Making History

When the Mediterranean Became a Desert - On the Messinian Event

A little over five million years ago, something terrible happened to the Mediterranean Sea. Global climate changes led to the blocking of the Strait of Gibraltar, and water from the Atlantic Ocean could no longer replace the water that evaporated from the Mediterranean basin. Within less than a thousand years, the wide sea dried up and disappeared - and its place was taken by a desert so hot, salty and desolate that our Dead Sea looks, in comparison, like a pleasant desert oasis... Five million years later, a German architect named Herman Sörgel decided to try to dry out the Mediterranean again - but this time intentionally. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

The Fall of the Roman Empire, Part 3 (Final)

Rome of the fourth century was no longer the same great Rome of the first and second centuries: decades of civil wars, inheritance struggles and inflationary crises had greatly weakened the mighty empire. It seemed that one decent push was enough to bring Rome to its knees again - and in the year 370 CE, this push came from an unexpected source. Hunnic tribes that migrated from the Asian steppes to Europe led to the mass flight of Germanic tribes seeking refuge within the empire's borders. A bloody battle that took place near the city of Adrianople marked the beginning of the end for the Roman Empire. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

The Fall of the Roman Empire, Part 2

The assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander by his soldiers in the year 235 CE marked the complete breakdown of the inheritance mechanism of the Roman Empire, and was the opening shot for fifty years of chaos known as 'The Crisis of the Third Century.' At the end of the crisis, Rome was fragmented and divided - and only a series of tough emperors and harsh, painful reforms was able to return the sick empire to functioning, even the most basic. The price of this stability was paid by the citizens of the empire themselves. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

The Fall of the Roman Empire, Part 1

One thousand and five years after it disappeared - the Roman Empire is still around us, almost everywhere in the Mediterranean basin and in Europe: both in impressive remains and antiquities, and in the cultural heritage it left behind. Rome prospered and flourished for an amazingly long period - hundreds of years - a fact that suggests it had solid foundations to rely on. But if so - what crumbled these solid foundations? What led to the fall of the greatest and most glorious empire the world has ever known? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

The History of File Sharing Software part 1

Napster was a groundbreaking file sharing software written in a single 60-hour programming marathon – and from the moment it emerged into the world, it stood at the center of a brutal and unprecedented legal attack. How did Napster's founders hope to evade the terror of the courtroom, and what role did Metallica play in this whole story? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].