State

:This article discusses states as sovereign political entities. For other meanings, see state (disambiguation).

Formation of the state

In Europe, the state was first philosophized about in a systematic way by Plato; however, his concept of the ?state? was essentially theoretical and was primarily intended for the Greeks and their system of city-states.

Related Topics:
Plato - Greeks - City-state

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The fall of the Roman Empire and the Great Migrations changed the character of European politics. The barbarian kingdoms and chieftains that followed the Roman Empire were ephemeral and transitory and bore little resemblance to the modern state. Even the kingdom of Charlemagne was fleeting; without the tradition of primogeniture, it dissolved into three smaller kingdoms with the Treaty of Verdun in 843. Instead, these kingdoms were treated more as land holdings by the royalty that ruled them.

Related Topics:
Fall of the Roman Empire - Great Migrations - Charlemagne - Primogeniture - Treaty of Verdun - 843

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The lack of a real successor to the Roman Empire in Western Europe created a power vacuum. The kingdoms of Western Europe were besieged by invaders on the frontiers - first, the Muslim invasions from the south, then a series of new migrations from the east and finally the Viking invasions from the north. The solution that evolved out of this affairs was decidedly opposed to the system of independent states and temporary alliances that dominate the modern international system. Religion, which had rarely been a factor in the power calculations of Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, became the cornerstone of an extremely loose pan-European defensive bloc under the aegis of the Catholic Church. This system produced an extensive framework of institutions - feudalism - that regulated internal conflict but enabled Western Europe to confront exterior threats, even while no individual secular entity was truly independent in the sense of the modern state. This system asserted itself abroad in the form of the Crusades as the Middle Ages progressed. In 1302, Pope Boniface VIII stated that the political powers of Christendom exercised their prerogatives ?at the command and sufferance of the priest.? This limited the power of kings, who were obliged to pledge their ultimate allegance to the Pope.

Related Topics:
Muslim - Viking - Catholic Church - Feudalism - Crusades - Middle Ages - 1302 - Pope Boniface VIII - Pope

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The Holy Roman Empire, one of the strongest medieval authorities, emerged as a competitor to Papal power under Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who invaded Italy to press his claims to secular authority in the mid-12th century. The weakening of the papacy was a major theme of the Middle Ages; the Western Schism in the later 14th century, a dispute over papal succession, was exploited by secular authorities and contributed to their growing power. The emergence of large, stable land holdings by single dynasties - for instance, Spain, France, and Castile - enabled them to take a more active and independent role than their traditionally subsidiary role in the earlier middle ages.

Related Topics:
Holy Roman Empire - Holy Roman Emperor - Frederick Barbarossa - Italy - 12th century - Western Schism - 14th century - Spain - France - Castile

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This shift to more independent, more secular actors would become a major point of controversy in Early Modern Europe. The great dynasties of Europe dramatically consolidated power by the beginning of the 16th century; additionally, the external threats to Europe had considerably lessened. The Reformation was to have a powerful impact on the structure of European politics; the dispute was not only theological, but also threatened the very fabric of the ancient political institutions of feudalism. The bloody conflicts that followed, blending the religious and political, pitted those who asserted the authority of the Pope (and in Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor) against those who asserted the authority of secular authorities and their sovereign ability to make internal policy, particularly when that policy reflected religious affiliation, Roman Catholic or Protestant.

Related Topics:
Early Modern Europe - 16th century - Reformation - Roman Catholic - Protestant

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These conflicts culminated in the Thirty Years' War of the 17th century. In 1648, the powers of Europe signed the Treaty of Westphalia which ended the religious violence for purely political motives and the Church was stripped of temporal power and replaced with the divine right of kings. The principle of "cuius regio, eius religio" established at Westphalia and previously in the Peace of Augsburg set a precedent of noninterference in other states' internal affairs that was key in the evolution of the modern state. In Germany, the office of the Holy Roman Emperor, the most prominent symbol of lingering institutions of feudalism, was emasculated as a secular authority in favor of the constituent elements of the Holy Roman Empire. The modern 'state' was born.

Related Topics:
Thirty Years' War - 17th century - Treaty of Westphalia - Cuius regio, eius religio - Peace of Augsburg

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The state continued to develop as monarchs brought nobles and free towns into line and amassed spectacular resources and prestige. The growing numbers of household servants eventually became known as the bureaucracy after the elevation of the Republican ideal.

Related Topics:
Bureaucracy - Republican ideal

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Nearly a century and a half after the Peace of Westphalia, the state came into its full existence through the French Revolution. Claiming 'national will' as its justification, Napoleon and the Grande Armee of France annihilated their enemies. In response, conquered and neighboring principalities discarded their old systems and adopted the national model. Concurrently, the state-led nations subjugated the globe and the rest of the world attempted to mimic the structures of the West. These endeavors met with varying degrees of success leading to the geopolitical situation prevalent in the 20th century.

Related Topics:
French Revolution - Grande Armee - 20th century

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