History of Wars and Politics in Europe PDF

Chapter 7 History of Wars and politics in Europe Politically, there are many different definitions of Europe, and there is a substantial disagreement concerning the eastern and southeastern borders, particularly how to describe the countries of the former Soviet Union. For centuries,...

Chapter 7 History of Wars and politics in Europe Politically, there are many different definitions of Europe, and there is a substantial disagreement concerning the eastern and southeastern borders, particularly how to describe the countries of the former Soviet Union. For centuries, Europe has been a source of political, cultural, and economic influence. Its countries' influence has spread well beyond the continent, impacting every part of the globe. Europe is known for its societal transformations, such as the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and colonialism, imperialism, as well as its revolutions and conflicts. The consequences of these transformations may still be felt around the world today. Most historians agree that Europe's colonial expansion took place in stages. The first settlements in the Americas began in the 15th century and continued into the 19th century. At the same time, the English, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and other European countries explored and conquered Africa, India, Asia, and Australia. Therefore, the political history of Europe has a huge number of landmarks that will be briefly discussed here. These will include examples of some great wars, empires, and revolutions. We will also highlight some important political figures through these events. 1. Origins of democracy Ancient Greek The first democracy was established by the ancient Greeks. The word "democracy" is derived from two Greek words meaning "people" (demos) and "rule" (kratos) (kratos). Democracy is the concept that a country's citizens should play an active role in its government, either directly or through elected representatives. Moreover, it promotes the idea that peaceful power transfers, rather than violent uprisings or revolutions, can be used by the people to replace their government. As a result, having a voice is an important aspect of democracy. Athens was home to the world's first democracy. Around the fifth century B.C.E., Athenian democracy emerged. The Greek concept of democracy differed from modern democracy in that all adult citizens in Athens were required to participate actively in the government. They were penalised and even tagged with red paint if they did not do their duties. Citizenship in Athens was also defined differently than it is today: only free males were considered citizens in Athens. Women, children, and slaves were not considered citizens and hence did not have the right to vote. In later ages every year, 500 names were chosen from all of ancient Athens' people. Those 500 citizens were required to work in the government for a year. They were in charge of drafting new laws and overseeing all aspects of the political process during that year. When a new legislation was introduced, all of Athens' people were given the chance to vote on it. 55 Citizens were required to attend the assembly on the day of the vote in order to vote. Direct democracy is the name for this type of government. Many philosophers from all around Greece convened in the democratic setting of Athens to establish their beliefs. Socrates was the first to address the issue of an individual's relationship to a community, followed by his pupil Plato. Aristotle built on the work of his teacher, Plato, by developing political philosophy. Aristotle meticulously evaluated the many systems of governance that existed in the numerous Greek city-states and classified them into three groups based on the number of ruling elites: many (democracy/polity), few (oligarchy/aristocracy), and a single person (tyranny, or: autocracy/monarchy). The Roman Republic In Italy, Rome was a city-state surrounded by powerful neighbors since the 13th century BCE; Etruscans had founded city-states throughout central Italy, and in the south, Greek colonies. The Assemblies elected a king to reign over Rome. However, societal instability and external pressures culminated to the deposition of the last king, Lucius Junius Brutus, by a group of aristocrats in 510 BCE. The battle between the governing families and the rest of the populace remained despite the adoption of a new constitution. The plebeians demanded clear, documented, and secular laws. The aristocratic priests, who were the recorders and interpreters of the legislation, utilized their monopoly to prevent societal change by keeping their records private. After a protracted period of resistance to the new demands, the Senate sent a committee of three patricians to Greece in 454 BCE to examine and report on Solon's and other legislators' legislation. When they returned in 451 BCE, the Assembly chose ten men – the decemviri – to write a new code and handed them absolute power in Rome for two years. This commission, led by a staunch reactionary named Appius Claudius, turned Rome's old customary law into Twelve Tables, which they presented to the Assembly (which passed them with some amendments) and placed in the Forum for all to read. The Twelve Tables established some privileges, and by the 4th century BCE, the plebes had been granted the right to stand for consulship and other major offices of the state. Different forms and practices under the name of democracy have been evolving ever since and up till the present day there is a great debate on what democracy is in practice. 