| 500s BC |
Rise of
Greek philosophy in Ionia + Southern Italy / Jewish culture in the East
Secularist-Materialists:
Thales (early 500s), Anaximander (early 500s), Anaximines (mid 500s)
Transcendentalist-Mystics:
Pythagoras (mid-late 500s)
Solon reforms Athens' constitution
along democratic lines (early 500s)
Cleisthenes reforms Athens along
more fully democratic lines (late 500s)
Jewish prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah
and their disciples refine monotheistic Judaism |
| 400s BC |
Golden
Age of Greece + Hellenic culture / the 'Age of Pericles' in Athens
Athenians under Themistocles and
Miltiades defeat Darius at Marathon (490)
Persians more decisively defeated
at Salamis (480 BC) and Platea (479 BC)
Mystics: Heraclitus (early
400s), Parmenides (early 400s)
Materialists: Anaxagoras
(mid 400s), Democritus (late 400s - early 300s)
Sophists: Protagoras (mid
400s)
Socrates (late 400s)
Pericles turns the Delan League
into an Athenian empire (ca. 460-430 BC)
Athens and its allies fight Sparta
and its allies in the Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 BC)
destroying Athens,
devastating the rest of Greece and ending the Golden Age of Greece |
| 300s BC |
Decline
of Classic Hellenic-Athenian Greek culture / Rise of Alexander and Hellenistic
culture
Plato (early 300s) and Aristotle
(mid 300s)
Cynics/Skeptics: Diogenes
(early 300s), Pyrrho of Ellis (late 300s),
Macedonian/Greek Alexander the Great
conquers from the Nile to the Indus (334-323 BC)
Hellenistic (mixture of Greek +
Eastern) culture is thus born
At his death, Alexander’s empire
is carved up into separate kingdoms, the largest of which were:
Egypt (the Ptolemies),
Syria and the East (the Seleucids) and Macedonia-Greece (the Antigonids)
Meanwhile after Rome was burned
by the Gauls (387 BC) it recovers — and begins its gradual
expansion in
northern Italy against the Etruscans, Gauls and Samnites |
| 200s BC |
Hellenistic
culture cynical, passive -- and scientific; Rome fights Carthage
Cynics: Crates (early 200s);
Epicureans:
Epicurus (late 300s - early 200s);
Stoics: Zeno of Citium (early
200s)
Scientists: Aristarchus (early-mid
200s) and Archimedes (mid-late 200s)
Rome seizes the Greek kingdoms of
southern Italy and Sicily in the Pyrrhic War (280-275 BC)
Roman-Carthaginian Punic Wars:
1st (mid 200s) ; 2nd (late 200s: Hannibal neary victorious) |
| 100s BC |
The Rising
Roman Republic defeats Carthage -- and Macedonian Greece
The 3rd Punic War (mid 100s): Carthage
is destroyed (146 BC);
Greece is also defeated (146 BC)
but its culture is respected and absorbed by the Romans
Marius reforms the Roman army, offering
poor Romans professional status as full-time soldiers (107 BC) |
| 50s BC |
Julius
Caesar + Roman Army lay the foundations for the military-run Roman Empire |
| Year 1 |
Jesus
is born in Judea
Octavius Augustus Caesar builds
up Imperial Rome |
| 1st century
AD |
The Roman
Empire matures -- and Judaism goes into the diaspora
Rome burns, destroying 2/3s of the
city (64); Christians are subsequently blamed and persecuted
Jewish Revolt against Rome (67-70)
Jerusalem and
the Temple are destroyed (70) — and the Jews banished from Jerusalem |
| 100s AD |
Rome reaches
the height of her power
The 'Good Emperors' Trajan (98-117),
Hadrian (117-138), Antoninus (138-161) and
Marcus Aurelius
(161-180) bring Roman expansion and its wealth to its greatest extent |
| 200s |
Rome in
a state of material and moral decline
For 50 years, 25 emperors are made
and unmade in rapid succession by a venal Praetorian Guard
Diocletian (285-305) tries to restore
Roman discipline — and the purity of 'original' Roman society
including the
elimination of the detested 'foreign' Christian religion |
| 300s |
Christianity
adopted as the official religion of Rome; but the material decline continues
Emperor Constantine (312-337) makes
Christianity legal (313); he helps formalize 'Nicene' or Trinitarian
Christianity;
he moves the imperial capital to Byzantium (Constantinople)
The Arian controversy over the nature
of Christ develops — producing a lasting split within the faith
Emperor Theodosius (379-395) makes
Nicene (anti-Arian) Christianity the sole religion (late 300s)
Meanwhile Ulfilias spreads Arian
Christianity to the German Goths + from there to other German tribes
The Romans permit the Visigoths
to cross the Danube to escape the Asian Huns (376)
But Visigothic-Roman tensions build,
the Goths revolt, and the Roman army is crushed at the Battle of
Adrianople (378).
