The Roman Invasion of europe - Research Paper Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents The Roman Invasion of Europe 2 Introduction 2 WESTERN CIVILIZATION BETWEEN 1000 BC AND 1500 4 THE ANCIENT GREEKS 4 ROME 7 HIGH MIDDLE AGES: 1000–1300 AD 8 LATE MIDDLE AGES: 1300–150 9 Works Cited 9 The Roman Invasion of Europe Introduction Western civilization is the description of growth f human civilization beginning in the Middle East, generally spreading westwards (Noble 65). Western civilization is contrasted with Eastern civilization and its roots may be traced back to 9000 BCE when human being shifted from hunters and gathering societies to agricultural societies. Farming became a dominant activity around the headwaters of the Tigris, Jordan and Euphrates rivers, spreading outwards and subsequently across Europe. The persistent spread of agriculture and agricultural products in the West, led to the emergence of the World’s first cities, states and even empires. Western Civilization, however, in its more strictly defined European context traces its origin back to classical antiquity (Spielvogel 36). From Mediterranean and European origins, western civilization has seen a tremendous spread to produce the dominant cultures in South and North America and has had intense influence on the global culture in the recent centuries. The civilization of Greece, Roman Empire culture, pagan Germanic, and early Christendom are deemed influential periods in Western History (King 12). From Rome came knowledge in government administration, law, engineering and marital organization; from Greece came desire for democracy and pursuit of inquiry on subjects such as beauty and truth; the ideals brotherhood was as a result of Christianity which originated from Israel (Christendom). After the fall in Rome in the 5th Century, Europe entered the middle ages during which the Pope and the Christian church taken over the power that was left by the fallen Rome (Ball 32). This led to the development of Feudalism as the government system, with the medieval knights evolving as the military force and serfdom ensuring availability of the workforce. By the 12th Century, Western Europe was experiencing a great increase in learning and art which resulted into the construction and establishment of Cathedrals and Medieval Universities. By 14th Century, a class of merchants was fast growing and the Christian Unity was finally disintegrated by the reformation. This ushered in the Renaissance which took place between 14th and 17th Century, and the ushering in of the dawn of the global European Empires such as Britain and Spain. These Global European Empires have played a major role in shaping the current world. WESTERN CIVILIZATION BETWEEN 1000 BC AND 1500 THE ANCIENT GREEKS The earliest civilization which influenced the development of the West was those of the Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is the origin of the agricultural revolution that began 10000 years ago with raring of domestic animals such as goats, ships and the plantation of the bread wheat. The Akkadians, Babylonians, Sumerians and Assyrians all thrived in this region (John 43). This lead to the beginning of civilization of the Sumerians and subsequently led to the wide spread of civilization in the coastal region of the Mediterranean Sea. The ancient people of the Mediterranean greatly influenced the beginning of the Western civilization (John 43). The Mediterranean Sea aided easy movement of people by providing reliable shipping routes linking Africa, Asia and Europe. By 3100 BC, the Egyptians were employing sails on the Nile River and the succeeding technology, together with astrological knowledge on wind and stars allowed naval powers such as Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans to navigate long distance and control large areas by commanding the sea. This gave rise to great capitals such as Roma Empire, Athens and Jerusalem (John 44). The earliest urban civilization of Europe belong to the Bronze Age Mycenaean Greece and Minoans of Crete, which ended around 11th century BC upon the beginning of the Greek dark Ages. The Minoans were heavily influenced by the Mesopotamia and Egypt civilization. Minoan art especially its pottery showed a peaceful prosperous society, indicating floral designs such as dolphins rather than scenes of war. This message as portrayed in the arts produced by Minoans diffused around the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean proved to be influential. Minoan civilization continued to proper until it mysteriously ended. A combination of mythology and archeology provides clues as to why it might have ended. The Mycenaean Greeks eventually take over around 1450 BC. The Mycenaean were active people who were mainly trader and to some extent practiced piracy over a wide area extending from south Italy to Troy and black sea in the West and Northeast respectively. The Mycenaean were divided in states such as Pylos, Athens, Tiryns, and Mycenae. The Mycenaean tried to run these cities as one central society as was practiced in Egypt and Mesopotamia. This empowered them more as these cities comprises of highly fortified central palaces which were ruled over by surrounding villages. The art, remains of fortifications, armor, indicates that Mycenaean were much war oriented than Minoans. Archaeological remains prove that Mycenaean were very wealthy from trade and piracy. However, around 1200 B.C, a period of turmoil and migrations began to weaken and eventually destroying Mycenaean civilization (Noble 65). The wealth of Greece was limited and supporting a large population was strenuous on them. In spite of that, its population still grew considerably. Consequently, this posed problems, since family lands had to be divided by the sons in the family. This motivated the Greeks to look for colonies that had good soil, potential natural resources, good location for trade and good defensive land (King 23). By the 6th Century B.C, Greek colonists had spread wide to places such as Spanish Mediterranean, modern Italy, Crete, Cyprus, North Africa, and Turkey. Trade boomed and by 670 BC the barter economy was being substituted by money economy, with Greeks minting coins in the island of Aegina. No Greek state aroused to such a great heights as Sparta. This was attributed to the fact that the Spartans did almost everything different to the way other Greeks did. Originally Sparta was much like any other state in Greek. However, by 750 B.C, increase in population led to the need of expansion. For this reason, Sparta attacked Messenians and eventually conquering them after a very fierce battle. As a result Sparta became a military state ever on guard against any threats from their enemies such as Helots. Spartan government, contrary to democracies in other states, maintained elements of old monarchy and aristocracy. Spartan discipline did produce magnificent soldiers with obedience to