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Europe History
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Napolean Is General
General Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) crowned himself emperor. Napoleon’s efforts to colonise all Europe ended in defeat by the British at Waterloo in 1815, but the civil laws he introduced in France in 1804 would spread the revolutionary ideas of liberty and equality across the globe. -
Napolean
Having vanquished Napoleon, Britain became a major world player itself. With the invention of the steam engine, railways and factories, it unleashed the Industrial Revolution. Needing markets for goods, it and other European powers accelerated their colonisation of countries around the world, bringing new and exotic riches back to Europe. -
Backing the Assassination
Serbia was accused of backing the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne in 1914 and the battle between the two states developed into WWI, as allies lined up on each side. -
Austria's Allie
Crippled by a huge bill for reparations imposed at the war’s end in 1918, Austria’s humbled ally, Germany, proved susceptible to politician Adolf Hitler’s nationalist rhetoric during the 1930s. Other nations watched as Nazi Germany annexed Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia, but its invasion of Poland in 1939 sparked WWII. -
Slaves Overthrow the Ottoman Empire
They overthrough the empire on the Balkan Peninsula. The Slavs were not a cooperating empire. Balkanization becomes a term used to describe a region that splits up within itself -
States Leave Europe
Three dozen new states in Asia and Africa achieved autonomy or outright independence from their European colonial rulers. -
The Early Cold War
The United States emerged from World War II as one of the foremost economic, political, and military powers in the world. Wartime production pulled the economy out of depression and propelled it to great profits. -
The Berlin Airlift
At the end of the Second World War, U.S., British, and Soviet military forces divided and occupied Germany. Also divided into occupation zones, Berlin was located far inside Soviet-controlled eastern Germany. The United States, United Kingdom, and France controlled western portions of the city, while Soviet troops controlled the eastern section. -
Korean War and Japan’s Recovery
As the Cold War came to dominate U.S. foreign policy, America extended security commitments to two nations in Northeast Asia—the Republic of Korea and Japan. The Department of State under Secretary Dean Acheson forged a series of agreements to build a permanent American presence in the region and support these two nations, creating alliances that have lasted to today. -
Communism Falls
The downfall of communism had a terrible effect in Yugoslavia, where nationalist leaders seized the chance to stir up political unrest and war: some of the young independent nations there are still recovering. For the most part, however, the end of the Cold War has brought a sense of peace to Europe. -
Germany Divided
The Allies carved out spheres of influence, and Germany was divided to avoid its rising up again militarily. Differences in ideology between the Western powers and the communist USSR soon led to a stand-off. The USSR closed off its assigned sectors – East Germany, East Berlin and much of Eastern Europe – behind the figurative Iron Curtain. -
The Cold War
The ‘Cold War’ lasted until 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. Germany was unified in 1990. A year later the USSR was dissolved. Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania all grasped multiparty democracy shortly afterwards.