After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Frankish Empire established by the Germanics appeared on the land of the Western Roman Empire, after which Christian civilization in Europe was formed and opposed to the Islamic world in the Middle East.
But in medieval Europe, where the pope held supreme power, the people were ignorant, had no right to read knowledge, and were ruthlessly squeezed by the church, thus entering the dark Middle Ages. So how did such a foolish Europe break through the darkness of the Middle Ages and catch up with the civilizations of the Middle East and the East?
The Evolution of the Spirit: The Renaissance
As we all know, the division between modern and medieval times is generally considered to be the Renaissance. The Renaissance, which originated in Italy, spread throughout the West. From a temporal point of view, the Renaissance spanned 4 centuries (13th century – 16th century). Dante, the scholar who enjoyed the reputation of the last poet of the Middle Ages and the first poet of the New Age, came to the world in 1265 and died in 1321. (Approximately the late Song and early Yuan dynasties)
What does this mean? This means that the Renaissance broke out of Italy as late as the beginning of the 14th century AD. The emergence of various scholars (Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, etc.) at this time, Western Europe, has emerged from the dark age of repressed rule by the Holy See.
Probably because the historical periods are divided into different opinions, often forming an illusion of time, for example, when France carried out a vigorous revolution, China was still in the feudal autocracy of Qianlong.
In the West at that time, the main meaning of the Renaissance was as follows:
1. Separating man from God has led to a slow shift from Theo-centeredism in the West to humanism. We may not feel empathy in the new century, but this has had an incalculable impact on Christianity.
2. The Renaissance was not only embodied in literature and art as the name suggested, but radiated and spread its influence to all aspects of society, especially to promote the prosperity of commerce and the economy in Western Europe.
3. In this period, scientific thinking in the modern sense really appeared, and education ushered in a period of great development.
The Development of a Worldview: The Age of Discovery
New routes to Asia were opened up and discovered by Spanish and Portuguese navigators represented by Columbus, Vasco da Gama, magellan, etc. The history of the world has arrived from this moment in the true sense of the word.
The geographical discoveries have made the Westerners' vision no longer limited to Europe itself, no longer desperately waging a holy war against the Islamic world, in other words, it is the continuous colonization of the world that has enabled the West to achieve a real sense of the curve overtaking.
Emancipation of the Mind: Freedom from the Shackles of Theocracy
In the 16th century, the Reformation took place in Germany. Why in Germany? Specifically, the First German Empire (Holy Roman Empire). In the Middle Ages, Western Europe also advocated a pope and an emperor, but contrary to our country, the pope was high and powerful, and the emperor had a false name and was hollowed out everywhere. Thus began the revolt against the increasingly corrupt Church of Rome.
Christianity was divided into Catholicism and Orthodoxy, while Catholicism evolved into Martin Luther's Protestantism in Europe. Catholicism focuses on fidelity to Christ and is relatively fanatical; Protestantism is more rational and restrained. Over time, the Reformation, led by Martin Luther, spread to the general populace throughout society. For the first time, ordinary people in the West were able to explain the meaning of knowledge on their own.
Protestantism has had irreconcilable contradictions with Catholicism since its birth, and the Thirty Years' War in Germany is the embodiment of this ideological war. At this time in the Ming and Qing dynasties of our country (1618-1648), the result of the religious wars was the signing of the Peace of Westphalia after the war, which stated that Protestants were granted freedom of faith and recognized the sovereignty upheld by the nation-state, which pioneered the principle of balance of power and the modern international system.
Material ascension: the Industrial Revolution
The leapfrog development of science is actually the essence of the transcendence of modern Western civilization to Eastern civilization, and the series of events such as the Renaissance, the Great Geographical Discovery and the Reformation have laid the foundation for the emergence of scientific revolution.
The wheels of history rolled forward, the train of history entered the 18th century, when the feudal autocracy of the Qing Dynasty was at its peak, the West was changing unpredictably, and unprecedented changes unfolded with the occurrence of the Industrial Revolution.
In the late 18th century, in Britain, the Industrial Revolution was first launched and then spread around the world, and the core of the "Empire that Never Sets" was the Industrial Revolution.
epilogue
In 1643, the last general of the Ming Dynasty, Caisun Chuanting, was killed in battle, and in 1644 AD, the Qing Dynasty was revived and the Ming Dynasty was destroyed, and China at this time was still reincarnated in the change of dynasties. By this time the West had changed dramatically.
Lessons from the past, lessons from the future. Although China's five-thousand-year history is profound, in the wave of modern history, China has not seized the opportunity of the world, so that there have been subsequent centuries of humiliation. Today, we must closely follow the trend of the times, even lead the trend of the times, and not let the humiliation in history reappear, so as to live up to the history of our country for five thousand years.