History of Western civilization

Antiquity (before AD 500)

• The division of Europe into a Western (Latin) and an Eastern (Greek) part

• the final separating Roman and Eastern Christianity occurred only in the 11th century.

• invasion by barbarian tribes (Visigoths, Ostrogoths)

The Early Middle Ages (AD 500-1000)

• the dominant faith in Western Europe: Christianity.

• By the early eighth century, Iberia and Sicily had fallen to the Muslims.

• the "West" became synonymous with Christendom, the territory ruled by Christian powers; Germany converted to Christianity; Vikings became Christians, Magyars converted to Christianity, Poles adopted Christianity

The High Middle Ages (1000-1300)• By the year 1000 feudalism had become the

dominant social, economic and political system in the West.

• the Great Schism (Catholic Church, Orthodox Church)

• The Church was the most powerful institution in Medieval Europe.

• the foundation for constitutional monarchy (England, Magna Carta, Parliament)

• In 1095, Pope Urban II called for a Crusade to conquer the Holy Land from Muslim rule.

The Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance (1300-1500)

• Hundred Years' War between England and France (1337-1453)

• Another event to devastate Europe in the Later Middle Ages was the Black Plague, which arrived in the 14th century (a third of Europe's population died).

• the growth of towns and cities in the West and improved the economy of Europe.

• Renaissance began in Italy (a new age of scientific and intellectual inquiry). the Renaissance spread northwards to the rest of the West

• Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg developed a printing press, which allowed works of literature to spread more quickly.

• reconquering the Iberia peninsula from its Muslim rulers.

• In 1492, a Spanish expedition of Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas during an attempt to find a western route to East Asia.

The Renaissance and Reformation (1500-1650)

• Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo, Isaac Newton• These events led to the so-called

scientific revolution, which emphasized experimentation.

• The other major movement in the West in the sixteenth century was the Reformation, which would profoundly change the West and end its religious unity (1517). Protestants, Calvinist Church, Anglican Church

• the Thirty Years' War between Protestants and Catholics (1618-1648).

The rise of Western empires (1500-1800)

• By 1500, Europe had caught up to the rest of the world technologically and was beginning to surpass it.

• Western explorers: Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, James Cook, and Ferdinand Magellan

• powers to arrive in the Americas were the Spain, Portugal, Swedes, Dutch, English, and French.

• The West began purchasing slaves in large numbers and sending them to the Americas.

• Westerners began establishing colonies in Africa.• Westerners also expanded in Asia.• The Pacific Ocean was also explored by

Europeans (Australia, New Zealand, Hawaiian).• Europe's period of expansion in early modern

times greatly changed the world. The West became more sophisticated economically, adopting Mercantilism, in which companies were state-owned and colonies existed for the good of the mother country.

The Portuguese Empire (1415-1999)

Iberian Union (1580-1640)

Absolutism and Enlightenment (1500-1800)

• The West in the early modern era went through great changes as the traditional balance between monarchy, nobility and clergy shifted.

• An intellectual movement called the Enlightenment began in this period as well. Its proponents opposed the absolute rule of the monarchs of their day, and instead emphasized the equality of all individuals. (Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Smith…)

An age of revolution (1770-1815)

• The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in the West were dominated by a series of revolutions that would change the West forever, resulting in new ideologies and changes in society.

• The first of these revolutions began in North America (1776).

• The other major Western revolution at the turn of the nineteenth century was the French Revolution (1789).

The rise of the English-speaking world (1815-1870)

• English as the dominant language, and English and Anglo-American culture as the dominant culture of two continents and many other lands outside the British Isles.

• the greatest change in the West was the Industrial Revolution.

• New ideological movements began as a result of the Industrial Revolution.

• Capitalists emerged as a new powerful group, with educated professionals like doctors and lawyers under them, and the various industrial workers at the bottom.

• Industrial technology was imported from Britain. The first lands affected by this were France, the Low Countries, and western Germany. Eventually the Industrial Revolution spread to other parts of Europe.

• New ideologies emerged as a reaction against perceived abuses of industrial society. Among these ideologies were socialism and the more radical communism, created by the German Karl Marx.

• There were changes throughout the West in science and culture between 1815 and 1870. Pasteur, Darwin, Romantic writers, artists and musicians..

• Europe in 1870 differed greatly from its state in 1815. Most Western European nations had some degree of democracy, and two new national states had been created, Italy and Germany.

The Great Powers and the First World War (1870-1918)

• By the late 19th century, the world was dominated by a few great powers, including Britain, the United States, and Germany. France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were also great powers.

• Western inventors and industrialists transformed the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Thomas Edison, Wright brothers, automobiles, Petroleum, Guglielmo Marconi, Alexander Graham Bell..)

The Second World War and its Aftermath (1939-1950)

The Fall of the Western Empires (1945-1970)

• Following World War II, the great colonial empires established by the Western powers beginning in early modern times began to collapse.

• the rise of independence movements

The Cold War (1945-1991)