PolledHistory: Voted Series: Modern History - #1

 Hello! This is the first episode of a Modern history series:

Episode #1: 1453 until 1588

There is a lot of debate with the start of Modern History. Nevertheless, we will start in May 29, 1453 AD, one of the definitions of the beginning of Modern History. Thus, if we use this 1453 definition, the Modern Era is about 571 years long. The end is present day. This "modern era" series will mostly cover just Europe and the Americas and the places it interacted with.

In May 29, 1453, a large Ottoman army descended on the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) city of Constantinople, a city that had declined and an empire that had certainly declined. And then they took it, the beginning of Ottoman dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean and the end of Roman continuity as a whole.

In the same time, in Italy, the Renaissance was happening. Cultural and scientific growth was undergone, and it was Italy's height. Only a few decades after the Fall of Constantinople, a Genoese explorer, Christopher Columbus, under Spanish endorsement, set sail westward in search of a new way to India. Ever since the Ottomans took Constantinople and other key port cities, the Europeans had to find other ways to the Indies. However, he found the Americas, initiating European colonization and expansion there. The Ottomans reached their height under Suleiman the Magnificent, who lead his Ottoman Turkish empire to its height in terms of power, though was unable to capture Malta in his old age. 

A few decades before this, in 1517, a priest nailed 95 Theses on the wall of a church, triggering the Reformation, where people tried to reform the condition of the Roman Catholic church - the dominant religion in Europe. More reformers came. Though at first it was a peaceful protest, it escalated to war and strife throughout Europe. After the Reformation was the Age of Reason, a time full of philosophy, but that will take place in our next episodes.

The 1500s also brought innovation and more advances throughout Europe, not only in Italy. This reason - the Renaissance - is one of the reason why Europe will be ahead for the next few centuries.  The closing event of this first episode takes place during the reigns of Elizabeth I of England, a growing European colonial power and Philip II of Spain, a powerful colonial power that, at the time, was leading the American colonization efforts. Philip II, in an effort to recatholicize England, which had adhered to Anglican Christianity, wanted to invade England with a massive navy. 

This massive navy, however, failed to achieve its intended destiny. Bad weather and bad preparation doomed the plan, and the English navy defeated the Spanish, a significant event that greatly weakened Spain and greatly strengthened England that later became Great Britain.

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