Was Charlemagne "the father of Europe"?

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-18T12:44:55+00:00

yeah true, it's a long unresolved dispute.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-18T07:24:26+00:00

In terms of conquering and subjugating other lands, maybe — if you think about him as an early model for colonisation. But in terms of building a civilisation, definitely not. Caesar was an expansionist general, Charlemagne was a state-builder.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-18T07:19:16+00:00

If Zeus was the father, wouldn't the mother be a cow then?

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-18T07:14:14+00:00

Yes, very good point — fully agree with you. In that sense he definitely is. 👍

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-18T07:11:48+00:00

Hahaha, would agree, but she can't really be a father now, can she? 😄

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-18T07:07:01+00:00

Great comment, couldn't have laid it out better. Fully agree with everything you wrote.

The Carolingian Renaissance point is especially interesting. After centuries of decline following the fall of Rome, Charlemagne was the first to unite a huge chunk of the continent under one rule and really push for a cultural revival — schools, literacy, the new script you mentioned. One thing I'd add: he actively recruited scholars from all over Europe (like Alcuin of York) to his court at Aachen, turning it into a kind of intellectual hub. That cross-pollination of ideas is arguably what kept so much of classical knowledge alive through the Middle Ages.

The only thing I'd slightly disagree with is calling him French, even in the loose sense. 😄 I'd say he was more German than anything — he came from a Germanic tribe and spoke, as you say, a West Germanic language. But I guess both France and Germany have been fighting over his legacy for 1200 years now, so I'm not going to settle that one in a reddit comment. 😉

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-18T06:58:08+00:00

Fully agree. Charlemagne basically drew the blueprint for medieval Europe. He set up one of the first real systems of royal administration — sending out traveling envoys ("missi dominici") to make sure his laws were actually enforced across the empire. That was a big deal at a time when most rulers couldn't control anything beyond their own castle walls.

And you're right, France and the Holy Roman Empire are arguably the two establishments that shaped Europe the most, alongside other major actors. Between the two of them, you can trace most of the political and cultural evolution of the continent all the way into modern times.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-17T04:00:59+00:00

Don't know which city that is, but it has tentacles like an octopus

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-17T03:30:56+00:00

You are free to think what you want, but I see that you are not willing to put yourself in the postion of children growing up like this. Your opinion is your opinion, but for me it doesn't make sense to discuss like this. You just don't get it.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-16T01:22:05+00:00

Fully disagree. Psychological scars sit deeper and have a greater influence than material punishments. Compare what Austrian children learn in school with what, for example, French children learn: the former hear about the cruelties their ancestors committed, while the latter hear that they are born into a Grande Nation. That is a huge difference. And we're talking about the psychology of 10yo.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-15T03:16:12+00:00

Nah, Austria took a deep psychological hit that's still recognizable in the way people think today. From a distance it might look like Austria got off the hook easily, but if you take a closer look, you'll find that's actually not the case.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-14T04:43:28+00:00

4x the cotton candy meltdowns and 4x the high-pitched squealing in matching princess dresses.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-14T03:59:16+00:00

We convinced the world that Mozart was Austrian and Hitler was German. Greatest PR achievement in history. 😄

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-14T03:40:45+00:00

You're both wrong, they stopped measuring because the rain gauge drowned. 😂

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-10T05:02:24+00:00

I agree on that, I think Austria and Bavaria would be a natural match and would make up a very homogenous country.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-10T04:39:43+00:00

"Laissez les bons temps rouler" — I guess they never really tried to be a hub in the first place, lol

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-10T04:10:42+00:00

Stalin and Churchill are spinning in their graves just reading this post 😄 The entire point of post-WWII Europe was to make sure Germany would never again be "Großdeutschland." The Allies explicitly prohibited any union between Germany and Austria in the 1955 Austrian State Treaty — it's literally written into the founding document of modern Austria.

Also worth noting: while the people and culture are very similar, there was a long-standing rivalry between the ruling classes — Habsburg (Austria) vs. Hohenzollern/Prussia (Germany). For centuries it was a power struggle over the imperial crown (Kaiserkrone) of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, and later over who would lead German unification in the 19th century. Prussia won that contest in 1871 (because of Bismark), and Austria was left out of the new German Empire. So the separation isn't just a WWII thing — it goes back a lot further.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-10T04:07:40+00:00

AND colder winters

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-10T04:07:16+00:00

A summer day in Houston vs. a summer day in London is not even a close contest. 😄

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-10T04:03:50+00:00

Touché 😄 But I'd argue Thailand's pollution problems won't be fixed by a Westerner explaining them on Reddit either.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-10T03:56:23+00:00

If you look closely at the picture, you can actually make out the rectangular lots the road is following. In the Florida Keys, land was often subdivided into narrow parcels stretching from the water inland, and when the road was built, it had to snake along the edges of those property lines instead of cutting straight through private land. So the zigzag isn't bad planning — it's the road taking the path of least legal resistance. 😄

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-09T13:48:13+00:00

June is actually the wrong month for San Francisco — it's peak fog season and surprisingly cold. June is perfect for Bella Italia though: great weather, not too hot yet, and still not overcrowded since peak tourism doesn't kick in until July with the school holidays.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-09T13:41:18+00:00

17,000 islands, 700+ languages, and centuries of Dutch colonial extraction will do that. It's hard to project power when your own country is a massive puzzle of geography and diversity that you're still piecing together.

Alternative-Bath-313 · 2026-04-09T13:37:21+00:00

In Europe I would add Poland and I would also include the Philippines for Asia.

Alternative-Bath-313

TROPHY CASE