Major Historical Events
- Fall of Roman Empire (313 CE-476 CE): The Western Roman Empire declined over the course of many decades, losing control over its vast territories.
- Causes: The Empire’s conquest, and, with it, the inflow of wealth and slave labor had slowed, causing a labor deficit, and, consequently, a decline in the Roman economy. Additionally, the Empire had over expanded, making communication and travel difficult; this problem was exacerbated by government corruption. The Empire had split into eastern and western halves earlier, and this, along with the rise of Christianity as the new dominant religion (which weakened the power of the king among the people, as it stated that God was the ultimate authority) contributed to a declining stability. Finally, it became increasingly difficult to find soldiers within the populace, and emperors began to fill the ranks with Germanic mercenaries. This facilitated the invasions by Germanic tribes, and the eventual overthrow of Emperor Romulus by the Visigoth King.
- Effects: After the Fall of the Roman Empire, smaller kingdoms and city states gradually took control of territories, dividing Southern Europe into smaller political divisions. The Fall also marked the end of the written law, education and literacy, and ushered in the Middle Ages (or, as some would say, the “Dark Ages”), a time period marked by feudalism, wars between kingdoms, and rampant poverty.
2. Black Plague (1347 CE-1350 CE): During the Middle Ages, the Black Plague was a pandemic that accounted for the deaths of 60% of the European population. - Causes: The Bubonic Plague, the plague that killed so many during the Black Plague pandemic, was carried by rats and fleas, which were originally spread into Europe by merchants traveling along trade routes from China, then later spread throughout Europe mainly by way of trade vessels sailing the Mediterranean. Additionally, there was very little in the way of sanitation, meaning that waste products were simply dumped out in the streets or into water sources. This gave rats and fleas ample breeding and nesting grounds, as the waste gives them both shelter and food.
- Effects: The Black Plague killed approximately 60% of the population, greatly reducing the workforce. At first this caused massive food shortages, but, in the long run, it helped bring about the end of feudalism and the beginning of the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. Because of the greatly reduced supply, workers could demand higher wages, leading to a gradual decline in worker exploitation.
3. Medici Family Rose To Power (1389 CE): The rule of the Medici family dynasty of Florence, Italy, then a city-state, lasted for approximately three centuries.
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4. Beginning of Colonization (1492 CE): Columbus, an Italian sailor, explored the New World under Spanish commission.
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- Causes: Cosimo ‘de Medici, the first Medici in power, was a successful, affluent Florentine merchant and banker. He rose to political power and eventually became the uncrowned ruler of Florence.
- Effects: The Medicis were great supporters of the arts, the sciences, and the humanities, and funded great minds, such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. They made Florence the center of the Renaissance, a time of heightened expression, leading to the Enlightenment. Throughout the Medici reign, the Catholic Church and the absolute rule of monarchs were increasingly brought under scrutiny. Literacy rates increased, and critical thinking and self-expression became cultural values, giving birth to the epitomical “Renaissance Man”.
4. Beginning of Colonization (1492 CE): Columbus, an Italian sailor, explored the New World under Spanish commission.
- Causes: Many of the European nations were looking to expand their wealth through increased trade with the Asias. However, the trade route (around the tip of Africa) was long and expensive. Columbus believed that it would be easier to reach Asia by sailing westwards, and managed to convince Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain to commission his voyage. After Columbus explored the Caribbean and parts of the eastern Americas, he returned with reports that led Spain, and, later, other European powers (Portugal, England, Poland, the Netherlands) to further explore the Americas in search of wealth and conversion of native peoples to Catholicism.
- Effects: Colonies were established all across the Americas, most of which led to increases in the wealth and influence of Southern European countries. The Columbian Exchange was established, leading to an inflow of New World ideas and goods to various European countries that eventually spread all across Europe. The countries with colonies rose to greater political and economic prominence, leading to their dominance of the region.
5. Beginning of Protestant Reformation (1517 CE): The Protestant Reformation was the religious reformation of the Catholic Church.
- Causes: The Catholic Church was very entangled in European political affairs and Luther saw it as being corrupt and as “perverting” biblical ideals through the indulgence system and the preaching of good works, leading him to post his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church. Luther thought that his movement was unique because he was seeking to reform the very root of the Church; he believed that only Scripture contained the word of God, that faith was the only basis of admittance into heaven, and that the average citizen was fully capable of understanding God’s will.