Obvious to all, Rome can no longer defend itself. |
| 400s |
Rome in
an advanced state of decay and collapse — especially in the West
Visigoth chief Alaric conquers the
city of Rome in 410 (Ravenna is actually now the Western capital)
Germans spread quickly throughout
the Western empire: Visigoths + Suevi to Spain, Vandals to
North Africa,
Franks + Burgundians to Gaul or ‘France,' and Saxons + Angles to Britain
or ‘England'
Patrick travels to Ireland (mid
400s?) - to help convert Ireland to Nicene Christianity
Leo I (bishop or 'pope' 440-461)
greatly strengthens Rome as the center of Western Christianity
Clovis (King of the Franks) unites
much of Gaul and Western Germany (late 400s/early 500s);
he converts from
paganism to Nicene Christianity (late 400s) |
| 500s |
Roman
(Byzantine) Emperor Justinian (527-565) attempts to restore the Roman Empire
But: constant warfare with Persia
and the expense of partial Roman reconquest in the West
drain physical
strength from Byzantine Rome
Also: theological splits and assaults
on Christian 'heretics' drain moral strength from Byzantine Rome
Roman Christianity in the West is
strengthened by Benedict (Italian monastic reformer), Pope Gregory
(developer of
'Catholic' Christianity), Irish missionaries Columba (to Scotland) and
Columban (to
Burgundy, Switzerland
and Northern Italy) and Roman missionary Augustine (to the Anglo-Saxons) |
| 600s |
Muhammad’s
Arabs conquer huge portions of Eastern (Byzantine) Rome + all of Persia
A series of Byzantine-Persian wars
(613-630) devastates and exhausts both empires
Muhammad (630) unites the tribes
of Arabia around his Arianist religion, Islam
Muslim Arabs overrun much of the
Byzantine Empire: Syria (634), Jerusalem (637), Egypt (641)
The Persians are completely mastered
(633-641) — though they take up dissenting 'Shi'ite' Islam
Celtic missionaries continue their
work in bringing Germanic West Europe to Nicene Christianity
But the Synod of Whitby (664) replaces
Celtic Christianity with Roman Christianity in England |
| 700s |
Spain
lost to Islam; Rise of the Carolingian Franks; Muslims fail to capture
France
Muslim Arabs cross from North Africa
to conquer the Visigothic kingdom in Spain (711-718);
But they are stopped further north
by Frankish general Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours (737)
Muslims retreat back into Spain
and establish an Islamic Umayyad dynasty there (for 700+ years)
Charles Martel establishes the Carolingian
dynasty in France. |
| 800s |
Charlemagne's
Empire established — then breaks up; Vikings begin their terrible raids
on Europe
Charlemagne conquers and unifies
France, Germany, and Lombardic Italy; he is crowned emperor in 800
A revival of sorts stirs within
Western Christendom
But his warring grandsons divide
up and weaken his empire (The Treaty of Verdun: 843)
Viking raids are a regular feature
of life in Europe — throwing it back into very dark times |
| 900s |
The height
of the Viking Age
Viking attacks are constant along
the Irish, English, French and Dutch coasts; Swedes invade Russia
But Viking (Norman) leader Rollo
is permitted (911) by the King Charles to settle the French coast
The Normans
are quickly Romanized — and brought into Western political-military service
Viking (Rus) leader Vladimir of
Kiev converts to Byzantine Christianity (988); he dominates East Europe |
| 1000s |
The first
stirrings of a Western revival (which lasts all the way into the 20th century!)
