History for Kids

this is so cool history for kids we are going to learn some fascinating things about the past and we're gonna start off with this ancient Rome let's start here Rome is a city that is in Italy here is the flag of Italy the Italian flag you could see where Rome is on the map of Italy you can visit Rome today it's an amazing place one of the things that make it so amazing is the rich history of the city see Rome was formed in the 8th century BC it was a long time ago a really really long time ago Rome is a very old city according to legend Rome was founded by a guy named Romulus in 753 BC as you might have guessed Rome got its name from Romulus it's a cool name you don't hear that very often Romulus no here's the thing though many historians believe there were numerous farm communities in the Seven Hills near Rome and that they joined together to form the city wait that means there may have never been a Romulus here is a coin with Romulus and his brother Remus his brother might be pretend to protect people possibly possibly if Romulus was real though he must have been a really smart guy because the location of Rome was perfect first Rome was right along the Tiber River now why would that be important well the Tiber River meant Rome had access to water and water made life and civilization possible you could see where the Tiber River is and where Rome is on this map here is a picture of the Tiber River today without the Tiber River the small city of Rome would have never grown into a massive civilization thanks Tiber River no no really thank you type can chemically Tibor the second reason Rome's location is perfect is that there are huge mountain ranges that protect Rome the Alps and the Apennines would later make invasions of Rome more difficult not only that Rome is surrounded by Hills as well Rome is protected by natural barriers in the early days of the city of Rome Rome was ruled by a king sometimes the king would be a jerk and people would be like well he's king so we just have to live with this but in 509 BC they were sick of it at that time they had a king named Tarquin the proud and you can see him on this coin Tarquin the proud it was an awful king he killed a lot of people made everyone miserable and was very arrogant that's how he got the nickname the proud a Tarquin the proud gotta say this though if this coin is accurate while he was a terrible king he did have good hair it's a pretty cool hairstyle ISM well the people kicked them out and they decided to set up a completely different type of government they made Rome into a republic you know you did a bad job as king when the place you ruled over just completely changes the government and kicks you out okay that's what they did though they kicked them out they said you're out of here and they said we are going to start a republic this is going to be a republic what a huge change that was now instead of a king making all of the decisions and being in charge the people would elect people who would serve in the government for a certain amount of time instead of following a king's orders the people were able to do whatever they wanted as long as it didn't break the law if that sounds like the government of the United States that's right the United States is a republic many other countries around the world are a Republic's - ancient rome was way ahead of the curve rome was one of the first Republic's in history in under this new form of government Rome thrived Rome stayed a republic until 27 AD let's fast-forward hundreds of years to meet this guy his name is Julius Caesar Julius Caesar is one of the most famous people in Roman history he lived from 100 BC to 44 BC and had a huge impact on ancient Rome Julius Caesar was a great general and was also an important writer writing histories of many of the battles he fought in he was a hero in Rome and was loved by the people boy was Julius Caesar popular people heard of all of his victories in battle and knew that his soldiers had absolute loyalty to him it also helped that he wrote about the battles he did a good job of always making himself sound like the hero well this shouldn't be surprising but the Senate was afraid of his power and popularity Julius Caesar was a big deal soon a civil war broke out Julius Caesar was victorious and returned to Rome as the ruler of the Republic for five years he was the ruler of the Roman Republic before he was betrayed and killed in Rome but ancient Rome had changed forever after Julius Caesar was killed another civil war broke out well guess what happened next Julius Caesar's adopted son Octavian eventually took over Rome and finally brought peace he was renamed Augustus and became the first emperor of Rome Augustus was an effective Emperor and ushered in a period called Pax Romana where the majority of people in the Roman Empire lived their lives without fear of invasion Pax Romana means Roman peace after Augustus Rome was ruled by an emperor named Tiberius the stepson of Augustus Wow all these guys are related the Republic was over and a new period called the Imperial period began Wow ancient Rome went through massive changes through the centuries now we are going to talk about the legacy of this fascinating civilization like the size of ancient Rome at its peak see how huge ancient Rome was Wow the Roman Empire is colored purple that's big that's big ancient Rome left the big impact with architecture with many of their structures still surviving and standing today probably the most famous example is the Colosseum the Colosseum was a massive amphitheater in the city of Rome that still amazes people today over 60,000 people could watch sports and events in the Colosseum just like us ancient Romans enjoyed sports and entertainment in ancient Rome watching chariot races and fighting were very common the fighting though would be very violent unfortunately many people lost their lives in the Colosseum and to us that type of fighting doesn't even sound like a game but in ancient Rome people filled the Colosseum