What is the significance of the dates 1453 and 1763 to the emergence of modern Europe - Essay Example

With the introduction of Gun powder, traditional protocols of one-on-one combats were confined to the past. This made the whole enterprise of war more mechanical than ever before. The demise of Constantinople and the simultaneous rise of the Ottoman Empire are also significant from a theological point of view. For the first time in European history, a Christian kingdom was overwhelmed by an Islamic one. The relevance of this event to the modern day Europe is quite obvious, as most scholars acknowledge “the clash of civilizations” today – a famous thesis of Professor Samuel Huntington.

Hence, it is not an exaggeration to state that the reverberations of this clash of two radically different cultures are still felt in modern Europe. By 1453, the Byzantine kingdom was reduced to a small and weak entity that extended little beyond the city of Constantinople. But, in spite of their modest stature, the Byzantines antagonized most of their neighbours. To their disadvantage, “the Roman and Orthodox churches had mutually excommunicated one another in 1054, and although there had been a formal Bull of Union in 1439 there was still enmity between the two wings of the church.

Constantines efforts to paint the plight of Constantinople as the plight of Christendom all but failed”1. As mentioned before, after 1453 Islam had entered the erstwhile Christianity dominated European kingdoms. If modern day Europe is seen as a culturally diverse continent, then the conditions for this outcome were set in the centuries following 1453 when the Ottoman Empire attained its peak. The flourishing of the Ottoman Empire was not just confined to military success. This period also saw the rise of Islamic art and architecture that would have a major influence in modern European art and architecture as well.

Another legacy of the reign of the Sultans can be seen in the social and infrastructural organization of certain modern European cities. The