The Western Heritage European History Notes

The Western Heritage European History Chapter 1 - The Birth of Civilization ● Mesopotamia appears to have been the birthplace of the first civilization. The area is separated into two natural zones that run roughly north and south of contemporary Baghdad. As previously stated, irrigation is critical in the south (Babylonia); agriculture is conceivable in the north (later Assyria) with rainfall and wells. ● The south has high yields from irrigated fields, whereas the north has lower yields but considerably more land under cultivation, allowing it to produce more than the south. ● The ancient Mesopotamian towns appear to have been constructed during the fourth millennium B.C.E. by a people known as the Sumerians in the country of Sumer, which is the southern part of Babylonia. The Sumerian metropolis of Uruk was the biggest city in the world by 3000 B.C.E. ● Several Sumerian city-states, independent political entities consisting of a great city and its surrounding region, existed in southern Mesopotamia from around 2800 to 2370 B.C.E., organised along north-south lines along the major watercourses. ● Uruk, Ur, Nippur, Shuruppak, and Lagash were among these cities. Some of the citystates created alliances with each other that appeared to have both political and religious importance. Water and agricultural land disputes led to constant fighting, and over time, larger cities and leagues destroyed weaker ones and developed to establish kingdoms governing multiple city-states. ● Peoples who spoke Semitic languages (languages related to Arabic and Hebrew) controlled northern Mesopotamia and Syria, as opposed to the Sumerians. The Sumerian language does not exist. ● But far smaller than the Akkadian Empire. Sumerian culture and literature flourished throughout this time period. Epic poetry were written to celebrate the deeds of the rulers of Ur's forefathers. Agriculture, livestock husbandry, trade, and other affairs were meticulously recorded by a highly centralized bureaucracy. Over 100,000 of these papers have been discovered in Sumerian city ruins. ● In general, penalties were harsh, literally based on the notion of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," while Sumerian law sometimes imposed fines rather than bodily mutilation or death. Disputes over property and other grievances were initially heard by local city assembly of important citizens and leaders of government. ● For a price, professional judges heard cases at the city gate. Witnesses and written evidence had to be provided in Mesopotamian trials, and a written judgement had to be rendered. False testimony was a capital offense. ● On the idea that no one would risk swearing a false oath, the disputing parties would sometimes submit to an oath before the gods. ● In circumstances when proof or oath could not prove the truth, the disputing parties may submit to an ordeal, such as being thrown into the river, for the god to judge who was speaking the truth. Capital sentence cases might be appealed to the monarch. Hammurabi was preoccupied with the minutiae of his empire, and his preserved letters frequently deal with tiny local conflicts. ● The Elamites raided Ur from the east and seized the king. The Amorites, a Semiticspeaking population from the north and west, entered Mesopotamia in great numbers, settling near Sumerian towns and eventually establishing their own dynasties in several of them, including Uruk, Babylon, Isin, and Larsa. ● ● Sumerian dominance came to an end with the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the Sumerians eventually faded as a distinct tribe. Only in writing did the Sumerian language survive as the learned language of Babylonia, taught in schools and utilized by priests and intellectuals. ● Sumerian was held in such high regard that when Alexander the Great arrived in Babylon in 331 B.C.E., seventeen centuries after the destruction of Ur, Sumerian was still in use. ● The Sumerians were clearly controlled by monarchs in some way, according to the earliest historical documents. In ancient art, the early Sumerian monarchs are seen leading an army, murdering prisoners, and making presents to the gods. ● The sort of regulation varies depending on the period and area. For example, in later Assyria, the king acted as head priest; in Babylonia, the priesthood was independent from monarchy. Royal princesses were occasionally designated as priestesses of major gods. Enheduanna, the daughter of Sargon of Akkad, was one of the most renowned of them. ● She is the first author in history whose works may be linked to a specific person. Despite being an Akkadian, she produced sophisticated, impassioned, and profoundly personal poetry in Sumerian. ● A proper writing system was essential for government, business, and scholarship. Because of the wedge-shaped markings they formed by writing on clay tablets with a cut reed stylus, the Sumerians devised the writing system now known as cuneiform (from the Latin cuneus, "wedge"). ● Initially, the writing approach was shaky, providing only a few phrase parts to assist a reader recall information he presumably already understood. Later, individuals considered writing entire phrases in the sequence in which they would be uttered, in order to impart new information to a reader. The Sumerian writing system included thousands of characters, some of which represented words and others sounds. ● Certain characters represented a variety of sounds or words, and some sounds may be represented by many characters. ● ● The image attached shows an astrological calendar. ● The ancient Mesopotamians spent a lot of thought and effort into finding indications that they felt would predict future events, deciphering the significance of these signals, and taking precautions to avoid evil. ● Mesopotamians believed in divination in the same manner that many people now believe in science. ● The sacrifice of sheep and goats was one of the first divination methods utilized by the Mesopotamians. The guts of the sacrificial animals were inspected by seers for deformations that may prophesy the future. Clay tablets chronicled specific deformations as well as historical events that they predicted. ● The hunt for omens in the entrails of sacrifice animals was extremely significant for Mesopotamian monarchs, who usually conducted that procedure before embarking on major state activities. ● However, animal sacrifice was costly. As a result, most Mesopotamians utilized ● Debt slavery predominated over chattel slavery. Because interest rates were so high, up to 33.3 percent, consumers frequently defaulted on loans. One reason interest rates were so high was that the government canceled certain sorts of loans, debt slavery, and commitments on a regular basis, putting lenders at danger of losing money. If debtors committed themselves or members of their family as guarantee for a loan, they became the creditor's slave; their labor went to pay the loan's interest. Debt slaves could not be sold, but they may be released by repaying the loan. True chattel slavery did not emerge until the NeoBabylonian era (612–539 BCE). ● Despite laws prohibiting fleeing slaves or slaves who deny slavery. Chapter 2 - The Rise of Greek Civilization ● The initial consequences of the Dorian invasion were terrible for the Mycenaeans. The palaces, as well as the kings and officials who ran them, were demolished. The riches and organization that had sustained the artists and merchants were also washed away by a barbaric population who lacked the knowledge and social organization to sustain them. ● Many settlements were abandoned and were never rebuilt. ● Some of their residents most likely became nomadic, and many died as a result. ● Nonetheless, Homeric society was clearly split into classes, with the most essential distinction being that between nobles and everyone else. We don't know where this division came from, but there's no denying that Greek society was aristocratic at the time. Noble position was defined by birth, and money was frequently associated with it. ● There were three groups under the nobles: thetes, landless workers, and slaves. We don't know if the thetes held the land they worked on outright (and so had the freedom to sell it) or if they worked on a hereditary plot that belonged to their clan (and thus wasn't theirs to dispose of as they pleased). ● The plight of the free but landless hired agricultural laborer was the worst. At the very least, the slave was linked to a family. ● Homer is the finest source for a portrayal of civilization during the "Dark Ages." His epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, arose from an oral poetic tradition that dated back to the Mycenaean Age. Bards have sung tales of the heroes who had fought at Troy for generations, using lyrics organized in rhythmic formulae to help memorization. Some old material was kept in this manner until the seventh century B.C.E., when the poetry attributed to Homer were ultimately written down. ● Although the poems recount the exploits of Mycenaean Age heroes, the world they depict is definitely distinct from that of the Mycenaeans. Homer's heroes are incinerated rather than buried in tholos graves; they worship gods in temples, whereas the Mycenaeans worshiped in tholos tombs. ● Women's roles in Homer's society were primarily to carry and raise children, but the wives of the heroes also had a recognized position, presiding over the home, supervising the servants, and protecting the family property. ● They were admired for their beauty, steadfastness, and weaving ability. All of these wonderful traits are embodied in Penelope, Odysseus' wife and perhaps the perfect Homeric lady. ● During her husband's absence of twenty years, she resisted the many suitors who wanted to marry her and take his place, remained devoted to him, maintained his property, and ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ensured the future of their son. Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, had a quite different reputation, having deceived her husband while he was battling at Troy. A new military method was critical to the polis's growth. Small cavalry companies and individual "champions" who launched spears first and then advanced to close quarters with swords may have bore the brunt of warfare in the past. However, by the end of the ninth century B.C.E., the hoplite phalanx emerged and became the foundation of Greek warfare for the rest of the century. The hoplite was a powerfully equipped infantryman who used a spear and a huge shield to fight. Although some argue for a looser configuration, most experts think these warriors were arranged into a phalanx in close order, generally at least eight ranks deep. There would be minimal losses as long as the hoplites fought fiercely and kept their place. Syria and its adjoining area were too powerful to enter, therefore the Greeks landed on Macedonia's southern shore. This area was thinly populated, and the indigenous were not sufficiently organized enough to fight the Greek colonists. The regions of southern Italy and eastern Sicily were much more appealing. There were soon so many Greek colonies in Italy and Sicily that the Romans dubbed the entire region Magna Graecia, or "Great Greece." The Greeks established colonies in Spain and southern France as well. Greek colonists inhabited the shores of the northern Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the straits linking them in the seventh century B.C.E. They founded villages on the eastern side of the North African coast at the same period. The Greeks now had outposts all over the world. Only overwhelming forces like as overcrowding and a need for land prompted thousands of people to leave their homes and build new poleis. Although supported by the home city, the colony was formed for the benefit of the colonists rather than those they left behind. The colonists tended to split the land they colonized into equal parts, reflecting an egalitarian propensity inherent in the ethical framework of the mother city' yeoman farmers. They frequently imitated their home constitution, worshiped the same gods as the inhabitants of the mother city at the same festivals, and conducted a brisk trade with the mother city. Despite their independence, most colonies maintained good relations with their home city. Each may seek assistance from the other. The tyrants reigned over an era of population expansion that witnessed an increase in the number of city residents in particular. They replied with a public works program that included the renovation of drainage systems, water supply maintenance, the construction and organizing of marketplaces, the construction and reinforcement of city walls, and the installation of temples. They created new local events and enhanced existing ones. They supported poets and craftspeople, and the results were positive. All of this activity increased the tyrant's popularity, the prosperity of his city, and his sense of self-worth. The tyrant's reign was usually guarded by a personal bodyguard and mercenary warriors. An armed citizenry, which would have been required for an active foreign policy, would have been necessary. ● At first glance, Sparta—located on the Peloponnesus, Greece's southern peninsula— seems to be no different from other poleis. However, about 725 B.C.E., the Spartans launched a conquest war against their western neighbor, Messenia, due to population pressure and land scarcity. (See Figures 2–3.) The Spartans got all the land they needed in the First Messenian War. Because the Messenians were reduced to serfs, or Helots, the Spartans no longer needed to farm the land that sustained them. ● The turning point in Spartan history occurred in 650 B.C.E., when the Helots rebelled with the support of Argos and other Peloponnesian cities during the Second Messenian War. The war was lengthy and bloody, and at times it seemed hopeless. ● Most aristocracy were wealthy enough to employ a large number of hired laborers, sharecroppers, and even slaves to tend their vast estates. As a result, they would have more time for other pursuits. The drinking party, or symposia, was the focal point of aristocratic social life. This was no ordinary drinking session designed to erase inhibitions and generate forgetfulness. In reality, the Greeks nearly always mixed their wine with water, and one of the players' aims was to drink as much as the others without becoming inebriated. ● The symposium was a well planned affair, with a "monarch" appointed to control the schedule of proceedings and determine the night's wine and water combination. Only guys took part, and they ate and drank while reclining on the couch. Chapter 3 - Classical and Hellenistic Greece ● Most aristocracy were wealthy enough to employ a large number of hired laborers, sharecroppers, and even slaves to tend their vast estates. As a result, they would have more time for other pursuits. The drinking party, or symposia, was the focal point of aristocratic social life. This was no ordinary drinking session designed to erase inhibitions and generate forgetfulness. In reality, the Greeks nearly always mixed their wine with water, and one of the players' aims was to drink as much as the others without becoming inebriated. ● The symposium was a well planned affair, with a "monarch" appointed to control the schedule of proceedings and determine the night's wine and water combination. Only guys took part, and they ate and drank while reclining on the couch. ● The symposium was a well planned affair, with a "monarch" appointed to control the schedule of proceedings and determine the night's wine and water combination. Only males attended, and they ate and drank while reclined on sofas along the room's walls. The rituals started with prayers and libations to the gods. ● There were usually games, such as dice or kottabos, in which wine was flung from the cups towards various targets. Occasionally, dancing girls or flute girls provided entertainment. ● Aristocratic participants sometimes contributed their own entertainment in the form of music, poetry, or even intellectual debates. These took the shape of contests, with some ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● type of award for the winner, because aristocratic ideals continued to stress competitiveness and the drive to win. The majority of the evidence, which comes from the legislation, philosophical and moral works, and knowledge about everyday living and societal structure, reveals that women were barred from most parts of public life. They were unable to vote, participate in political assemblies, occupy public office, or engage in any direct political activity. Because Athens was one of the few locations in the ancient world where male residents of all classes had these civic obligations and possibilities, women's exclusion was all the more striking. According to the same sources, in the intimate elements of life, women were always under the jurisdiction of a male guardian—a father, a spouse, or some other male figure. Pericles' life did not follow his own script. After divorcing his first wife, he began a relationship with a lady who was, in her own way, as exceptional as the great Athenian leader. Aspasia, a young woman from Miletus who had come to live in Athens, was his partner. The ancient literature refer to her as a hetaira, a high-class courtesan who served men with sensual and other forms of amusement. She definitely possessed a sharp and vibrant brain, and she may have been educated in the latest ideas and debate methods in her own Athens, the birthplace of the Greek Enlightenment. Socrates believed it was worthwhile to speak. According to some historians, the proportion of slaves to free citizens in the American South before to the Civil War was comparable to that of ancient Athens, where slaves made up less than one-third of the entire population and three-quarters of free Southerners owned no slaves. Because slavery was so vital to the economy of the South, historians believe it was as significant and repressive in ancient Athens. This argument has a number of flaws. 2 First, before to the Civil War, the cotton states of the American South were dominated by a single cash crop that was ideally adapted for exploitation by huge populations of slaves. In Athens, on the other hand, the economy was heterogeneous, the crops were diverse, and the land was underutilized. Religion was more of a civic than a private affair in Athens, as it was in the other Greek states. Participation in the ceremonies of the national religion was a question of patriotism and good citizenship, not of faith. It has little to do with morality in its most basic form. Over time, poets and philosophers advanced ethical and moral ideals that, for certain peoples, such as the Hebrews and Persians, were the work of religious prophets and were fundamental to their religious beliefs. However, Greek religion prioritized not moral behavior to orthodox belief, but the faithful performance of rites designed to gain the favor of the gods. Slaves worked in greater numbers in industry, particularly mining. Nicias, a wealthy Athenian in the fifth century B.C.E., possessed a thousand slaves that he farmed out to a mining contractor for profit, but this is by far the biggest number reported. The majority of production was done on a modest scale, with firms employing one, two, or a handful of slaves. Slaves worked as artisans in practically every trade, and, like agricultural slaves on small farms, they collaborated with their owners. A large number of slaves worked as household servants or as herders. Publicly owned slaves worked as cops, jail guards, clerks, and secretaries. ● The number of slaves in ancient Greece and their significance to Greek civilization are contentious issues. We don't have any meaningful data for the total number of slaves. ● Famous instances of such blasphemy and punishment happened in the late fifth and early fourth centuries B.C.E. In 415, several persons vandalized the Hermes sculptures that could be found on every street in Athens. Others were accused of insulting the holy secrets of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone's devotion. ● ● Suspicions quickly developed that the objective of these sacrilegious actions was to destabilize Athenian democracy, and the culprits were executed. In 399 B.C.E., the philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death for not worshiping the state's gods and for creating new divinities. This was linked to the additional allegation of corrupting the adolescents, both of which were thought to be detrimental to Athens' well-being. Chapter 4 - Rome: From Republic to Empire ● Rome's legacy included more than just military might and political structure. The Romans inherited and altered the Greeks' intellectual and cultural achievements, combining them with their own perspective and historical experience. ● The ensuing Graeco-Roman heritage in literature, philosophy, and art served as the foundation of learning during the Middle Ages and paved the way to the new pathways explored during the Renaissance. It is still at the center of Western culture today. ● It took a long time for Italian culture to emerge. Only approximately 2500 B.C.E. did Paleolithic villages give way to the Neolithic manner of life. Around 1500 B.C.E., the Bronze Age began. Near 1000 B.C.E., bands of newcomers—warlike peoples speaking a group of roughly similar languages known as Italic—began to penetrate Italy from across the Adriatic Sea and around its northern end. ● These invading forces burned their dead and buried their ashes in tombs packed with weapons and equipment. Their bronzework was superior to that of the people they replaced, and they were soon producing weapons, armor, and iron tools. ● They had invaded the Apennine highland meadows by 800 B.C.E., and within a short time, they began to challenge the older inhabitants for authority. ● The Etruscans had the greatest foreign effect on the Romans. Their civilisation emerged around 800 B.C.E. in Etruria (now Tuscany), west of the Apennines between the Arno and Tiber Rivers. (See Map 4–1.) ● Their origin has been contested since antiquity, with some claiming they were indigenous and others claiming they came from the east. The data does not allow for assurance, and contemporary studies concentrates on the formation of a people rather than its beginnings. ● ● Etruscan women played a more important role in family and society than Greek women in the polis. Together with their spouses, Etruscan wives appeared in public, at religious festivals, and at public feasts. Many of them were read, and women competed in sports events as well as watched them as spectators alongside males. ● Inscriptions on tombs and paintings on coffins name both the deceased's father and mother and frequently depict husbands and spouses together in respectful and loving poses. ● Rome