Viking King Canute (or Cnute) unites
England, Denmark, Norway and parts of Sweden (early 1000s)
bringing some
degree of stability to Northwestern Europe
Saxon England is conquered by French
Normans at Hastings (1066) —
bringing it more
closely into European affairs
Benedictine monk Anselm of Canterbury
stirs the fires of renewed Christian scholarship (late 1000s)
Pope Urban calls the 1st Crusade
(1095) to 'liberate' the Holy Lands from Muslim Turks |
| 1100s |
The Christian
West breaks out of its political and intellectual confines
The 1st crusade is a success — with
Christian kingdoms established in the Holy Lands (1100)
Western scholarship develops under
French monks Abelard, Bernard, and Lombard
Height of the Church-State 'investiture
controversy' as Roman Popes and (German) Holy Roman
Emperors compete
for dominance in the newly rising Europe
Saladin manages to retake for the
Muslims much of the Crusader gain in the Middle East (later 1100s)
But new waves of crusaders arrive
(the 2nd crusade) — though they prove unable to oust Saladin;
However East-West
commerce begins to replace crusading in importance
Venice begins its rise as a rich
and powerful commercial-maritime city-state (late 1100s)
|
| 1200s |
The High Middle Ages
Muslim Arabs drive out the last
of the crusaders at the end of the 1200s
but allow commercial
+ intellectual relations to continue
Venice establishes a vast commercial
empire around the Eastern Mediterranean
Genoa, London, Paris, the city-states
of Flanders and the Hansa cities of North Germany also prosper
Age of northern (Gothic) cathedrals
and cathedral schools (future universities)
Age of Scholasticism and Aristotelian
thinking (Dominicans, especially Aquinas)
But also a strong strain of Christian
mysticism thriving (Franciscan ‘Spirituals') |
| 1300s |
The Closing
of the High Middle Ages + beginning of the 'Renaissance'
The Black Death (mid 1300s) and
the Pope's 'Babylonian Captivity' at Avignon, France (1309-1378)
undermine Christianity’s
moral/political hold and help bring an end to the 'Middle Ages'
Fine arts and literature begin to
stir with the Italian artist and architect Giotto (early 1300s),
the Italian writers
and poets Dantes (late 1200s/early 1300s), Petrarch + Boccaccio (early
1300s)
and the English
writer Chaucer (late 1300s) |
| 1400s |
The height
of the Renaissance: great material/intellectual progress in Western Europe
Commercial families of urban Italy
(such as the Medici of Florence under Cosimo and Lorenzo)
and princely/kingly
families in Northern Europe (such as the Valois of France under Louis XII
and the Tudors
of England under Henry VII) come to political prominence
'Humanist' art, architecture, industry,
commerce in Italy and Flanders reach levels of ancient Rome
Beginning of the Age of Exploration
— in the quest of a direct route to the wealth of East Asia
Eastern Christendom or Byzantium
finally falls to Turkish Muslims (1453) — even as Muslim Spain is
losing out to
Christian Spain (the last Muslim state in Spain, Granada, finally falls
in 1492)
|
| 1500s |
The Age of Spain:
secular wealth strengthens rising classes and undercuts Church + Empire
Luther and Calvin develop Protestantism
as a separate Christian branch
Lutheranism appeals
to N. European princes/kings seeking independence
Calvinism appeals
to N. European urban commercial class seeking independence
Very Catholic Hapsburg Spain under
Charles I (1506-1556) and Philip II (1556-1598) rules supreme
in Europe based
on plundered wealth from Mexico (Cort?s) + Peru (Pizarro)
The Hapsburgs try to stamp out Protestantism
— but the Turks under Suleiman divert them from this
task when the
Turks lay seige to Habsburg Vienna (1529)
England under Henry VIII (1509-1547)
and Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and
France under
Francis I (1515-1547) and Henry IV (1589-1610) continue to rise politically
Defeat of the Spanish Armada by
England (1588) brings the beginning of the decline of Spanish power |
| 1600s |
Europe
torn by religious strife; turns to secular science as an alternative path
to Truth
Thirty Years War (1618-1648) leaves
continental Europe spiritually exhausted
The first English settlements are
established in the 'New World' — early 1600s
Virginia is settled
by company-sponsored fortune hunters aspiring to become 'aristocrats'
New England is
settled by Puritan refugees seeking to build a community pleasing to God
Middle Colonies
are settled by diverse groups, including Quakers, Mennonites and Catholics
(joining the
Protestant or 'Reformed' Dutch of New York and Swedes/Dutch of Delaware)
England torn by Civil War between
Royalists and Puritans - mid 1600s;
