Volume A: to 1563

A core text for introductory-level survey courses in Western Civilization and European History and Civilization.

Written by leading scholars in the field, this authoritative text presents an engaging and balanced narrative of the central developments in Western history. Seamlessly integrating coverage of social, cultural and political history, this text is presented in a flexible chronological organization. The new Ninth Edition provides updated scholarship, expanded coverage of cultural history, the ancient Near East, late antiquity, imperialism, and the Holocaust. 

PART 1 THE FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

CHAPTER 1 The Birth of Civilization

Early Humans and Their Culture

The Paleolithic Age

The Neolithic Age

The Bronze Age and the Birth of Civilization

Early Civilizations to about 1000 b.c.e

Mesopotamian Civilization

Egyptian Civilization

Ancient Near Eastern Empires

The Hittites

The Assyrians

The Neo-Babylonians

The Persian Empire

Cyrus the Great

Darius the Great

Government and Administration

Religion

Art and Culture

Palestine

The Canaanites and the Phoenicians

The Israelites

General Outlook of Mideastern Cultures

Humans and Nature

Toward the Greeks and Western Thought

In Perspective

CHAPTER 2 The Rise of Greek Civilization

The Bronze Age on Crete and on the Mainland to about 1150 b.c.e.

The Minoans

The Mycenaeans

The Greek “Middle Ages” to about 750 b.c.e.

Greek Migrations

The Age of Homer

The Polis

Development of the Polis

The Hoplite Phalanx

The Importance of the Polis

Expansion of the Greek World

Magna Graecia

The Greek Colony

The Tyrants (ca. 700—500 b.c.e.)

The Major States

Sparta

Athens

Life in Archaic Greece

Society

Religion

Poetry

The Persian Wars

The Ionian Rebellion

The War in Greece

In Perspective

CHAPTER 3 Classical and Hellenistic Greece

Aftermath of Victory

The Delian League

The Rise Of Cimon

The First Peloponnesian War: Athens against Sparta

The Breach with Sparta

The Division of Greece

Classical Greece

The Athenian Empire

Athenian Democracy

The Women of Athens: Social Status and Everyday Life

Slavery

The Great Peloponnesian War

Strategic Stalemate

The Fall of Athens

Competition for Leadership in the Fourth Century b.c.e.

The Hegemony of Sparta

The Hegemony of Thebes: The Second Athenian Empire

The Culture of Classical Greece

The Fifth Century b.c.e.

The Fourth Century b.c.e.

Philosophy and the Crisis of the Polis

The Hellenistic World

The Macedonian Conquest

Alexander the Great

The Successors

Hellenistic Culture

Philosophy

Literature

Art and Architecture

Mathematics and Science

In Perspective

CHAPTER 4 Rome: From Republic to Empire

Prehistoric Italy

The Etruscans

Government

Religion

Women

Dominion

Royal Rome

Government

The Family

Women in Early Rome

Clientage

Patricians and Plebians

The Republic

Constitution

The Conquest of Italy

Rome and Carthage

The Republic’s Conquest of the Hellenistic World

Civilization in the Early Roman Republic

Religion

Education

Slavery

Roman Imperialism: The Late Republic

The Aftermath of Conquest

The Gracchi

Marius and Sulla

The Fall of the Republic

Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, and Cicero

The First Triumvirate

Julius Caesar and his Government of Rome

The Second Triumvirate and the Triumph of Octavian

In Perspective

CHAPTER 5 The Roman Empire

The Augustan Principate

Administration

The Army and Defense

Religion and Morality

Civilization of the Ciceronian and Augustan Ages

The Late Republic

The Age of Augustus

Imperial Rome, 14 to 180 c.e.

