Europe

Before this, human beings were nomadic. The ideas of agriculture or pastoralism revolutionized this, however, and brought about great human change. The civilizations that followed would use the ideas of cities, trade, and specialization to make leaps in bounds in all fields of SPICE for humanity.

These civilizations (with the exception of Greece's short-lived nationalism) were generally not patriotic, however. And their cultures and cities blended into the Roman Empire that rose during their fall.

The Roman Empire rose and built upon many of the ideas that the previous civilizations set in place. They had extended trade routes, and long times of peace and prosperity, however they all faced hardships that brought about their downfall by around 600 CE.

The early people that developed along the Aegean Sea, the Minoan civilization, were both protected and isolated by the mountainous terrain surrounding them. However, their calm waters provided an easy method of trade and communication, and thus, the following civilizations were more adept with the sea.

The Minoans, based along the Sea and the Island of Crete, gave way to the Mycenaeans who contributed to the Late Bronze Age greatly. They were often at war, and in 1200 B.C.E., they engaged in war with Troy (on the other side of the Aegean sea, Anatolia). This, along with further conflicts, led them into a kind of "Dark Age" that lasted until about 800 B.C.E. It was then that they were visited by another Sea-Dwelling group (The Middle Eastern Phoenicians) who established trade and brought them back to prosperity.

The political structures of these new peoples were sporadic. They lived in poleis, or city-states, and had hundreds of varying structures.

Out of the midst of these poleis emerged Athens, between 800 and 400 B.C.E., with the first example of democracy in human history. In addition, the highly militaristic society of Sparta evolved alongside it, and these two states rose to be Greece's biggest powerhouses.

Greece produced many important ideologies that would last throughout the ages. They were polytheistic, however their focus was more on worldly affairs. This focus, called secularism, worked much like Confucianism did for China, and led to many of Greece's great thinkers.

Among the like were Socrates (focus on ethics and human nature), Plato (described Socrates forced suicide for conflicting human nature with religion/tradition), and Airstotle (all fields, tutored Alexander, Mathematical symbols).

These achievements and focus on Natural Law led to the era from 500-300 B.C.E. being classified as the "Hellenic culture."

With these successes under their belt, Greece was not ill-prepared when the Persian Empire arrived and demanded their allegiance. The many poleis then united, creating a West vs. East mentality that is still applicable today. This united Europe for the first time, and Greece held off Persia, and sparked their decline.

However, Athens attacked Sparta's allies shortly after, and initiated the Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 B.C.E.) between the two states. During the next 100 years, Macedonia, to the North, created a large military force and handed it off to Alexander the Great, who would conquer most of the known world in just 13 years.

He conquered from Greece through Persia, and when he died, he would divide his land up between his 3 favored generals. In this division, the Hellenistic culture spread throughout most of the known world, consequently allowing Greece to vanish in the years with it.

The Etruscans had ruled the areas to the West, around Italy, since around 800 B.C.E, and continued to, until one of their states, Rome, declared its independence in 509 B.C.E.

This new state was a Republic, meaning that it was ruled by a SENATE composed of the PATRICIANS and the PLEBIANS. The plebians were the vast majority, but had little political power when it came to any political decision. The patricians were only selected through bloodlines, so you had to be the son of a former patrician to become one.

The executive branch was headed by two CONSULS, rulers selected by the Senate. So the flowchart for the power here was like this: Consuls(Highest Power)--> Senate(Selects Consuls)--> Patricians(Control the Senate)--> Plebians(No Power)

At a point the Plebians protested their lack of power, and were permitted TRIBUNES, or representatives in court that the public elected, but they were soon elected by the Senate.

This unfair distribution of power, and continuous protest led to Julius Caesar's rule in this. He was a respected Roman General, and he snuck his way into the Republic, and initiated a Triumvirate (rule of three). He crossed this when he tried to become dictator, but he was assassinated anyway, so whatevs.

The real point of all of this is that he addressed the issues the public had with the Republic, and paved the way for his son, Mark Antony (Augustus Caesar) to rid of the Republic by winning the BATTLE OF ACTIUM in 31 B.C.E.

This shift in political structure also shifted the distribution of power, and not necessarily for the better. Augustus just did whatever he needed to in order to keep the Senate happy, while he held all the real power, and the Senate was just content with Rome not being destroyed when it switched to an Empire.

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While he held nearly all power, and declared himself consul for life, he actually improved Rome in many ways:

Law of the Twelve Tables- Improvements on Republic laws before.

Military Improvements- both naval and land, had a massive army

Created Equites- New social class of merchants and landowners that had same effects on the society as a "middle-class" would.

These reforms ushered in the Pax Romana, which lasted until late 2nd Century C.E.

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Economic: Huge part of the Mediterranean Sea trade, and their economy had a mass boost from the Punic wars

Social: Still Patricians --> Plebians. Women still had no rights. HUGE focus on men in the society, oldest boy has most authority. CONNECTS WELL TO PATRIARCHAL CHINA.

Politics: Huge advances in legal systems. While they may seem corrupt, they borrowed from the likes of Athens, and they advanced many ideas of court rulings, equity among citizens, and interpretation of the written and natural laws.

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Rome kinda took a turn for the worse after this stuff, though. Many could argue that the life began to drain out of it after Pax Romana. Here are a couple of reasons the contributed:

Huge borders to protect
Germanic tribes attacking them in the North
String of stupid Emperors
Downfall in trade routes as a result of sickness, and attacks

In the 400s Emperor Constantine established Constantinople for himself in the Eastern section of Rome. The Germanic tribes then continued to sack Western Rome, finally destroying Rome and disposing of the last Roman emperor by 476 C.E.

This is what Rome looked like by 476CE, after the fall of the West Roman Empire. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/476eur.jpg

After Rome fell, the Eastern Roman Empire needed a new source of cultural and political influence. For this, they turned to the Christian church. The church, while it did unite them, did not provide the cultural unity necessary to save the Roman Empire from falling.