The European society is affecting the world, even from the past. They are involved in most of the historical revolutionary changes. European civilizations became the first nations which still exist in the modern times. They have begun conquests in the areas of Science, Politics and even Religion before the 16th century. The belief in theories and postulates created by the laws of Science and the religious beliefs established by the church is considered a dichotomy nowadays. However, the political powers that rule Europe go hand in hand with religious orders. These conflicts resulted in revolutionary changes and it developed as leaders progressed through time. According to Bodin (np):
“But subjects are bound till the ruler has expressly abrogated the law, for it is a law both divine and natural that we should obey the edicts and ordinances of him whom God has set in authority over us, providing his edicts are not contrary to God's law”.
In the past, science was considered under the minority division of classes which have to acquire the approval of the church in order to present changes through scientific discoveries. This will all be further discussed in the following sections of the paper, but to summarize it is generally a whole different era filled with world changing decisions and motivations.
Foremost and perhaps the well-known religious ideology in all of Europe is the Holy Roman Empire. The Roman Empire is a vast mobile body of Europe, which conquered a huge part of neighboring lands and has greatly affected by what experts call as the Religious wars. The wars lasted for centuries, but even before the countries accepted the cease fire towards Rome, Roman Empire has already encompassed time by passing through several ideologies like nobility and knighthood (Knowles). In the modern era, it was revised and was commonly known as ways of being a gentleman. This claim may also be influenced by ideologies which were formed by another religion. However, Renaissance is described as enlightenment and Europe’s religious forces definitely had a take on it. Moving forward through time, as science slowly progresses as well, a bolder challenge against the Catholic reign on Europe was Protestantism.
Starting from Germany, the sense of nationalism is slowly gaining momentum. The late medieval beliefs of Catholics had moved the Protestants to progress on taking up against the Roman Catholicism. It accompanies the emergence in numbers of many scholars and theologians who are interested in debates. They questioned the depth of the belief and as well as the fabric of reality than to study the everyday life of a Catholic in living the way God wants him. Many people try to unify the Church and political belief, but failed and resulted in disastrous consequences (Luther). Problems which occurred in the structure of the Pope, and as well as the papacy’s reputation during the 15th century created holes in the start of the 16th century. Since Europe was divided into empires, the fight between religions involved emperors and the expansion of empires meant influencing others with a religion you practiced. Some empires that expanded were Russia, headed by Ivan the Terrible which is practicing Orthodox Christianity at that time. Due to the overexpansion of some area, only three major empires survived those conflicts. These were the Russian empire, Turkish empire, and the kingdoms of France and England. The survival of these empires was important as a nation to go through reformation with so many disputes in the different empires. Still, however, religion has been just a political tool used to move people together towards a common goal by the power of a higher being whether they like it or not.
With regards to the breakthroughs in science, no one could do better than Europe in its age of enlightenment. The scientific revolution was initiated by Copernicus when he tackled the revolution of heavenly bodies, that is, that all the planets revolved around the sun. The concepts of gravity, the discovery of oxygen, and the creation of the scientific method also took place during this period of time. Breakthroughs in medicine were also made by Vesalius when he explored the human anatomy and the Laws of Motion by Newton which up to now is still being taught in schools today. Because of the so many advances in theoretical sciences, the need for technology to support these endeavors arose, and sooner or later there was an invention of the calculator in the form of the Napier’s bones, Pascaline, and Leibniz wheel; as well as the invention of the telescope, vacuum pump, barometer, and steam engines which are still very useful technology nowadays and which also paved the way for the Industrial revolution in this period.
Mass production of goods would not be possible if it were not for the industrial revolution. Hand labor and tedious work are now given to machines which churn out perfectly replicates of your favorite items faster and better. The most important innovations that boost during the Industrial Revolution were the invention of machines to do the work of hand tools; the use of steam to power engines and for daily usage, and later of other kinds of power, in place of the muscles of human beings and of animals; and the adoption of the factory system (Hackett). The industrial revolution actually made it possible to have electricity, better transportation means such as cars or airplanes, better forms of communication than the post office such as telephones, radios, and TVs, and the invention of schools. These inventions greatly affected the lives of people and is why this period was called a revolution.
The combinations of the use of electricity to power up machines in a factory are actually a common thing nowadays. During the 16th century, however these factory setups were likened to the mini cottages of families who made one product and were supplied with the raw materials by the rich merchants. This system helped those without capital to earn a living for themselves and their families. Also, for more products were being produced and more people were producing them, it created a cheaper system of production which paved the way for revolutions on economics and development. It is worth noting that this was made possible in Europe because of the preceding scientific revolution which helped this industrial revolution take into action.
One of the accounts of Amerigo Vespucci’s Voyages actually proves that all these revolutions happened first in Europe. He compared the wealth and all experiences of the civilization to seemingly undeveloped nations of his travels (Fordham University). All the great epoch and ideologies in Europe have marked a great impact on today’s living. To name a few are these five which are the dominance of Christians and existence of church hierarchy in the overall world population, the establishment of several stable theories on evolution, laws of thermodynamics and astronomical-statistical facts, establishment of worldwide trading and economic policies, electricity and better communication technology, including the internet which traced its roots from telephones and progress in the industrial revolutions, automobiles and trains which are primarily results of the utilization of steam during industrial revolution. Unbeknownst to many people, even the moral conduct of modern times in many aspects of life is still affected by the 16th and 17th century Europe. The long days of scientific communities being bullied and punished by the church for being unorthodox to its method even still slightly affect some researches on genetic modifications and cloning. All boils down to morality has been the resounding perspective, yet it is obvious that the Roman Church is a great power preventing this to happen. It may even be far fetched yet a plausible fact to state that if Europe was not as venturous during the days of voyages, Asia will not have established worldwide route and China included will not have its famous points of trades. All of these are all accountable and due to Europe’s eventful 16th and 17th century.
Works Cited:
Bodin, Jean. The True Attributes of Sovereignty. Chapter 1. 2 May 2016. <http://www.constitution.org/bodin/bodin_1.htm>
Fordham University. “Modern History Sourcebook: Amerigo Vespucci (1452-1512): Account of His First Voyage, 1497.” Legacy.Fordham.eu. 2 May 2016. <http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1497vespucci-america.asp>
Hackett, Lewis. “Industrialization: The First Phase.” History-World.org. 2 May 2016. <http://history-world.org/Industrial%20Intro.htm>
Knowles, Michael David. “The age of Reformation and Counter-Reformation.” Britannica.com. 2 May 2016. <http://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism/The-age-of-Reformation-and-Counter-Reformation>
Luther, Martin. “Before the Diet of Worms.” Luther.de. 2 May 2016. <http://www.luther.de/en/worms.html>
