Historia universal: acontecimientos que cambiaron la historia y el mundo, parte I

In this course, we will study great individuals who have shaped events from ancient Babylonia to the Holy Roman Empire. Also, we will study the great ideas that propelled these historical events, from the idea of equality under the law to the vision of bringing new political, cultural, and economic order to the world. Topics, for instance, will include the histories of the classical civilizations of the Middle East, China, India, Greece, and Rome and the legacy of the ancient world, technology, science, and the Renaissance. 
The course rests on the conviction that history is made by great individuals, great ideas, and great events and gives equal attention to politics, culture, religion, economics, and society. However, this course also departs from traditional European and nation-centered perspectives and instead focuses on how world history relies on the diversity of various peoples and how these peoples and their various racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds shaped the global past. 

We will focus our attention, for example, on the following questions during the course:

1. Does monotheism represent an evolutionary advance over polytheism? 
2. What similarities are between Christianity and Buddhism?
3. What does Marathon tell us about preemptive wars? 
4. Does the Roman economic crisis have any lesson for us today?
5. Why did the Romans persecute the Christians?
6. What are the the purposes of a university?
7. Did microbes change history?
8. Can Columbus be called a great explorer? 
9. Is Michelangelo the greatest artist of all time? 
10. Do great men and women make history or does history make them?

Lesson 1: Hammurabi and the Code of Law (1750 BCE)
Lesson 2: Moses and Monotheism (1220 BCE)
Lesson 3: Buddha (526 BCE)
Lesson 4: Confucius (553-479 BCE)
Lesson 5: Solon and Democracy (594 BCE)
Lesson 6: The Battle of Marathon (490 BCE)
Lesson 7: Caesar and the Rubicon (49 BCE)
Lesson 8: Jesus (36)
Lesson 9: Muhammad (622)
Lesson 10: University in Bologna (1088) 
Lesson 11: Black Death (1348)
Lesson 12: Columbus and a New World (1492)
Lesson 13: Michelangelo and His Work (1508)
Lesson 14: Erasmus and His Writing (1516)
Lesson 15: Luther's Reformation (1517)