The Great Divergence Essay

Mazower’s Dark Continent Europe’s Twentieth Century is about a factual and historical perspective on events in Europe during difficult times. In the prologue, Mazower discusses changes in Europe being less political and more about bringing people or communities together past realities. From changes with liberal democracy, communism, and fascism, there is a lot that Mazower has to discuss. He also states,” wounds of the continent cannot be dismissed.” which leads the reader to believe that what Europe has gone through is more than what most already comprehend. This book is about the differences in values and ideologies and how they must be taken seriously on a global level. The struggles that Europe went through, from Hitler and Stalin’s rule, to the dissipation of Imperialism, and the overall evolution of boundaries in Europe and issues in geography are popular topics of discussion in

The author, Robert B. Marks introduces the book, The Origins of the Modern World by introducing the reader to a global narrative of the origins of the modern world starting from 1400 to the present. The book presents the rise of the west as an issue of globalization of Asia, Africa, and the New World. Throughout the book, we see the connection made by the author between the environmental condition and the present economic status of a particular place. By the end of the book, readers are able to understand and reason out what created and solidified a gap between the east and the west, industrialized and non-industrialized and parts of the world that today are defined as the modern world.

Civilization: The West and the Rest, presented by Niall Ferguson, is a documentary in which Ferguson reveals what he calls the six killer applications which has helped Western civilization dominate over everyone else. These six applications are competition, science, property, medicine, consumerism, and work. Ferguson asks many questions over the course of the series as well as provides examples as to how Western civilization has surpassed other nations and empires. Ferguson’s main question in each episode is, “If we lose our monopoly over apps like these, could Western civilization be consigned to history.” This paper will analyze Ferguson’s questions and the examples he provides for the killer applications of competition, science, property, medicine, consumerism, and work, as well as his conclusions as to why the West has risen to the top, how the rest are passing up the West, as well as his conclusions to if the West can remain above the rest.

During the period of 1492 to 1750, Europe experienced drastic changes during their Age of Discovery. As a result of contact and colonization, Western Europe’s economy, political, social, and military systems changed, but also maintained certain aspects that enabled them to build strong civilizations. Such changes include increased (international) trade routes, more centralized governments such as monarchies, decreased unifying influence of the Catholic Church, and increased interest in military conquest and expansion.

The year 1500 was a major turning point in history. Before 1500, other world powers played a major role in the shaping of world events and Europe played a limited role. These “Gunpowder Empires” applied a great amount of power in the world culturally, economically, and technologically. In Paul Kennedy’s article, “The Rise of the West”, it is shown how Europe came to power after 1500. Europe’s rise to power was greatly affected by the world powers that reigned prior to 1800.

The non-Western societies responded to the West’s power differently, during the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s.When the industrialization train rolled into other societies, they greeted it with open arms. They would try to preserve the old ways, or sought out to modernize on their own. Some were too weak to adjust on their own terms.

WHG 6.1.5 Interpreting Europe’s Increasing Global Power – Describe Europe’s increasing global power between 1500 and 1900, and evaluate the merits of the argument that this rise was caused by factors internal to Europe

Towards the end of the Middle Ages era Europe made technological advances and continued to grow as a community. Gray C. Boyce in his excerpt from “The Medieval Period” describing the middle ages, argues, “Even at its worst it performed the function of guarding, frequently by accident and chance, the knowledge and treasures of what had come before, but even more it was creative and inventive, and transmitted to later ages great riches of its own,”. The author is proving that although Europe was indeed imperfect like most things, it was exceptional as well. The author is making the point that even during the worst times it was protective, creative, and knowledgeable. All of the attributes the author described are what made Europe so successful, and shows the reader that Europe was a prosperous, creative, and successful community.

The Great Divergence is term used to portray the gradual shift of dominance that Europe gained by establishing itself as the most powerful world civilization by the 19th century. While a case could be made that the Great Divergence occurred because of the pre-eminence of Europe and Britain, as well as their supposed superiority in invention and innovation above anywhere else in the world, this argument is flawed. A more compelling argument would be to state that it was rather through the geographical advantages that Europe obtained that lead it into eventually becoming the most powerful civilization after 1500 A.D., as this essay will strive to demonstrate.

From 100 CE to 1000 CE, Europe’s geography and political system changed dramatically due to new needs. A once powerful empire sank to its knees and receded like a flood, lighting the way for many new territories and borders and leaving war and chaos behind as they attempted to settle down.

Niall Ferguson’s thesis in his book “Civilization: The West and the Rest,” is to explain and prove why western civilization has exceeded the accomplishments of other nations throughout history up until present day. He attributes this world dominance to six “killer applications” the west had adopted and advanced beyond the means of any other civilizations. These applications were: competition, science, private property, medicine, consumption, and work.

The fact that the European influence was largely reflected upon world’s culture and economy is indubitably true. Such an impact, that has been deeply rooted inside the world for past several decades, acknowledged part of its people to notice its clear interference that has been covertly embedded over time within world’s evolution. Blaut reveals the secret of the phenomenon also known as “Eurocentrism”¹ in his article. Blaut proposes that “Eurocentrism is quite simply the colonizer’s model of the world.”². This statement beholds the dominant evidences behind inequal history between Europeans and the non-Europeans that will correspond and clarify colonial events.

The success of the Western World is firmly rooted in Western European colonization and imperialism, there can be no doubt about that. While this has definitely given Western culture a foothold, the West itself has been a success because it has capitalized on progression and development. Because of the scientific and political advancements that Western culture has gained from history—ranging from the French Revolution to the Age of Enlightenment to the Industrial Revolution, humans have embarked upon an age totally inconceivable to anything from the past. Because of these impactful historical events, men and women have entered the global village, we have reached the age where people travel to the moon, we have planes, and electricity, amazing

Entering the High Middle Ages, Western Europe had figured out most of its inner power struggles and the beginnings of nation-states had emerged. The dust had settled, relatively speaking, for a society that was built around a ruling warrior-class. Monarchies in England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire ruled with absolute and in some cases divine authority, and the encroachment of the Moors in Spain had reached a standstill. In these comparatively calm times, Western European men were free to turn their attention to the development of culture and the cultivation of knowledge. Old Roman and Greek histories were dragged out of

According to the European history, the period between years 500-1600 has always been referred to as the medieval period. This is because the era acted as the transition point from the old Europe to the modern Europe. The word medieval was invented by European scholars who combined two Latin words; medium and aevum which meant middle and age respectively. Numerous changes marked this era. For instance, the era began with the falling of the Roman Empire. This fall was of great importance to the European community since it resulted in numerous positive impacts. For instance, apart from the social and religious changes, other events that transpired during this era included the agricultural revolution in addition to an increase in the number of scholars. Apart from providing a detailed analysis of the medieval period, the study also focuses on how the educated Europeans addressed anomalies in this era as well as the manner in which they interpreted nature.