Differences In Western Europe

I argued in class that the Baltic States have been more successful in their transitions than the other successor states. What factors have helped the Baltic States, like Latvia, set up newly independent democracies?

In Europe, cultural movement throughout 1450-1750 brought many developments and shifts that were long lasting. Throughout this time period, many thoughts and ideas were questioned (including the church’s beliefs), and it ultimately led to radical changes that overall increased Europe’s foundation about the earth, religion, and science.

There has been many type of monarchies all throughout Europe's history that each had their own ideas of a good social structure. Usually, the lowest class is treated poorly by the higher classes. The monarchs would make certain actions to fulfill his needs or those of the higher classes even if it causes the lower classes to suffer. Political rule during the 18th century denied the people of some if not most of their natural human rights. This would lead to enlightened thinkers challenging the traditional rule of monarchy.

In the 1300's an Italian scholar named Petrarch came up with the name "Dark Age" to describe the time Europe was going through during the Middle Ages in 500AD-1500AD. Throughout the Middle Ages Europe was going through some rough times, but there were also moments of growth. For example the Black Death was a time of darkness but there were positive times like when universities were built. Although the dark ages were looked at as a negative occurrence, more events show a sign of growth.

You would think the middle ages were a time where everyone had money and rode dragons. However, the middle ages were a time where you were either part of the rare rich life or down by the pigs. During the Middle Ages, Europeans social, economic and political life was defined by feudalism. Feudalism was the social system in medieval Europe, when knights would fight for nobles, lords, and kings in exchange for land (OI).

more power and began to form countries and impose taxes. People gave their loyalty to

Imagine living in America and it not being well America. There would be different ways of agriculture. Different languages. Different religious beliefs. Having a different way of living in society, economically and politically. Everything would be different if China would have went about and conquered Western Europe during the 14-1500’s.

Preconceived notions of Western-European forms of kinship and societal relations influence anthropological studies of kinship in different cultures (Schneider). Morgan theorized that a sexual relationship between female and male constituted marriage. In addition to this, Morgan considered the biological reproduction of offspring the key determinant in kinship classification as parents of said offspring. This paradigm has influenced the viewpoint of anthropologists’ studying other forms of kinship in different cultures. Rather than examining what kinship is to those being studied, anthropologists attempt to classify it into familiar categories. Two ethnographies that attempt eliminate this Western-European bias are “Biology Unmoored” by Sandra Bamford and “Sport of Kings” by Rebecca Cassidy. “Biology Unmoored” examines the Kamea, an indigenous people of the Papa New Guinea Highlands. The Kamea do not solely base kinship on reproduction; rather, kinship and societal relations are based on the human relationship with the plant environment. Using the viewpoint of the Kamea, Bamford analyzes the biological paradigm proposed by Morgan, which has influenced many anthropological studies. In the ethnography “Sport of Kings” Rebecca Cassidy examines the British racing industry in Newmarket, the international headquarters of horse racing. Cassidy claims that by analyzing the relationship between humans and animals we may better understand kinship and social relations between humans. By

Western European people had endured a series of changes during the late medieval period. Changes can be categorized into two aspects: politically and socially. On politics, Popes were not as strong as they were due to conflicts between the state and the church. Socially, people began to live a religion- dominated life, and experienced active sexism towards women. These changes, either positive or negative, have become an undivided part of European History.

I think the Romanians were definitely views with some suspicion when immigrating to this country. If you compare the immigtation numbers found on, "everyculture.com/multi/Pa-Sp/Romanian-Americans.html", it's remakable that so many Remianains had come over from 1895 to 1920 only to have their numbers dwindle so quickly. The Romanian situation gets complicated during World War I as well because of them taking Transylvania, Bukovina, Bessarabia. The way these regions changed during this time period is stunning. And it does seem like the policies instituted in America clearly looked at the Romanians with

During the period of 1492 to 1750, Europe experienced drastic changes during their Age of Discovery. As a result of contact and colonization, Western Europe’s economy, political, social, and military systems changed, but also maintained certain aspects that enabled them to build strong civilizations. Such changes include increased (international) trade routes, more centralized governments such as monarchies, decreased unifying influence of the Catholic Church, and increased interest in military conquest and expansion.

Then after the French king, Charles VI, became unable to rule, many “rival factions of French nobles” sought the position and began a civil war in the process. (Spielvogel 287) Similarly, Germany “had already begun to fall apart in the High Middle Ages… [because] the failure of the Hohenstaufen ended any chance of centralized monarchical authority, and Germany became a land of hundreds of virtually independent states.” (Spielvogel 287) Even if these states were bound by the king of Germany or the Holy Roman Emperor, they were highly independent. Gradually, Germany began to adopt an electoral system for their king as stated by the Golden Bull, therefore, power was transferred to the people, the German monarchy became on the “verge of anarchy.”(Spielvogel 287) South of Germany, Italy also lacked a centralized monarchical state due to papal opposition and its division into separate kingdoms. Eventually, tyrants began a limited rule of Italy that became “long-term despotism” of ever growing regional states. (Spielvogel 288) Thus, centralized monarchical rule became a rare sight in Europe, excluding certain areas.

This led to a focus on a trading system because Europeans didn’t want to take on territorial responsibilities. During the Old imperialism era, Europeans set up trading posts, ports, and docks. These trading centers benefited the places the mother country was supplying too. They had objectives to protect their trading centers in native places and none to obtain territories in them. Europe’s trade within and between native lands led to cultural diversity which may have caused a small breach in unity. However, the old Imperialism era ended due to high costs in taking over territories and too much time to supply the mother country. There was no time to build up a superior, organized, skilled army for anyone. Also, due to the Industrial Revolution there was now a faster more efficient way to create and manufacture products. Throughout Western Europe, political authority was completely controlled by central governments, while leaders, such as Isabela I, were busy with the concept of how to increase the power of the state. National wealth was widely viewed as the groundwork of national power, governmental controls soon dominated nearly all of the state's domestic economy.

Europe is given special consideration thus far in this class. What made Europe or European civilization unique in the perspective of some authors? It went from ‘marginal’ status to powerful region in a few hundred years. What did this process look like? Be sure to address this at the various levels (ideological, behavioral, institutional, material etc.). Are there reasons for this dominance that are more important than others?

1500 A.D. is known as the Rise of Europe. Europe took Chinese inventions and developed them to their full potential. They used the new ideas for overseas expansions, in return, this triggered more technological advances and changes. This caused a transition from medieval to modern civilization. The rise of the nation-state also was an important factor in the rise of Europe. European power rose to a new level of effectiveness and for the first time it gave Europeans a clear margin of superiority over the other great world cultures. European's domination was challenged and rejected. Others felt that Europe's domination left little to individual choice and destroys life's richness and diversity. The two historical fault lines that run in Europe are significant because they stand for the lines that show where war and conflict was located.