Europe/Timelines

The historical background to present-day Europe

(covering only developments that are deemed relevant to the present character of Europe)

The European heritage

Ancient Greece

- the poetry of Homer (the Iliad and the Odyssey)

- the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle and the concept of democracy as a system of government

- the mathematics of Euclid and Pythagoras

The Roman Empire

- the rule of law and Pax Romana:

- the poetry of Virgil (the Aeneid)

Christianity

- the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and the other patristic philosophers: a doctrine of passive obediance to authority

- the art of Michelangelo and Benini

- the politics of the Holy Roman Empire and the reign of Charlemagne

Islam

- the mathematics and poetry of the Abbasid culture,

- Omar Khayyam.

The Enlightenment

- the philosophical writings of Denis Diderot, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau that gave priority to the power of reason over the claims of authority.

- the scientific method: Galileo on the importance of observation, and Isaac Newton on the rules of reasoning.

The development of the nation states

1648: Treaty of Westphalia

- created the Westphalian System[1] of European sovereign states.

1663: Thomas Newcomen[2] (1663 - 1729) and the development of the steam engine.

1689: The Glorious Revolution establishes the duties of the monarchy

1690: John Locke Two Treatises on Government - the proposition that government is legitimate only if it is exercised in the interests of the governed.

1713: Treaty of Utrecht

- separated France from Spain; ceded the Spanish Netherlands to Austria; ceded Gibraltar and parts of Canada to Britain

1789: French Revolution - The replacement of the monarchy with a Republic.

1791: Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man

1799-1815 Napoleonic Wars - between France and other European countries including Austria, Russia and Britain.

1806: Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and formation of the Federation of the Rhine.

1815: Congress of Vienna

- redefined the territorial map of Europe following the defeat of Napoleon; including the creation of the Confederation of Germany

1867: Austro-Hungarian Compromise

- united Austria with Hungary.

1914-18 First World War

1917: October Revolution

- the seizure of power by Lenin's Bolshevics, from the provisional government that had been formed by the revolutionary uprising of of February 1917.

1918: The collapse of Austro-Hungary, and the proclamation of the separate republics of Austria and Hungary.

1919: Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920)

- concluded the treaties of Versailles (with Germany), St Germain (with Austria), Trianon (with Hungary), Neuilly (with Bulgaria), Sèvres and Lausanne (with Turkey).

1929-35: Great Depression

1933: Adolf Hitler and Nazi Party takes power in Germany

1939-45 Second World War

1946: Paris Peace Conference (1946-1947)

- concluded peace treaties with Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Rumania and Italy.

The development of a union of nation states

1946: The partition of Germany - between West Germany and communist East Germany

Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech - the east/west division of Europe

1949: North Atlantic Treaty - created NATO

Treaty of London (1949) - created the Council of Europe

1953: Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

1954: Brussels Treaty - created the Western Union involving Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

1957: Treaty of Rome - created the European Community: a customs union that included Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands

- for further accessions see the European Union timeline

1973: Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe - and the signing in 1975 of the Helsinki Final Act - which created the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe

1985: The Schengen Agreement for border crossings without passport checks.

1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall - the symbolic destruction of the fortified barrier between east and west Berlin

1990: German reunification

1991: Collapse of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars

1992: Treaty of Maastricht - created the European Union: an extension of the European Community embodying political as well as economic collaboration, and the European Economic and Monetary Union (subsequently referred to as the eurozone)

-for subsequent treaties see the European Union timeline

1994: Opening of the Channel tunnel

2008-10: Great Recession

2010: Eurozone crisis - a financial crisis concerning, at first, the fiscal sustainability of the PIIGS members of the European Monetary Union, and subsequently the survival of the eurozone.