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European History
Several factors led to Napoleon’s rise to power. First, Napoleon’s success directly correlates to the French Revolution because such a political climate enabled Napoleon, despite his modest...
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European History
Many of the innovations of the Renaissance have shaped contemporary society. Perhaps the most important innovations were the beginnings of modern science. The Renaissance marks the development of...
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European History
The motto "Liberté, Equalité, Fraternité", was originally intended to unite and inspire revolutionaries. The three ideals: freedom, equality and brotherhood were the foundation of the 'new France'...
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European History
Napoleon impacted both Europe and the world in a number of ways. When thinking about Napoleon’s impact, we have to realize that he did not necessarily intend to have the impacts that he did....
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European History
The Catholic church was so powerful because its own laws and charged its own taxes. It was also the biggest landholder (and might still be). There can be no doubt with that much power and clout...
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European History
The main way that the Crusades increased European interest in trade was by exposing them to more goods than they had previously known about trading for. When the Crusaders spent time in the Middle...
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European History
Your question is in the singular, but it really should be plural, because Michelangelos's contribution to our society is nothing less than great. He has inspired generations of artists and people...
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European History
Napoleon instituted a number of domestic reforms in France, but the price of those reforms was authoritarian rule under himself. He instituted the Code Napoleon which guaranteed equality under the...
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European History
When we speak of the Great Schism, we can actually be referring to one of two schisms. The first is also called the East-West Schism and happened in 1054 when the Byzantine Church broke from the...
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European History
The Edict of Milan had a very important impact on Christianity. It made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire, thus freeing Christians from having to worry about persecution by the government....
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European History
As part of the feudal system of France, the Third Estate, which contained no members of the aristocracy, did not own land. While many in this political/social division were affluent, they were...
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European History
The Suez Canal came under British control in 1882, thirteen years after its construction was completed. It had originally been built by a French company, but British troops moved in to protect the...
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European History
I assume that you are asking about the schism of the Christian Church into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. This schism happened gradually over centuries and became official in...
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European History
The significance of la Reconquista in Spain was that it was a period marked by Christian re-conquest of Christian territory that had been seized by the Muslim kingdoms. The idea was to expel the...
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European History
Robert Clive is better known as "Clive of India." He is one of the major figures in the history of the British occupation and control of India. Clive was in India with the East India Company. He...
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European History
When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, its main purpose was to address the financial problems of the regime. The numerous wars of the eighteenth century in which France was involved, e.g....
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European History
I assume that you are asking about the Berlin Conference of 1884 and 1885. This is the conference that was called by the major European powers to try to organize their “Scramble for Africa.” The...
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European History
These two terms are attempts to break history up into distinct periods, although in truth the transitions from one “period” to another are amorphous. “Elizabethan” refers specifically to the reign...
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European History
Part of the Confederate States of America's plan for survival was gaining the recognition of other major world powers--particularly Great Britain and France--in their fight for life against the...
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European History
The short answer to this is that India became independent from the British when the British voluntarily granted India its independence. In 1947, the British Parliament passed the Indian...
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European History
Although Napoleon was a controversial figure, and his most dramatic achievements were his military successes, which were quite extraordinary, his most long-lasting achievements were probably the...
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European History
Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to fund Columbus’ expedition when no other monarch did. Why did they do this? The Spanish monarchs had just retaken Spain from the Muslims, and refused to trade with...
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European History
You mean besides conquering everything in sight? Outside of literally working to bring the whole of Europe under his rule, Napoleon generally used any means he could, including his relatives,...
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European History
Napoleon did not really reform the Church itself. Instead, he worked to reform the relationship between the Catholic Church and French society. The Catholic Church had been a major opponent of the...
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European History
There were two main ways in which Hitler (and the German military, which actually did the conquering) was able to conquer so much of Europe so quickly. First, Hitler and Germany were much more...
