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Protestant Reformation
The protestant reformation was a movement which involved reformations of Christianity which started in Europe. Among the individual reformers was Martin Luther who was the leader of the movement.
The reformation was started because many people were not satisfied by the Catholic Church doctrines as it was regarded as corrupt in its dealings.
Reformations required included a change in the language used in writing the bible since many people were unable to read Latin which was the only available version of the bible during that time.
According to the reformists, the Catholic Church was not fair since its accessibility was only to the rich people while it excluded the poor. The main idea in protestant reformations was to bring equality in the church where everyone would have easy access to the church.
One of the most important tenets of the protestant reformers was the belief in children baptism which they believed it was some kind of a sacrament. They believed that through baptism the original sin would be washed away in the newborns.
Another main belief by the protestant reformers was that all individuals need to communicate to God directly and as a result, a proper education was required to facilitate the prayers.
Christian parents were required to bring up their children in the best ways possible to nurture them both in their spiritual and physical growth in accordance to the teachings of the protestant faith to enable them to serve God appropriately.
In return, the children en were required to respect their parents in every aspect of their lives (Wilde 1).
Besides diving Europe into Catholic and protestant Christians, the reformations also affected the social lives of the Europeans. The reformed churches had new practices that were different from those of the Catholic Christians, and this resulted in major changes in the church.
Certain ceremonies that demonstrated customary practices such as baptism and sacraments were abolished by the reformed churches, and this affected the lives of the people because the initial rituals used to shape the social lives of the Europeans.
Despite the church being a religious place, it also had some political powers which facilitated alliances in politics. Certain protestant states emerged, and they used the properties they had grabbed from the other churches to gain authority over the protestant clergy (Wilde 1).
The Thirty Year’s War and its significance
The major cause of the thirty-year war which occurred in Europe was the opposition of Habsburgs by several international opposition members from Australia. However, part of the war resulted from the differences in religious beliefs especially between the Catholics and the Lutherans.
Conflicts in the military equally resulted in the war with the Calvinism forces opposing the Counter-Reformation process. The most felt effect of the thirty-year war was the division and rearrangement of the European powers.
Permanent boundaries for territories in Europe were established with each nation having its form of governance both politically and religiously. However, the war was advantageous in that it caused the end of the religious war that had lasted long in Europe.
The war also resulted in the extension of war by the Europeans to overseas nations. The end of mercenaries also ended as a result of this war (McDonald, Michael 1).
Scientific revolution
One of the major causes of the scientific revolution was the expansion of trade where many traders traveled through the water to different continents for trading purposes.
However, these modes of transport were not efficient, and this prompted researchers to find possible solutions to the problem. Leaders of middle-class universities at the time raised the interest and the need to bring scientific revolution into the light.
The scientific revolution was promoted by the period of renaissance where great leaders inspired people towards the revolution.
The church did not oppose much of the scientific revolutions especially the advancements in communication strategies because they thought of it as a means of spreading the word of God.
However, some fields such as related to nuclear weapons technology were later opposed by the church, and this caused the church to lose its trust in science as a whole (Hunt 1).
Rise and decline of the Spanish empire
In around 1590s when Spain was ruled by Carlos I, Spain obtained several American territories to add on those that were obtained by Fernando who had ruled before Carlos I. Most of the lands in central Europe were also obtained by Spain.
As a result of this as well as Carlos’ good leadership and strong Catholic faith, he was able to succeed in surpassing many of Spain’s neighbors in overseas ventures.
However, the fall of the empire began with the death of Carlos I leaving the throne to his son during the time which there was no adequate trade for development purposes.
The situation got worse when Felipe spend the empire’s finances on costly personal needs after which he was succeeded by unsuccessful leaders (Lemieux 1).
Enlightened Emperors
Enlightened emperors were the heroes especially who told stories, and they were identified with their ability to unite people and bring peace in the society. This was the reason behind their high recognition in their societies.
For one to be recognized as an enlightened emperor, he was required to be unable to die such that if one dies, then he does not become the hero (the enlightened emperor) but the living would.
The existence of the enlightened emperor came into being with the invention of the pyramids something that happened worldwide.
