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Europe’s Political Landscape:
1-2000
In 100 year increments
PRUDD EHS MAR08
High definition maps are available at this site: http://www.euratlas.com/time1.htm
Hegemony:
–noun, plural -nies.
1.leadership or predominant influence exercised by
one nation over others, as in a confederation.
2.leadership; predominance.
3.(esp. among smaller nations) aggression or
expansionism by large nations in an effort to achieve
world domination.
The pink area represents
the extent of Roman
hegemony in the year 1
AD
Year 1 AD
In the year 1, Britain remained a mystery to the Romans.
Julius Caesar, who unsuccessfully attempted to invade and
conquer Britain, wrote that the Britons were a mystical
people whose chief priests were druids. Because Britons
were almost wholly illiterate, and left virtually no written
records, not much is really known about these people, their
religions, or their way of life in general.
Rome was the seat of power for the empire.
Year 1 AD
Year 1 AD
Year 100 AD
Britain was invaded in AD43 by the Emperor Claudius. He
had to prove he was a brilliant general, and so set out to do
what other emperors had failed to do.
By 100, Rome had consolidated and
extended its frontier against the
Germanic people. Rome would forever
live in the shadow of fear of these very
powerful ‘barbarian’ warriors.
The Mediterranean Sea was completely controlled by Rome, who had virtually
eradicated piracy. Roman people rather arrogantly called it ‘Our Pond’.
Year 100 AD
Year 200 AD
The Romans have retreated from
Scotland and built Hadrian’s
Wall as a frontier fortification.
Year 200 AD
Rome has consolidated its
hegemony in Africa and pushed
the frontier back in Germany and
the Near East.
Year 200 AD
Year 300 AD
Rome has lost some
ground in the Germanic
lands, but increased its
holdings in the Near East.
Year 300 AD
Significant kingdoms are becoming established in
opposition to the Roman Empire. These are better
able to defend themselves as they have better
organised and centralised governing structures.
For the first time Rome is faced with determined
and organised resistance from within Europe itself.
Year 300 AD
As we shall see, these emerging nation/states will
eventually rival Rome and help to bring about its
demise.
Year 300 AD
Year 400 AD
The Empire is pretty
stable, with only small
gains made in the
Near East.
Year 400 AD
The German States are
becoming increasingly
worrisome.
Year 400 AD
Rome nearly bankrupts itself trying to
maintain a massive standing army,
whilst simultaneously attempting to
build a wall along the barbarian frontier.
Both enterprises ultimately fail. This is
because the Romans only had a basic
economic structure based upon slavery
and using primarily silver and gold
coinage.
Year 400 AD
Rome is no longer the center of the Empire: Emperors such as
Constantine prefer the East. In fact, Constantine builds Constantinople
and divides the Empire into two halves. He declares Christianity to be
the official Roman state religion and sets about persecuting and killing
thousands of Pagans. To this day, Constantine is regarded as a Saint in
the Eastern, Orthodox Christian religion.
Western Roman Empire
Year 400 AD
Eastern Roman Empire
Rome’s leaders have committed two strategic errors. The first of these is that they have
forgotten Julius Caesar’s own axiom: divide and conquer. By dividing itself in half,
Rome has itself become easier to defeat. This is because it is easier to defeat half of the
empire than the whole. Internecine power struggles had become the norm in the late
Roman Empire. Secondly, Rome attempted to consolidate power within its own
(fractured) borders. As Napoleon wrote (centuries) later: “he who stays within his own
defenses is lost”. By retreating behind their walls, Rome lost its ascendancy: it was only
ever truly successful at occupying other nations and peoples and then using the local
infrastructure to maintain control (backed up with the muscle of the legions where
necessary). It simply had no experience of managing an enterprise so large as Europe
itself. Communication across such vast distances was extremely difficult and control of
local generals and governors was becoming increasingly problematic – after
Constantine, there was no real centralisation of power across the Roman state. Outside
forces could therefore exploit these divisions and extend their own hegemony.
