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Oct 14, 700
Greece
700 BCE Ancient Greece was the first civilization to have a democracy but only males who were born in Athens were consdidered citizens and were allowed to vote. Women and slaves were not allowed to vote. -
Period: Oct 14, 700 to
Democracy
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Oct 14, 1000
Monarchy and Parliment
During the middle ages the majority of Europe had kings and queens ruling in a monarchy. The kings and queens thought that they were chosen by god to rule so questioning their authority was considered questioning god. This was called the devine right of kings. The king was eventually forced by a group of british nobility to give up his devine right and form a parliament. -
Oct 14, 1215
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta was a set of laws the king had to follow to help protect the rights of citizens. The laws made it so the king could not:
- steal firewood
from other lands
- force widows to
remarry
- Force knights to
pay money to
excuse them
from guarding
the castle!
- Confiscate
horses or carts
- Force villagers to
build bridges
over rivers.
The Magna Carta was so important because it was the begining of parliamentary democracy. -
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was the start of of the first true democracy it allowed americans to vote on and forced the powers of the government to be dispersed so no one branch could have too much power. If one branch tried to abuse power the other two could override it. But women still would not be able to vote untill 1919 and african americans were worth 3/5s of a white person and were not given the right to vote. -
The French Revolution
The French Revolution was started for the same reason the American Revolution was democracy. Although after the king was killed power was handed to Napoleon who then became a dictator and tried to conquer Europe. -
Facsism
After WWI Benito Mussolini created a fascist government in Italy and used brute force to control the country. Then in 1920 Hitler found power in Germany and began to spew hate for Jews and communists and also promise to reverse the Versailles Treaty. Ultimatly Hitler starts a war that kills 55 million people and exterminated 11 million. -
Unitied Nations
In 1948 the U.N. created the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights which meant that all human beings have a right to live and work without abuse from the government and all people are born free and equal, and that all have the
right to life, liberty and the security of person. -
Rome
509 BCE Rome was declared a republic after they sent away their king but rich upper class families called patricians took over and ruled over the commoners or plebs. Eventually the plebs rebelled and won a say in the senate but only patricians could become senators. Like Greece only men could become civis or citezenes of Rome.
