History does not give an accurate concept of dynasties, and the more authoritative version now is that the entire period of time that a person or his family ruled a country under a monarchical system is a dynasty.
According to the concept of a dynasty, to be called a dynasty, there must be a monarch, and this monarch can be a person, or this person and his family, ruling a country, and the whole period from beginning to end is a dynasty, only one person means that there is only one monarch in this dynasty, and this person and his family mean that there are two or more monarchs in this dynasty.
List of Chinese dynasties
For Chinese dynasties and dynastic changes, this is very simple, many people are familiar with it, the author will not go into detail. Focusing on the dynasties of European countries, it is easy to understand the concept of dynasties in European history, and almost all the dynasties of European countries are named after family names. To give a few simple examples: the Tudor dynasty in British history, the family name is Tudor, the Bourbon dynasty of French history, the family name is the Bourbon, the Hohenzollern dynasty of German history, the family name is Hohenzollern, the Habsburg dynasty of Austrian history, the family name is the Habsburg, The Romanov dynasty of Russian history, and the family name is Romanov.
Many people do not know how the dynasties of European countries are divided, but in fact, it is very simple: the dynasties of European countries are almost always divided by family names, and as long as the surname changes, it is regarded as a change of dynasties. To give a simple example: the first four dynasties in French history were carolingian, Capetian, Valois, and Bourbon, all of which were dynasties named after family names, although the Valois and Bourbons were both collateral of the Capetian dynasty, but because of the different surnames, they were regarded as dynastic changes.
List of French dynasties
How are European national dynasties different from Chinese dynasties? In fact, there is basically no difference, the only difference is the "national name".
The founding monarchs of all dynasties in China must first determine the question of the country name. The Chinese dynasties that later generations called were all called by the name of the country of this dynasty. For example: Zhou Dynasty, Qin Dynasty, Han Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, etc., some dynasties have the same name, in order to facilitate the division and study of history, it is necessary to add a prefix to distinguish. For example: the Zhou Dynasty has the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Wuzhou Dynasty, the Later Zhou Dynasty, etc., the Han Dynasty has the Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Shu Han Dynasty, the Later Han Dynasty, etc., the Tang Dynasty has the Tang Dynasty, the Later Tang Dynasty, the Southern Tang Dynasty, etc., the Jin Dynasty has the Jin Dynasty, the Later Jin Dynasty, etc. In fact, throughout the dynastic changes in Chinese history, almost all the founding monarchs will abolish the former dynasty name and change a new country name, some claim to have a blood relationship with the former dynasty, and continue the former dynasty name. Future generations must be distinguished by prefixing.
The reason why the dynasties of European countries are named with family names and not named by country names is because the dynastic changes in European countries almost do not change the name of the country, and have continued the name of the previous dynasty. That's because most of the dynasties of European countries are related by blood, and the change of dynasties is often due to the extinction of the former dynasty, which is inherited by the collateral lineage, and the Capetian dynasty, the Valois dynasty, and the Bourbon dynasty in French history are typical of the succession of the former dynasty and the succession of dynasties, and the names of these three dynasties are "Kingdom of France", there is no change in the name of the country, and the change of dynasties in other European countries is the same reason. Therefore, the national names of European national dynasties are the same, and it is difficult to distinguish between European national dynasties by calling the country names, and it is very convenient to use family names to call them.
The Kingdom of France is the name of several French dynasties
So can Chinese dynasties be named with family names? Of course, yes, because later generations also prefixed the surname to the country name to call, such as "Liu Han Dynasty", "Sima Jin Dynasty", "Li Tang Dynasty", "Zhao Song Dynasty", "Zhu Ming Dynasty", etc., but such a name is troublesome, since the direct call of the country name can be distinguished, there is no need to add a surname to call it. In the same way, we can also prefix the surname to the country name for the dynasties of European countries, such as the Capetian French Dynasty, the Valois-French Dynasty, the Bourbon-French Dynasty, but why should it be called that? Directly called the Capetian dynasty, the Valois dynasty, the Bourbon dynasty.
So in the event of a change of dynasties in European countries, have there been any changes in the name of the country? Of course, there are, but there are very few, for example, the name of the Carolingian dynasty in France is "Kingdom of West Francia", the Capetian dynasty replaces the Carolingian dynasty to rule France, the name of the country is "Kingdom of France", the name of the French Bourbon Dynasty is "Kingdom of France", the Bonaparte Dynasty replaces the Bourbon Dynasty to rule France, and the name of the country is "French Empire".
There is also a situation in European countries where the same dynasty changes the name of the country. For example, in Russian history, there were two national names of Tsarist Russia and the Russian Empire, and in 1721 AD, Tsar Peter I of the Romanov Dynasty ascended the throne as emperor, changed himself from tsar (equivalent to king) to emperor, and changed the name of the country "Tsarist Russia" to "Russian Empire", but the dynasty did not change, it was still the Romanov dynasty. This situation is put into Chinese history, changing the name of the country means the change of dynasties, for example, the Later Jin Dynasty had two monarchs, Nurhaci and Huang Taiji, and the Emperor Taiji changed the name of the country to Qing in 1636 AD, and the later generations regarded it as a change of dynasty, and the Later Jin Dynasty became the Qing Dynasty.
There is also a situation in European countries, that is, directly change the surname to change dynasties. Typical example in British history, in 1917 AD, King George V of the Gotha dynasty of Saxony Coburg, in order to appease his subjects during World War I, abolished the German surname Saxony Coburg Gotha and changed it to the English surname Windsor, which was regarded as a dynasty change in later generations, from the Saxony Coburg Gotha Dynasty to the Windsor Dynasty, and the Windsor Dynasty still rules The United Kingdom.
The change of surname led to the change of dynasty of George V
There are other special cases, and the author will not go into detail. However, the author needs to highlight that in addition to the history of European countries, the history of other continents is almost all named and divided into dynasties by family names, Vietnamese history, Burmese history, Indian history, Iranian history, Ethiopian history, Moroccan history, etc., individual countries use other ways to name dynasties, such as Thai history The four dynasties are named after the capital: the Sukhothai dynasty, the Ayutthaya dynasty, the Thonburi dynasty, and the Bangkok dynasty that has ruled Thailand so far. In the world, only the dynasties of China and Korea are called by national names, such as the only few dynasties in the history of Korea: the Silla Dynasty, the Baekje Dynasty, the Goryeo Dynasty, and the Joseon Dynasty.
I hope that through this in-depth and good article, you can clearly understand the naming and division of Chinese dynasties, European national dynasties, and world national dynasties.
Many countries around the world in the same period were dynastic