EU Knowledge Lesson 1: Ancient Greece & Rome PDF

**EU knowledge lesson 1** **Ancient Greece:** -Athens was one of the larger city states in ancient Greece. It's known for its naval and trade power, but most importantly as the birth of democracy. -Sparta was also one of the larger city states and is mostly known for its strong military, for exam...

**EU knowledge lesson 1** **Ancient Greece:** -Athens was one of the larger city states in ancient Greece. It's known for its naval and trade power, but most importantly as the birth of democracy. -Sparta was also one of the larger city states and is mostly known for its strong military, for example, the battle of Thermopylae where famously 300 men and their king Leonidas fought against a very large Persian army. Greek inventions: -Alphabet. The Greek alphabet was the first known alphabet to have distinct letter for vowels and consonants. -History: First real known history book was written by Greek historian Herodotus (also called the father of history). The first book was mostly about famous kings and famous battles in wars versus the Achaemenid Empire and the wars between Athens and Sparta (also called the Peloponnese wars) -Philosophy. Greek philosophy influenced a lot of the western culture that we know today and is used in, for example, modern education. -Democracy in Athens, which had the first democracy, but only Athenian men could vote, so no slaves, woman or people who were born outside of Athens. -The name 'Europe' Europa (princess) got abducted my Zeus and together they had a child called Minos (hey that's how the study association is called). -The Olympics, although different than the current ones. Differences being only men could participate in ancient Greece, more different sports are played at the current Olympics and back in the ancient time is was all about religion and honoring Zeus. **Roman Empire:** -Conquered the whole of Italy, France, Iberia, Balkan, Greece, Anatolia, Judea region, Egypt, Maghreb (northern Africa) and a part of Britain. -Had different types of government: Kingdom from 753 BC till 509 BC, Republic from 509 BC till 27 BC and the Empire from 27 BC till 395(as an unified roman empire), till 476 (when the western part disbanded) and till 1453 (when the eastern part disbanded). Features of the Roman empire: -Engineering and infrastructure -Organization and legal reasoning \- 'Relative' peace, like the pax Romana, which lasted from 27 BC till 180 AD. -The concept of an emperor, which started with Ceaser and influenced the titles like Kaiser or Tsar. Limes: a word used for the borders of the Roman Empire, mostly in the Germanic region, but also at other Roman frontiers like in Libya, Romania and England/Scotland. The Rhine river or the Hadrian's wall are good examples of these kind of borders. **Christianity:** Christianity: Started in Rome around the year 0, when Jesus was born, but wasn't allowed by the Roman empire, because it was seen as opposing the Roman gods and so people who were Christian would often get punished, imprisoned or even executed. Important people for Christianity in the early days: -Constantine the Great, who was the first emperor to convert to Christianity (on his deathbed) and sparked the idea that every emperor and all roman citizens should be Christian. -King Clovis I: First major non-roman king who converted to Christianity and with this started the conversion of all of Europe. Features of early Christianity: -The use of the Latin language, first in the Roman empire as a common language and later only in the churches and monasteries. -The preserving of shared culture across the different kingdoms and duchies in Europe. Kingdoms like France had different norms and values than other states, but they had the common culture in Christianity -Moral and ethical foundations. -The authority the church used to solve wars and keep 'relative' peace in Europe, although, after the start of the enlightenment and the rise of Protestant and Orthodox churches, the authority was a lot less respected. **Carolian Empire:** -Empire started by Charlemagne in 768/800 (he became emperor in 800, but started his kingdom reign in 768) He was crowned as holy roman emperor on the 25^th^ of December, 800 AD. -After the death of Charlemagne his empire was divided equally across his sons. These division were Western Francia (the future France), Middle Francia (got taken over mostly by Germany, France and the Benelux) and Eastern Francia (the future HRE and later Germany) -Aken was not really the capital of the Carolian Empire, but Charlemagne loved the city and was even buried there in 814 AD. Features of the Carolian Empire time: -HRE: Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne was crowned as holy roman emperor, which is seen as a rebirth/continuation of the Roman empire (the roman part of the title) and as 'the' Christian empire in Europe. -In showed Europe that there was still a potential to unite kingdoms, which would later happen a lot more times, for