to watch fighters called gladiators fight it out this is cool ancient Rome is also known for having water systems in aqueducts bring fresh water to different places ancient Rome also had sewers to dispose of waste very important these advancements helped many people live a better quality of life ancient Rome also invented socks seriously seriously next time you wear socks just think wow thank you ancient Rome these are really cool how sad would life be if we didn't have socks you know and that's from ancient Rome even roads ancient rome developed roads that connected the Empire ancient Romans invented concrete and made stable reliable roads that made transportation and communication so much easier many of the roads in Europe still follow the same path as the ancient Roman roads Wow are we are we coming to the end no crying whoo whoo the final impact we want to talk about from ancient Rome is their language ancient Romans spoke Latin a language still used when scientists named plants and animals and a handful of languages we use today come from Latin ancient Rome was one of the most powerful civilizations in all of history so of course their language would still impact us today okay that was fun now we are going to learn about ancient Greece you see ancient Greece was a powerful civilization that ruled much of the Mediterranean region and at times even beyond the Mediterranean region ancient Greece was so powerful it is so important to learn about ancient Greece because they impacted us so much even though they ruled the Mediterranean several thousand years ago what's really cool is they impacted so many aspects of our lives even sports math art philosophy the way we do government the way we do science that all goes back to the ancient Greeks now you might be wondering where in the world was ancient Greece well we're gonna show you on a world map so that you know exactly where in the world we're talking about here is the area in the world where ancient Greece was in a region called the Mediterranean the Mediterranean is actually the name of a sea and the area of the sea where ancient Greece was was called the Mediterranean Basin actually it's still called the Mediterranean basin and in fact ancient Greece the place where that is that's where modern-day Greece is and here is the flag of the country of Greece now this is kind of cool many historians put the story of ancient Greece into three time periods into three time periods the first time period is the archaic period the second is the Classical period and the third is the Hellenistic period these are the three time periods of ancient Greece Wow Nakul archaic period Classical period and the Hellenistic period okay so the archaic period is the earliest period of ancient Greece and that's when ancient Greece really started taking its form and it's organization this period ended with the introduction of the government structure called democracy wait democracy what is democracy what does that word mean we said that the archaic period ended once democracy was introduced but what is democracy well a democracy as a government led by the people either directly or indirectly through elected officials it is used all over the world today in fact 123 countries in the world use democracy as their form of government and it was born in ancient Greece democracy was born right here in the city state called Athens different city-states in Greece had different forms of government but Athens had a democracy so then came the Classical period the days of ancient Greece that most of us think of we usually think of the Classical period that was when the city-states of Athens and Sparta were at their strongest in Athens the arts and philosophy were so important in fact Socrates and Plato were from Athens and lived in Athens Athens was a place thriving with culture the arts and philosophy in Sparta fighting was important literally fighting they studied war and fighting they trained the young men when they were boys Sparta was all about fighting sometimes these two city-states would get along and would work together and would even fight together against foreign invaders but there were so many differences between the two societies the society in Athens in the society and Sparta they just had very different interests so they would fight each other in wars called the Peloponnesian wars and just look at this picture who do you think won these wars yeah Sparta but Athens was never completely finished off Athens was never completely wiped off the map and so these two city-states just had a unique relationship where sometimes they work together and sometimes they would fight we take this brief learning break to show you mr. whiskers in honor of mrs. Cameron loz fourth-grade class in New York you know because who doesn't like mr. whiskers right who doesn't like mr. whiskers what you were expecting me to use the special mr. whiskers for well mr. whiskers is sleeping okay I'm not gonna just talk that way for you no but if he was awake you know the Classical period of ancient Greece ended with the death of the most famous leader of ancient Greece whose name was Alexander the Great he spent much of his childhood in Athens and was trained by the famous philosopher Aristotle after uniting most of Greece he stretched the Greek Empire all the way to India to the east and Egypt to the west want to know something cool he never lost one battle never lost one battle Wow even though Alexander the Great was a Macedonian Prince he did grow up in Greece and he loved Greek culture and spread the Greek culture around the ancient world when Alexander the Great died started a period of ancient Greece called the Hellenistic period the final period of ancient Greece this final period of ancient Greece ended in 146 BC when Rome conquered Greece and made Greece a Roman province even if you don't realize that day by day things that we do were impacted by ancient Greece the way we do math and literature when we study science and philosophy are forms of government