A brief tour through the geography and history of Europe, based on chapters 9 and 10 from National Geographic's World Geography text for the seventh grade.

1. EUROPE’S GEOGRAPHY
& HISTORY
CHAPTER 9-10

2. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
• Europe is a “peninsula of peninsulas”:
– Scandinanivan Peninsula
– Iberian Peninsula
– Balkan Peninsula
– Italian Peninsula (“the boot”)
• It also contains many important islands:
– Great Britain
– Ireland
– Greenland (technically North America, but it belongs
to Denmark)
– Sicily
– Corsica

3. Europe’s Climates
• Most of Europe lies within the humid temperate
climate region
• The North Atlantic Drift, a warm ocean current,
keeps temperatures mild
• A Mediterranean climate brings mild, rainy
winters and hot, dry summer to land around the
Mediterranean Sea
• Eastern Europe has a humid continental climate
with long cold winters (like Nebraska!)
• Iceland, Greenland, and northern Scandinavia
have a polar climate

4. A LONG COASTLINE
• Europe has more than 24,000 miles of coastline!
(25 miles/day = 4 years!)
• Easy water access makes trade easier and has led
to industries such as fishing being important
• Towns grew up around bays where ships
regularly docked to trade
– Bays: Water surrounded on three sides by land
• In Norway, the deep and narrow bays called
fjords were harder to settle, and so attracted
future people

5. Scandinavia’s Fjords

6. A LONG COASTLINE
• In the Netherlands, people developed a way to
push back the sea by building giant walls called
dikes to create polders, or low-lying farms
• The Netherlands has more than 3,000 miles of
rivers and canals

7. MOUNTAINS, RIVERS & PLAINS
• Mountain chains of Europe:
– Alps
– Pyrenees
– Apennines
– Carpathians
• Important rivers:
– Danube River – passes through 10 countries
– Rhine River – passes through Switzerland and into
Germany
• Many of these rivers cross the Northern European Plain
– Stretches across France, Belgium, Germany, and Poland
– An area especially good for farming
– Contains many of the largest cities, such as Paris

8. Danube River

9. ROOTS OF DEMOCRACY
• Democracy was born in Athens, Greece
• Over the years, Greek culture was spread by
various rulers, especially Alexander the Great
• Greek archeology and philosophy impacted
other civilizations, like Rome

10. ROME: REPUBLIC & EMPIRE
• In Rome, a republic formed, which is a type of
government in which the people elect officials who
govern according to the law
• Eventually Rome became an empire that spread from
Northern Africa all the way north to Spain and Great
Britain
• It was the most powerful empire on earth for about
500 years, until German barbarians began attacking in
A.D. 235
• Around 330, Emperor Constantine declared Christianity
the official religion of Rome
• In 395, the Empire was divided into East and West, and
the Western Empire was overthrown in 476 A.D.

11. THE MIDDLE AGES
• In the Middle Ages, from 500 to 1500, Europe
consisted mostly of numerous kingdoms
• In 1054, Christianity split into two:
– Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe
– Eastern Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe
• The church was at the center of life in the Middle
Ages – collecting taxes, making laws, and waging
war, including the Crusades
– Crusades: Holy wars to take back the “Holy Land” of
Palestine (today’s Israel) from Muslim control

12. THE MIDDLE AGES
• During the Middle Ages, the kingdoms of
Europe lived according to feudal system, with
serfs or peasants at the bottom
• In time, the growth of towns helped end the
feudal system
• In 1347, the onset of the Black Plague killed
millions and also upset the feudal system
• Farmers left the country to seek higher-paying
jobs in town

13. RENAISSANCE & REFORMATION
• The Renaissance was rebirth of art and
learning that began in the 1300s
• It was helped by the work of artists like
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael
• Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing
press, which helped the spread of books and
ideas, as well as the Reformation

14. RENAISSANCE & REFORMATION
• Led by Martin Luther, the Reformation was a
break in the Roman Catholic Church that led
some to try to “reform” the church
• Eventually, many left to become Protestants,
and “protest” things they did not like in the
church

15. • In 1415, Portugal began sending out sailors
around Africa, seeking new trade routes
• This began the Age of Exploration
• Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa to Asia
• Christopher Columbus said to the Americas (he
was looking for Asia too!)
• Jacques Cartier sailed to Canada
• Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world in 1577
EXPLORATION & COLONIZATION

16. EXPLORATION & COLONIZATION
• Exploration led to the establishment of colonies,
or areas controlled by a distant country
• Most countries began colonizing in the Americas,
but soon moved on to Asia and Africa
• Colonization brought a new sharing of goods and
ideas known as the Columbian Exchange
• It also killed millions of natives in the colonies
through the European introduction of diseases
like smallpox

17. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
• In the 1700s, industry began to change with
the invention of the steam engine
• This made factories possible, as well as
railways
• Cities began to grow rapidly and standards of
living rose for many
• However, workers faced tough conditions and
child labor was common

18. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
• In 1789, inspired by the American revolution,
the French rebelled against their king
• Their attempt to form a democracy was short-
lived, and radicals took over, killing an
estimated 40,000 people by guillotine
• After five years of violence, a young general
named Napoleon Bonaparte saw his chance
and overthrew the French government
• His attempt to create an empire was not
stopped until 1815.

