There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen."
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Sign up for freeWhen did nation-states emerge in Europe?
When was the European Union formed?
How long did the Cold War last?
When did the Roman Empire adopt Christianity as its state religion?
What intellectual movement inspired the French Revolution?
Which postwar agreement first established a balance of power in Europe?
What was the dominant political and economic system in the Middle Ages?
When did the Second Industrial Revolution occur?
What key process in 16th-century Europe undermined the power of the Catholic Church?
When did nation-states emerge in Europe?
When was the European Union formed?
How long did the Cold War last?
When did the Roman Empire adopt Christianity as its state religion?
What intellectual movement inspired the French Revolution?
Which postwar agreement first established a balance of power in Europe?
What was the dominant political and economic system in the Middle Ages?
When did the Second Industrial Revolution occur?
What key process in 16th-century Europe undermined the power of the Catholic Church?
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Team Political Changes In Europe Teachers
The quote above is a famous statement attributed to the father of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin. Indeed, during its long history, Europe underwent several fundamental changes—paradigm shifts—politically, socially, culturally, and economically. For example, the decline of the Roman Empire gave rise to the Middle Ages. This was a period of agrarian feudalism, decentralized control by the nobility and the powerful western Church.
A paradigm shift is a period of fundamental change. For example, the transition from the geocentric to the heliocentric model in astronomy in the 16th century was a paradigm shift in science.
With the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and the Age of Discovery and Conquest, feudalism gradually faded, as did the control of the Church, but powerful monarchies remained. Later, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution brought egalitarian ideas, followed by technological advancement, urbanization, the development of left-wing ideologies such as socialism, and the rise of nation-states. The 20th century was punctuated by two world wars and the Cold War, defined by the superpower rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
The Storming of the Bastille, French Revolution, 1789, Jean-Pierre Houël, Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Wikipedia Commons (public domain).
Major political changes in Europe were accompanied by social and cultural counterparts. The causes were complex in each case. For example, the poor labor conditions of the Industrial Revolution gave rise to the socialist ideology, which advocated for workers' rights.
The Baptism of Constantine, Raphael's assistants, 1517-1524, Sala di Costantino, Raphael Rooms, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City. Source: Vatican Museums, Wikipedia Commons (public domain).
The following timelines of political developments in Europe will give you an overview of the most momentous events and their impact on the political structure of the continent. Mind that all dates are from the Common Era (C.E.).
| Date | Description |
| 4th century | Emperor Constantine the Great adopts Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire in 312. |
| 5th century | The Roman Empire declines and is systematically attacked by Germanic tribes. In 476, Odoacer, a Germanic leader, dethrones the last western Roman emperor. The Byzantine Empire in the east lives on. |
| 5th century-15th century | The Middle Ages is a thousand-year-long period in European history defined by feudalism, landed aristocracy, and the power of the western Church. |
| l15th-18th centuries | The Age of Discovery and Conquest begins in Europe. Explorers, missionaries, conquerors, and scientists sail abroad and establish colonies. This period is the first major wave of European colonialism. |
| 16th century | The Protestant Reformation swept across Europe as the critics of the Catholic Church sought to return to the roots of Christianity. Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses in 1517 to the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. |
| 15th-16th centuries | In the age of Renaissance art and humanism, artists shift to realistic art, and intellectuals away from the Medieval focus on theology. This is also the beginning of the Scientific Revolution in various fields, such as astronomy which replaces the ancient Greek and medieval European approach to science with empirical observation. |
| 1648 | The Peace of Westphalia after the devastating Thirty Years' War (1618-1638) marks a major change in foreign policy and international relations. This agreement focused on an abstract balance of power rather than specific ruling dynasties. |
| 17th-18th centuries | The Enlightenment is a period of intellectual and cultural transformation in European history that focuses on social and scientific progress and questions traditional institutions such as the Church and absolute monarchy. |
| 1789 | The French Revolution overthrew the monarchy to establish a new social and political order and, initially, values freedom and equality. The Revolution causes a reaction domestically and in other European countries. |
| 1815 | The Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) establishes a congress system for the European powers to prevent future wars and maintain the balance of power through the Concert of Europe. |
| 1760-1830; 1870-1918 | The First and Second Industrial Revolutions resulted in significant technological development that changed society in many ways. These changes range from urbanization and the growth of the working class to the development of left-wing ideologies such as socialism. |
| 1848 | The Revolutions of 1848 swept across dozens of European countries, demanding liberalization and different types of social reform. In the short term, they fail. |
| 19th century | The rise of nation-states began, including Belgium, Greece, Italy, and Germany. |
| 1914-1918 | World War I resulted in approximately 25 million deaths and a radical change in Europe's social and political order, including the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires. |
| 20th century | The period of decolonization began after World War I and lasted throughout the 20th century. During this process, dozens of former European colonies sought and established independent states. |
| 1939-1945 | World War II took an estimated 70-85 million lives and gave rise to two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. |
| 1945-1991 | The Cold War was an ideological conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union that split the world in half. |
| 1993 | The European Union (E.U.) is founded. As of 2022, the E.U. comprises 27 member states. |
Significant social and political changes in Europe occurred for different reasons. These reasons ranged from adopting a state religion, Christianity, by the Roman Empire, to the technological advancements of the Industrial Revolution.
The Middle Ages was a thousand-year-long period that began as the Roman Empire declined in the 5th century and lasted until approximately the 15th century. This long era had several shared features despite some chronological and cultural differences.
