Genesis of Europe

Where's Europe?

Most continents have considerable land measures, but Europe is slightly different. Because Europe is part of the same land measure as Asia, you might say that, geographically, it is not really a particular continent. The border between Europe and Asia is usually taken to the Ural Mountains in Russia, but this line is slightly arbitrary. The border becomes even more arbitrary in the Mediterranean region. The city of Istanbul is officially at the point of the meeting of Europe and Asia, with only a small water belt, the Bosphorus Strait, among them. But if you expect to find yourself in a different world as soon as you get off the ship, you may be disappointed. Much of Turkey seems quite similar to most of Greece, which is not surprising because they are both part of the same culture. Cyprus is part of <x0 Europa”, but it has much more common with Turkey “azitic” than it does with other European islands, such as Iceland, Ireland or the Baltic Islands. In fact, for most of Europe's history, the Mediterranean world has operated as one unit, with commercial ships moving from coast to shore, and grand empires seeking to dominate the entire area, with no human raising a voice that, if properly spoken, there are three distinct continents.

How many Europes?

Once you start looking at the similarities that hold Europeans together, you end up with some unexpected results. One thing is certain, quickly find out that there were more “Europe@x1> than you might have thought.

A Christian Europe?

The idea of Europe as a Christian continent functions, but to a certain point. However, Europe has a substantial Muslim population, and not only post-war immigrants, but communities originally established when the Ottoman Turks invaded Eastern Europe in the XV century. Most of Spain was once ruled by Muslims from North Africa, who created what they called the Califat of Cordoba; yet you can find a sense of their rich cultural heritage in the magnificent Pallat Alhambra in Granada. Christianity spread across Europe, so much so that conversation focused on the Christian world, a kind of united Christian Europe. However, Christianity was divided into two geographical and theological camps - the Roman - based Catholic Church and the Constantinople - based Orthodox Church. Medieval Catholics viewed Orthodox Christians as slightly better than infidels (that is, unbelievers), and in 1204 an army of Western crusaders decided on their way to Jerusalem to teach a lesson through the destruction of the great Christian city of Constantinople. (You can learn more about this ugly episode in Chapter 7.) Go ahead for three centuries and find Europe dividing itself in half about Martin Luther and John Calvin's religious ideas. This period is called Reformatoryism (the 10th chapter has details) and divided Europe into Protestant Europe (Algli, Scotland, northern Germany, Scandinavian, Holland, parts of Switzerland) and Catholic (Ital, France, Spain, Poland, Hungary, southern Germany, Ireland), not to mention Eastern Orthodox Europe (Russia, Greece, Balkans). Christian Europe? Count: There were three Europes!

A royal Europe?

When religious leaders were not claiming divine sanction against parts of Europe, European royals claimed or tried to claim their divine right to rule...

Does it mean thinking of Europe as a continent that, historically in every case, is easily linked to the monarchy? Europe cast away many kings who were born to rule and knew how. Among these people were:

Medieval kings, such as St. Louis IX of France or Henry II of England, who held all the land of their kingdoms, so anyone else, even the most noble, were their inhabitants.

Holy Roman emperors who ruled Germany and viewed themselves as leaders of Christian Europe, the second Frederick, known as “Stupor Mundi”, “World Miracle”

Russia's Czares, such as Ivan IV of “Terrible”; autocrats of a great empire that could hope that each word was law.

King Philip II of Spain, who ruled a worldwide empire from a simple studio within the great bureaucratic palace he built for himself outside Madrid called El Escorial.

France's XIV Louis “King Sun”, so called because your yard in Versailles was supposed to be as majestic as the sun itself. He believed in the divine right of kings to rule absolutely.

You could say ʹ and some historians have said that all those dictators in XX-century Europe were just following a model created by their royal ancestors. Stalin was sometimes called Red Care, and Mussolini certainly viewed himself as a modern Roman emperor (he ended up as many).

But there is another Europe that has never been under the divine right of kings, and it is in fact proud that it has kept its rulers under strict control. The English forced King John to accept Magna Carta in 1215, and by the end of the XVII century, they had beheaded one king, kept another in exile for years, and forced a third to flee for life. The Swiss gathered together to drive the Austrians off in the 18th century and have been very proud of their republican tradition since. The Italians set up a series of republic cities in the Middle Ages and were forever in their defense. Not always successful, it should be said against the Presidential rulers who could try to get into his hand. The Dutch and Germans have very strong traditions of republican cities, gathering together to protect their independence. All these countries looked for inspiration in the city to the states of ancient Greece and to the father of all the ancient Roman Republic. The danger, as you will learn from the Romans and then the Italians in their own skin, came, not from their foreign enemies, but from their own successful generals. The Roman word for an army command was impervious; it is no coincidence that it gave us the emperor's word because the Roman imperials returned to it. (See chapter 4 and the 6 of them to learn what was wrong with the noble Roman experiment in republican rule).

A democratic Europe?

The Council of Europe, which was created after World War II, likes to promote the idea that if they are properly European, you have to stand for the ideals of democracy and you can see why. Ancient Greece was the birthplace of democracy, and the word itself is Greek ʹ “The mother of Britain's” is generally viewed as the model of governance with representation and the French can claim, with the Declaration of Their Human Rights of 1789, that they have given the world the first real human rights declaration (but look at chapter 16 before you believe it). The problem with this notion is that European democracy is a very late idea and has not taken very deep roots. Greek democracy was very different from modern democracy, not least why Greek freedom relied on a class of slaves known as helots and women you just didn't know what was coming, did you? They had none of the rights that men enjoyed. Even in modern Western Europe, it took years of struggle to achieve equal democratic rights for women. Democracy actually flourished in European history in the period since the end of World War II in 1945, and then never forget that only half the continent. Eastern and central Europe did not enjoy democracy until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, taking Communist dictatorships with them. Since then, many of these countries in democratic transition, as word put it, have found democracy very difficult to adapt. Many of the Russians today look back with homesickness in the good old days of Stalin and the labor camps; at least you knew where quiet then, they say. It would be good to say that democracy so far naturally comes to Europeans, but the evidence is against it. /Take from the first chapter of “Europe for dumies”/

PERGATITI: ARMIN TIRANA / www.bota.al