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476
Fall of the Roman Empire
Virtually all of the Mediterranean coastline was a part of the Roman empire. In the year 410 AD, a Germanic Tribe called the “Visigoths” invaded the city of Rome. In 476 AD, a Germanic barbarian by the name of Odoacer took control of Rome. This is what most historians consider to be the end of the Roman Empire even though the eastern Roman empire became the Byzantium empire which continued to exist for the next 1000 years.
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476
The Middle Ages
The Middle Ages refers to the time between the fall of the Roman empire and the Renaissance Era. During this time, the Catholic church became the most powerful institutions. Kings and Queens supposedly derived their power from God. Another major event that took place during the Middle Ages was the bubonic plague, also known as the black death. This plague killed millions because there was very low hygiene back then so the plague was easily transmitted.
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1095
The Crusades
The Crusades were wars between the Christians of Europe who wanted to take control of Jerusalem and the holy land from the Muslims. The wanted Jerusalem because it was an important part of their religion, the Jews believed that it was the site of the original temple of God, built by King Solomon, whereas the Muslims believed that it was where Muhammad ascended to heaven. The Muslims one most of the wars so, therefore, they are considered the victors of the crusades.
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1450
The Renaissance
The Renaissance was a time of coming out of the darkness. It took place at the end of the “dark” ages and was a time of cultural rebirth for all of Europe. Many of the great paintings which we look at today were made during this era such as the Mona Lisa.
It was the birthplace of many concepts both politically and philosophically.
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1517
Protestant Reformation
This reformation occurred during the Renaissance period. It created a new form of Christianity called Protestantism. A monk named Martin Luther disagreed with the Catholic church and formed a new religion, Protestantism.
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The Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment refers to a philosophical movement that took place primarily in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. Although the exact beginning of the Age of Enlightenment is unknown, most historians agree that it began toward the end of the Scientific Revolution in the late 17th century. Many of the philosophical ideas which we believe in today stem from this time period. Major members of this movement include Voltaire, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes.
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The French Revolution
The French Revolution was a revolution in France when the people rebelled against the monarchy and took control of the government. It only lasted 10 years, from 1789 to 1799. Revolutionaries stormed the Bastille and took control of it. Then they began to fight the monarchy, killing the members of one by one. They used a device called a guillotine to kill the monarchs; a guillotine is a sharp blade that falls down on the recipient's neck and decapitates them.
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Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution began in Europe in the late 18th century. The revolution began in the textile industry, with great textile mills springing up across Great Britain. It brought many changes in the social structure such as the development of new social classes. Without this revolution, our everyday life wouldn’t be the same.
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WWI
This major conflict between the allied powers and the central powers took place between 1914 and 1918. The majority of the fighting took place in trenches in eastern and western Europe. The war started because of the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and ended with the Treaty of Versailles in Versailles, France. Over 16 million people died during this war.
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WWII
This war was fought between the allied and the axis powers in 1939. It started when Germany invaded Poland. The war spread throughout the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The war in Europe ended on May 7th, 1945 when Germany surrendered and it ended in Asia on September 2, 1945, upon Japan’s surrender. This war is considered to be one of the worst wars of all time because the Nazi party’s leader, Adolf Hitler, committed acts of mass genocide against the Jews.
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Cold War
This war was a period of tension between the communist countries and the democratic countries of the world. Although no battles were actually fought during this war it was still very scary for the people who had to live through it as there was a constant threat of being nuked. There were an arms race and a space race between America and Russia which were pretty much just the two countries trying to see who could do something faster. The war came to an end in 1941.
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NATO/Warsaw Pact
The NATO pact was an agreement between 12 different nations each working towards a common goal. NATO, which stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was created in 1949. It was the main alliance opposing the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The signers agreed that an attack against one of them would be an attack against them all.
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Fall of The Berlin Wall
The Berlin wall was built by the communist government of eastern germany in 1961, It separated eastern and western Berlin. The wall had armed guards on the top of the wall who were patrolling it 24/7. You would be shot if you tried to cross, but after the collapse of the soviet union the people and the soldiers tore down the wall in unison.
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Collapse of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union collapsed in December the 25th, 1991. When George Bush was inaugurated in 1989 he vowed to create a new set of plans to help end the soviet union. He decided that the best way of doing this would be to apply pressure to the soviet union without actually fighting them. By letting events unfold naturally, the soviet union just sort of fell apart after the countries that used to be a part of converted to democracy.
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Creation of the European Union
The European Union was created on November 1st, 1993. It’s an economical and political union between countries in Europe that sets laws and policies on things such as trade tariffs. It wasn’t created in one go but was rather the result of something that had been worked on since 1945.
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