2. The Macedonian wars under Alexander the Great from 336-323 BC One of the most important wars in the ancient history of Europe is the Macedonian wars under Alexander the Great. They were a series of wars, fought over a span of thirteen years. It was carried out by King Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander "The Great"). Following the assassination of his father, King Philip II, Alexander became King of Macedonia. During his reign, Philip unified the majority of the city-states of mainland Greece (under Macedonian authority) into the Hellenic League (also known as the League of Corinth). 56 Alexander then proceeded to cement Macedonian control by putting down a rebellion in the southern Greek city-states, as well as staging a brief but brutal expedition against the northern nations. He subsequently moved east to carry out his intentions to capture the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which was headed by Darius III at the time. His victories included Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and Bactria. He extended the boundaries of his empire as far as Taxila, India (now Pakistan). After his death, Alexander had established plans for military and commercial expansion into the Arabian Peninsula, after which he intended to turn his soldiers to the west (Carthage, Rome, and the Iberian Peninsula). After Alexander's death, however, his diadochi (rival generals, families, and allies) quietly abandoned these intentions. Instead, after a few years following Alexander's death, the Diadochi began fighting amongst them and divided the Empire amongst them, resulting in a 40-year conflict. 3. The Rise and fall of the Roman Empire Beginning in the 8th century B.C., Ancient Rome grew from a small town on central Italy’s Tiber River into an empire that at its peak encompassed most of continental Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands. Among the many legacies of Roman dominance are the widespread use of the Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) derived from Latin, the modern Western alphabet and calendar and the emergence of Christianity as a major world religion. After 450 years as a republic, Rome became an empire in the wake of Julius Caesar’s rise and fall in the first century B.C. The long and triumphant reign of its first emperor, Augustus, began a golden age of peace and prosperity; by contrast, the Roman Empire’s decline and fall by the fifth century A.D. was one of the most dramatic implosions in the history of human civilization. 57  Ancient Rome expanded from a small town on the Tiber River in central Italy to an empire that spanned much of continental Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa, and the Mediterranean islands beginning in the ninth century B.C. Following Julius Caesar's rise, Rome became an empire. The Roman Empire's lengthy and glorious reign of its first emperor, Augustus, began a golden age of peace and prosperity; on the other hand, the Roman Empire's downfall and fall by the fifth century A.D. was one of the most catastrophic implosions in human history. Several Roman legends are told about the origin and foundation of Rome usually by Romulus and Remus the twins, but historically they are not authenticated. Another myth claims that Aeneas was the only prominent Trojan hero who survived the Greek destruction of Troy in Homer's Iliad. He and his successors would rule the Trojans, but Greek academics suggested that Aeneas and his troops relocated because there was no record of such a dynasty in Troy. A few Greek historians speculated that Aeneas settled at Rome, which was still a minor city-state at the time. Rome began to spread within the Italian peninsula in the fourth century B.C., and as the Romans came into closer contact with the Greeks, they adopted the idea that Aeneas played a role in the founding of their great city. The Aeneas myth was elaborated by the Roman poet Virgil in his epic poem the Aeneid, which recounted of Aeneas' journey to Rome in the first century B.C. Furthermore, Augustus, the first Roman emperor and emperor during Virgil's time, was supposed to be descended from Aeneas, as was Julius Caesar, his great-uncle and predecessor as Roman ruler. Beginning in the eighth century B.C., Ancient Rome grew from a small town on central Italy’s Tiber River into an empire that at its peak encompassed most of continental Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands. Of Roman dominance in Europe we still see the use of the Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) derived from Latin, the modern Western alphabet and calendar and the emergence of Christianity as a major world religion. 58  In 450 B.C., the first Roman law code was inscribed on 12 bronze tablets–known as the Twelve Tables–and publicly displayed in the Roman Forum. These laws included issues of legal procedure, civil rights and property rights and provided the basis for all future Roman civil law. By around 300 B.C., real political power in Rome was centered in the Senate, which at the time included only members of patrician and wealthy plebeian families. During the early republic, the Roman state grew exponentially in both size and power. At the same time, Rome also spread its influence east, defeating King Philip V of Macedonia in the Macedonian Wars and turning his kingdom into another Roman province. Rome’s military conquests led directly to its cultural growth as a society, as the Romans benefited greatly from contact with such advanced cultures as the Greeks. The first Roman literature appeared around 240 B.C., with translations of Greek classics into Latin; Romans would eventually adopt much of Greek art, philosophy and religion. Internal Struggles in the Late Republic Rome’s complex political institutions began to crumble under the weight of the growing empire, ushering in an era of internal turmoil and violence. The gap between rich and poor widened as wealthy landowners drove small farmers from public land, while access to government was increasingly limited to the