that's all impacted by this ancient civilization from the Mediterranean cool now we are going to learn about an important figure in American history it's this guy his name was George Washington George Washington was a military general and led the American colonists to victory in the American Revolution he was a founding father of the United States meaning he was one of the people who started the United States of America and he served as the first president of the United States the very first president of the United States let's look at his life to see how George Washington start the United States of America it starts in 1732 oh I was a long time ago George Washington was born in the colony of Virginia in 1732 now when George Washington was born the colony of Virginia was part of Great Britain in fact all of the American colonies were part of Great Britain this is what the British flag looked like during George Washington's lifetime it looked pretty similar to what it looks like today the colony of Virginia the place where George Washington grew up belonged to Great Britain now a lot of people have wondered what George Washington was like as a kid right but George Washington didn't share many details about his childhood there is a popular legend about George Washington when he was six years old it's an interesting one the legend says that George Washington received an axe for his birthday and used it on one of his dad's cherry trees oh oh it's a weird gift to get for your sixth birthday when his dad found out that his cherry tree was damaged by young George George was briefed and told his dad the truth saying I cannot tell alive this legend is one of the most famous legends in American history the legend was written by this guy a man named parson Weems that's an interesting name he was the first person to write a biography on George Washington after he died most historians believe this story was made up by partisan whims even though it was made up it is a legend that many people think of when they think of George Washington one thing we know for sure about George's childhood is that his dad died when George was just 11 years old after his dad died George spent some time living with his half-brother named Lawrence at a place called Mount Vernon the plantation owned by Lawrence living with his half-brother Lawrence George was able to learn how to surveil and to surveil and is to figure out the distance between different parts of a piece of land usually to figure out how big a piece of land is someone who surveys land is called a land surveyor in order to be a land surveyor you have to know a lot of math George Washington had to use his math skills to serve a land as he got older people paid him to survey their land and he had to use math skills every time he did it this is pretty cool here is a picture of a land survey done by George Washington himself oh my god is he at fancy handwriting this is so sad he may have continued working as a surveyor if it weren't for another tragedy in his life nine years after his dad died George's half-brother Lawrence got sick and died - George was 20 years old when Lawrence died two years later when George was just 22 years old he became the full owner of Mount Vernon now we didn't mention this earlier but Lawrence had been a military general for the British in the Virginia militia remember the colony of Virginia like the other American colonies belonged to Great Britain George decided to follow in his footsteps and became a major in the Virginia militia this was a big deal especially for someone as young as George was and it didn't take long for George Washington to be put to the test the governor of Virginia sent George Washington on a special mission to tell the French to leave an area called the Ohio Valley they didn't like that and they made it clear they would not leave the Ohio Valley and one year later George Washington led hundreds of soldiers in an event that would start the French and Indian War the French and Indian War made George Washington famous he wrote about his experiences and became well known not just in the colonies but also across the Atlantic Ocean in Great Britain the French and Indian War not only made George Washington famous but it also gave him military experience that he would later need during the American Revolution after the war George was not offered a placement in the regular British Army which must have been so frustrating after all he did and he returned to his plantation remember called Mount Vernon he got married to a lady named Martha and started a family at Mount Vernon so he settled down and that might have been the end of his story but he also got involved in politics which would put him at the right place at the right time after years of being a politician in Virginia in 1774 George Washington was chosen to be a delegate of Virginia in the First Continental Congress a delegate is someone who is sent to represent other people Virginia trust in George Washington to represent their interests it was really cool [Music] George Washington was frustrated with how the colonies were being treated by Great Britain just like so many other colonists many of their rights were taken away by laws called the Intolerable Acts colonists called them the Intolerable Acts because they weren't able to take it they were intolerable well in 1775 the American Revolutionary War began in the Second Continental Congress decided to set up their own army called the Continental Army they selected George Washington as the commander of the Continental Army it made sense he not only had a lot of experience as a general in the French and Indian War but he also wanted the American colonies to be independent and free from Great Britain George Washington accepted the position but he refused to get paid to serve as commander of the Continental Army that's right he wanted to volunteer and serve without any cost to the American colonies what a nice guy so he got to work George Washington trained and prepared the Continental Army