- Effects: After Luther was excommunicated, what started as a reform became a new branch of Christianity: Protestantism. The Protestant Reformation gained popularity in Germany, and, eventually, the rest of Europe, and also spurred further cracks in the unity of the church in the form of further branches and sub-branches, such as Calvinism and Anabaptism. It also led to the Catholic counter-reformation that was particularly strong in Spain and Italy and centuries of animosity and fighting between Catholics and Protestants. Protestants and non-Catholics made up the majority of the immigrants to the Americas who were fleeing religious persecution. Today, Protestantism is a major branch, being the main religion of the United States and constituting 40% of the world’s Christian population.
6. Napoleon’s Conquest (1799 CE-1821 CE): Under the direction of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, France conquered the majority of Southern Europe, as well as parts of Central Europe.
- Causes: The French Revolution, which took place from 1789 to 1799, greatly weakened the stability of the French government, making it simple for Napoleon, then a charismatic and popular General, to raise support and to seize power in coup d’etat.
- Effects: Most of Southern Europe was a part of the French Empire at some point, and, to this day, French influences remain in most of the countries Napoleon conquered.
7. World War I (1914 CE-1918 CE): The Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany, the Ottoman Empire) fought against Allied Powers (Serbia, Russia, the US, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan) in the first war of its kind: a war concerning the major powers of the world.
- Causes: There were already high tensions in Europe due to skirmishes and battles over colonial territories, nationalist ideologies, and military arms races between the major countries of the first world war. The direct cause, however, was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria-Hungary by Serbian nationalists. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and, because of the numerous mutual defense alliances between various European countries, other countries were pulled into the war one by one.
- Effects: When the Central Powers lost the Great War, four major empires fell: the German, Austrian-Hungarian, Turkish, and Russian Empires, breaking into smaller states throughout Europe. Additionally, Germany, forced to take blame for the war and to pay war reparations, was greatly impoverished, leading in part to the rise of the Nazi Party. Many nations had already spend large sums in the war, and many had weakened infrastructure due to fighting throughout Europe, which contributed to the Great Depression.
8. Great Depression (1930s CE): The Great Depression was the longest and deepest economic downturn of the Western industrialized world.
- Causes: After the US Stock Market Crash of 1929, millions of investors withdrew/sold their stocks. There was a decrease in consumer confidence, which led to decreases in consumer spending and investment. Many companies were forced to fire their workers, and this further exacerbated the problem; less people had jobs, so there was even less spending and investment. Due to the large amounts of economic interdependence and trade between European powers and the United States, Europe was also hit badly by the Great Depression.
- Effects: People across Europe starved, there were massive unemployment rates, and some countries, such as Germany, (which was already impoverished due to war reparations) were hit particularly badly. Germany’s bitterness and lack of food for its citizens were major causes of World War II.
9. World War II (1839 CE-1945 CE): The Allied Powers (Great Britain, the US, China, the Soviet Union) fought to prevent the conquests of the Axis Powers (Germany, Japan, Italy).
- Germany, the main Axis Power, was controlled by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, which blamed German Jews, as well as other countries, for Germany’s economic decline and taught German superiority and right to rule. Additionally, Germany wished to invade other countries for food resources that they were greatly lacking in. Japan and Italy were both controlled by nationalist dictators who wished to expand their countries’ influences. When Germany invaded Poland, France, and various other European countries, Britain eventually practiced a policy of appeasement, until Winston Churchill finally convinced the populace that Germany would not hesitate to conquer their own nation. China had been fighting Japan already, in the Sino-Japanese War, in order to prevent Japanese forces from conquering them. The US entered World War II after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
- The Second World War was a major precursor to the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union and the US each made significant power gains (and territory gains in the case of the Soviet Union), the US became increasingly worried about the spread of the USSR’s communist ideals. Additionally, once the US unleashed two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union worried about the great power that was in the hands of a country opposed to their ideologies and developed their own atomic weapons, spurring the Cold War arms race.
10. Cold War (1946 CE-1990 CE): A decades-long time period in which the US and Soviet relations were extremely tense; it was characterized by the “iron curtain” that divided the US-supported Western Bloc and the USSR-supported Eastern Bloc, a nuclear arms race, the “space race”, and a policy of Soviet and communist containment, without any open fighting.
