History (periods)

A cutting of the History in “ periods ” or - better - in “ times ”, because the first term stipulates étymologiquement a cyclic history, has for double objective to answer a chronological requirement and to pose reference marks, to indicate ruptures which represent a change of object.

If the history of the ground starts with the geological formation of the terrestrial sphere and if the history of humanity starts with the appearance of the kind homo , one limits traditionally the use of the word “History” (with a capital letter) for the periods which are known for us via written sources, whatever the support of these sources and whatever the means by which they reached us. The periods for which such sources do not exist having been named, as for them, Préhistoire or Protohistoire.

This use, popularized following the creation of the public records (1808) and of the professionalisation of the historians is explained mainly by the historical importance of the writing as a privileged source of historical knowledge. This supremacy of the writing perdure until in second half of the 20th century for the whole of the fields of studies of the history.

Conventional cutting

In France, the historians highlight conventionally four major times of Histoire:

the Antiquity, of the first civilizations until the fall of the Roman Empire Western in 476;
the the Middle Ages, of the fall of the Roman Empire until the end of the 15th century;
the modern Time, of the end of the 15th century to the French revolution;
the contemporary Time, since the French revolution.

Other historical schools differently distinguish between modern Time and contemporary Time. The German and Anglo-Saxon historians, for example, consider that the duration of the modern history is always relating to the present. Thus they maintain one period modern single since the end of the 15th century, with in general three subdivisions:

the former modern Time, of the end of the 15th century until the fall of the Old Mode in 1792;
the posterior modern Time I (1792-1920), until the shortly after the Treated of Versailles, and
the posterior modern Time II (since 1920), of the years nineteen hundred and twenty until our days.

The term Modern history is abroad a very relative denomination which always includes/understands the six to eight Décennie S which precede time present.

Because of the widening of the field of the historical discipline, for the four periods of the traditional history, it is advisable to add:

the Prehistory, of the appearance of the man until the emergence of the first civilizations;
the Protohistoire: it is the period during which a civilization does not have a writing yet but appears already in the writings of other civilizations. It acts indeed, of posterior civilizations to the invention of the writing but by not making use; for example, the Celtic , pre-colonial civilizations of the black Africa or the “Indians” of America enter during this “time”.

Criteria

This cutting is obviously arbitrary and its same limits can vary according to several criteria. A first criterion is set of themes: there does not exist, indeed, of clear ruptures in all the fields of the history (political, social, cultural, etc) with each change of period.

The national histories, also, propose dates which are more significant in what relate to them: one admits thus that the Americans make begin the contemporary time in 1776 or that the Germans privilege the printing works of Gutenberg to mark the end of the Middle Ages.

More largely, this partition is dictated by cultural and geographical considerations: it appears correct for the Occident but it is unsuited to the history of the other continents.

Moreover, it is not fixed and reflects in itself of the changes historiographic:

the passage enters Antiquity and the Middle Ages ready with debate since a few tens of years following the emergence of the concept of late Antiquité inherited German historiography. This Spätantike tends to encroach on the Early middle ages such as it was delimited at the 19th century while being based on the idea that the deposition of the last Roman Emperor of occident had put an end to the structures of the ancient World (what is called in question).
the name of “the Middle Ages”, as for him, reflects a design of the history dating from the beginning of modern times, when between a golden age supposed of traditional “Antiquity” and their own period of “ancient restoration”, the historians of the Rebirth (the name appears under the feather of Jules Michelet) intercalated one intermediate period of obscurantism, reduced with the role of transition.
the name of the “modern” period can surprise insofar as it does not indicate current times (the “contemporary” period): it shows especially that the partition of the history is a convention which was essential progressively course of the History: the “modern” adjective, indeed, was appropriate for the 19th century whereas the posterior history with the French revolution was not really studied
the limit “until our days” which marks the end of the modern history is also debatable. The historian takes, indeed, the relay of the journalist since it has access to files which the journalist did not have at the moment when the events proceeded. In France, where the opening of the files is regulated, certain can be blocked more than one half-century after the end of the events which they relate to. The War of Algeria, whose files open gradually, between currently only automatically in the field of the history. It is not always the case for certain events of the century spent, whose files are still inaccessible to the historians.