authority, however they had inadequate self-discipline. Another state of Greece that helped fueled Western Civilization is the Athens. Its greatness was the product of a long history putting the foundation for the great accomplishment 600 B.C. the nobles in Athens were become more nervous about the increasing complaints of the poor and the rising class. As a result, they appointed and gave power to Solon to reform state and ease tension between the poor and the middle classes. Solon improved the economy by encouraging the cultivation of olive trees, developing of trade and agriculture in Athens, and abolishing of debts and debt slavery (Pirenne 87). The profits made from agriculture, wine and pottery used to buy grains from the Black sea. Solon also ensured political reforms in Athens. Therefore, the combination of the greater sense of commitment to Athens, the struggle over the security of Black sea grain supply with Persia, and the discovery of silver in Attica, encouraged the Athenians to use their economic power to develop a strong navy army to fight Persia and eventually leading to the victory over Persia by the Greeks. Its this victory over Persia that lead to the establishment of the Athenian Empire in the 5th Century B.C. the Athenian in turn formed the basis for the wealth to sustain the cultural blossoming at Athens that has been the foundation for much of Western Civilization. The spread of Greek civilization through its colonies to people outside of Greece elicited the second long term process affecting the polis. Many people mimicked the culture, military organization, economic reform and political structure of Greeks. All these factors led to unfortunate pattern of war that later resulted to the fall of Polis in 338 B.C. (336 BCE-31 BCE). 399 B.C.E. saw Socrates tried and executed for corrupting the young of the city with his teachings.  That event, as much as any, signified the end of Athens cultural golden age. ROME When we think of Romans, we think empire builders. However, they built and maintained an empire that for- two decades-embraced the Meditterenean Sea (John 44). The Romans also helped spread civilization in Western Europe by bridging between the older culture of the ancient culture and the western civilization. Classical Greek culture greatly influenced the Roman Empire. Roman civilization moved from the dominant monarchy to an oligarchic and later to autocratic empire. Rome maintained less power in the Italian isthmus, but found a clever way of producing sailors and soldiers. By 240 B.C., Rome controlled Sicily which was formerly controlled by Greek. In 207 B.C the Romans were able to expand their overseas empire following the defeat of bold Carthaginian general Hannibal. The roman engineers constructed roads throughout the empire, and the population of the empire grew tremendously actually being the first to reach one million mark among the empires. Julius Caesar played a critical role in the gradual transformation of roman republic into Roman Empire between 100 B.C-44BC. However he was assassinated in 44BC by conspirators who feared he was planning to revive the monarchy style of rule (Ball 33). His successor Augustus Caesar outmaneuvered his opponents to rule as the designated emperor from 27 B.C. the period of imperial and stability was ushered in Roman Empire. The history and civilization of the Roman contributed to the government, war, art, law, architecture, literature, technology, language and religion in the Western world. Latin, the Roman Catholic Church official language, is a living legacy of the classical world and the contemporary world. For a long time international lingua franca the Latin evolved into the Romance languages. Greek and Latin have continued to influence English in vocabularies such as law and technology. The population and wealth had been moved east and the disintegration of Europe into Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) influenced the disintegration of the Roman empire-to Western and Eastern empires- by emperor Diocletian in 285AD (Pirenne 77). Although cultural and continuity and interchange continued between Western and Eastern Roman empires, the history of Western cultures and Christianity took different routes and finally came the separation of Roman and Eastern Christianity. The fall of Rome Rome’s failure to adapt its city state government style to ruling and empire motivated patterns of events that latter led to the fall of the Roman Empire. The desire for glory and personal gain by the rulers and the politicians led to the weakening of the Roman culture, traditions and institutions (Ball 32). In 476AD the western Roman Empire, which had ruled France, Italy, Spain, England and for Portugal collapsed due decline in economic powers and the invasion of the barbarian tribes who originated from Scandinavia and the Northern Germany of today. The gradual decline in Western empire occurred for long as three centuries starting in 476 when Romulus Augustus was deposed by Odoacer. However, the Eastern Roman Empire continued until 1453 upon the fall of Constantinople. HIGH MIDDLE AGES: 1000–1300 AD From 1100, the Catholic Church was the very power structure run by monastic organizations who were generally followers of Benedictine rule. By 1000 feudalism was favored as the most dominant economic, social and political system. In 1054 there emerged a rift between Christianity and the Roman Catholic doctrine. In 1095, Pope Urban II planned to re-conquer the Holy land from Muslim, when Christians were prevented from visiting the holly sites by the Seljuk. Cathedral schools began in the early middle ages as centers of advanced education. The 12th century witnessed the increase in universities, commencement in coal mining and crucial technological advances. LATE MIDDLE AGES: 1300–150 By 14th century, the influence of the Europe’s middle class had increased and subsequently resulting to feudal system. This ushered in the growth in big towns and cities in the West and eventually improving the economy of Europe. This in turn led to the emergence of Renaissance which began in Italy. The renaissance introduced in a new era of intellectual inquiry, scientific inquiry and appreciation of the Romans and the ancient Greek civilization. Works Cited Ball, Warwick. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Newyork: Routledge, 2000. Print. John F. Chuchiak, IV, Walter Kirchner. Western Civilization To 1500. Amsterdam: HarperCollins, 2006. Print. King, Margaret L. Western civilization: a social and cultural history. Chicago: Prentice Hall, 2003. Print. Noble, Thomas F. X. Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries. Michigan: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print. Pirenne, Henri. A History of Europe: From the Invasions to the XVI Century. London: Taylor & Francis, 2010. Print. Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization: To 1500. london: Wadsworth, 2002. Print. Read More