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Government Changes in Europe Through History

The changes in government through Europe's history show us the development of human nature and ideologies throughout time in the continent, from the primal ancient eras to the modern world.

Ancient Times

Bronze Age Kings

Between 2000 and 1200 BC, the Greek city states of the Mycenaean period were all monarchies. Although, after the Dark Age, very few monarchies survived, and most city states had turned to other forms of government.

Ancient Greece

Layout of the political system in Ancient Athens

The Ancient Greek were the first to form governments that closely resemble those of our contemporary world. Due to the philosopher Aristotle, Ancient Greece saw itself divided into 4 common systems of government originally.

• Democracy
  • Rule by the people
• Monarchy
  • Rule by an individual who inherited his role
• Oligarchy
  • Rule by a select group of few
• Tyranny
  • Rule by one individual who seized power through unconstitutional means

Basics

In Athens, the birth of democracy in 460 BCE meant the beginning of a governmental system that would go on to lead the strongest of nations after it. Athens allowed its citizens (any male over the age of 18) to speak & vote in the Assembly of Athens. The State of Athens met at least once a month on the Pnyx hill in a space able of accommodating around 6000 citizens.

Influence

The Athenians gave the world the idea of democracy, which was arguably their highest contribution to the world. Without the Ancient Greek, we would not use democracy today as it is known.

Middle Ages

Monarchies

States like Denmark, Spain, and France had monarchies (kings and queens). The two empires, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, were controlled by emperors

Republics

Independent city states that existed in some parts of Northern Italy were independent city states that were controlled by democratic republics, much like the governments of Ancient Rome and Greece

Basic feudal pyramid

Feudalism

Feudalism, a system of ruling through different social classes and each class giving and receiving from the one above it and below it, respectively, started to appear in France and Germany around the 9th and 10th centuries. This started to spread in Europe to countries like Scandinavia and England.

Feudalism was a product of the lack of power monarchies were starting to have. When monarch started to realize that their subjects were not following their orders, they instituted social ranks, each of which gained and received something from the feudal system

Changes

Both ideas of ancient governments, mainly monarchies and democracy, were still prevalent in society, along with a new system of feudalism that developed from monarchies.

Renaissance & Reformation

Monarchies

Most of Europe during the Renaissance was living under a monarchy. England was ruled by an absolute monarch, Queen Elizabeth I. Spain had its two monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, who were also absolute monarchs in their respective country.

Republic

In Florence, Italy, a republic ruled. A democracy was supported and wealthy families were the ones who ruled most of everyday life.

Age of Absolutism

The Age of Absolutism, as the name suggests, was a time where monarchs gathered up all the wealth and power to themselves. This period was a result of vast overseas empires wealth, strengthening kings into absolute monarchs.

New World Trade gave monarchs much more money and power, as all the profit that countries involved made went to the monarchs.

The Enlightenment

Portrait of John Locke

Governmental ideas in the Enlightenment period changed drastically as the scientific age of reason and logic developed. Religion, tradition, and superstition were losing credit, as they were believed to limit independent thought.  Different philosophers believed in different ideas for government, and many of their ideas ended up shaping governments in Europe.

Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher who gained publicity during the Enlightenment. He believed in a strict dictatorship or absolute monarchy, as his idea of human nature was that people were born inherently selfish and evil.

John Locke

John Locke was an English philosopher that gained traction during the Enlightenment for his very liberal ideas. He believed in a representative democratic form of government. He stated how he believed that people were born good, and that they should make the decisions for the countries that they live in. He stated that rulers could only stay in power with the constant consent of the governed. Natural rights were important to him, as he believed that every person had the right to life, liberty, and property.

Age of Revolutions

The Age of Revolutions was a period where many peoples in Europe began to revolt against their monarchical governments. Many ideas from the Enlightenment sparked the changes that we saw to politics during the Age of Revolutions

Painting of a battle between the revolutionaries and the French military during the Revolution

French Revolution

Social, economic, and political decline, along with ideas of government spread during the Enlightenment, sparked major revolt in France. The people of France called for the monarchs to step down, and an installation of a democratic government that better represented the majority of France. Revolutionaries, like Napoleon Bonaparte, rose up in France and called for an abdication of the power of the government. Napoleon’s eventual defeat restored monarchs in the countries that he had taken over, but countries in Europe were now fueled with ideas of better representation for their people.