Question of the limits

Because of the extension of the field of the history and because of a certain relativism of rigor, the event-driven caesuras which were allowed without difficulty in history political and artistic are not it so any more easily today, in particular in the cases of the history legal, economic, social, etc Aussi, the historians tend to prefer to mention decades, even coherent whole of events, like “transitional periods”: these times are those which it is necessary for mentalities to change.

the end of Antiquity in Occident takes place at the 5th century (between the catch of Rome and the deposition of the last Roman Emperor of occident, when the contemporaries become aware of the disappearance of the imperial political regime); if one integrates into antiquity a “late Antiquité” which would last of the middle of the 3rd century until the Carolingian period, it is however at the 9th century only that the Middle Ages begin.
the end of the Middle Ages takes place between 1450 - 1453 (dates of the invention of the printing works and the catch of Constantinople by the Turks, which provides many ancient works to the Occident) and 1492, emblematic date of the “great explorations” launched by the European nations.
between modern period and contemporary period intercalate “the revolutions”: of 1776 - 1786 with 1815, they draws the one period contours which belongs more, neither at the 18th historical century (at the time modern), nor at the 19th historical century (at the time contemporary) and which is completed by the Congrès of Vienna.

Other cuttings

Other History divisions exist. Thus, in the current teaching of the history for the colleges, in France, 6 periods were appointed: prehistory, Antiquity, the Middle Ages, of the beginning of modern times at the end of the Napoleonean time, the 19th century, and finally, the 20th century and the current world.

The two dates accompanying each period correspond to the starting date and the completion date of the period. One can say that there exist three historical cuttings rather distinct but related the ones to the others: French history, History of Europe, and finally History of the world.

French history

Origins:
End of Prehistory; 52 av J.C: defeat with Alésia

Antiquity:
52 av J.C: defeat with Alésia; 496: baptism in Rheims de Clovis Ier, the 1st king of the francs

The time of Mérovingiens and the Carolingians:
428: beginning of the reign of Clodion the Hairy one, the first monarch of France and first king Mérovingien; 987: died of Louis V the Lazy one, last king Carolingien

The Middle Ages:
800: crown of Charlemagne; 1515: beginning of the reign of François Ier

Rebirth:
1515: beginning of the reign of François Ier; 1610: assassination of Henry IV by Ravaillac

Centralized absolutism:
1617: beginning of the personal reign of Louis XIII; July 14th, 1789: storming of the Bastille

Times of the change:
August 4th, 1789: abolition of the privileges; June 22nd, 1815: abdication of Napoleon

Modern times:
1815: beginning of the reign of Louis XVIII; 1875: establishment of the 3rd Republic

The 3rd Republic:
1875: establishment of the 3rd Republic; June 22nd, 1940: end of the Republic at the time of the armistice

Occupation:
June 22nd, 1940: armistice with Rethondes; June 6th, 1944: American unloading in Normandy

Decolonization:
1945: beginning of the need for recognition of the colonies; September 25th, 1962: birth of the Algerian Republic

The 5th Republic:
December 1958: election of the First President of Ve republic: Charles de Gaulle; Our days

History of Europe

Origins:
Approximately 1500 av JC: birth of civilization mycénienne; 753 av JC: birth of Rome

Antiquity:
753 av JC: birth of Rome; 476: fall of the Roman Empire of Occident

The Middle Ages:
476: fall of the Roman Empire of Occident; 1453: fall of Constantinople

Rebirth:
1455: invention of printing works by Gutenberg; 1688: Glorious Revolution of England

Lights:
1688: introduction of parliamentary monarchy in England; August 4th, 1789: abolition of the privileges in France

Times of the change:
August 4th, 1789: abolition of the privileges in France; June 18th, 1815: defeat of Napoleon to Waterloo

The Industrial revolution:
1815: end of the empire of Napoleon; August 1914 July: beginning of the First World War

The time of totalitarianism:
March 15th, 1917: abdication of the tsar of Russia Nicolas II; May 8th, 1945: capitulation of Germany

30 the glorious Western ones and Eastern Communism:
1945: end of the Second world war; November 1973: economic crisis

The 30 piteous ones:
November 1973: economic crisis; May 2004: entry of certain countries of Balkans in the European Union

The time of peace and economic prosperity:
May 2004: entry of certain countries of Balkans in the European Union; Our days

History of the world

Neolithic era:
Approximately 9000 av JC: invention of agriculture; Approximately 3300 av JC: invention of the writing

Antiquity:
Approximately 3300 av JC: invention of the writing; 476: fall of the Roman Empire of Occident

The Middle Ages:
476: fall of the Roman Empire of Occident; 1492: discovered of America by Christophe Colomb

Modern times:
1492: discovered of America by Christophe Colomb; August 1914 July: beginning of the First World War

Great Wars:
October 1917: arrival of the American Army in France; August 6th, 1945: attacks of Hiroshima by the first nuclear bomb

The time of the bipolar world:
August 6th, 1945: attacks of Hiroshima by the first nuclear bomb; November 9th, 1989: fall of the Berlin Wall

Occident using the East:
August 2nd, 1990: Georges Bush decides to support Kuwait; September 11th, 2001: terrorist attacks in New York

Occident in war against terrorism:
September 11th, 2001: terrorist attacks in New York; Our days

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