0:00:01.180,0:00:04.370
Hi there my name’s John Green; this is Crash[br]Course World History and today we’re going

0:00:04.370,0:00:08.500
to talk about the Dark Ages,[br]possibly the most egregious Eurocentrism in

0:00:08.500,0:00:09.460
all of history,

0:00:09.460,0:00:10.900
which is really saying something.

0:00:10.900,0:00:15.310
(We’re Europe! The Prime Meridian Runs Through[br]us; We’re in the Middle of Every Map; and

0:00:15.310,0:00:18.730
We Get To Be a Continent Even Though Were[br]Not a Continent.)

0:00:18.730,0:00:20.530
But let’s begin today with a pop quiz:

0:00:20.530,0:00:24.240
What was the best year of your life, and what[br]was the worst year?

0:00:24.240,0:00:27.930
Mr. Green, Mr. Green: Best 1994, Worst 1990.

0:00:27.930,0:00:32.640
Oh, me from the past. It gets so much better,[br]and also so much worse.

0:00:32.640,0:00:36.500
For worst year I’m gonna go with 2001; best[br]year 2006.

0:00:36.500,0:00:40.640
Alright now it’s your turn, dear pupils:[br]share your best and worst years in comments

0:00:40.640,0:00:41.780
during the intro.

0:00:41.780,0:00:43.180
[music intro]

0:00:43.180,0:00:44.570
[music intro]

0:00:44.570,0:00:45.969
[music intro]

0:00:45.969,0:00:47.370
[music intro]

0:00:47.370,0:00:48.760
[music intro]

0:00:48.760,0:00:50.160
[music intro]

0:00:50.160,0:00:54.120
Right, so what you will quickly find is that[br]your worst year was someone else’s best

0:00:54.120,0:00:54.489
year.

0:00:54.489,0:00:55.829
So, too, with history.

0:00:55.829,0:01:00.039
The period between 600 and 1450 CE is often[br]called the Middle Ages in Europe because it

0:01:00.039,0:01:04.030
came between the Roman Empire—assuming you[br]forget the Byzantines—and the beginning

0:01:04.030,0:01:04.920
of the Modern Age.

0:01:04.920,0:01:08.750
And it’s sometimes called the Dark Ages,[br]because it was purportedly unenlightened.

0:01:08.750,0:01:11.490
But was the age so dark?

0:01:11.490,0:01:12.890
Depends on what you find depressing.

0:01:12.890,0:01:17.340
If you like cities and great poetry, then[br]the Dark Ages were indeed pretty dark in Europe.

0:01:17.340,0:01:22.659
But if like me your two favorite things are[br]Not Dying From Wars and not dying from anything

0:01:22.659,0:01:22.970
else,

0:01:22.970,0:01:25.170
the Dark Ages actually weren’t that bad—

0:01:25.170,0:01:28.060
at least until the plague came in the 14th[br]century.

0:01:28.060,0:01:29.150
And meanwhile, outside of Europe,

0:01:29.150,0:01:33.939
the Dark Ages were truly an Age of Enlightenment.But[br]we’ll get boring Europe out of the way first.

0:01:33.939,0:01:35.259
Let’s go to the Thought Bubble.

0:01:35.259,0:01:39.420
Medieval Europe had less trade, fewer cities,[br]and less cultural output than the Original

0:01:39.420,0:01:40.590
Roman Empire.

0:01:40.590,0:01:45.119
London and Paris were fetid firetraps with[br]none of the planning of sewage management

0:01:45.119,0:01:50.170
of places 5,000 years older like Mohenjo Daro[br]in the Indus Valley Civilization,

0:01:50.170,0:01:51.170
let alone Rome.

0:01:51.170,0:01:52.640
But with fewer powerful governments,

0:01:52.640,0:01:57.509
wars were at least smaller, which is one reason[br]why Europeans living in Medieval Times—

0:01:57.509,0:02:00.920
Uhh THOUGHT BUBBLE I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO[br]DO THAT.