example, the Iberian Reconquista, the Habsburg monarchy or the German Empire. -After the death of Charlemagne his lands were divided between his sons, which sparked controversy, because his illegitimate sons also got some land. This provoked civil wars between his successors and resulted in the creation of the base of modern countries like France, Germany and the Benelux. **Treaty of Whestphalia (1648):** -Ended the eighty and thirty year's war, who started in 1568 and 1638 respectively. The eighty years war about the independence of the low lands (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg). The thirty years war was about the war between mostly protestant and Catholic kingdoms and duchies in the HRE, but also countries like Sweden, France, Spain and the Netherlands joined in. -In the end religious peace was enacted, like decided in the peace of Augsburg (1555), which gave every prince in the HRE to choose their own religion, which also created an idea of religious tolerance. Two things that were important during the treaty was that the big powers all agreed on the treaty and that no country would get too strong. -In the low lands, the Netherlands got their independence and the 'new' low lands (Belgium) would remain in Habsburg rule. -The cornerstone of modern international law. During and after the peace of Westphalia the idea of an international law became more important and it ended the long period of religious wars in Europe. **Napoleon and revolution:** The French revolution: -Started on the 14^th^ of July 1789 and ended around 1795. -Important people were: -Jean-Paul Murat, who published a lot of papers supporting the revolution, which he did famously from his bathub. -Louis XVI, who was the king of France at the start of the revolution. He got executed by the guillotine together with his wife Marie Antoinette (although she was executed around 9 months after Louis) -Maximilian Robespierre, who was a leader during the French revolution and ruled kinda as a dictator for a short time. He ordered the executions of a lot of people, mostly of nobles, but also everyone who opposed him. The French revolution sparked seven coalition wars (between 1792 and 1815) and the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. It also created the idea that a king wasn't actually necessary and it caused multiple revolutions in Europe (1830 and 1848). A big consequence of these revolutions were that kings lost a part of their authority. It also influenced later revolutions in France, Germany and Russia, which paved the way for a world with a lot less kings and a lot more democracies. Features of the French Revolution were: -The radical break with the ancient regime. That the old kingdom regimes are possibly not the right option for the government. -Modern ideas on society and statecraft, with, for example, the rise of democracies, the end of the feudal system and the establishment of civil laws and a fairer representation for all people. -The French government in the 1790s was the first real democratic system since ancient times. -France was one of the first countries to rationalize the public administration. France under Robespierre already warned for controlling the country in small municipalities and Napoleon abolished the idea entirely. Napoleon: -He started as a young army officer at the start of the revolutionary wars against the British, Austria and Sardinia. He rose the ranks pretty quick and quickly became a loved and famous general by his soldiers and across France. -He took over power 1799 by staging a coup d'etat and formed a dictatorship with 2 other people, although he quickly got rid of them. -He issued a referendum in 1804 to see if the French wanted him as their emperor. The result was an almost 100% (definitely not corrupt) backing by the population and he was crowned in Notre Dame the same year famously putting the crown on his own head. -He fought multiple wars against all majors powers in Europe and won the first three of those wars. His downfall began with his invasion of Russia, where his 500k army got stuck between the Russian army and the harsh winter conditions. After he got chased out of Russia he began to lose multiple wars and was dethroned for the first time in 1814 to the small island of Elba. -He famously returned to France in 1815 to take back his throne, he firs succeeded and was able to hold back the coalition armies, but was finally defeated at the battle of Waterloo by the duke of Wellington. He then was sent to a small island in the middle of nowhere called St. Helena, where he died 6 years later. **Congress of Vienna (1813-1815:** Features of the Congress of Vienna were: -Was there to restore the monarchies to their pre-French revolution way. For example, the house of Bourbon was restored in France and the house of Orange in the Benelux. -The idea was that after this congress no country wouldn't be strong enough to conquer Europe like France did before and the power would be balanced. -Countries like