The two armed camps: The everlasting clash between the left and right in Europe, 1648-1948
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Left vs Right: The struggle that formed modern Europe
The politcal arena of Europe in 1948 was one both physically and ideologically divided. The two vast camps of Communism and Capitalism faced each other, their division based solely upon politcal ideology. This stark division was the end result of centuries of struggle between the 'left' and 'right' for political supremacy in Europe -
The Peace of Westphalia
The Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 ended the religious chaos within the Holy Roman Empire. Its tenets, based on the newly developing notion of 'national soverignty', heightened the power of the various European autocrats, as well as aligning instituionalized religion with the preservation of the monarchy, -
The Glorious Revolution/Bill of Rights 1689
The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the subsequent passing of the 1689 Bill of Rights throught the English Parliament, marked the first formal time in which a monarch had accepted the limitations of his power, as according to the tenets put forward by an elected parliament. The notion of "no royal intereference with the law" seriously undermined the widespread concept of absolutism -
The French Revolution
The French Revolution marked a highpoint for liberal action, with a collective overthrow of absolutism by the commoners themselves, as opposed to change led from the top. Robspierre's speech on the festival of the 'supreme being' encapsulated the ferverantly anti-clerical and anti-monarchist sentiment of the revolutionaries and their cause -
Reaction to the Revolutions of 1848
The brutal crackdown by polical conservatives allied with the established churches marked a highpoint of conservative reaction. The declaration of the excommunication of the 1848 Roman Revolutionaries by Pope Pius IX emphasis the role of religion as a force in preserving the status quo of monarchial authority -
The Bolshevik Revolution
The 1917 October Revolution was one driven by a determined ideology, and was the manifestation of the political lefts increasing turn to extreme ideologies as a response to the constant refusal of established regimes to liberalize themselves. Lenin's call to arms speech demonstrates the violent nature of the revolution as a method to change society as a whole -
The Spanish Civil War
The first major clash between the far right and the far left. The failure of the so called 'liberal democracies' to act proved the entrenchment of ideological conflict within the European mindset, and foreshadowed the events of the Cold War. George Orwells depiction of events in 'Homage to Catalonia' catalogue this entrenchment