The Emperors

The Administration of the Empire

Women of the Upper Classes

Life in Imperial Rome: The Apartment House

The Culture of the Early Empire

The Rise of Christianity

Jesus of Nazareth

Paul of Tarsus

Organization

The Persecution of Christians

The Emergence of Catholicism

The Crisis of the Third Century

Barbarian Invasions

Economic Difficulties

The Social Order

Civil Disorder

The Late Empire

The Fourth Century and Imperial Reorganization

The Triumph of Christianity

Arts and Letters in the Late Empire

The Preservation of Classical Culture

Christian Writers

The Problem of the Decline and Fall of the Empire in the West

In Perspective

THE WEST AND THE WORLD: ANCIENT WARFARE

PART 2: THE MIDDLE AGES

CHAPTER 6 Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Creating a New European Society and Culture (476—1000)

On the Eve of the Frankish Ascendancy

Germanic Migrations

New Western Masters

The Byzantine Empire

The Reign of Justinian

The Spread of Byzantine Christianity

Persians and Muslims

Islam and the Islamic World

Muhammad’s Religion

Islamic Diversity

Islamic Empires

The Western Debt to Islam

Western Society and the Developing Christian Church

Monastic Culture

The Doctrine of Papal Primacy

The Religious Division of Christiandom

The Kingdom of the Franks: From Clovis to Charlemagne

Governing the Franks

The Reign of Charlemagne (768—814)

Break up of the Carolingian Kingdom

Feudal Society

Origins

Vassalage and the Fief

Daily Life and Religion

Fragmentation and Divided Loyalty

In Perspective

CHAPTER 7 The High Middle Ages: The Rise of European Empires and States (1000—1300)

Otto I and the Revival of the Empire

Unifying Germany

Embracing the Church

The Reviving Catholic Church

The Cluny Reform Movement

The Investiture Struggle: Gregory VII and Henry IV

The Crusades

The Pontificate of Innocent III (r. 1198—1216)

England and France: Hastings (1066) to Bouvines (1214)

William the Conqueror

Henry II

Eleanor of Aquitaine and Court Culture

Popular Rebellion and Magna Carta

Philip II Augustus

France in the Thirteenth Century: The Reign of Louis IX

Generosity Abroad

Order and Excellence at Home

The Hohenstaufen Empire (1152—1272)

Frederick I Barbarossa

Henry VI and the Sicilian Connection

Otto IV and the Welf Interregnum

Frederick II

Romanesque and Gothic Art

In Perspective

CHAPTER 8 Medieval Society: Hierarchies, Towns, Universities, and Families (1000—1300)

The Traditional Order of Life

Nobles

Clergy

Peasants

Towns and Townspeople

The Chartering of Towns

The Rise of Merchants

Challenging the Old Lords

New Models of Government

Towns and Kings

Jews in Christian Society

Schools and Universities

University of Bologna

Cathedral Schools

University of Paris

The Curriculum

Philosophy and Theology

Women in Medieval Society

Image and Status

Life Choices

Working Women

The Lives of Children

Children as “Little Adults”

Children as a Special Stage

In Perspective

THE WEST AND THE WORLD: THE INVENTION OF PRINTING IN CHINA AND EUROPE

PART 3: EUROPE IN TRANSITION

CHAPTER 9 The Late  Middle Ages: Social and Political Breakdown (1300—1453)

The Black Death

Preconditions and Causes of the Plague

Popular Remedies

Social and Economic Consequences

New Conflicts and Opportunities

The Hundred Years’ War and the Rise of National Sentiment

The Causes of the War

Progress of the War

Ecclesiastical Breakdown and Revival: The Late Medieval Church

The Thirteenth-Century Papacy

Boniface VIII and Philip the Fair

The Avignon Papacy (1309—1377)

John Wycliffe and John Huss

The Great Schism (1378—1417) and the Conciliar Movement to 1449

Medieval Russia

Politics and Society

Mongol Rule (1243—1480)

In Perspective

CHAPTER 10 Renaissance and Discovery

The Renaissance in Italy (1375—1527)

The Italian City-State

Humanism

Renaissance Art

Slavery in the Renaissance

Italy’s Political Decline: The French Invasions (1494—1527)

Charles VIII’s March through Italy

Pope Alexander VI and the Borgia Family

Pope Julius II

Niccolò Machiavelli

Revival of Monarchy in Northern Europe

France

Spain

England

The Holy Roman Empire

The Northern Renaissance

The Printing Press

Erasmus

Humanism and Reform

Voyages of Discovery and the New Empires in the West and East

The Portuguese Chart the Course

The Spanish Voyages of Columbus

The Spanish Empire in the New World

The Church in Spanish America

The Economy of Exploitation

The Impact on Europe

In Perspective