Nevertheless, the definitive advance of these technologies is made by theAurignacian culture, originating in theLevant (Ahmarian) and Hungary (first full Aurignacian). By 35,000 BC, the Aurignacian culture and its technology had extended through most of Europe. The lastNeanderthals seem to have been forced to retreat to the southern half of theIberian Peninsula. Around 29,000 BC a new technology/culture appeared in the western region of Europe: theGravettian. This technology/culture has been theorised to have come with migrations of people from theBalkans (seeKozarnika).
Around 16,000 BC, Europe witnessed the appearance of a new culture, known asMagdalenian, possibly rooted in the old Gravettian. This culture soon superseded theSolutrean area and the Gravettian of mainly France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Ukraine. TheHamburg culture prevailed in Northern Europe in the 14th and the 13th millennium BC as theCreswellian (also termed the British Late Magdalenian) did shortly after in theBritish Isles.Around 12,500 BC, theWürm glaciation ended. Magdalenian culture persisted until c. 10,000 BC, when it quickly evolved into twomicrolithist cultures:Azilian (Federmesser), in Spain andsouthern France, and thenSauveterrian, in southern France andTardenoisian in Central Europe, while in Northern Europe theLyngby complex succeeded the Hamburg culture with the influence of theFedermesser group as well.
Around this time, in the 5th millennium BC theVarna culture evolved. In 4700 – 4200 BC, theSolnitsata town, believed to be the oldest prehistoric town in Europe, flourished.[4][5]
Partly reconstructed ruins ofKnossos, Crete, c. 1700 BC
The first well-known literate civilization in Europe was theMinoan civilization that arose on the island ofCrete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC.[6]
Quite unlike the Minoans, whose society benefited from trade, the Mycenaeans advanced through conquest. Mycenaean civilization was dominated by a warrioraristocracy. Around 1400 BC, the Mycenaeans extended their control to Crete, the centre of the Minoan civilization, and adopted a form of the Minoan script (calledLinear A) to write their early form ofGreek inLinear B.
The Mycenaean civilization perished with thecollapse of Bronze-Age civilization on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The collapse is commonly attributed to theDorian invasion, although other theories describing natural disasters and climate change have been advanced as well.[citation needed] Whatever the causes, the Mycenaean civilization had disappeared afterLH III C, when the sites of Mycenae and Tiryns were again destroyed and lost their importance. This end, during the last years of the 12th century BC, occurred after a slow decline of the Mycenaean civilization, which lasted many years before dying out. The beginning of the 11th century BC opened a new context, that of the protogeometric, the beginning of the geometric period, theGreek Dark Ages of traditional historiography.
The Bronze Age collapse may be seen in the context of technological history that saw the slow spread ofironworking technology from present-dayBulgaria andRomania in the 13th and the 12th centuries BC.[15]
TheHellenic civilisation was a collection of city-states orpoleis with different governments and cultures that achieved notable developments in government, philosophy, science, mathematics, politics, sports, theatre and music.
The Hellenic city-states established colonies on the shores of theBlack Sea and the Mediterranean Sea (Asia Minor,Sicily, andSouthern Italy inMagna Graecia). By the late 6th century BC, the Greek city states inAsia Minor had been incorporated into thePersian Empire, while the latter had made territorial gains in theBalkans (such asMacedon,Thrace,Paeonia, etc.) and Eastern Europe proper as well. During the 5th century BC, some of the Greek city states attempted to overthrow Persian rule in theIonian Revolt, which failed. This sparked thefirst Persian invasion of mainland Greece. At some point during the ensuingGreco-Persian Wars, namely during theSecond Persian invasion of Greece, and precisely after theBattle of Thermopylae and theBattle of Artemisium, almost all of Greece to the north of theIsthmus of Corinth had been overrun by the Persians,[21] but the Greek city states reached a decisive victory at theBattle of Plataea. With the end of the Greco-Persian wars, the Persians were eventually forced to withdraw from their territories in Europe. The Greco-Persian Wars and the victory of the Greekcity states directly influenced the entire further course of European history and would set its further tone. Some Greek city-states formed theDelian League to continue fighting Persia, but Athens' position as leader of this league led Sparta to form the rivalPeloponnesian League. ThePeloponnesian Wars ensued, and the Peloponnesian League was victorious. Subsequently, discontent withSpartan hegemony led to theCorinthian War and the defeat of Sparta at theBattle of Leuctra. At the same time at the north ruled the ThracianOdrysian Kingdom between the 5th century BC and the 1st century AD.
Hellenic infighting left Greek city states vulnerable, andPhilip II of Macedon united the Greek city states under his control. The son of Philip II, known asAlexander the Great, invaded neighboringPersia, toppled and incorporated its domains, as well as invading Egypt and going as far off as India, increasing contact with people and cultures in these regions that marked the beginning of theHellenistic period.
Much of Greek learning was assimilated by the nascent Roman state as it expanded outward from Italy, taking advantage of its enemies' inability to unite: the only challenge to Roman ascent came from thePhoenician colony ofCarthage, and its defeats in the threePunic Wars marked the start of Romanhegemony. First governed bykings, then as a senatorial republic (theRoman Republic), Rome became an empire at the end of the 1st century BC, underAugustus and his authoritarian successors.
The Roman Empire had been repeatedly attacked by invading armies from Northern Europe and in 476, Rome finallyfell.Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of theWestern Roman Empire, surrendered to the Germanic KingOdoacer.
The Roman Empire at its greatest extent in 117 AD, under the emperorTrajan
The partition of the Roman Empire in 395, at the death ofTheodosius I: theWestern Roman Empire is shown in red and the Eastern Roman Empire is shown in purple
When Emperor Constantine had reconquered Rome under the banner of thecross in 312, he soon afterwards issued theEdict of Milan in 313 (preceded by theEdict of Serdica in 311), declaring the legality ofChristianity in the Roman Empire. In addition, Constantine officially shifted the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to the Greek town ofByzantium, which he renamed Nova Roma – it was later namedConstantinople ("City of Constantine").
Europe in 526 AD with the three dominating powers of the west
Roman authority in the Western part of the empire had collapsed, and a power vacuum left in the wake of this collapse; the central organization, institutions, laws and power of Rome had broken down, resulting in many areas being open to invasion by migrating tribes. Over time,feudalism andmanorialism arose, providing for division of land and labour, as well as a broad if uneven hierarchy of law and protection. These localised hierarchies were based on the bond of common people to the land on which they worked, and to a lord, who would provide and administer both local law to settle disputes among the peasants, as well as protection from outside invaders.
The western provinces soon were to be dominated by three great powers: first, theFranks (Merovingian dynasty) inFrancia 481–843 AD, which covered much of present France and Germany; second, theVisigothic kingdom 418–711 AD in theIberian Peninsula (modern Spain); and third, theOstrogothic kingdom 493–553 AD in Italy and parts of the western Balkans. The Ostrogoths were later replaced by theKingdom of the Lombards 568–774 AD. Although these powers covered large territories, they did not have the great resources and bureaucracy of the Roman empire to control regions and localities; more power and responsibilities were left to local lords. On the other hand, it also meant more freedom, particularly in more remote areas.
In the Eastern part the dominant state was the remaining Eastern Roman Empire.
In the feudal system, new princes and kings arose, the most powerful of which was arguably the Frankish rulerCharlemagne. In 800, Charlemagne, reinforced by his massive territorial conquests, was crowned Emperor of the Romans byPope Leo III, solidifying his power in western Europe. Charlemagne's reign marked the beginning of a new Germanic Roman Empire in the west, theHoly Roman Empire. Outside his borders, new forces were gathering. TheKievan Rus' were marking out their territory, aGreat Moravia was growing, while theAngles and theSaxons were securing their borders.
Many consider EmperorConstantine I (reigned 306–337) to be the first "Byzantine emperor". It was he who moved the imperial capital in 324 fromNicomedia toByzantium, which re-founded as Constantinople, or Nova Roma ("New Rome").[28] The city ofRome itself had not served as the capital since the reign ofDiocletian (284–305). Some date the beginnings of the Empire to the reign ofTheodosius I (379–395) and Christianity's official supplanting of the paganRoman religion, or following his death in 395, when the empire was split into two parts, with capitals in Rome and Constantinople. Others place it yet later in 476, whenRomulus Augustulus, traditionally considered the last western emperor, was deposed, thus leaving sole imperial authority with the emperor in theGreek East. Others point to the reorganisation of the empire in the time ofHeraclius (c. 620) when Latin titles and usages were officially replaced with Greek versions. In any case, the changeover was gradual and by 330, when Constantine inaugurated his new capital, the process of hellenization and increasingChristianisation was already under way. The Empire is generally considered to have ended after thefall of Constantinople to theOttoman Turks in 1453. ThePlague of Justinian was apandemic that afflicted the Byzantine Empire, including its capitalConstantinople, in the years 541–542. It is estimated that the Plague of Justinian killed as many as 100 million people.[29][30] It causedEurope's population to drop by around 50% between 541 and 700.[31] It also may have contributed to the success of theMuslim conquests.[32][33] During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe, andConstantinople was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in Europe.[34]
The Muslim conquest of Hispania began when theMoors invaded the ChristianVisigothic kingdom ofHispania in 711, under the Berber generalTariq ibn Ziyad. They landed atGibraltar on 30 April and worked their way northward. Tariq's forces were joined the next year by those of his Arab superior,Musa ibn Nusair. During the eight-year campaign most of theIberian Peninsula was brought under Muslim rule – save for small areas in the northwest (Asturias) and largelyBasque regions in thePyrenees. In 711,VisigothicHispania was weakened because it was immersed in a serious internal crisis caused by a war of succession to the throne. The Muslims took advantage of the crisis within theHispano-Visigothic society to carry out their conquests. This territory, under the Arab nameAl-Andalus, became part of the expandingUmayyad empire.
