A little more than 2300 years ago, Alexander the Great rampaged out of Greece into Asia Minor, and Greek civilization reached its largest sphere of influence.   A few centuries later, the Romans followed suit, and Western civilization would forever be formed in the minds of the Europeans and the world.

After Roman civilization declined, Europe went through some murky times in the Dark Ages, but soon the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the ideas of free market capitalism, industrialism, scientific progress, democracy and financial innovation made Western nations the most powerful in the world.  The Spanish, the Portuguese, Dutch, the French, the English, the Germans and the Austro-Hungarians all took turns establishing different spheres of influence and empires of different sizes and shapes.

The 20^th Century was tough on the Europeans.  Two world wars decimated its wealth and vibrancy (and growth, especially population growth), and for the last half of the century, the continent was dominated by two non-European powers (the Americans and the Russians).  The once dominant European powers were pawns in a Cold War chess match that featured a former colony squaring off against a backward, Communist behemoth.  Read more...