Chapter 16 sequence

Like the classical period, the medieval period began with various invasions—the former by the Dorians, Aryans, and Zhou Chinese, and the latter by the Germans, Huns, and Turks. of.Unlike the classical period, however, the centuries of the Middle Ages ended with similar, continuous aggressions; these aggressions spread virtually across Eurasia. At the beginning of the 7th century, the invasion of Islamic warriors not only occupied the entire Middle East region where they originated, but also eventually occupied North Africa, Spain, the Balkan Peninsula, India, Southeast Asia and most of Central Asia.The Turks and Mongols conquered a wider area. In the 500 years from 1000 to 1500, they occupied most of the Eurasian continent from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

These colossal conquests, for all their ferocity and scale, did not destroy civilization in much of Eurasia, as did the pre-Dorian, Aryan, and Zhou Chinese invasions.By the Middle Ages, civilizations in most areas had become entrenched and difficult to eradicate, so traditional civilizations survived everywhere.For example, in China, the Ming Dynasty of the Han nationality replaced the Yuan Dynasty of the Mongol nationality, and the whole country completely returned to the old way.In the vast Muslim world, the respective traditions of the indigenous Greco-Romans, Iranians, Semites, and Egyptians, instead of being annihilated, merged into a comprehensive Islamic civilization.Similarly, the Eastern Roman Empire continued to exist under the name of the Byzantine Empire for a full 1,000 years.Therefore, until modern times, its residents still call themselves "Romans".

As mentioned in the previous chapter, the West is an exception to this general pattern.In the West, and only in the West, the classical civilization that once prevailed was uprooted.Thus the West alone cleared the way for the formation of a new civilization which, unlike the traditional civilizations of the rest of Eurasia, developed freely along entirely new paths. It is this uniqueness of the West that enables the West to develop its economic power, promote technological progress, and generate social motivation to expand overseas and control the world's sea routes.This momentous development marked the end of medieval history.However, it should be pointed out that, unlike the ancient and classical periods, the medieval period ended not with the land aggression of the Eurasian nomads, but with the Western sea adventures.The overseas activities of Western explorers, businessmen, missionaries and immigrants marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modern times, and the transition of world history from the Eurasian regional stage to the global stage.