What has Europe ever done for us?
Over the last decade Europeans have suffered a severe crisis that has not only jeopardised the European Union, but also contributed to diminish their faith in their own civilisation. The European identity crisis has been particularly dramatic in the United Kingdom, in the referendum leading to Brexit. But there is nothing new in this phenomenon, there has been plenty of scepticism about European civilisation in contemporary history, particularly since the end of the Second World War and decolonisation, when Europeans felt increasingly ashamed of their legacy in the world.
It is quite a paradox that despite the fact that Europeans enjoy the benefits of centuries of wealth, power and social development, they seem less proud of their civilisation than the members of any other. In the same way that in one of the funniest scenes of The Life of Brian, members of the People’s Front of Judea wishing to break away from Rome asked themselves: “What have the Romans ever done for us?,” it is very appropriate in these turbulent times for the European continent to ask ourselves: “What has Europe ever done for us?” The list of benefits produced by European civilisation should be led by the knowledge-based society, the market economy, democracy and its corollary the rule of law, and of course, human rights. These are at present, all essential elements of the most advanced countries, and they were originally created in Europe or developed to their present form collectively by Europeans. But there are many more.
To trace the origins of the achievements which were to set Europe apart, we have to go back in history to ancient Greece and the Renaissance in particular. In this remarkable era, under the influence of humanism, a new movement that placed human beings at the centre of everything, Europe laid the foundations of a knowledge-based society. Great Renaissance inventions like the printing press, gunpowder and the compass gave Europeans extraordinary advantages. Under their influence, the era of great geographic discoveries was to take place, allowing Christopher Columbus to discover America, leading to a globalised world.
A by-product of the Renaissance was the scientific revolution, led by personalities like Newton and Galileo. This could not have taken place without a revolution in philosophical thought that led to the rise of empiricism, whose father was Francis Bacon and rationalism, led by Rene Descartes which regards reason as the chief test of knowledge. No less significant were the literary achievements: while Shakespeare wrote the most magnificent plays of all times, his contemporary Cervantes invented a new genre: the novel.
Another era of which the Europeans should be particularly proud of is the enlightenment, which has also been defined as the age of reason. John Locke, Francis Bacon and David Hume, developed ideas like respect for individual liberty and property as the pillars of society. Later in the eighteenth century, French philosophers like Voltaire and Rousseau were to lay the foundations of the rights of man and contribute to the essential division of the state and church. Enlightenment has been hailed as the pillar of modern Western political culture, introducing principles that were essential for the emergence of liberal democracies.
During the nineteenth century, Europe, at that time led by Britain, experienced a golden era. Not only did it reach the highest forms of development and civilization that had been known until then, but it managed to project them globally, and the world is still living under its effects. The industrial revolution, beginning in Britain, had the most extraordinary impact, radically changing manufacturing and production, as well as society itself.
Financial institutions, and global banks emerged at that time, mainly in the city of London, and they are responsible for spreading the market economy throughout the world.
At that time Europe emerged as an ideological breeding ground. The ideologies that have shaped politics and inspired the formation of most political parties across the world until the present were born then: mainly liberalism, socialism and communism. It is not surprising that those who have led their countries to independence against European powers from Simon Bolivar to Mahatma Gandhi or Jomo Kenyatta were inspired by ideas that were originally European. Europeans also exported its most important educational institution: universities. They were originally founded in medieval Europe but it was in the nineteenth century where the modern university emerges.
Regardless of whether they are Brexiteers or Remainers, British people on the whole have powerful reasons to feel proud of Europe’s historical legacy, as the United Kingdom played a leading role in creating it. And whatever happens with the relationship between the EU and the UK after the very uncertain months that lay ahead, it will be history that will reconcile the British with the rest of Europe.