0:02:00.920,0:02:04.479
Anyway, people in Medieval Times lived slightly[br]longer—

0:02:04.479,0:02:06.040
life expectancy was 30—

0:02:06.040,0:02:08.310
than Europeans during the Roman Empire—

0:02:08.310,0:02:10.279
when life expectancy was 28.

0:02:10.279,0:02:11.540
Instead of centralized governments,

0:02:11.540,0:02:15.900
Europe in the middle ages had feudalism, a[br]political system based on reciprocal relationships

0:02:15.900,0:02:19.109
between lords, who owned lots of land, and[br]vassals,

0:02:19.109,0:02:22.909
who protected the land and got to dress up[br]as knights in exchange for pledging loyalty

0:02:22.909,0:02:23.819
to the lords.

0:02:23.819,0:02:26.189
The lords were also vassals to more important[br]lords,

0:02:26.189,0:02:28.669
with the most important of all being the king.

0:02:28.669,0:02:30.239
Below the knights were peasants

0:02:30.239,0:02:35.769
who did the actual work on the land in exchange[br]for protection from bandits and other threats.

0:02:35.769,0:02:37.879
Feudalism was also an economic system,

0:02:37.879,0:02:41.969
with the peasants working the land and keeping[br]some of their production to feed themselves

0:02:41.969,0:02:44.939
while giving the rest to the landowner whose[br]land they worked.

0:02:44.939,0:02:48.919
The small scale, local nature of the feudal[br]system was perfect for a time and place where

0:02:48.919,0:02:52.359
the threats to peoples’ safety were also[br]small scale and local.

0:02:52.359,0:02:53.549
But of course,

0:02:53.549,0:02:55.579
this system reinforces the status quo –

0:02:55.579,0:02:59.709
there’s little freedom and absolutely no[br]social mobility:

0:02:59.709,0:03:02.010
Peasants could never work their way up to[br]lords,

0:03:02.010,0:03:03.519
and they almost never left their villages.

0:03:03.519,0:03:04.480
Thanks, Thought Bubble.

0:03:04.480,0:03:07.219
One more point that’s very interesting from[br]a world history perspective:

0:03:07.219,0:03:12.719
this devolution from empire to localism has[br]happened in lots of places at lots of different

0:03:12.719,0:03:13.059
times.

0:03:13.059,0:03:14.819
And in times of extreme political stress,

0:03:14.819,0:03:17.620
like after the fall of the Han dynasty in[br]China,

0:03:17.620,0:03:22.109
power tends to flow into the hands of local[br]lords who can protect the peasants better

0:03:22.109,0:03:23.239
than the state can.

0:03:23.239,0:03:27.139
We hear about this a lot in Chinese history[br]and also in contemporary Afghanistan,

0:03:27.139,0:03:32.359
but instead of being called feudal lords,[br]these landlords are called warlords.

0:03:32.359,0:03:33.930
Eurocentrism striking again.

0:03:33.930,0:03:35.489
The other reason the Dark Ages are called[br]Dark

0:03:35.489,0:03:37.790
is because Europe was dominated by superstition

0:03:37.790,0:03:42.309
and by boring religious debates about like[br]how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.

0:03:42.309,0:03:43.249
And while there’s something to that,

0:03:43.249,0:03:46.180
the Middle Ages also saw theologians like[br]Thomas Aquinas,

0:03:46.180,0:03:48.629
who was quite an important philosopher,

0:03:48.629,0:03:49.749
And women like Hildegard of Bilgen,

0:03:49.749,0:03:54.119
who wrote all this important liturgical music[br]and also basically invented the genre of the

0:03:54.119,0:03:55.189
morality play.

0:03:55.189,0:03:55.799
All that noted,

0:03:55.799,0:03:58.180
things were certainly brighter in the Islamic[br]world,

0:03:58.180,0:03:59.449
or Dar al Islam.

0:03:59.449,0:04:00.819
So when we last left the Muslims,

0:04:00.819,0:04:04.969
they had expanded out of their homeland in[br]Arabia and conquered the rich Egyptian provinces

0:04:04.969,0:04:07.799
of the Byzantines and the entire Sassanian[br]empire,

0:04:07.799,0:04:09.459
all in the space of about 100 years.