Thesecond siege of Constantinople (717) ended unsuccessfully after the intervention ofTervel of Bulgaria and weakened theUmayyad dynasty and reduced their prestige. In 722Don Pelayo formed an army of 300Astur soldiers, to confront Munuza's Muslim troops. In thebattle of Covadonga, the Astures defeated the Arab-Moors, who decided to retire. The Christian victory marked the beginning of theReconquista and the establishment of theKingdom of Asturias, whose first sovereign was Don Pelayo. The conquerors intended to continue their expansion in Europe and move northeast across the Pyrenees, but were defeated by theFrankish leaderCharles Martel at theBattle of Poitiers in 732. The Umayyads were overthrown in 750 by the 'Abbāsids,[38] and, in 756, the Umayyads established anindependent emirate in the Iberian Peninsula.[39]
Europe in 1000, with most European states already formed
TheHoly Roman Empire emerged around 800, as Charlemagne, King of theFranks and part of theCarolingian dynasty, was crowned by the pope as emperor. His empire based in modern France, theLow Countries and Germany expanded into modern Hungary, Italy,Bohemia, Lower Saxony and Spain. He and his father received substantial help from an alliance with the Pope, who wanted help against theLombards.[40] His death marked the beginning of the end of the dynasty, which collapsed entirely by 888. The fragmentation of power led to semi-autonomy in the region, and has been defined as a critical starting point for the formation ofstates in Europe.[41]
To the east,Bulgaria was established in 681 and became the firstSlavic country.[citation needed] The powerful Bulgarian Empire was the main rival of Byzantium for control of the Balkans for centuries and from the 9th century became the cultural centre of Slavic Europe. TheEmpire created theCyrillic script during the 9th century AD, at thePreslav Literary School, and experienced theGolden Age of Bulgarian cultural prosperity during the reign of emperorSimeon I the Great (893–927). Two states,Great Moravia andKievan Rus', emerged among the Slavic peoples respectively in the 9th century. In the late 9th and 10th centuries, northern and western Europe felt the burgeoning power and influence of theVikings who raided, traded, conquered and settled swiftly and efficiently with their advanced seagoing vessels such as thelongships. TheVikings had left acultural influence on theAnglo-Saxons andFranks as well as theScots.[42] TheHungarians pillaged mainland Europe, thePechenegs raided Bulgaria, Rus States and theArab states. In the 10th century independent kingdoms were established in Central Europe including Poland and the newly settledKingdom of Hungary. TheKingdom of Croatia also appeared in the Balkans. The subsequent period, ending around 1000, saw the further growth offeudalism, which weakened the Holy Roman Empire.
Slavery in the early medieval period had mostly died out in western Europe by about the year 1000 AD, replaced byserfdom. It lingered longer in England and in peripheral areas linked to the Muslim world, where slavery continued to flourish. Church rules suppressed slavery of Christians. Most historians argue the transition was quite abrupt around 1000, but some see a gradual transition from about 300 to 1000.[44]
The High Middle Ages of the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries show arapidly increasing population of Europe, which caused great social and political change from the preceding era. By 1250, the robust population increase greatly benefited the economy, reaching levels it would not see again in some areas until the 19th century.[45]
From about the year 1000 onwards, Western Europe saw the last of the barbarian invasions and became more politically organized. TheVikings had settled in Britain, Ireland, France and elsewhere, whilst Norse Christian kingdoms were developing in their Scandinavian homelands. TheMagyars had ceased their expansion in the 10th century, and by the year 1000, the Roman CatholicApostolic Kingdom of Hungary was recognised in central Europe. With the brief exception of theMongol invasions, major barbarian incursions ceased.
In the 11th century, populations north of theAlps began to settle new lands. Vast forests and marshes of Europe were cleared and cultivated. At the same time settlements moved beyond the traditional boundaries of theFrankish Empire to new frontiers in Europe, beyond theElbe river, tripling the size of Germany in the process. Crusaders foundedEuropean colonies in theLevant, the majority of theIberian Peninsula was conquered from the Muslims, and theNormans colonised southern Italy, all part of the major population increase and resettlement pattern.
The High Middle Ages produced many different forms of intellectual, spiritual andartistic works. The most famous are the great cathedrals as expressions ofGothic architecture, which evolved fromRomanesque architecture. This age saw the rise of modern nation-states in Western Europe and the ascent of the famous Italiancity-states, such asFlorence andVenice. The influential popes of the Catholic Church called volunteer armies from across Europe to a series ofCrusades against theSeljuq Turks, who occupied theHoly Land. The rediscovery of the works ofAristotle ledThomas Aquinas and other thinkers to develop the philosophy ofScholasticism.
After theEast–West Schism,Western Christianity was adopted by the newly created kingdoms of Central Europe:Poland, Hungary andBohemia. The Roman Catholic Church developed as a major power, leading to conflicts between the Pope and emperor. The geographic reach of the Roman Catholic Church expanded enormously due to the conversions of pagan kings (Scandinavia,Lithuania, Poland, Hungary), the ChristianReconquista ofAl-Andalus, and the Crusades. Most of Europe was Roman Catholic in the 15th century.
Early signs of the rebirth of civilization in western Europe began to appear in the 11th century as trade started again in Italy, leading to the economic and cultural growth of independentcity-states such asVenice andFlorence; at the same time, nation-states began to take form in places such as France, England, Spain, and Portugal, although the process of their formation (usually marked by rivalry between the monarchy, the aristocratic feudal lords and the church) actually took several centuries. These new nation-states began writing in their own cultural vernaculars, instead of the traditionalLatin. Notable figures of this movement would includeDante Alighieri andChristine de Pizan. TheHoly Roman Empire, essentially based in Germany and Italy, further fragmented into a myriad of feudal principalities or small city states, whose subjection to the emperor was only formal.
The 14th century, when theMongol Empire came to power, is often called theAge of the Mongols. Mongol armiesexpanded westward under the command ofBatu Khan. Their western conquests included almost all ofKievan Rus' (saveNovgorod, which became a vassal),[46] and theKipchak-Cuman Confederation.Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland managed to remain sovereign states. Mongolian records indicate that Batu Khan was planning a complete conquest of the remaining European powers, beginning with a winter attack on Austria, Italy and Germany, when he was recalled toMongolia upon the death of Great KhanÖgedei. Most historians believe only his death prevented the complete conquest of Europe.[citation needed] The areas of Eastern Europe and most of Central Asia that were under direct Mongol rule became known as theGolden Horde. UnderUzbeg Khan, Islam became the official religion of the region in the early 14th century.[47] The invading Mongols, together with their mostly Turkic subjects, were known asTatars. In Russia, the Tatars ruled the various states of the Rus' through vassalage for over 300 years.
In the Northern Europe,Konrad of Masovia gaveChełmno to theTeutonic Knights in 1226 as a base for a Crusade against theOld Prussians andGrand Duchy of Lithuania. TheLivonian Brothers of the Sword were defeated by the Lithuanians, so in 1237 Gregory IX merged the remainder of the order into the Teutonic Order as theLivonian Order. By the middle of the century, the Teutonic Knights completed their conquest of the Prussians before converting the Lithuanians in the subsequent decades. The order also came into conflict with the Eastern Orthodox Church of thePskov andNovgorod Republics. In 1240 the Orthodox Novgorod army defeated the Catholic Swedes in theBattle of the Neva, and, two years later, they defeated the Livonian Order in theBattle on the Ice. TheUnion of Krewo in 1386, bringing two major changes in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania:conversion to Catholicism and establishment of adynastic union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and theCrown of the Kingdom of Poland marked both the greatest territorial expansion of the Grand Duchy and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in theBattle of Grunwald in 1410.
The spread of the "Black Death" from 1347 to 1351 through Europe
The Late Middle Ages spanned around the 14th and late 15th centuries.[48] Around 1300, centuries of European prosperity and growth came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, such as theGreat Famine of 1315–1317 and theBlack Death, killed people in a matter of days, reducing the population of some areas by half as many survivors fled.Kishlansky reports:
The Black Death touched every aspect of life, hastening a process of social, economic, and cultural transformation already underway.... Fields were abandoned, workplaces stood idle, international trade was suspended. Traditional bonds of kinship, village, and even religion were broken amid the horrors of death, flight, and failed expectations. "People cared no more for dead men than we care for dead goats," wrote one survivor.[49]
Depopulation caused labor to become scarcer; the survivors were better paid and peasants could drop some of the burdens of feudalism. There was also social unrest; France and England experienced serious peasant risings including theJacquerie and thePeasants' Revolt. The unity of the Catholic Church was shattered by theGreat Schism. Collectively these events have been called theCrisis of the Late Middle Ages.[50]
Beginning in the 14th century, theBaltic Sea became one of the most importanttrade routes. TheHanseatic League, an alliance of trading cities, facilitated the absorption of vast areas of Poland,Lithuania, andLivonia into trade with other European countries. This fed the growth of powerful states in this part of Europe including Poland–Lithuania, Hungary, Bohemia, and Muscovy later on. The conventional end of theMiddle Ages is usually associated with the fall of the city ofConstantinople and of the Byzantine Empire to theOttoman Turks in 1453. The Turks made the city the capital of theirOttoman Empire, which lasted until 1922 and included Egypt, Syria, and most of the Balkans. TheOttoman wars in Europe marked an essential part of the history of the continent.
