Europe in Transition 15th-16th C.

ABOUT THE TEXT:WRITER : THANOS KONDYLIS - TITLE: Europe in transition (15th - 16th c.) - CATEGORY : HISTORY - PAGES : 55 - WORDS : 9.350 - LANGUAGE : ENGLISH - FIRST PRESENTATION : 2012 - CONTEMPORARY VERSION: 2012 (v. 1) - SUMMARY : This is a brief history of Europe during the early 16th century. We begin with the political partition of Italy (15th -16th c.). The Italian peninsula was for a long time part of the Holy Roman Empire until the 13th century. Since then new small states under rich patrons started to emerge and by the 15th century Italy was consisted of many states hostile to each other. The outcome of this situation was almost constant war. In the early 16th century western Europe was troubled by the rivalry between Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the King of Spain, and Francis I, King of France. Both were extremely powerful and wanted to rule Europe, if not the world. The fought many battles but none could totally subdue the other. In the mean time in the East it was unfolded the most serious problem for Europe; the mighty Ottoman Turks. They emerged from Asia during the 13th century and by 1500 they had expanded to both sides of the Aegean (Greece). During the 16th century they collided with the Hungarians at the plains of Central Europe. They conquered most of the country and then they tried to attack Austria belonging to the Holy Roman Emperor. But this was proved to be a big mistake because it triggered a Spanish counter attack. The Spanish Emperor Charles V wanted to protect his colonies in North Africa who were invaded and destroyed by the Muslim Emirs, assisted by the Ottoman Turks. So Charles V decided to launch an attack against the Turkish city-port of Coron (South West cape of Peloponnese, Greece). He captured the city and held it for almost two years until the final peace treaty. ..............................................Contact me at: thkamazon@yahoo.com