Starting Points for Political Connections
All political connections have starting points, triggers that begin the chain of events that lead to a particular event or political action. Some starting points are more significant than others, leading to a whole range of history changing events. Five of these starting points stand out about the rest as key events connecting political history.
It is actually quite difficult to identify the most important connection triggers. History is full of dramatic events that change the course of all future events related to it. In attempting to identify the most significant of these connection starting points we use a few basic criteria.
1. Because most of our political connections are Western in nature we identified only Western origins. As we expand outward we will re-evaluate this criteria.
2. The event must date back well into history. While modern connection triggers are common the number of branches that can be derived from these seeds is limited by the time frame involved. The more time that passes the more possible connections can develop from a particular event. All of our leading triggers date back a millennium or more.
3. We require a set time for an event in order to derive connections. This eliminates many connections that may be real or may be myth. For example: Romulus killing his brother and forming the city of Rome. Clearly the Roman empire has had the most influence on western civilization but trying to pinpoint its beginning crosses us over into myth and legend. For all we know Rome was founded by a band of tribes that liked the fertile ground and nearby river and decided to make it there home.
With that said our five most important connection starting points are:
5. Constantine's conversion to Christianity in AD 313. More specifically, 313 represents Constantine's pronouncement of a toleration for Christianity that would become a favoring of Christianity over all other religions. The enormity of the role Christianity has played in western culture and politics makes this a logical choice. The connections between events even today are easy to draw from his Edict of Milan.
It can be equally argued that Paul's conversion to Christianity around AD 40 is a better starting point. If not for Paul Christianity most likely would have died out as a tiny and irrelevant Jewish sect. Paul's religion would become the world's largest, producing the richest church in history and influencing western thought up to today. However; in AD 313 Christianity was still a minor sect representing no more than 7% of the population and might very well have remained around this level had Constantine not decided to favor the sect.
4. Nicolaus Copernicus moves the sun to the center of the solar system. Strangely, the connections really do not begin until after Copernicus' death in 1543. Even more strangely, the solar system he describe proved to be incorrect. However; Copernicus took nature away from God and put it in the hands of science. Every scientific discovery since 1543 can be connected back to the man who made Earth a natural phenomena rather than God's specific creation as the center of the universe.
3. The Prophet Muhammad moves from Mecca to Medina in AD 622. In Mecca Muhammad had few followers and little attention. When he was invited to Medina the religion of Islam was born and the number of connections this produced are beyond calculation as his followers have spread to every part of the planet.
2. The second most signification connection starting point occurred in AD 9 in the Teutenberg Forest in, what is today, northern Germany. In the span of about 3 days the course of world history changed. Lead by Arminius, a band of Germanic tribes ambushed and destroyed 3 Roman legions forever sealing the Roman empire's border below Germanic territories. Four centuries later Rome would eventually fall to these Teutonic tribes. Had they been part of the Roman Empire we may very well be speaking latin today. The course of events in western civilization including the establishment of the United States can almost all be connected back to this battle in a small corner of northern Europe.
1. The most important connection starting point for Western Civilization dates back to 480 BCE and the battle of Salamis. While the battle of Thermopylae has made an indelible impression on western culture because of the Spartan 300, it should be noted that the Greeks eventually lost this battle. Today the western world might very well be speaking Persian had the naval commander Themistocles not succeeded in destroying the Persian navy off the coast of the island of Salamis. Without naval support the Persians would have a difficult time resupplying their army so they pulled out of Greece, never to gain a significant foothold beyond Mesopotamia again. This paved the way for the flourishing of Greek culture, which lead to the Macedonian conquests of Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, and so on.
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