Essay Example: The Dark Ages in the History of Europe

Based on documents and notes from a textbook there was a dark age from 400 AD to 1400 AD. During this time there was a period of decay and decline. Europe Suffered many hardships during the dark ages. One of the hardships being some of the cities became smaller and some even disappeared. There were many more that caused Europe to decay during this time. Some of these things even had to do with the government which was very weak. 

The biggest reason why Europe was in a dark age was because of the government. One example of proof that Europe was in the dark age was that cities became smaller and some even disappeared, they also became isolated from the rest of the world (document a). This example shows an effect of the dark age which is the cities becoming smaller and some disappering. Travel became dangerous because of highway robbers. Europe also suffered a decline in commerce and manufacturing,education, literature, and the arts and in most things that make up everything that makes a high civilization (document a). This shows that they had a decline in almost everything that made up a civilization which also shows that they were in a dark age because they didn't have most of these things during this time of the dark age. They needed all of these things to be a high civilization.  There was a weak central government in feudal Europe(notes). This proves that Europe was in the dark age because if they had a weak government that means that they might not have been able to control things that were happening because they were so weak. The feudalism and manor system created many divisions among people. 

There were also many things that happened during this period that were not related to the government. Many of these reasons were due to farming. Western Europe became a region of poverty and bad farming(document a). If they were in poverty they also might not have had enough money to even farm at all. There was also a great famine. Europe was invaded in 800 to 1000 which destroyed an empire (notes).The destruction of the empire could possibly be a being to the dark age of the empire because there was so much going on that they were not able to fix it because of their weak central government. After this invasion Europe became the target of new assaults (notes). Due to all of these assaults and them becoming the new target for them it's definitely possible that they were not able to keep up with fixing all of them because of their weak government. The final example is that the church was a stable force during an era of constant warfare and political turmoil. 

There are many reasons why there was a dark age in Europe. During this time they suffered many hardships which caused the decline. Most of the things that they suffered had to do with the government, one being the government was weak and also they also suffered a decline in commerce and manufacturing,education, literature, and the arts and in most things that make up everything that makes a high civilization. The things mentioned are really important to a high civilization. There are also many things that aren't related to the government, one being that they were in poverty which could mean that they might not have enough money to even farm at all.