more privileged classes. Julius Caesar’s Rise After earning military glory in Spain, Caesar returned to Rome to vie for the consulship in 59 B.C. From his alliance with Pompey and Crassus, Caesar received the governorship of three wealthy provinces in Gaul beginning in 58 B.C.; he then set about conquering the rest of the region for Rome. Less than a year later, Julius Caesar was murdered on the ides of March (March 15, 44 B.C.) by a group of his generals (led by nobles Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius). Consul Mark Antony and Caesar’s great-nephew and adopted heir, Octavian, joined forces to crush Brutus and Cassius and divided power in Rome with ex-consul Lepidus in what was known as the Second Triumvirate. With Octavian leading the western provinces, Antony the east. In 31 B.C., Octavian triumped over the forces of Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt in the Battle of Actium. In the wake of this devastating defeat, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. By 29 B.C., Octavian was the sole leader of Rome and all its provinces. To avoid meeting Caesar’s fate, he made sure to make his position as absolute ruler acceptable to the public by apparently restoring the political institutions of the Roman republic while in reality retaining all real power for himself. In 27 B.C., Octavian assumed the title of Augustus, becoming the first emperor of Rome. Augustus’ rule restored morale in Rome after a century of discord and corruption and ushered in the famous pax Romana–two full centuries of peace and prosperity. Christianity in Rome 59  At the Council of Nicaea in 325, Constantine made Christianity Rome’s official religion. Constantine emerged from the ensuing power struggles as sole emperor of a reunified Rome in 324. He moved the Roman capital to the Greek city of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. 30 years after his death the eastern and western empires were again divided. Despite its continuing battle against Persian forces, the eastern Roman Empire–later known as the Byzantine Empire–would remain largely intact for centuries to come. An entirely different story played out in the west, where the empire was wracked by internal conflict as well as threats from abroad–particularly from the Germanic tribes. Rome eventually collapsed under the weight of its own bloated empire, losing its provinces one by one: Britain around 410; Spain and northern Africa by 430. This was the bringing of an ignoble end to the long, tumultuous history of ancient Rome. The fall of the eastern Roman Empire was complete with the fall of Constantinople by Mohmed II of the Ottoman Empire in 1453. 4. The Crusades The end of the 11th century saw the beginning of the Crusades, the series of holy wars waged by European Christians against Muslims in the Near East from 1095 to 1291. The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups. In all, eight major Crusade expeditions occurred between 1095 and 1291. How it started By the end of the 11th century, Western Europe had emerged as a significant power in its own right, though it still lagged behind other Mediterranean civilizations, such as that of the Byzantine Empire (formerly the eastern half of the Roman Empire) and the Islamic Empire of the Middle East and North Africa. However, Byzantium had lost considerable territory to the invading Seljuk Turks. In 1095, Alexius sent envoys to Pope Urban II asking for mercenary troops from the West to help confront the Turkish threat. Though relations between Christians in the East and West had long been fractious, Alexius’s request came at a time when the situation was improving. In November 1095, at the Council of Clermont in southern France, the Pope called on Western Christians to take up arms to aid the Byzantines and recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control. This marked the beginning of the Crusades. Pope Urban’s plea was met with a tremendous response, both among the military elite as well as ordinary citizens. Those who joined the armed pilgrimage wore a cross as a symbol of the Church. The Crusades set the stage for several religious knightly military orders, including the Knights Templar, the Teutonic Knights, and the Hospitallers. These groups defended the Holy Land and protected pilgrims traveling to and from the region. In the 1st crusade: Encamping before Jerusalem in June 1099, the Christians forced the besieged city’s governor to surrender by mid-July. In the 3rd crusade (1187-92): After numerous attempts by the Crusaders of Jerusalem to capture Egypt, Nur al-Din’s forces (led by the general Shirkuh and his nephew, Saladin) seized Cairo in 1169 and forced the Crusader army to evacuate. In 1187, Saladin began a major 60 campaign against the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. His troops virtually destroyed the Christian army at the battle of Hattin, taking back the important city along with a large amount of territory. In the 4th crusade 1204. : the Crusaders declared war on Constantinople, and the Fourth Crusade ended with the devastating Fall of Constantinople in , marked by a bloody conquest, looting and near-destruction of the magnificent Byzantine capital later that year. The last crusades: As the Crusaders struggled, a new dynasty, known as the Mamluks, descended from former slaves of the Islamic Empire, took power in Egypt. In 1260, Mamluk forces in Palestine managed to halt the advance of the Mongols, an invading force led by Genghis Khan and his descendants, which had emerged as a potential ally for the Christians in the region. Under the ruthless Sultan Baybars, the Mamluks demolished Antioch in 1268. In response, Louis organized the Eighth Crusade in 1270. The initial goal was to aid the remaining Crusader states in Syria, but the mission was redirected to Tunis, where