the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which included Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, were made to form a buffer state between the rising German empire (under Prussia) and their enemies France. -It is seen as the start of the industrial and imperialism time period with the growth of new ideas and ideologies. The period is also seen as time with more peace across Europe, excluding the Crimean war (1853-1856). It's end is seen at the outbreak of WW1, because almost every European country was once again involved in a big war across the continent. **Industrial revolution and enlightment:** -Started in Great Britain, specifically in the city of Manchester during the end of the 18^th^ century. -It started about 60 years later in Europe (western Europe, because the southern and eastern countries took a bit longer), which gave Britain a big advantage over the rest of Europe. -Workers had to work for minimum wages under harsh conditions, which included long shifts, working under dirty conditions and even had the risk of losing arms and legs, because the machines were very dangerous. -The global population grew exponentially after the start of the industrial revolution. To give a picture: The world had about 375 million people in the year 1400, almost 1 billion in the year 1800 and more than 8 billion in the year 2024. -Since the exponential growth of the global population, other things, like, literacy, woman's rights and innovation increased by a lot. -City migration became an important thing during this time, because the industrial jobs were in the big cities and not in the countryside. This caused parts of big cities to grow into big and unhealthy neighborhoods, where workers and their families lived very close to each other under harsh conditions. Because these neighborhoods were very dirty people would get diseases quickly and a lot of people would die from these diseases, also because medicines were either not invented or way too expensive for the common people. Features during the industrial revolution and enlightenment ideas: -Individualism and political liberalism. The idea that everyone counts and everyone has rights (although woman rights took some time) -Democracy, equality and 'brotherhood'. The idea that the common people could vote for a government and not only the rich people (also here the woman voting rights took some time). \- Nationalism and self-determination. Countries like Germany, France and Italy became very Nationalistic during this time. This did cause multiple wars, like the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871), WW1 and WW2. -The idea of making progress. The idea that there were a lot of possibilities for the society in for example science, innovation, culture or human rights. **Colonial empires:** -Almost every country in the world was somehow and someway controlled by an European country. Exceptions are: -Liberia, which was kinda colonized by USA, because it was the new country of returned slaves from the USA, but they never controlled the country. -Thailand, which was used a buffer state between British India and French Indochina. -Japan and Korea, both countries tried to isolate themselves from the western colonizers. This didn't work in the end, because the USA forced Japan to trade with them, but they were never really colonized. Features of the Colonial Empires: -Access to resources and overseas markets. -Change in demographics and migrations partners. -Cultural and linguistic heritage. For example, a lot of countries across the world speak English, French and Spanish. -Economic disparities. For example, Great Britain was a very rich country, but their colony of India was very poor. This is still seen today with countries in Africa and South/Latin America being much more poor than the western world. **Important years:** -Rise of the Roman kingdom (From 753 BC till 509 BC) -First use of democracy in Athens (508 BC) -Rise of the Roman Republic (From 509 BC till 27 BC) -Rise and fall of the Roman/Byzantine Empire (From 27 BC till 476/1453 AD) -Start of Christianity in Rome (The year 0) -Rome at its greatest territorial extent (117 AD) -First Roman Emperor converts to Christianity, being Constantine the great (337 AD) -First 'modern' King converting to Christianity (around 500 AD) -Charlemagne gets crowned Emperor of the Carolingian Empire (800 AD) -Treaty of Verdun, which divides the Carolingian Empire (843 AD) -East-West Schism, the division between the Christan and Orthodox churches (1054 AD) -The Eighty and Thirty year wars (From 1568 and1618 till 1648 AD) -Treaty of Whestphalia (1648 AD) -Industrial revolution (From 1760 till 1820-1840 AD) -French Revolution (1789 AD) -Crowning of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of France (1804 AD) -Congress of Vienna (From 1813 till 1815 AD) -Crimean War (From 1853 till 1856 AD) -First World War (From 1914- 1918 AD) **Week 6 class.** 27 members of the EU today -- knowing the EU member states helps during exam.