fell under Etruscan domination in the sixth century B.C.E. The Roman army, led by Etruscan kings and equipped and structured like the Greek phalanx, took control of much of Latium. This triumph was made possible by a successful political and social system that granted exceptional authority to the leading characters in both public and private life. ● The Romans bestowed upon their rulers the enormous power of imperium—the authority to make directives and execute them by fines, arrests, and physical, or even lethal, punishment. Although it appears to have remained in the same family, kingship was an elected position. The candidate for the post had to be approved by the Roman Senate, and the imperium was formally given by a vote of the people gathering in an assembly. ● The Etruscan nobles remained combative and skilled in the use of war chariots and horses. They strengthened their authority in Italy and over the sea to Corsica and Elba in the seventh and sixth century B.C.E. They invaded Latium (which comprised the little town of Rome) and Campania, where they lived with the Greeks of Naples. They traveled as far north as the Po Valley. These conquests were conducted out by small bands commanded by Etruscan chieftains who did not act in unison and would not necessarily help one another in difficulty. As a result, the victories outside of Etruria were shaky and short-lived. ● Etruscan dominance peaked about 500 B.C.E. and subsequently collapsed precipitously. ● Males controlled early Roman society, which was hierarchical. A lady was under the supervision of an adult guy her whole life. Prior to her marriage, it was her father, then her husband, or, if neither was available, a guardian selected from among their male relations. ● One of them had to authorize her ability to purchase, sell, or enter into transactions. The right of manus in Roman law transferred control of a woman from father to husband (hand). This was bestowed via one of two official marriage rites that were common in early Rome. However, a third type of marriage developed prevalent throughout time, which left the power of manus in the hands of the woman's father even after her marriage. Chapter 5 - The Roman Empire ● Most of Augustus' successors accepted his conservative and defensive foreign policy. Trajan was the first emperor to go on the offensive for an extended period of time. He crossed the Danube between 101 and 106 C.E. and created the new province of Dacia between the Danube and the Carpathian Mountains. ● He was very doubt enticed by its gold mines, but he was also likely following a new overall strategy: to defend the empire more forcefully by pushing wedges into the territories of dangerous barbarians. ● The invasion of the Parthian Empire in the East (113–117 C.E.) followed the same plan. Trajan's early success was astounding, and he founded three new provinces in Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia. His lines, however, were overly long. Rebellions erupted. ● Hadrian's reign saw a significant shift in Rome's border policy. Previously, Rome was on the attack against the barbarians. Despite the fact that the Romans seldom won additional land, they conducted regular attacks to punish and appease hostile tribes. ● Hadrian fortified Roman fortifications by erecting a stone wall in southern Scotland and a timber wall across the Rhine-Danube triangle. ● The Roman defense grew tight, and the initiative was taken up by the barbarians. Marcus Aurelius was forced to spend the majority of his reign repelling hazardous invasions in the East and along the Danube border. ● The Roman Empire's civilisation was dependent on the health of its towns. The average city had roughly 20,000 people, and just three or four had a population of more than 75,000. The population of Rome, on the other hand, was unquestionably larger than 500,000, if not more than a million. People visiting Rome for the first time found it overwhelming, with its vastness, hustle, and noise delighting or horrifying them. The wealthy resided in opulent mansions known as domu_ s. ● These were single-story buildings with lots of space, an open central courtyard, and rooms built for distinct and varied activities, such as dining, lounging, or sleeping, all in seclusion and relative silence. Despite the fact that only a tiny fraction of Rome's population resided in them, domu_ s took up a significant amount of space. ● The Romans introduced the notion of the semicircular arch, taken from the Etruscans, to the fundamental post-and-lintel design employed by the Greeks. They also made extensive use of concrete, a building material invented by the Hellenistic Greeks and completely perfected by the Romans. The arch, together with the pillar and lintel, formed the foundation for the Flavian emperors' vast Colosseum. ● The arch, when employed inside in the shape of vaults and domes, allowed for vast buildings such as baths, the most renowned and best preserved of which are those of the later emperors Caracalla (r. 211–217) and Diocletian (r. 284–305). (See Figs. 5–3.) ● All of these characteristics were united in one of Rome's most iconic buildings, the Pantheon, which was begun by Augustus' friend Agrippa and renovated by Hadrian. ● Magistrates and council members were held individually and collectively liable for unpaid taxes. Some magistrates even emigrated to evade their responsibilities, a behavior that grew common in succeeding decades. ● These shortcomings mirrored more fundamental issues. ● The affluence brought about by the end of civil war and the infusion of money from the East could not last beyond the first part of the second century C.E. Population likewise appears to have fallen for unknown causes. ● The expense of government continued to rise. The emperors were compelled to maintain a permanent army, although a small one, in order to keep the people of Rome happy with "bread and circuses," to pay for an ever-expanding bureaucracy, and to undertake costly battles to protect the borders against invading armies. ● Despite its origins among poor people in an obscure and isolated part of the empire, Christianity arose, expanded, and eventually conquered the Roman Empire. The traditional religious institutions of Judea were hostile to Christianity. It also had to contend with Rome's official cults and the extremely complex ideas of the educated classes, as well as other "mystery" religions like Mithra, Isis, and Osiris. ● The Christians were also subjected to imperial official hostility and formal persecution. Nonetheless, Christianity gained toleration and, eventually, sole command as the empire's official religion. ● He was impoverished, which raised eyebrows among the higher classes. His new message, as well as his criticism of religious activities associated with the temple in Jerusalem and its priests, incited the religious establishment's animosity. ● Because of a misunderstanding of the movement, it was simple to persuade the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, that Jesus and his disciples were dangerous revolutionaries. He was executed in Jerusalem, most likely around 30 C.E., via the harsh and demeaning procedure of crucifixion. ● His disciples thought he was resurrected on the third day after his death, and that belief became an essential component of the religion they spread across the Roman Empire and beyond. ● The new concept swiftly spread across the Jewish communities of Syria and Asia Minor. ● To comprehend this incredible ending, one must first grasp the tale of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel stories, all of which were written long after his death, contain the most essential evidence concerning his life. The earliest, by Mark, is about 70 C.E., while the most recent, by John, is around 100 C.E. Furthermore, they are not attempts to merely describe the life of Jesus with historical authenticity. ● Rather, they are declarations of faith made by sincere believers. The writers of the Gospels thought Jesus was God's son, who came into the world to rescue mankind and grant immortality to those who believed in him and followed in his footsteps. ● The resurrection of Jesus, according to the Gospel writers, was compelling evidence of his divinity. Chapter 6 - Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Creating a New European Society and Culture ● Thus, the centuries preceding and after the collapse of Rome (476) were a vigorous age of self-discovery and self-definition for all of the aforementioned peoples. ● Many academics refer to this time period as Late Antiquity (250–800 C.E.) since it occurred between the end of the ancient world and the beginning of the Middle Ages. It saw a fresh appropriation of old history by Jews, Christians, Muslims, and pagan Germanic and eastern tribes, all vying for their origins in the past (from which they derived authority) and their role in the future (where they would exercise power). ● During the process, each absorbed the best qualities of the other. The Jews had long absorbed the appealing stories of the ancient Mesopotamians, and the Christians had taken the Jewish biblical predictions, while the Christians had adopted the Jewish biblical prophecies. ● The German tribes did not appear out of nowhere in the West. They were first a token and benign presence on the outskirts of the empire, if not within it. For centuries before to the great migrations from the north and east, Roman and Germanic civilizations coexisted amicably. Barbarians were "imported" by the Romans as servants, slaves, and warriors. Barbarian legions were led by Roman legions. ● This peaceful cohabitation came to an end in 376, with a large inflow of Visigoths, or "west Goths," into the empire. The Visigoths, skilled riders and powerful soldiers, were forced into the empire by the Huns, a famously vicious race from what is now Mongolia. The Visigoths eventually made their way to southern Gaul and Spain. ● Italy and the "eternal city" of Rome suffered catastrophic blows in the early fifth century. The Visigoths, led by Alaric (about 370–410), destroyed Rome in 410. In 452, the Huns invaded Italy, commanded by Attila, the "scourge of God." In 455, Rome was sacked once more, this time by the Vandals. ● By the mid-fifth century, authority had shifted decisively from the hands of Roman emperors to those of barbarian chieftains in Western Europe. The barbarian Odovacer (ca. 434–493) ousted the last Western emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, the standard date given by historians for the collapse of the Roman Empire. Zeno (r. 474–491), the Eastern emperor, accepted Odovacer's power in the West, and Odovacer recognised Zeno as the sole emperor, contenting himself to serve as Zeno's Western viceroy. ● Barbarians from the west and east had engulfed the Western empire by the end of the fifth century. The Ostrogoths migrated to Italy, the Franks to northern Gaul, the Burgundians to Provence, the Visigoths to southern Gaul and Spain, the Vandals to Africa and the western Mediterranean, and the Angles and Saxons to England ● These barbarian military conquests, however, did not wipe out Roman civilization; Western Europe's new rulers were eager to learn from the people they had conquered. They respected Roman civilization and had no wish to annihilate it. Except in Britain and northern Gaul, Roman law, governance, and the Roman language, Latin, coexisted alongside the emerging Germanic institutions. Under Theodoric, tribal custom increasingly gave way to Roman law in Italy. ● Vassalage entailed paying "fealty" to the lord. To pledge allegiance was to vow not to do anything that may jeopardize the lord's well-being and to perform personal duties for him at his request. Military service as a mounted knight was one of the most anticipated services. ● This may include a short or lengthy military expedition, escort duty, castle watch duties, or putting his own stronghold at the lord's disposal, if the vassal owned one. Over the conditions of service, there was constant negotiating and arguing. ● The number of days a lord might request services from a vassal was limited. In the eleventh century France, forty days of service a year was deemed sufficient. It also got popular. ● Aside from military duties, the vassal was supposed to advise his lord and sit as a member of his court while it was in session. The vassal also owed his lord financial help when his lord was clearly in need or suffering, such as if he was captured and needed to be ransomed, or if he was preparing for a crusade or a significant military war. ● Money gifts may also be anticipated when the lord's daughters marry or his sons become knights. ● Bishops and abbots pledged loyalty to the king and received their positions as a benefice from him beginning with the reign of Louis the Pious (r. 814–840). During the investiture ceremony, the king formally "invested" these priests in their positions. ● This practice had long been a source of contention within the church, and lay investiture of clergy sparked a severe clash between church and state in the late tenth and eleventh centuries. Reform-minded clergy revolted against what they saw to be involuntary ecclesiastical vassalage at the time. Even reformist priests, on the other hand, praised the king's transfers of land and authority to the clergy. ● The ruler had certain responsibilities to his vassals. ● First, he owed it to the vassal to defend him from bodily danger and to represent him in public court. The ruler provided for the physical support of the vassal by bestowing a benefice, or fief, once loyalty was pledged and homage was given. ● The early Middle Ages' agrarian economy was structured and managed by town farms known as manors. Peasants worked as tenants for a lord, a more powerful landowner who gave them land and tenements in exchange for their services and a share of their crops. The demesne was the portion of the land managed for the lord, which included around one-quarter to one-third of the arable land. ● All of the crops that were cultivated there were harvested for the lord. The property also featured common pastures for grazing animals and woodlands kept only for the lord's hunting pleasure. Chapter 7 - The High Middle Ages: The Rise of European Empires and States ● Peasants were treated differently depending on their social rank and the size of their tenements. A freeman, or peasant with little allodial or hereditary property (free from the claims of an overlord), became a serf by ceding his property to a bigger landowner—a lord—in exchange for protection and aid. ● The lord returned the freeman's land with a clear statement of his economic and legal rights. Despite the fact that the land was no longer his, he had full custody and use of it, and the number of services and quantity of products he had to deliver to the lord were meticulously specified. ● Henry I (r. 1100–1135), William's son, died without a male heir, putting England into virtual anarchy until the accession of Henry II (r. 1154–1189). Henry, son of the count of Anjou and Matilda, daughter of Henry I, ascended to the throne as head of the new Plantagenet dynasty, the family name of the Angevin (or Anjouan) line of monarchs who governed England until Richard III's death in 1485. ● Henry attempted to restore his grandfather's regime's efficiency and stability, but in doing so, he drove the English monarchy fast into repressive tyranny. Henry brought nearly the whole west coast of France to the throne as a result of his father's inheritance (Anjou) and his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine (ca. 1122–1204). ● Following that, William embarked on a twenty-year conquest that finally gave him control of all of England. ● ● Every landholder, no matter how great or little, was now his vassal, officially owning land as a fief from the monarch. William skillfully structured his new English country. He formed a powerful monarchy whose power was not diluted by the existence of separate territorial rulers. As a flexible form of central control over towns, he retained the AngloSaxon tax system and the practice of court writs (legal warnings). ● And he was careful not to disrupt the Anglo-Saxon quasi-democratic practice of periodic "parleying," or consultations between the king and minor authorities with vested interests in royal choices. ● Alfred the Great (r. 871–899) was the first to promote the practice of parleying ● Alfred, a powerful and determined king who had forcefully united England, valued the opinion of his councilors in the formulation of legislation. Canute (r. 1016–1035), the Dane who restored order and brought unity to England following the civil wars that had plagued the nation under the reign of the inept Ethelred II (r. 978–1016), admired and followed his example. ● Although the new Norman monarch, William, firmly subordinated his aristocratic vassals to the crown, he continued the custom of parleying by conferring with them on a regular basis. ● With the acquisition of additional kingdoms abroad, Henry II grew increasingly despotic at home. In the Clarendon Constitutions, he imposed his will on the clergy (1164). These reforms restricted legal appeals to Rome, subjugated the clergy to civil tribunals, and gave the king power over bishop election. As a result, both the nobles and the church voiced strong political opposition. ● The archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas à Becket (1118?–1170), who had previously served as Henry's obedient chancellor, openly defied the monarch and fled to Louis VII. Becket's subsequent assassination in 1170 and canonization by Pope Alexander III in 1172 heightened widespread indignation of the king's harsh tactics. Geoffrey Chaucer, writing in an era of two hundred years later. ● The Magna Carta set constraints on despotic conduct such as that of the Norman and Plantagenet rulers. It also protected the privileged's rights against the monarchy. The privileged retained their right to be represented at the highest levels of government on key topics such as taxes in Magna Carta. The monarchy, on the other hand, was protected and strengthened. The objective of feudal rule has always been a balancing effort that handed authority to both parties. ● Magna Carta was more of a political accident than a political genius. Nonetheless, the English were able to prevent both the nobility's collapse of the monarchy and the monarchy's infringement on the nobility's privileges. Despite King John's continuous resistance, ● The English battle in the High Middle Ages was to safeguard the rights of the favored few, not the king's power. (From 1154 until 1485, the Plantagenets ruled unbrokenly in the male line.) The French, on the other hand, experienced the opposite dilemma. ● In 987, noblemen picked Hugh Capet to succeed the final Carolingian emperor, ushering in the Capetian, a third Frankish dynasty that governed France for twelve generations until 1328. Powerful feudal nobles resisted Capetian rule over the next two centuries, until the reign of Philip II Augustus (r. 1180–1223), burying the notion of election. Chapter 8 - Medieval Society: Hierarchies, Towns, Universities, and Families ● Urban culture and education developed as well. The restoration of commerce with the East, as well as ties with Muslim thinkers, notably in Spain, allowed for the recovery of old learning and science. ● Unlike the Carolingian period's dabbling with antiquity, the twelfth century saw a real resurgence of classical study. During the twelfth century, schools and curriculum expanded beyond the clergy to educate lay men and some women, dramatically expanding literacy among laypeople and their involvement in governance and society. ● In France, Gothic architecture began to replace the simple and hefty Romanesque form adopted by fortress Europe during the insecure early Middle Ages in the mid-twelfth century. Its new grace and beauty—soaring arches, towering flying buttresses, brilliant light, and stained glass—were a witness to its newfound grace and beauty. ● Urban culture and education developed as well. The restoration of commerce with the East, as well as ties with Muslim thinkers, notably in Spain, allowed for the recovery of old learning and science. Unlike the Carolingian period's dabbling with antiquity, the twelfth century saw a real resurgence of classical study. During the twelfth century, ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● schools and curriculum expanded beyond the clergy to educate lay men and some women, dramatically expanding literacy among laypeople and their involvement in governance and society. In France, Gothic architecture began to replace the simple and hefty Romanesque form adopted by fortress Europe during the insecure early Middle Ages in the mid-twelfth century. Its new grace and beauty—soaring arches, towering flying buttresses, brilliant light, and stained glass—were a witness to its newfound grace and beauty. Three primary socioeconomic categories were depicted in Middle Ages art and literature: those who battled as mounted knights (the landed nobles), those who prayed (the clergy), and those who toiled in fields and shops (the peasantry and village craftsmen). Longdistance traders and merchants arose as a fourth social stratum with the resurgence of cities in the eleventh century. They worked, like the peasants, but in ways that were foreign to the traditional groups. They were freemen who frequently acquired enormous riches, but unlike the aristocracy and clergy, they did not own property, and unlike the peasantry, they did not work in fields and businesses. Their ascent to power generated a significant schism in the old social order, as they drew the leadership behind them. No medieval social category was completely uniform—not the nobles, clergy, townsfolk, or even peasants. The nobility was not just a distinct social class; it also had significant social divides within its ranks. Noblemen ranged from tiny vassals with no subordinate vassals to strong barons, the main vassals of a king or prince with numerous vassals of their own. The exercise of control over others was intimately tied to dignity and standing within the aristocracy; a chief with numerous vassals clearly outperformed the tiny rural aristocrat who served another and was lord over none but himself. Even among the nobility's domestic employees, a social hierarchy formed based on assigned manorial responsibilities. Despite the fact that peasants in the perspective of the Although they were considered peasants by the law, the chief stewards—tasked with managing the functioning of the lord's manor as well as the care and education of the noble children—became powerful "lords" inside their "domains." Some freemen felt the steward's position enviable enough to give up their own freedom and work as domestic slaves in the hopes of achieving it. Although they were considered peasants by the law, the chief stewards—tasked with managing