In this document, you can find short summaries from each lecture from the course Turning Points in Modern European History. As turning points are sudden events that cannot be predicted, arguments are provided for and against the importance of certain historical occurrences. These notes would help y...
Lecture 1: Fall of Rome
Turning points are the idea that history is changing in which new era begins
and an old era ends. Sometimes turning points could be a moment of history
where a generation believe that they were living in a new era. Periodisation is
not neutral, but it is invented.
Jordanova:
1. Rulers and dynasties - napoleonic
2. Key events - ww2
3. Descriptions - modern era
4. Type of government - communist
5. Cultural style - baroque
The period of the Middle Ages was invented by Humanists; the problems with
this period is the continuity of the Byzantium, because there is no clear
rupture as the legacy of Rome continued after the fall of the West-Roman
empire and a lot of dynamism can be found in the middle ages.
European history is all about politics. The pluralist narrative is the idea that
what makes Europe unique is that it is not unity bar fragmented - smalll
states without a certain empire. From the 18th century onwards, European
history has often been taken by European as a universal and modern history.
European history is not the history of the world and European concepts
should not be projected onto other histories!
The year 476 - the fall of the West-Roman empire - turning point:
Arguments for:
The Roman Empire is not an European empire, as many claim it to be, but it
is more of a Mediterranean empire. They did not see themselves as
“Europeans” with a European identity. The collapse of the empire is a
collapse for a whole civilisation, there was a decline in literacy, the societies
became less complex and the inauguration of the dark Middle Ages, which
can make 476 a turning point.
,Argument against:
However, by contemporaries the year 476 was not seen as a turning point,
not historically important and they had alternative dates. After 476, Roman
culture and traditions survived, therefore it was not a turning point, but
continuity, and remained important in the West. There was no sudden
collapse of a civilisation as this was a slow process. There was a discontinuity
process after 476 but this was a real gradual process without a sudden
collapse: de-urbanisation and the decline of literacy. The roman legacy in
Wester Europe was carried in the ideal of Empire, the dream ofreviviing the
Roman Empire and unification, the Roman law, which is the legal unity of
Europe, the Catholic Church.
Criticism Goody: Europeans were not inheritances of Rome but invented their
own antiquity.
Lecture 2: Wars of Religion
The 16th century as a turning point:
Arguments for: media revolution and the printing press in the late 15th
century stood for the first age of mass communication - publications for the
masses of the first time and ability to reproduce at a large scale. It was also
an age of military revolution - increase use of gun powered and new forms of
infantry, all forms of warfare had become outdated such as soldiers on
horses they had been replaced. The growth of the populations - shift from the
Mediterranean as centre of Europe to the north sea. Voyages of discovery.
Reformations - Catholic church lost its primacy. HOWEVER, it was also not a
turning point, but of a continuations of the medieval patterns .
The 16th century was a new age in the sense of Renaissance and Humanism
- new age of intellectuals. This was the time of the invention of the modern
individual. Humanism was the educational and cultural program based on the
study of the classic and the human dignity. People developed new vision of
authority and the holy texts as they started to criticise them. People
, undermined many of the great authorities such as the church and the
monarchy. Bible was no longer the word of God. Nevertheless, religion was
still extremely important. People did not like the change that came with the
several reformations, they were scared of the change.
Many reformations happened during the 16th century:
1. Luther opposed the idea that salvation could be reached by giving the
nations to the church. He believed that only faith could bring salvation. He
furthermore translated the bible in German and this presented a huge
attack and threat to the Catholic Church. The religious reforms became
entangled with much older political struggles within the Holy Roman
Empire: princes and cities against the empire. The result from the Luther’s
reformation was the re-affirmations of state authority and of the princes’. It
was a top-down hierarchical reformation.
2. Calvin believed that the Reformation still had to be completed because it
was unfinished as Luther’s reformation did not purify the church. He
wished to go back to the earliest purity of the Christian Church. Calvin
wanted to build more godly societies. This movements was much more
international. He believed that once he had built the godly communities
then political order would follow
3. The Catholic Reformation as the attempts to reform the catholic church
within itself. At the council of Trent, the Catholic doctrine became
redefined and much more narrowly defined. Reformation of church
organisation wherein Catholics and to behave more strictly and dsicpliend
according to the religion. A new Jesuit order and a creation of new
political alliances and catholic rollback: from defensive to offensive
powers.
16th and 17th centuries were characterised by religious wars all over Europe.
It became clear and accepted that there were several religions, for practical
reasons and stability. There was a religious pluralism in Europe. However, the
diversity of religion caused problems and resulted in religious intolerance.
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