These two strategic errors led to the invasion and subjugation of the Western Roman
Empire by foreign powers – primarily Germanic barbarians. As an empire, Rome had
reached its apex and was now clearly on the decline.
And then the Roman world was suddenly and irrevocably fractured. The Western
Roman Empire was lost to barbarian incursions, whilst in the East, the Byzantium
Empire was established. Within the space of one generation, the West was plunged into
violent chaos and tumultuous disaster. Historians refer to this as the beginning of the
‘dark ages’ or the medieval period and it would last a thousand years.
Year 400 AD
Year 500 AD
The Western Roman Empire collapsed, causing
massive disruption across the whole of Europe.
The West was basically bankrupt, lacked a
cohesive central authority and was easily
conquered by the increasingly sophisticated and
organised Germanic people. Many of these,
including the Goths, Visigoths, Saxons and
Vandals, conquered huge territories and
established their own hegemony in these areas.
The Eastern Roman Empire retained much of its former territories.
One important change during
this century was the rise of a
stronger Arab state, which
began to extend its hegemony at
the expense of other states,
including the Eastern Roman
Empire.
Year 500 AD
Year 500 AD
Britain is becoming divided - the
last Roman legions left Britain in
410 AD. This meant that for most
of the 5th Century, Britain was left
to defend itself against increasingly
hostile neighbours. The British
Emperor Arthur, who ruled in the
late fifth and early sixth century
fought a desperate rear-guard war
against Saxon and Irish invasions.
In doing so, he managed to
preserve Western Roman
hegemony for a few more decades
and Britain became the last Roman
area lost to Barbarian incursions.
Year 500 AD
Year 600 AD
The Scandinavian people are
becoming wealthier and better
organised. These people will,
within a few centuries, explode
across Europe as the ‘Viking
Scourge’.
Year 600 AD
Britain is even more fractured
and divided, as Angles, Jutes,
Saxons and Irish all make
significant incursions.
Year 600 AD
Europe is becoming more fractured,
and the Eastern Roman Empire,
while continuing to be the dominant
force in the region, is failing to
extend its hegemony.
The rise of a vibrant, Arabic culture is
continuing: for example, Arab doctors are
amongst the best in the world and they
Year 600 AD
preserve much of the knowledge of the ancient
Romans and Greeks.
Year 600 AD
Year 700 AD
The development of Islam occurred in this century. This is
represented by green shaded area. It is said that…“Islam spread
at the point of a sword”: Mohammad himself led military raids
against rival towns that did not accept the Islamic religion.
These people make significant inroads against the Eastern
Roman Empire in this century.
Year 700 AD
Some nations are starting to consolidate and centralise power
in Europe. These form the basis of most of the nations we
know today. The Eastern Roman Empire, now called the
Byzantine Civilisation, is shrinking. This is the only literary
link left in Europe to the ancient past, including the Greek and
Egyptian civilisations. This is because in the West, poor
literacy levels, political instability and internecine warfare has
meant that few people can learn about the distant past. The
Roman Empire has become a distant memory and most people
would have never heard of it at all.
Two forms of Christianity flourish in this period of history. In
the East, the Byzantine religion becomes known as ‘Orthodox’,
whilst in the West it has become known as ‘Catholic’. Both
religions are descended from the one state religion developed
by the Emperor Constantine.
Year 700 AD
Year 800 AD
Lindesfarne 793
Year 800 AD
The Scandinavian Kingdoms are
starting to consolidate and cetralise
power. The Danes in particular are
developing trade routes to the East
and West. The Monastery at
Lindesfarne is sacked in 793,
ushering in the Viking age.
Charlemagne meaning Charles the
Great; numbered Charles I of France
was King from 768 to his death. He
expanded the Frankish kingdoms into
an Empire that incorporated much of
Western and Central Europe
Year 800 AD
Reign of Charlemagne: The most influential Medieval man?
