Peopling of Europe & Languages– Part 2

Second wave of invasions have already started 720s and the Germanic and Slavic tribes were hit by it. Between the years 720 – 1000 Europe was in making for the second time. The first part of this hit was by the Muslim-Arabs, also known as the big bang movement from the 6^th century on with the rise of Islam. The Arabs have converted from polytheistic, idle-worshipping belief to monotheistic Islam. In addition, the type of society changed from tribal to state and the peculiarity of Islam as being a state and religion at the same time was consolidated. Koran has become simultaneously the holy writing and the first constitution of the Islamic Empire. From the 7^th century on Arabs started to get out of Arabian peninsula and went to Egypt and North-East (Mesopotamia). Charlemagne stopped them in 732, but they already Islamized all Northern Africa, parts of Spain and Sicily.

The second part of the hit came from Vikings, the norseman out of Scandinavia who were part of the Germanic tribes left behind in the north. In 780s they were coming out to attack and plunder with long boats. The Carolingian Empire could not protect its coastline since there was no indication of where they would strike. They were a non-state society unlike the Arabs and they had low level of class formation. They attacked the European coastline to settle and colonize since there was lack of land for agricultural production in Scandinavia. Hence, rather than going back some of them decided to settle permanently. Their proliferation along the coastlines of Europe was also reflected to place names. In early 10^th century the Carolingian emperor were trying to reach an agreement with the chiefdom Rollo. He agreed and converted into a ‘marcher lord’ defending his king against other Viking attacks. His descendants were the dukes of Normady among which William I (the Conqueror) invaded England in 1066 and became the first Norman king of England.

Magyars constitute the last part of the second invasion. Magyars came from the west of Asia, who were mounted people of steps and were skilled in archery on horse back. They moved from the north of Blacksea and settled in what is today called Hungary in 895. The Medieval civilization and state formation of Europe was destabilized again. Due to the rising importance of local defense, feudalism has accelerated. Since the Carolingian Emperors were not grand to built castles, they had to face the Vikings and Magyars. In AD 995 a massive Magyar invader group was stopped and ambushed in Lechfeld by the emperor Otto. Finally they became weaker and settled down, switching from horse nomad to pastoral life style. They could not resist changing since there were not as much flat spaces and grass to feed the horses in Europe as it was in Central Asia. The settlement transformed into the Medieval kingdom of Hundary that became Ottomans’ main rival from 1370s to 1520s.

The second wave of invasions continued to shape Europe until the 11^th century. They were absorbed into Europe while the Arabs were excluded and expelled. Starting with the second half of 10^th century, settling and conversion to Christianity started. There was two main sects of Christianity people could convert to: Catholicism and Orthodoxy. If the missionaries from Rome reached a group first they became Catholic, whereas if the ones from Constantinople arrive first they were converted to Orthodoxy. Magyars were encountered with the missionaries from Rome in 1000 Vaik, who became King Stephen after converting to Christianity, accepted Christianity and jumped to statehood.  

Conversely, the Muslim Arabs have already a state society and establish a new state in Spain. Since Islam is also built upon monotheism, great ideological struggles with Christians start. The conflict erupts in the level of state versus state and monotheism versus monotheism constituting the great religious divide in the Middle Ages. The gradual reconquest of Spain by the Spanish Reconquista obtains an anti-Muslim characteristic in time. As a result the most militant Catholic church in Europe for the next five centuries and triggered the ‘inquisitional’ Catholicism. The divide of Greeks / Romans versus barbarians transformed into the Christian versus Muslim split where Islam became Europe’s new ‘other’. During 1230s Europe was not subjected to massive population change, as it was furthest away from Central Asian steps stability could be achieved.

Some minor peopligs occurred after the 13^th century: Mongolian, Ottoman invasions and Europe’s expansion into the ‘New World’. In the early 13^th century Mongols came to Poland but could not find enough grassland and some went back. The ones who stayed underwent state formation in Muscovy, expanded and claimed the khanates in this area. The Crimean Khanate was the last successor of the Golden Horde Khanate swallowed by the Tsarist Russia. The next attack came from Ottomans expanding to Central Asia . They were not nomadic or pastoral hence they invaded and expanded slowly, consolidating in every step. For two centuries they pursued this provincializing expansion and also deported the Turkic-Muslim population to the new territories. Due to this population has left their legacy in Balkans and Central Europe. In the early modern era Europe expands outside due to the empires of sea.  Troops, colonizers and merchants went to Americas., India and African coastline while a substantial amount of population settled there. In the late 19^th century the New Imperialism begun and more and more people were exported to these territories. In the late 20^th century the population in especially British, Dutch and French colonies started a reversal movement. From India. Pakistan and the Caribbean immigrants came to the UK, whereas North Africans steered for France and Indonesians into Holland. In addition, due to the falling population growth industrialized countries like Germany needed ‘Gast Arbeiter’ from Greece, Serbia and Turkey, who later decided to stay there. Lastly, the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the East-West political divide and led to massive immigrations from East Europe.

There are three main branches of languages in Europe: Germanic, Romance and Slavic. English, Scandinavian languages, Dutch and German belong to the first category. They are much less mixed with Latin that distinguishes them from the second branch. Romance languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, and Italian are influenced from Latin much more. The last branch can be divided into West, East and South subgroups. Polish, Czech  and Slovak are in the former, Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian belong to the Eastern branch, while Latvian, Bulgarian, and Croatian belong to the last subgroup. Latin got a prominent position and became the primary tongue of the upper classes and important medium of communication throughout the Roman Empire. The barbaric invasions have affected less the western and southern parts of Europe. But with the Dark Ages a mixture of Latin and older Celtic and Italic languages emerged: Romance. Church played a great role & monasteries kept learning alive through Latin language – it became the language of high culture and learning.

When Germanic and Slavic people spread out, Celtic tongues declined in Northern Europe. They were substantially different sentence structures and vocabularies from Romance. Hence, the two other main branches emerged.

As Unwin points out, with the age of nationalism, language became a key ingredient in defining g nationhood. The map of languages in Europe today is a testimonial to the winners and losers in the struggles over nation creation and nation building during the last two centuries.