The New Gresham Encyclopedia Part 3

EUPEN (oi'pen), a town and district of Belgium, formerly part of Rhenish Prussia, 7 miles S.S.W. of Aix-la-Chapelle. It has manufactures of woollen and linen cloth, hats, soap, leather, and chemicals; paper, flax, and worsted mills; and an important trade. The town was ceded to Prussia at the Peace of Paris in 1814. On 26th May, 1919, Eupen was occupied by Belgian troops, and by the Treaty of Versailles Eupen and Malmedy were handed over to Belgium. Pop. 13,540.

EUPHO'NIUM, a bra.s.s ba.s.s instrument, generally introduced into military bands, and frequently met with in the orchestra as a subst.i.tute for the superseded ophicleide. It is one of the saxhorn family of instruments. It is tuned in C or in B flat, and is furnished with three or four valves or pistons.

EUPHORBIA. See _Spurge_.

EUPHORBIA'CEae, the spurgeworts, a nat. ord. of herbaceous plants, shrubs, or very large trees, which occur in all regions of the globe. Most of them have an acrid milky juice, and diclinous or monoecious flowers. The fruit is dry or slightly fleshy, and three-lobed. Among the genera are: Euphorbia, which yields an oil used as a powerful cathartic; Croton, affording croton-oil; the _Ric[)i]nus comm[)u]nis_, or castor-oil plant; the _Buxus sempervirens_, or box-wood plant; the _Manihot utilissima_, which yields the food known as tapioca or ca.s.sava. In most members of the genera the milky juice contains caoutchouc.

EUPHOR'BIUM, a yellowish-white body, which is the solidified juice of certain plants of the genus Euphorbia, either exuding naturally or from incisions made in the bark. It is a powerfully acrid substance, virulently purgative and emetic.

EUPHRA'TES, or EL FRAT, a celebrated river of Western Asia, Mesopotamia, having a double source in two streams rising in the Anti-Taurus range. Its total length is about 1750 miles, and the area of its basin 260,000 sq.

miles. It flows mainly in a south-easterly course through the great alluvial plains of Babylonia and Chaldaea till it falls into the Persian Gulf by several mouths, of which only one in Persian territory is navigable. About 100 miles from its mouth it is joined by the Tigris, when the united streams take the name of Shatt-el-Arab. It is navigable for about 1200 miles, but navigation is somewhat impeded by rapids and shallows. The melting of snow in the Taurus and Anti-Taurus causes a flooding in spring. The water is highest in May and June, when the current, which rarely exceeds 3 miles an hour, rises to 5. In the Bible (_Gen._ XV, 18) the Euphrates is _The River_, or _The Great River_.

EU'PHUISM (Gr. _euphues_, well endowed by nature), an affected style of speech which distinguished the conversation and writings of many of the wits of the court of Queen Elizabeth. The name and the style were derived from _Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit_ (about 1580), and _Euphues and his England_ (about 1582), both written by John Lyly (1554-1606). A well-known euphuist in fiction is Sir Piercie Shafton in Scott's _Monastery_. Scott, however, had not studied Lyly sufficiently, and Sir Piercie raves bombastically rather than talks euphuistically. The chief characteristics of genuine euphuism were extreme artificiality and numerous allusions to natural history embellished by imagination.

EU'POLIS, an Athenian comic poet, who flourished about 429 B.C. Neither the date of his birth nor that of his death is known with certainty. He belongs, like Aristophanes and Cratinus, to the Old Comedy. His works are all lost except small fragments. According to Suidas, he produced seventeen plays, seven of which won the first prize. His best-known plays are the _Kolakes_ (Flatterers), in which he attacked the prodigal Callias, and the _Baptae_ (Dippers), in which he attacked Alcibiades and the exotic ritual practised at his clubs.

EURA'SIANS (syncopated from European-Asians), a name euphemistically given to the 'half-castes' of India, the offspring of European fathers and Indian mothers. They are particularly common in the three presidential capitals--Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. Belonging strictly to neither race, Eurasians are not infrequently ostracized by both; and their anomalous position often exerts a baneful influence upon their character. They generally receive a European education, and the young men are often engaged in Government or mercantile offices. The girls, in spite of their dark tint, are generally very pretty and often marry Europeans.

