World History A Unit 5 Essay

Unit Essay: An Age of Conflict

In order to get credit for this project you must write a well-developed essay on the following topic:

An Age of Conflict

The Middle Ages is usually considered to be the era between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance, about AD 500 to 1300. This era witnessed its share of conflict: conflict between Muslims and Christians, invasions of groups like the Vikings, and the brutal establishment of the Mongolian Empire. The frequency of conflict was one of the reasons historians often dubbed the Middle Ages the "Dark Ages"; The truth about the Middle Ages is not so simple, though, and most modern scholars of the era insist that progress and development was made through each step of the Middle Ages and these scholars refuse to use the term "Dark Ages". Now that you have learned about the Middle Ages in your lessons for this unit, you must write an essay of no less than 600 words that describes three major conflicts of this era and explains the progress or development that occurred during or perhaps because of the conflicts. 

Some possible conflicts that you may choose but are not limited to:

Battle of Tours/Umayyad Conquest of Iberia

Viking Invasions of Europe

Norman Conquest of England

The Crusades/Struggles with the Ottoman Empire

Mongol Empire

The Hundred Years War

King John "Softsword" signing the Magna Carta, 1215