What is an epoch? This concept is interpreted in different ways. Consider the most basic versions.
Basic concepts
What is an epoch? In the historical sense, this word means a period of time with its characteristic phenomena and events. Each period is represented by certain persons, that is, the past is personified by giving it the name of a person who played a key role in shaping the spirit of the time. In Russian history, such periods are personified by John the Terrible, Peter the Great, Joseph Stalin. They correspond to the stages of statehood of our country: Moscow Russia, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union.
Signs and analysis
It is possible to determine what an epoch is through an etymological analysis of this word. Translation from ancient Greek means "significant moment" - this is, so to speak, the pointe of time in the general historical ensemble.
From a historiosophical point of view, not everyonethe period is destined to become epic, and therefore to provide material for the epic. "War and Peace", "Quiet Flows the Don" are such literary monuments.
The epic period is opposed by "timelessness", which is expressed by cultural stagnation, historical eventlessness. However, in the academic sense, each such period is a section of a certain era.
Stages of world history
Historical eras in the traditional classification are divided into Ancient, Middle, and New time. It is customary to count the history of the Ancient World from the moment the first states were formed, which were founded at the end of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. (India, Mesopotamia, Egypt).
The next stage in the development of this era was the creation of empires, through the centralization of the power of one tribe over others (Persian, Chinese, Roman Empire). Great importance at this stage of mankind acquired due to the emergence of cities and trade.
At the very beginning of the first millennium BC. e. various philosophical and religious movements began to form, such as: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism. The collapse of the Roman Empire into several states marked the beginning of a new era (the Middle Ages).
The early Middle Ages were marked by a great migration of peoples, which caused multiple conflicts on cultural, linguistic and religious grounds. During this European exodus, the Byzantine Empire and the Frankish state were formed.
Next stepThe Middle Ages, called "High", was marked by crusades and feudalism, a split in the Christian Church. It is impossible not to say about the development of philosophical schools and science.
The late Middle Ages saw a terrible plague, the Hundred Years War, the Reformation of the Church.
Renaissance is considered the last period. The Renaissance gave mankind the greatest geniuses of architecture and painting, whose works became the standards of classical art. The technological revolution in the 16th century qualitatively changed the historical process and determined the beginning of the New Age.
The style of this era was humanism, scientificity and industrial breakthrough, which corresponded to the Protestantism laid down in the Middle Ages and set the stage for the Enlightenment period of the late 17th and early 19th centuries. It was during this period of time that scientific and geographical discoveries became systematic.
The newest time, of which we are participants, entered the history of mankind with a military march of world wars of destruction, continued with the realities of the Cold War with the discovery of nuclear weapons, and now is the era of globalization and the information revolution.
PS
An attempt to answer the question: "What is an epoch?" can be undertaken using the lexical aspect. Above we have established the meaning of this concept. Is it possible to find a synonym for the word "epoch"? The closest candidate is the concept of "age". But the century isfictitious historical category: it is calendar, but not essential.
A rare age can be entirely dated to an era. Recent history, perhaps, dates back to 1914, since the outbreak of the First World War, which is 14 years behind the 20th century. This means that the question "what is the epoch of our time" can be answered from a certain historical distance. And maybe only in the next period.