The preferred political and economic system at this time was feudalism. Feudalism was dominant in agricultural societies, where the nobility exchanged land and military protection for labor and servitude.
The farmer's land was called a fief, whereas farmers were vassals.
Pope Innocent III, Monastery of Sacro Speco of Saint Benedict - Subiaco, Rome, mid-13th century. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain).
The system of primogeniture, in which the inheritance went only to the oldest son, allowed to keep the land intact rather than dividing it between the heirs. This system created a class of landless knights. Some of these knights participated in the Crusades—military-religious campaigns to reclaim the Holy Land (Middle East) between the late 11th and 13th centuries.
The secular authority—the nobles and the royalty—were somewhat decentralized. Some historians suggested that Medieval society had three estates: the nobility (bellatores), the Church (oratores), and the peasantry traders and farmers (laboratores).
Religion served as a focal point for Medieval society. Gradually, the system of feudalism declined. The Church lost some of its power, especially during the Protestant Reformation.
The Industrial Revolution is usually divided into two pivotal periods: the First Industrial Revolution (1760 to 1830) and the Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1914). Many social changes occurred at this time:
The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London, by William Simpson (lithographer), 1851. The Crystal Palace was built using new technologies such as sheet glass. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain).
Socialist thinkers and activists sought to improve the labor conditions and attain fundamental rights for the working class. Eventually, these changes took place from the late 19th and into the 20th century, including:
The rise of moderate and radical socialist movements and parties also impacted Europe. These parties made the 20th-century parliaments more representative. But in other places like Russia, a complete change of political and social order took place, e.g., the 1917 Russian Revolution based on Marx's ideas.
This was also a period when nation-states emerged. In theory, nation-states were meant to comprise people united by the same language, culture, religion, and, at times, ethnicity.
The Cold War (1945-1991) was a period of bipolarity when the world was divided between two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR). They did not engage in war directly but through indirect—proxy—conflicts. The U.S. and the USSR each had their own military alliance, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, respectively. At times, Europeans were unable to make their own independent decisions because Western Europeans were dominated by American hegemony, and Eastern Europeans were in the Soviet sphere of influence.
One of the main aspects of the Cold War was the development of nuclear weapons and the growth of their arsenals. These powerful arms were meant to act as a deterrent.
U.S. nuclear weapon test "Mike," Enewetak Atoll, Operation Ivy, 1952. Source: National Nuclear Security Administration, Wikipedia Commons (public domain).
The Cold War was also when Europeans lost their overseas colonies during decolonization. This process was sometimes violent, as was the case with the former French colony, Indochina—Vietnam—and the prolonged war in Southeast Asia.
Decolonization:
Decolonization is the process by which the former European colonies, such as India and Vietnam, gradually gained independence.
Eventually, the Cold War order collapsed between 1989 and 1991. The European Union emerged in 1993 as a way to unify the continent politically and economically.
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When did the political changes took place in Europe?
Major political changes—paradigm shifts—periodically took place in Europe. These changes include the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire (4th century); the collapse of the Roman Empire (5th-6th century); the development of feudalism in the Middle Ages (6th century until the 14th-15th centuries); the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and the Age of Discovery (15th-17th centuries); the Enlightenment and the French Revolution (17th-18th centuries), the Industrial Revolution (18th-19th century), world wars (1914-1918, 1939-1945) and decolonization (20th century); the Cold War and bipolarity (1945-1991); the establishment of the European Union (20th century until the present), and beyond. The smaller-scale transformation occurred in other cases such as localized wars and changes and leadership.
What political changes took place in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries?
Europe's 15th and 16th centuries gave birth to the Protestant Reformation, Renaissance, and the Age of Discovery and Conquest. The Protestant Reformation challenged the Catholic Church, a significant European political power. Renaissance focused on humanist ideas and realistic depictions in figurative art alike. Merchants, explorers, and conquerors set off across the oceans to establish colonies abroad. In some places, like Florence, banking families like the Medicis held significant political power. The institution of feudalism, with its political and economic counterparts, also began to decline, although this decline was slower. Monarchies and the aristocracy still controlled Europe.
What political changes occurred in the 19th century in Europe?
Several significant changes occurred in Europe in the 19th century. This was the period of the First and Second Industrial Revolutions when technological advancement led to urbanization as workers headed to cities. The initially poor labor conditions inspired the rise of left-wing ideologies such as socialism and anarchism. At the same time, the Revolutions of 1848 challenged the established monarchies seeking liberalization and social reform.
How did Enlightenment ideas change political thought in Europe?
European Enlightenment (17th-18th centuries) is also known as the Age of Reason because its intellectuals challenged the established norms and traditional institutions, such as the Church. Enlightenment thinkers were proponents of social and scientific progress, and, in some cases, egalitarian and republican ideas. The Enlightenment inspired political changes for decades to come. For example, the French Revolution of 1789, was informed by its ideals.
How did Industrialization bring political change in Europe?
18th-19th-century Industrial Revolution brought technological development and urbanization as many moved to cities to work in factories. The initially poor labor conditions of the working class inspired the rise of left-wing ideologies such as socialism. Socialists sought to improve the plight of the workers in many ways, such as making the workplace safer and eliminating child labor. Socialist parties around Europe continued to seek egalitarian reform and general social welfare. In some places, radical socialist groups, such as the Bolsheviks of Russia, carried out successful revolutions and ended the monarchic form of government.
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