A key 15th-century development was theadvent of the movable type of printing press circa 1439 in Mainz,[51] building upon the impetus provided by theprior introduction of paper from China via the Arabs in the High Middle Ages.[52] The adoption of the technology across the continent at dazzling speed for the remaining part of the 15th century would usher a revolution and by 1500 over 200 cities in Europe had presses that printed between 8 and 20 million books.[51]
Despite these crises, the 14th century was also a time of great progress within the arts and sciences. A renewed interest in ancientGreek andRoman led to theItalian Renaissance, a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the north, west andmiddle Europe during a cultural lag of some two and a half centuries, its influence affected literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, history, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. The Humanists saw their repossession of a great past as a Renaissance – a rebirth of civilization itself.[53] Important political precedents were also set in this period.Niccolò Machiavelli's political writing inThe Prince influenced later absolutism and realpolitik. Also important were the many patrons who ruled states and used the artistry of the Renaissance as a sign of their power.
Toward the end of the period, an era of discovery began. The growth of theOttoman Empire, culminating in thefall of Constantinople in 1453, cut off trading possibilities with the east. Western Europe was forced to discover new trading routes, as happened with Columbus' travel to the Americas in 1492, andVasco da Gama's circumnavigation of India and Africa in 1498.
The numerous wars did not prevent European states from exploring and conquering wide portions of the world, from Africa to Asia and the newly discovered Americas. In the 15th century,Portugal led the way in geographical exploration along the coast of Africa in search of a maritime route to India, followed by Spain near the close of the 15th century, dividing their exploration of the world according to theTreaty of Tordesillas in 1494.[54] They were the first states to set up colonies in America and Europeantrading posts (factories) along the shores of Africa and Asia, establishing the first direct European diplomatic contacts with Southeast Asian states in 1511, China in 1513 and Japan in 1542. In 1552, Russian tsarIvan the Terrible conquered two majorTatar khanates, theKhanate of Kazan and theAstrakhan Khanate. TheYermak's voyage of 1580 led to the annexation of the TatarSiberian Khanate into Russia, and the Russians would soon after conquer the rest ofSiberia, steadily expanding to the east and south over the next centuries. Oceanic explorations soon followed by France, England and the Netherlands, who explored the Portuguese and Spanish trade routes into the Pacific Ocean, reaching Australia in 1606[55] and New Zealand in 1642.
With the development of theprinting press, new ideas spread throughout Europe and challenged traditional doctrines in science and theology. Simultaneously, the Reformation under GermanMartin Luther questioned Papal authority. The most common dating of the Reformation begins in 1517, when Luther publishedThe Ninety-Five Theses, and concludes in 1648 with theTreaty of Westphalia that ended years ofEuropean religious wars.[56]
During this period corruption in the Catholic Church led to a sharp backlash in the Protestant Reformation. It gained many followers especially among princes and kings seeking a stronger state by ending the influence of the Catholic Church. Figures other thanMartin Luther began to emerge as well likeJohn Calvin whoseCalvinism had influence in many countries and KingHenry VIII of England who broke away from the Catholic Church in England and set up theAnglican Church. These religious divisions brought on a wave of wars inspired and driven by religion but also by the ambitious monarchs in Western Europe who were becoming more centralized and powerful.
The Protestant Reformation also led to a strong reform movement in the Catholic Church called theCounter-Reformation, which aimed to reduce corruption as well as to improve and strengthen Catholic dogma. Two important groups in the Catholic Church who emerged from this movement were theJesuits, who helped keep Spain, Portugal, Poland, and other European countries within the Catholic fold, and the Oratorians ofSaint Philip Neri, who ministered to the faithful in Rome, restoring their confidence in the Church of Jesus Christ that subsisted substantially in the Church of Rome. Still, the Catholic Church was somewhat weakened by the Reformation, portions of Europe were no longer under its sway and kings in the remaining Catholic countries began to take control of the church institutions within their kingdoms.
Unlike many European countries at the time, thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was notably tolerant of the Protestant movement, as well thePrincipality of Transylvania. A degree of tolerance was also displayed inOttoman Hungary. While still enforcing the predominance of Catholicism, they continued to allow the large religious minorities to maintain their faiths, traditions and customs. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth became divided among Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Jews and a small Muslim population.
Another development was the idea of 'European superiority'. There was a movement by some such asMontaigne that regarded the non-Europeans as a better, more natural and primitive people. Post services were founded all over Europe, which allowed ahumanistic interconnected network of intellectuals across Europe, despite religious divisions. However, the Roman Catholic Church banned many leading scientific works; this led to an intellectual advantage for Protestant countries, where the banning of books was regionally organised.Francis Bacon and other advocates of science tried to create unity in Europe by focusing on the unity in nature. In the 15th century, at the end of the Middle Ages, powerful sovereign states were appearing, built by theNew Monarchs who were centralising power in France, England, and Spain. On the other hand, the Parliament in thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth grew in power, taking legislative rights from the Polish king. The new state power was contested by parliaments in other countries especially England. New kinds of states emerged which were co-operation agreements among territorial rulers, cities, farmer republics and knights.
TheIberian kingdoms were able to dominate colonial activity in the 16th century. The Portuguese forged the first global empire in the 15th and 16th century, whilst during the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century, the crown of Castile (and the overarching Hispanic Monarchy, including Portugal from 1580 to 1640) became the most powerful empire in the world. Spanish dominance in America was increasingly challenged byBritish,French,Dutch andSwedish colonial efforts of the 17th and 18th centuries. New forms of trade and expanding horizons made new forms ofgovernment,law and economics necessary.
Colonial expansion continued in the following centuries (with some setbacks, such as successful wars of independence in theBritish American colonies and then laterHaiti,Mexico,Argentina,Brazil, andothers amid European turmoil of theNapoleonic Wars). Spain had control of a large part of North America, all of Central America and a great part of South America, the Caribbean and thePhilippines; Britain took the whole of Australia and New Zealand, most of India, and large parts of Africa and North America; France held parts of Canada and India (nearly all of which was lost to Britainin 1763),Indochina, large parts of Africa and the Caribbean islands; the Netherlands gained theEast Indies (nowIndonesia) and islands in the Caribbean; Portugal obtained Brazil and several territories in Africa and Asia; and later, powers such as Germany, Belgium, Italy and Russia acquired further colonies.[citation needed]
This expansion helped the economy of the countries owning them.Trade flourished, because of the minor stability of the empires. By the late 16th century, American silver accounted for one-fifth of Spain's total budget.[57][58] TheFrench colony ofSaint-Domingue was one of richest European colonies in the 18th century, operating on aplantation economy fueled byslave labor. During the period of French rule,cash crops produced in Saint-Domingue comprised thirty percent of total French trade while its sugar exports represented forty percent of the Atlantic market.[59][60]
The 17th century was an era of crisis.[61][62] Many historians have rejected the idea, while others promote it as an invaluable insight into the warfare, politics, economics,[63] and even art.[64] TheThirty Years' War (1618–1648) focused attention on the massive horrors that wars could bring to entire populations.[65] The 1640s in particular saw more state breakdowns around the world than any previous or subsequent period.[61][62] ThePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the largest state in Europe, temporarily disappeared. In addition, there were secessions and upheavals in several parts of the Spanish empire, the world's first global empire. In Britain the entireStuart monarchy (England,Scotland,Ireland, and itsNorth American colonies) rebelled. Political insurgency and a spate of popular revolts seldom equalled shook the foundations of most states in Europe and Asia. More wars took place around the world in the mid-17th century than in almost any other period of recorded history. Across theNorthern Hemisphere, the mid-17th century experienced almost unprecedented death rates.
The "absolute" rule of powerful monarchs such asLouis XIV (ruled France 1643–1715),[66]Peter the Great (ruled Russia 1682–1725),[67]Maria Theresa (ruledHabsburg lands 1740–1780) andFrederick the Great (ruled Prussia 1740–86),[68] produced powerful centralized states, with strong armies and powerful bureaucracies, all under the control of the king.[69]
Throughout the early part of this period, capitalism (through mercantilism) was replacing feudalism as the principal form of economic organisation, at least in the western half of Europe. The expanding colonial frontiers resulted in aCommercial Revolution. The period is noted for the rise of modern science and the application of its findings to technological improvements, which animated the Industrial Revolution after 1750.
The Reformation had profound effects on the unity of Europe. Not only were nations divided one from another by their religious orientation, but some states were torn apart internally by religious strife, avidly fostered by their external enemies. France suffered this fate in the 16th century in the series of conflicts known as theFrench Wars of Religion, which ended in the triumph of theBourbon Dynasty. England settled down underElizabeth I to a moderateAnglicanism. Much of modern-day Germany was made up of numerous small sovereign states under the theoretical framework of theHoly Roman Empire, which was further divided along internally drawn sectarian lines. ThePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is notable in this time for itsreligious indifference and general immunity to European religious strife.
