Notes on Economies, Wars, and the Renaissance

Shitty Economies and Greece

Greece's economy was struggling. They had the ability to print more money to pay off bills, which would devalue their currency.
Before the Euro, Greece used the trotma system. The exchange rate was roughly 3,000 trotmas to a dollar.
The European Union prevented Greece from printing money, but they continued spending and went into massive deficit.
In 2004, Athens held the Olympics and paid for it using credit cards, borrowing billions of dollars they didn't have.
If one country in the EU does poorly, it affects all the others.
In 2008, when the US went into recession, Europe was also heavily impacted.
European banks had to borrow money from the US government to provide bailouts to avoid a global crash.

After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Europe backed the US.
NATO invoked Article 5: an attack on one member is an attack on all.
The US went to war in Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden, overthrowing the government and getting involved in nation building.
The main goal was to hunt down Bin Laden.
NATO forces, including British, German (around 5,000 troops), and French (around 7,000 troops) were involved in Afghanistan.
The war in Afghanistan started immediately after 9/11.
9/11 shook the world and created a focus on terrorism.

In 2003, the US went to war in Iraq, believing there were weapons of mass destruction.
British intelligence suggested a 70% chance of weapons of mass destruction, which was considered insufficient to invade in most circumstance.
The US took over Iraq quickly but was stuck there until 2011 and never found weapons of mass destruction.
Some European countries were allies in the war, but major powers like France and Germany stayed out.
There was nationalistic sentiment in the US, leading to calling french fries "freedom fries" when France didn't help.

Rebirth of knowledge.
Book hunters found old Bibles and discovered ancient Greek and Roman texts (e.g., Plutarch, Suetonius) written on the back pages because paper was expensive.
Rich people sought to bring back information from the past.
Patriarchal society.
Started in Florence, Italy, which was wealthy due to trading with the Middle East.
More wealth led to more opportunities.