EURE (_eu_r), a river of North-West France, which rises in the department of the Orne, and falls into the Seine after a course of 124 miles, being navigable for about half the distance. It gives its name to a department in the north-west of France, forming part of Normandy; area, 2330 sq. miles.

The surface consists of an extensive plain, intersected by rivers, chief of which is the Seine. It is extensively cultivated; apples, pears, plums, and cherries form important crops, and a little wine is produced. The mining and manufacturing industries are extensive, and the department has a considerable trade in woollen cloth, linen and cotton fabrics, carpets, leather, paper, gla.s.s. Evreux is the capital. Pop. 303,092.

EURE-ET-LOIR (_eu_r-[.e]-lwar), a department in the north-west of France, forming part of the old provinces of Orleannais and ile-de-France; area, 2293 sq. miles. A ridge of no great height divides the department into a north and a south basin, traversed respectively by the Eure and the Loire.

The soil is extremely fertile, and there is scarcely any waste land. A considerable portion is occupied by orchards and vineyards, but the greater part is devoted to cereal crops. The department is essentially agricultural, and has few manufactures. The capital is Chartres. Pop.

251,259.

EURE'KA (Gr. _heur[=e]ka_, I have found it), the exclamation of Archimedes when, after long study, he discovered a method of detecting the amount of alloy in King Hiero's crown. Hence the word is used as an expression of triumph at a discovery or supposed discovery.

EURHYTHMICS, a general term, but usually used to denote a system of education evolved by emile Jaques-Dalcroze of Geneva. This form of training bears on all art, but especially on the art of music. Eurhythmics is essentially an original contribution to education. It aims at training musical sense on the broadest lines, using the body as an instrument of expression. Breaking away from preconceived ideas of music as a phenomenon of sound only, M. Dalcroze claims that music is innate. From this standpoint it follows that musicality as such is capable of cultivation apart from instrumental performance. Rhythm, not being a quality confined to music, but found common to all art, and fundamental to life, can, therefore, be developed from within the human being. This the Dalcroze system claims to do. Rhythm of sound plays a leading part in that it is allied to movement. Exercises at the piano are played to which the pupil listens, and to which he responds in movement--movement so closely allied to the music that it is a form of musical imagery. The technique is developed on simple lines to serve this end only. The system is progressive, starting from elementary rhythmic structure, and ending with complete musical form. It is far-reaching in educative purpose. It claims to free innate rhythm, to develop it for individual self-expression; to bring mind and body into closer unity, and in their interaction to give poise to both; to train accurate musical listening, ready a.s.similation of musical language and its spontaneous translation into terms of movement; to give musical experiences which shall be heard and felt; to cultivate musical expression and creation (in movement); to blend self-discipline with emotion.

EURIP'IDES, the last of the three great Greek writers of tragedies, was born about 480 B.C., and died 406 B.C. Tradition declares that he was born at Salamis, on the very day of the Greek naval victory there. He was, as far as we can tell, of good birth; at any rate, he was well educated, and was able to live a life of ease and leisure, and to collect one of the largest libraries of the time. The comic poets, especially Aristophanes, delighted to say that his mother, Cleito, was a cabbage-woman, but there is probably little or no truth in this statement. Euripides was originally trained as an athlete, but conceived an intense dislike for that occupation. Greatly daring, he expressed his view openly (Fragment 284).

Like a popular modern dramatist, his recreation was probably 'anything except sport'. He then took to painting, but abandoned it in favour of writing tragedies. His first play (not preserved), the _Peliades_, was produced when he was twenty-five years of age. He is said to have written ninety-two dramas, eight of which were satyr-plays. Ancient critics allow seventy-five of these to have been genuine. During his long career he only won the first prize five times. Euripides did not take any part in public life, but devoted himself entirely to a life of speculation and to writing plays. There is a tradition, not, however, on a very firm basis, that he was twice married, and that both marriages were failures. He is represented by Aristophanes as a woman-hater, but indeed he portrays women more sympathetically than aeschylus or Sophocles. The women had little cause to congratulate themselves on securing Aristophanes as a champion, for his scorpions are far more stinging then Euripides' whips. Euripides left Athens about 409 B.C., and went to the court of King Archelaus in Macedonia. There he died in 406 B.C.; according to some accounts, he was killed by savage dogs which were set on him by some of his rivals at the king's court.