World War 1

The monarchies of Europe, like Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Serbia were the ones that caused the start of World War 1. During the war, Germany and its allies fought against France, Russia, and Great Britain; all of which besides Russia were republics. The Germans, Austria-Hungarians, and Italians were ruled by dictatorships. The war ended with the the republican countries winning, and four different monarchies were disbanded; Germany, Turkey, Austria-Hungary. and Russia

Interwar Period

During the interwar period, Europe was very much split. Many countries that were liberated from their previous rulers, such as Poland, founded democratic forms of government. On the other hand, the spread of Fascism had started, which put many countries in a state of dictatorship.

Democracy

During the Interwar period, many newly liberated countries that gained self determination had started to go towards the democratic route. Countries like Switzerland, France, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the three Scandinavian monarchs had all started to form strong and dependable democracies.

Fascism

Elite leaders of Nazi Germany (Hitler 4th from right)

Due to the Treaty of Versailles harsh treatment of Germany after World War 1,  Hitler was able to rise into power. He gave the German people someone to blame other than themselves for their loss in the first World War, and was able to rack up an immense following during the interwar period. His radical ideas turned Germany into a dictatorship.

The rise of Fascism not only lead to a dictatorship in Germany, but in Italy as well. Italy was heavily hurt at the end of World War 1. The death of 460,000 soldiers, along with crippling war debt and rising unemployment left Italy very susceptible, just like Germany. Mussolini came to power peacefully, and offered his people salvation. They followed Mussolini, and he eventually became their dictator.

Communism

In a time of political feuding, Stalin had come to power in Russia after the 1917 revolutions, which overthrew the imperial government and put the Bolsheviks in power. He created new opportunities in the brand new Russia, as well as working to institute communism throughout Europe

Europe's Categories

Europe was now divided into three categories of government; Dictatorship, Democracy, and Communism

World War II

Fascist Leaders (Axis Powers)

• Adolf Hitler
  • Ruler of Nazi Germany
• Benito Mussolini
  • Ruler of Fascist Italy
• Emperor Hirohito
  • Ruler of Japan

Map of Allied, Axis, and Neutral Powers during the Second World War

Democratic Leaders (Allied Powers)

World War 2 was very much a fight between democratic countries and dictatorships. With the exception of the Soviet Union, the Allied powers were the democratic governments fighting the Axis powers, which were dictatorships.

• Winston Churchill
  • Prime Minister of Great Britain
• Charles de Gaulle
  • Prime Minister of France
• Harry S Truman
  • President of the United States of America
• William Lyon Mackenzie King
  • Prime Minister of Canada
• Joseph Stalin
  • Leader of the USSR
  • NOT Democratic, was a communist

Post World War II - Present

The end of World War 2 saw the downfall of Nazi Germany, and with it the Nazi German Empire. The leaders of the war, the Allied powers, came together to institute democracy through Europe. The creation of the UN after the end of World War 2 was designed to keep the peace and to provide a meeting point for the countries of Europe. Eastern European countries were given self determination after the war, and many followed the democratic route

Cold War

The next large conflict came after World War 2, and was between the democracy of the US and the communism of the Soviet Union. The two world powers battled a proxy war between 1947 to 1991, where they both tried to spread their respective forms of government across the world.  The USSR reached countries like Kazakhstan and Serbia, while the USA and NATO reached many Eastern European countries in their quest for democracy.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War had officially ended. The Russian Federation was instilled, and the US claimed victory

Present

The Governments of today are mostly democracies, or have some form of democracy. China, while it claims to be democratic, are still very much socialist. Few major dictatorships exist in the world, and none in Europe. Europe is now a democratic continent

Overall Change in European History

Government's role in European history has been the guiding light that led European culture and societal development over the ages. The progress that European countries' have made has been totally determined by the kind of government that leads them. Since the early ideas of democracy, all the way to modern-day democratic Europe, we've seen how governments have influenced life in Europe.