We have all learnt at school the three great historical periods of history: Antiquity, Middle Ages, and Modern times. Antiquity, finishing in 476 with the fall of the Roman Empire, gave way to the religious Middle Ages, which themselves ushered in the Renaissance and modern world in 1492 when ... More
It goes without any doubt that Christopher Columbus remains and will remain one of the most central and controversial figures of all Western history. Quite ironically, his name survives with more fame than the man who gave his own name to the new continent, another Italian sailor, Amerigo ... More
While the golden age of the nation-state was the 19th-early 20th centuries (the age of nationalism), the concept had in fact developed progressively since the middle ages, with the efforts in particular of the French and English kings to assert rule within their own realm. Nationalism and the ... More
Commentators all generally agree that the nation-state as political actor on the world stage has declined since WWII. Organization such as the UN, the IMF, etc., but perhaps even more the global economy as independent from the political sphere, have contributed to this decline. One of the major ... More
One of the fundamental characteristics of Western culture, among many others, would be the writing of history. History, the recording of past events and an attempt to explain them is indeed a discipline born, as we know, with Herodotus. Of all the ancient civilizations that have developped ... More