Seventeen tragedies and one satyr-play have been preserved to us. The latter (_The Cyclops_) is interesting as being the only example of a satyr-play which we possess. In itself it is not amusing. It has been admirably translated by Sh.e.l.ley. The seventeen tragedies in the order of their production are: _Alcestis_, _Medea_, _Hippolytus_, _Hecuba_, _Andromache_, _Ion_, _Suppliants_, _Heracleidae_, _Hercules Furens_, _Iphigenia among the Tauri_, _Trojan Women_, _Helena_, _Phoenissae_, _Electra_, _Orestes_, _Iphigenia at Aulis_, and _The Bacchae_. The _Rhesus_, a feeble production long attributed to Euripides, is almost certainly not his work.

The work of Euripides still retains the power of arousing strong likes and dislikes. He has had st.u.r.dy supporters and fanatical detractors. The truth is that if the tragedies of aeschylus and Sophocles are looked upon as models for all Greek tragedy, Euripides falls far short of his models.

Euripides, however, though he died shortly before Sophocles, belonged to a younger and quite different generation, and held different views about art, morality, religion, and almost everything of importance. His aim was rather different from that of the earlier poets, and he must be judged, not by their standards, but on his own merits. His own merits are amply sufficient to justify the high opinion held of him in the ancient world, and supported by many of the greatest of the moderns. The dethroning of Euripides was the result of a German conspiracy, carried out with much energy by Niebuhr, and with even more by Schlegel. They enjoyed themselves while pulling Euripides to pieces much as schoolboys who have detected a flaw in the armour of their master. Many proofs can be adduced that Euripides was not a sophistical trifler; but one glance at his bust is enough to a.s.sure anyone of unbiased judgment that he was a man of remarkable breadth of mind and intellectual gifts. The fact remains, however, that the extant plays of Euripides are of very unequal merit. The _Helena_ is not a good play; it was ridiculed by Aristophanes, but he did not succeed in making it much more absurd than it was already. The _Hecuba_ and the _Heracleidae_ are not well constructed, and the _Electra_ and _Orestes_ challenge too directly the masterpieces of the earlier tragedians. In his greatest plays, however, Euripides can bear comparison with any poet. The _Medea_ is a play which still never fails to please; the _Hippolytus_ and the _Ion_ are admirable dramas and admirably constructed; above all, the _Bacchae_ is a masterpiece, more picturesque than any other Greek tragedy, a play not unworthy to be set near _The Tempest_ and _Cymbeline_.

Euripides has been accused by his detractors of degrading his art, because he opened his plays with a prologue and ended them with the intervention of a G.o.d. Both devices, if not desirable, are quite pardonable. Possible plots were becoming more and more scarce; Euripides did not wish to adopt trite themes, and so went into the by-ways of mythology, or adopted a less well-known alternative version of a well-known legend. He could not count on his audience already possessing enough knowledge of the story to enable them to understand his plays without a prologue. The _deus ex machina_, as the G.o.d who ends some of the plays is called, was often warranted or required by the plot which called for a conventional ending. Euripides has also been accused, by Aristophanes and by many less entertaining writers, of taking away all the dignity of tragedy. It is quite true that he is a realist. Sophocles represented men as they ought to be, Euripides represented them as they were. This was an unforgiveable offence in the eyes of the 'men of Marathon' at Athens. The tragic heroes were not mere stage characters, they considered; they were often ancestors or national heroes, and it was impious to represent them as speaking ordinary language, or sharing the weaknesses of ordinary men. Euripides did do this, did it intentionally, and did it excellently. He came at an awkward transition period, and the lack of success of some of his work is owing to the impossibility of pouring new wine into old bottles. The old tragedy was too tightly bound by convention to suit Euripides, who wished to portray living men and women, and to have an exciting plot. The new comedy--the romantic comedy of Menander--had not yet been invented. Had it been, Euripides would surely have written comedies. The comic poets of the next century turned to him for a model, and it was one of them, Philemon, who said that if he were quite sure that dead men retained their perception he would hang himself to see Euripides. Euripides is, in fact, the earliest writer of romantic plays, a fact well ill.u.s.trated by his _Alcestis_, which is one of his best plays. In it tragedy and comedy are harmoniously blended, and it has a happy ending.