the functioning of the lord's manor as well as the care and education of the noble children—became powerful "lords" inside their "domains." Some freemen felt the steward's position enviable enough to give up their own freedom and work as domestic slaves in the hopes of achieving it. Many monks (as well as nuns who progressively took the vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity without a clerical title) retreated completely. The regular clergy, on the other hand, were never fully isolated from the secular society. They kept in touch with the laity through charitable activities such as feeding the poor and caring for the sick, liberal arts education in monastic schools, special pastoral commissions from the Pope, and serving as supplemental preachers and confessors in parish churches during Lent and other peak religious seasons. ● It became a distinguishing feature of Dominican and Franciscan friars to live a common life according to a specific rule while being engaged in worldly service. Some monks ascended to positions of power as a result of their study and rhetorical abilities. Chapter 9 - The Late Middle Ages: Social and Political Breakdown ● On the surface, the popes appear to have been in a good position in the late thirteenth century. ● Frederick II was defeated, and imperial pressure on Rome was relieved. (See also Chapter 8.) Louis IX, the French monarch, was a zealous supporter of the church, as seen by his two catastrophic Crusades, which earned him sainthood. ● Although it only lasted seven years, the Council of Lyons declared a reunification of the Eastern church with Rome in 1274, when the Western church took advantage of Byzantine emperor Michael VII Palaeologus' (r. 1261–1282) plea for help against the Turks. Despite these encouraging developments, the church's situation was not as good as it looked. ● There were foreboding indications as early as Pope Innocent III's papacy (r. 1198–1216), when papal power was at its peak. Innocent had developed the theory of papal plenitude of power and used it to make saints, dispose of benefices, and establish a centralized papal monarchy with a clearly political agenda. ● Innocent's elevation of the papacy into a powerful secular authority spiritually harmed the church while strengthening it politically. Following that, the church as a papal monarchy became further estranged from the church as the "body of the faithful." ● Until the Protestant Reformation, both reformers and heretics protested in the name of the "true Christian church" against this supposed "papal church." ● What Innocent started, his successors improved. ● The papacy established its own law court, the Rota Romana, during Urban IV (r. 1261– 1264), which regulated and consolidated the church's legal operations. The system of clerical taxation was refined in the later part of the thirteenth century; what began in the twelfth century as an emergency expedient to obtain finances for the Crusades became a permanent institution. ● During the same time period, the papal authority to appoint to numerous important and minor ecclesiastical offices—the "reserve of benefices"—was substantially expanded. The pope became a strong political entity in the thirteenth century, regulated by its own law and tribunals, supported by an efficient international bureaucracy, and focused with secular interests. ● The centralization of the church by the Pope weakened both diocesan power and public support. ● The centralization of the church by the Pope weakened both diocesan power and public ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● support. Rome's interests grew to dominate church appointments, rules, and discipline, rather than local requirements. Lower clergy who were dissatisfied with the discipline of local bishops petitioned Rome's superior authority. Bishops and abbots denounced such undermining of their power in the second part of the thirteenth century. To its detractors, the Roman church was little more than a licensed, "fiscalized," bureaucratic entity. As early as the late twelfth century, heretical organizations such as the Cathars and Waldensians invoked the biblical ideal of simplicity and detachment from the world. Other church-loyal reformers, such as Saint Francis of Assisi, spoke out against perceived materialism in official religion. Internal theological strife was not the only thing eroding the thirteenth-century church. Because of the fall of imperial power, the pope in Rome was no longer the voice of antiimperial (Guelf, or propapal) feeling in Italy. Instead of being the focal point of Italian opposition to the emperor, popes found themselves on the defensive against their former friends. That was the ironic cost of the papacy's victory over the Hohenstaufens. Rulers with a vested interest in Italian politics redirected the intrigue that had previously targeted the emperor to the College of Cardinals. For example, Charles of Anjou, the French king of Naples and Sicily (r. 1266–1285), was successful in establishing a FrenchSicilian group inside the college. Such efforts to exert control over the college's judgments caused Pope Gregory X (r) to resign. In 1294, following a more than two-year impasse, such a conclave picked a holy but incompetent hermit as Pope Celestine V. Celestine abdicated after only a few weeks in office, under mysterious circumstances. He, too, died under mysterious circumstances; his successor's detractors later claimed that the powers behind the papal throne assassinated him to secure the continuation of the papal office. The Cardinals were startled by Celestine's tragicomic rule and elected his opposite, Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303), a nobleman and adept politician. His papacy, on the other hand, would mark the beginning of the demise of papal claims to great power status. The Royal Assault on Papal Authority When Boniface became Pope in 1294, France and England were on the verge of war. Only Edward I's preoccupation with Scottish insurrection, which the French fostered, kept him from invading France and launching the Hundred Years' War a half-century sooner than it did. As both governments prepared for war, they taxed the clergy severely under the guise of preparing for a Crusade. Pope Innocent III ordered in 1215 that the clergy were not to pay taxes to monarchs without the approval of the Pope. Boniface strongly opposed English and French clergy taxes, seeing it as an infringement on established clerical privileges. On February 5, 1296, he issued a bull called Clericis laicos. In England, Edward I replied by denying the clergy the ability to be heard in royal court, thereby stripping them of the king's protection. But Philip the Fair retaliated with a vengeance: in August 1296, he prohibited the shipment of money from France to Rome, depriving the pope of the funds it required to function. Boniface had no option but to swiftly come to terms with Philip. He granted Philip the power to tax the French clergy "during an exigency," and he canonized Louis IX the following year. ● Boniface was also besieged at the time by powerful Italian adversaries, whom Philip did not neglect to support. A noble family (the Colonnas), Boniface's adversaries (the Gaetani), and a radical. Chapter 10 - Renaissance and Discovery ● Humanists reveled in applying their knowledge of old languages to the past, refusing to be enslaved by subsequent custom. ● Such an approach not only made them innovative instructors, but also kept them always on the lookout for fresh knowledge sources. During their hunt, they amassed great manuscript collections, viewing them as strong cures for the problems of modern society, capable of improving the brains of those who immersed themselves in them. ● Humanist studies aimed for beautifully stated wisdom, both understanding of the good and the capacity to motivate others to seek it. Learning was not intended to be abstract and unpracticed. "It is better to wish good than to know the truth," Petrarch said, and it became a popular saying. ● The author of the most prominent Renaissance treatise on education (On the Morals That Befit a Free Man), Pietro Paolo Vergerio (1349–1420), provided a classic exposition of the humanist notion of a liberal education: ● We call those liberal studies that are worthy of a free man; those studies by which we attain and practice virtue and wisdom; that education that calls forth, trains, and develops those highest gifts of body and mind that ennoble men and which are rightly judged to rank second in dignity only to virtue, for to a vulgar temper, gain and pleasure are the only goals of existence, whereas to a lofty nature, moral worth and fame are. ● Of all the significant historical recoveries achieved during the Italian Renaissance, none stands out more than the resuscitation of Greek studies—particularly Plato's works—in fifteenth-century Florence. This renaissance was brought about by a number of causes. As previously stated, a foundation was created in 1397 when the city welcomed Manuel Chrysoloras to come from Constantinople to encourage Greek study. ● A half-century later (1439), the ecumenical Council of Ferrara-Florence, called to discuss the merger of the Eastern and Western churches, cleared the way for a flood of Greek academics and manuscripts to enter the West. Following the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, many Greek academics sought safety in Florence. This was the context in which the Florentine Platonic Academy grew. ● A fundamental humanist critique of Scholastic education was that much of its content was ineffective. Humanists felt that education should foster individual virtue and public duty, thus the term civic humanism. The most remarkable instances may be found in ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Florence, where three humanists served as city chancellors: Coluccio Salutati (1331– 1406), Leonardo Bruni (ca. 1370–1444), and Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459). Each utilized his rhetorical abilities to rouse Florentines against Naples and Milan's assault. Bruni and Poggio penned adoring histories of the city. Leon Battista Alberti (1402–1472), another excellent humanist philosopher, was a wellknown Florentine architect and constructor. Many current historians, however, disagree that humanistic research truly accounted for such civic action, and instead see Florence's three great humanist chancellors as role models. Many humanists grew cliquish and snobby at the end of the Renaissance, an intellectual elite more concerned with limited scientific pursuits and writing pristine, classical Latin than with renewing civic and social life. In response to this aristocratic movement, humanist historians Niccol Machiavelli (1469–1527) and Francesco Guicciardini (1483– 1540) wrote in Italian, using contemporary history as their major source and subject matter. We can see the two sides of humanism here, arguably: serious research and practical politics. The ideals and interests of the laity were no longer subservient to those of the clergy in Renaissance Italy, as they were in Reformation Europe. In education, culture, and religion, the laity took the lead and set examples for the clergy to follow. This trend was caused in part by the church's loss of worldwide influence during the late Middle Ages' major crises. The increase of national emotion and the establishment of national bureaucracies staffed by laymen rather than clerics, as well as the fast growth of lay education in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, all aided it. Medieval Christian principles were modified to reflect a more earthly mentality. This new outlook on life is seen in the painting and sculpture of the High Renaissance (1450–1527), when art and sculpture achieved their pinnacle. Whereas medieval art tended to be abstract and conventional, Renaissance art embraced the natural world and human emotions wholeheartedly. ● ● Renaissance painters gave their creations a logical, even mathematical order—perfect symmetry and proportionality expressing a confidence in the universe's equilibrium. ● Leonardo, a real master of many talents, exemplified the Renaissance ideal of the universal individual. He was a renowned painter who also advised Italian princes and the French monarch Francis I (r. 1515–1547) on military engineering. He was a self-taught botanist who encouraged scientific research and dissected corpses to study anatomy. His innovative thinking predicted contemporary devices such as aircraft and submarines. ● His hobbies were so diverse that they threatened to decrease his attention span. His mastery of capturing interior feelings through complex facial expressions is evident not just in his most renowned painting, the Mona Lisa, but also in his self-portrait. ● The emergence of new technical abilities throughout the fifteenth century aided Renaissance painters. Aside from the availability of oil paints, they had an advantage in two ways: the application of shadowing to increase naturalness (chiaroscuro) and the modification of the scale of figures to give the spectator a sense of continuity with the picture (linear perspective). ● These approaches allowed the artist to depict space in a more realistic manner and to paint a more natural universe. ● In comparison to its flat Byzantine and Gothic equivalents, the result was a threedimensional picture brimming with vitality and life. ● The patriarch of Renaissance art, Giotto (1266–1336), heralded the new course. Giotto painted a more natural world as a fan of Saint Francis of Assisi, with whom he shared a love of nature. Chapter 11 - The Age of Reformation ● An indulgence was a reduction of the temporal punishment imposed on penitents as a "work of satisfaction" for their admitted deadly sins by priests. According to medieval theology, even if a priest acquitted a penitent of guilt for sin, the penitent nevertheless bore an eternal penalty, a justly imposed retribution by God. ● Priestly absolution, on the other hand, was supposed to reduce this everlasting punishment into a doable "task of satisfaction" that a penitent may undertake here and now through prayers, fasting, almsgiving, retreats, and/or pilgrimages. ● Penitents who failed to complete these necessary deeds of satisfaction may expect to languish in purgatory for an infinite amount of time before joining heaven. ● Indulgences were initially granted to Crusaders who were unable to finish their penances due to illness. ● Purgatory is reserved for those who have failed to perform their penances or have not repented of their crimes. Pope Clement VI (r. 1342–1352) declared in 1343 the existence of a "treasury of merit," a limitless reservoir of good acts in the property of the church that might be dispersed at the pope's discretion. The church offered "letters of indulgence" based on this mythical treasure, which made good on the deeds of satisfaction owing by penitents. Pope Sixtus IV (r. 1471–1484) granted indulgences for the unrepented sins of all Christians in purgatory in 1476. ● By Luther's day, indulgences were frequently granted in exchange for minor monetary donations, which were viewed as a good act of almsgiving. Indulgence preachers portrayed them to the people as absolving not only their own future penalties, but also the punishments of those who had died. ● The image attached shows a contemporary caricature depicts John Tetzel, the famous indulgence preacher. The last lines of the jingle read, “As soon as gold in the basin rings, right then the soul to Heaven springs.” It was Tetzel’s preaching that spurred Luther to publish his ninety-five theses. ● Nuremberg humanists welcomed the 95 theses, which they translated and widely disseminated. ● As a result, Luther became a key character in an already structured national German cultural movement against foreign influence and competition, notably from the Italians. In October, he was called before the Dominican order's general in Augsburg to explain for his criticism of the church. However, just as penalties were being planned against him, Emperor Maximilian I died (January 12, 1519), which was a good occurrence for the nascent Reformation since it diverted attention away from heresy in Saxony and toward the election of a new emperor. ● The pope supported the French king, Francis I, in that election. However, at the age of nineteen, Charles I of Spain succeeded his grandpa as Emperor. ● The Reformation went from the free hands of theologians and pamphleteers to the firmer hands of magistrates and rulers in the late 1520s and 1530s. The latter rapidly enforced significant religious changes in several places. Many monarchs had spent decades working to bring about fundamental church changes, and they welcomed Lutheran preachers as fresh partners. Reform had progressed from simple rhetoric to regulations that all residents had to follow. ● The elector of Saxony and the prince of Hesse, the two most prominent Protestant monarchs in Germany, were instrumental in politicizing religious reform inside their respective kingdoms. The German princes, like the urban magistrates, saw the political and economic opportunities presented by the Roman Catholic Church's decline in their country. ● The Reformation suffered more from internal strife than from imperial intervention in its first decade. By 1525, Luther had become almost as much of a target in Germany as the pope. Wittenberg's original supporters, admirers, and fellow travelers increasingly announced their freedom. ● The German peasantry, like the German humanists, first saw Luther as an ally. ● Since the late fourteenth century, the peasantry has fought against its secular and religious rulers' attempts to overturn their customary laws and traditions and subject them to new territorial rules and taxes. Peasant leaders, some of whom were Lutherans, recognized in Luther's doctrine on Christian freedom and his critique of monastic landlords a point of view that was similar to their own. ● Luther's support for their ostensibly "Christian" political and economic rights, including a revolutionary demand for serfdom's abolition. ● Luther first sympathized with the peasants, criticizing the princes' oppression and pushing them to heed the peasants' fair requests. ● Karsthans (Hans with a hoe), the burly, hardworking peasant who earned his food by the sweat of his brow, became a symbol of the honest existence God desired for all people, according to Lutheran pamphleteers. ● Switzerland was a loose confederation comprising thirteen independent cantons, or states, and their surrounding territory. (See Figure 11–2.) Some cantons turned Protestant, while others stayed Catholic, while a few others reached an agreement. ● The Swiss Reformation was predicated on two major factors. The first was the rise of national emotion as a result of public hostility to foreign mercenary service. (Providing mercenaries to Europe's warring states was a key source of income for Switzerland.) Second, there existed a yearning for church reform in Switzerland that had remained since the councils of Constance (1414–1417) and Basel (1431–1449). ● The Lutherans, on the other hand, were not social revolutionaries, and they saw little possibility for their cause if it became entwined with a peasant revolt. When peasants rose against their landlords in 1524–1525, claiming Luther's name, Luther denounced them as "un-Christian" and encouraged the princes to quash the insurrection. ● Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531), the pioneer of the Swiss Reformation, was a humanist. He attributed Erasmus, rather than Luther, for putting him on the path to change. In 1515, he served as a chaplain with Swiss mercenaries on the losing side at the tragic Battle of Marignano in Italy. ● Following that, he became an ardent opponent of Swiss mercenary service, claiming it jeopardized both the Swiss confederacy's political autonomy and moral fiber. Zwingli was likewise well-known by 1518 for his resistance to the sale of indulgences and religious superstition. ● At 1519, he ran for the position of people's priest in Zurich's main church. His candidacy was first called into question because he admitted to fornicating with a barber's daughter. ● Zwingli oversaw the Swiss Reformation from his new position as people's priest in Zurich. In March 1522, he took part in the breaking of the Lenten fast, which was then a form of protest equivalent to burning one's national flag today. ● ● Zwingli's reform guideline was straightforward and effective: anything did not have literal grounding in Scripture should not be believed or performed. That test, like Luther's, quickly generated issues about such revered conventional ideas and practices as fasting, transubstantiation, saint worship, pilgrimages, purgatory, clerical celibacy, and certain sacraments. ● On January 29, 1523, a debate ended with the municipal administration endorsing Zwingli's Scripture test. (See "Zwingli's List of Roman Church Errors," page 326.) Following it, Zurich became the financial capital of the world. ● The image attached above shows A Catholic Representation of Martin Luther Tempting Christ (1547). The pope was frequently represented as the Antichrist or the devil in Reformation propaganda. Here, Catholic propaganda turns the tables on Protestant reformers by depicting Martin Luther as the devil (notice the monster feet and tail hidden behind his academic robes). ● Re-enacting the biblical story of Christ being tempted by the devil in the desert, the figure of Luther begs Christ to turn stone into bread, to which Christ answers by noting that people do not subsist only on bread. Chapter 12 - The Age of Religious Wars ● Mary's half-sister, Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, succeeded her. Elizabeth had extraordinary and long-lasting success in domestic and foreign policy. She established a genuine kingdom on the ashes of Mary's rule, with the help of a wise counsel, Sir William Cecil (1520–1598). Between 1559 and 1603, Elizabeth and Cecil shepherded a religious settlement through Parliament, preventing religious strife from ripping England apart in the sixteenth century. ● Elizabeth, a ruler who prioritized religious unity over political union, combined a centralized bishop structure that she tightly controlled with widely defined Protestant ideology and traditional Catholic liturgy. For decades, the resultant Anglican Church was characterized by rigid religious extremism. ● An Act of Supremacy was approved by Parliament in 1559, overturning all of Mary Tudor's anti-Protestant laws and establishing Elizabeth's power as "supreme ruler" over both spiritual and worldly concerns. In the same year, the Act of Uniformity imposed a revised version of the Second Book of Common Prayer for every English parish (1552). ● The Thirty-Nine Articles, a modification of Thomas Cranmer's original fortytwo, were issued in 1563, making moderate Protestantism the