THE ROMAN EMPIRE

• Rome became a dominant power on the Italian Peninsula.
• Rome was led by two consuls who were elected by the citizens.
• The government's great achievement was the development of a code of laws.
• Roman armies began seizing territory throughout the Mediterranean region.
• As the Roman Republic expanded, it evolved into the massive Roman Empire.

CHRISTIANITY

• Christianity was developing in Palestine in the eastern part of the Roman Empire.
• A Jewish teacher preached a message of love and forgiveness in Palenstine.
• Two early Christian leaders, Peter and Paul, established the Christian Church in Rome.
• Roman officials at first mistreated Christians.
• Christianity grew in population and became Rome's official religion in A.D. 392.

ROME'S DECLINE

• By the late A.D. 300s, the rivals struggled to become emperor.
• About A.D. 395, the empire was divided into eastern and western parts.
• Germanic leaders overthrew the last emperor in Rome and Western Roman Empire came to an end.
• Rome had great influence on Europe and the West, it helped spread classical culture and Christianity.
• The Roman idea of a republic later influenced the founders of the United States.

A CHRISTIAN EUROPE

• Two separate branches of the religion had formed.
• The Roman Catholic Church, based in Rome, was headed by a pope.
• The Eastern Orthodox Church was centered in Byzantine Empire.
• The Roman Catholic spread Roman culture to the Germanic groups.

THE REFORMATION

• Martin Luther set out to reform certain church practices.
• The pope in Rome didn't accept Luther's ideas.
• Luther's ideas sparked a religious movement called the reformation.
• Wars between Roman Catholics and Protestants soon swept through Europe.
• Authority of church leaders challenged, kings and queens claimed more authority.

THE ENLIGHTENMENT

• Nicolaus Copernicus concluded that the sun is the center of the universe.
• These ideas sparked a revolution, or a sweeping change in the way people thought.
• Napoleon's armies conjures much of Europe.
• Political revolution continued to erupt in Europe in the 1800s.

INDUSTRY AND CONFLICT

• The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and spread.
• People began using machines and building factories.
• Travel improved thanks to new inventions like the railroad.
• People left farms to find work in the cities; cities began crowded.
• A major horror of World War II was the Holocaust.

A NEW ERA FOR EUROPE