For better and for worse Euripides is a very modern poet, and makes a special appeal to the present generation. But his pathos, his wide sympathies, and his wonderful poetry have appealed to the best judges in all ages. Theocritus, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Milton, and Browning have been among his admirers; his detractors include a few Teutonic professors, and a few who honour the memory of aeschylus and Sophocles on the other side idolatry.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. W. Verrall, _Euripides the Rationalist_; G. G. A. Murray, _Euripides and his Age_ (Home University Library); W. B.

Donne, _Euripides_ (Ancient Cla.s.sics for English Readers); Sir J. P.

Mahaffy, Euripides: _an Account of his Life and Works_; N. J. Patin, _etude sur Euripide_; P. Masqueray, _Euripide et ses idees_. There is a complete verse translation by A. S. Way, and verse translations of several plays by G. G. A. Murray. There is a 'transcript' of the _Alcestis_ in Browning's _Balaustion's Adventure_, and of the _Hercules Furens_ in his _Aristophanes' Apology_.

EURIPUS ([=u]-r[=i]'pus), in ancient geography, the strait between the Island of Euboea and Boeotia in Greece.

EUROC'LYDON, a tempestuous wind of the Levant, which was the occasion of the s.h.i.+pwreck of the vessel in which St. Paul sailed, as narrated in _Acts_, XXVII, 14-44. The north-east wind is the wind evidently meant in the narrative; and an alternative reading adopted in the revised version is _euraculon_ (euraquilo) or north-easter.

EURO'PA, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ag[=e]nor, King of the Phoenicians, and the sister of Cadmus. The fable relates that she was abducted by Jupiter, who for that occasion had a.s.sumed the form of a white bull, and swam with his prize to the Island of Crete. Here Europa bore to him Minos, Sarp[=e]don, and Rhadamanthus.

EUROPE, the smallest of the great continents, but the most important in the history of civilization for the last two thousand years. It forms a huge peninsula projecting from Asia, and is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean; on the west by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south by the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Caucasus Range; on the east by the Caspian Sea, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains. The most northerly point on the mainland is Cape Nordkyn, in Lapland, in lat. 71 6'; the most southerly points are Punta da Tarifa, lat. 36 N., in the Strait of Gibraltar, and Cape Matapan, lat. 36 17', which terminates Greece. The most westerly point is Cape Roca in Portugal, in long. 9 28' W., while Ekaterinburg is in long. 60 36' E. From Cape Matapan to North Cape is a direct distance of 2400 miles, from Cape St. Vincent to Ekaterinburg, north-east by east, 3400 miles; area of the continent, about 3,865,000 sq.

miles. Great Britain and Ireland, Iceland, Novaya Zemlya, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Crete, the Ionian and the Balearic Islands are the chief islands of Europe. The sh.o.r.es are very much indented, giving Europe an immense length of coast-line (estimated at nearly 50,000 miles). The chief seas or arms of the sea are: the White Sea on the north; the North Sea on the west, from which branches off the great gulf or inland sea known as the Baltic; the English Channel, between England and France; the Mediterranean, communicating with the Atlantic by the Strait of Gibraltar (at one point only 19 miles wide); the Adriatic and Archipelago, branching off from the Mediterranean: and the Black Sea, connected with the Archipelago through the h.e.l.lespont, Sea of Marmora, and Bosporus.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Surface._--The mountains form several distinct groups or systems of very different geological dates, the loftiest mountain ma.s.ses being in the south central region. The Scandinavian mountains in the north-west, to which the great northern peninsula owes its form, extend above 900 miles from the Polar Sea to the south point of Norway. The highest summits are about 8000 feet. The Alps, the highest mountains in Europe (unless Mount Elbruz in the Caucasus is claimed as European), extend from the Mediterranean first in a northerly and then in an easterly direction, and attain their greatest elevation in Mont Blanc (15,780 feet), Monte Rosa, and other summits.

