain to defend the empire from outsiders. Hadrian traveled to almost every corner of the empire. He admired ancient Greece and wanted to make Athens the cultural centre of the empire. Hadrian was considered to be a peaceful emperor. He died in 138 A.D.

The Pantheon in Rome
Image: Rabax63, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

Virgil was Rome’s greatest poet. Born in northern Italy in 70 B.C. he started writing during his studies in Rome and Naples. His most famous work was the Aeneid which was left uncompleted. Based on Homer’s Odyssey and the Iliad, Virgil describes the adventures of the Trojan hero Aeneas who sailed westwards and founded the city of Rome. In the epic poem Virgil shows the greatness of Rome and his admiration for its rulers.

In other poems Virgil wrote about country and peasant life. After his death, Virgil’s influence spread throughout Rome. Roman schools taught their pupils about him and made them read his poems. Writers in the Middle Ages often referred to Virgil in their works.

Cicero (106 – 43 B.C.) was a great Roman philosopher, speaker and writer. He was one of the most important translators from Greek to Latin. He was banned from Rome by the first triumvirate, but then allowed to return. He was killed because of his opposing views. Even today, Latin students around the world read the works of Cicero.

Bust of Cicero
Image:José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro ,
via Wikimedia Commons

Constantine I (275 – 337 A.D.) was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. When he ruled Rome the Christians and other religious groups got their freedom. He rebuilt Byzantium, and named it Constantinople, the Christian capital of ancient Rome.

Pontius Pilate was a Roman governor in Judea during the time of Jesus Christ. He became famous as judge at the trial of Jesus Christ. He had Jesus killed for treason because he claimed to be the king of Jews. Leaders of Judea thought of him as dangerous to the Roman Empire.

According to the Bible, however, Pilate claims he did not want to have Jesus Christ crucified.

Painting that shows Jesus Christ appearing before Pontius Pilate
Image: Mihály Munkácsy, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

Religion

Like the ancient Greeks, the Romans worshipped many gods. The most important was Jupiter. Like Zeus, he was the king of gods and the god of thunder. Almost every Roman city had temples to worship the gods. Sometimes emperors were made gods. It helped to make people more loyal to them.

Romans wanted to have a good relationship with their gods, who they believed had magical power. Gods were responsible for the growth of good crops and a good harvest; they watched over the family and brought favorable weather. People made sacrifices to gods and in return they hoped for their blessing. When the Romans conquered other territories they worshipped local gods of that area.

In ancient Rome, there was a strong connection between religion and government. Priests were officials elected by the government. Pontiffs were high religious officials who oversaw festivals and laid down the rules for worship .The highest priest was the pontifex maximus. During the empire, the emperor automatically held this position.

Astrology and the ability to foresee future events were important in Roman religion. It was necessary to find out what the gods wanted and how people could please them.

During the last centuries of the Roman Empire many people turned to Christianity. The Roman government considered this to be a threat to their religion and persecuted Christians for a long time. By 300 A.D. Christianity became the main religion of the empire. Emperor Constantine became the first ruler to convert to Christianity.

Life expectancy in ancient Rome was not very high. People started to worry about death from an early age on. Romans believed that after a person died their spirit would descend to the underworld.

Marble statue of Jupiter, king of the Roman gods

Image: I, Sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

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