official faith of the Church of England. By taking a medium path, Elizabeth intended to escape both Catholic and Protestant fanaticism. Matthew Parker (d. 1575), the first archbishop of Canterbury, exemplified this ideal. However, Elizabeth was unable to prevent the rise of subversive Catholic and Protestant extremists. Catholics were outraged when she rose to the throne. ● Michael Servetus, a Spanish physician and amateur theologian, was burned at the stake in Geneva on October 27, 1553, for supposed "blasphemies against the Holy Trinity." He had earned the wrath of Rome before badgering John Calvin on theological questions in Geneva, and he was a bold and confident man. ● Following Sevetus' execution, Calvin was heavily chastised for using capital punishment to combat heresy. In a book titled Defense of the Orthodox Faith in the Holy Trinity Against the Monstrous Errors of Michael Servetus of Spain, he defended himself in 1544. Following that, Sebastian Castellio, a distinguished humanist and former rector of Geneva's college, whom Calvin had pushed out of the city years before, published a series of publications against Calvin. ● The Puritans of the sixteenth century were not real separatists. They had widespread backing and were headed by well-known figures such as Thomas Cartwright (d. 1603). Following the example of Calvin and Geneva, they sought via Parliament to establish an alternative national church of semiautonomous churches administered by representative presbyteries (thus, Presbyterians). Elizabeth dealt with them strongly but delicately, surrendering nothing that jeopardized the Church of England's hierarchical unity or her authority over it. ● The most radical Puritans desired that each congregation be independent, a law unto itself, with no higher episcopal or presbyterian oversight. ● They were dubbed Congregationalists. Elizabeth and her second archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift (d. 1604), were vehemently opposed to this group, whose beliefs on independence they saw as clearly subversive. ● Despite the earnest wishes of both Philip II and Elizabeth to avoid war, a chain of circumstances led inexorably to war between England and Spain. The Spanish duke of Alba marched his formidable army into the Netherlands in 1567, which the English saw as merely a good staging region for a Spanish invasion of England. In 1570, Elizabeth was "excommunicated" for heresy by Pope Pius V (r. 1566–1572), who desired a military invasion of Protestant England. ● This nefarious deed fueled both internal opposition and foreign intrigue against the queen. As previously stated, the piratical sea beggars, many of whom were Englishmen, captured the port of Brill in the Netherlands and incited the surrounding peasants to revolt against the Spaniards two years later. ● Sir Francis Drake blasted the port of Cadiz in the spring of 1587, causing extensive damage to Spanish ships and stores and disrupting Spain's military preparations. Drake stormed the coast of Portugal after "singeing the beard of Spain's monarch," as he described it, further incapacitating the Spanish. Because to these strikes, the Spanish were obliged to postpone their invasion of England until 1588. ● On May 30, that year, 130 ships with 25,000 sailors and soldiers set sail for England under the leadership of the Duke of Medina-Sidonia. However, the English gained a surprise triumph in the end. The invasion barges that were supposed to bring Spanish soldiers from the galleons to English coasts were unable to leave Calais and Dunkirk. The faster English and Dutch ships, aided by ● The news of the Armada's defeat galvanized Protestant resistance across the world. Despite continuing to score significant victories in the 1590s, Spain never entirely recovered. Spanish forces fought cohesive and inspired armies from France, England, and ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● the Netherlands. Philip's soldiers had been repulsed on all fronts by the time he died on September 13, 1598. His successors in the seventeenth century were all weaker leaders who never had duties equivalent to his, nor did Spain ever enjoy such imperial magnificence again. The French quickly controlled the continent, while the Dutch and English nibbled away at Spain's colonial dominion in the New World. Elizabeth died on March 23, 1603, leaving behind a powerful kingdom ready to become a global empire. The news of the Armada's defeat galvanized Protestant resistance across the world. Despite continuing to score significant victories in the 1590s, Spain never entirely recovered. Spanish forces fought cohesive and inspired armies from France, England, and the Netherlands. Philip's soldiers had been repulsed on all fronts by the time he died on September 13, 1598. His successors in the seventeenth century were all weaker leaders who never had duties equivalent to his, nor did Spain ever enjoy such imperial magnificence again. The French quickly controlled the continent, while the Dutch and English nibbled away at Spain's colonial dominion in the New World. Elizabeth died on March 23, 1603, leaving behind a powerful kingdom ready to become a global empire. On the eve of the Thirty Years' War, Calvinism was the political and religious leaven within the Holy Roman Empire, as it was everywhere in Europe. The Peace of Augsburg did not recognize it as a legal religion, but it established a firm footing inside the empire when Frederick III (r. 1559–1576), a devout Calvinist, became Elector Palatine (ruler within the Palatinate; see Map 12–3) and proclaimed it the official religion of his territory. In the 1560s, Heidelberg became a German Geneva: a prominent intellectual hub of Calvinism as well as a staging ground for Calvinist infiltration within the empire. By 1609, Palatine Calvinists led a Protestant defense alliance backed by Spain's sixteenthcentury adversaries: England, France, and the Netherlands. On the eve of the Thirty Years' War, Calvinism was the political and religious leaven within the Holy Roman Empire, as it was everywhere in Europe. The Peace of Augsburg did not recognize it as a legal religion, but it established a firm footing inside the empire when Frederick III (r. 1559–1576), a devout Calvinist, became Elector Palatine (ruler within the Palatinate; see Map 12–3) and proclaimed it the official religion of his territory. In the 1560s, Heidelberg became a German Geneva: a prominent intellectual hub of Calvinism as well as a staging ground for Calvinist infiltration within the empire. By 1609, Palatine Calvinists led a Protestant defense alliance backed by Spain's sixteenthcentury adversaries: England, France, and the Netherlands. Chapter 13 - European State Consolidation in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries ● Relations between the Catholic majority (nine tenths of the French people) and the Protestant minority remained antagonistic after the Edict of Nantes in 1598. In the 1660s, there were around 1.75 million Huguenots in France (out of a total population of approximately 18 million), but their numbers were dropping. As a matter of piety and patriotism, the French Catholic church has long backed their persecution. ● Following the Treaty of Nijmwegen, Louis initiated a deliberate war against the Huguenots in an effort to spiritually unite France. His mistress, who became his second wife, Madame de Maintenon (1635–1719), a highly pious Catholic who pushed Louis into a far more fervent religious observance, also affected him in this strategy. Louis forbade Huguenots from participating in public life. ● He utilized financial incentives to persuade people to become Catholics. He oppressed them by quartering soldiers in their towns in 1681. Finally, in October 1685, Louis abolished the Edict of Nantes, resulting in widespread religious intolerance. Protestant churches and schools were shuttered, Protestant preachers were deported, nonconverts were sentenced to galley slavery, and Protestant children were christened by Catholic priests. ● The revocation was a huge mistake. From then on, Protestants throughout Europe saw Louis as a maniac who must be opposed at all means. More than a quarter million people fled France, many of them were highly trained. They established new settlements overseas and joined the anti-Louis struggle in England, Germany, Holland, and the New World. ● On May 31, 1653, Pope Innocent X ruled five Jansenist theological statements on grace and redemption to be heretical. The pope prohibited Jansen's Augustinus in 1656. Louis allowed the papal bull against Jansenism to be implemented in France in 1660. He subsequently shut down the Port-Royal community as well. Following that, Jansenists either recanted or went underground. In l713, Pope Clement XI published the bull Unigenitus, which strongly attacked Jansenist teaching once more. Despite internal ecclesiastical opposition, Louis XIV, now in his eighties, ordered the French church to accept the bull. ● Jansenism's theological difficulties were complicated. By pursuing the Jansenists, however, Louis XIV abandoned the French Church's long heritage of preserving Gallican liberties and developed inside the French Church a core of anti-Catholicism. ● Spain and her great commercial empire with the Americas looked to have succumbed to France. In September 1701, England, Holland, and the Holy Roman Empire formed the Grand Alliance to maintain the balance of power by securing Flanders as a neutral barrier between Holland and France once and for all and by gaining the emperor, who was also a Habsburg, his fair share of the Spanish inheritance. By accepting the Stuart claim to the English throne, Louis quickly raised the political stakes. ● The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) began in 1701 and quickly engulfed ● ● ● ● ● ● Western Europe. For the first time during Louis' reign, France went to war with insufficient funds, a poorly prepared army, and subpar generals. The duke of Orléans was a gambler, and he delegated financial control of the realm for a while to John Law (1671–1729), a Scottish mathematician and fellow gambler. Law felt that increasing the amount of paper money would help France's economy recover. He created a bank in Paris that printed paper money with the regent's consent. Law then established the Mississippi Company, a monopoly on commercial privileges with the French province of Louisiana in North America. In addition, the Mississippi Company took over administration of the French national debt. In return for government bonds that had plummeted in value, the business issued shares of its own stock. Law promoted speculating in the Mississippi Company in order to repay significant amounts of bonds. The duke of Orléans made a second choice that reduced the monarchy's influence as well. He wanted to reintroduce the French nobility into government decision-making procedures. He established a system of councils on which nobility and officials would serve. The years of lazy noble domestication at Versailles, on the other hand, had worked too well, and the nobility appeared to be lacking in both aptitude and ambition to lead. The experiment was a failure. Despite this defeat, the great French nobility maintained their historic goal to exercise their rights, privileges, and local control over the king. The struggle of the nobility to restrict the nobility's influence was a defining aspect of eighteenth-century French political life. The governmental authority in this region, which was mostly east of the Elbe River, were weak in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century. The very frequent conflict of the seventeenth century had resulted in a practice of changing political loyalties among princes and aristocracies of tiny kingdoms who refused to submit to central monarchical authority. However, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, three powerful dynasties developed in central and eastern Europe, whose rulers aspired to the absolutism that was then being built in France. Following the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the Austrian Habsburgs understood the fundamental weakness of the Holy Roman Emperor's position and began to establish their control outside of Germany. Simultaneously, Prussia under the Hohenzollern dynasty. Chapter 14 - New Directions in Thought and Culture in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries ● Following the publication of this dissertation, no significant political philosopher used the patriarchal paradigm again. In this aspect, though it is not frequently read today, Locke's First Treatise of Government was extremely significant in that it cleared the philosophical decks of a long-standing orthodox argument that could not withstand serious investigation. ● Locke offered an elaborate case for a government that must be both responsible for and ● ● ● ● ● responsive to the concerns of the governed in his Second Treatise on Government. Locke saw the natural human condition as one of full freedom and equality, in which everyone enjoyed the inherent rights of life, liberty, and property unrestrictedly. In contrast to Hobbes, Locke saw humans in their natural form as creatures of reason and inherent goodness rather than uncontrollable passion and selfishness. Before entering into a political compact, human people, according to Locke, have a significant ability for living more or less peacefully in community. What they encounter in nature is not a state of war, but a condition of rivalry and minor conflict that need the intervention of a political authority to solve issues rather than imposing sovereign power. They engage into the compact to form a political society in order to safeguard and preserve the rights, liberty, and property that they already have prior to the establishment of political power. In this regard, government exists to safeguard the finest achievements and liberties. For Locke, the struggle that Hobbes claimed defined the state of nature appeared only when rulers failed to safeguard people's inherent freedom and sought to enslave them via absolute control. The ruler-ruled relationship is one of trust, and if the rulers break that trust, the governed have the right to replace them. In this way, Locke's view was similar to Thomas Aquinas', who likewise authorized insurrection when the government broke natural rules. In his Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), Locke utilized the premises of his unpublished Second Treatise to support widespread religious tolerance among Christians, which he regarded as a solution to the disastrous religious warfare of the previous two centuries. ● ● As a result, Locke advocated for a broad range of religious tolerance among various voluntary Christian organisations. He did not, however, tolerate Roman Catholics, whom he felt had pledged loyalty to a foreign sovereign (the pope), non-Christians, or atheists, whom he considered could not be trusted to fulfill their promise. ● Despite these constraints, Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration laid the groundwork for the future expansion of toleration, religious liberty, and the separation of church and state. His ideal of such broad tolerance was partially achieved in England after 1688, and most completely realized in the United States during the American Revolution. ● Finally, much as Newton established laws of astronomy and gravitation, Locke aimed to uncover the fundamental patterns of human cognition. ● He did so in his most immediately famous book, Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), which became the most important work in European psychology during the eighteenth century. Locke depicted a person's mind at birth as a blank slate, the content of which would be decided by sensory experience. His mental view has been accurately compared to an early version of behaviorism. ● It was a reformer's psychology that argued that improving the environment may improve the human condition. ● Despite his rejection of the Christian idea of original sin, Locke felt his psychology had preserved religious knowledge. ● One of the most important aspects of science's growth was the evolving notion that really new information about nature and humanity might be found. The rediscovery of Aristotle and the emergence of humanistic learning in the late Middle Ages turned back to the ancients to rediscover the type of knowledge that later Europeans need. ● Luther and the other Reformers saw themselves as reclaiming a more accurate grasp of the original Christian message. Proponents of the new scientific knowledge and the new philosophy, on the other hand, wanted what Bacon referred to as the development of learning. New knowledge would be developed on a constant basis. This vision necessitated the establishment of new institutions. ● The growth of natural knowledge had far-reaching societal consequences. Both the new science and the philosophical perspective linked with it. Chapter 15 - Society and Economy Under the Old Regime in the Eighteenth Century ● During the eighteenth century, newspapers flourished in the United Kingdom, and the advertisements they produced enhanced consumer desires. Britain's social system encourages citizens to emulate the lives of their social superiors. It appears that Britain was the first to build a fashion world that caused individuals to desire to amass commodities. In addition to local consumer demand, the British economy profited from demand from North American colonies. ● Britain also has Europe's largest free-trade zone. The British possessed strong roads and rivers, and there were no internal tolls or other commercial restrictions. The country ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● possessed abundant coal and iron ore resources. Its governmental framework was solid, and its citizens' property was completely safe. The strong banking and public credit systems that have been developed Britain's taxation was high, but it was collected effectively and equitably, primarily through indirect taxes. Furthermore, British taxes were legalized by Parliament, with all socioeconomic levels and areas of the country paying the same taxes. Unlike on the Continent, there was no system of preferential tax exemptions. Finally, by historical standards, British society was mobile. People with money or the ability to gain it might advance socially. The British aristocracy would accept persons with vast incomes into its ranks. Even those who did not join the aristocracy may enjoy their money, gain social status, and wield political power. None of these causes foreshadowed Britain's march toward industrialism. The manufacture of textiles for apparel was the industry that ushered in the Industrial Revolution and satisfied rising consumer demand. Textile manufacturing is a prime example of industrialism rising to meet the demands of an ever-expanding market for daily products. Furthermore, it demonstrates the startling reality that much of the initial industrial transformation occurred in the countryside rather than cities. Although the economy of the eighteenth century was predominantly agrarian, industry was nevertheless prevalent in rural regions. The main unit of production was the peasant family living in a one- or two-room hut, rather than the factory. In the winter, the same peasants who tilled the field in the spring and summer spun thread or weaved fabrics. The household textile manufacturing system was a fundamental part of this family economy, and it would remain so in Britain and on the Continent far into the nineteenth century. However, by the mid-eighteenth century, domestic manufacturing constraints had formed. Cotton textile demand was expanding faster than output, particularly in the United Kingdom, which had a substantial domestic and North American market for these items. To accommodate customer demand for cotton textiles, inventors created some of the most renowned machinery of the early Industrial Revolution. The steam engine, more than any other technology, enabled industrialisation to selfreplicate and extend into one field of industry after another. For the first time in human history, this machine supplied a consistent and practically limitless supply of inanimate power. Unlike engines powered by water or wind, the steam engine, which was fuelled by coal, provided a portable source of industrial power that did not fail or weaken as the seasons changed. Unlike human or animal power, the steam engine relied on inexhaustible mineral energy. Finally, the steam engine could be used in a variety of industrial and, eventually, transportation applications. In the early eighteenth century, Thomas Newcomen (1663–1729) constructed the first workable steam engine. ● Despite these issues, English miners employed the Newcomen machines to remove water from coal and tin mines. By the third quarter of the eighteenth century, about a hundred Newcomen machines were in use in England's mining areas. ● James Watt, a Scottish engineer and machine manufacturer, began experimenting with a replica of a Newcomen machine at the University of Glasgow in the 1760s. He gradually realized that isolating the condenser from the piston and cylinder would result in significantly higher efficiency. ● He patented his new invention in 1769, but turning his concept into a practical use proved challenging. His design necessitated the use of exact metallurgy. ● Watt immediately found a business partner in Matthew Boulton (1728–1809), a prominent toy and button producer in Birmingham. ● The production of high-quality iron has been fundamental to modern industrial progress. Iron is the primary component of all heavy industries as well as land and marine transportation. ● ● The majority of productive machinery is likewise made of iron. British ironmakers produced fewer than 25,000 tons of iron per year in the early eighteenth century. Three things slowed manufacturing. ● First, instead of coke, charcoal was used to smelt the ore. Charcoal, which is made from wood, was becoming rare as Britain's woods dwindled, and it does not burn at as high a temperature as coke, which is obtained from coal. Second, until the steam engine was perfected, furnaces could not reach high enough blasts. Finally, there was a scarcity of iron. The first two issues have been resolved. Chapter 16 - The Transatlantic Economy, Trade Wars, and Colonial Rebellion ● Slavery had existed in many regions of Europe since prehistoric times. Prior to the seventeenth century, there was little or no moral or religious stigma linked to slave ownership or trafficking. It existed continuously in the Mediterranean world, with only the source of slaves changing throughout the years. Following the capture of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire prohibited the exporting of white slaves from its territories. ● The Portuguese then began importing African slaves from the Canary Islands and West Africa onto the