1. A history of cultural divisions
  i. France and Germany are the two biggest countries in western Europe
  ii. Benelux: Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxumborg
  iii. Have strong economic power due to resources and location
 b. Rome to Charlemagne
  i. Rome conquered celtic tribes, leading to the developmne tof French, but they never conquered the Germanic tribes, leading too the division of language
  ii. Charlemagne united most of Europe
  iii. After his death, Europe divided into small kingdoms
 c. The reformation
  i. The religious movement during which the people began rebelling against the catholic church
  ii. Started during the renaissance
  iii. Martin Luther published writings criticizing the church
2. The rise of Nation States
  i. Between the fall of Rome and the renaissance is called the middle ages
 b.  Nationalism
  i. Feudalism: where the lands are owned and controlled by powerful lords
  ii. Nationalism: the belief that people should be loyal to their nations
  iii. The French revolution happened in 1789, where it became a republic
  iv. Germany finally united in 1817, under Otto Von Bismarck
 c. Modern Conflicts
  i. A need for colonies started WWI
  ii. The harsh terms of the losing of WWI started a resentment and economic turmoil in Germany which allowed for Adolf Hitler and his Nazis to start WWII
  iii. The Nazis also caused the Holocaust
  iv. After WWII, the cold war began, and split Germany into two halves, and the capital of Berlin into two halves.
  v. In 1989,the berlin wall was taken down, and in 1990, the two halves were reunited.
  vi. France and Germany were two nations that wanted to start the European Union
3. Economics
 a. Agriculture to high tech
  i. Belgium, Netherlands, France, and Switzerland are massive exporters of Dairy products
  ii. Western Europe is a leader in industry because of the rich deposits of iron and coal
iii. Nuclear power makes up 80% of the energy used by France
b. Tourism and luxury
i. Tourism is very popular in this area
ii. Many german and Swiss vehicles are seen as status symbols
c. Economic problems
i. Germany had a problem reunifying because the west was so much more updated than the east
4. Great Music and Art
a. Music
i. Many famous musicians came from this area
ii. Sebastian Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart are only a few
b. Painting
i. Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, and Rembrandt are from this area
5. Modern Life
a. City Life
i. Good transportation systems
ii. Crime is lower here than in the U.S.
iii. More social than Americans
iv. Receive more paid vacation time
b. Recent conflicts
i. Race came into question when Germany denied jobs to ‘guest workers’ from Turkey
ii. Joerg Haider made comments supporting the Nazis, and had to step down from politics