for battle he wanted to make sure they were ready and helped them become a better stronger army and here was his job if you will George Washington helped come up with battle plans led the Continental Army in many battles and helped the Continental Army run like a well-organized unit and he was a great commander part of what made him a great commander was he was not afraid to take risks for example in one of the most famous moments in the Revolutionary War George Washington led troops across the Delaware River to do a surprise attack on December 25th in 1776 that was Christmas night oh my goodness even though the water was icy and dangerous George Washington knew would be a great surprise attack everyone was like George too much eyes too much eyes man but they pressed on and it was a big victory for the Continental Army George Washington eventually led the Continental Army to victory with help from the French the Americans defeated the British after winning the Revolutionary War the American colonies began setting up their brand-new government and really to no one's surprise George Washington was picked to lead the Constitutional Convention that established order in the new government and of course because he was presiding over everything George Washington signed the Constitution then when it came time to elect officials the American people decided there was no better man to serve as the very first president of the United States than George Washington himself he was elected president in the first national election in 1789 after he was sworn in as president of the United States he went to live in Philadelphia Philadelphia was the temporary capital of the United States this is a picture of the house he lived in while he was president now of course this was before the White House was built this is the house in Philadelphia that George Washington lived in before we keep talking about George Washington as president we have a random fun fact about George Washington for you did you know that George Washington didn't wear a wig that's right that was always his own heir uh-huh he grew along and would just pull it back the reason his hair always looked white was because he powdered his hair must have thought it looked awesome so if anyone ever asks you for a cool random fact let them know that George Washington didn't wear a wig guess he didn't need one it's shocking isn't it mr. whiskers it's just crazy he didn't wear a wagon and wear a wig all right well back to George Washington as president as we mentioned earlier he was living in Philadelphia which was the temporary capital of the United States which is interesting and as you might imagine as neat as being the first president sounds it was really difficult and challenging there were many issues that needed fixing you know being a brand-new nation and all but George Washington worked hard to give the United States a strong start in the second national election George Washington was elected president for the second time he refused to run a third time and started the tradition by most presidents of serving no more than two terms can you spot President George Washington in this picture ah yeah he's right there right there not only did George Washington help the American colonies win their independence and become a new nation but George Washington also served as the first president of the United States that is why George Washington is often called the father of his country sadly George Washington wasn't able to see much of what America would become he became sick and died in 1799 at Mount Vernon George Washington made a huge impact and he is celebrated and honored all around us the capital of the United States Washington DC was named after George Washington the Washington Monument in Washington DC was built to honor the memory of George Washington the father of the United States we see George Washington honored on our money like the dollar bill dollar bills are super cool and George Washington is on all of them he is also on the quarter George Washington is on the front of every single quarter even the state quarters and of course George Washington is on Mount Rushmore it's the amazing sculpture that was carved right into the granite of a mountain in South Dakota Wow he is featured on many other sculptures but this is the biggest and most famous what a life George Washington lived here just a couple of his accomplishments he was a general in the French and Indian War he was the commander of the Continental Army and he was the first president of the United States next we are going to learn about another important figure in history named Abraham Lincoln he is famous for his beard back then a lot of people called beards whiskers almost like a cat look mr. whiskers you have something in common with Abraham Lincoln [Music] as fun as his beard was he isn't just famous for what he looked like he is famous for what he did he served as president during some of the most challenging years in American history saving our union when we were in the midst of war and abolishing slavery let's look closely at the life of Abraham Lincoln starting from when he was a baby it was a long time ago Abraham Lincoln was born way back in 1809 this is a replica of the house where Abraham Lincoln was born a replica is an exact copy of something this is a replica of his birthplace so we can have an idea of the small humble beginnings of this future leader it was a one-room log cabin in Kentucky when Abraham Lincoln was seven years old his family moved to Indiana his dad was a hard worker farming and working with wood as a carpenter his parents taught their children about living a moral life and were very religious they taught their children what was right and wrong on many issues including slavery Abraham Lincoln was taught how wrong slavery was a belief he held throughout his life slavery was a terrible system that treated people like property a slave had no rights and was forced to do whatever their owner told them to slavery is wrong and it was