King of the Franks: 24 September 768 – 28 January 814;
King of the Lombards: 774 – 28 January 814;
Emperor: 25 December 800 – 28 January 814
Coronation
King of the Franks: c. June 754, St Denis;
King of the Lombards: 774;
Holy Roman Emperor: 25 December 800, Rome
Titles
Patrician of the Romans
Born
c.2 April 742/747
Died 28 January 814 Palace of Aachen
Buried Palatine Chapel in Aachen
Cited in: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne
Charlemagne’s Frankish
Kingdom
Year 800 AD
Year 800 AD
The Islamic incursion against
Europe continues, with near
complete control won of the
Spanish Peninsula
Year 800 AD
Year 900 AD
The Eastern Roman Empire continues to shrink, as corruption, political
intrigue and betrayal becomes the norm. Poor leadership and ineffectual
governance means that they are unable to successfully defend their entire
frontier. This is partly because they are unable to adapt to changes in the
world around them: they are used to being the dominant power in the region
and seriously underestimate the resolve and tenacity of their enemies. In this
century, they lost most of Greece to outside forces. This is a serious blow, as
Greece had been occupied and governed by Rome for over a thousand years.
Year 900 AD
The Frankish Kingdom has
been divided. Britain is also
divided, as it grapples with
foreign invasion from the
Danes, a foreign King (Cnut) in
England and other Viking
incursions.
Year 900 AD
Year 900 AD
Year 1000 AD
Note the development of the Holy
Roman Empire, the consolidation
of the Western Frankish Kingdom
and the beginning of the
Reconquista: the re-taking of
Spain from the Moors.
Year 1000 AD
Year 1000 AD
The Vikings are
establishing themselves as
masters of vast tracts of
Slavic lands (They are
called the ‘Rus’): Russia
is named after them.
England is finally unified under a
Saxon King: Edward. This period of
Anglo-Saxon Hegemony would not
last long: in 1066 William of
Normandy invaded and subjugated
the fledgling nation.
Year 1000 AD
The Principality of Kiev was slowly
being Christianised, after the rule of
Vladimir the Great (980-1015). So
powerful was this king, that he even
invaded the Eastern Roman Empire,
threatening the very existence of the
state. He only withdrew after he had
won significant trade concessions
from the Byzantine Emperor. Such
was the power of the Kiev state in the
10th Century, that it rivaled Europe
itself in both power and wealth. The
ruling elite of the Kiev Principality
were Scandinavian warriors (Vikings)
who had entrenched themselves in all
positions of power.
Year 1000 AD
Year 1000 AD
This century saw the
rise of several ‘Russian’ Principalities. All
of these were (at least
nominally) Christian
states, having been
Christianised by the
Byzantium church.
(Russia’s dominant
religion remains
Orthodox today).
Year 1100 AD
The Spanish pushed the Moors back,
while the Eastern Roman Empire saw
much of its land taken over as a
dominant Islamic state evolved along its
Eastern borders.
Year 1100 AD
Year 1200 AD
The 13th Century
saw the fracturing of
large kingdoms into
smaller principalities
across the entire
continent. England
bucked this trend by
expanding into
Wales.
Year 1300 AD
Year 1300 AD
Year 1400 AD
The Ottoman Empire invaded and
conquered the Eastern Roman Empire,
thus finally ending the 2000 year Roman
state. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania
agreed to become a Christian state and
Year
the Mongols
1400 ADsacked large parts of
Russia. (The Golden Horde).
Year 1400 AD
Year 1500 AD
Year 1500 AD
By the year 1500, the Medieval period is
regarded to have ended. The Renaissance
ushers in a new age of learning, literature
and the arts throughout Europe.
Year 1600 AD
Year 1700 AD
Year 1800 AD
Year 1900 AD
Year 2000 AD