# data[].attributes.body
~700 BC, Athens was the first modern democracy
Concept of democracy was born within the Greek City-States, isolated from its neighbors geographically. Athenians overthrew the monarchical rule and instituted "demokratia" or literally "rule by the people".
It was a direct democracy, its main feature was an Assembly open to all male citizens that were 18 years or older.

# data[].attributes.body
Founded in 753 BC, aspects of democracy appeared in Rome around the same time as Greece. The monarchy was overthrown in 509 BC and was replaced by a crude form of popular government, referred to by the Romans as a republic. The Republic became The Roman Empire at the end of the 1st century BC. Far from democratic in the modern sense, much of the republican period revolved around a violent struggle between social classes, rich, landowning aristocrats, called patricians, and common folk, called plebians. They held elections to elect public officials, but women, the enslaved, and foreign-born could not vote. The government was centered in the Senate, composed of 300 members. The Consuls were the leaders of the state. They commanded the army and conducted foreign affairs. Rome's influence echoed through the centuries, it was one of the largest influences in the founding of the United States of America.

# data[].attributes.body
The decline and fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD marked the beginning of the Middle Ages, as well as the end of centralized and organized government in the Western World. In this vacuum, feudalism was born and took hold of many European powers from the 9th to the 12th centuries. Feudalism was a loosely organized system in which powerful lords divided their lands among other, lesser lords. Those with land and power agreed to protect each other in exchange for loyalty, military service, and a share of their crops. The basic economic units were the lords' manors, which contained all of their holdings, often including a small town or village. Feudalism was similar to a monarchy, there was a lord who was the head of the manor, and beneath him were lesser lords who served him, called vassals, who watched over a section of the land, then there were serfs, peasants who were bound to their farms and paid the vassals for their protection.

# data[].attributes.body
Roman Catholicism spread with the Roman Empire, even after the collapse of imperial rule, it gave a sort of government-like order to European life in the Middle Ages. Catholicism was created after the death of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, in 33 AD, and is still practiced to this day. Its teachings draw from biblical texts. In 380 AD, it became the official religion of the Roman Empire, making most Europeans convert, which gave the church a lot of power. By the late Middle Ages, the Pope and his bishops owned a lot of land holdings, and even received some political power from monarchs.

# data[].attributes.body
As the feudal system was undermined by the economic switch from land to money and the rising number of towns, town leaders saw many benefits to supporting a central authority and began to ally themselves with monarchs. The monarchs saw these towns as a path to wealth to free themselves from their vassals. In nations such as England, rulers centralized powers with the creation of national laws, national identities, national governments, and national taxes. These monarchies shifted war from fighting between powerful nobles to war between nations. Many monarchies were were 'absolute monarchies', meaning that the monarch had complete control over the country, they could ignore any representative body that they wanted to.

# data[].attributes.body
The Kingdom of France was an absolute monarchy created in the year 987, and was ended by the French Revolution in 1792.
France's official religion was Catholicism, so the Kings of France ruled by divine right, meaning that they believed that God chose them for the throne. Because it was an absolute monarchy, the citizens were treated very poorly, the people were starving because they were being taxed so high while the king, Louis XIV built a lavish palace in Versailles, Louis XV spent lots of money on the 7 Years War against Britain in North America, Louis XVI worsened the financial situation of France by funding him and his wife's lavish lifestyles, leading to revolt, and the establishment of the French Republic.

# data[].attributes.body
The Danish monarchy is almost 1200 years old. It was an absolute monarchy until the mid-1800s. It was an elective monarchy, but in practice, the reigning monarch's eldest son was always elected. After several wars went wrong, in 1848, when King Frederick VII came to power, he was met with demands to create a constitution and end absolutism. Now the monarch has the power to deny giving a bill royal assent, but the prime minister and the other minister in the government have the real power, not the monarch.

# data[].attributes.body
Both Countries had an absolute monarchy, under which, the country was not ruled effectively, this led to calls for a reform in the government. In France, the citizens revolted and killed the monarchs, reforming the government several times, even becoming an empire at one point. In Denmark, government officials simply pressured the monarch to give up some of his power, no blood shed, and the monarchy still exists, it just doesn't have that much power.

# data[].attributes.body
Colonialism was a way for European nations to expand their power in the 16th century by claiming new lands, which meant new economic opportunities. These colonies would be ruled by the monarchy that created the colony, the king might have instituted a representative body or governors, but they were ruled by the king. Famously, Britain's American colonies led a revolution against them and created the United States of America.

# data[].attributes.body
Mercantilism was a political and economic theory that stressed money as the chief source of wealth, giving newfound power to merchants, in order for mercantilism to prosper, monarchies needed to establish colonies, so as colonialism rose, so did mercantilism. Mercantilism sparked a rise in industry and manufacturing, monarchs also taxed imports heavily in order to protect local business, as well as fill their treasuries.

# data[].attributes.body
The Enlightenment hosted some of the greatest political minds of all time, philosophers such as John Locke, Voltaire, and Thomas Hobbes advocated for the freedom of the people to make decisions in the government, their theories shaped the creation of the United States and still shape how government is carried out to this day.