Branching off from the Alps, though not geologically connected with them, are the Apennines, which run south-east through Italy, const.i.tuting the central ridge of the peninsula. The highest summit is Monte Corno (9541 feet). Mount Vesuvius, the celebrated volcano in the south of the peninsula, is quite distinct from the Apennines. By south-eastern extensions the Alps are connected with the Balkan and the Despoto-Dagh of the south-eastern peninsula of Europe. Among the mountains of South-Western Europe are several ma.s.sive chains, the loftiest summits being in the Pyrenees, and in the Sierra Nevada in the south of the Iberian Peninsula.

The highest point in the former, La Maladetta or Mount Maudit, has an elevation of 11,165 feet; Mulahacen, in the latter, is 11,703 feet, and capped by perpetual snow. West and north-west of the Alps are the Cevennes, Jura, and Vosges; north and north-east, the Harz, the Thuringerwald Mountains, the Fichtelgebirge, the Erzgebirge and Bohmerwaldgebirge.

Farther to the east the Carpathian chain encloses the great plain of Hungary, attaining an elevation of 8000 or 8500 feet. The Ural Mountains between Europe and Asia reach the height of 5540 feet. Besides Vesuvius, other two volcanoes are Etna in Sicily, and Hecla in Iceland. A great part of Northern and Eastern Europe is level. The _great plain_ of North Europe occupies part of France, Western and Northern Belgium, Holland, the northern provinces of Germany, and the greater part of Russia. A large portion of this plain, extending through Holland and North Germany, is a low sandy level not infrequently protected from inroads of the sea only by means of strong d.y.k.es. The other great plains of Europe are the Plain of Lombardy (the most fertile district in Europe) and the Plain of Hungary.

Part of Southern and South-Eastern Russia consists of steppes.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Rivers and Lakes._--The main European watershed runs in a winding direction from south-west to north-east, at its north-eastern extremity being of very slight elevation. From the Alps descend some of the largest of the European rivers, the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Po, while the Danube, a still greater stream, rises in the Black Forest north of the Alps. The Volga, which enters the Caspian Sea, an inland sheet without outlet, is the longest of European rivers, having a direct length of nearly 1700 miles, including windings 2400 miles. Into the Mediterranean flow the Ebro, the Rhone, and the Po; into the Black Sea, the Danube, Dnieper, Dniester, and Don (through the Sea of Azov); into the Atlantic, the Guadalquivir, the Guadiana, the Tagus, and Loire: into the English Channel, the Seine; into the North Sea, the Rhine, Elbe; into the Baltic, the Oder, the Vistula, and the Duna; into the Arctic Ocean, the Dvina. The lakes of Europe may be divided into two groups, the southern and the northern. The former run along both sides of the Alps, and among them, on the north side, are the lakes of Geneva, Neuchatel, Thun, Lucerne, Zurich, and Constance; on the south side, Lago Maggiore, and the lakes of Como, Lugano, Iseo, and Garda.

The northern lakes extend across Sweden from west to east, and on the east side of the Baltic a number of lakes, stretching in the same direction across Finland on the borders of Russia, mark the continuation of the line of depression. It is in Russia that the largest European lakes are found--Lakes Ladoga and Onega.

_Geology._--The geological features of Europe are exceedingly varied. The older formations prevail in the northern part as compared with the southern half and the middle region. North of the lat.i.tude of Edinburgh and Moscow there is very little of the surface of more recent origin than the strata of the Upper Jura belonging to the Mesozoic period, and there are vast tracts occupied either by eruptive rocks or one or other of the older sedimentary formations. Denmark belongs to the Cretaceous period, as does also a large part of Russia between the Volga and the basin of the Dnieper.

Middle and Eastern Germany, with Poland and the valley of the Dnieper, present on the surface Eocene formations of the Tertiary period. The remainder of Europe is remarkable for the great diversity of its superficial structure, rocks and deposits belonging to all periods being found within it, and having for the most part no great superficial extent.