0:04:09.459,0:04:14.119
The Umayyad Dynasty then expanded the empire[br]west to Spain and moved the capital to Damascus,

0:04:14.119,0:04:16.359
because it was closer to the action, empire-wise

0:04:16.359,0:04:18.229
but still in Arabia.

0:04:18.229,0:04:19.609
That was really important to the Umayyads

0:04:19.609,0:04:22.569
because they’d established this hierarchy[br]in the empire with Arabs like themselves at

0:04:22.569,0:04:23.479
the top and in fact

0:04:23.479,0:04:28.129
they tried to keep Arabs from fraternizing[br]with non-Arab muslims throughout the Empire.

0:04:28.129,0:04:29.830
This of course annoyed the non-Arab Muslims,

0:04:29.830,0:04:30.289
who were like,

0:04:30.289,0:04:33.590
“I don’t know if you’re reading the[br]same Quran we are, but this one says that

0:04:33.590,0:04:34.830
we’re all supposed to be equal.”

0:04:34.830,0:04:37.370
And pretty quickly the majority of Muslims[br]weren’t Arabs,

0:04:37.370,0:04:39.939
which made it pretty easy for them to overthrow[br]the Umayyads,

0:04:39.939,0:04:41.669
which they did in 750 CE.

0:04:41.669,0:04:43.720
Their replacements, the Abb(ah)sids, Abb(uh)sids?

0:04:43.720,0:04:44.419
Hold On...

0:04:44.419,0:04:46.860
D’ahh, I’m right twice!

0:04:46.860,0:04:47.470
Right,

0:04:47.470,0:04:50.770
so the Abbasids were from the Abb(ah)si or[br]the Abb(uh)-see family

0:04:50.770,0:04:55.610
which hailed from the Eastern and therefore[br]more Persian provinces of the Islamic Empire.

0:04:55.610,0:04:59.169
The Abbasids took over in 750 and no one could[br]fully defeat them—

0:04:59.169,0:05:01.819
until 1258, when they were conquered by—

0:05:01.819,0:05:03.060
wait for it—

0:05:03.060,0:05:06.560
the Mongols.

0:05:06.560,0:05:08.680
The Abbasids kept the idea of a hereditary[br]monarchy,

0:05:08.680,0:05:11.110
but they moved the capital of the empire to[br]Baghdad,

0:05:11.110,0:05:15.150
and they were much more welcoming of other[br]non-Arab Muslims into positions of power.

0:05:15.150,0:05:16.060
And under the Abbasids,

0:05:16.060,0:05:20.229
the Dar al Islam took on a distinctly Persian[br]cast that it never really lost.

0:05:20.229,0:05:22.389
The Caliph now styled himself as a king of[br]kings,

0:05:22.389,0:05:23.789
just like the Achaemenids had,

0:05:23.789,0:05:26.830
and pretty soon the caliph’s rule was a[br]lot more indirect,

0:05:26.830,0:05:28.409
just like the original Persians’.

0:05:28.409,0:05:30.229
This meant that his control was much weaker,

0:05:30.229,0:05:35.030
and by about 1000CE , the Islamic Caliphate[br]which looks so incredibly impressive on a

0:05:35.030,0:05:38.620
map had really descended into a series of[br]smaller kingdoms,

0:05:38.620,0:05:41.259
each paying lip-service to the caliph in Baghdad.

0:05:41.259,0:05:44.879
This was partly because the Islamic Empire[br]relied more and more on soldiers from the

0:05:44.879,0:05:45.379
frontier,

0:05:45.379,0:05:46.550
in this case Turks,

0:05:46.550,0:05:50.770
and also slaves pressed into military service,[br]in order to be the backbone of their army,

0:05:50.770,0:05:56.310
a strategy that has been tried over and over[br]again and has worked exactly zero times.

0:05:56.310,0:05:59.030
Which you should remember if you ever become[br]an emperor.

0:05:59.030,0:06:02.340
Actually our resident historian points out[br]that that strategy has worked--

0:06:02.340,0:06:05.749
if you are the Mongols.

