European History 1450-1815

With the invention of new navigational techniques in both Europe and Asiatic countries, European nations were able to discover new trade routes both to India and China, and the New World to the west, beginning the Columbian Exchange of both goods and diseases and setting the stage for European colonialism which would continue well into the 19th Century.

The Spanish Inquisition was the reconquest of the Iberian peninsula for Cathloticism, led by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain. The inquisition also pushed forward the ideals of scholarly research and thought, and the education of more of the country's people.

Beginning with the Spanish Inquisition to root out Islam and claim all of Spain for Catholicism, and ending (approximately) with the conclusion of the Council of Trent.

The Spanish were in direct competition with the Portuguese, and sought an alternative route to India by going west. Christopher Columbus made four voyages to the west starting in 1492, and was one of the first to discover the Americas, although he thought that he had truly reached India.

The countries of England, France, and the Netherlands, empowered by the discoveries of Spain and Portugal and wishing to make their own fortune, began exploring by sea in 1497. The French searched for a northern passage to India, and while that was not found, the north american continent was used for the fur trade and settlement of those who wished to leave Europe for a new life in the west. by 1700, the American continent was heavily settled by Europeans.

It was during this period that the Protestant and Catholic Reformation took place, pointing Europe in the direction of freer thought even than the Renaissance. This period set the stage for the Enlightenment.

Throughout this period, groups such as the Calvinists and Lutherans fought primarily for the middle classes, gaining support in Eastern Europe where the Catholic hold on the land was weak and disliked. These states, along with England, became Protestant at the behest of their rulers.

In this act of rebellion against the Catholic Church, Luther outlined the things in the church he took exception to, and wished to fix. This action began the Protestant Reformation.

At a high cost to the people of their countries, Austria and France fought sporadically for control of the city-states of Italy, where both were thought to have dynastic claims. The wars eventually came to an end as both countries were forced to deal with Protestant sects within each of their respective countries.

After the exhaustion of the native peoples of the Americas to work in the mines and plantations of the colonies, European nations turned to Africa for a source of manual labor, forcibly taking people from the land and putting them to work without pay and under brutal conditions in the new world.

Founded by Ignatius of Loyola, the pope officially declared the Society of Jesus as a religious order in 1540. Called the Jesuits, followers of this group believed that an education in the humanities among Catholic followers would stunt the growth of Protestantism within Europe.

The beginning of the Scientific revolution in the sense that it was the first questioning of Medieval thought in regards to scientific reasoning. This solid discovery paved the way for the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

After the conclusion of the Habsburg-Valois Wars, Catholic Monarchs were able to focus on and ponder the religious questions of the day. The council was a group of church leaders from across Europe who would concentrate on reforming the abuses of the church. However, as they clarified beliefs, it became obvious that there would be no ideological compromise with the Protestants. Most of the reforms were thought about in the context of scripture and tradition of the church.

Civil war broke out in France in 1562, after the death of the two previous kings of France, Francis and Henry II, within two years of each other. Thrown into chaos by the Protestant sects in the region. When Henry of Navarre was briefly crowned king, and allowed a brief period of religious tolerance, but that policy ended with the crowning of the next king.

An uprising of the protestant common people of the Netherlands against the Spanish-Catholic rulers of the area. The uprising resulted in 40 years of slaughter of the non-Catholic people of the Netherlands.

Heartened by the humanitarian and scientific discoveries of the Renaissance, and set free by the "Alone before God" mentality of Protestantism, many thinkers of the 17th century were able to begin novel work on philosophy and the sciences, freeing the thought of the people of Europe and laying the foundations for the age of revolutions in the 19th century.

After a Catholic price took control of Bohemia and set about massacring the protestants in the area. However, the Protestant nobles in the area threw him and his supporters out of a window, killing them and starting a the war. The Holy Roman Empire then conquered and subsequently lost the majority of Europe, leading to financial troubles after the wars. The Peace at Westphalia ended the war and led to an uneasy peace between the Catholics and protestants.

A war between King Charles I and the nobles in parliament whom he had been ignoring. Radicals eventually also became involved in the conflict, and after fizzling out for a short while, the war came back again in 1648 and caused Charles to go into hiding as people were accusing him of treason and calling for him to hang.

A collection of the common people of England, along with the nobles of the previous regime, who came together and created the House of Commons within the parliament. "King" Charles was eventually tried and executed, ending the monarchy in favor of the commonwealth.

After the chaos of Charles I's execution, Parliament reinstated the monarchy to rule England with King Charles II.

Beginning (unofficially) with the Estates General, and the later tennis court oath, the Early Phases of the revolution were idealistic and sought to give a voice to those who hadn't previously had it. The revolution is thought to have officially begun with the Storming of the Bastille in 1789. Much of the period was a power struggle between those who wanted the execution of the monarchy and those who wanted to see them held under the rule of Parliament. It came to a close with the execution of the royal family.

During the French Revolution, the prior regime of Royal Absolutism was overturned in favor of a populist government of the people. The revolution too place in two parts: The Early Phases, the Terror, the Republic of Virtue, and The Directory.

The "Republic of Virtue" was the outline for the ideal republic wished for by the French people and government. Advocating for Enlightenment ideals, the Republic sought to teach the people both classical education and free thought, and did so by incorporating the common people into political advocacy.

A brief period of the revolution, but one of the most bloody. This period came about after a civil war between the Radicals and the monarchs of Eastern European support, and broke down the order of the new republic. Truly starting with the execution of King Louis XVI, the Terror was led by Robespierre and led to the death of between 25,000 and 50,000 people, and the imprisonment of 200-400,000 people.

Put in place to control the chaos of the Terror, the Directory ruled as a parliamentary body until Napoleon Bonaparte took full control of the government through a coup in 1799.

After taking control of the government of France, Napoleon set about turning the country into an Empire which would control all of Europe, like the Roman empire before them. After first reforming France with the Napoleonic Code, which would ensure the continuation of Enlightenment beliefs, Napoleon invaded Italy and dealt a crushing defeat to the Austrian, keeping them from being a major power against France.

At its height, the empire spanned from Spain to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and gained France many enemies, including Great Britain and Portugal. Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, and that combined with the disastrous campaign in Russia led to Napoleon's exile to the island of St. Helena in the Southern Atlantic Ocean until his death in 1821.