wrong back then there were many people who wanted to end it because they knew that every person should have rights now as a young man Abraham Lincoln was passionate about reading and writing here is a statue of young Abraham Lincoln found in Chicago his neighbors used to think he was lazy because he preferred sitting down and enjoying books instead of going outside to do hard labor he taught himself most things while he would occasionally have teachers it was never for very long he loved reading and learning and wasn't afraid to teach himself later when Abraham Lincoln was 22 years old he struck out on his own moving to New Salem in Illinois it was from there that he once took Goods by boat to New Orleans where he saw slavery firsthand he remembered what his parents taught him about slavery no one could have guessed that he would be the person to abolish it when he returned he got busy at the age of 23 he bought and ran a general store for a while then shortly after served as a captain during the Black Hawk War and ran for political office for the very first time losing an election after losing the election he became a lawyer studying law all on his own remember he loved learning reading even though he lost his first election he didn't want to give up he ran again for office but this time he won and served four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives he was only 25 years old it was during this time serving in the Illinois House of Representatives that he met Mary Todd and they married in 1842 when Abraham Lincoln was 33 years old they went on to have four children together they moved to Springfield Illinois where they bought this home it would be their home for 17 years it was the only house that Abraham Lincoln ever owned and here's the cool thing the cool thing is that you can visit Abraham Lincoln's house in Springfield Illinois today you can visit his original house Wow that hair though whew somebody gave him a comb after serving in the Illinois House of Representatives he wanted to serve not just Illinois but the entire United States so he ran for the United States House of Representatives but lost but he was later able to serve a two-year term he wasn't done he ran for the US Senate against Stephen Douglas his debates with Stephen Douglas are considered the best political debates in American history while Abraham Lincoln did not win the election the campaign against Douglas made Abraham Lincoln famous and set the stage for his campaign for the presidency of the United States notice Abraham Lincoln didn't quit even after losing so many elections he is a great example of not giving up Abraham Lincoln finally ran for president and he won in 1861 he became the 16th President of the United States look he has the beard when Abraham Lincoln became president the United States was divided over many issues especially slavery this is sad once Abraham Lincoln was elected the south began the process of splitting away from the United States which started what became known as the civil war the South set up their own country named the Confederate States of America while there were many disagreements they had with Abraham Lincoln they knew that Abraham Lincoln was against slavery Abraham Lincoln had always been against slavery he knew it was wrong this was a major reason in the south for leaving the United States Abraham Lincoln led the Union through these difficult days the Civil War began in 1861 and went on for four years two years into the war Abraham Lincoln signed something called the Emancipation Proclamation which was an executive order that declared all of the slaves free the powerful word said that all slaves were to be free forever here's the thing Abraham Lincoln never forgot the lessons he learned as a young man all people are valuable and should be treated with equality and respect the boy born in Kentucky who lived in Indiana and then moved to Illinois just changed American history by abolishing slavery that same year at Gettysburg a place where an important battle in the Civil War took place Abraham Lincoln made one of the most famous speeches in American history later called the Gettysburg Address this picture was taken during the Gettysburg Address right here is Abraham Lincoln he opened the speech with these words four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal two years later the Union won the Civil War but the joy was short-lived a man named John Wilkes Booth angry that the Confederate States of America lost the war plans to kill Abraham Lincoln just days after the Civil War ended John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln in Ford's Theater he died shortly after leaving this country brokenhearted Abraham Lincoln changed American history and his legacy lives on today there is a massive memorial that honors his memory called the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC his face is featured on Mount Rushmore with other legendary presidents and of course his face is on the $5 bill and on the penny he is all over the place and for good reason Abraham Lincoln held America together during the most challenging days in American history when our country was literally at war with each other he abolished slavery freeing millions of people and was killed for standing up for what he believed in history is fascinating and fun be sure and comment below let us know what you learned in this video we hope to hear from you and we appreciate you learning about history with us today so where are we going next it's really up to you here are two videos you can watch you know if you want to keep learning and if you haven't yet you can click the circle in the center of the screen to subscribe to our channel that way you don't miss any of our videos so what do you want to learn about next

Channel: Homeschool Pop

Views: 242,111

Rating: 4.6117516 out of 5

Keywords: History for kids, history videos for kids, history

Id: -uaMjhpi12M

Length: 43min 32sec (2612 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 21 2019