History of Europe: Medieval to Modern Era

History of Europe: In the form of Greek and Roman cultures, people made a lot of progress in ancient Europe. Philosophy, writing, science, art, building, and society all got better as a result of these two societies.

You can also check – World History Notes for UPSC

World Before 18th Century

Understanding of the World Before 18th Century is important to understand the later developments in history of Europe and World history. The dawn of 18th Century was characterized by:

• End of Feudalism in England (Feudalism ended much later in rest of Europe).
• Increase in trade and in number of cities.
• Transition to a money-based economy from land-based economy of Feudalism.
• Rise of Merchant classes and Absolute Monarchs (*England had Democracy and after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, there was supremacy of Parliament instead of Monarchy).
• Decline in power of the Catholic Church.
• Mercantile Capitalism.
• British-French rivalry at its zenith.

History of Europe – Lifestyle in Greek

• Early history: At the end of the 3rd millennium BCE, Greeks lived in the area around the Aegean Sea. Over time, city-states like Sparta, Athens, Macedonia, Corinth, etc. grew up there.
  • These city-states became cities because trade and business got better because of where they were.
• Cultural development: In literature, philosophy, science, art, and building, the Greeks made important contributions.
  • Herodotus was a Greek scholar who is often called the “father of history.”
  • Socrates, Aristotle, and Ptolemy are also examples of Greek thinkers from that time.
  • Democracy, the most common form of government today, began in Greece.
• Demise of Greece: Greek city-states fell apart in the 5th century C.E., mostly because they were at war with the Persian Empire and with each other.

The Roman Empire and Culture

• Early European history: The Greeks gave the early Romans a lot of things, like their alphabet, their religion, and their art.
  • After the fall of the Greeks, they hit their peak.
• Cultural developments: The Romans also made contributions to language, philosophy, literature, science, art, building, and other areas.
  • During this time, Latin grew and became the base for many European languages. The Colosseum is one of the best examples of Roman architecture. People still use the Roman calendar, with only small changes.
• It grew into a big country. Slaves were used to make money so that Rome could have nice things. Most of these slaves came to Rome after the Punic Wars.
• They went down mainly because they couldn’t handle the empire.
  • The spread of Christianity also hurt the kingdom because of its belief in equal rights. The last blow came from attackers from the north.

Splitting of the Roman Empire

• It was split in half, with Rome as the capital of the western half and Constantinople as the capital of the eastern half.
• The invasion by the German barbarians in 476 CE caused the western part to fall apart even more.
• The eastern part kept going until the Turks took over in 1453 C.E.

History of Europe – The Mediaeval Europe

• The period between the decline of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Italian Renaissance is knows as “Dark Age.”
  • Meaning of Dark Age: the term “dark age” was coined by an Italian scholar named Francesco Petrarch, it referred to something negative.
  • He used it to discuss the poor quality of writing at the time. Later, other scholars expanded the definition of the “dark ages” to include the absence of culture and progress during that period in Europe.
  • The time period is referred to as “dark” because the time periods preceding and following it witnessed greater advancements in science, politics, philosophy, art, and architecture.
• Feudalism: The rise of feudalism is one of the primary reasons why many things deteriorated during this time period.
• Due to religious beliefs and social stagnation, no advancements could be made. The Church attempted to prevent the Greeks and Romans from advancing in science and culture. It was the “age of faith,” not the “age of reason and new ideas.”
• However, modern scholars either do not use the term “dark age” or use it neutrally, such as to describe the comparative lack of art, culture, and historical records.
  • Additionally, some thinkers assert that progress can arise from nothing.
• If the sixteenth century is regarded as the age of discovery, then its foundations must have been laid in the early Middle Ages. Furthermore, the growth of history and other disciplines in the twentieth century sheds lighter on the era and clarifies how it improved.