When it comes to Europe, the first thing that comes to mind is the scattered countries, the area of Europe is actually very large, reaching 10.16 million square kilometers, more than China's 9.6 million square kilometers of territorial area, but in the whole of Europe there are 44 countries, the number is extremely large. Some readers may be puzzled, why didn't Europe give birth to a unified country like China?
Today I would like to introduce you to a point of view called "ground theory" -
Although no unified dynasty was born in European history, several empires with huge territories were born, such as the Roman Empire, the Charlemagne Empire, the Holy Roman Empire (in name only), the First French Empire established by Napoleon, and so on. But these empires are difficult to maintain long-term rule, of course, even in ancient China, those feudal dynasties are difficult to maintain the rule of thousands of generations, the reasons for this are many, can not be generalized.
But no matter how the feudal dynasties of ancient China changed, the new dynasties were always able to quickly unify and establish a new unified dynasty. But it seems difficult to do so in Europe. Tracing back to the roots, there are factors such as culture, ideas and religions that are influencing, but the differences in European geography and Chinese geography ultimately determine the different directions of Central European history.
First of all, looking at the geography of China, it can be said that it is very superior, as we can see from the following topographic map of China. China faces the sea to the east, which is composed of the Bohai Sea (inland sea) and the four major seas of the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and further afield is the endless Pacific Ocean. In ancient times, when navigation conditions were backward, at least until the Ming and Qing dynasties, this sea was a defense for China against any possibility of foreign invaders, and the only thing that caused China at that time a headache was its neighbor Japan. However, with the introduction of Tokugawa Mufu to the throne, the policy of closing the country to the outside world, the Wukou Rebellion that plagued the Ming Dynasty suddenly disappeared.
However, the chaos of Japan's Warring States Period brought to the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty provides us with a clever perspective, just imagine if the Southeast Asian plate did not drift south when it was separated, but formed a land circle with Japan like the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, I am afraid that for the Chinese unification dynasty at that time, the military pressure along the coast would suddenly increase sharply, and military riots and frictions such as the "Wokou Rebellion" would be more frequent. But the reality is that because China has no military threat from any other country in the east except for Korea and Japan, it has become a military vacuum in China's historical coastal areas.
Southern China is full of mountains, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the Hengduan Mountains and the tropical rainforests of the Yunnan border region all make southeast Asian countries unable to develop their power to the north, and the Central Plains Dynasty is also unable to extend its power further to Southeast Asia. At its farthest, it can only radiate to Burma, Vietnam, and these countries, according to the ancient tributary system, only maintain nominal clan relations. For example, the "Ming Conquest of Annan War" launched during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty.
Although military victories were always achieved, due to the remoteness of Emperor Shangao, the Ming Dynasty was unable to maintain its rule in the Vietnamese region, and the ancient south, especially the Lingnan region, had been a place of exile since ancient times, and the Central Plains Dynasty was unable to develop the south. Looking at the geographical conditions in western China, the towering Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Tianshan Mountains and the Ar Mountains form a superior natural barrier (some time ago, the Great Locust Plague in Africa, experts said that it is impossible to cross the Himalayas). So even the Persian Empire, which arose in Central Asia, was unable to extend its tentacles to the East, which was blocked by the endless mountains of this road, preferring to extend its tentacles towards Europe, so at its peak its territory stretched to the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea.
China has a natural geographical advantage on three sides, except for the north, due to the lack of effective geographical protection, so there is a man-made engineering Great Wall. Imagine if there were a mountain range like the Qinling Mountains in the north of China, then the Mongols and Manchus would probably not have a chance to go south, and their warhorses would not be able to cross the isolation of this heavy mountain. It is precisely because of the geographical openness of northern China that ancient China has been plagued by northern nomads in ancient Chinese history.
Although both sides have their own victories and losses, the Central Plains Dynasty has indeed been tossed enough, and for successive dynasties, the nomadic peoples in the north have always been a headache for emperors. The stronger ones like Emperor Wu of han beat the Xiongnu away, and the weaker like the Song Dynasty suffered from the blows of the nomads and finally perished directly under the iron horses of the Mongols. It can be seen from this that the development of China's ancient feudal dynasties is largely determined by the superiority of geography, just imagine if there is no Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the west, the Tianshan Mountains are blocked, then presumably the forces from Central Asia will be in full swing, in that case, the feudal dynasties of the past will no longer be able to maintain the glory of the "Heavenly Kingdom".
Europe, on the other hand, is completely different, the average height of the whole of Europe is only 340 meters, the terrain is generally dominated by plains, and the highest mountain in the territory is the Alps. First of all, in terms of geography, Europe does not have natural advantages, lack of plateaus and mountain range protection, so Europe is also subject to the invasion of various ethnic groups. Such as the three barbarian Celts, Slavs, Germans, huns, Turks, Mongols, Persians from the East, these peoples took turns to fight, can be said to toss Europe enough.
