Historical Overview

Historical Overview A Brief Tour over 15 billion years

Pre-History • Big Bang—15 billion years ago • pre-humans from 3 million years ago • human development • increased cranial capacity • more sophisticated tools • hunting/gathering bands • mastery of fire • homo sapiens sapiens--80,000-120,000 years ago (Cro Magnon in Europe)

Neolithic Revolution • Ground and polished tools • domestication of animals/plants • agriculture and plowing • wheel for transportation • Sumer, Nile, Yangtze, Mesoamercia, etc • “most significant event in human development” • 8000 BCE—agriculture; 3000 BCE—first cities in Sumer

Age of Empires • Israelites—monotheism, ethical basis for society (1250 BCE—Hebrew exodus from Egypt) • Iron Age begins ca. 1000 BCE--allows improved tools, weapons, transport, plows • increasing cultural interaction after 500 BCE

Classical Antiquity--the Greeks • Greeks—philosophy, city-states, art/arch/lit, science • Persian Wars--turning point (480 BCE—battle of Salamis) • 5th century Athens (Golden Age) • Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE)--leads to decline of Hellenic Age and Greek independence (lack of unity) • Alexander and Hellenistic Age (323 BCE)

Classical Antiquity--the Romans • Importance of Rome--law, engineering, political unity, architecture, Latin • Roman Republic (509 BCE)—gradually conquers rivals (not a deliberate plan) • Punic Wars v. Carthage • conquest of Greeks (spread Greek ideas) • civil turmoil and civil war (2nd/1st c. BCE)

The Roman Empire • 30 CE—Jesus crucified and approx. beginning of empire • Five Good Emperors (96-180) provide peace and stability--Pax Romana • 3rd and 4th century crisis--economic collapse, political instability, plague, demographic problems, invasions • 313—Constantine and Edict of Toleration • 476—fall of western Empire (Byzantine)

Early Middle Ages, 500-1000 • “Dark Ages”—decline of cities, trade, monasteries, insecurity, invasion • rise of Islam (632—Mohammed dies) • temporary revival under Carolingians (Charlemagne crowned in 800) • invasions—Saracens, Vikings, Magyars--in 9th century (collapse of Carolingian) • development of feudalism (stirrup)

High Middle Ages, 1000-1300 • Spread of Christianity geographically and culturally (987—Vladimir converts) • Europe begins to expand (1095—first Crusade—trade, cultural exchange) • medieval synthesis—Scholasticism, Gothic architecture, Latin, feudalism, nation/states, Catholic Church (papacy), technology • 12th century Renaissance • a “key” age in development of W Civ.

Later Middle Ages, 1300-1500 • 14th century crisis—famine, plague, war, religious division • 1348—Black Death--killed up to 40% of Euorpe’s population--crucible of change • breakdown of High Medieval Synthesis • 1453—fall of Constantinople (last link with Rome), printing press, end of 100 Years War

Renaissance and Reformation • “rebirth of classical culture” • strong continuities with Middle Ages (esp. in social life) • Age of Exploration (1492) • challenge to unifying force of Catholic Church (1517)—religious/pol division

Rise of National States • Religious Warfare, 1517-1648 • balance of power emerges and changes (1588—defeat of Spanish Armada) • Thirty Years War—ends in 1648 with Peace of Westphalia (Europe divided, last religious war, religious toleration, nation-state sovereignty)

Age of Absolutism and Warfare • Growth of absolute monarchies, 1648-1715 • Louis XIV is the archetype (dies in 1715 w/Peace of Utrecht) • Commercial Revolution and wars • limited monarchies (Glorious Revolution in England—1688-89) • republics, city-states, and empires

Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment • Copernicus and heliocentrism—1543 • from a vitalistic to a mechanistic view of the world • culminates with Newton’s synthesis in 1687 • importance: undercuts religion, new power to state, idea of progress, technology, questioning of traditional institutions • 1776—Wealth of the Nations and American Revolution

Age of Revolution, 1789-1850 • French Revolution begins in 1789 as fundamental critique of Old Regime • spreads and stimulates opposition and war--1815—Congress of Vienna stunts revolution • 1815-48—revolutions abound (1848-Marx) • spread of industry—mechanization, mineral powers, urbanization, social problems (1851—Crystal Place Exhibition) • Age of Ideologies—Dual Revolution

Modernism Emerges, 1850-1914 • Modern—reduce all of life to scientific principles • 1859—Darwin’s Origin of Species (challenges religion and introduces random) • Freud and Einstein (1905—relativity) further challenge reason, objectivity

Nationalism and Imperialism, 1850-1914 • Unification of nation-states by conservative leaders—Italy and Germany (1871) • competition leads to imperial rivalries and First World War • 1914-18 (WWI)

War , Revolution, and Crisis, 1914-45 • Great War—defines the 20th century and undermines confidence in reason, technology, progress • 1918—Bolshevik Revolution • totalitarian movements (1933—Hitler comes to power) • more destructive conflict (ends in 1945)

End of the Twentieth Century? • Europe’s recovery • “Pulling Back and Together” (decolonization and European unity) • Cold War leads to Europe’s division • 1989-91—Fall of Communism and end of USSR • next age?

Historical Overview