The Idea of World Domination in the Public Consciousness in Europe in the Early and Developed Middle Ages

The Idea of World Domination in the Public Consciousness in Europe in the Early and Developed Middle Ages

By Andrei V. Zberovskii and Marina N. Kriuk

Journal of Siberian Federal University, Vol.9 (2016)

Abstract: The article explores a public thought and public consciousness in the early and developed Middle Ages in Europe. It reveals the presence of the idea of world domination in the public mind of medieval Europe. The article also discusses the specificity of the idea of world hegemony in the public consciousness in the studied period. It explains the change of the idea of world domination in comparison to the previous period (Ancient World). There are numerous examples of people pretending to the world domination. The author used historical sources, as well as works of the famous Russian and foreign researchers

Introduction: The ideas that originated in ancient times continue to develop in the Middle Ages, has a strong impact on people’s minds, form a certain course of actions of the rulers and their subjects. In ancient times, a number of countries, including China, India, Egypt and the countries of Mesopotamia carried out numerous attempts to establish global hegemony. Medieval Europe is just beginning the path of its development on the world stage, while Rome has won many victories over the nations of the Ancient world, is trying to turn the idea of world domination into reality, to become the ruler of all nations.

By the beginning of the Middle Ages the Western Roman empire will fall and the palm of victory will go into the hands of other countries. And the European states will be these countries that, in practice, based on the experience of the ancient states, will carry out numerous attempts to usurp power in the whole world. The European States in the analyzed period were primarily agrarian, feudal relations were a frequent practice, subsistence farming dominated in that period, and commodity-money relations were poorly developed.

The studied period, in contrast to the countries of the Ancient world, is characterized by an exceptionally strong role of the church and a high degree of ideologization of society. Christianity becomes a single religion and the basis for uniting Europeans and forming a single European civilization. By the middle of the Middle Ages the European states become the strongest in the known world, the process of European integration and the idea of the world hegemony to spread along with cultural and religious customs begins. In today’s world, the European states are among the strongest in the world arena, most states try to get into the European Community, the processes unfolding in different regions of countries near and far abroad can directly affect safety of the peoples of the global space, which makes the world domination topic particularly relevant.

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