European Civilization 1 (The flow of European civilization )

The flow of European civilization

 

A quick look at the history of European civilization:

This includes Greek civilization, the Roman Empire, the Germanic kingdoms, the Merovingian and Carolingian, the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy, Italian cities, Hanseatic cities, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, Britain, Russia, Germany and America.

 

It is often said that European civilization is based on three things: Greek and Roman civilization, Christianity, and Germanic culture. Greece symbolizes the spirit of science, Rome the pragmatism, and both symbolize maritime trade (monetary economy)*1. After such abundance, Greek philosophy and then Christianity entered the Roman Empire. Christianity was not formed in a simple, organized form like Islam, but rather developed initially in the Greek region while resisting authority. Later, with the decline in the population of the Roman Empire and probably a change in the weather environment, the Germanic peoples began to migrate in 375, and the Roman Empire split in 395, with the eastern side becoming Byzantine and the western side being occupied by Germanic peoples. The European civilization we know today may not be the Byzantine Empire that served as a barrier against the other civilizations in the east, but rather the civilization*2 formed by the initially scattered Germanic peoples.

 

*1 Greek and Roman civilizations are often compared to European civilizations, and while Greek civilization's scientific spirit, philosophical tastes, and division of the polis are similar to European civilizations, Roman civilization's pragmatism, academic methods (technology such as roads and water supply, legal codes), and centralized politics and diplomacy are similar to those of the United States(internet ). Therefore, what the Romans did may be of some help when considering what Americans should think and do. For example, disparities arose within the Roman Empire even in their home country of Italy, the empire was established through two pipelines: foreign rule and slave rule , and the minority rulers in foreign countries were appeased by gradually granting Roman citizenship. It may also be of help when considering how such things led to the decline of the empire.

 

*2 When we think of Europe, we tend to think of Christianity, but it is thought that the original primitive Christianity may have originated through Greece (Eastern Rome: Greek Orthodox Church). However, if the separation of religion and politics, and of the spiritual and secular, is one of the characteristics of the Christian civilization (where it differs from Islam, China, India, and Russia), then it may be said that Christianity has evolved over the course of history. In the Middle Ages, there was also a phenomenon in which the spiritual world tried to prevail over the secular world. However, because of this separation, the secular world sometimes took over the spiritual world. As a result, Western Europe came to dominate the world with capitalism and democracy, so Christianity should be understood as a religion and value that evolved along with the history of Western Europe.

 

The Germanic peoples' characteristics include the vassal system and the people's assembly. The Germanic peoples' system was combined with the Roman civilization's land loan system and the Christian church's governance of the people (the church took over the administrative power of Rome, which was lost due to the Germanic invasion), and the external force of Islamic power: the fifth principle (environmental principle and external principle) was added to it, and medieval Europe was born. *1 The great migration of the Germanic peoples, and the repeated wave invasions of foreign peoples such as the subsequent migrations of the Magyars, Avars, and Normans, are characteristic of the history of European civilization. In other words, it is highly likely that European civilization was initially the final destination of the migration of peoples, which was more greatly influenced by them than Chinese or Islamic civilizations. *2. In response to this situation, European civilization's response: the fourth principle (principle of reaction ) was to employ the Germanic peoples as a means of security, or to make them masters, and the Christian church was responsible for administration. And securing a livelihood meant promoting rural development inland based on the defense of livelihoods, as farmland was destroyed by the disruption of the social system caused by the movement of different ethnic groups, and the closure of the sea by the advance of Islamic forces.

 

*1 Initial social structural power in Western Europe: The third principle (principle of community development) was the Germanic vassalage system and the popular assembly. It is thought to have had the Roman land-loan system and the church's governance of the people at its core. However, the state of the Germanic tribes and the characteristics of the places they invaded combined in various ways, which led to the formation of a Europe rich in individuality (for example, the Franks and northern Gaul, the Lombards and northern Italy, etc.).

 

*2 Here, four characteristics of Europe emerge. A society with a strong military consciousness and its social structural power: The basis of the third principle (principle of community development) is the aristocratic characteristics that emerged from the subordinate system of the Germanic peoples. There are also democratic elements that are related to Roman civilization but also to Germanic characteristics, namely the senate, plebeian assembly or democratic elements. The Christian church strengthened the civil elements of the region during the chaotic period of Germanic invasions. And the state of division, which is a superficial phenomenon of security. Unlike the civilizations of China and India, European civilization is composed of a loose universality and a state of division, and has aspects similar to the cosmopolitan civilization of Islam and has also been influenced by it.

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