0:06:05.749,0:06:08.689
More important than the Persian-style monarchy[br]that the Abbasids tried to set up was their

0:06:08.689,0:06:11.430
openness to foreigners and their ideas.

0:06:11.430,0:06:15.599
That tolerance and curiosity ushered in a[br]golden age of Islamic learning centered in

0:06:15.599,0:06:16.210
Baghdad.

0:06:16.210,0:06:20.520
The Abbasids oversaw an efflorescence of culture[br]unlike anything that had been seen since Hellenistic

0:06:20.520,0:06:21.270
times.

0:06:21.270,0:06:24.229
Arabic replaced Greek not only as the language[br]of commerce and religion,

0:06:24.229,0:06:25.490
but also of culture.

0:06:25.490,0:06:28.620
Philosophy, medicine, and poetry were all[br]written in Arabic

0:06:28.620,0:06:31.240
(although Persian remained an important literary[br]language.)

0:06:31.240,0:06:36.650
And Baghdad was the world’s center of scholarship[br]with its House of Wisdom and immense library.

0:06:36.650,0:06:40.150
Muslim scholars translated the works of the[br]Greek Philosophers including Aristotle and

0:06:40.150,0:06:40.520
Plato

0:06:40.520,0:06:43.389
as well as scientific works by Hippocrates,[br]Archimedes

0:06:43.389,0:06:45.280
and especially the physician Galen.

0:06:45.280,0:06:48.460
And they translated and preserved Buddhist[br]and Hindu manuscripts that might have otherwise

0:06:48.460,0:06:49.479
been lost.

0:06:49.479,0:06:51.460
Muslims made huge strides in medicine as well.

0:06:51.460,0:06:54.449
One Muslim scholar ibn Sina, wrote the Canon[br]of Medicine,

0:06:54.449,0:06:58.279
which became the standard medical textbook[br]or centuries in both Europe and the Middle

0:06:58.279,0:06:58.840
East.

0:06:58.840,0:07:01.360
And the Islamic empire adopted mathematical[br]concepts from India

0:07:01.360,0:07:04.279
such as the zero, a number so fascinating[br]and beautiful

0:07:04.279,0:07:06.789
that we could write an entire episode about[br]it but instead

0:07:06.789,0:07:08.939
I’m just gonna write it a little love poem:

0:07:08.939,0:07:10.039
Oh, zero.

0:07:10.039,0:07:11.249
Pretty little zero.

0:07:11.249,0:07:14.779
They say you’re nothing but you mean everything[br]to mathematical history

0:07:14.779,0:07:15.889
....and me.

0:07:15.889,0:07:17.919
Oh it’s time for the Open Letter?

0:07:17.919,0:07:21.779
[Scoots to chartreuse throne of pure velvety[br]awesomeness]

0:07:21.779,0:07:23.710
An Open Letter to Science and Religion:

0:07:23.710,0:07:26.099
But first lets see what’s in the Secret[br]Compartment.

0:07:26.099,0:07:27.620
Oh, champagne poppers?

0:07:27.620,0:07:30.409
Stan, what am I supposed to do with these?

0:07:30.409,0:07:31.610
Dear Science and Religion,

0:07:31.610,0:07:33.879
You’re supposed to be so irreconcilable[br]and everything,

0:07:33.879,0:07:35.360
but not so much in the Abbasid Empire.

0:07:35.360,0:07:36.060
I mean,

0:07:36.060,0:07:38.099
Muslim mathematicians expanded math to such[br]a degree

0:07:38.099,0:07:40.469
that we now call the base ten number system

0:07:40.469,0:07:43.629
and the symbols we use to denote it “Arabic[br]numerals.”

0:07:43.629,0:07:46.590
And religion was at least part of what pushed[br]all that learning forward.

0:07:46.590,0:07:48.449
Like the great philosopher Ibn Rushd argued[br]that

0:07:48.449,0:07:52.379
the only path to religious enlightenment was[br]through Aristotelian reasoning.

0:07:52.379,0:07:54.680
And Muslim mathematicians and astronomers[br]developed algebra

0:07:54.680,0:07:57.449
partly so they could simplify Islamic inheritance[br]law.

