Post-Classical History
Some of the terminologies that explain the post-classical world include the post-ancient era, the pre-modern era or the post-antiquity era. The post-classical is the immediate period after the classical world and the period preceding the modern history. The classical period happened in two time periods depending on the different continents in the world. The time periods include the years between 200-500 and the year’s between1200-1500. In this era, Han, Rome, and Gupta experienced the spread of the major religions of the world. It is during this period that Buddhism and Christianity spread while the Islam religion emerged. Religions provided solace and divine guidance to the people who had faced plagues and other disasters (Langford, 2010). The growth of religions was accelerated by the poverty conditions and future uncertainties since they provided hope for a better life after death.
The spread of Buddhism to Korea and Japan from China made Buddhist revere Buddha as their God. Buddhist made statutes where they could sacrifice and pray. During its spread, Buddhism helped in alteration of the roles of women in China. Buddhism taught that women were as equally as men and could receive high spiritual levels just like men. Christianity migrated westwards from Palestine. Christianity and Buddhism differed in distinct and significant ways. For example, the Roman Empire became more organized and structured through a hierarchical order of bishops and priests. Christianity spread more actively than Buddhism leading to a quick spread through the Roman Empire. Due to proper road networks, trade routes and language homogeneity in the Roman Empire, the spread of Christianity faith was easy. Initially, Christianity emerged from Mediterranean civilization. Christianity was against worldliness inequalities such as slavery portraying an entirely different culture from that of the classical civilization. Religion became an important agent of change after the decline of ancient civilizations. The religion influence as it continued to penetrate in different parts of the world brought about a unifying function that characterized culture and civilization. The major dynamics in culture and civilization that happened in this era is the expansion of transport and communication and trade. Improved technologies, the volume of trade and geographical range expanded as traders and missionaries discovered new trade routes. Migration of people led to morphological and environmental alterations (Langford, 2010).
The Revolutionary Rise of Europe
In the 19th century, Europe experienced great developments as a result of two major events which include the French revolution that happened in 1789 and the First World War which started in 1914. These events introduced new trends and long lasting tension that define the modern Europe. French revolutionary served two purposes including defense and spreading of the revolution’s effects. European countries conflicted with France after overthrowing Louis XVI from power, and France established a republican government as opposed to other European countries who had dynastic and monarchical governments. French military declared war on European countries that had formed a first seven coalition including the Great Britain, Spain, Prussia and the United Provinces for trying to assist Louis XVI to get back to power (Stearns, 1974). France government gave all Frenchmen firearms raising a large army to fight. By the year 1795, France had won the battles with its allies pushing all the way to the Rhine, the Pyrenees, Amsterdam and the managed to force Prussia out of the coalition and instead forced them to sign a peace treaty.
Napoleon Bonaparte was a dynamic French general who conducted maneuver campaign against the Sardinian and Australian forces and in the Campo Formio treaty.
The successive campaign by Napoleon failed substantially. He had a mission to conquer the Ottoman Empire in May 1798. Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated naval squadron led by Napoleon in the Battle of the Nile. French, however, established constitutional government structures in European territories occupied by its forces including Switzerland, the Parthenopean, and Rome. With formation of a new coalition in 1813, there was a large army to outnumber the French army. With time Napoleons, allies were attacked forcing him to withdraw from the western region of the Rhine. French invasions started in 1814 leading to Napoleons abduction. Napoleon was finally defeated by the seventh and last coalition of Russia, Prussia, Austria and the Great Britain at Waterloo. As a result of Napoleon wars, Europe underwent a process of nationalism. Nationalism led to the creation of Some European nations including Germany, Romania and Italy through unifying of regional states with same national identity. However, the fight against Russia and Ottoman Empire led to the creation of nations including Poland, Greece, and Bulgaria (Bouwers, 2012). .
European Domination and Global Response
Western Europe was the most powerful economic block in the world. The economic dominance of the Western Europe started from 1800. With economic dominance Europeans were able to control directly or indirectly other nations majorly in the Asian, the American and African continents regarding intellectual life, businesses, military power, and finance. To achieve dominance Europeans migrated and established settlements in other countries by sending their armies to colonize or traders to establish trade with foreign countries. With advantaged economic and scientific power, they were able to develop very efficient governance structures for their dominance and expansion. European countries exercised imperialism to countries they settled and defended it by claims of spreading both civilization and Christianity (Gupta, Govindarajan, & Wang, 2008). However, not all European countries approved imperialism. Scientific superiority reflected by the scientific inventions of European scientists such as Charles Darwin and his evolution theory, education advancement in chemistry, medicine and in physics subjects gave them dominance even in other fields.
As Europeans did their duty to spread Christianity, they felt the interest to explore new places. Explorations made by Livingstone and other missionaries attracted many Europeans to research. As more individuals got interested in excursions, European nations started competing amongst themselves. Some adventurers attached heroism and glory to imperialism. As Europeans continued their exploration of both material and global markets they were able to influence the world economy. Barter trade was beneficial to other countries trading with the Europeans despite the danger of cultural erosion and imperialism. As European advanced in technology, a gap was created between them and countries in Asia and Africa. Their military and industrial power gave them the ability to mobilize authority and support. However, some states resisted the European intrusion, their political and economic control within their borders. For example, the rulers of China, Japan, and Ottoman empires used to limit the European influence. Many Asian and African countries strived to maintain their national identity, and they, therefore, issued statements of resistance. The Boxer Rebellion and the Sepoy Mutiny in China and India consequently are examples. Despite resistance, people were seemingly coming under the western control. European dominance seemed unbreakable and unbeatable until the Second World War (Gupta, Govindarajan, & Wang, 2008).
The Cold War, Decolonization, and the World Today
The decolonization process was not uniform in all areas. In particular regions decolonization was peaceful while in other parts revolutions characterized the independence process. The cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union happened at the same time as decolonization and the initial stages of development of the United Nations. Completion between the superpowers significantly affected the process of decolonization changing the overall nature of international relations. Decolonization resulted in Emergence of many new nations located in regions of great significance in natural resources despite being poor. New governments restructured the composition of the United Nations and the political structures of all countries around the globe.
The cold war did not in a way act as the primary reason for European decolonization. The European countries allied with the United States of America however, used the cold war as a strategy to discourage independence movements in communist countries that were likely to join forces with the Soviet Union (Betts, 1998). The cold war was necessary for European decolonization. The United States offered financial support to European nations after the effects of the second war. With the financial aid from the US, the European countries had no valid reasons for holding on to their colonies. Most of the causes of European decolonization were as a result of the effects of the Second World War. However, other factors such as settlements of colonizers in their colonies played significant roles in decolonization.
References
Betts, R. (1998). Decolonization. London New York: Routledge.
Bouwers, E. (2012). Public pantheons in revolutionary Europe comparing cultures of remembrance, c. 1790-1840. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gupta, A., Govindarajan, V. & Wang, H. (2008). The quest for global dominance transforming global presence into global competitive advantage. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Langford, B. (2010). Post-classical Hollywood film industry, style and ideology since 1945. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Stearns, P. (1974). 1848 : the revolutionary tide in Europe. New York: Norton.
