The final Messenger of God, Muhammad ﷺ, brought a message which he proclaimed was for all humanity. By the end of his life, most of the Arab tribes had accepted his religion, and he had sent emissaries to the rulers of surrounding lands inviting them also to submit to the Creator. After him, his followers quickly relegated the vast and ancient Persian Empire to the dustbin of history, and seized a large part of the East Roman Empire for Islam. After the Rashidun (Righteous/Good) caliphs, it was left to the Umayyad and then the Abbasid dynasties to consolidate and expand, forming the largest and most powerful empire of its time, leading the world in learning, culture, arts and science.
Europe during the High Caliphate Period was composed of many small Christian kingdoms which had emerged from the settling of the Barbarian tribes. Their relative peace was shattered in the 9th century by the arrival of the Viking hordes. These pagan warriors from Scandinavia invaded, plundered, colonized and settled the lands of Northern Europe for over two hundred years.
This long period sees the slow break-up of the united caliphate and proliferation of multiple autonomous Muslim empires and emirates. The separate Islamic polities are united by the common thread of language, religion, sharia law and culture. There were no barriers to trade or movement, and they constitute, in effect, a Muslim commonwealth.
In Europe during the Middle Period, the Normans (Viking descendants) become a dominant force. Feudalism and serfdom emerge during this period. Expeditions to invade Muslim lands around the Mediterranean - the Crusades - take place, and Western Christendom begins to see itself as a single civilization for the first time. The pagan Mongol hordes under Genghis Khan erupt from the Eurasian Steppe and overrun much of Eurasia, sacking many major Muslim cities and ending Abbasid rule. Eventually, the Mongols convert to Islam, and a huge expansion of the Muslim world takes place with a trebling of the total area under Islam during this period.
Three great empires emerge in the Muslim world - the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal - which dominate a large part of the world during this period. The Ottomans put a final end to the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453 by taking Constantinople and go on to dominate eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Western Europeans embark on the Voyages of Discovery; Spain invades South and Central America, kills vast numbers of the inhabitants, and loots huge reserves of silver; and so. the colonial project begins.
A new spirit of learning and rationalist thought is spreading in Europe leading to the Renaissance and Reformation. Catholic doctrines are denounced by the new Protestant movement as irrational and corrupt.
Europe moves ahead of the Muslim world in science and technology, a frantic search for more advanced weaponry ensues, partly driven by the endless wars between European kingdoms. The Enlightenment philosophers develop rational ideas, including notions of popular sovereignty, which are evident in the French Revolution and the North American declaration of independence from the British. The rule of monarchs, aristocracy and the Church (The Old Order) is overturned in Europe, and democratic nation-states begin to emerge.
The European colonial empires, led by Britain, France, and Russia, compete and take over much of the world between them, with the Ottoman Empire remaining the last major Islamic power until its defeat in World War 1.
In the 20th century, the German Empire rises rapidly In its own bid for domination, resulting in two world wars and the triumph of the Allies. After 1945, there is a stand-off between the USA (with its new super-weapon) and the communist Soviet Union (USSR). The USSR finally collapses in 1991, leaving some to claim 'the end of history' itself, and the formation of a new US-led 'world order'.