Europe possesses abundant stores of those minerals which are of most importance to man, such as coal and iron, Britain being particularly favoured in this respect. Coal and iron are also obtained in France, Belgium, and Germany. Gold is found to an unimportant extent, and silver is widely spread in small quant.i.ties. The richest silver ores are in Norway, Spain, the Erzgebirge, and the Harz Mountains. Spain is also rich in quicksilver. Copper ores are abundant in the Ural Mountains, Thuringia, Cornwall, and Spain. Tin ores are found in Cornwall, the Erzgebirge, and Brittany.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Climate._--Several circ.u.mstances concur to give Europe a climate peculiarly genial, such as its position almost wholly within the temperate zone, and the great extent of its maritime boundaries. Much benefit is also derived from the fact that its sh.o.r.es are exposed to the warm marine currents and warm winds from the south-west, which prevent the formation of ice on most of its northern sh.o.r.es. The eastern portion has a less favourable climate than the western. The extremes of temperature are greater, the summer being hotter and the winter colder, while the lines of equal mean temperature decline south as we go east. The same advantages of mild and genial temperature which western has over eastern Europe, the continent collectively has over the rest of the Old World. The diminution of mean temperature, as well as the intensity of the opposite seasons, increases as we go east. Peking, in lat. 40 N., has as severe a winter as Petrograd in lat. 60 N.

_Vegetable Productions._--With respect to the vegetable kingdom, Europe may be divided into four zones. The first, or most northern, is that of fir and birch. The birch reaches almost to North Cape; the fir ceases a degree farther south. The cultivation of grain extends farther north than might be supposed. Barley ripens even under the seventieth parallel of north lat.i.tude; wheat ceases at 64 in Norway, 62 in Sweden. Within this zone, the southern limit of which extends from lat. 64 in Norway to lat. 62 in Russia, agriculture has little importance, its inhabitants being chiefly occupied with the care of reindeer or cattle, and in fis.h.i.+ng. The next zone, which may be called that of the oak and beech, and cereal produce, extends from the limit above mentioned to the forty-eighth parallel. The Alps, though beyond the limit, by reason of their elevation belong to this zone, in the moister parts of which cattle husbandry has been brought to perfection. Next we find the zone of the chestnut and vine, occupying the s.p.a.ce between the forty-eighth parallel and the mountain chains of Southern Europe. Here the oak still flourishes, but the pine species become rarer.

Rye, which characterizes the preceding zone on the continent, gives way to wheat, and in the southern portion of it to maize also. The fourth zone, comprehending the southern peninsulas, is that of the olive and evergreen woods. The orange flourishes in the southern portion of it, and rice and even cotton are cultivated in some places in Italy and Spain.

_Animals._--As regards animals, the reindeer and polar-bears are peculiar to the north. In the forests of Poland and Lithuania the urus, a species of wild ox, is still occasionally met with. Bears and wolves still inhabit the forests and mountains; but, in general, cultivation and population have expelled wild animals. The domesticated animals are nearly the same throughout. The a.s.s and mule lose their size and beauty north of the Pyrenees and Alps. The Mediterranean Sea has many species of fish, but no great fishery; the northern seas, on the other hand, are annually filled with countless shoals of a few species, chiefly the herring, mackerel, cod, and salmon.

_Inhabitants._--Europe is occupied by several different peoples or races, in many parts now greatly intermingled. The Celts once possessed the west of Europe from the Alps to the British Islands. But the Celtic nationalities were broken by the wave of Roman conquest, and the succeeding invasions of the Germanic tribes completed their political ruin. At the present day the Celtic language is spoken only in the Scottish Highlands (Gaelic), in some parts of Ireland (Irish), in Wales (Cymric), and in Brittany (Armorican). Next to the Celtic comes the Teutonic race, comprehending the Germanic and Scandinavian branches. The former includes the Germans, the Dutch, and the English. The Scandinavians are divided into Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. To the east, in general, of the Teutonic race, though sometimes mixed with it, come the Slavonians, that is, the Russians, the Poles, the Czechs or Bohemians, the Serbians, Croatians, &c.

In the south and south-east of Europe are the Greek and Latin peoples, the latter comprising the Italians, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. All the above peoples are regarded as belonging to the Indo-European or Aryan stock. To the Mongolian stock belong the Turks, Finns, Lapps, and Magyars or Hungarians, all immigrants into Europe in comparatively recent times.