From the above figure, we can also find that Europe is actually like a huge peninsula extending from the Asian continent to the Atlantic Ocean, in general, it is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and there are many inland seas and water systems. It can be seen that Europe has a huge openness in geography, as long as there is a ship, it can basically run anywhere in Europe, and this geographical openness has also led to constant internal disputes in Europe. The result of geographical openness is that cultural, religious and economic exchanges in Europe have been very active.
The result of the activity is the inability to maintain ideological stability, for example, due to China's huge geographical advantage of closure, Han culture can grow in a stable environment without the influence and interference of external cultures. When Confucianism was promoted to the national ideology, internal ideological competition was also limited, while there were almost no competitors outside, and the surrounding ethnic groups were relatively backward, which was also the reason why Han culture could radiate to the surrounding areas and affect neighboring countries.
However, the openness of Europe makes culture and religious concepts full of contradictions, and each nation and country has its own culture and religious concepts, such as the Arab Empire represented by Islam, the Persian Empire that believes in Zoroastrianism, all trying to extend its power into Europe, and even within Christianity, there are huge differences, which leads to a great division between the East and west churches. The open geographical environment determines the very complex conflicts of interest and power competition on the European continent.
For in such an open geography, a great empire, while briefly maintaining the unity of its territory, could not maintain ideological, religious, and cultural unity. However, in contrast, the Qin Dynasty, after the unification of the Six Kingdoms, was able to smoothly implement the "book with the same text, the same track as the car" and the unification of the political system without being affected by the external environment, and by the time of the Han Dynasty, the status of Confucianism was enhanced, and ideological unity was formed. The geographical closure led to the exchange and dissemination of ideas in a state of near-severance, and the surrounding ethnic groups were in a backward situation, so the Han culture was able to develop and grow strongly.
But in the open geography of Europe, due to the exchange of ideas, cultural exchanges and ethnic barriers, the result is that there will be fierce collisions at the same time as exchanges. For example, the First French Empire established by Napoleon is the best example, the French Revolution made the feudal dynasties in Europe feel panicked, and with the continuous spread of ideas such as natural human rights and democratic freedom, feudal rulers and nobles felt that their interests were damaged and threatened.
So how do they do it? It was to form seven anti-French alliances against Napoleon and stop the spread of republicanism in Europe, and even though Napoleon used his genius military prowess to unify half of Europe, he was not capable of maintaining such a rule. His unity was only a formal unity, and each country retained its royal power and independence, but in fact his unity was more like a federation, with him as the ally and the other countries as vassals. However, the difference in concepts and interests made these countries willing to obey Napoleon's rule, so in the wave of anti-French alliances, Napoleon had to withdraw.
It can be seen that from the perspective of geothesis, it is very reliable to explain why Europe and China have very different histories. For example, there is a classic example, the Japanese Chrysanthemum Dynasty has lasted for more than 2600 years, the emperor has been passed down for 126 generations, and to this day, Japan is still symbolically ruled by the Chrysanthemum Dynasty. The fundamental reason is that because Japan is located overseas, there are very few foreign enemies attacking Japan in Japanese history, basically nothing, except for Kublai Khan's two attacks on Japan during the Yuan Dynasty, but both failed miserably.
It can be said that the unique geographical environment allows Japan to be protected from the invasion of foreign forces, and the open geographical environment of Europe, as well as the large number of seas and water systems, makes European commerce very developed, which is also a favorable condition for the capital economy to thrive in Europe, but this open geographical environment is also the source of constant disputes in Europe. Because in contrast to the ancient Chinese feudal dynasty, due to the self-sufficient agrarian economy, coupled with the lack of intervention and competition from foreign forces, the capital economy could not develop. The European maritime industry, which has many seas, is also very developed, which also makes Europe's "gunboat diplomacy" tried and tested.
Therefore, when europeans came to the coast of China with warships, the Qing Dynasty would be powerless to fight against these countries. Its essence lies in the lack of interference and competition from external forces in the coastal areas, resulting in feudal rulers not paying attention to the economy and maritime power of the coastal areas, but as the geographical blockade was broken, the Qing Dynasty was constantly harassed in the coastal areas, and finally had to start developing maritime power under the condition of humiliation. It can be said that these are all limited thinking due to geographical environment.
After all, for the ancient Chinese feudal dynasties, they had no need to develop maritime trade and economy, because the country itself could be self-sufficient, and even china could become the first country in the ancient world gdp by relying on this self-sufficient ancient agrarian economy. Europe, due to its open geography, is very developed in trade, and each country occupies a small land, and farming and fishing alone are not enough to maintain the huge expenses of the country, after all, around so many countries, its various expenses must be huge.
Then if you want to obtain a large number of resources, in the case of not being able to produce through yourself, you can only grow yourself through plunder. Britain, for example, is the best example, through the continuous colonization of resources, and then transported back to the country. In summary, it can be seen how far-reaching the impact of geographical differences on Chinese and European history is, it can be said that it is a fundamental impact, and different religions, cultures, ideas and economies are based on the differences in this geographical environment.