Iberian Peninsula. Black African slaves were also widespread in other ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● regions of the Mediterranean, and a handful made their way to northern Europe. They might be utilized as personal slaves or shown as a result of Slave labor, however, became a key social and economic force beginning in the sixteenth century, first in the West Indies and the Spanish and Portuguese territories in South America, and subsequently in the British colonies on North America's South Atlantic shore. The rise of such slave-labor plantation economies resulted in unprecedented contact between European and African peoples, as well as European settlers in the Americas and Africa. Africa and Africans were pulled into the Western experience in ways never seen before in history. The Spanish and Portuguese faced a serious manpower shortage after discovering and settling the New World. They, like the majority of the French and English settlers who arrived later, had no intention of doing manual labor. Initially, they hired Native Americans as laborers, but sickness killed hundreds of thousands of the native population throughout the sixteenth century and subsequently. As a result, labor became scarce very quickly. The Spanish and Portuguese next turned to imported African slave labor. During the seventeenth century, English colonists in North America went more slowly to slavery, with the greatest number settling in the Chesapeake Bay region of Virginia and Maryland, and then later in the low country. To fully comprehend the consequences of forced African immigration to the Americas, we must consider both areas as well as the overall picture of the transatlantic economy. Slave imports into the West Indies and Brazil were far greater than those into North America. Although the arrival of African slaves on a Dutch ship at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, is considered the commencement of slavery in the United States, almost a century of slave trafficking in the West Indies and South America preceded that occurrence. Indeed, by the late sixteenth century, Africans had established themselves as a significant social presence in the West Indies as well as in the major towns of both Spanish and Portuguese South America. Their presence and influence in these areas would increase. During the late seventeenth century, the number of slaves in much of Spanish South America fell, and slavery became less fundamental there than elsewhere. Slavery, on the other hand, continued to grow its impact in Brazil and the Caribbean as sugar plantation grew to suit the need of the European market. By the end of the seventeenth century, the Caribbean islands had become the world's hub for sugar production and the primary provider for the ever-increasing demand for it. During the eighteenth century, an era of significant slave importation, the establishment of new regions of farming and other economic activities necessitated the hiring of additional slaves. The rising prosperity of sugar islands, which had begun to be exploited in the late 17th century. During the eighteenth century, there was a significant rise in the number of Africans ● ● ● ● ● imported to the Americas as slaves, with the majority landing in the Caribbean or Brazil. As early as the nineteenth century, as many as 20,000 new Africans landed in the West Indies as slaves each year. By 1725, it is believed that about 90% of Jamaica's population was made up of African slaves. The numbers grew considerably bigger after the fifties. The inflow of new Africans in most locations, including the British colonies, meant that the number of new forced immigrants outweighed the existing slaves of African heritage. Before the European discovery, sugar was a luxury item that only the rich could purchase. Sugarcane could not be produced in Europe since it demands subtropical temperatures and copious rainfall. Sugar had to be imported from the Arab world or the Spanish and Portuguese islands off the coast of Africa, which were too dry for the plant to thrive. The Caribbean, on the other hand, is suitable for sugarcane cultivation. Columbus brought it to the New World in 1493, and within a decade, sugar was being grown (by slaves) in Santo Domingo. The image attached shows that Sugar was both raised and processed on plantations such as this one in Brazil. ● ● However, sugar production did not take off until Britain and France established themselves in the Caribbean in the seventeenth century, and European demand for sugar began to rise. Chapter 17 - The Age of Enlightenment: EighteenthCentury Thought ● As the eighteenth century progressed, the style of life shown in Rococo paintings and more popular prints generated from them persuaded many people in France that the king, court, and nobility were frivolous and decadent. In actuality, as seen in Chapter 15, many French and European nobles were diligent and disciplined, and Louis XVI, who succeeded Louis XV in 1774, was a well-meaning, devout, and moral ruler. Nonetheless, the cheerful carelessness of Rococo art fuelled hatred toward the Old Regime's political and social elites. ● Furthermore, contemporary viewers did not have to wait for the upheaval of the French Revolution to see work that explicitly challenged the society depicted by Rococo art. The mid-eighteenth century saw a revival of interest in the ● His publications, as well as the concurrent rediscovery and partial excavation of the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in southern Italy, aided the growth of Neoclassicism in art and architecture. This movement represented a return to antiquity's ideas, issues, and techniques, as well as the Renaissance's appeal to antiquity. ● The attractiveness of Rome as a tourist destination for artists and aristocratic travelers aided the emergence of Neoclassicism. ● European nobles who visited Italy in the mid-eighteenth century on what was known as "the Grand Tour" were more enamored with both the antique and Renaissance art on display as well as the Neoclassical masterpieces created by contemporary painters. These affluent and prominent tourists did not just buy paintings and statues to display in their homes. ● The picture also depicts the notion of men and women having different realms. The brothers swear an oath to preserve the republic with their life. The ladies in the scenario look emotional and incapable of participating in the republic's manly civic life. David painted many comparable images from the old Roman Republic and subsequently became an artistic supporter of the French Revolution and Napoleon (who, paradoxically, elevated him to the rank of baron). ● The philosophes became subjects for Neoclassical artists. The French sculptor JeanAntoine Houdon (1741–1828) created several stone portraits of famous philosophes such as Voltaire and Rousseau, as well as American Enlightenment supporters such as Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) and Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826). Such sculptures adorned a gallery of writers who had died. ● Most philosophes did not support either Montesquieu's reformed and reborn aristocracy or Rousseau's democracy as a solution to modern political difficulties. They looked to the existing monarchs, as did other smart individuals of the time in different positions and vocations. Voltaire was a staunch monarchist due to his personal clashes with aristocracy as a young writer and his overall skepticism of democratic notions. ● In 1759, he wrote a History of the Russian Empire During the Reign of Peter the Great, declaring, "Peter was born, and Russia was founded." 15 Voltaire and other philosophes, such as Diderot, who visited Catherine II of Russia, and the physiocrats, some of whom served as ministers to Louis XV and Louis XVI, did not want to limit monarchs' power. ● Frederick the Great of Prussia represented enlightened absolutism more than any other monarch of the time. Using the achievements of his Hohenzollern forefathers, he constructed a state that commanded the devotion of the military, the junker aristocracy, the Lutheran church, and an expanding bureaucracy drawn from an educated middle class and university academics. ● Because the Prussian monarchy and military had such strong authority, and because the nobles, bureaucracy, clergy, and professors were so loyal, Frederick had the confidence to allow a more open discussion of Enlightenment ideas and to put into practice more Enlightenment values, such as extensive religious toleration, than any other continental ruler. ● As a result, in contrast to France, Prussians inclined to the Enlightenment tended to embrace the state rather than the individual. ● Frederick regularly portrayed himself as "the first servant of the State," asserting that his own personal and dynastic interests should always be subjugated to the benefit of his citizens, reflecting a significant shift in European views of the ruler. ● Like previous Hohenzollern monarchs, he maintained the Prussian nobility's local social and political interests, as well as their role in the army, but he also required nobles seeking posts in his well-paid bureaucracy to qualify for those jobs on merit. ● By 1770, the education and tests necessary for all important government jobs were overseen by a Prussian Civil Service Commission. Thus, Frederick made it plain that merit, rather than birthright, would determine who served the Prussian state. ● In addition, Frederick ordered a new formulation of Prussian law, which was finished after his death. His goal was to simplify and improve the current legal system by removing regional differences, minimizing aristocratic influence, outlawing torture, and limiting the number of capital offences. This desire for legal reform was shared by the other enlightened monarchs, who regarded it as a way to extend and enhance royal authority. ● Prussia has suffered significant economic damage as a result of the mid-century conflicts. Following that, Frederick exploited the state's power to promote economic growth. He pursued the Hohenzollern strategy of importing workers from outside Prussia. He aimed to improve Prussian agriculture. Swamps were drained, new crops were introduced, and peasants were encouraged, and sometimes forced, to go where they wanted. Chapter 18 - The French Revolution ● Early in September, the Parisian mob made its presence known once more. During the first week of September, in what became known as the September Massacres, the Paris Commune brutally killed or murdered around 1,200 persons who were imprisoned throughout the city. Some of these individuals were aristocrats or clergymen, but the vast majority were merely regular criminals. ● The mob had presumed that all of the captives were counter-revolutionaries. The news of this atrocity, as well as the slaughter of Swiss guards and the incarceration of the royal family, travelled quickly around Europe, instilling further enmity toward the revolutionary government. ● The Paris Commune therefore forced the Legislative Assembly to call for the election of a new assembly to establish a democratic constitution via universal male suffrage. ● The French army, full with patriotic recruits prepared to die for the revolution, had stopped the Prussian onslaught the day before in the Battle of Valmy in eastern France. Victory on the battlefield had affirmed the domestic victory of democratic forces. The Convention's first step was to declare France a republic, that is, a nation controlled by an ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● elected assembly rather than a king. The second revolution was the effort of more extreme Jacobins than the Girondists, as well as the sansculottes of Paris. This group's name means "without breeches" and is derived from the long pants that they wore as working people instead of aristocratic knee breeches. The sans-culottes worked as shopkeepers, artisans, wage earners, and, in certain circumstances, industrial workers. Several concerns had caused the Mountain and its sans-culottes supporters to dominate the Convention and the revolution by the spring of 1793. In December 1792, Louis XVI was tried as a mere "Citizen Capet," the royal family's original medieval name. The Girondists attempted to save his life, but the Mountain foiled their efforts. Louis was found guilty by an overwhelming majority of plotting against the liberty of the people and the security of the state. He was beheaded on January 21, 1793, after being sentenced to death by a lesser majority. The Convention declared war on the United Kingdom and Holland the next month, then on Spain a month later. Soon after, the Prussians resumed their onslaught, driving the French from Belgium. The sans-culottes, for the most part, knew what they wanted. Parisian merchants and artists sought immediate relief from food shortages and rising costs by instituting price restrictions. Because of their financial difficulties, they were impatient to have their requests satisfied. They felt that everyone had a right to sustenance and detested most types of social injustice. This mindset made them vehemently opposed to the aristocracy and the original leaders of the 1789 revolution from the Third Estate, whom they saw as only seeking to share political power, social status, and economic security with the aristocracy. The sans-culottes' disdain for inequality did not lead them to seek the abolition of property. Rather, they urged for a community of small property owners to participate. In politics, they were anti-monarchical, staunchly republican, and even distrustful of representative government. They felt that the people should have as much say in government decisions as possible. The sans-culottes had gained political experience at meetings of the Paris sections in Paris, where they wielded the most power. The previous summer's Paris Commune served as their primary political vehicle, and crowd action served as their primary means of action. The Jacobins' Policies The sansculottes' ideals were not entirely consistent with those of the Jacobins, who advocated representative governance. Jacobin hostility to the nobility and inherited privilege did not extend to a broad distrust of riches. Essentially, the Jacobins advocated for an unrestrained economy. In direct answer to Burke and in support of revolutionary values, Thomas Paine, the hero of the American Revolution, wrote The Rights of Man (1791–1792). "From what we now observe, nothing of reform in the political arena should be regarded as unlikely," Paine asserted. It is a time of changes, and everything can be sought." 5 Paine's book sold more copies in England at the time, but Burke's work had a greater long-term impact and was extensively distributed on the continent, where it became a guidebook for European conservatives. ● By the commencement of war with Austria in April 1792, the other European monarchies, like Burke, realized the dangers of both revolutionary France's beliefs and aggression. Chapter 19 - The Age of Napoleon and the Triumph of Romanticism ● National opposition to France had strong social roots in Spain, more than anywhere else in Europe. As early as the sixteenth century, Spain had attained political union. The peasants of Spain were committed to the governing family and, in particular, to the Roman Catholic Church. ● Since 1796, France and Spain had been allies. However, in 1807, a French army invaded the Iberian Peninsula, forcing Portugal to break its longstanding allegiance with Britain. The troops remained in Spain to secure supply and communication routes. Napoleon exploited an uprising in Madrid in 1808 as justification to remove the Spanish Bourbons and install his brother Joseph (1768–1844) on the Spanish throne. Attacks on ecclesiastical privileges heightened public indignation. ● Napoleon encountered a new type of warfare in Spain. ● Guerrilla groups cut communication lines, murdered stragglers, destroyed isolated troops, and then vanished into the mountains. To help the Spanish revolutionaries, the British landed a force led by Sir Arthur Wellesley (1769–1852), afterwards Duke of Wellington. Thus started the protracted peninsular campaign, which would drain French might from other parts of Europe and expedite Napoleon's collapse. ● Because of the French issues in Spain, the Austrians decided to restart the war in 1809. They had sought vengeance since their humiliation at Austerlitz. ● The Austrians anticipated Napoleon's diversion in Spain, French battle fatigue, and assistance from other German princes. However, Napoleon was firmly in authority in France, and the German princes did not move. ● The naploenic wars wreaked havoc across Europe. Different participants, authors, and artists depicted the experience of combat in various ways. William Napier described his own heroism in a matter-of-fact tone. ● Ernest Moritz Arndt, a German poet and historian, remembers periods of great patriotic fervor. Goya, a Spanish painter, depicted a time of immense brutality faced by the Spanish at the hands of French forces. ● In 1807, Napoleon began sending soldiers into Spain when the King of Spain decided to join France against Portugal, which was aiding Britain. By early 1808, Spain had effectively become an occupied country. On May 2, riots erupted in Madrid between French troops, many of whom were Islamic soldiers recruited in Egypt by Napoleon, and Spanish residents. ● In reaction to this resistance, the French commander Murat ordered the death of a large ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● number of Madrid residents on the nights of May 2 and 3. The events of these two days signaled the start of Spain's campaign to free its peninsula from French domination. Following the restoration of the Spanish monarchy, Francisco Goya (1745–1828) captured the heinousness of the killings in his painting Napoleon was adamant about putting a stop to the Russian military menace. He built an army of about 600,000 troops, including a core of Frenchmen and over 400,000 warriors from the rest of his realm. He planned a quick campaign capped by a decisive fight, but the Russians fled before he could advance. His overwhelming numerical superiority—the Russians only had roughly 160,000 troops —made it foolhardy for them to undertake a war. Instead, they used a "scorchedearth" strategy, burning all food and supplies as they fled. The so-called Grand Army of Napoleon could not survive on the land, and the vastness of Russia rendered supply lines impossible to sustain. Terrible rains, scorching heat, food and water shortages, and the bravery of the people. Napoleon was adamant about putting a stop to the Russian military menace. He built an army of about 600,000 troops, including a core of Frenchmen and over 400,000 warriors from the rest of his realm. He expected to run the typical short campaign, culminating with a d Napoleon's aides encouraged him to abandon the campaign, but he was afraid that a failure would damage his authority in the empire and in France. He put his trust in the Russians' refusal to evacuate Moscow without a battle. In September 1812, Russian popular sentiment compelled the army to give Napoleon the fight he desired, despite the willful Russian commander Mikhail Kutuzov's (1745–1813) desire to let the Russian winter crush the invader. The fiercest battle took place in Borodino, not far west of Moscow. The deadliest fight of the Napoleonic period took place at Borodino, not far west of Moscow, and cost the French 30,000 fatalities and the Russians nearly twice that many. Nonetheless, the Russian army was not annihilated. Napoleon gained nothing significant from the war, and it was seen as a setback for him. As winter approached in a large and hostile nation, fires ignited by the Russians quickly burned Moscow, leaving Napoleon far from home with a critically depleted army and little supplies. Following the capture of the burned-out city, Napoleon made multiple peace overtures to Alexander, but the tsar turned them down. By October, what remained of the Grand Army had been forced to flee. By December, Napoleon had concluded that the Russian disaster would incite domestic conspiracies against him. He retreated to Paris, leaving the remainder of his army to fight their way west. Perhaps just 100,000 of the original 600,000 people survived. The winning alliance was held together by fear of Napoleon and resistance to his aims. As soon as he was ousted, the allies set about pursuing their own goals. The British foreign secretary, Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (1769–1822), was instrumental in bringing them together. On March 9, 1814, even before the victorious army had entered Paris, he arranged for the Treaty of Chaumont to be signed. ● It called for the return of the Bourbons to the French monarchy and the reduction of France to its 1792 borders. More crucially, the United Kingdom, Austria, Russia, and Prussia decided to join a Quadruple Alliance. ● ● More crucially, Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia agreed to join a Quadruple Alliance for the next twenty years in order to protect whatever solution they reached. The remaining issues, and there were many, were left for a meeting to be convened in Vienna. ● Tallyrand calmly watches which way the wind is blowing in this political cartoon of the Congress of Vienna, Castlereagh hesitates, and the rulers of Russia, Prussia, and Austria make the Holy Alliance dance. The king of Saxony retains his throne, while the republic of Geneva pays tribute to the kingdom of Sardinia. ● The Congress of Vienna convened in September 1814, although its work was not completed until November 1815. Despite the presence of a glittering array of heads of state, the conference's primary work was carried out by the four great powers. The sole full session of Congress was held to confirm the agreements agreed by the big four. France was the easiest problem for the major countries to solve. ● All of the victorious nations agreed that no single country should be permitted to rule Europe, and they were all resolved to keep France from doing so again. The temporary reinstatement of the French Bourbon monarchy, as well as a nonvindictive boundary solution, were intended to keep France quiet and content. ● The powers also fortified the states surrounding France's frontiers in order to act as obstacles to fresh French expansion. In the north, they founded the kingdom of the Netherlands, which comprised Belgium and Luxembourg, and in the south, they added the vital port of Genoa to reinforce Piedmont. ● To dissuade French expansion in the West, Prussia was handed vital additional holdings along the Rhine River. ● Austria seized complete control of northern Italy in order to prevent a repeat of Napoleon's victories there. In terms of the rest of Germany, much of Napoleon's territorial arrangements were preserved. The old Holy Roman Empire, which had