0:07:57.449,0:07:59.400
Plus they made important strides in trigonometry

0:07:59.400,0:08:01.330
so that people understand where to turn

0:08:01.330,0:08:03.169
when trying to turn toward Mecca.

0:08:03.169,0:08:05.460
You were working so well together, science[br]and religion,

0:08:05.460,0:08:10.059
but then like Al and Tipper Gore, just couldn’t[br]last forever.

0:08:10.059,0:08:13.860
Nothing gold can stay in this world, nothing[br]gold can stay.

0:08:13.860,0:08:15.210
Best wishes,[br]John Green

0:08:15.210,0:08:17.740
Baghdad wasn’t the only center of learning[br]in the Islamic world.

0:08:17.740,0:08:20.860
In Spain, Islamic Cordoba became a center[br]for the arts,

0:08:20.860,0:08:22.050
especially architecture.

0:08:22.050,0:08:24.930
This is perhaps best exemplified by the Great[br]Mosque at Cordoba,

0:08:24.930,0:08:29.590
built by the Umayyad ruler Abd al-Rahman I[br]In 785-786 CE.

0:08:29.590,0:08:31.430
That’s right, this building,

0:08:31.430,0:08:34.870
still standing today and one of the most amazing[br]mosques in the world,

0:08:34.870,0:08:36.389
was built in a year,

0:08:36.389,0:08:38.279
whereas medieval cathedrals typically took,[br]like,

0:08:38.279,0:08:39.699
a million years to finish.

0:08:39.699,0:08:42.620
The Muslims of Spain were also engineers who[br]rivaled the Romans.

0:08:42.620,0:08:45.949
Aqueducts in Cordoba brought drinkable water[br]into the city,

0:08:45.949,0:08:49.070
and Muslim scholars took the lead in agricultural[br]science,

0:08:49.070,0:08:51.589
improving yields on all kinds of new crops,

0:08:51.589,0:08:54.880
allowing Spanish lives to be longer and less[br]hungry.

0:08:54.880,0:08:56.220
Everybody wanted to live in Spain,

0:08:56.220,0:08:58.620
even the greatest Jewish philosopher, Maimonides,

0:08:58.620,0:09:01.160
wanted to live in Spain, but sadly he was[br]expelled

0:09:01.160,0:09:03.410
and ended up in Alexandria Egypt.

0:09:03.410,0:09:05.779
There he wrote his awesomely titled defense[br]of rationality,

0:09:05.779,0:09:07.240
A Guide for the Perplexed.

0:09:07.240,0:09:10.980
I’m translating the title, of course, because[br]the original text was written

0:09:10.980,0:09:12.199
…in Arabic.

0:09:12.199,0:09:14.630
Meanwhile, China was having a Golden Age of[br]its own:

0:09:14.630,0:09:18.110
The Tang Dynasty made China’s government[br]more of a meritocracy,

0:09:18.110,0:09:22.490
and ruled over 80 million people across four[br]million square miles.

0:09:22.490,0:09:24.360
And they might’ve conquered all of Central[br]Asia

0:09:24.360,0:09:26.610
had it not been for the Abbasids, whom they[br]fought at

0:09:26.610,0:09:28.470
the most important Battle You’ve Never Heard[br]Of,

0:09:28.470,0:09:29.899
the Battle of the Talas River.

0:09:29.899,0:09:32.250
This was the Ali-Frasier of the 8th century.

0:09:32.250,0:09:36.839
The Abbasids won, which ended up defining[br]who had influence where with the --

0:09:36.839,0:09:41.350
with the Abbasids dominating to the west of[br]the river and China dominating to the east.

0:09:41.350,0:09:45.019
The Tang also produced incredible art that[br]was traded all throughout Asia.

0:09:45.019,0:09:48.630
Many of the more famous sculptures from the[br]Tang Dynasty feature figures who are distinctly

0:09:48.630,0:09:50.029
not-Chinese,

0:09:50.029,0:09:52.519
which again demonstrates the diversity of[br]the empire.

0:09:52.519,0:09:54.899
The Tang was also a golden age for Chinese[br]poetry

0:09:54.899,0:09:58.279
with notables like Du Fu and Li Bo plying[br]their craft,

0:09:58.279,0:09:59.959
encouraged by the official government.

