The Roman Empire in the West collapsed as a political entity in the fifth century although the Eastern part survived the crisis.. Professor Freedman considers this transformation through three main questions: Why did the West fall apart – because of the external pressure of invasions or the internal problems of institutional decline? Who were these invading barbarians? Finally, does this transformation mark a gradual shift or is it right to regard it as a cataclysmic end of civilization? Professor Freedman, as a moderate catastrophist, argues that this period marked the end of a particular civilization rather than the end of civilization in general.

1. Course Introduction: Rome's Greatness and First Crises
2. The Crisis of the Third Century and the Diocletianic Reforms
3. Constantine and the Early Church
4. The Christian Roman Empire
5. St. Augustine's Confessions
6. Transformation of the Roman Empire
7. Barbarian Kingdoms
8. Survival in the East
9. The Reign of Justinian
10. Clovis and the Franks
11. Frankish Society
12. Britain and Ireland
13. Monasticism
14. Mohammed and the Arab Conquests
15. Islamic Conquests and Civil War
16. The Splendor of the Abbasid Period
17. The Crucial Seventh Century
18. The Splendor of Byzantium
19. Charlemagne
20. Intellectuals and the Court of Charlemagne
21. Crisis of the Carolingians
22. Vikings / The European Prospect, 1000

Major developments in the political, social, and religious history of Western Europe from the accession of Diocletian to the feudal transformation. Topics include the conversion of Europe to Christianity, the fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Islam and the Arabs, the "Dark Ages," Charlemagne and the Carolingian renaissance, and the Viking and Hungarian invasions.

Original Course Name: HIST 210: The Early Middle Ages, 284–1000.