european history 欧洲历史.doc

European History/Print version From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection European History This page may need to be reviewed for quality. Jump to: navigation, search This is the print version of European HistoryYou wont see this message or any elements not part of the books content when you print or preview this page. European History The current, editable version of this book is available in Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection, at/wiki/European_History Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. GNU Free Documentation License [edit] Chapter 01 - The Crises of the Middle Ages [edit] Introduction The Middle Ages were a period of approximately 1000 years of history, which is generally accepted to span from the fall of the Roman Empire towards the end of the 5th century, to the Protestant reformation in the 16th century. This period began with a demographic downturn at the end of the Roman imperial era, with European populations shrinking and many cities and rural estates abandoned. A cooling climate, disease and political disorder all played a part in this opening period, which saw Classical Mediterranean civilization eclipsed. Across Europe, there emerged smaller, more localized hybrid societies combining Roman, Christian and Germanic or Celtic barbarian influences. By the 9th and 10th centuries, populations had reached a minimum, and Europe became a largely rural and somewhat backward region. Commerce and learning flourished in the Islamic world, China and India during the same period. Islamic armies conquered Spain during the 7th and 8th centuries, but were defeated by the Frankish kingdom in 732 when they attempted to enter France. The turn of the first millennium saw renewed growth and activity, as kings and cities consolidated their authority and began to repopulate lands left empty since Romes decline. Warmer weather after 900