Events That Changed History Essay

The feudal system originated in Europe during the eighth century was because of the collapse of the Roman Empire. The order that Rome had once brought to Europe had left with the absence of Rome's stability. Not only did political advancement recede but the advancement of infrastructure, such as waste systems and roads also declined. The lack of the innovation of technology created a major setback in Western Europe after Rome's fall. As big cities were relinquished to the dirt, many people moved to rural areas and set up small villages known as manors.

Numerous events and people have played a great part in shaping this country of ours into what it is today, the United States of America. Choosing such events or people to talk about is no easy task since there are so many that play a key role in how this country was founded, but the three different ones that will be covered in this paper are George Washington, the Revolutionary War, and finally the Civil War.

Many people thought that it was a punishment from God, so this led to people about questioning their faith. This concerns the religious impact of the Black Death, the plague that devastated Europe during the middle of the fourteenth century. It goes into the effect of the Black Death on the Catholic Church and the religious movements that emerged in response to it. The Catholic Churches played a significant role during the Middle Ages because religion was an important aspect of daily life for European Christians. When the Black Death struck Europe somewhere around 1347, the Church struggled to deal with the plague’s “damaging consequences and its reputation suffered as a result.” (History.com, 2010) “ Moreover, a large number of Catholic priests died during the Black Death...this made it even more difficult for the Catholic Church to recover from the shaken faith of its following”. (History.com, 2010). Since many priests had died because of the plague, several uneducated people did not fully understand why this disease was spreading around. They last almost all their faith in God which led to fewer people going to church and practicing their faith. This concludes that the “Black Death contributed to the decline in the confidence and faith of the Christian laity towards the institution of the Church and its leadership”(History.com, 2010). During the middle ages, Catholic Churches held enormous power in Europe and were still very religious and political even after the impact of the Black

The death rate kept climbing at an alarming rate, and it ravished the economic and social structures of Europe as they knew it. The lack of peasants and laborers sent wages skyrocketing while the value of land plummeted tremendously. The wages for needed workers increased enormously and created an incredible amount of demand for those workers in the designated fields. With the value of land dropping, the “playing field” for trade among the wealthy and peasants became more even. Bargaining power for peasants rose and provided them with a new found sense of growth and empowerment (The Effects of the Black Death on the Economic and Social Life of Europe). No longer were peasants’ livelihoods dictated by their greedy landlords; they became a valuable resource to those in power, and they knew this gave them a much better position from which to barter. Another huge outcome within this was the increased given rights that women obtained from this whole mess. When peasants were granted more rights and abilities for trade and property ownership, women were also granted these same rights. They were able to take on more responsibility and ownership of property. This included land ownership, trading, and political positons when times had gotten rough. Although it is sad that it took extreme travesty such as wiping out a vast majority of the

Before the Black Death, the church was already declining from the hierarchy statues as each country became secular from the church.It should be noted that Europeans did not “decline in their faith in God, but rather a decline in their confidence in the ability of the institution of the Church.” The church were guilty of abusing their power and influence Catholics to become more aggressive towards others who were non-Catholic.The church would perform public flogging towards non-Catholic missionaries from passing through countries and preaching their religion.They would then encourage violence towards to Jewish citizens as they were blamed for cause of the Plague.Other Catholics, in fear of their sins would perform self- flagellation as they worried that they will be infected with the plague.This would lead the idea that the church would use the Black Death as an scapegoat since they were losing power and faith from the people.The church abuse of power were the reasons why they had lost

Along with the sweeping death that came with the Black Plague came subtle changes in the lives of women in Western Europe. With so many left dead, the demand for workers skyrocketed after the plague. This caused the wages of workers to increase drastically and drew many women into the labor force. Another side effect of the plague was that there were less people to purchase goods and services which, according to the law of supply and demand, led to cheaper prices. For instance a tenement in Sussex, England previously rented for 12 pence was rented out for 6 pence. When you combine the wealth gained by higher wages and cheaper goods with the new legal concept of women being able to inherit property in the absence of a male heir, women were becoming more and more wealthy. This wealth brought women the new power of choice when it came to marriage that they had not had before the Black Death.

