ABSTRACT
Until late in the twentieth century ‘Europe’ implied not only a definite area of the earth’s surface, but also a certain type of civilisation. The conceptions of the European states concerning social life and government, concerning religion and art and science, had, underneath all their differences, a certain resemblance which may have been difficult to define, but which appeared unquestionable when they were compared with the ideas of the old civilisations of Asia or the conditions in Africa or the New World. This basis of common ideas and practices was not the result of a common nationality, for the peoples of Europe are many, and some are widely removed from others; it was the result of the historical development of the European lands. All of them, though some to a greater extent than others, had inherited the science and art and philosophy of Greece. A large part of them had been incorporated into the Roman Empire, and even over those who were left outside that Empire the law and the language and the institutions of Rome had had a great influence. But it was during the Middle Ages that a real advance was made towards something that may be called European unity. The Christian Church, whether in its Eastern or its Western form, took up the task of Rome, though on a strangely different plane. Over all Europe the Christian ideas of faith, morals, and worship were accepted. There were wide differences between East and West, between nation and nation, but a common understanding was established which subsequent revolutions did not entirely destroy.
