Sections:

• Welcome
• American History
• European History
• Latin American History
• African History

Topics for this Section:

• Greek and Phoenician Colonization
  1. Introduction
  2. Colonies and Emporia
  3. Natural Resources in the Colonial Areas of Mediterranean World
  4. The Focus of Colonization
  5. Colony and Mother City
  6. Summary
• Origins and Movements of Greek Intellectuals
  1. General Introduction
  2. Introduction: Where Were the Greek Intellectuals Active?
  3. BC 800-323
  4. Introduction: Travel and the Exchange of Ideas
  5. Travel of Selected Intellectuals in More Detail
  6. Summary
• Sanctuaries and Diplomacy in the Greek World
  1. General Introduction
  2. Introduction: Olympia
  3. Olympia: 700 BC to 200 AD
  4. Introduction: Delphi
  5. Delphi: 800 BC to 200 AD
  6. Introduction: Nemea
  7. Nemea: 700 BC to 200 AD
  8. Introduction: Isthmia
  9. Isthmia: 700 BC to 200 AD
  10. Introduction: Olympic Victors
  11. Olympic Victors: 776 BC to 369 AD
• Roman Italy in the Republic
  1. Introduction
  2. Roman Expansion in Italy : 509-31 BC
  3. Census Figures: Roman Citizens.
  4. Summary
• Romanization
  1. Introduction
  2. The Romanization of the Western Mediterranean
  3. Elements of Cultural Change
  4. Case Study: the Gallic Provinces
  5. Summary
• Rome and Asia Minor
  1. General Introduction
  2. Introduction to Provincial Structure
  3. Provinces: BC 125-25
  4. Provinces: AD 1-276
  5. Second Introduction: Temples of the Imperial Cult
  6. Temples of the Imperial Cult
  7. Third Introduction: The Minting of Coins
  8. The Minting of Coins
  9. Summary
• Crisis of the 3rd Century
  1. Introduction
  2. AD 15-285
  3. AD 200-285
  4. Some Factors in the Crisis
  5. Other Archaeological Factors
  6. Summary
• Centers of Learning in the Middle Ages
  1. Introduction
  2. University Foundation Privileges
  3. High Medieval Period
  4. Jesuit Centers
  5. Pre-Modern Period
• The Reformation
• Peasant Rebellions in Early Modern Europe
  1. Introduction
  2. 1290-1424
  3. 1425-1549
  4. 1550-1699
  5. 1700-1800
  6. The Peasants' War of 1525
  7. France: 1600-1700
  8. Britain: 1756-1801
• Academies in Early Modern Europe
  1. Introduction
  2. 1650-1700
  3. 1701-1760
  4. 1761-1810
  5. Summary
• Communication and the Postal System in the Early Modern Period
  1. Introduction
  2. 1505-1541
  3. 1570-1610
  4. 1611-1648
  5. 1649-1799
• Spain
  1. Introduction
  2. Natural Resources of the Iberian Peninsula
  3. Ancient Iberia
  4. Germanic Invasions
  5. Visigothic Control
  6. Islamic Spain
  7. Reconquista
• France
• Italy
  1. Introduction
  2. Italy at the End of the Roman Empire
  3. Medieval Conquests of Italy
  4. High Middle Ages to the French Revolution
  5. Napoleonic Era
  6. Unification of Italy
• Russia in the 20th Century
  1. Introduction
  2. 1910-1991
  3. Summary
• The Cold War
  1. Introduction
  2. The Cold War in Europe : 1945-1990
  3. Reunification and Resolution
  4. Summary

Introduction

If someone wrote a history of Europe from the standpoint of peasants and artisans, what story would it tell? The French historian Marc Bloch once observed that rebellions were as much a part of Europe’s agricultural economy and society before 1800 as labor strikes would become during the industrial revolution. One response to the question might be to track to the changing incidence and geographical extent of rebellions in Europe over the entire period between the late Middle Ages and the contemporary age.

This history was characterized by a number of important shifts. The late Middle Ages (ca. 1300-1450) witnessed relatively few large-scale upheavals. Beginning in 1400 or so, rebellion became endemic in certain regions, especially the Rhineland, the Alpine borderlands between Austria, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Swiss confederation. A crescendo of revolts in this region culminated in the Peasants’ War of 1525, arguably the largest social upheaval in European history prior to the French Revolution. Then the action shifted to southern and western France, the scene of almost continuous rural protest and rebellion until the 1670s. In contrast, the eighteenth century was a time of relative calm all across Europe, ending finally in the convulsions of 1789.

No single factor can explain these shifts. Some historians emphasize the expansion of markets and their disrupting impact on local economies. Others see a major cause in the consolidation of state power and its ever-growing hunger for tax revenues. Still others argue that communal assertiveness was the decisive factor. In some regions, ethnic and religious differences played important roles. However, all would agree that whatever the immediate cause, an important variable was whether peasants and artisans could get all their needs addressed without recourse to violence.

The following series of maps explores each of these themes in turn. The first segment traces the shifting pattern of urban and rural unrest throughout Western Europe between 1300 and 1800. The second segment tests the hypothesis that late medieval rebellions were the expression of communalism in towns and villages; the third examines the relationship between rebellion and taxation. A fourth and final segment looks into the relationship between markets and a specific form of unrest, the food riot.