Pursuing The Glory: Europeans' Memory For The Ancient Roman Empire

The splendid ancient Greco-Roman civilization, the vast areas, the unprecedented consolidation and the various nationalities under Roman Empire's governance ... All these gave the later generations on European Continent the very reason to memorize Rome and to yearn for restoring her glory. It is the deep memory toward the ancient Rome and the longing for restoring her glory. If the unification of Europe is a dream which has existed for a long time, the memory for Rome should be the basis for generating and fulfilling this dream.The introduction and the first chapter are the introduction to the main idea and the writing purpose of this thesis. And this part raises a question — why there has been the memory for the ancient Roman Empire in Europe, especially in Western Europe.The second chapter gives the reason. The Romans conquered a large area of land with their overwhelming military might, and built up a strong empire. The glory made later generations of Europe gradually give birth to a deep memory towards the past empire and regard it as the model. Europeans longed for restoring the glory and recreating another empire which could be comparable with the old one.The subsequent chapter, Chapter Three, takes Charlemagne, Napoleon as well as Hitler for instance. Through examining and discussing the similarities and differences of Charlemagne's Carolingian Dynasty, Napoleon's the First Empire of France and Hitler's the Third Reich respectively, the author tries to prove that Roman influence did exist. Under the coat of pursuing the ancient glory, they in fact practiced power politics with violence and wars.Chapter Four is about the present European Union. World War II forced Europeans to reconsider their future. Based on succession with criticism, Europeans made their own choice, and established the European Union. From its process of...