Western Europe

The Roman Empire did things that no other empires have been able to do. Five hundred years of economic prosperity, cultural influence, and military dominance caused many to think that Rome was invincible. However, the inevitable prevailed for Rome. At the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries, we see the fall of the Western Roman Empire in Europe, replaced by the numerous Germanic tribes surrounding the borders to the North. This set the stage for what would become of Europe and set the informal beginning for what we would call the Middle Ages. But did the once mighty Roman influence in Europe come to a bitter end with the sack of Rome in 476, or did their influence run in continuity with the cultural themes arising within the early medieval…

The Industrial revolution was the precursor to many things that we now see as commonplace in our modern, globalized economy. In the western world, commodity prices plummeted while profits rose, and production and real wages climbed hand in hand. While many have decried the industrial revolution for exploiting the working class, citing grotesque accounts of childhood labor as well as strenuous and long working hours, empirical data shows us today that is a rather unfounded notion when discussing…

now starting to form, even if it was slowly. One of the most important factors when looking at Western Europe’s economic and political history is the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was very dominant and influential on world history. They shaped trade, economy, political structure, public health, and many other concepts and ideas we still examine today. After Rome’s fall in the late 5th century B.C.E., Western Europe went through a period of readjustment and recovery. One of the ways the Roman…

Life in Europe before the exploration of the “New World” was making no progress toward expanding themselves economically or intellectually. Europe had many withdraws from world affairs due to feudalism, causing europe to be excluded, as well as the downfall to their education and trading. With Trading routes providing posts that would earn city-states the wealth and power to purchase their freedom from feudal lords the feudal system began to fall. The decline of feudalism in Western Europe…

As Islam grew from being a small Saudi Arabian religion to one of the largest conquering religions in the world in committed a lot of change through the christian based Europe. Before Islam had taken over the territory was mostly just nomadic tribes for a very long time. Islam reached Western Europe through Spain having crossed the Straits of Gibraltar from North Africa. From Spain, it spread across the Pyrenees until the Franks routed the Muslim armies at the Battle of Tours in 732. Islam…

leading a great number of immigrants to Europe. They must suffer through the long and difficult trek from the Middle East to Western Europe and still risk being deported once they reach their goal. With larger masses arriving each day, Western Europe faces the decision of integrating the immigrants into their countries or turning them away and blocking their borders. Both decisions have grand economic, social, and political implications in those countries. As the immigration crisis in Europe…

Beginning in the 14th century, ending the 19th century, for about 500 years, Europe had control of 84% of all civilization in the world (Hoffman). Europe had controlled much of Asia, much of Africa, and North as well as South America. It is very openly questioned as to how Europe became so powerful, due to the fact that Europe was a small continent. In response, there are many debates that explain how this process happened, however, there were three crucial things that the Europeans had which…

The geography of Europe is marked by closeness to the ocean and rapid changes in physical landscape over short distances, factors that influenced human actions over time. Although Europe is the second smallest continent, it includes samples of the world’s entire range of geologic features. This includes the ancient shield areas around the Baltic Sea, the uplands of central Europe, the young folded mountains of the Alps, and the extensive plains in countries around the North and Baltic Seas. Some…

The proponents of absolutism in western Europe have reason to believe that their form of monarchical rule was fundamentally different although superior to what they saw as the “despotism” of Russia and the Ottoman Empire. The basis of this belief might sprout from the core differences of western Europe and eastern Europe. Western Europe seemed to be made up of mainly centralized monarchies who had the ability to control their territory and successfully employ and tax their populations to benefit…

would alter the European world far more than any person could have possibly imagined. The most significant of these creations being the three heirs, Byzantium, the Islamic Empire, and Western Europe. All three have blaring similarities and differences that can be accounted for due to the decline of Rome. Byzantium found its stability from its previous life alongside the previous Great Empire of Rome, it took away Rome’s legal institutions and even their political structure. Western Europe also…