19. NATIONALISM & WORLD WAR I
• Eventually, nationalism, or a strong sense of
loyalty to one’s country, led people to begin
unifying their small kingdoms into nations
• In 1870, Italy unified, and in 1871, Germany
followed suit.
• Countries competed for natural resources and
colonies, and formed alliances, or agreements to
work towards common goals
– Triple Entente – Britain, France, and Russia
– Central Powers – German and Austro-Hungarian
Empires

20. NATIONALISM & WORLD WAR I
• In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-
Hungary was assassinated in Serbia.
• Within weeks, much of Europe was at war.
• The war lasted from 1914 to 1918
• 32 nations total were involved
• Germany was emerging as a world power

22. WORLD WAR I:
MAJOR COUNTRIES INVOLVED
Allies:
• Great Britain
• France
• Soviet Union
(Russia)
• Italy
• U.S.
Central Powers:
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• Turkey
• Bulgaria

23. WWI: TECHNOLOGY
• Both sides used deadly
new technology,
including
• Machine guns
• Tanks
• Airplanes
• Poison gas
• U-boats, or submarines

26. WORLD WAR I: TRENCH WARFARE
• Both sides fought from trenches, or long ditches
that protected soldiers from enemy fire
• Approximately 200,000 men died in the trenches

28. WORLD WAR I: TRENCH WARFARE

31. WORLD WAR I: WAR TO END ALL WARS?
• In 1917, two key things happened:
– Russia fell to the Communists, made peace with
Germany, and dropped out of the war
– The United States entered the war on the side of
France and Britain
• In 1918, Germany surrendered to France, Britain
and the U.S.
• The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919,
angering and humiliating Germany
• New countries were also formed: Austria,
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Turkey

33. WWI: BEFORE & AFTER

34. IT’S PRIMARY TUESDAY!
Today we will:
Vote!
Look at presentation requirements!
Discuss WWII and the Cold War!

40. WORLD WAR II
• After WWI, Germany was forced to pay
reparations, or money to cover victors’ losses
• The economic depression caused led to Adolf
Hitler rising to power in Germany
– Hitler promised to make Germany great again
– Germany allied with Italy and also Japan
• In 1939, Germany invaded Poland
– France & Great Britain, who were allies of Poland,
declared war
– Germany quickly conquered most of Europe,
including France

41. WWII: COUNTRIES INVOLVED
Allies
• Great Britain
• France
• U.S.
• Soviet Union (Russia)
Axis
• Germany
• Japan
• Italy

42. Nazi Germany under Hitler

44. WORLD WAR II: PEARL HARBOR
• In 1941, Japan attacked the U.S. at Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii
• The U.S. declared war on Japan, and then on
its allies Italy and Germany, and entered the
war in 1941

46. 353 Japanese Planes

47. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
December 7th, 1941

50. U.S.S. Arizona

55. WORLD WAR II: THE HOLOCAUST
• On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered and
Adolf Hitler committed suicide
• The Allies were stunned to find concentration
camps where 6 million Jews and others were
murdered, victims of genocide, or the
deliberate killing of a large group of people
• This mass slaughter was called the Holocaust,
or the systematic mass murder of a large
group of people.

57. Jewish
Ghettos

60. Auschwitz-Birkenau

72. WORLD WAR II: ATOMIC BOMBS
• Japan fought on until United States dropped
atomic bombs on the Japan
• President Harry S. Truman authorized the
action
– “Little Boy” on Hiroshima on August 6th 1945
– “Fat Man” on Nagasaki on August 9th 1945
• Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945

74. BEFORE THE BOMB

76. Hiroshima
Nagasaki

85. IWO JIMA

88. THE COLD WAR
• After WWII, the Soviet Union established
communist governments in eastern Europe
• Germany was divided into two halves:
– East Germany = communist
– West Germany = democratic
• An imaginary boundary between the democratic
western countries and the communist eastern
countries was called the Iron Curtain
• This was the beginning of the Cold War, a period
of high tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union

89. To defend against
possible attack,
the U.S. and its
allies formed
NATO, or the
North Atlantic
Treaty
Organization
(green).
The Soviet Union
and its allies
formed the
Warsaw Pact
(red).
Some nations,
like Switzerland,
chose to remain
neutral during
the Cold War.

90. THE FALL OF COMMUNISM
• In the 1980s, many eastern European
countries overthrew their communist
governments
• In 1991, the Soviet Union broke up, freeing
many more countries it had taken over
• The Cold War ended, and democracy replaced
communism in most of Europe

91. GERMANY & BERLIN DIVIDED

92. GERMANY & BERLIN DIVIDED

93. Built: 1961
Came Down: 1989
THE BERLIN WALL

95. Approximately 96 Miles in Length

96. 5,000 Attempts = 100-200 Deaths

100. A Walk Through Time

107. THE EUROPEAN UNION
• Since WWII, some European countries have
worked together to form a single market
• Single market = a group of countries that trade
without restrictions or fees at borders
• In 1992, the European Union was created to unify
the economies of its member countries
• It has a government and makes laws about
economic policy
• It also created a new currency, called the euro
• To join, countries must have stable democratic
government and respect human rights

110. ANY QUESTIONS?