been disbanded in 1806, was not resurrected. Chapter 20 - The Conservative Order and the Challenges of Reform ● The economic ambitions of nineteenth-century liberals also separated them from the working class. ● Following Adam Smith's Enlightenment ideas, the manufacturers of Great Britain, the landed and manufacturing middle classes of France, and the commercial interests of Germany and Italy sought to abolish the economic restraints associated with mercantilism or the regulated economies of enlightened absolutists. ● They desired the freedom to make and sell items. To that purpose, they advocated for the elimination of international tariffs as well as internal trade restrictions. Economic liberals were opposed to the previous paternalistic legislation that set salaries and work practices through government control or guild privileges. They regarded labor as just another commodity that could be freely bought and sold. ● Liberals desired an economic framework in which people were free to utilize their abilities and possessions to prosper themselves. They believed that such a system would create more goods and services for everyone at reduced rates, laying the groundwork for material growth. ● Because the socioeconomic and political situations of different nations vary, the precise programs of liberals differed as well. The monarchy was already restricted in the United Kingdom, and most individual freedoms had been secured. Parliament, with reform, might deliver more representative government. ● There were connections between land, trade, and industry. France already had many of the systems that liberals desired. The Napoleonic Code established a contemporary judicial system in France. ● French liberals may be able to defend requests for greater rights. ● In France, like in England, representatives of various economic interests had collaborated. The issue for liberals in both nations was how to maintain civil rights, define the roles of the monarch and the elected legislature, and moderately grow the electorate while avoiding democracy. (See also "Benjamin Constant on Modern Liberty.") ● The complicated political situation in German-speaking Europe differed from that in France or Britain, and German liberalism diverged correspondingly from that of France and Britain. ● Monarchs and aristocracy in Germany and Austria were more hostile to liberal principles, limiting German liberals' access to direct political power. The aristocratic landowning classes, who staffed the bureaucracy and officer corps, were separated from the tiny middleclass business and industrial groups by a severe social gap. ● Benjamin Constant (1767–1830), a French liberal theorist, offered lectures on the nature of ancient and contemporary liberty in 1819. He underlines the intimate link between modern liberty and economic freedom and a free private life in this chapter. The demand for a free private life is thus linked to the need for a representative government, according to him. ● People did not have enough time in modern life to make the political commitment that the ancient Greek polis needed. As a result, modern individuals have delegated most of their political interest and engagement to politicians. Constant elucidated nineteenthcentury liberals' goal to increase private freedom while minimizing areas of life in which the government may intrude. His reasoning also lays the groundwork for rejecting direct ● Nationalism was not always, or even rationally, associated with liberalism. Indeed, nationalism could and sometimes was diametrically antithetical to liberal political principles. Some nationalists desired that their own ethnic group rule minority national or ethnic groups within a certain territory. ● This was true for the Magyars, who desired political authority over non-Magyar peoples residing inside Hungary's ancient borders. Nationalists frequently defined their own national group in contrast to other national groupings they saw as cultural inferiors or historical foes. This darker side of nationalism would manifest itself forcefully in the second half of the nineteenth century, poisoning European political life throughout most of the twentieth. ● Furthermore, conservative nationalists may demand political independence for their own ethnic group. ● The conservative classes' more theoretical political and theological ideals were connected with philosophers such as Edmund Burke (see Chapter 18) and Friedrich Hegel (see Chapter 19). Other, less formal sentiments shaped by the revolutionary experience were held by conservatives. ● The assassination of Louis XVI by radical democrats convinced most monarchs that they could only trust aristocratic regimes or administrations of aristocrats in partnership with the wealthiest middle-class and professional individuals. The European aristocracies thought that no kind of truly representative government could safeguard their property and authority. All conservatives opposed the concept of a written constitution unless they could draft it themselves. ● Even even then, some people were skeptical of the idea. ● Except for their own revivals, the churches were similarly skeptical of popular movements. Throughout the Continent, ecclesiastical leaders saw themselves as charged with the educational job of sustaining the social and political status quo. They also loathed and despised most Enlightenment ideas, because those rational notions and reformer texts instilled the critical spirit and threatened revealed faith. ● Conservative aristocracy kept their old attitude, but not their old privileges or confidence. They felt themselves as surrounded by foes, always on the defense against forces of liberalism, nationalism, and popular sovereignty. ● They were well aware that political forces opposed to them may destabilize them. They also recognized that a revolution in one country may spread to another. Chapter 21 - Economic Advance and Social Unrest ● The next president was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1808–1873), the great emperor's nephew. He had spent the majority of his life as an adventurer living outside of France. He had attempted to conduct a coup against the July Monarchy twice before. The 1848 uprising provided him with a fresh opportunity to enter French politics. ● Following Louis Philippe's corruption and the upheaval of the early months of the Second Republic, people looked to the name of Bonaparte as a source of stability and glory. ● The election of "Little Napoleon" effectively ended the Second Republic. Louis Napoleon was more concerned with his personal renown than with republican institutions. He was the first contemporary tyrant to exploit fragile political and social conditions. ● The gathering was dispersed by troops, and the president called for new elections. More than 200 individuals were killed in the resistance to the coup, and more than 26,000 people were detained around the country. Almost 10,000 opponents of the coup were deported to Algeria. ● Nonetheless, on December 21, 1851, more than 7.5 million people accepted Louis Napoleon's actions and ratified a new constitution that strengthened his power. Only 600,000 people risked to vote against him. A year later, in December 1852, an empire was declared, and Louis Napoleon was elevated to the throne as Emperor Napoleon III. A vote was held once more to endorse the measure. France had shifted from republicanism to Caesarism for the second time in less than fifty years. ● Some of these clubs focused on women's rights. Some women even attempted, but failed, to vote in the 1848 elections. ● These activities drew both middle-class and working-class women. The most extreme group of women dubbed themselves the Vesuvians, after Italy's Vesuvius volcano. They said that it was time for women's demands to erupt like pent-up lava. They wanted full domestic household equality for men and women, the right of women to serve in the military, and gender equality in attire. They also held protests on the streets. Because of the extreme nature of their demands and activities, they lost the support of more moderate women. ● Certain Parisian women rushed to seize the newly accessible liberal liberties for their own purposes. ● They collaborated with male political parties and advocated for family integrity and marital fidelity. They also passionately welcomed the maternal role for women, but attempted to use it to elevate the status of women in society. ● They believed that because maternity and childrearing are so vital to a community, women should be given higher education, economic stability, equal civil rights, property ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● rights, and the freedom to work and vote. Although some members of the assembly backed the women's groups, the temporary administration made no action to legislate these rights. The focus on family and motherhood was, in part, a defensive measure to keep conservative women and men from accusing women's rights proponents of attempting to destroy the family and traditional values. In 1848, the destiny of French feminists was identical to that of radical workers. They were completely vanquished, and their efforts were completely futile. After the elections that spring, the new administration showed little sympathy for their causes. The closure of the national workshops harmed both men and women employees, and it closed one channel through which women could express their concerns. Another venue in which women had engaged was closed down by the conservative assault on political groups. Women were soon explicitly barred from joining political clubs, either alone or with males. These coercive efforts were similar to what happened in 1793 to politically engaged Frenchwomen and their organizations. The events of February 1848 in Paris sent shockwaves across the Habsburg realms. On every level, the empire was vulnerable to revolutionary attack. Its regime was hostile to liberal institutions. Its bounds span national boundaries. Its society was based on serfdom. During the 1840s, even Metternich advocated for reform, but none came. The regime faced rebellions in Vienna, Prague, Hungary, and Italy in 1848. The uprisings that erupted in Germany also posed a danger to the Habsburg hegemony. The Hungarians had gained confidence as a result of the Vienna uprising. The Magyar leaders of the Hungarian March Revolution were mostly liberals backed by aristocrats seeking to protect their aristocratic freedoms from the central authority in Vienna. The Hungarian diet approved the March Laws, which required religious equality, jury trials, election of the lower chamber of the diet, a reasonably free press, and taxation of the aristocracy. Emperor Ferdinand supported these measures since he had little else to do in the spring of 1848. In addition, the Magyars sought to form a distinct Hungarian kingdom inside the Habsburg borders. While Ferdinand remained emperor, they would enjoy local autonomy. As part of their plan for a semi-independent state, the Hungarians tried to acquire Transylvania, Croatia, and Serbia. The Hungarians aspired to conquer Transylvania, Croatia, and other eastern Habsburg Empire regions as part of this proposal for a largely autonomous state. This annexation would have subjected Romanians, Croatians, and Serbs to Magyar rule. These national groups opposed the push for Magyarization, particularly the imposition of the Hungarian language on them for government and administration reasons. The national groups that the Hungarians were now oppressing thought that the Habsburgs provided them with a greater opportunity to retain their national or ethnic identity, languages, and economic self-interest. Chapter 22 - The Age of Nation-States ● The manner in which it was formed had a significant impact on the nature of the new German state. ● The conservative army, the monarchy, and the Prussian prime minister, who wished to outflank Prussian liberals, unified Germany. ● A united Germany, which had been sought by two generations of German liberals, was really attained for the most illiberal of reasons. ● During the 1850s, German unity appeared improbable. The German Confederation, founded at the Congress of Vienna, was the governmental framework of the Germanspeaking territories. ● It was a loose federation of thirty-nine states of varying size and power, whose chosen delegates gathered in Frankfurt at a central diet. Austria and Prussia were by far the two most powerful powers. Austria ruled over the diet of the 1850s. ● During the 1850s, Austria presided over the German Confederation's diet. Through the Zollverein (tariff union), the main nations continued to trade with one another, and railways linked their economies. ● When Bismarck became Prime Minister in 1862, he immediately went against the liberal Parliament. He claimed that, even in the absence of additional financial levies, the Prussian constitution allowed the government to carry out its tasks using previously approved taxes. ● As a result, despite the legislature unwillingness to vote on them, taxes could be collected and spent. This reading of the constitution was endorsed by the army and the majority of the bureaucracy. However, further elections in 1863 maintained the liberal majority in Parliament. Bismarck needed to find a means to sway public opinion away from the liberals and toward the monarchy and the army. As a result, he went about unifying Germany through Prussia's conservative institutions. Bismarck, in fact, adopted German nationalism as a tactic. ● Bismarck, in fact, adopted German nationalism as a strategy to allow Prussian conservatives to outflank Prussian liberals. A succession of domestic political developments and conflicts inside Prussia rapidly upset this stagnant state. ● Frederick William IV was declared insane in 1858, and his brother William took over as regent. William I (r. 1861–1888), who succeeded his brother as King of Prussia in 1861, was less idealistic than his brother and more of a Prussian nationalist. In typical Hohenzollern fashion, his first priority was to increase the Prussian army. ● His war minister and chief of staff suggested expanding the army, increasing the number of officers, and extending the length of conscription from two to three years in 1860. ● Frederick William IV of Prussia had abandoned plans for Prussian-led unity. ● Austria remained adamantly opposed to any union that would diminish its power. Under Bismarck's leadership and with the strong support of its royal dynasty, Prussia employed diplomatic and military tactics to forcefully unite the German states into a powerful national entity on both the German and international theaters. ● ● The Prussian Parliament, established by the 1850 Constitution, declined to pass the required taxes. The liberals, who dominated the body, aimed to avoid giving the monarchy further authority. ● For two years, the king and Parliament were at odds. In September 1862, William I sought assistance from Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), the man who, more than any other single individual, influenced the next thirty years of European history. Bismarck was descended from a Junker (noble landowner). ● He went to university and expressed an interest in German unity. ● In the 1840s, he was elected to the provincial legislature, where he was so conservative that he irritated even the monarch. Nonetheless, he had made his mark. Bismarck was the Prussian representative from 1851 until 1859. ● Bismarck was the Prussian delegate to the German Confederation from 1851 until 1859. Later, he served as the Prussian envoy to Russia and as the Prussian ambassador to France after William I named him Prime Minister. Unlike German liberals, Bismarck, the great conservative chancellor, supported a democratic franchise because he predicted that peasants would vote for conservatives. ● Furthermore, the Reichstag had limited actual power because ministers were only accountable to the king. The Reichstag was unable to even initiate legislation. ● All legislation have to be proposed by the chancellor. Military budgets might be approved by the legislature, although they were normally presented for many years at a time. ● The constitution of the North German Confederation, which became the constitution of the German Empire in 1871. ● The constitution of the North German Confederation, which became the constitution of the German Empire in 1871, had some of the looks of liberalism but none of its content. ● Germany was essentially a military monarchy. ● The liberal opposition in the Prussian Parliament was overpowered by Bismarck's stunning accomplishments. Liberals were divided into two groups: those who valued liberalism and those who advocated unity. In the end, nationalism proved to be more appealing. ● In 1866, the Prussian Parliament accepted the military budget that it had previously refused. Bismarck had crushed the Prussian liberals by elevating the monarchy and the army to the country's most popular institutions. His domestic Prussian political aim of German national unity had been realized. Chapter 23 - The Building of European Supremacy: Society and Politics to World War I ● As migration to cities persisted, Europe became more urbanized than ever in the later part of the nineteenth century. Between 1850 and 1911, urban inhabitants increased from 25 to 44 percent of the French population and from 30 to 60 percent of the German population. Other Western European nations saw similar rises. ● Rural migrants to cities were generally disenfranchised from their customary social ties. They frequently faced substandard accommodation, social isolation, and, since they lacked the necessary skills, unemployment. ● People from various ethnic origins found themselves in close proximity to one another and found it difficult to socialize. Competition for jobs spawned new forms of political and social dissatisfaction, such as anti-Semitism leveled at tens of thousands of Russian Jews. ● Indeed, much of the political anti-Semitism of the late twentieth century stemmed from the challenges caused by urban migration. ● Inward urban migration imposed additional social and economic pressures on already overstressed city resources, eventually altering urban life patterns. During the second half of the twentieth century, national and local administrations remodeled the core areas of several important European towns. ● Previously, the center urban regions housed and employed individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds. From the mid-twentieth century onward, designers converted these districts into regions with enterprises, government buildings, major stores, and theaters, but less inhabitants. ● Central cities were now dominated by commerce, trade, government, and leisure activities. ● The Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889, first as a temporary tower for that year's international trade show. However, not all of Paris' new constructions reflected the effect of middle-class trade and the rule of iron and steel. The Roman Catholic Church directed the construction of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Sacré Coeur) high atop Montmartre between 1873 and 1914 as an act of national penance for the sins that allegedly led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). ● The Eiffel Tower, seen in this painting while it was being built, was to become a symbol of newly rebuilt Paris, and its steel framework a symbol of French industrial prowess. In almost every country, this resulted in the growth of suburbs encircling the city proper. These suburbs contained families whose breadwinners worked in the city center or at a factory inside city boundaries. ● Unlike in the United States, European suburbs frequently comprised of apartment buildings or individual residences constructed close together with modest grounds. ● The extension of trains with low-cost weekday tickets, as well as the advent of mechanical and, subsequently, electric tramways, as well as subways, enabled tens of thousands of employees of all classes to commute daily between the city and the outskirts. ● Home and work became more physically separated than ever before for hundreds of thousands of Europeans. ● Concerns about health and housing emerged as a result of the large cholera outbreaks of the 1830s and 1840s. Unlike many other frequent lethal diseases of the time, which mostly affected the poor, cholera affected all classes, and the middle class wanted a remedy. ● Prior to the late-century establishment of the bacterial hypothesis of illness, doctors and sanitary reformers believed that miasmas in the air propagated infections that led to cholera and other diseases. These miasmas were detectable by their terrible scents. ● Many physicians and government officials began to emphasize the deadly unclean circumstances connected with overpopulation in cities and enterprises, such as basement slaughterhouses, in the 1840s. ● Louis René Villermé (1782–1863) wrote his Tableau de l'état physique et moral des ouvriers (Catalog of the Physical and Moral State of Workers) in 1840, which detailed urban working-class conditions in France. ● The English people was appalled by Edwin Chadwick's (1800–1890) Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population in 1842. Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902) published comparable findings in Germany. ● These and other private studies, as well as those issued by state commissions, were inextricably related to the concerns of deplorable living conditions and public health. They also claimed that hygienic reform would eliminate the hazards. In addition, the reports now include some of the ● ● After 1848, the attempts of governments and the more conservative middle classes to maintain public order resulted in a rising concern with issues of public health and substandard housing. There was a widespread belief that only through improving working-class health and housing would middle-class health be secure and the political system be stable. ● The Eiffel Tower and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart signified the Third Republic's social and political divides between liberals and conservatives. ● The recommended answer to the health threat was cleaning, which would be accomplished by the installation of modern water and sewer infrastructure. These facilities were built gradually, generally initially in capital cities and then in regional centers considerably later. Some big cities did not have adequate water infrastructure until about 1900. ● Nonetheless, the construction of such systems was one of the most significant medical and engineering triumphs of the second half of the nineteenth century. Paris' sewage system was a well-known component of Haussmann's restoration scheme. ● The Albert Embankment along the Thames in London featured not just massive sewers dumping into the river, but also gas mains and water pipelines; all were enclosed in high walls of granite and concrete, making it one of the tallest structures in the world. Chapter 24 - The Birth of Modern European Thought ● The Mensheviks desired a democratically run party with a large membership, akin to the German SDP and other West European socialist parties. The Bolsheviks envisioned the party as an elite group of professional revolutionaries who would offer centralized leadership for the working class. Lenin considered that a democratic mass party would just aim to change workers' pay, hours, and living circumstances, whereas he desired a revolution that would alter Russia. ● In 1905, Lenin supplemented his organizational theory with a Russian revolution ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● program. He encouraged the socialist revolution to unite the proletariat and the peasantry in Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Bourgeois-Democratic Revolution. Lenin understood the Russian countryside's deep dissatisfaction better than any other revolutionary. He predicted that the tsarist authority would be unable to repress a rebel coalition of workers and peasants. Later Bolshevik action was directed by Lenin's two principles: an elite party and a twofold social revolution. The Bolsheviks eventually took power in November 1917, altering the political landscape of the twentieth century, but only after the chaos of World War I had weakened support for the monarch and only after other political forces had already deposed the tsarist administration in February 1917. The differences between exiled Russian socialists and Lenin's ideas had little direct impact on events in Russia. Resentment remained high as a result of industrialization. In order to pacify the criticism, Nicholas II fired Witte in 1903. The next year, in reaction to hostilities in Manchuria and Korea, Russia declared war on Japan, partially in the expectation that the battle would mobilize public support for the tsar. Instead, the Russians lost the war, and the leadership faced a political crisis among its own ranks. Early in 1905, the Japanese took Port Arthur, Russia's naval outpost on the Chinese coast. A few days later, on January 22, a Russian Orthodox priest called Father George Gapon led a group of hundreds of employees to present the tsar with a petition to improve working conditions. On the one hand, some socialists, represented here by Eduard Bernstein, came to reject many of Karl Marx's views, notably those of a proletariat revolution, and embraced democratic politics as the best method to achieve their aims of improving the working class's existence. Others, represented here by Lenin, rejected democracy and embraced the notion of violent revolution achieved by a limited professional elite rather than a spontaneous proletariat insurrection. After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, such divides would play out in an extraordinarily violent fight in the twentieth century between democratic socialist parties in Western Europe and Communists in the Soviet Union and Communist parties in Western Europe ruled by the Soviet Union. Early in 1906, Nicholas II announced the formation of the Duma, a two-chambered parliamentary assembly. He did, however, keep cabinet appointments, financial policy, and military and international affairs to himself. The April elections resulted in a group of lawmakers that were quite radical. The emperor subsequently replaced Witte with P. A. Stolypin (1862–1911), who was opposed to parliamentary rule. Nicholas was convinced to dissolve the Duma by Stolypin. In February 1907, a new legislature was elected. Cooperation was once again impossible, and the emperor abolished the Duma in June. ● A third Duma, elected in late 1907 on a more conservative franchise, proved flexible enough for the emperor and his minister. Thus, Nicholas II had reclaimed much of the area within two years of the 1905 Revolution. ● Stolypin set about crushing the insurrection, eliminating some of its origins, and uniting property owners behind the tsarist rule. Early in 1907, special field courts-martial sentenced over 700 insurgent peasants to death. ● Stolypin had annulled any redemption payments owing to the government by peasants from the release of the serfs in 1861 before embarking on this crackdown in November 1906. The new land regulations were accepted by the Duma's moderate liberals. They were drawn to the concept of competitiveness and individual property ownership. ● The Constitutional Democrats desired a more authentically parliamentary form of governance, but they compromised in order to avoid further revolutionary upheavals. However, hatred of Stolypin remained strong among the country's older conservative factions, and industrial workers remained hostile to the dictator. ● Stolypin was slain in 1911 by a Social Revolutionary, who may have been a police agent working for conservatives. Nicholas II was unable to find a suitable successor. His administration merely fumbled along. ● Meanwhile, at court, the monk Grigory Efimovich Rasputin (1871–1916) rose to prominence due to his supposed ability to treat the tsar's hemophilic son Alexis, the heir to the throne, when medicine was unable to assist the youngster. ● After 1911, the tsar's and his government's position was undercut by the tsar's and his government's disproportionate influence, as well as ongoing societal unrest and conservative opposition to any more liberal changes. As in 1904, he and his ministers believed that a strong foreign policy move might be made. ● The Ninth of January, as well as Nicholas and Alexandra, a sumptuous 1971 film loyal to the monarch and blaming Bloody Sunday on fearful and inept authorities. ● While Nicholas did not command the troops to fire and was not even present in St. Petersburg on Bloody Sunday, the atrocity effectively ended any hope of reconciliation between the tsarist authority and the Russian working class. ● From 1860 to 1914, two seemingly opposing trends evolved in European social life. On the one hand, the urban middle-class lifestyle became the standard to which much of society aspired. A relatively small family living in its own house or big apartment, servants, and a woman who did not make an income were all aspects of this lifestyle. The various material luxuries provided by the Second Industrial Revolution helped the middle classes in general. ● During the same time period, socialism and labor unions played a new and significant role in European political life. Their leaders urged more social fairness and a more equitable distribution of Europe's large amounts of consumer goods. Some socialists strove to achieve their goals in one manner or another. ● Some socialists attempted to operate inside existing political structures in some fashion. Others, notably in Russia, agitated for revolution. The rise in wealth and the availability of new products and services exacerbated the injustices endured by the poor, and the disparity between them and the middle classes heightened labor's and socialists' demands. The stresses of early industrialisation exacerbated social instability in Russia. ● These tensions, along with a devastating setback in a war against Japan, sparked the failed revolt of 1905. ● The working class, on the other hand, was not alone in its desire for change. For the first time in European history, women began to seek political roles and to oppose gender injustices rooted in legislation and family life. ● They were entering the professions and playing an important part in the service economy, such as the new telephone businesses. These developments, together with socialist demands, would eventually call into question the appropriateness of the much-admired late-nineteenth-century middle-class lifestyle. Chapter 25 - The Age of Western Imperialism ● By 1900, these strands of thinking had been sewn together to form a new fabric. Many of the old intellectual landmarks were vanishing. Christianity has been subjected to the most serious intellectual assault in its history. The dominant view of the physical universe since Newton has undergone significant change. ● Darwin and Freud questioned the privileged status that Western intellectuals had given to humanity. Writers began to doubt logic. Liberalism and socialism's humanitarian values gave way to belligerent nationalism. European intellectuals were more adventurous than ever before, but they were also likely to be less confident and cheerful. ● Literacy on the Continent increased gradually beginning in the 1860s as governments funded education. ● Hungary began providing primary education in 1868, the United Kingdom in 1870, Switzerland in 1874, Italy in 1877, and France between 1878 and 1881. After 1871, the already superior education system of Prussia was extended throughout the German Empire. ● By 1900, around 85 percent or more of the inhabitants in Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia could read, while Italy, Spain, Russia, AustriaHungary, and the Balkans still had illiteracy rates ranging from 30 to 60 percent. ● The new primary education in the fundamental abilities of reading, writing, and basic arithmetic reflected and fostered societal change. ● Both liberals and conservatives saw such modest instruction as required for newly enfranchised citizens to engage in orderly political action. They also believed that increased literacy would result in a more productive workforce. This aspect of the educational crusade mirrored the Enlightenment belief that correct knowledge will lead to correct action. ● Literacy and its expansion, on the other hand, quickly became a power in their own right. The school-teaching profession increased rapidly in size and prominence, and it became a ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● major source of employment for women. Those who learnt to read quickly realized that much of the knowledge that lead to greater careers and political positions was based on reading. After establishing primary education systems, the major powers were forced to focus their emphasis on secondary education by the outbreak of World War I. In another age, the issue would be democratic university education. Voltaire (1694–1778) would have felt at ease in a comprehensive discussion of scientific notions around the year 1850. The fundamental Newtonian image of physical nature that he promoted remained dominant. Scientists continued to assume that nature worked on mechanical principles like a gigantic machine. At the turn of the century, knowledgeable people saw the physical world as rational, mechanical, and trustworthy. Experimentation and observation might objectively disclose its laws. Scientific theory sought to represent physical nature as it existed in reality. Furthermore, by 1850, science had a robust institutional life in both French and German. Furthermore, by 1850, science had a robust institutional life in French and German universities, as well as in new professional associations. The term "scientist" was coined by William Whewell of Cambridge University in the early 1830s and was widely used by the end of the century. The growing literate populace produced a massive demand for fresh reading material. The number of newspapers, books, periodicals, mail-order catalogs, and libraries rapidly increased. Cheap mass-circulation newspapers, such as Paris' Le Petit Journal and London's Daily Mail and Daily Express, were popular in their early days. These publications offered advertisements informing readers about new consumer items accessible during the Second Industrial Revolution. Other publishers published newspapers with specific political or religious perspectives. There has been an upsurge in the number of monthly and quarterly periodicals for families, women, and freethinking intellectuals. In the late nineteenth century, perhaps more people with differing opinions were able to get their thoughts into paper than at any other time in European history. Furthermore, more individuals than ever before could read their opinions. There has been an upsurge in the number of monthly and quarterly periodicals for families, women, and freethinking intellectuals. In the late nineteenth century, perhaps more people with differing opinions were able to get their thoughts into paper than at any other time in European history. Furthermore, more individuals than ever before could read their opinions. Because many of the new readers were only minimally educated and still illiterate on a wide range of subjects, the books and periodicals written for them were frequently substandard. The inexpensive newspapers thrived on stories of dramatic crimes and political scandals, as well as on advertisement pages. ● The existence of religious publications was dependent on sectarian competition. Pornography had a thriving market. ● Newspapers with front-page editorials were important players in the growing popular politics. The news may be controlled, but not in Central Europe. ● The news could be managed, although in Central Europe, this is usually done by the government censor rather than the publication. ● Critics cited a lack of public taste, but new education, new readers, and a plethora of new books and periodicals allowed for a popularization of information that has become a hallmark of our world. Chapter 26 - Alliances, War, and a Troubled Peace ● Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Austria-successor Hungary's to the throne, was killed at Sarajevo, Bosnia. This act of political violence triggered a crisis that culminated in the start of a European war that grew into a global struggle involving various colonies of European imperial powers and the United States of America. The First World War, sometimes known as the Great War, saw enormous loss of life and property devastation. ● The war was the defining event of the twentieth century, sparking revolutions first in Russia and then in Germany and Austria. The Ottoman Empire would also be destroyed. From then till now, a large semicircle of lands stretching from Germany in central Europe to Eastern Europe has existed. ● From then till now, the huge semicircle of territories beginning in Germany in central Europe, traveling through eastern Europe and the Balkans into Turkey, and then through northern Africa into the Arab peninsula has seen dramatic upheavals in political power and political philosophies. ● Furthermore, the highly defective peace treaty that concluded World War I sowed the seeds of continued European international tension, economic disruption, and violence. ● That solution dealt harshly with Germany, albeit perhaps no harsher than Germany would have dealt with her opponents if it had won. ● Despite the harshness of the settlement with Germany, the new international system failed to offer practical and effective protections against a vindictive return to power. ● The United States' scornful disengagement from international politics further eroded the basis for maintaining the peace on which Britain and France relied. ● The economic ramifications of the peace treaty created internal economic crises, which aided radical political groups seeking to undo the post–World War I peace treaty. ● The domestic instability among subject nationalities on the continent, as well as the imperial rivalry among the major powers that arose in the decades after Germany's and Italy's unification, sparked the First World War, which resulted in these widespread and ongoing harmful consequences. The brutality of the fight was a result of European nations' modern weapons, made attainable by the second Industrial Revolution. ● Because of the empires established by European powers in the nineteenth century and the ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● United States' ascension to great power status, the war reached a global scale. Bismarck continued to direct German politics until 1890. After 1871, he stated unequivocally that Germany was a contented power that desired no additional territorial gains, and he meant it. He want to avert a new battle that would ruin his accomplishment. He attempted to appease French hostility by maintaining diplomatic relations and backing French colonial ambitions. He also planned for the worst-case scenario. If France could not be reconciled, it had no choice but to be alone. Bismarck aimed to avoid an alliance between France and any other European state, particularly Austria or Russia, from threatening Germany with war. In 1873, Bismarck made his first move by establishing the Three Emperors' League. The League brought together Germany's, Austria's, and Russia's three major conservative empires. The league was quickly disbanded because to Austro-Russian competition in the Balkans, which occurred as a result of the Russo-Turkish War, which erupted in 1877. The Ottoman Empire was held together primarily because European nations couldn't agree on how to split it. Serbia and Montenegro were motivated by Ottoman weakness to come to the rescue of their fellow Slavs in Bosnia and Herzegovina when they rose against Turkish control. The uprising quickly extended to Bulgaria. Then Russia entered the conflict, escalating the situation into a massive international crisis. The Russians wanted to continue their customary agenda of expansion at the cost of the Ottomans. The Russians wanted to continue their customary policy of expansion at the cost of the Ottomans, and especially to gain control of Constantinople and the Dardanelles. Russian engagement also mirrored the Pan-Slavic movement, which wanted to unify all Slavic peoples, including those under Austrian or Ottoman domination, under the protection of Holy Mother Russia. The Ottoman Empire was soon obliged to file a peace treaty. The Treaty of San Stefano, signed in March 1878, was a Russian victory. The Balkan Slavic republics were liberated from Ottoman authority, and Russia received land and a significant monetary compensation. The agreement, on the other hand, frightened the other big countries. Austria was concerned about the Slavic triumph and the rise of Russian power in the Balkans. The expansion of Russian hegemony in the Balkans would endanger Russia's own Balkan regions. The British were concerned about the impact of Russia's triumph on Europe's balance of power as well as the likelihood of Russian control of the Dardanelles. Bismarck could overlook the Balkans for the time being, but he couldn't ignore the rupture in his eastern alliance structure. In 1879, having alienated Russia, he signed a secret contract with Austria. This Dual Alliance said that if Russia invaded either Germany or Austria, they would come to each other's rescue. If another country attacked one of them, they each vowed to remain impartial. ● The pact was valid for five years and was renewed on a regular basis until 1918. As the foundation of German culture, ● It was condemned at the time as the anchor of German strategy, and some consider it an error in retrospect. It looked to link Germany's fortunes to those of the struggling AustroHungarian Empire, borrowing problems for Germany. That is, Germany was far more likely to be pulled into assisting Austria-Hungary than the other way around. Furthermore, by isolating the Russians, the Dual Alliance drove them to seek Western partnerships. ● Bismarck was well aware of the threats, but he dismissed them for good cause. He, for one, never let the alliance pull Germany into Austria's Balkan squabbles. As he put it, every alliance has a horse and a rider, and Germany was the rider. He accomplished it. ● He made it plain to the Austrians that the alliance was strictly defensive, and that Germany would never participate in an assault on Russia. "Balkan questions can never be a reason for war for us," he remarked. ● Bismarck felt that a monarchical, reactionary Russia would not seek an alliance with either a republican, revolutionary France or a more democratic Britain. In reality, he expected the Austro-German talks would scare Russia into pursuing deeper ties with Germany, and he was correct. By 1881, he had strengthened the Three Emperors' League. The three powers agreed to preserve friendly neutrality if any of them were attacked by a fourth power. ● Other conditions included Austria's ability to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina anytime it pleased, as well as its backing. Chapter 27 - The Interwar Years: The Challenge of Dictators and Depression ● The accord allayed German worries of a Russian-French alliance, as well as Russian fears of an Austrian-British alliance against it, Britain's fleet going into the Black Sea, and a hostile coalition of Germany and Austria. Most crucially, the accord lowered tensions between Austria and Russia in the Balkans. ● The Popular Front Ministry, which took office in 1936, was France's most significant interwar political experiment. ● It was made up of Socialists, Radicals, and Communists, marking the first time that Socialists and Communists had worked together in a ministry. They did so because they were concerned about right-wing political groupings in France and the threat that such regimes posed elsewhere in Europe. ● Despite significant opposition from corporate and conservative organizations, the Popular Front implemented enormous social and economic reforms. ● Despite significant opposition from corporate and conservative organizations, the Popular Front implemented substantial social and economic changes including as the forty-hour workweek, paid vacations for employees, and mandatory arbitration of labor disputes. However, its legislative support rapidly dwindled until its demise in October 1938. ● The political changes in the United Kingdom and France were mostly of domestic relevance. The political experiments of the 1920s and 1930s, however, featured the development of a Soviet government in Russia, a Fascist regime in Italy, and a Nazi dictatorship in Germany. ● The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia produced the most widespread and long-lasting authoritarian government of the twentieth century. From 1917 till the conclusion of the Cold War, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held power. ● From 1917 to the end of 1991, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held power, and its presence shaped the political history of Europe and much of the rest of the globe in ways that no other single force did. Unlike the Italian Fascists and the German National Socialists, the Bolsheviks won power through a violent revolution. ● They faced civil conflict for several years, and its leaders had long felt apprehensive about their control of the country. ● The Communist Party was neither a populist nor a nationalist organization. Its early membership accounted for less than 1% of the Russian population. The Bolsheviks faced an economy that was far less industrialized than that of Italy or Germany. They believed in and conducted economic collectivization. ● many. They