While France wielded several advantages over England during the Hundred Years’ War, the strength of the French military cannot be counted as one of them. In fact, when it came to overall strength, the English military was by far more superior, especially in terms of both their level of training and their weaponry (English archers were known for their keen use of the treacherous longbow). By contrast, the French army, although larger – which reflected the overall greater size of the French population – was not nearly as well trained as their English counterparts. However, the French government was much richer than their English foes, which helped them to be able to procure more replacements (of both men and weapons) after every English victory, while the English army had a more difficult time finding replacement weapons and fighting men. Perhaps most crucially, France possessed the defensive advantage – because most of the fighting ended up occurring on French lands, the French soldiers were automatically able to benefit from their knowledge of the terrain and the support of the local peasant population. The English army, meanwhile, was forced to navigate across unfamiliar territory, coming up against obstacles put in their way by both nature and the local populace. Lastly, French morale received a substantial boost from the inspiration presence, speeches, and military engagement of the famous Joan of Arc. The so-called Maid of Orleans, with her courageous fighting spirit, encouraged the French people to fight onward, even after devastating defeats.

Pope Urban II was Pope from 1088 to 1099. He is most frequently remembered for initiating the First Crusade, which led to the temporary conquest of Jerusalem by the forces of Christendom and led to centuries of conflict between Christian Europe and the Islamic world.

In 1096 C.E., Pope Urban launched the First Crusade in order to take back control of Jerusalem from the Seljuk Turks. The many crusades that followed all professed a desire for Christian control of the Holy Land, a place that both Christians and Muslims saw as an essential part of their religious identity. Although a Latin Empire was established in Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, this development ultimately distracted from the crusaders' goals and deepened the schism between the two Christian churches. While the most positive result of the Crusades was arguably the European rediscovery of ancient ideas, this development was also unintended.

Joan of Arc was poor peasant girl who lived in France in the fifteenth century. She was instrumental in aiding French victory over the English in the Hundred Years’ War.

Most of the so-called Crusader States (sometimes also called Latin States) were created in the aftermath of the First Crusade. They were generally small, militarized kingdoms located on the Mediterranean coast of the Middle East. They gradually declined or were conquered by the forces of Islam, however, and the last Crusader State was abandoned by the Europeans towards the end of the Thirteenth Century.

Beginning in the tenth century, the Abbasid Caliphate experienced a steady decline in power. Throughout the tenth century, they lost territory due to nomadic invaders and the chaos caused by Sunni-Shiite divisions. In the eleventh century, the Abbasid capital, Baghdad, was captured by the Seljuk Turks. Although the Seljuk Turks allowed the caliph to continue ruling in a limited capacity, the Abbasid Caliphate would never again rule with any real authority.

The Greco-Persian wars were fought between the Greek city states and the The Achaemenid Empire of Persia in the 400s BCE. The wars began after Cyrus the Great conquered Ionia. Eventually, the Greeks overcame the Persians, with the result of renewed independence of the previously conquered areas.

Islam emerged in Arabia in the early seventh century and practically exploded onto the world stage. Within a century of the death of the Prophet Muhammad, Islamic territory stretched from Spain, all the way across North Africa and the Middle East, to as far east as modern-day Pakistan.

The Song Dynasty was conquered by the Mongols during the second-half of the thirteenth century. The Mongols, led by Kublai Khan, established the Yuan Dynasty in China.

The Battle of Tours occurred on 10 October 732 CE near Poitiers, France cementing Christianity's influence on Europe by stopping the Moorish Muslim invaders. With great military might the Umayyed caliph quickly conquered North Africa and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar conquering the Iberian Peninsula from the Christian Visigoths. Expanding eastward, they were stopped by a Frankish army led by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours, stopping the advancement of Islam into mainland Europe.