0:09:59.959,0:10:02.980
And the Song Dynasty, which lasted from 960[br]to 1258,

0:10:02.980,0:10:05.899
kicked even more ass-it’s-not-cursing-if-you’re-talking-about-donkeys.

0:10:05.899,0:10:07.170
By the 11th century,

0:10:07.170,0:10:09.190
Chinese metalworkers were producing as much[br]iron

0:10:09.190,0:10:11.699
as Europe would be able to produce in the[br]18th century.

0:10:11.699,0:10:14.060
Some of this iron was put to use in new plows,

0:10:14.060,0:10:15.660
which enabled agriculture to boom,

0:10:15.660,0:10:17.370
thereby supporting population growth.

0:10:17.370,0:10:20.279
Porcelain was of such high quality that it[br]was shipped throughout the world,

0:10:20.279,0:10:22.060
which is why we call it “china.”

0:10:22.060,0:10:25.720
And there was so much trade going on that[br]the Chinese ran out of metal for coins,

0:10:25.720,0:10:27.269
leading to another innovation–

0:10:27.269,0:10:28.040
paper money.

0:10:28.040,0:10:30.750
And by the 11th century, the Chinese were[br]writing down recipes for

0:10:30.750,0:10:33.620
a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal,

0:10:33.620,0:10:34.959
that we now know as gunpowder.

0:10:34.959,0:10:36.690
That becomes kind of a big deal in history,

0:10:36.690,0:10:38.079
paving the way, as it does,

0:10:38.079,0:10:41.810
for modern warfare and arena rock pyrotechnics,[br]and—

0:10:41.810,0:10:43.279
ohhhh, THAT’S WHY.

0:10:43.279,0:10:49.160
[Pulls Champagne popper along with a mysterious[br]lady hand from behind chalkboard.]

0:10:49.160,0:10:50.279
Not so dark after all.

0:10:50.279,0:10:53.160
Thanks for watching. We’ll see you next[br]week.

0:10:53.160,0:10:55.240
Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan[br]Muller,

0:10:55.240,0:10:57.019
our script supervisor is Danica Johnson. [bazinga!]

0:10:57.019,0:10:58.680
The graphics team is ThoughtBubble,

0:10:58.680,0:11:02.470
and show is written by my high school history[br]teacher Raoul Meyer and myself.

0:11:02.470,0:11:04.160
Last week’s Phrase of the Week[br]was also good advice:

0:11:04.160,0:11:04.940
Quit Smoking!

0:11:04.940,0:11:08.120
If you want to suggest future Phrases of the[br]Week or guess at this week’s, you can do

0:11:08.120,0:11:08.860
so in comments

0:11:08.860,0:11:12.529
where you can also ask questions about today’s[br]video that will be answered by our team of

0:11:12.529,0:11:13.029
historians.

0:11:13.029,0:11:13.690
If you liked today’s video

0:11:13.690,0:11:14.779
please click the thumb’s up button.

0:11:14.779,0:11:18.139
You can also follow us on Twitter @thecrashcourse[br]or on Facebook.

0:11:18.139,0:11:20.209
There are links in the video info.

0:11:20.209,0:11:21.449
Our writer and historian, Raoul Mayer,

0:11:21.449,0:11:25.829
also tweets awesome Crash Course pop quizzes,[br]so there’s a link to follow him as well,

0:11:25.829,0:11:27.430
and me, you know,

0:11:27.430,0:11:29.399
because I’m a narcissist.

0:11:29.399,0:11:30.389
[music outro]

0:11:30.389,0:11:40.850
We get to be a continent,

0:11:40.850,0:11:54.009
even though we're not a continent...

0:11:54.009,0:11:54.529
[music outro]

0:11:54.529,0:11:56.079
We get to be a continent,

0:11:56.079,0:11:57.630
even though we're not a continent...

0:11:57.630,0:11:58.149
[music outro]

0:11:58.149,0:11:59.699
We get to be a continent,

0:11:59.699,9:59:59.000
even though we're not a continent...