Cromwell establishes
a short-lived Puritan Commonwealth in England (1650s)
France under 'Absolutist' King Louis
XIV (1643-1715) brings French culture to a position of dominance
in Europe, but
drives out France's industrious Huguenots (he revokes the Edict of Nantes
in 1685)
English Parliament overthrows James
II’s effort to become an ‘Absolutist' king like Louis XIV
(The 'Glorious
Revolution' — 1688-1689)
Newton and Locke lay the foundations
of modern science — birthing the 'Enlightenment' (late 1600s) |
| 1700s |
Age of
Enlightenment, Royal absolutism and the early stirrings of democracy
Royal families of Europe (Russia,
Prussia, Austria, England) mimic French royalty
But Absolutist hold of French
monarchy itself slips as royal wealth dries up
French philosophes (Voltaire,
Diderot, Condorcet, etc.) call for a rule in France of Human Reason
— or Human Instinct,
untainted by traditional social conventions (Rousseau)
English Absolutist 'wanna-be' George
III drives English colonies to rebellion (1770s) —
by which the
colonies ultimately (mid 1780s) secure total 'American' independence
American democratic traditions produce
a model constitutional democracy (later 1780s)
But in France democratic impulses
collapse France into a chaotic Revolution (1789)
which spreads
to the rest of Europe through French Revolutionary armies
The French ‘Reign of Terror’ (1792-1794)
shocks Europe |
| 1800s:
1st quarter |
French
Nationalism stirs to life other nationalisms in Europe
Napoleon takes charge of the French
Revolution (1800) and challenges the rest of Europe
Hegel lays out the case for all
history evolving through the work of a Weltgeist ('World Spirit')
Napoleon and France are defeated
(1815)
and attempts
are made to restore the Old Order (Ancien R?gime) of church and royal state...
but French
nationalism has stirred up political activism among Europe’s commoners
America’s 'War of 1812' has fueled
a spirit of American nationalism
'Romanticism' gives the spirit of
nationalism a passionate spirit
|
1800s:
2nd quarter |
The industrial revolution begins
to create new and deep social class tensions
Wealthy middle class industrialists
take command of politics in England (1830)
Victoria becomes queen — and
symbol of mighty Victorian England (1837-1901)
Americans push westward and
overrun the Mexican lands to the West (1840s)
There is a commoner uprising
against aristocratic rule in Austria, Germany and France (1848)
|
1800s:
3rd quarter |
'Popular' nation-states (built
around the identity of a particular people) take shape —
throwing
into question the sovereignty of 'Christian' kings and emperors
Louis Napoleon creates the 2nd French
Empire — and brings Paris to splendor (1850s/1860s)
The nation-state (but monarchy)
of Italy is founded by Cavour, Mazzini + Garibaldi (1860)
A fierce conflict between Yankee
and Southern nationalisms erupts in America (1860s)
The nation-state (but empire) of
Germany is founded by Bismarck (1870)
Meanwhile the old order comes under
even deeper intellectual-spiritual attack:
Marx's Communist Manifesto
(1848) and Das Kapital (vol. 1: 1867) demonstrate 'scientifically'
that a workers'
revolution would inevitably bring about a state-less, property-less society,
thus
encouraging the
industrial workers of the West to rise up against the factory and mine
owners
and their governments
The publication of Darwin’s Origin
of Species (1859) and Descent of Man (1871) explains 'evolution'
not as an act
of God but one of 'natural selection' whereby the strong push aside the
weak as
the necessary
price of progress, stirring up the idea of the necessity of the strong
to rule over
the weak — in
the West and in the world
|
1800s:
4th quarter |
The Age of Western imperial domination
in the world
An imperialistic West moves to global
dominance
England
and France (and, to a lesser extent, Germany) in Africa and Asia
The United
States in Central America
A Western
condominium (“Open Door” policy) in China
But Japan takes up Westernization
for itself to become imperial power of its own in Asia
Meanwhile the industrial revolution
and land pressure on the countryside is changing the West —
as urban
culture begins to replace rural culture as the norm for Western societies
The closing of the American frontier
closes the escape hatch of the Western poor
and puts
a tightening economic hold on the working poor in the West (1880s/1890s)
But extreme nationalism seems to
be deflecting much of the workers wrath into a readiness to have
a war — not with
the nation's industrial owners but with foreign nationals (1890s)
[The stage for the tragedy of World
War One is thus set]
|
|
Miles
H. Hodges