Louis died. Edward I of England took on another expedition in 1271. This battle, which is often grouped with the Eighth Crusade but is sometimes referred to as the Ninth Crusade, accomplished very little and was considered the last significant crusade to the Holy Land. Effects of the Crusades While the Crusades ultimately resulted in defeat for Europeans and a Muslim victory, many argue that they successfully extended the reach of Christianity and Western civilization. The Roman Catholic Church experienced an increase in wealth, and the power of the Pope was elevated after the Crusades ended. Trade and transportation also improved throughout Europe as a result of the Crusades. The wars created a constant demand for supplies and transportation, which resulted in ship- building and the manufacturing of various supplies. After the Crusades, there was a heightened interest in travel and learning throughout Europe, which some historians believe may have paved the way for the Renaissance. Among followers of Islam, however, the Crusaders were regarded as immoral, bloody and savage. The ruthless and widespread massacre of Muslims, Jews and other non-Christians resulted in bitter resentment that persisted for many years. Even today, some Muslims derisively refer to the West’s involvement in the Middle East as a “crusade.” There’s no question that the years of bloody conflict brought by the Crusades had an impact on Middle East and Western European nations for many years, and still influence political and cultural views and opinions held today. 5. The Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire was one of the mightiest and longest-lasting dynasties in world history. This Islamic-run superpower ruled large areas of the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa for more than 600 years. The chief leader, known as the Sultan, was given absolute religious and political authority over his people. While Western Europeans generally viewed them as a threat, many historians regard the Ottoman Empire as a source of great 61 regional stability and security, as well as important achievements in the arts, science, religion and culture. Osman I, a leader of the Turkish tribes in Anatolia, founded the Ottoman Empire around 1299. The term “Ottoman” is derived from Osman’s name, which was “Uthman” in Arabic. In 1453, Mohmed II the Conqueror led the Ottoman Turks in seizing the ancient city of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire’s capital. This put an end to 1,000-year reign of the Byzantine Empire. Sultan Mohmed renamed the city Istanbul and made it the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul became a dominant international center of trade and culture. Mohmed died in 1481. The Ottoman Empire reached its peak between 1520 and 1566, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. This period was marked by great power, stability and wealth.Throughout Sultan Suleiman’s rule, the empire expanded and included areas of Eastern Europe. When Did the Ottoman Empire Fall? At the start of World War I, the Ottoman Empire was already in decline. The Ottoman army entered the war in 1914 on the side of the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and were defeated in October 1918. Most Ottoman territories were divided between Britain, France, Greece and Russia. The Ottoman Empire officially ended in 1922 when the title of Ottoman Sultan was eliminated. Turkey was declared a republic on October 29, 1923, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), an army officer, founded the independent Republic of Turkey. He then served as Turkey’s first president from 1923 until his death in 1938, implementing reforms that rapidly secularized and westernized the country. 6. The Enlightenment The second half of the eighteenth century brought scientific and technological advancements that would alter the world forever. Around the 1760s, the first "industrial revolution" began and concluded in the 1840s. Mechanization and factories changed the character of business and society throughout this period. Furthermore, both the physical and mental landscapes were transformed as a result of urbanisation and industrialisation. This was the era when coal and iron began to dominate industries and modernise manufacturing techniques. It also saw the debut of steam power, which completely transformed transportation. This resulted in unprecedented population shifts and growth over the planet. 7. The French Revolution The French Revolution, which began in 1789 and finished in the late 1790s with Napoleon Bonaparte's ascension, was a historic moment in modern European 62 history. French populace demolished and remade their country's political landscape during this time, demolishing centuries-old institutions like absolute monarchy and the feudal system. The unrest was sparked by widespread dissatisfaction with the French monarchy and King Louis XVI's disastrous economic policies, which led to his death by guillotine, as did his wife Marie Antoinette. Although it did not achieve all of its objectives and at times devolved into a bloodbath, the French Revolution was crucial in shaping modern states by demonstrating the power of the people's will. The French Revolution's sparked as the 18th century came to a close, France was on the verge of bankruptcy due to its costly involvement in the American Revolution and lavish spending by King Louis XVI and his predecessor. Not only were the royal coffers exhausted, but poor harvests, drought, livestock sickness, and increasing bread costs had sparked rebellion among peasants and the urban poor over the previous two decades. By rioting, looting, and striking, many people demonstrated their desperation and fury toward a dictatorship that imposed high taxes but failed to provide any relief. 