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European History
The fundamental premise in the aforementioned movements that led to the Enlightenment was the overall faith in human capability and progress. This was an essential element in the Enlightenment...
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European History
Portugal and Spain were, in some ways, natural rivals because of geography. The two countries are neighbors on the Iberian Peninsula, and neighboring countries have long had rivalries and...
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European History
There is much historical dispute about when what we know as France today became a nation. Many historians would agree that in the 400's Clovis united the Franks to form the Kingdom of Francia in...
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European History
I'd say that the immediate impacts of the French Revolution were twofold. First, there was a huge impact on the way of life in France itself. The aristocracy was pretty much eliminated and France...
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European History
The Enclosure Acts were laws passed by the British Parliament to enclose, or fence off, farm land that had been previously open. Many enclosure acts were passed from about 1600 to 1900, thereby...
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European History
The three reasons the Spanish had for colonizing are usually listed as "gold, god, and glory." "Gold" meant that one of the goals of Spanish colonization was to find gold or to otherwise get...
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European History
Economic gain has been a strong indicator of human activity for centuries. Increased trade can be examined through markets and labor need. People will gravitate to populated areas when trade...
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European History
Spain rose to that position of power in the 16th century largely because of the emphasis that previous rulers had placed on Roman Catholicism being the dominant religion. Europe was largely Roman...
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European History
The method, strictly speaking, was conquest, but not because of Protestantism. English adventurers first came to Ireland in AD 1169, under "Strongbow", the Earl of Pembroke. He was aiding the...
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European History
This is, of course, a matter of opinion. My own view is that Voltaire was largely correct when he said this. There are three aspects to Voltaire’s statement. He is saying that the Holy Roman...
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European History
If we are looking at this from the perspective of Louis XIV himself, his greatest success was his ability to keep France stable, with himself firmly in control, for his long reign. He (with the...
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European History
Although many factors led up to the French Revolution, the peasants—part of the citizenry making up the Third Estate—significantly influenced the government's overthrow. The peasants' largest...
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European History
The greatest influence of the Italian Renaissance was the work of Humanist scholars and renewed interest in classical learning. Medieval religion was based on the idea that human beings are...
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European History
The Age of Exploration began in Europe in the middle of the fifteenth century and it was not long after that a Scientific Revolution also began to take place. Part of the reason for this was...
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European History
Maximilien Robespierre is often the person most associated with the French Revolution, although there were many important movers and shakers in the events of the French Revolution. His philosophy...
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European History
The main contribution that Copernicus offered to the intellectual discourse was the idea that all planets revolve around the sun. Copernicus's primary offering was to suggest that the geocentric...
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European History
The purpose of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage was to find a shorter route to Asia. Of course, Columbus failed in this attempt. Instead of finding Asia, he found the “New World.” During...
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European History
The Enlightenment affected people’s attitudes about government in two main ways. It changed what they thought about who should govern them and it changed what they thought about the purpose of...
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European History
The invention of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg was a major technological breakthrough. Prior to Gutenberg's press, books were copied out by hand, generally by members of the...
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European History
The Crusades led indirectly to the discovery of the Americas in a number of ways. Among the most important of these were: The Crusades allowed Westerners to come into contact with scientific...
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European History
An early advocate of fundamental changes in the way children are taught, John Amos Comenius (originally, Jan Amos Komensky, in his native Czech) had a major impact on the manner in which students...
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European History
Modern scholars argue that the Renaissance did not differ from the Middle Ages as much as was once thought. However, there were still important differences between the two. Some ways in which the...
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European History
During World War II, Great Britain had a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system in place. The role of Parliament in Great Britain was to make primary legislation. The political leader...
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European History
The major similarity between French and Spanish colonies in the Americas is that both were what one textbook I teach from calls "frontiers of inclusion." In both of these countries' colonies,...
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European History
European countries engaged in imperialism for a number of reasons. For one, they sought new secure, captive markets for manufactured goods. This would be profitable and guard against the danger of...