Computerized Textile Mill

This photo demonstrates how much textile production has changed as a result of industrialization. In this modern textile mill, many machines whir busily in an initial stage of processing fiber into fabric. The process is almost entirely coordinated and controlled by computer, with a small staff of managers, inspectors, and technicians to ensure quality and efficiency.

Joan of Arc

At the age of 13, Joan of Arc convinced a board of theologians that she had a divine mission to save France during the 100 Years’ War with England. She led the French in several military victories over the English in 1429. When she led an unauthorized campaign the following year, she was tried and convicted of heresy for answering to God before the Roman Catholic church. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431, but after 25 years the church overturned the conviction and later canonized her.















At the age of 13, Joan of Arc convinced a board of theologians that she had a divine mission to save France during the 100 Years’ War with England. She led the French in several military victories over the English in 1429. When she led an unauthorized campaign the following year, she was tried and convicted of heresy for answering to God before the Roman Catholic church. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431, but after 25 years the church overturned the conviction and later canonized her.

Ice-Age Migration Routes

Humans are believed to have crossed into the Americas before the end of the last ice age, when a natural land bridge called Beringia linked present-day Siberia and Alaska. During the coldest part of the ice age, about 23,000 to 19,000 years ago, vast glaciers blanketed much of the northern hemisphere, making travel south toward what is now the continental United States virtually impossible. By about 14,000 years ago, as the climate warmed, a passable route opened along the Pacific Coast. Then, about 2,500 years later, an ice-free corridor opened in the contintental interior as the great ice sheets retreated. Some scientists believe both routes were used by early migrating peoples.

Constantine the Great

Constantine the Great was the first emperor of Rome to convert to Christianity. During his reign, Christians, previously persecuted, gained freedom of worship. He gave huge estates and other gifts to the Christian church. He established a capital in the eastern provinces, naming it Constantinople (now İstanbul, Turkey).

The First Crusade

In response to the announcement by Pope Urban II of a Crusade to the Holy Land in 1095, Christian forces from western Europe converged on Constantinople, where they united with Byzantine forces to attack Seljuk armies in Anatolia and Muslim armies in Syria and Palestine. By 1099 the Crusaders had achieved their goal—the capture of the city of Jerusalem. However, Christian territories acquired during the First Crusade were gradually lost over the next 200 years. Jerusalem was recaptured by Muslim forces in 1187, and the last Christian stonghold in the Holy Land fell in 1291.

Spanish Ships of Exploration

On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain, with three small Spanish sailing-ships, the Pinta, the Niña, and the Santa María, on a voyage that eventually led him to America. Small ships such as these were used by the Spanish and Portuguese in their explorations in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Effects of the Black Death

The Black Death, an epidemic of plague in Europe that lasted from 1347 to 1351, resulted in the deaths of almost one-quarter of Europe’s population. The Black Death was the first in a cycle of plagues in Europe that continued into the 18th century. Shown here, the French city of Marseille is devastated by a later outbreak of plague.

Jews Being Taken to Death Camps

As Nazi forces conquered many of the countries of Europe during World War II (1939-1945), millions of Jews were rounded up and slaughtered outright or imprisoned in concentration camps, where they were killed or died from starvation and disease. By the end of the war, between 5.6 million and 5.9 million Jewish men, women, and children had died at the hands of the Nazis.

Jewish Refugees Leave Germany

Nazi soldiers jeer as this Jewish family leaves Memel, Germany, en route to Lithuania on April 6, 1939.

Western Front, Aerial View

World War I became known for the trench warfare that characterized much of the fighting on the Western Front. In trench warfare, armies fought each other using field fortifications made up of parallel rows of trenches. In this aerial photo of the Western Front in 1916, no man’s land can be viewed between the two systems of trenches. Support trenches, the trenches that run behind the frontline trenches, can also be seen.

Napoleon Seizes Power

In the coup d'etat of November 9-10, 1799, Napoleon and his colleagues seized power and established a new regime in France—the Consulate. Under its constitution Napoleon, as first consul, had almost dictatorial powers. The constitution was revised in 1802 to make Napoleon consul for life and in 1804 to make him emperor.

Charlemagne

Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was among the greatest of military leaders in the Middle Ages. He conquered much of western and central Europe. As king, Charlemagne revived the political and cultural life that had disappeared with the fall of the Western Roman Empire four centuries before.

Mohandas Gandhi

Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi spent his life campaigning for human rights in India. His strategy was to use a combination of passive resistance to and noncooperation with the British, who ruled India. Gandhi said his techniques were inspired by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, by American writer Henry David Thoreau, and by the teachings of Jesus Christ. In 1947 Gandhi’s pacifist efforts brought an end to British rule in India.

Birth of Fascism

The Black Shirts were a paramilitary squad organized in Italy by dictator Benito Mussolini in 1919.

When the war ended in November 1918, Mussolini was at loose ends politically. His sympathies lay with the nation’s hundreds of thousands of war veterans, many unemployed and, most of all, disaffected with the liberal Italian state. With an eye on galvanizing their support, in March 1919 he founded a political movement called the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Italian Combat Leagues), whose members became known as Fascists. At first Mussolini organized young Fascists into armed squads in order to defend Fascist rallies. But soon these black-shirted squads were to attack and disrupt the rallies of rival political factions, especially the socialists. Mussolini thus introduced wartime tactics into peacetime politics.

In speeches and rallies Mussolini denounced inept politicians and incited nationalist fervor, hoping to seize the initiative from traditional opposition parties, notably the socialists. However, when Mussolini ran for parliament later that year—promising to replace the parliamentary monarchy with a republic, tax war profits, divide up the large estates for landless farmers, and grant women the vote—he failed miserably.

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was one of the most powerful dictators of the 20th century. His attempts to conquer territory for German Lebensraum (living space) brought about World War II (1939-1945). He caused the slaughter of millions of Jews, Sinti and Roma (Gypsies), Slavic peoples, and others in the name of racial purification.Bruce Coleman, Inc.