The Roman empire didn’t suddenly disappear, it evolved into christendom. See my other comment for some more specific details, but Rome was unique, and christendom more so.
Rome gave Europe, and also Russia and America, its religion, its politics, and much of its intellectual culture. It is the ancestor of those modern societies, just as much as ancient China is the ancestor of modern China. The only difference is that for Europe, like India and Islam, political unification has been the exception rather than the rule.
If I just go by the beginning and the ending of your essay, its tone is: China was always the center of the world, Europe is a bunch of hillbillies who conquered the world by accident. It emphasizes a handful of economic and geographic contingencies, rather than the continuities of European political and cultural history. It’s interesting looking for obscure and ironic turning points, but one shouldn’t forget the big picture.
Why was the Western Roman Empire, which fell in 476, instrumental in helping Europe conquer the world in the late 1400s?
The Roman empire didn’t suddenly disappear, it evolved into christendom. See my other comment for some more specific details, but Rome was unique, and christendom more so.
Rome gave Europe, and also Russia and America, its religion, its politics, and much of its intellectual culture. It is the ancestor of those modern societies, just as much as ancient China is the ancestor of modern China. The only difference is that for Europe, like India and Islam, political unification has been the exception rather than the rule.
If I just go by the beginning and the ending of your essay, its tone is: China was always the center of the world, Europe is a bunch of hillbillies who conquered the world by accident. It emphasizes a handful of economic and geographic contingencies, rather than the continuities of European political and cultural history. It’s interesting looking for obscure and ironic turning points, but one shouldn’t forget the big picture.