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.

Year 1 AD

The pink area represents the extent of Roman hegemony in the year 1 AD

Year 1 AD

Rome was the seat of power for the empire.

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.

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

Year 200 AD

The Romans have retreated from Scotland and built Hadrian’s Wall as a frontier fortification.

Rome has consolidated its hegemony in Africa and pushed the frontier back in Germany and the Near East.

Year 200 AD

Year 300 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.

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

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

Western Roman Empire Eastern Roman Empire

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.

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 Eastern Roman Empire retained much of its former territories.

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.

Year 500 AD

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

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

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 preserve much of the knowledge of the ancient Romans and Greeks.

Year 600 AD

Year 700 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.

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

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.

Lindesfarne 793

Year 800 AD

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

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

Year 800 AD

Charlemagne’s Frankish Kingdom

Year 800 AD

The Islamic incursion against Europe continues, with near complete control won of the Spanish Peninsula

Year 800 AD

Year 900 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 1000 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

The Vikings are establishing themselves as masters of vast tracts of Slavic lands (They are called the ‘Rus’): Russia is named after them.

Year 1000 AD

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 1100 AD

This century saw the rise of several ‘Rus-sian’ 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 1200 AD

Year 1300 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 1400 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 the Mongols sacked 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