EEH timeline

8th century BCE

The Greek city-states (Polis) being to emerge

753 BCE

Mythical foundation of Rome as a kingdom

509 BCE

The Roman Republic is established

500-479 BCE

The Persian Wars, halting Persian expansion into Europe, Greeks keep independence

431-404 BCE

The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta

336 – 323 BCE

The conquests of Alexander the Great; Alexander dies, empire split among his generals (diadochi)

264 – 146 BCE

The Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage

146 BCE

Roman conquest of Greece

49 BCE

Julius Ceasar crosses the Rubicon, sparking civil war

44 BCE

Julius Ceasar is assassinated

27 BCE

Augustus establishes the Principate (the Roman Empire)

212 CE

The Edict of Caracalla grants Roman citizenship to all free men in the Empire

235 – 284 CE

The Crisis of the Third Century (plagues, invasions, civil wars)

395 CE

The Roman Empire is permanently split into East and West

476 CE

The fall of the Western Roman Empire and the deposition of its last emperor

The Middle Ages

800 CE

Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor

1054 CE

The Great Schism separates the Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic churches

1096 – 1099 CE

The First Crusade opens new trade routes between Europe and the Muslim Near East

1122 CE

The Concordat of Worms limits the emperor's power over the Church

1204 CE

The Fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople

1315 – 1317 CE

The Great Famine devastates Europe

1337 – 1453 CE

The Hundred Years' War between England and France

1347 – 1351 CE

The Black Death ravages Europe, killing 30-60 % of the population

1378 – 1417 CE

The Western Schism divides the Catholic Church

1453 CE

The Ottoman Turks conquer Constantinople, marking the fall of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire

1492

Christopher Columbus reaches the Bahamas; the completion of the Spanish Reconquista

1497

Vasco da Gama sails around the Cape of Good Hope

1517

Martin Luther publishes his Ninety-Five Theses, sparking the Protestant Reformation

1545 – 1563

The Council of Trent initiates the Catholic Counter-Reformation

1568 – 1648

The Eighty Years' War (revolt in the Low Countries against Spanish rule)

1602

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) is founded

1618 – 1648

The Thirty Years' War ravages Europe

1648

The Peace of Westphalia establishes the principle of exclusive state sovereignty (chủ quyền nhà nước)

1688 – 1689

The Glorious Revolution in England leads to a constitutional monarchy

1699

The Treaty of Karlowitz allows the Habsburgs to push back the Ottoman Empire

1776

The American Declaration of Independence; Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations

1780s – 1840s

The first wave of the Industrial Revolution, led by Britain and Belgium

1789

The French Revolution begins (Storming of the Bastille on July 14; Declaration of the Rights of Man on August 26)

1793

King Louis XVI is executed, marking the radical stage of the French Revolution

1815

The Congress of Vienna redraws the European political map following Napoleon's defeat

1840s – 1870s

The second wave of the Industrial Revolution spreads through France and Germany

1861

Serfdom is abolished (bãi bỏ); the Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed

1871

The German Empire is proclaimed in Versailles following the Franco-Prussian War

1873

A global financial panic triggers the "Long Depression"

1884

The Berlin Conference regulates European colonization and trade in Africa

1890s – 1900s

The third wave of the Industrial Revolution takes hold in Russia and Italy

1912 – 1913

The Balkan Wars push the Ottoman Empire out of the region

1914 (June 28)

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated in Sarajevo

1914 (July 28)

Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, sparking World War I

1917

The Russian Revolution collapses the Tsarist system; the USA enters World War I

1918 (Nov 11)

The armistice (đình chiến) is signed, ending WW I

1919 (June 28)

The Treaty of Versailles is signed

1923

German hyperinflation peaks

1929

The Wall Street Crash ("Black Thursday") triggers the Great Depression

1933

Hitler comes to power as Chancellor of Germany

1938

Germany annexes Austria (Anschluss); the Munich Conference allows Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia

1939 (Sep 1)

Germany invades Poland, beginning World War II

1941

Operations Barbarossa (German invasion of the USSR); the attack on Pearl Habor brings the USA into war

1944

D-Day invasion of Normandy; the Bretton Woods system is established to fix exchange rates globally

1945

Germany surrenders in May; Japan surrenders in Sep, ending WW II

1947

The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan are introduced

1948

Communist states from COMECON as a response to the Marshall Plan

1949

West Germany is established

1950 (May 9)

Robert Schuman proposes a supranational Franco-German coal and steel authority

1951

The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSE) is created to manage exchange rates within Europe

1986

The Single European Act reinforces the completion of the internal market

1989

A political consensus in Hungary marks the early transition toward a market economy

1991- 2001

The Yugoslav Wars ravage the Balkans following declarations of independence by Croatia and Slovenia

1992

The Treaty of Maastricht is signed

1997

The Treaty of Amsterdam is signed

2001

The Treaty of Nice is signed

2007

The Treaty of Lisbon is signed

Ancient Greece

different city-states, different governments

democracy in Athens, oligarchy in Sparta, monarchy in early Greece

Economic Thought: Socrates (written by Xenophon): household management, agriculture