8. World War 1 World War I, also known as the Great War, began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. Princip and other nationalists were struggling to end Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers quickly collapsed. Within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and World War I had begun.This murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). Thanks to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike— were dead. Treaty of Versailles At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Allied leaders stated their desire to build a post- war world that would safeguard itself against future conflicts of such devastating scale. Some hopeful participants had even begun calling World War I “the War to End All Wars.” But the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919, would not achieve that lofty goal. Saddled with war guilt, heavy reparations and denied entrance into the League of Nations, Germany felt tricked into signing the treaty, having believed any peace would be a “peace without victory,” as put forward by President Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points speech of January 1918. 63  As the years passed, hatred of the Versailles treaty and its authors settled into a smoldering resentment in Germany that would, two decades later, be counted among the causes of World War II. Interwar Germany Imperial Germany collapsed at the end of World War I. After this, Germany experienced a tumultuous time which climaxed with the rise of Nazism and World War II. The Weimar Republic held control of the German Republic after the first war. It was through this unique government structure—which lasted only 15 years—that the Nazi Party rose. Led by Adolf Hitler, Germany would be faced with its biggest challenges, politically, socially, and morally. The devastation caused by Hitler and his counterparts in World War II would permanently scar Europe and the entire world. 9. The Russian Revolutions Two revolutions erupted over Russia in 1917, putting an end to centuries of imperial rule and triggering political and social transformations that would eventually lead to the foundation of the Soviet Union. While the two revolutions occurred within a few months of one other, Russia's societal turmoil had been boiling for decades. Russia was one of the poorest countries in Europe in the early 1900s, with a large peasantry and a growing minority of poor industrial workers. Much of Western Europe viewed Russia as an undeveloped, backwards society. The Russian Empire practiced serfdom—a form of feudalism in which landless peasants were forced to serve the land- owning nobility—well into the nineteenth century. In contrast, the practice had disappeared in most of Western Europe by the end of the middle Ages. Nicholas II, the last czar In November 1917, the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin seized power in Russia and set about establishing the world’s first communist state. In April 1918, Nicholas and his family were transferred to Yekaterinburg in the Urals, which sealed their doom. Civil war broke out in Russia in June 1918, and in July the anti-Bolshevik “White” Russian forces advanced on Yekaterinburg during a campaign against the Bolshevik forces. Local authorities were ordered to prevent a rescue of the Romanovs, and after a secret meeting by the Yekaterinburg Soviet, a death sentence was passed on the imperial family. 10. World War 2 64  The instability created in Europe by the First World War (1914-18) set the stage for another international conflict—World War II—which broke out two decades later and would prove even more devastating. Rising to power in an economically and politically unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, rearmed the nation and signed strategic treaties with Italy and Japan to further his ambitions of world domination. After becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Hitler swiftly consolidated power, anointing himself Führer (supreme leader) in 1934. Obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the “pure” German race, which he called “Aryan,” Hitler believed that war was the only way to gain the necessary “Lebensraum,” or living space, for the German race to expand. In the mid-1930s, he secretly began the rearmament of Germany, a violation of the Versailles Treaty. After signing alliances with Italy and Japan against the Soviet Union, Hitler sent troops to occupy Austria in 1938 and the following year annexed Czechoslovakia. Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September 1939 drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II. Over the next six years, the conflict would take more lives and destroy more land and property around the globe than any previous war and the world became divided into two parties the Axis ( Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan, and Fascist Italy.) and the Allies (the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China). On June 6, 1944–celebrated as “D-Day”–the Allies began a massive invasion of Europe, landing 156,000 British, Canadian and American soldiers on the beaches of Normandy, France. In response, Hitler poured all the remaining strength of his army into Western Europe, ensuring Germany’s defeat in the east. Soviet troops soon advanced into Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania, while Hitler gathered his forces to drive the Americans and British back from Germany in the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944-January 1945), the last major German offensive of the war. An intensive aerial bombardment in February 1945 preceded the Allied land invasion of Germany, and by the time Germany formally surrendered on May 8, Soviet forces had occupied much of the country. Hitler was already dead, having died by suicide on April 30 in his Berlin bunker. 65