The Basques at the western extremity of the Pyrenees are a people whose affinities have not yet been determined. The total population of Europe is about 400 millions; nine-tenths speak the languages of the Indo-European family, the Teutonic group, the Slavonic, and the Latin. The prevailing religion is the Christian, embracing the Roman Catholic Church, which is the most numerous, the various sects of Protestants (Lutheran, Calvinistic, Anglican, Baptists, Methodists, &c.), and the Greek Church. A part of the inhabitants profess the Jewish, a part the Mohammedan religion.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Political Divisions._--In 1921 Europe consisted of the following independent states, kingdoms, or republics: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark, Esthonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands (Holland), Norway, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Serbia (Yugo-Slavia), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine. Of these the following were kingdoms: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Netherlands (Holland), Norway, Serbia (Yugo-Slavia), Spain, and Sweden. Turkey (whose possessions in Europe were limited to Constantinople) was an empire, Luxemburg was a grand-duchy, Liechtenstein and Monaco princ.i.p.alities, whilst all the other European states were republics.

_History._--Europe was probably first peopled from Asia, but at what date we know not. The first authentic history begins in Greece at about 776 B.C.

Greek civilization was at its most flouris.h.i.+ng period about 430 B.C. After Greece came Rome, which by the early part of the Christian era had conquered Spain, Greece, Gaul, Helvetia, Germany between the Danube and the Alps, Illyria, and Dacia. Improved laws and superior arts of life spread with the Roman Empire throughout Europe, and the unity of government was also extremely favourable to the extension of Christianity. With the decline of the Roman Empire a great change in the political const.i.tution of Europe was produced by the universal migration of the northern nations. The Ostrogoths and Lombards settled in Italy, the Franks in France, the Visigoths in Spain, and the Anglo-Saxons in South Britain, reducing the inhabitants to subjection, or becoming incorporated with them. Under Charlemagne (771-814) a great Germanic empire was established, so extensive that the kingdoms of France, Germany, Italy, Burgundy, Lorraine, and Navarre were afterwards formed out of it. About this time the northern and eastern nations of Europe began to exert an influence in the affairs of Europe. The Slavs, or Slavonians, founded kingdoms in Bohemia, Poland, Russia, and the north of Germany; the Magyars appeared in Hungary; and the Normans agitated all Europe, founding kingdoms and princ.i.p.alities in England, France, Sicily, and the East. The Crusades and the growth of the Ottoman power are amongst the princ.i.p.al events which influenced Europe from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. The conquest of Constantinople by the Turks (1453), by driving the learned Greeks from this city, gave a new impulse to letters in Western Europe, which was carried onwards by the invention of printing and the Reformation. The discovery of America was followed by the temporary preponderance of Spain in Europe, and next of France. Subsequently Prussia and Russia gradually increased in territory and strength. The French revolution (1789) and the Napoleonic wars had a profound effect on Europe, the dissolution of the old German Empire being one of the results. The most important events in European history from the revolution of 1789 to 1914, the beginning of the European War, were: the establishment of the independence of Greece; the disappearance of Poland as a separate state; the unification of Italy under Victor Emmanuel; the Franco-German War, resulting in the consolidation of Germany into an empire under the leaders.h.i.+p of Prussia: and the partial dismemberment of the Turkish Empire. The European War, 1914-8 (q.v.), revolutionized the continent and altered the map of Europe. The chief results were the disintegration of the Dual Monarchy and of Russia, the abolition of the German Empire, and the deposition of hereditary rulers in the smaller German states, which inst.i.tuted republican Governments. The following new states were formed from the const.i.tuent parts of Russia and Austria-Hungary: Albania, Armenia, Azerbijan, Czecho-Slovakia, Esthonia, Finland, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Yugo-Slavia, and Ukraine. Poland, dissolved in the eighteenth century, was again reconst.i.tuted. France regained Alsace and Lorraine, Turkey lost almost all her possessions in Europe, whilst Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy, and Roumania were greatly enlarged, acquiring new territories. All these alterations of boundaries and additions of territories were based on ethnological grounds, the new states being inhabited by peoples belonging to the same ethnical group and speaking the same language. See articles on the various countries.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. A. Freeman, _General Sketch of European History_; A. Ha.s.sall (editor), _Periods of European History_; _European History Chronologically Arranged_; A. S. Rappoport, _History of European Nations_; O. Browning, _General History of the World_; H. S. Williams, _The Historian's History of the World_.