Plato (427 to 347 BCE)

student of Socrates

ideal state with three classes, strict hierarchy

too much wealth is dangerous

land must be equal, no private property, no interest

order and control first

Aristotle (382 to 322 BCE)

student of Plato and teacher of Alexander

money as exchange, trade must be fair

wellbeing and quality over mere accumulation of wealth

interest is unnatural, links to later bans on usury

balance, justice, proper use of wealth

Rome Kingdom (753 to 509 BCE)

Aeneas (from Troy), Romulus and Remus (ro kill re→ Rome)

last king was overthrown after the rape of Lucretia

Rome becomes a Republic with a Senate and no king

Roman Republic (509 - 27 BCE)

Senate = aristocratic ruling body

Consuls = two leaders elected every year

Rome expanded by war: conquered Italy, then Greek colonies, then Carthage, then Greece

Punic wars (264 - 146 BCE)

Rome vs Carthage for Mediterranean control

Three wars

Rome wins, Carthage destroyed

Social conflict in the Republic

Patricians (upper class) had power. Plebeians (commoners) had less - faced debt and land issues

Tribune of the Plebs created in 494 BCE to give a voice but inequality remained

Crisis and fall of the Republic (1st cen BCE)

corruption, factionalism, millitary leaders bypassing traditional institutions

Gracchi brothers tried land reform but were assassinated. Spartacus revolt

60 BCE: First Triumvirate (Ceaser, Pompey, Crassus)

49 BCE: Ceaser crosses the Rubicon, sparking civil war

44 BCE: Ceaser assassinated

Octavian (later Augustus) wins, becomes first emperor, EMPIRE begins

The Roman Empire

Augustus (27 BCE - 14 CE): first emperor, Pax Romana, reforms

the Empire = monarchy disguise as republic (senate existed but have no real power)

Crisis of the Third Cen (235 - 284 CE): civil wars, plagues, invasions

Diocletian (284 - 305 CE): Tetrachy, reforms

Constantine (306 - 337 CE): founded Constantinople, legalized Christianity

Theodosius I (379 - 395 CE): Christianity offical region, empire split East and West

Roman Economy

Nature: preindustrial & mainly agriculture

Conquest brought wealth to elite, slaves from war, large villa estates

Roman Economy under the Principate

peak at around 2 cen CE

massive inequality

legal statuses: slaves, freedmen, citizens

Edict of Caracalla (212 CE): gave citizenship to all freemen

Agriculture & urbanization (~1m people)

Markets exchanged goods, ideas, services

labor: slaves, wage workers. and tenants

industry and trade: textiles, pottery, food processing

money: silver denarius, own mint by late 3rd cen BCE

Classical Antiquity

8th Century - 476 CE

focusing on Ancient Greece and Rome

The Middle Ages

5th century - 15th century

a dynamic era in which Europe emerged as a distinct cultural and economic unit

Feudalism

a system where land was exchanged for loyalty and military service

King → Nobles → Knights → Serfs

Manorial System

organized rural estates:

lords live in manor houses while serfs worked it, give their portion to the lord exchange for protection

society - 3classes: nobles, clergy (who pray), peasants (who work)

The Catholic Church

dominated medieval life and shaped economic thinking

The Concordat of Worms (1122)

settled the Investiture Controversy, giving the Pope authority to appoint bishops while emperors retained secular power

Urban economy - cities evolved from political/religious center into hubs of trade and production

10th-12th cen: population growth, rural-to-urban migration, formation of guilds

Guilds: craft and merchant organizations that monopolized local trade, set quality standards, influence city gov (resisted innovation)

Urban economy - trade networks expanded

the Crusades opened routes to the East via Italian cities

Hanseatic League united merchant guilds and town in Northern Eu (13-15th) controlling Baltic trade

then decline due to Dutch-Eng competition

Banking in Florence, Venice and Genoa

The Medici Bank pioneered double-entry bookkeeping, bills of exchange, letters of credit, deposit accounts

Great Famine (1315-1317)

severve weather and crop failures → mass malnutrition, social unrest, undermined the Church’s authority

Black Death (1347-1351)

killed 30-60% EU’s population. Labor shortages → wages up, weakened fedalism, disrupted trade, fueled religious and social tensions

Hundred year’s war (1337-1453)

Devasted farmland, disrupted trade, and cause heavy taxation and financial crisis. Accelerated the decline fedalism and the rise of centralized states, especially the French monarchy

Western Schism (1378-1417)

a split in the Catholic Church with multiple rival popes, weakening papal authority and paving the way for later religious reforms

the overall picture of middle ages

europe’s transition from a feudal, agrarian society through urban growth and early commercial capitalism, interrupted by a 14th cen crisis cluster that weakened feudalism and reshaped the continent’s economic and politcal structure

Early Modern Times to the Industrial Revolution

1450 - late 1700s

Two major turning points

• fall of Constantinople (1453): The Ottoman conquest cut off land routes to Asia. Greek scholars fled west, fueling the Renaissance. Europeans were forced to seek new sea routes - kickstarting the Age of Exploration

• the Renaissance (14th-17th): A “rebirth” of classical Greek and Roman ideas, centered in Florence. Humanism shifted focus from religious doctrine to human potential