The Development of Europe Since the French Revolution
When Charlemagne was crowned Roman Emperor in 800, a period of political stability lasting about a thousand years followed. Stable in this context does not necessarily mean peaceful; there have been many wars. But the social order was clear, there was a spiritual hierarchy with the Pope at the top and a secular hierarchy with emperors, kings, princes and serfs at the bottom. This was also not doubted. With the American Revolution in the second half of the 18th century, a republic arose on the North American continent in which all light-skinned citizens were free and equal. This was followed by the French Revolution, which transformed France into a republic of this kind. As with all revolutions, the French Revolution also contained the danger that a power-hungry sociopath could seize leadership in the country. This actually happened in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Napoleonic Wars led to the dissolution of the Holy German Nation; at the Congress of Vienna a post-war monarchist o