Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

196

EUROPE, HISTORY OF

THE ENLIGHTENMENT

In the 18th century, European thinkers began to reject old
beliefs based on religion and superstition and to develop new

ideas based on reason and science. An intellectual revolution,
called the Enlightenment, broke out across Europe. New ideas

about government led to the French and American revolutions.
Religious toleration increased, and economics, philosophy, and

science prospered.

COMMUNIST EUROPE

By 1945, Europe was effectively divided into

Communist countries dominated by the former

Soviet Union, and non-Communist nations

influenced by the United States. Germany was

split into two nations. Life was often harsh in

Communist countries,

and civil liberties were

restricted. Revolts

broke out in East

Germany (1953),

Hungary (1956),

and Czechoslovakia

(1968), but Russian

troops put them down.

WORLD WARS

In the 1900s, conflicts between

European powers caused two

devastating world wars. World

War I (1914-18) weakened

Europe, but war broke out

again in 1939. At its end in 1945,

cities were in ruins, thousands

were homeless, and two new

“superpowers”—the USA and

the Soviet Union—had emerged.

YUGOSLAVIA

In the 1990s,

Yugoslavia fell apart

as Serbia, its largest

and most powerful province, tried to take control.

Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina all declared

independence, leading to terrible atrocities on all sides.

Serbia pursued “ethnic cleansing”—killing or expelling

all non-Serbs, notably in Bosnia and Kosovo. War between

Serbia and NATO—a military alliance of Western Europe

and the USA—led to an uneasy peace in 1999.

THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM
By the late 1980s, Communism was
losing its hold, and the Soviet
Union (USSR) withdrew its
support from Eastern Europe.
In 1989, East Germans
demonstrated for union with
West Germany and pulled down
the wall that divided their
capital city, Berlin. Germany was
reunited the following year. Popular
protests then overthrew Communist
governments throughout Eastern Europe.

BREAK-UP OF EMPIRES

After World War I, the multinational

empires of Germany, Austro-Hungary,

Ottoman Turkey, and Russia broke up

as the different nationalities within

them created independent countries,

such as Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Kemal Ataturk abolished the old

Islamic government of the Ottoman

Empire, and created the non-religious

country of Turkey.

Kemal Ataturk

(1881–1939),

“Father of

the Turks”

1517 Reformation leads to

emergence of Protestantism.

1700s Age of Enlightenment.

1800s European empires

control most of Africa

and Asia.

1914-18 World War I

devastates Europe.

1939-45 World War II leads

to division of European into

Communist and non-

Communist sectors.

1957 Treaty of Rome sets up

European Economic

Community (EEC).

1989 Fall of Berlin Wall leads

to end of Communism in

Eastern Europe.

1991 USSR divided into 15

separate countries.

1991-99 Wars in the Balkans

as Yugoslavia breaks up.

Intellectuals gather

to discuss new

ideas in science.

Russian tanks in the streets
of Budapest, Hungary, in 1956.

European union

Medieval europe

World war i

World war ii

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HISTORY OF EUROPE

5000 bce Stone Age

peoples begin to settle

in villages.

900 Greek city-states

founded.

753 Rome founded.

117 ce Roman Empire at its

height.

313 Christianity is tolerated

throughout Roman Empire.

1000s Christianity spreads

throughout Europe.

c. 1241 Hanseatic League

established between

Hamburg and Lübeck

merchants.

1492 Columbus crosses

Atlantic; leads to European

dominance in the Americas.

1498 European explorers

reach India.