Ancient China was the overlord of one side, spreading its culture to the entire East Asia and even Southeast Asia. In ancient Europe there was also a dominant country, that is French Empire .
The artistic attainments and military power of France in the past are among the best in the whole of Europe, and the upper class of Europe is proud of speaking French and wearing French costumes.
However, people who have heard of European history are puzzled, why did France in the past be so powerful, but there were no heroes like Qin Shihuang and Guangwu unify Europe?
In fact, in history, Charlemagne has also made corresponding measures and created a huge country. However, after his death, his country was divided into three parts, and several famous developed countries are his descendants.
European view of independence
In fact, before the emergence of Qin Shihuang, China was also in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, but China's final unification was also an inevitable product of historical development.
Qin Dynasty and Warring States were the intersection period between slave society and feudal society. In order to develop their own strength and achieve hegemony, all countries have successively carried out reforms in accordance with social development and promoted productivity.
With the progress and development of society, the main social contradictions in China gradually became the contradiction between peasants and landlords. In this way, the transfer of social contradictions led China to develop from a slave society to a feudal society.
. The feudal society combined with the concept of "unification" advocated by the ancient Chinese people, gradually formed the unique idea of " Unification " in China.
and Qin benefited from Shang Yang's reform , which made the entire country reform from top to bottom very thoroughly, and the interests of farmers were protected and developed, which promoted the continuous upward economic trend of the entire country and also allowed Qin to quickly enter the ranks of "developed" at that time.
So only in the generation of Qin Shihuang, the Qin State, with strong troops and horses, could "strive for the rest of the six generations" and unify China.
However, in comparison, Europe's development is much slower. China in the East is busy with "cars on the same track, on the same books and ". At the same time, Europe was still eating raw food and drinking blood.
Except for the emergence of individual civilizations such as Ancient Roman and Ancient Greek , most other areas are wilderness, especially with the invasion of barbarian , the fall of Roman rule, and Europe completely entered the slow-developed medieval era.
The lack of social productivity has also led to Europe not entering a pure agricultural civilization for a long time, and is mainly based on plundering .
Secondly, the cultural identity is not strong. When the Qin Dynasty was first established, the entire country had a strong centrifugal force because cultures could not be integrated with each other.
Here we have to sigh at Qin Shihuang's wise and powerful force, demanding "the same track, the same text, and the same text", unifying culture from the root, and laying the foundation for China's strong cohesion today.
The differences between European countries are very huge, not only in terms of language and customs. The political system and the concept of governing the country are also very different.
Fortunately, they have the same beliefs and are ruled and blessed by the pope, otherwise they are afraid that their relationship will be worse.
Living example
The situation in Europe is very unsuitable for unification, so even if a king who wanted to unify Europe like Qin Shihuang appeared in history, it ended in failure. He is France's Charlemagne .
Unfortunately, such a wise figure did not fulfill his dream of unification. He built a vast territory when he was alive, but after his death, his country was quickly divided into three parts.
Charlemma himself is very military-minded. Thanks to the help of his father Pippin, he had an army that served his own at a young age, which gave him many advantages that other kings did not have.
You should know that the British king at that time was still struggling with the parliament, trying to increase his power to himself.
With a strong army, Charlemagne captured a large area of territory at a young age. As the saying goes, "It is easy to fight the country, but it is difficult to defend the country." Charlemagne also knew this well, so he decided to use religion to consolidate his rule.
The medieval Holy See had a huge influence, and everything from national politics to art and culture revealed the shadow of religion.
and Frank Caroling dynasty had a famous "Pepin donation" incident that inspired Charlemagne.
So Charlemagne won the Pope by winning over the Pope and contributing his territory, allowing him to use his spiritual power to gather the people in the new territory.
It also had a huge impact on European cultural shaping. Originally, due to the " Greek , Roman legacy", the European cultural center as a whole was in the area of Mediterranean .
But Charlemagne relied on his own strength to make France the center of culture in Europe, and has been at an immortal level for the next few hundred years.
Unfortunately, the funeral of such a smart emperor was very chaotic. He had few descendants, only his fourth son survived, so the throne was passed to this only son, Louis.
Unfortunately, this Louis did not inherit his father's talent. Instead, he was cowardly and had no talent for governing the country. Therefore, France, which had originally relied on the Pope in religion, quickly became a puppet of the Holy See, and even intervened in inheritance.
It turns out that although King Louis is cowardly, France's strength cannot be underestimated. The Holy See is worried that France will break away from the control of the Holy See if it develops to a certain extent. So he simply suggested that Louis divide the country into three parts and distribute it evenly to his sons.
So The Frank Kingdom was divided into three countries: East, Central and West. Among them, the most abundant central part was inherited by the eldest son Lothel, and the other two parts were managed by his two younger brothers Louis and Charlie .
Although everyone seems to be happy, this also laid the groundwork for the subsequent state.
After the death of his eldest brother Lothier I, his two younger brothers quickly sat on the negotiating table to divide the Chinese Frank Kingdom , leaving only a pitiful territory for the Chinese Franks.
and no longer inherited the legal system of the Frank Kingdom, but instead established its own country. This is the predecessor of France and Germany today. The Central Frank Kingdom, which has few territory, has become Italy today after many years of ups and downs.
Conclusion
Although the strength of these three European countries cannot be underestimated and their economies are very developed, they will always only seek development, and they cannot have a cohesion that can resist difficulties like a unified country.
Today's society is no longer suitable to establish a unified country born by annexing the country like it did a thousand years ago. Therefore, for a long time in the future, Europe will maintain its current multi-national state as before.
can only say that building a big country should be done early, and both external and internal abilities must not be lacking.
This makes us sigh at the strength of this ancient country belonging to the East thousands of years ago. It is its strength that shapes China today. It is the unified culture that has given China a civilization that has been passed down for thousands of years, and makes us admire the wisdom and foresight of our ancestors.