They were identified with their ability to bring happiness and peace between the people by doing all they could to stop evil deeds from happening such as killing human beings or stealing what is not theirs. They were supposed to guide the world into righteousness by acting as the earthly gods (“Emperors”).
Absolutism
During the late 1600s, the systems of governance in France started changing as the Europeans gave up their fight for unity since the support they had from the church had been lost due to the church reformations.
As a result, many leaders drew themselves far from the church as modernization increased. Finally, the state became an absolute monarchy with all its authority lying on the king under whom the state was run.
The authority in power demanded that the state must be recognized and respected by all institutions including the church. The sovereignty of power was extended within the borders of France making it the leading power in the whole of Europe (Jones 1).
English civil war
The major cause of the English civil war was King James who believed that a king had divine rights and no one could oppose him or any decisions that he made. He, therefore, used his powers as the king to control the parliament from where he obtained financial assistance from.
Angered by the king’s relations and behavior towards them, the parliament members restricted income collection by the king something which made James suspend the parliament for almost ten years.
He then runs the nation by himself with some assistance from his friends and this caused conflict between him and the parliament until the time of his death.
Another cause of the war was his son’s marriage to a Catholic wife, and since the nation was protestant, many feared that he would change it to Catholic. The son also used the nation’s finances for his family on leisure activities or for buying weapons for himself.
After the death of Oliver Cromwell, an absolute dictator, English was never reluctant in welcoming monarchy leadership again.
Since James son, Charles I had been an heir of the throne, they assumed that his son, Charles II, had the legitimate rights of a king and he would be the one fit to take over power since many people would not oppose his power as they would if a leader was to be chosen by the parliament.
The decision to return monarchy leadership to Charles II was used to prevent further internal wars (“The Causes of the English Civil War”).
Enlightenment thinkers on US formation
The enlightenment great thinkers who influenced the formation of the United States are Thomas Hobbs who influenced the attainment of equal civil rights to all citizens.
John Locke who brought the idea of the government being the citizen’s creation something which gave the people the right to change the government if not satisfied with its rule. His ideas were also the reason behind the American Revolution.
A French philosopher, Voltaire, brought the idea of the possible change in the social lives of the people and reformations on governance.
Another French thinker, Montesquieu, came up with the idea of different laws for the people arguing that no single set of laws should be functional all the time.
He talked about a better government which would exclude the monarchy form of governance. He had a strong belief that separation of power would bring about effective governance to the benefit of the people.
From his ideas, the constitution came into being. Jean Jacques Rousseau was another great thinker on political issues who argued that the people should decide on the governance rule according to their will.
The people should be allowed to choose another government if the previous one fails to rule as expected by the citizens.
The influence on US formation occurred because people needed knowledge and advancements in various fields such as science. The people also had needed to understand the rights of rulers to enable them to change from their old ways of thinking (Hammond 1).
The economic system of Mercantilism
Mercantilism was an economic system in Europe which emphasized on the maximization of exports as the importation of good was restricted as much as possible.
The main objective of these efforts was to increase the wealth of Europe as well as maintaining a balanced trade between Europe and other nations.
To effect these efforts, Europe’s government made sure that domestic goods were free of foreign competition by imposing economic policies putting more importance on quotas and tariffs.
The inventors of the system speculated that it would increase employment opportunities for the nation’s citizens as well as the supply of the world’s valuable goods, gold, and silver (Hall 1).
Works Cited
“Emperors.” Thinkers network. 2010 – 2011. Web.
Hall, Shane. “What is the economic system of mercantilism”. 2010 – 2011. Web.
Hammond, Majen. “The Enlightenment and the Founding of America”. 2009 – 2011. Web.
Hunt, Olivia. “Causes of Scientific Revolution”. 2007 – 2011. Web.
Jones, Tyler. “Absolutism in the Seventeenth Century”. 1990 – 2011. Web.
Lemieux, Simon. “The Decline of Spain in the 17th Century”. 2010 – 2011. Web.
“The Decline of Spain in the 17th century”. 2010 – 2011. Web.
McDonald, Michael. “Europe – The Thirty Years’ War”. 1999 – 2011. Web.
“The Causes of the English Civil War”. History Learning Site. 2000 – 2011. Web.
Wilde, Robert. “Reformation 101”. 2011 – 2011. Web.
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