TheThirty Years' War was fought between 1618 and 1648, across Germany and neighbouring areas, and involved most of the major European powers except England and Russia,[70] involving Catholics versus Protestants for the most part. The major impact of the war was the devastation of entire regions scavenged bare by the foraging armies. Episodes of widespread famine and disease, and the breakup of family life, devastated the population of the German states and, to a lesser extent, theLow Countries, theCrown of Bohemia and northern parts of Italy, while bankrupting many of the regional powers involved. Between one-fourth and one-third of the German population perished from direct military causes or from disease and starvation, as well as postponed births.[71]
After thePeace of Westphalia, which ended the war in favour of nations deciding their own religious allegiance,absolutism became the norm of the continent, while parts of Europe experimented with constitutions foreshadowed by theEnglish Civil War and particularly theGlorious Revolution. European military conflict did not cease, but had less disruptive effects on the lives of Europeans. In the advanced northwest,the Enlightenment gave a philosophical underpinning to the new outlook, and the continued spread of literacy, made possible by theprinting press, created new secular forces in thought.
From the Union of Krewo, central and eastern Europe was dominated byKingdom of Poland andGrand Duchy of Lithuania. In the 16th and 17th centuries Central and Eastern Europe was an arena of conflict for domination of the continent betweenSweden, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (involved in series of wars, likeKhmelnytsky uprising,Russo-Polish War, theDeluge, etc.) and theOttoman Empire. This period saw a gradual decline of these three powers which were eventually replaced by new enlightened absolutist monarchies: Russia, Prussia and Austria (theHabsburg monarchy). By the turn of the 19th century they had become new powers, havingdivided Poland between themselves, with Sweden and Turkey having experienced substantial territorial losses to Russia and Austria respectively as well as pauperisation.
TheWar of the Spanish Succession (1701–1715) was a major war with France opposed by a coalition of England, the Netherlands, the Habsburg monarchy, and Prussia.Duke of Marlborough commanded the English and Dutch victory at theBattle of Blenheim in 1704. The main issue was whether France under King Louis XIV would take control of Spain's very extensive possessions and thereby become by far the dominant power, or be forced to share power with other major nations. After initial allied successes, the long war produced a military stalemate and ended with theTreaty of Utrecht, which was based on a balance of power in Europe. HistorianRussell Weigley argues that the many wars almost never accomplished more than they cost.[72] British historianG. M. Trevelyan argues:
That Treaty [of Utrecht], which ushered in the stable and characteristic period of Eighteenth-Century civilization, marked the end of danger to Europe from the old French monarchy, and it marked a change of no less significance to the world at large – the maritime, commercial and financial supremacy of Great Britain.[73]
Frederick the Great, king of Prussia 1740–86, modernized thePrussian army, introduced new tactical and strategic concepts, fought mostly successful wars (Silesian Wars, Seven Years' War) and doubled the size of Prussia.[74][75]
Russian expansion in Eurasia between 1533 and 1894
Russia fought numerous wars to achieve rapid expansion toward the east – i.e.Siberia,Far East, south, to the Black Sea, and south-east and to central Asia. Russia boasted alarge and powerful army, a very large and complex internal bureaucracy, and a splendid court that rivaled Paris and London. However the government was living far beyond its means and seizedChurch lands, leaving organized religion in a weak condition. Throughout the 18th century Russia remained "a poor, backward, overwhelmingly agricultural, and illiterate country."[76]
TheEnlightenment was a powerful, widespread cultural movement of intellectuals beginning in late 17th-century Europe emphasizing the power ofreason rather than tradition; it was especially favourable to science (especially Isaac Newton's physics) and hostile to religious orthodoxy (especially of the Catholic Church).[77] It sought to analyze and reform society using reason, to challenge ideas grounded in tradition and faith, and to advance knowledge through thescientific method. It promoted scientific thought, skepticism, and intellectual interchange.[78] The Enlightenment was a revolution in human thought. This new way of thinking was that rational thought begins with clearly stated principles, uses correct logic to arrive at conclusions, tests the conclusions against evidence, and then revises the principles in light of the evidence.[78]
Enlightenment thinkers opposed superstition. Some Enlightenment thinkers collaborated withEnlightened despots, absolutist rulers who attempted to forcibly impose some of the new ideas about government into practice. The ideas of the Enlightenment exerted significant influence on the culture, politics, and governments of Europe.[79]
Originating in the 17th century, it was sparked by philosophersFrancis Bacon,Baruch Spinoza,John Locke,Pierre Bayle,Voltaire,Francis Hutcheson,David Hume and physicistIsaac Newton.[80] Ruling princes often endorsed and fostered these figures and even attempted to apply their ideas of government in what was known asenlightened absolutism. TheScientific Revolution is closely tied to the Enlightenment, as its discoveries overturned many traditional concepts and introduced new perspectives on nature and man's place within it. The Enlightenment flourished until about 1790–1800, at which point the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on reason, gave way toRomanticism, which placed a new emphasis on emotion; aCounter-Enlightenment began to increase in prominence.
Norman Davies has argued thatFreemasonry was a powerful force on behalf of Liberalism and Enlightenment ideas in Europe, from about 1700 to the 20th century. It expanded rapidly during theAge of Enlightenment, reaching practically every country in Europe.[82] The great enemy of Freemasonry was the Roman Catholic Church, so that in countries with a large Catholic element, such as France, Italy, Austria, Spain and Mexico, much of the ferocity of the political battles involve the confrontation between supporters of the Church versus active Masons.[83][84] 20th-centurytotalitarian and revolutionary movements, especially theFascists andCommunists, crushed the Freemasons.[85]
The Industrial Revolution saw major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, and transport impacted Britain and subsequently spread to the United States and Western Europe. Technological advancements, most notably the utilization of the steam engine, were major catalysts in the industrialisation process. It started in England and Scotland in the mid-18th century with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of coal as the main fuel. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction ofcanals, improved roads and railways. The introduction ofsteam power (fuelled primarily by coal) and powered machinery (mainly intextile manufacturing) underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity.[86] The development of all-metalmachine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting most of the world.[87]
In 1789 France fell into revolution, and the world has never since been the same. The French Revolution was by far the most momentous upheaval of the whole revolutionary age. It replaced the "old regime" with "modern society," and at its extreme phase became very radical, so much so that all later revolutionary movements have looked back to it as a predecessor to themselves.... From the 1760s to 1848, the role of France was decisive.[88]
From the social point of view, the Revolution consisted in the suppression of what was called the feudal system, in the emancipation of the individual, in greater division of landed property, the abolition of the privileges of noble birth, the establishment of equality, the simplification of life.... The French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity."[92]
The storming of theBastille in the French Revolution of 1789
French intervention in theAmerican Revolutionary War had nearly bankrupted the state. After repeated failed attempts at financial reform, King Louis XVI had to convene theEstates-General, a representative body of the country made up of three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. The third estate, joined by members of the other two, declared itself to be aNational Assembly and created, in July, theNational Constituent Assembly. At the same time the people of Paris revolted, famouslystorming the Bastille prison on 14 July 1789.
At the time the assembly wanted to create aconstitutional monarchy, and over the following two years passed various laws including theDeclaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, theabolition of feudalism, and afundamental change in the relationship between France and Rome. At first the king agreed with these changes and enjoyed reasonable popularity with the people. Asanti-royalism increased along with threat of foreign invasion, the king tried to flee and join France's enemies. He was captured and on 21 January 1793, having been convicted of treason, he was guillotined.
On 20 September 1792 theNational Convention abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic. Due to the emergency ofwar, the National Convention created theCommittee of Public Safety to act as the country's executive. UnderMaximilien de Robespierre, the committee initiated theReign of Terror, during which up to 40,000 people were executed in Paris, mainly nobles and those convicted by theRevolutionary Tribunal, often on the flimsiest of evidence. Internal tensions at Paris drove the Committee towards increasing assertions of radicalism and increasing suspicions. A few months into this phase, more and more prominent revolutionaries were being sent to the guillotine by Robespierre and his faction, for exampleMadame Roland andGeorges Danton. Elsewhere in the country, counter-revolutionaryinsurrections were brutally suppressed. The regime was overthrown in thecoup of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) and Robespierre was executed. The regime which followed ended the Terror and relaxed Robespierre's more extreme policies.
Napoleon Bonaparte was France's most successful general in the Revolutionary wars. In 1799 on18 Brumaire (9 November) he overthrew the government, replacing it with theConsulate, which he dominated. He gained popularity in France by restoring the Church, keeping taxes low, centralizing power in Paris, and winning glory on the battlefield. In 1804 he crowned himselfEmperor. In 1805, Napoleon planned to invade Britain, but a renewed British alliance with Russia and Austria (Third Coalition), forced him to turn his attention towards the continent, while at the same time the French fleet was demolished by the British at theBattle of Trafalgar, ending any plan to invade Britain. On 2 December 1805, Napoleon defeated a numerically superior Austro-Russian army atAusterlitz, forcing Austria's withdrawal from the coalition (seeTreaty of Pressburg) and dissolving theHoly Roman Empire. In 1806, aFourth Coalition was set up. On 14 October Napoleon defeated the Prussians at theBattle of Jena-Auerstedt, marched through Germany and defeated the Russians on 14 June 1807 atFriedland. TheTreaties of Tilsit divided Europe between France and Russia and created theDuchy of Warsaw.
Napoleon's army at the retreat from Russia at theBerezina river
On 12 June 1812 Napoleoninvaded Russia with aGrande Armée of nearly 700,000 troops. After the measured victories atSmolensk andBorodino Napoleon occupied Moscow, only to find it burned by the retreating Russian army. He was forced to withdraw. On the march back his army was harassed byCossacks, and suffered disease and starvation. Only 20,000 of his men survived the campaign. By 1813 the tide had begun to turn from Napoleon. Having been defeated by aseven nation army at theBattle of Leipzig in October 1813, he was forced to abdicate after theSix Days' Campaign and the occupation of Paris. Under the Treaty of Fontainebleau he was exiled to the island ofElba. He returned to France on 1 March 1815 (seeHundred Days), raised an army, but was finally defeated by a British and Prussian force at theBattle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815 and exiled to the small British island ofSaint Helena.