EUROPEAN WAR, 1914-8. The European War, which began in Aug., 1914, and involved the greater part of the globe before the last shot was fired in Nov., 1918, had its ostensible origin in the a.s.sa.s.sination of the Austrian heir-apparent, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, at Serajevo, capital of Bosnia, once part of the ancient kingdom of Serbia. This crime was committed by a Bosnian student, but Austria-Hungary held Serbia responsible, and, inspired by Germany, sent an ultimatum on 23rd July, amounting to a demand that Serbia should surrender her independence. Two days later, notwithstanding that Serbia conceded every demand, with two reservations which she offered to submit to the Hague Tribunal, Austria-Hungary declared war on her. Germany, who had seen in the Serajevo tragedy a pretext for making her long-premeditated bid for world dominion, "knew very well what she was about in backing up Austria-Hungary in this matter", as the German Amba.s.sador in Vienna frankly told the British representative at the time; and when Russia, as the traditional protector of the Slavs, mobilized her southern armies to save Serbian independence if necessary, she threatened instant mobilization on her own part unless Russia stopped these military measures within twelve hours. It was technically impossible for Russia to do anything of the kind, but her protest to this effect was unavailing. Germany declared war on Russia on 3rd Aug., and as this inevitably involved war at the same time with Russia's ally France, she sent a note on the following day to Belgium demanding safe pa.s.sage for German troops through Belgian territory, though Prussia as well as Great Britain, France, Russia, and Austria had guaranteed the neutrality and independence of Belgium by the treaty of 1839, repeatedly confirming this on subsequent occasions. When the British Amba.s.sador in Berlin protested against the threatened violation of treaty rights, the German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, repudiated the treaty as a mere "sc.r.a.p of paper".

On 3rd Aug., when Germany formally declared war on France--though her troops had already invaded French territory at various points--Belgium refused Germany's demands, and called on Great Britain and France for a.s.sistance. It was this call, and Germany's refusal on the following day to accede to the British demands that Belgian neutrality should be respected--declaring war on Belgium instead and violating her territory early that morning--which decided Great Britain to range herself wholly on the Franco-Russian side. The German Amba.s.sador in London had already been warned (on 31st July) that we should be drawn into the struggle if Germany persisted in her threatened attack on France. Two days previously Germany had made the 'infamous bid' to Great Britain that if she would remain neutral no territory would be taken from France herself, though no undertaking could be given with regard to the French colonies. British mobilization orders were issued on 4th Aug., and at 11 p.m. on that date Great Britain declared war on Germany.

Fortunately the British navy was ready for any emergency, with the Grand Fleet--the command of which was given to Admiral Sir John Jellicoe--still a.s.sembled in full strength at Portland, after the manoeuvres, the order for its dispersal having been countermanded on 27th July. Lord Kitchener, home on leave from Egypt, had also been stopped by a telegram from Mr. Asquith, then Prime Minister, as he was stepping on the Channel boat at Dover on his return journey (3rd Aug.), and two days later was appointed Secretary of State for War. Meantime the Austrians had already bombarded Belgrade (29th July); Italy had declined (1st Aug.) to be drawn into the conflict with her Austro-German partners of the Triple Alliance on the grounds that their war was an aggressive one; and German troops, as already mentioned, had invaded France at several points on 2nd Aug., before formally declaring war on that country.

_Western Front, 1914_

The struggle on the Western front began in earnest on the following day, when war was declared on France and the Germans captured Trieux, near Briey, and Luneville was bombarded by German aeroplanes. The German system of mobilization had been quicker than the French and Russian, but the opening moves filled the Allied commanders with too-confident hopes.

Although slower to mobilize than the Germans, a Russian army under Rennenkampf succeeded in invading East Prussia in force; the Belgians made a magnificent stand for their frontier fortresses when the Germans, denied the right of way which they had demanded, endeavoured to force the great highway of Western Europe which pa.s.ses through Liege; and the French, besides checking the enemy at Dinant, had already recovered part of the lost provinces of Alsace-Lorraine.