believed in and conducted economic collectivization. The Marxist-Leninist theory had far greater worldwide appeal than Fascist nationalism and Nazi hatred. ● Communism was a commodity that could be exported. The Communists saw their administration and revolution as epoch-making events in the history of the world and the growth of humanity, rather than as part of Russia's national history. ● Fear of communism and a drive to prevent its spread became one of the most powerful political factors in Western Europe and the United States. ● Every major European socialist party was divided on whether to accept these demands. As a result, in most countries, distinct communist and social democratic parties developed, and they battled each other more fiercely than they fought capitalism or conservative political organizations. Their ferocious fight was a defining element of the interwar European political scene. ● These Comintern policies, as well as the consequent disputes among socialist parties, had a direct impact on the emergence of fascists and Nazis in Western Europe. It is difficult to overstate the worries sparked by Soviet political rhetoric and Communist Party activities throughout Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. ● These anxieties were fostered and amplified by conservative and right-wing political organisations. Because of the existence of different communist parties in Western Europe, ● Because independent communist parties existed in Western Europe, right-wing politicians always had an easy target to accuse of attempting to topple the government and establish Soviet-style political, social, and economic systems in their countries. ● Furthermore, right-wing politicians accused democratic socialists of backing measures that may lead to a communist takeover. Because of the schisms between Communists and democratic socialists, right-wing political groups were seldom forced to confront an unified left. ● The Party Congress determined in 1927 to strive for fast industrialisation. This program, known as "industrialization by political mobilization," signified a radical shift from the NEP and a rejection of the areas of comparatively free-market activities within the greater Soviet economy. ● Stalin's ambition was for the Soviet Union to surpass the creative power of its adversaries, the capitalist countries. This program necessitated the quick development of heavy industries such as iron, steel, and machine tool production, as well as the construction of power plants and tractor manufacturing. Stalin's organizational vehicle for industrialisation, beginning in 1928, was a succession of five-year plans. The State Planning Commission, or Gosplan, established output targets in all areas of economic activity and endeavored to arrange the economy to reach them. ● The challenge of synchronizing all aspects of manufacturing was extremely difficult. Materials had to be delivered from mines or factories before the following unit could carry out its share of the plan. The Gosplan caused massive economic disturbance by constructing power plants, steel mills, and increasing mine production. Capital projects were regularly prioritized over consumer products production in the plans. ● The number of centralized organizations and ministries involved in planning increased dramatically, and they frequently competed with one another. ● The fast expansion of the industrial base resulted in the creation of the first truly substantial factory labor force in what had been Russia. ● Workers were drawn from the countryside as well as the urban jobless. There were new cities and industrial zones within existing cities. ● There were new cities and industrial zones within existing cities. The majority of employees were crammed into squalid facilities with inadequate sanitation, living space, and nutrition. ● Their circumstances were as awful as, if not worse than, anything Marx and Engels had denounced in the nineteenth century. Chapter 28 - World War II ● For the first time, the League of Nations denounced Italian aggression and voted on economic punishment. It imposed an arms embargo, as well as restrictions on loans and credits to and imports from Italy. To avoid alienating Mussolini, Britain and France declined to impose an oil embargo, the only economic penalty that could have stopped the Italian victory. ● Even more importantly, Britain let Italian troops and ammunition to enter Ethiopia via the Suez Canal. This policy had devastating consequences. The League of Nations and collective security were delegitimized, and Mussolini was isolated. He next shifted his attention to Germany, and by November 1, 1936, he had publicly spoken of a RomeBerlin Axis. ● The Ethiopian incident also persuaded Hitler that the Western nations were too fearful to resist him strongly. On March 7, 1936, Hitler made his most daring step yet, deploying a small armed force into the demilitarized Rhineland. This was a violation not just of the Versailles Treaty, but also of the Locarno Agreements of 1925, which Germany had agreed to willingly. ● It also eliminated a critical component of French security. France and Britain had every right to resist, and the French, in particular, had a claim to keep the sole element of security available to them after the Allies failed to guarantee France's defense. ● The German army in the Rhineland. "The French covering army would have blasted us to bits," German commander Alfred Jodl (1890–1946) remarked years later. 1 ● A quickly rearming Germany with a defensible western border confronted the Western nations with an entirely new challenge. Their reaction was appeasement policy, which assumed that Germany had legitimate grievances and that Hitler's ambitions were restricted and eventually acceptable. ● They went out to bargain and make compromises before a situation erupted into war. ● This strategy was motivated by the widespread fear of another conflict. The atrocities of the last war lingered in people's minds, and the threat of aerial bombardment made the notion of a new conflict even more terrible. ● Furthermore, a tougher approach would have necessitated fast rearmament. Because of the cost and general assumption that the weapons race was a key cause of the last war, British officials were especially hesitant to continue this course. The French gathered behind their freshly constructed defensive wall, the Maginot Line, as Germany armed, and the British prayed for the best. The Spanish Civil War, which erupted in July 1936, clarified the new European alignment between Western democracies on one side and fascist nations on the other. ● The monarchy was deposed in 1931, and Spain became a democratic republic. The new administration implemented a moderate reform agenda that enraged landowners, the Catholic Church, nationalists, and conservatives. ● Elections in February 1936 brought to power a Spanish Popular Front administration comprised of left-wing republicans, communists, and anarchists. The losers, particularly the Falangists, or Spanish fascists, refused to concede loss at the polls. General Francisco Franco (1892–1975) commanded an army of Spanish Morocco against the republic in July. ● Thus started the Spanish Civil War, which lasted nearly three years, claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and served as a training ground for World War II. Germany and Italy provided troops and aircraft to Franco. ● The civil war, which was fought on plainly ideological lines, had a tremendous impact on international politics. It drew Germany and Italy closer together, resulting in the 1936 Rome-Berlin Axis Pact. Japan joined the Axis nations in the Anti-Comintern Pact, which was nominally aimed at the Soviet Union. ● Japan joined the Axis nations in the Anti-Comintern Pact, which was purportedly aimed ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● at worldwide communism but was actually a new and strong diplomatic partnership. Western Europe, particularly France, was keen to keep Spain from slipping into the hands of a fascist dictatorship closely aligned with Germany and Italy. Appeasement ruled supreme. The altered diplomatic scenario prompted Hitler to try again in 1938. He may have planned to achieve his aim by propaganda, intimidation, and threats, but Austrian chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg (1897–1977) was unfazed. Schuschnigg called a plebiscite for March 13, in which the Austrian people would be able to vote on whether or not to join Germany. On March 12, Hitler moved his troops into Austria to prevent the referendum. Mussolini, to his relief, did not protest, and Hitler rode to Vienna to the acclaim of his Austrian admirers. Another blatant breach of Versailles was the Anschluss, or merger of Germany and Austria. The pact, on the other hand, was now a dead letter, and the West stayed mute. The Anschluss, on the other hand, had significant strategic implications since Germany now bordered Czechoslovakia, one of the pillars of French security, on three sides. Chamberlain returned to England, and France and the United Kingdom prepared for war. Mussolini suggested a conference of Germany, Italy, France, and Britain at the last minute, at the request of Chamberlain. It convened on September 29 in Munich. Hitler got practically everything he asked for. The Sudetenland, which was critical to Czech security, was annexed by Germany. The Sudetenland, which was crucial to Czech security, was annexed by Germany, depriving the Czechs of any means of self-defense. Hitler pledged to spare the remainder of Czechoslovakia in exchange. "I have no further territorial demands to make in Europe," he promised. Chamberlain returned to England with the Munich accord, telling a jubilant throng that he had delivered "peace with honor." "I believe it is a moment of peace." Even in the short run, Hitler's appeasement in Munich was a disaster. Czechoslovakia did not survive the war. Soon after, Poland and Hungary ripped additional territory from it, and the Slovaks desired their own state. Finally, on March 15, 1939, Hitler violated his pledge and conquered Prague, bringing the Czech state to an end. Chapter 29 - The Cold War Era, Decolonization, and the Emergence of a New Europe ● Defenders of the appeasers have claimed that their approach bought the West important time to prepare for war, but the appeasers, who believed they were achieving peace, did not make that case, and the evidence does not support it. ● Adolf Hitler of Germany met with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Italy's ruler Benito Mussolini, and France's Prime Minister Edouard Daladier to discuss the ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● destiny of Czechoslovakia. The Czechs were not allowed to participate. The partition of Czechoslovakia occurred from the Western democracies' efforts to pacify the tyrants, and the territory known as the Sudetenland was given over to Germany, leaving the Czechs without a credible defense. Despite his commitment to stop there, Hitler seized control of the remainder of the country on March 15, 1939, without firing a single shot. The Russians have at least as much a reason to be cautious. They were dissatisfied about being left out of the Munich accord. The West's low priority for discussions with Russia, in comparison to the seriousness with which Britain and France dealt with Hitler, irritated them. The Russians correctly thought that the Western countries intended for them to bear the brunt of the burden of the war against Germany. As a result, they began discussions with Hitler, and the world was astonished to learn of a Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact on August 23, 1939. The pact's secret terms, which were easily guessed and quickly implemented, partitioned Poland between the two countries and allowed Russia to conquer the Baltic republics and seize Bessarabia from Romania. Even the most vehement ideological foes had become comrades. Communist parties in the West abruptly shifted from fervently demanding resistance to Hitler to a policy of peace and calm. Political and military realities trumped ideology. The West presented the Russians with imminent peril with little possibility of reward. Stalin was given short-term advantage without imminent danger by Hitler. Stalin's choice could hardly be questioned. The Nazi-Soviet collaboration cemented Poland's fate, while the Franco-British commitment ensured a general war. The Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The Second World War had begun. The American administration was staunchly anti-British. Roosevelt's help to Britain would have justified a German declaration of war. Hitler, on the other hand, resisted. If war had not been imposed upon America in the Pacific, the US government might not have overcome isolationist prejudice and entered the war in the Atlantic. Since the Japanese takeover of Manchuria in 1931, US attitude toward Japan has been skeptical and hostile. The beginning of war in Europe empowered the Japanese, causing them to intensify their desire to conquer Asia. They formed alliances with Germany and Italy, signed a neutrality deal with the Soviet Union, and pushed defeated France to grant them bases in Indochina. They also maintained their battle in China and sought to take control of Malaya and the Philippines. They also resumed their campaign in China and sought to take control of Malaya and the East Indies (Indonesia) at the expense of embattled Britain and captured Holland. The United States was the only impediment to Japanese expansion. ● The Americans had waited because they were afraid of inciting a Japanese assault on Southeast Asia and the East Indies if they cut off key supplies of oil and other commodities. The Japanese takeover of Indochina in July 1941 altered a strategy that had already begun to harden. The United States froze Japanese assets and cut off oil supplies, and the United Kingdom and the Netherlands followed suit. ● Japanese expansion goals would be thwarted until the Indonesian oil reserves, as well as Malayan rubber and tin, were conquered. The month of October ● In October, a military group led by General Hideki Tojo (1885–1948) seized control in Japan, deciding to risk war rather than surrender. While Japanese diplomats were in Washington to seek a resolution, Japan launched an air attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the main American naval station in the Pacific, on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. The approach was identical to one employed by Japan against the Russian navy at Port Arthur in 1904, and it took the Americans off guard as well. ● The attack damaged a large portion of the American fleet as well as several airplanes. For the time being, America's ability to conduct war in the Pacific has been ruled out. The United States and Britain declared war on Japan the next day. ● Submarine warfare by the Germans was jeopardizing British supplies. On every front, the Allies were being pushed back, and the future appeared gloomy. ● In the spring of 1942, the first encouraging news for the Allied effort in the Pacific arrived. A naval combat in the Coral Sea sank numerous Japanese ships and provided Australia with security. A month later, the US beat the Japanese in a devastating air and naval combat off the coast of Midway Island. ● This victory reduced the likelihood of future attack on Hawaii and caused enough damage to halt the Japanese advance. Soon after, American forces landed on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and began to reverse the war's momentum. The Pacific War was far from ended, but Japan had received a check. ● The Russians took any assistance they could obtain. Nonetheless, they did not trust their friends, grumbled about insufficient assistance, and demanded that the democracies create a "second front" on the European continent. ● In 1942, American preparedness and manufacturing were insufficient for an invasion of Europe. German submarines made it risky to transport the enormous numbers of troops required for such an assault across the Atlantic. Conditions were not favorable for an invasion until 1944, but in the interim, other circumstances predicted the Axis' demise. ● (For further information, see "Encountering the Past: Rosie the Riveter and American Women in the War Effort.") ● Landings of the Allies in Africa, Sicily, and Italy An Allied force arrived in French North Africa in November 1942. ● Even before the landing, British field marshal Bernard Montgomery (1887–1976) had launched a push west after halting Rommel at El Alamein. The Americans were now pushing eastward across Morocco and Algeria. In Tunisia, the two forces captured and defeated the German army. The Allies now had control of the Mediterranean and could launch an attack on southern Europe. ● The Allies seized Sicily in July and August 1943. Mussolini was deposed in a coup, but Germany conquered Italy. The Allies arrived in Italy, and the new Italian government's head, Marshal Pietro Badoglio (1871–1956), declared war on Germany. ● Churchill referred to Italy as the Axis' "soft underbelly," but the Germans there resisted vehemently. Nonetheless, the need to protect Italy hampered the Germans in other areas. ● Stalingrad Battle The Russian campaign became very difficult. The Germans continued their onslaught on all fronts in the summer of 1942, but they were unable to advance except in the south. ● Their target was the Caspian Sea oil reserves. Stalingrad, on the Volga, was a critical position on the German army's southern flank. Chapter 30 - The West at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century ● The migration of peoples in the twentieth century affected European society and the nature of many European communities. The Soviet communists' forcible expulsion of Russian peasants and the Nazis' deportation and death of European Jews were just two of the most dramatic manifestations of this trend. ● The Second World War and the accompanying economic restructuring of the continent resulted in even more widespread migrations. The most prominent pattern in this population mobility was the continued shift from the rural to the metropolis. Except for Albania, every European country now has at least one-third of its people living in a metropolitan city. Cities account for over 75% of the population in Western Europe. ● Other large-scale forced migrations of peoples by governments, on the other hand, received little attention during the Cold War. ● Millions of Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Finns, Chechens, Armenians, Greeks, Turks, Balts, and Bosnian Muslims were moved during the century. ● Parts of Europe were altered as a result of these forced displacements. Stalin physically relocated whole nations within the Soviet Union, killing millions of people in the process. The Nazis initially relocated Jews before attempting to exterminate them. ● Cities in Eastern Europe that previously had big Jewish populations and a thriving Jewish religious and cultural life lost their Jewish identity. The return of Germans from Eastern Europe to Germany soon after World War II changed cities that had previously been German into virtually entirely inhabited areas. World War II generated a massive refugee crisis. An estimated 46 million individuals were affected. ● World War II generated a massive refugee crisis. Between 1938 and 1948, an estimated 46 million people were moved in Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union alone. Many cities in Germany, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Balkans had been devastated or conquered by invading troops. Hundreds of thousands of foreign immigrants were brought into Germany as slave labour by the Nazis. ● Millions more were imprisoned as a result of the conflict. Some of these individuals returned willingly to their homeland; others, mainly Soviet captives afraid of being killed ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● by Stalin, were compelled to return, and many were executed. Hundreds of thousands of captives from the Baltic, Poland, and Yugoslavia sought sanctuary in Western Europe. Many individuals were displaced as a result of changes in political borders following the conflict. For example, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary forcefully relocated millions of ethnic Germans to Germany. This relocation of more than 12 million Germans effectively "fixed" the problem of German minorities residing outside of Germany's national borders, which had been one of Hitler's justifications for war against neighboring nations. In another incidence of forced migration, hundreds of thousands of Poles were transported from territory acquired by the Soviet Union to inside Poland's new borders. Other ethnic minorities, such as Ukrainians in Poland and Italians on the Yugoslav coast, were forced to return to their respective homelands. According to one historian, "war, brutality, and immense social dislocation made Versailles's ideal of national homogeneity a reality." Over the last quarter-century, Europe's population, as measured by the European birthrate, has stabilized in a way that has alarmed many observers. Europeans have so few offspring that they can no longer replace themselves. Whereas European women produced 2.1 children on average in the 1950s, that rate decreased to 1.9 in the 1980s and is now at 1.4, which is below the replacement level. The rate is significantly lower in Mediterranean nations such as Greece, Spain, and Italy. This situation contrasts sharply with the population expansion in the United States during the last decade, when the birthrate was about 2.1. If present rates persist, the United States will be debt-free by the middle of the century. If current trends continue, the United States will have more people than Europe for the first time in history by the middle of the century. There is no agreement on why the European birthrate has fallen. One frequently claimed cause is that women are deferring childbirth until later in their reproductive years. Nonetheless, governments have been attempting to curb immigration into Europe in reaction to public sentiment at a time when the continent may require more labor. Because of the declining birthrate, Europe will confront the possibility of an elderly population. The youthful vigour and drive that youth may give may move to the other side of the Atlantic. Economic innovation is unlikely to be stimulated by an aging population. The interior structure The internal European market, which is currently larger than the internal American market, will contract. In contrast to the late nineteenth century (see Chapter 23), Europe will have fewer Europeans, and Europe's proportion of the global population will likewise decrease. Part of Europe's impact on the world in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was simply due to its population numbers.