Andrew Roberts, an English popular historian, finds that the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, from 1793 to 1815, caused 4 million deaths (of whom 1 million were civilians); 1.4 million were French.[93]
Outside France the Revolution had a major impact. Its ideas became widespread. Roberts argues that Napoleon was responsible for key ideas of the modern world, so that, "meritocracy,equality before the law,property rights,religious toleration,modern secular education, sound finances, and so on-were protected, consolidated, codified, and geographically extended by Napoleon during his 16 years of power."[94]
France conquered Belgium and turned it into another province of France. It conquered the Netherlands, and made it aclient state. It took control of the German areas on the left bank of theRhine River and set up a puppetConfederation of the Rhine. It conquered Switzerland and most of Italy, setting up a series of puppet states. The result was glory and an infusion of much needed money from the conquered lands. However the enemies of France, led by Britain, formed aSecond Coalition in 1799 (with Britain joined by Russia, the Ottoman Empire and Austria). It scored a series of victories that rolled back French successes, and trapped the French Army in Egypt. Napoleon slipped through the British blockade in October 1799, returning to Paris, where he overthrew the government and made himself the ruler.[96][97]
Napoleon conquered most of Italy in the name of the French Revolution in 1797–99. He split up Austria's holdings and set up a series of new republics, complete with new codes of law and abolition of feudal privileges. Napoleon'sCisalpine Republic was centered on Milan; Genoa became a republic; the Roman Republic was formed as well as the smallLigurian Republic around Genoa. TheNeapolitan Republic was formed around Naples, but it lasted only five months. He later formed theKingdom of Italy, with his brother as King. In addition, France turned the Netherlands into theBatavian Republic, and Switzerland into theHelvetic Republic. All these new countries were satellites of France, and had to pay large subsidies to Paris, as well as provide military support for Napoleon's wars. Their political and administrative systems were modernized, the metric system introduced, and trade barriers reduced. Jewish ghettos were abolished. Belgium and Piedmont became integral parts of France.[98]
Most of the new nations were abolished and returned to prewar owners in 1814. However, Artz emphasizes the benefits the Italians gained from the French Revolution:
For nearly two decades the Italians had excellent codes of law, a fair system of taxation, a better economic situation, and more religious and intellectual toleration than they had known for centuries.... Everywhere old physical, economic, and intellectual barriers had been thrown down and the Italians had begun to be aware of a common nationality.[99]
Likewise inSwitzerland the long-term impact of the French Revolution has been assessed by Martin:
It proclaimed the equality of citizens before the law, equality of languages, freedom of thought and faith; it created aSwiss citizenship, basis of our modern nationality, and the separation of powers, of which the old regime had no conception; it suppressed internal tariffs and other economic restraints; it unified weights and measures, reformed civil and penal law, authorized mixed marriages (between Catholics and Protestants), suppressed torture and improved justice; it developed education and public works.[100]
The greatest impact came in France itself. In addition to effects similar to those in Italy and Switzerland, France saw the introduction of the principle of legal equality, and the downgrading of the once powerful and richCatholic Church. Power became centralized in Paris, with its strong bureaucracy and an army supplied by conscripting all young men. French politics were permanently polarized – new names were given, "left" and "right" for the supporters and opponents of the principles of the Revolution.
By the 19th century, governments increasingly took over traditional religious roles, paying much more attention to efficiency and uniformity than to religiosity. Secular bodies took control of education away from the churches, abolished taxes and tithes for the support ofestablished religions, and excluded bishops from the upper houses. Secular laws increasingly regulated marriage and divorce, and maintaining birth and death registers became the duty of local officials. Although the numerousreligious denominations in the United States founded many colleges and universities, that was almost exclusively a state function across Europe. Imperial powers protectedChristian missionaries in African and Asian colonies.[101] In France and other largely Catholic nations,anti-clerical political movements tried to reduce the role of the Catholic Church. Likewise briefly in Germany in the 1870s there was a fierceKulturkampf (culture war) againstCatholics, but the Catholics successfully fought back. The Catholic Church concentrated more power in the papacy and fought againstsecularism andsocialism. It sponsored devotional reforms that gained wide support among the churchgoers.[102]
The political development of nationalism and the push forpopular sovereignty culminated with the ethnic/national revolutions of Europe. During the 19th century nationalism became one of the most significant political and social forces in history; it is typically listed among the top causes ofWorld War I.[103][104] Most European states had becomeconstitutional monarchies by 1871, and Germany and Italy merged many small city-states to become united nation-states. Germany in particular increasingly dominated the continent in economics and political power. Meanwhile, on a global scale, Great Britain, with its far-flungBritish Empire, unmatched Royal Navy, and powerful bankers, became the world's first global power. The sun never set on its territories, while an informal empire operated through British financiers, entrepreneurs, traders and engineers who established operations in many countries, and largely dominated Latin America. The British were especially famous for financing and constructing railways around the world.[105]
Napoleon's conquests of the German and Italian states around 1800–1806 played a major role in stimulating nationalism and demand for national unity.[106]
In the German states east of Prussia Napoleon abolished many of the old or medieval relics, such asdissolving the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.[107] He imposed rational legal systems and his organization of theConfederation of the Rhine in 1806 promoted a feeling ofGerman nationalism. In the 1860s it was Prussian chancellorOtto von Bismarck who achieved German unification in 1870 after the many smaller states followed Prussia's leadership in wars against Denmark, Austria and France.[108]
Italian nationalism emerged in the 19th century and was the driving force forItalian unification or the "Risorgimento". It was the political and intellectual movement that consolidated different states of theItalian Peninsula into the single state of theKingdom of Italy in 1860. The memory of the Risorgimento is central to both Italian nationalism and Italian historiography.[109]
Beginning in 1821, theGreek War of Independence began as a rebellion by Greek revolutionaries against the ruling Ottoman Empire.
The Greek drive for independence from the Ottoman Empire inspired supporters across Christian Europe, especially in Britain. France, Russia and Britain intervened to make this nationalist dream become reality with theGreek War of Independence (1821-1829/1830).[113]
In the 1790s, Germany, Russia and Austriapartitioned Poland. Napoleon set up theDuchy of Warsaw, igniting a spirit ofPolish nationalism. Russia took it over in 1815 asCongress Poland with the tsar as King of Poland. Large-scale nationalist revolts eruptedin 1830 and1863–64 but were harshly crushed by Russia, which tried toRussify thePolish language,culture andreligion. The collapse of the Russian Empire in the First World War enabled the major powers to reestablish an independentSecond Polish Republic, which survived until 1939. Meanwhile, Poles in areas controlled by Germany moved into heavy industry but their religion came under attack by Bismarck in the Kulturkampf of the 1870s. The Poles joined German Catholics in a well-organized newCentre Party, and defeated Bismarck politically. He responded by stopping the harassment and cooperating with the Centre Party.[114][115]
School map of Spain from 1850. On it, the State is shown divided into four parts:- "Fully constitutional Spain", which includes Castile and Andalusia, but also the Galician-speaking territories. – "Annexed or assimilated Spain": the territories of the Crown of Aragon, the larger part of which, with the exception of Aragon proper, are Catalan-speaking-, "Foral Spain", which includes Basque-speaking territories-, and "Colonial Spain", with the last overseas colonial territories.
After theWar of the Spanish Succession, the assimilation of theCrown of Aragon by theCastilian Crown through theDecrees of Nova planta was the first step in the creation of the Spanish nation state, through the imposition of the political and cultural characteristics of the dominant ethnic group, in this case the Castilians, over those of other ethnic groups, who becamenational minorities to be assimilated.[116][117] Since the political unification of 1714, Spanish assimilation policies towards Catalan-speaking territories (Catalonia,Valencia, theBalearic Islands, part ofAragon) and other national minorities have been a historical constant.[118][119][120] The nationalization process accelerated in the 19th century, in parallel to the origin ofSpanish nationalism, the social, political and ideological movement that tried to shape a Spanish national identity based on the Castilian model, in conflict with the other historical nations of the State. These nationalist policies, sometimes very aggressive,[121][122][123][124] and still in force,[125][126][127][128] are the seed of repeated territorial conflicts within the State.