- The Second World War was a major precursor to the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union and the US each made significant power gains (and territory gains in the case of the Soviet Union), the US became increasingly worried about the spread of the USSR’s communist ideals. Additionally, once the US unleashed two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union worried about the great power that was in the hands of a country opposed to their ideologies and developed their own atomic weapons, spurring the Cold War arms race.
- Increasingly powerful forms of nuclear weaponry have been developed, leading to a constant threat of nuclear war that hangs over the world. Many countries of Southern Europe, especially those of the Balkan Peninsula, have Soviet influences. On the positive side, the Cold War also led to great developments in space travel and technology, such as the GPS and velcro that impact the daily lives of Southern European citizens. Italy has been one of the Southern European countries to send people to space, most notably to the ISS as a part of international research efforts.
Colonial History
- Albania: Albania did not play a major role in the colonial era; however, it was colonized by Italians in the interwar period.
- Andorra: Andorra has no colonial history of note.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnia and Herzegovina was colonized by Austria-Hungary in 1878. The Kingdom of Yugoslav colonized it in 1918.
- Croatia: Croatia does not have colonial history of note.
- Greece: Greece colonized the Aegean Coast and the islands of the Mediterranean from the 8th century BCE onward.
6. Italy: Italy arrived late to the colonial race, but still managed to gain significant colonies in Africa and Asia: Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, the Dodecanese Islands, and Tientsin in China.
7. Kosovo: Kosovo declared independence only recently and was not present in the colonial era. However, it was recently colonized by the Kingdom of Yugoslav (interwar period).
8. Malta: In 1813, Malta became a Crown Colony of Britain after years of Napoleonic rule; the Maltans had initially asked for British protection in 1799, and were granted it, but, after 14 years, they became a British colony.
9. Montenegro: Modern-day Montenegro was a Greek colony in the 6th and 7th centuries BCE.
10. Portugal: Of the modern European colonial empires, Portugal’s lasted the longest; their colonization began with Ceuta in northern Africa in the year 1415. It, along with Spain was considered by the Catholic Church to be one of the two countries destined to rule the world. The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 split the world between the Spanish and Portuguese at 46 West Longitude, with Portugal getting the lands to the east of the line. Portugal was one of the main colonial powers and had colonies in the Caribbean, East Asia, Africa, and Brazil in South America.
8. Malta: In 1813, Malta became a Crown Colony of Britain after years of Napoleonic rule; the Maltans had initially asked for British protection in 1799, and were granted it, but, after 14 years, they became a British colony.
9. Montenegro: Modern-day Montenegro was a Greek colony in the 6th and 7th centuries BCE.
10. Portugal: Of the modern European colonial empires, Portugal’s lasted the longest; their colonization began with Ceuta in northern Africa in the year 1415. It, along with Spain was considered by the Catholic Church to be one of the two countries destined to rule the world. The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 split the world between the Spanish and Portuguese at 46 West Longitude, with Portugal getting the lands to the east of the line. Portugal was one of the main colonial powers and had colonies in the Caribbean, East Asia, Africa, and Brazil in South America.
11. San Marino: San Marino has no colonial history of note.
12. Serbia: Modern-day Serbia was colonized by the Greeks in the 6th century BCE.
13. Slovenia: Slovenia had no colonial history of note.
14. Spain: Spain was the first European country to explore and colonize the Americas in the colonial era. Spain colonized almost all of South America and all of Central America, and colonized portions of the Caribbean as well. This was under the Catholic Church’s Treaty of Tordesillas that granted Spain the “right” to colonize all lands to the west of the 46 West longitude line. Spain also colonized portions of modern-day Florida and parts of Africa.
12. Serbia: Modern-day Serbia was colonized by the Greeks in the 6th century BCE.
13. Slovenia: Slovenia had no colonial history of note.
14. Spain: Spain was the first European country to explore and colonize the Americas in the colonial era. Spain colonized almost all of South America and all of Central America, and colonized portions of the Caribbean as well. This was under the Catholic Church’s Treaty of Tordesillas that granted Spain the “right” to colonize all lands to the west of the 46 West longitude line. Spain also colonized portions of modern-day Florida and parts of Africa.
15. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Macedonia has no colonial history of note.
16. Vatican City: Vatican City has no colonial history of note.
16. Vatican City: Vatican City has no colonial history of note.