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were a particularly dreadful time in Europe. The fourteenth century was so bad it is regularly referred to as the calamitous century. During this timeframe the Hundred Years War between France and England occurred. Additionally, there were major upheavals in the power and structure of the Catholic Church. Finally, the Black Death wiped out an estimated one-third of the population of Western Europe. This Black Death or Bubonic Plague was the primary cause of the massive economic and social changes in Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The sheer number of deaths attributed to the plague led to a series of other unfortunate events such as famine and war that compounded the problems and led to the calamity. The Black Death was so well known that it shaped basically all vestiges of art and literature from this timeframe.

Before 1453, Europe was in a period of time often referred to as the Dark ages. Critics claim that they had little access to any kind of trade, wealth or ideas that traveled along the Silk Roads. Meaning that the Europeans economy was based largely off of agriculture and they lived very difficult lives in poverty. This was until daring and courageous men decided to pull Europe out of the Dark ages and into the Renaissance (A Golden Age). The many voyages of European explorers and conquistadors are what brought Europe into what would become known as The Age of Exploration. This connected Europe to trade and cultural ideas along the east. Although the Europeans and conquistadors did conquer the natives and spread the base of slavery, these men did bring new ideas, technology, science and culture that ultimately result in a huge impact on history.

Amongst the devastation and despair the Black Death left in its wake, it also brought with it some much-needed change to the way medieval Europeans were living. Although it ended many innocent lives, it also began a new era of social and economic living. In the years following the first outbreak of the plague, medical knowledge and awareness of hygiene dramatically improved, as did the living and working conditions of the workers. Other benefits included the rapid growth of Europe’s middle class and thus the fall of the feudal system, the loss of the church’s supreme authority, and the increase in economic power for medieval women.

On April 19, 1775, Americans will never forget when many deaths and historical events occurred allowing the colonist to receive their victoriorous justice. Colonists were frustrated because Britain forced them not to have any representation in the British Parliament. This led to an American battle which had 4,435 deaths involving this event. Although, we lost many lives during this time period, we gained justice and independence from Great Britain, with the help of one of Americas strongests allie; the French. In fact, without assistance, the Americans were no match for Britains; showing the hatred towards the British from the French and Americans, thus, making it easy for them to form an alliance. In 1778, representatives of both America

The Black Death changed European history in many significant ways. Its fatal symptoms took many human lives, and its influence carried over into many areas of society. Economically, Europe flourished because

The Black Death was also a way for people to start a new life, and it was also a way for Europe to start from square one. There was a huge effect on education. Many people realised that as much as they believed in God and their religion, the church was not God and that they were just taking the power. Because of this, people tried to research more about the reasons why the plague spread. Therefore, medicals schools were opened and there were many more doctors than before. Technology and machines improved and developed because of the lack of workers on the fields. The idea of feudalism was also faltering as many of the lords had died from the plague. Peasants were more free and they were also let loose from the bounds tying them to the lands. Instead, people started going towards of humanism and ideas of working for the benefits of oneself. There is evidence that can back this up. In Russia, the plague did not have as much as an effect and the feudal system continued until the 19th century.

The decades of the 50’s, 60’s 70’s 80’s and 90’s had many significant events that shaped America into the nation that it is today. The events of these decades shaped the United States into the nation that it is today consist of the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal, Reaganomics, and the end of the Cold War.

In Medieval times during the 10th and 13th centuries, a form of political and social organization called feudalism was a way of life that had great effect on people of the time and on the modern world. Feudalism was developed because of the weakness of Europe and it's kings. The word feudalism comes from the word fief, which was the land held on condition of feudal service, similar to an estate (English). The fiefs bound together lords and vassals. Feudalism was a structure in which a lord divided his land into smaller parts to give to lesser lords (“Feudalism”).

The European economy flourished during the Renaissance due to many factors. There was a large income coming in from over seas exploration. Spain alone received added income from Christopher Columbus and when he stumbled across North America on his way to find a shorter rout to the Indies.