An important component of nationalism was the study of the nation's heritage, emphasizing thenational language and literary culture. This stimulated, and was in turn strongly supported by, the emergence ofnational educational systems.Latin gave way to the national language, andcompulsory education, with strong support from modernizers and the media, became standard in Germany and eventually other West European nations. Voting reforms extended the franchise. Every country developed a sense of national origins – the historical accuracy was less important than the motivation toward patriotism.Universal compulsory education was extended to girls at the elementary level. By the 1890s, strong movements emerged in some countries, including France, Germany and the United States, to extend compulsory education to the secondary level.[129][130]
After the defeat of revolutionary France, the great powers tried to restore the situation which existed before 1789. The 1815Congress of Vienna produced a peacefulbalance of power among the European empires, known as theMetternich system. The powerbase of their support was the aristocracy.[131] However, their reactionary efforts were unable to stop the spread of revolutionary movements: the middle classes had been deeply influenced by the ideals of the French revolution, and the Industrial Revolution brought important economical and social changes.[132]
The middle classes and businessmen promoted liberalism, free trade and capitalism. Aristocratic elements concentrated in government service, the military and the established churches. Nationalist movements (in Germany, Italy, Poland, Hungary, and elsewhere) sought national unification and/or liberation from foreign rule. As a result, the period between 1815 and 1871 saw a large number of revolutionary attempts and independence wars. Greece successfully revolted against Ottoman rule in the 1820s.[134]
Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon I, parlayed his famous name and to widespread popularity across France. He returned from exile in 1848, promising to stabilize the chaotic political situation.[135] He was elected president and maneuvered successfully to name himself Emperor, a move approved later by a large majority of the French electorate. The first part of his Imperial term brought many important reforms, facilitated by Napoleon's control of the lawmaking body, the government, and theFrench Armed Forces. Hundreds of old Republican leaders were arrested and deported. Napoleon controlled the media and censored the news. In compensation for the loss of freedom, Napoleon gave the people new hospitals and asylums, beautified and modernized Paris, and built a modern railroad and transportation system that dramatically improved commerce. The economy grew, but industrialization was not as rapid as Britain, and France depended largely on small family-oriented firms as opposed to the large companies that were emerging in the United States and Germany. France was on the winning side in theCrimean War (1854–56), but after 1858 Napoleon's foreign-policy was less and less successful. Foreign-policy blunders finally destroyed his reign in 1870–71. His empire collapsed after being defeated in theFranco-Prussian War.[136][137]
France became a republic, but until the 1880s there was a strong popular demand for monarchy.Hostility to the Catholic Church became a major issue, as France battle between secular and religious forces well into the 20th century, with the secular elements usually more successful. TheFrench Third Republic emerged in 1871.[138]
From his base in Prussia,Otto von Bismarck in the 1860s engineered a series of short, decisive wars, thatunified most of the German states (excluding Austria) into a powerfulGerman Empire. By 1871 he usedbalance of power diplomacy to preserve Germany's new role and keep Europe at peace. The newGerman Empire industrialized rapidly and challenged Britain for economic leadership. Bismarck was removed from office in 1890 by an aggressive young KaiserWilhelm II, who pursued a disruptive foreign policy that polarized Europe into rival camps. These rival camps went to war with each other in 1914.[139][140]
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The power of nationalism to create new states was irresistible in the 19th century, and the process could lead to collapse in the absence of a strong nationalism.Austria-Hungary had the advantage of size and a large army, but multiple disadvantages: rivals on four sides, unstable finances, a fragmented population, a thin industrial base, and minimal naval resources. It did have the advantage of good diplomats, typified byMetternich. They employed a grand strategy for survival that balanced out different forces, set up buffer zones, and kept theHapsburg empire going despite wars with the Ottomans, Frederick the Great, Napoleon and Bismarck, until the First World War. The Empire overnight disintegrated into multiple states based on ethnic nationalism and the principle of self-determination.[141]
Catherine the Great's reforms caused theRussian Empire to develop into a major European power.[142] In the subsequent decades, Russia expanded in a variety of directions. Like the Austrian empire, the Russian empire brought together a multitude of languages and cultures, so that its military defeat in the First World War led to multiple splits that created independent Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland, and briefly independent Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.[143]
There was mass European emigration to theAmericas,South Africa, Australia and New Zealand in the 19th and 20th centuries, as a result of a dramaticdemographic transition in 19th-century Europe, subsequent wars and political changes on the continent. From the end of theNapoleonic Wars in 1815 to the end ofWorld War I in 1918, millions of Europeans emigrated. Of these, 71% went toNorth America, 21% toCentral andSouth America and 7% to Australia. About 11 million of these people went to Latin America, of whom 38% were Italians, 28% were Spaniards and 11% were Portuguese.[144]
Colonial empires were the product of the EuropeanAge of Discovery from the 15th century. The initial impulse behind these dispersed maritime empires and those that followed was trade. Both thePortuguese Empire andSpanish Empire quickly grew into the first global political and economic systems with territories spread around the world.
Subsequent major European colonial empires included theFrench,Dutch, andBritish. The latter, consolidated during the period of British maritime hegemony in the 19th century, became the largest empire in history because of the improved ocean transportation technologies of the time as well as electronic communication. At its height in 1920, the British Empire covered a quarter of the Earth's land area and comprised a quarter of its population. Other European countries, such asBelgium,Germany, andItaly, pursued colonial empires as well (mostly in Africa), but they were smaller. Russia built itsRussian Empire through conquest by land in Eastern Europe, and Asia.
By the mid-19th century, theOttoman Empire had declined. This instigated theCrimean War in 1854 and began a tenser period of minor clashes among the globe-spanning empires of Europe. In the second half of the 19th century, theKingdom of Sardinia and theKingdom of Prussia carried out a series of wars that resulted in the creation of Italy and Germany as nation-states, significantly changing the balance of power in Europe. From 1870,Otto von Bismarck engineered a German hegemony that put France in a critical situation. It slowly rebuilt its relationships, seeking alliances with Russia and Britain to control the growing power of Germany. In this way, two opposing sides – theTriple Alliance of 1882 (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) and theTriple Entente of 1907 (Britain, France and Russia) – formed in Europe, escalating military forces and alliances.
Trenches and sand bags were defences against machine guns and artillery on the Western Front, 1914–1918
After the relative peace of most of the 19th century, the rivalry between European powers, compounded by rising nationalism among ethnic groups, exploded in 1914, when World War I started.[145] Over 65 million European soldiers were mobilised from 1914 to 1918; 20 million soldiers and civilians died.[146] On one side were Germany,Austria-Hungary, theOttoman Empire and Bulgaria (theCentral Powers/Triple Alliance), while on the other side stoodSerbia and theTriple Entente(France, Britain and Russia), which were joined by Italy in 1915, Romania in 1916 and the United States in 1917. TheWestern Front involved especially brutal combat without any territorial gains by either side. Single battles likeVerdun and theSomme killed hundreds of thousands. Czarist Russia collapsed in theFebruary Revolution of 1917 and Germany claimed victory on theEastern Front. After eight months ofliberal rule, theOctober Revolution broughtVladimir Lenin and theBolsheviks to power, leading to the creation of the Soviet Union. WithAmerican entry into the war in 1917, and the failure ofGermany's spring 1918 offensive, Germany had run out of manpower. Germany's allies,Austria-Hungary and theOttoman Empire, surrendered and dissolved, followed by Germany on 11 November 1918.[147][148]
In theTreaty of Versailles (1919) the winners recognised the new states (Poland,Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria,Yugoslavia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) created in central Europe from the defunct German, Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires, based on national (ethnic) self-determination. It was a peaceful era with a few small wars before 1922 such as theUkrainian–Soviet War (1917–1921) and thePolish–Soviet War (1919–1921). Prosperity was widespread, and the major cities sponsored a youth culture called the "Roaring Twenties" or "Jazz Age".[152]
The Allied victory in the First World War seemed to mark the triumph ofliberalism. Historian Martin Blinkhorn argues that the liberal themes were ascendant in terms of "cultural pluralism, religious and ethnic toleration,national self-determination,free-market economics,representative andresponsible government,free trade,unionism, and the peaceful settlement of international disputes through a new body, the League of Nations."[153] However, as early as 1917, the emerging liberal order was being challenged by the newcommunist movement. Communist revolts were beaten back everywhere else, but succeeded in Russia.[154]Italy adopted an authoritarian dictatorship known asFascism in 1922. Authoritarian regimes replaced democracy in the 1930s inNazi Germany,Portugal,Austria, Poland,Greece, the Baltic countries andFrancoist Spain. By 1940, there were only four liberal democracies left on the European continent:France, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden.[155]
Adolf Hitler addressing the Reichstag on 23 March 1933
After theWall Street crash of 1929, most of the world sank into a Great Depression; prices and profits fell and unemployment soared. The worst hit sectors included heavy industry, export-oriented agriculture, mining and lumbering, and construction. World trade fell by two-thirds.[156][157]
In most of Europe, many nations turned to dictators and authoritarian regimes. The most momentous change of government came whenHitler took power in Germany in 1933. The main institution that was meant to bring stability was theLeague of Nations, created in 1919. However the League failed to resolve any major crises, undermined by the bellicosity ofNazi Germany,Imperial Japan, the Soviet Union, andMussolini's Italy, and by the non-participation of the United States. By 1937 it was largely ignored.[158]
Italy conquered Ethiopia in 1931.[159] TheSpanish Civil War (1936–1939) was won by the rebels (theNationalist faction), led byFrancisco Franco. The civil war did not escalate into a larger conflict, but did become a worldwide ideological battleground that pitted the left, the communist movement and many liberals against Catholics, conservatives, and fascists. Britain, France and the US remained neutral. Worldwide there was a decline in pacifism and a growing sense that another world war was imminent.[160]
East German construction workers building the Berlin Wall, 20 November 1961
The world wars ended the pre-eminent position of Britain, France and Germany in Europe and the world.[165] At theYalta Conference, Europe was divided into spheres of influence between the victors of World War II, and soon became the principal zone of contention in theCold War between theWestern countries and theCommunist bloc. The United States and the majority of European liberal democracies established theNATO military alliance. Later, the Soviet Union and its satellites in 1955 established theWarsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact had a much larger ground force, but the American-French-Britishnuclear umbrellas protected NATO.
Communist states were imposed by the Red Army in the East, while parliamentary democracy became dominant in the West. Most historians point to its success as the product of exhaustion with war and dictatorship, and the promise of continued economic prosperity.
