EUROPE

Chapter 13Human Geography of EuropeDiversity, Conflict, Union

Classical World Two Mediterranean

civilizations developed as models for the western world.

Ancient Greece – reached its peak during the 400s and 300s B.C.

The Roman Empire – reached the height of its power between 27 B.C. and A.D. 180

Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in A.D. 392

Ancient Greece

The Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

The Middle Ages From A.D. 500 to 1500,

feudalism – a system in which powerful lords gave land to nobles in return for pledges of loyalty – replaced centralized government.

The Roman Catholic Church became the most powerful force in Europe.

Islam, also spread throughout Spain, contributing much of the culture of Europe.

The Crusades Beginning in the 1000s,

western European forces carried out the Crusades – a series of religious wars to win Palestine from Muslim rule (Islam).

Europeans failed to win permanent control of the area, but did extend trade routes to the eastern Mediterranean.

The Renaissance

Beginning in the early 1300s, the Renaissance – a 300 year period of classical learning and the arts – brought about great advancements in European civilization.

Scholars and artists were influenced by the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome.

The Renaissance A religious movement – the

Reformation – lessened the power of the Roman Catholic Church and led to the beginning of Protestantism.

Encouraged scientific advancements and world exploration.

Innovation of movable type in printing spread new ideas faster and easier.

The Renaissance

A Changing Europe Industrial Revolution began in Great

Britain in the 1700s and rapidly spread.

Power-driven machinery and new methods of production transformed life in Europe.

Led to the growth of a prosperous middle class of merchants and factory owners.

Industrial Revolution

Over London by Rail Gustave Doré c 1870. Shows the densely populated and polluted environments created in the new industrial cities.

Industrial Revolution

A Watt steam engine in a museum in Madrid. The development of the steam engine started the industrial revolution in Great Britain.

Industrial Revolution

A Changing Europe

Social problems in 1848, led to the birth of Communism – an economic and political system designed to establish classless societies.

Statue of Marx and Engels in Alexanderplatz, Berlin. The statues acquired the unofficial nickname "the Pensioners", and were also said to be sitting on their suitcases waiting for permission to emigrate to the West.

Political Revolutions Political Revolutions began:

1600s - the English Parliament passed a Bill of Rights that limited the powers of the monarch.

French Revolution in 1789 made France a republic and spread the ideals of democracy.

During the 1800s, uprisings took place in Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, & Poland.

By 1900, most European nations had democratic constitutions that guaranteed some human rights.

French Revolution

Painting by Jean-Pierre Louis Laurent Houel (1735-1813), entitled Prise de la Bastille ("The storm of the Bastille").

French RevolutionAfter the French Revolution, Louis XVI was beheaded with Dr. Guillotin's invention, the guillotine.

French Revolution

Guillotine: between 18,000 to 40,000 people were executed during the Reign of Terror.

Conflict & Division World War I from 1914-1918 Nationalistic rivalry & competition for colonies

among European nations helped cause WWI The Allied Powers (led by Britain and France,

and, after 1917, the United States) defeated the Central Powers (led by the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire)

Allied powers won and imposed harsh terms on Germany

World War I

Conflict & Division - WWII World War II from 1939-1945 German resentment over the terms of WWI helped

cause WWII Germany, lead by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, tried to

conquer Europe. Nazis also carried out the Holocaust, a program of

mass murder of European Jews and other minorities. The war was initially fought between Germany and

the Allies. The Allies at first consisted only of the United

Kingdom, France and Poland. Germany was later joined by Italy, jointly known as

the Axis Powers, and Japan.

World War II On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet

Union, pulling that country into the war. On December 7, 1941, the USA also entered the

war on the Allies' side after first Japan and then Germany respectively attacked and declared war on the US.

China, which had been engaged in war with Japan since the mid-1930s, also entered the Allies camp.

Germany surrendered to the Allies in May of 1945. The war ended on September 2, 1945 with the formal surrender of Japan.

World War II

Counterclockwise from top: Allied landing on Normandy beaches on D-Day, the 1936 Nuremberg Rally, the Nagasaki atom bomb, Red Army soldiers raising the Soviet flag over the Reichstag in Berlin, the gate of a Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.

After WWII

Germany was split into 2 nations West Germany was allied with non-

Communist Europe & the U.S. East Germany was allied with the

Communist Soviet Union The capital city, Berlin, was also

divided and cut in two by the Berlin Wall

Conflict & Division

Eastern European countries came under Communist rule which led to the Cold War, a power struggle between the Soviet Union and the U.S.

Fidel Castro embracing

Soviet Premier

Nikita Khrushchev.

Cooperation & Unity In the 1980s, reform movements

swept through Eastern Europe. In 1989 & 1990, free elections led to

the end of Communist rule. For example, in 1989, anti-Communist

reforms swept through Europe and East Germany opened the Berlin Wall

In 1990, the 2 Germanys reunited under a democratic government

Europe Today

Europe is a multicultural continent. More than 30 countries whose people

speak more than 50 different languages.

Recent years have seen Europeans want to be unified.

Many countries belong to the European Union.

European Union European Union – an economic unit

forming a single market for their resources.

Member nations now have a single currency – the Euro.

Goods, services, workers, and money can now move more freely among the member countries.

See page 326

European Union

Population

Europe is smaller than any other continent except for Australia.

Only Asia is more densely populated. Europe’s population is about 511

million

Population Germany ranks as the most heavily

populated nation in Europe with 82 million.

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world with a population of around 1,000.

It is only 109 acres and important because it is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic church.

Culture - Religion Religion has shaped European values.

Most of Europe’s Christians are Roman Catholic in southern Europe and in northern Europe they are Protestant.

Eastern Orthodox faith in Eastern Europe.

Culture - Education

Very few European countries have literacy rates below 90% (many have 100%).

Public, mandatory schooling ranges from one country to another.

Health Care

Good health care and nutrition have given European’s a high life expectancy (69 men and 77 women).

Highest life expectancy anywhere except for North America.

Most governments in Europe help pay for health care with tax supported medical care and welfare.

Sports & Recreation

Soccer – national sport in Europe. Rugby is also very popular. Tennis (Wimbledon in England). Skiing and winter sports are also

popular in Europe (think about all those mountains).

Soccer

Chelsea's (a team in the English Premier League) home ground is Stamford Bridge, in London

Real Madrid in white v. Real Sociedad in black on January 5, 2005

Rugby

English Rugby LeagueGateshead Thunder take on Limoux in the Challenge Cup.

Tennis

Wimbledon

Skiing & Winter Sports

Cross-country skiing (skating style) in Einsiedeln, Switzerland.