Category Kingdoms Struggle for Power in Europe

European kingdoms in Western Europe by the l500’s were undergoing important changes. In several countries kings were asserting their authority over local nobles and bringing order throughout their realms. Towns, which were growing in size and number, encouraged ways of living different from the hemmed-in daily routine of serfs on a manor. There was a new interest in man and his world. This new interest paved the way for discovery of the Americas and renewed contacts with old civilizations in the East.

During the next two centuries these same trends continued. At the same time, Europe’s history in the 1500‘s, 1600’s and 1700’s was greatly influenced by struggles between the new king states. These rivalries and wars grew out of the desire of kings to expand their territories or to prevent other king states from becoming too powerful. Those nations which were united under powerful monarchs, like France under Louis XIV, became more prominent. Others which were not united, like Poland, become victims of stronger states.

This category explains why the Kingdom of Germany under the Holy Roman Empire remained weak and why Central Europe was plagued by religious and political wars. The story of how France was unified under all powerful monarchs is related and tells how fear of France’s power in Europe and rivalry for colonies between France and Great Britain led to a world wide struggle. For the first time in the study of world history, you will read about Russia, one of today’s leading countries. An account of the growth of Russia from a remote half Asiatic country into a powerful force in European affairs.