The United States gave away about $20 billion inMarshall Plan grants and other funding to Western Europe, 1945 to 1951. Historian Michael J. Hogan argues that American aid was critical in stabilizing the economy and politics of Western Europe. It brought in modern management that dramatically increased productivity, and encouraged cooperation between labor and management, and among states. Local Communist parties were opposed, and they lost prestige and influence and a role in government. In strategic terms, says Hogan, the Marshall Plan strengthened the West against the possibility of a communist invasion or political takeover.[166] However, the Marshall Plan's role in the rapid recovery has been debated. Most reject the idea that it only miraculously revived Europe, since the evidence shows that a general recovery was already under way. Economic historians Bradford De Long andBarry Eichengreen conclude:
It was not large enough to have significantly accelerated recovery by financing investment, aiding the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure, or easing commodity bottlenecks. We argue, however, that the Marshall Plan did play a major role in setting the stage for post-World War II Western Europe's rapid growth. The conditions attached to Marshall Plan aid pushed European political economy in a direction that left its post World War II "mixed economies" with more "market" and less "controls" in the mix.[167]
The Soviet Union concentrated on its own recovery. It seized and transferred most of Germany's industrial plants and it exactedwar reparations from East Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. It used trading arrangements deliberately designed to favor the Soviet Union. Moscow controlled the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states. Historian Mark Kramer concludes:
The net outflow of resources from eastern Europe to the Soviet Union was approximately $15 billion to $20 billion in the first decade after World War II, an amount roughly equal to the total aid provided by the United States to western Europe under the Marshall Plan.[168]
Looking at the half century after the war historianWalter Lacquer concluded:
"The postwar generations of European elites aimed to create more democratic societies. They wanted to reduce the extremes of wealth and poverty and provide essential social services in a way that prewar generations had not. They had had quite enough of unrest and conflict. For decades many Continental societies had more or less achieved these aims and had every reason to be proud of their progress. Europe was quiet and civilized. Europe's success was based on recent painful experience: the horrors of two world wars; the lessons of dictatorship; the experiences of fascism and communism. Above all, it was based on a feeling of European identity and common values – or so it appeared at the time."[169]
The post-war period witnessed a significant rise in the standard of living of the Western European working class.[170]
Western Europe's industrial nations in the 1970s were hit by aglobal economic crisis. Causes included obsolescent heavy industry, sudden high energy prices which caused sharp inflation, inefficient nationalized railways and heavy industries, laggingcomputer technology, highgovernment deficits and growing unrest led by militantlabour unions. Germany and Sweden sought to create a social consensus behind a gradual restructuring. Germany's efforts proved highly successful. In Britain under thepremiership of Margaret Thatcher, the solution was shock therapy, high interest rates, austerity, and selling off inefficient corporations as well as the public housing. One result was escalating social tensions in Britain. Thatcher eventually defeated her opponents and radically changed theBritish economy, but controversy persisted.[171]
Germans standing on top of theBerlin Wall at theBrandenburg Gate, November 1989; it would begin to be torn apart in the following days.Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War and thedissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991
Western Europe began economic and then political integration, with the aim to unite the region and defend it. This process included organisations such as theEuropean Coal and Steel Community and theCouncil of Europe. TheSolidarność movement in the 1980s weakened theCommunist government in Poland. At the time the Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev initiatedperestroika andglasnost, which weakened Soviet influence in Europe. In 1989 after thePan-European Picnic theIron Curtain and theBerlin Wall came down and Communist governments outside the Soviet Union were deposed. In 1990 the Federal Republic of Germany absorbed East Germany. In 1991 theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow collapsed,ending the USSR, which split into fifteen independent states. The most violent dissolution happened in Yugoslavia. Four out of six Yugoslav republics declared independence and for most of them a violent war ensued, in some parts lasting until 1995. In 2006 Montenegro seceded and became an independent state.Kosovo's governmentunilaterally declared independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008.TheEuropean Economic Community pushed for closer integration, co-operation in foreign and home affairs, and started to increase its membership into the neutral and former communist countries. In 1993, theMaastricht Treaty established theEuropean Union, succeeding the EEC. The neutral countries of Austria, Finland and Sweden acceded to the EU, and those that did not join were tied into the EU's economic market via theEuropean Economic Area. These countries also entered theSchengen Agreement which lifted border controls between member states.[172] Theeuro was created in 1999 and replaced all previous currencies in participating states in 2002, forming theeurozone.
The EU did not participate in theYugoslav Wars, and was divided on supporting the United States in the 2003–2011Iraq War. NATO was part of thewar in Afghanistan, but at a much lower level of involvement than the United States.
In thepost–Cold War era, NATO and the EU have been gradually admitting most of the former members of the Warsaw Pact. In 2004, the EUgained 10 new members. (Estonia,Latvia, andLithuania, which had been part of the Soviet Union;Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland,Slovakia, andSlovenia, five former-communist countries;Malta, and the divided island ofCyprus.) These were followed byBulgaria and Romania in 2007. Russia's regime interpreted these expansions as violations against NATO's promise to not expand "one inch to the east" in 1990.[173] Russia engaged in bilateral disputes about gas supplies withBelarus andUkraine which endangered the European supply, and engaged in awar with Georgia in 2008.Public opinion in the EU turned against enlargement, partially due to what was seen as over-eager expansion including Turkey gaining candidate status. TheEuropean Constitution was rejectedin France and the Netherlands, and then (as theTreaty of Lisbon) in Ireland, although a second vote passed in Ireland in 2009.
The2007–2008 financial crisis and theGreat Recession affected Europe, and government responded withausterity. Limitedability of the smaller EU nations (most notablyGreece) to handle their debts led to social unrest including theanti-austerity movement, government liquidation, and financial insolvency. In May 2010, the German parliament agreed to loan 22.4 billion euros to Greece over three years, with the stipulation that Greece follow strict austerity measures. SeeEuropean sovereign-debt crisis.
Beginning in 2014,Ukraine has been in astate of revolution and unrest. On 16 March, adisputed referendum was held inCrimea leading to thede facto secession of Crimea and its largely internationally unrecognizedannexation to the Russian Federation.
Ms. Merkel leaves in her wake a weakened Europe, a region whose aspirations to act as a thirdsuperpower have come to seem ever more unrealistic. When she became chancellor in 2005, the EU was at a high point: It had adopted theeuro, which was meant to rival thedollar as aglobal currency, andhad just expanded by absorbing former members of the Soviet bloc. Today’s EU, by contrast, is geographically and economically diminished. Having lost the U.K. because ofBrexit, it faces deep political and cultural divisions, lags behind in the global race for innovation and technology and is increasingly squeezed by the mountingU.S.-China strategic rivalry. Europe has endured thanks in part to Ms. Merkel’s pragmatic stewardship, but it has been battered by crises during her entire time in office.[174]
1200 BC:Late Bronze Age collapse begins, that may be seen in the context of a technological history that saw the slow spread ofironworking technology from present-day Bulgaria andRomania in the 13th and the 12th centuries BC.[15]
597: Beginning of Roman CatholicChristianization of Anglo-Saxon England (missions and churches had been in existence well before this date, but their contacts with Rome had been loose or nonexistent)
722:Battle of Covadonga in the Iberian Peninsula.Pelayo, a noble Visigoth, defeats a Muslim army that tried to conquer the Cantabrian coast. This helps establish the ChristianKingdom of Asturias, and marks the beginning of the Reconquista.
732: At theBattle of Tours, the Franks stop the advance of the Arabs into Europe.
1699:Treaty of Karlowitz concludes theAustro-Ottoman War. This marks the end of Ottoman control of Central Europe and the beginning of Ottoman stagnation, establishing the Habsburg monarchy as the dominant power in Central and Southeastern Europe.
1700: Outbreak of theWar of the Spanish Succession and theGreat Northern War. The first would check the aspirations ofLouis XIV, king of France to dominate European affairs; the second would lead to Russia's emergence as a great power and a recognizably European state.
18th century:Age of Enlightenment spurs an intellectual renaissance across Europe.
1895:Auguste and Louis Lumière begin exhibitions of projected films before the paying public with theircinematograph, a portable camera, printer, and projector.
1902:Guglielmo Marconi sends first transatlantic radio transmission.
1918: World War I ends with the defeat of Germany and the Central Powers. Ten million soldiers killed; collapse of Russian, German, Austrian, and Ottoman empires.
1918: Collapse of the German Empire and monarchic system; founding ofWeimar Republic.
1918: Worldwide Spanish flu epidemic kills millions in Europe.
1918: Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolves.
1919:Versailles Treaty strips Germany of its colonies, several provinces and its navy and air force; limits army; Allies occupy western areas; reparations ordered.
1920:League of Nations begins operations; largely ineffective; defunct by 1939.
1921–22: Ireland divided; Irish Free State becomes independent and civil war erupts.
1947: TheBritish Empire begins a process of voluntarily dismantling with the granting of independence to India and Pakistan.
1947:Cold War begins as Europe is polarized East versus West.
1948–1951: U.S. provides large sums to rebuild Western Europe through theMarshall Plan; stimulates large-scale modernization of European industries and reduction of trade restrictions.
1989:Communism overthrown in all theWarsaw Pact countries except the Soviet Union. Fall of theBerlin Wall (opening of unrestrained border crossings between east and west, which effectively deprived the wall of any relevance).
^Tandy, p. xii. "Figure 1: Map of Epirus showing the locations of known sites with Mycenaean remains"; Tandy, p. 2. "The strongest evidence for Mycenaean presence in Epirus is found in the coastal zone of the lower Acheron River, which in antiquity emptied into a bay on the Ionian coast known from ancient sources asGlykys Limin (Figure 2-A)."
