After you've read each chapter, you should be able to do the following:
- Describe factors contributing to the rapid rise of the Arab peoples and spread
of Islam as a political and religious force;
- Distinguish Byzantine political, religious, and cultural developments from
their Roman predecessors;
- Evaluate the role of religious, ethnic, and regional differences in the rise of early medieval civilizations;
- Assess the successes and failures of the Frankish and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms;
- Analyze the rise and fall of the Carolingian Empire;
- Compare and contrast the political, economic, and social traditions of the
Islamic, Byzantine, and Western worlds.