^The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium BC III, Proceedings of the SCIEM 2000 – 2nd EuroConference, Vienna, 28 May – 1 June 2003
^Emilio Peruzzi,Mycenaeans in early Latium, (Incunabula Graeca 75), Edizioni dell'Ateneo & Bizzarri, Roma, 1980
^abSee A. Stoia and the other essays in M.L. Stig Sørensen and R. Thomas, eds.,The Bronze Age: Iron Age Transition in Europe (Oxford) 1989, andT.A. Wertime and J.D. Muhly,The Coming of the Age of Iron (New Haven) 1980.
^McLaughlin, Raoul (11 September 2014).The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean: The Ancient World Economy and the Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia and India.Pen & Sword.ISBN9781473840959.
^McLaughlin, Raoul (11 November 2016).The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy & the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia & Han China.Pen & Sword.ISBN9781473889811.
^Hunter, Shireen; et al. (2004).Islam in Russia: The Politics of Identity and Security. M.E. Sharpe. p. 3.(..) It is difficult to establish exactly when Islam first appeared in Russia because the lands that Islam penetrated early in its expansion were not part of Russia at the time, but were later incorporated into the expanding Russian Empire. Islam reached the Caucasus region in the middle of the seventh century as part of the Arabconquest of the Iranian Sassanian Empire.
^Kennedy, Hugh (1995). "The Muslims in Europe". In McKitterick, Rosamund,The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 500 – c. 700, pp. 249–72. Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-36292-X.
^Joseph F. O´Callaghan,Reconquest and crusade in Medieval Spain (2002)
^Herbert S, Klein,The American Finances of the Spanish Empire : Royal Income and Expenditures in Colonial Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia, 1680–1809 (1998) p. 92onlineArchived 14 June 2021 at theWayback Machine
^McLellan, James May (2010).Colonialism and Science: Saint Domingue and the Old Regime (reprint ed.). University of Chicago Press. p. 63.ISBN978-0-226-51467-3.Archived from the original on 27 April 2023. Retrieved22 November 2010.[...] French Saint Domingue at its height in the 1780s had become the single richest and most productive colony in the world.
^Richard Weisberger et al., eds.,Freemasonry on both sides of the Atlantic: essays concerning the craft in the British Isles, Europe, the United States, and Mexico (East European Monographs, 2002)
^Margaret C. Jacob,Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and politics in eighteenth-century Europe (Oxford UP, 1991).
^Robert C. Allen, "Why the industrial revolution was British: commerce, induced invention, and the scientific revolution"Economic History Review 64.2 (2011): 357–384onlineArchived 5 August 2021 at theWayback Machine.
^R.R. Palmer and Joel Colton, A History of the Modern World (5th ed. 1978), p. 341
^Steven Englund,Napoleon: A Political Life (2004) p. 388
^Gordon S. Wood,The radicalism of the American Revolution (2011).
^R.R. Palmer,The Age of the Democratic Revolution: A Political History of Europe and America, 1760–1800: The Challenge (1959) pp. 4–5
^Kenneth Scott Latourette,Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, Volume I: The Nineteenth Century in Europe: Background and the Roman Catholic Phase (1958) pp. 321–23, 370, 458–59, 464–66.
^Aaron Gillette, "Why Did They Fight the Great War? A Multi-Level Class Analysis of the Causes of the First World War."The History Teacher 40.1 (2006): 45–58.
^Andrew Porter and William Roger Louis, eds.The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume 3, The Nineteenth Century (1999).
^Mayans Balcells, Pere (2019).Cròniques Negres del Català A L'Escola (in Catalan) (del 1979 ed.). Edicions del 1979. p. 230.ISBN978-84-947201-4-7.
^Lluís, García Sevilla (2021).Recopilació d'accions genocides contra la nació catalana (in Catalan). Base. p. 300.ISBN9788418434983.
^Bea Seguí, Ignaci (2013).En cristiano! Policia i Guàrdia Civil contra la llengua catalana (in Catalan). Cossetània. p. 216.ISBN9788490341339.
^Sobrequés Callicó, Jaume (29 January 2021).Repressió borbònica i resistència identitària a la Catalunya del segle XVIII (in Catalan). Departament de Justícia de la Generalitat de Catalunya. p. 410.ISBN978-84-18601-20-0.
^Ferrer Gironès, Francesc (1985).La persecució política de la llengua catalana (in Catalan) (62 ed.). Edicions 62. p. 320.ISBN978-8429723632.
^Benet, Josep (1995).L'intent franquista de genocidi cultural contra Catalunya (in Catalan). Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat.ISBN84-7826-620-8.
^Llaudó Avila, Eduard (2021).Racisme i supremacisme polítics a l'Espanya contemporània (7th ed.). Manresa: Parcir.ISBN9788418849107.
^Moreno Cabrera, Juan Carlos."L'espanyolisme lingüístic i la llengua comuna"(PDF).VIII Jornada sobre l'Ús del Català a la Justícia (in Catalan). Ponència del Consell de l'advocacia de Catalunya.Archived(PDF) from the original on 5 November 2022. Retrieved8 October 2022.
^Napoleon II (1811–1832) was the son of Napoleon I but he never actually ruled.
^Napoleon III." in Anne Commire, ed.Historic World Leaders, (Gale, 1994)onlineArchived 29 December 2022 at theWayback Machine.
^J.P.T. Bury,Napoleon III and the Second Empire (1968).
^Denis Brogan,The French Nation: From Napoleon to Pétain, 1814–1940 (1957).
^Katherine Ann Lerman, "Bismarck, Otto von." in Europe 1789–1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire, edited by John Merriman and Jay Winter, (Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006) vol 1, pp. 233–242.onlineArchived 29 December 2022 at theWayback Machine.
^Theodore S. Hamerow, ed.,Otto von Bismarck and imperial Germany: a historical assessment (1994)
^Brian Bond, "The First World War" inC.L. Mowat, ed.The New Cambridge Modern History: Vol. XII: The Shifting Balance of World Forces 1898–1945 (2nd ed. 1968)online pp. 171–208.
^Christopher Clark,The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 (2013) p xxiii
^Overviews include David Stevenson,Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy (2005) and Ian F. W. Beckett,The Great War: 1914–1918 (2nd ed. 2007)
^For reference see Martin Gilbert,Atlas of World War I (1995) and Spencer Tucker, ed.,The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (1996)
^Sally Marks,The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe 1918–1933 (2nd ed. 2003)
^Zara Steiner,The Lights that Failed: European International History 1919–1933 (2007)
^Carole Fink, "The Paris Peace Conference and the Question of Minority Rights,"Peace and Change: A journal of peace research (1996) 21#3 pp. 273–88
^Raymond James Sontag, .A broken world, 1919–1939 (1972)online free to borrow; wide-ranging survey of European history.
^Gregory M. Luebbert,Liberalism, fascism, or social democracy: Social classes and the political origins of regimes in interwar Europe (Oxford UP, 1991).
^Martin Blinkhorn,The Fascist Challenge in Gordon Martel, ed.A Companion to Europe: 1900–1945 (2011) p. 313
^Charles Kindleberger,The World in Depression, 1929–1939 (2nd ed. 1986) provides a broad survey by an economist,
^Piers Brendon,The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s (2000) 816pp covers far more details by a political historian.
^Bojan Pancevski, "Merkel Says Auf Wiedersehen to a Diminished Europe: The long-serving German chancellor helped the EU survive a string of crises, but her caution and focus on her own country’s interests have undermined the continent’s once-grand aspirations"Wall Street Journal Sept 24. 2021Archived 27 September 2021 at theWayback Machine
^Herb, Jeremy;Starr, Barbara; Kaufman, Ellie (24 February 2022)."US orders 7,000 more troops to Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine". Oren Liebermann and Michael Conte. CNN. Archived fromthe original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved27 February 2022.Russia's invasion of its neighbor in Ukraine is the largest conventional military attack that's been seen since World War II, the senior defense official said Thursday outlining United States observations of the unfolding conflict
^Tsvetkova, Maria; Vasovic, Aleksandar; Zinets, Natalia; Charlish, Alan; Grulovic, Fedja (27 February 2022)."Putin puts nuclear 'deterrence' forces on alert". Writing by Robert Birsel and Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by William Mallard, Angus MacSwan and David Clarke.Kyiv.Reuters.Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved27 February 2022.... [t]he biggest assault on a European state since World War Two.
^Lazarovici, Gheorghe and Merlini, Marco, "4 Tărtăria Tablets: The Latest Evidence in an Archaeological Thriller", Western-Pontic Culture Ambience and Pattern: In memory of Eugen Comsa, edited by Lolita Nikolova, Marco Merlini and Alexandra Comsa, Warsaw, Poland: De Gruyter Open Poland, pp. 53-142, 2016
^Rehm, Ellen (2010). "The Impact of the Achaemenids on Thrace: A Historical Review". In Nieling, Jens; Rehm, Ellen (eds.).Achaemenid Impact in the Black Sea: Communication of Powers. Black Sea Studies. Vol. 11. Aarhus University Press. p. 143.ISBN978-8779344310.In 470/469 BC, the strategist Kimon, mentioned above, defeated the Persian fleet at the mouth of the Eurymedon river. Subsequently, it seems that the royal house of the Odrysians in Thrace gained power and in about 465/464 BC emerged from the Persian shadow. The Odrysians became aware of the power vacuum resulting from the withdrawal of the Persians and claimed back supremacy over the region inhabited by several tribes. From this period onwards an indigenous ruling dynasty is comprehensible.
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