European Kingdoms Year by Year 

A lot of people are asking why Britain (or Spain, Portugal, etc.) is not labeled as an empire considering the existence of a "British Empire". Well, Britain may have have had an overseas "empire" but no British monarch has ever held the title "Emperor of Great Britain" or claimed to have had an empire within the borders of the European continent. Several did hold the title of emperor but that was as Emperor of *India" only. As for other decisions I made throughout the video, keep in mind that many of them are indeed subjective and could be debated. But the whole thing is meant to be a broad overview only and that's why I'm not too worried about every little detail.

Should do Asia next, I and many other Europeans I'm sure get pretty confused with all dynasties and kingdoms in China alone, so Asia should be fun

In 1920 the Kingdom of Hungary was restored, but the Allies would not accept any return of Charles IV. It was thus decided to select a regent to represent the monarchy. Miklós Horthy, the last commanding admiral of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, was chosen for this position on 1 March. In 1921 Charles IV returned in Hungary, and tried to retake the thorne, but he failed, and exiled to Madeira, where he died in 1922. Miklós Horthy was a de facto king until 15th October 1944 when the The Arrow Cross Party take over the power, and their leader Ferenc Szálasi established a new Nazi-backed government, effectively turning Hungary into a German-occupied puppet state. According to a widely circulated, if apocryphal contemporary story, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked an aide in the early weeks of the US involvement in what came to be called World War II, if Hungary, which had just declared war against the United States, was a kingdom or a republic. “A kingdom, Mr. President”, the aide replied. This dialogue followed: FDR: What’s the King’s name? Aide: Hungary doesn’t have a King. FDR: Then who runs the kingdom? Aide: A Regent by the name of Admiral Miklós Horthy. FDR: Admiral? Then Hungary must have a powerful navy. Aide: Hungary has no navy; it doesn’t even have access to the sea. FDR: Wars are often fought for religious reasons. What’s the main religion there? Aide: Catholicism, Mr. President. But Admiral Horthy is Protestant. FDR: Did this admiral declare war on us because of territorial claims then? Aide: Hungary’s territorial claims are against Romania. FDR: In that case, did Hungary declare war on Romania? Aide: No, Hungary and Romania are allies. FDR: Let me get this straight. Hungary is a kingdom run by a Regent who’s an admiral without a navy, and it is allied with Romania against which it has territorial claims but it has declared war on the U.S. against which it doesn’t. Aide: That’s right, Mr. President.”

Crusader Kings 2 > map mode > show kingdoms

I feel like this really could have benefited from some individual colors for the various empires/kingdoms. Especially when things got complicated (HRE controlling Spain, Aragon controlling parts of Italy, etc.) That minor complaint aside, this video was an enjoyable summary and I think this could be a promising format if you decide to do more like it.

Why is the water white and the land blue 😡🤦‍♂️

Today's video is a little different than usual. Let me know what you think.

I liked this video. It understandably left a lot out because it's a huge, vast subject. I think it's a great sort of background to help put the more specific events of European history into context. One might even call it a useful chart!

What determine the status of duchies, principalities, kingdoms, empires etc? You should make some video about the ranking and history of different noble and royal titles.

The visual impact of the last minute of the video is stunning! Such a polite and antiseptic movement of little symbols of icons, representing the shedding of so much blood and the inflicting of so much misery.

I stumbled across your channel and Im so impressed! Your videos are incredibly easy to understand history. As opposed to learning specific events, it's much easier to comprehend a timeline, and from there branch out and learn details. Keep up the amazing work.

This is a really great overview ⭐️. I can't imagine all the work you put in to summarize this way. Thanks so much!

I'm from León, Spain viewing this video with a beer in front of the cathedral

THANK YOU for recognizing that huns and magyars are not the same people. As a hungarian it infuriates me

You skipped 1492, the union of Castile and Aragon

What is baffling is that up to 1950, France still had an Exile law that prohibited all rulers of France and their descendants to even set foot in France. One of the princes good imprisoned for 2 years because he went to France despite the law. One of them had to get special authorization to continue his study there. I mean... It was 70 years ago. My dad was born when the law was still effective. O__o

The Scandinavian kingdoms definitively emerged earlier before the north sea empire, having had multiple kings before then.

Perfect start to my weekend

My Friday is finally complete!

After WWI Hungary remained a monarchy, but without a king only ruled by a regent.

There were significantly more kingdoms during the time of the Roman empire. One that is WIDELY overlooked is the Dacian Kingdom. It had two true kings to be exact that are worth noting. Burebista and Decebalus.

Fun fact :slavic knez/knyaz(prince) is derived from German könig (king)

It's kind of sad when a kingdom that has existed for 770 years is extinguished. Rip 1025-1795

The reason you start at the Roman Empire for kingdoms in case you're wondering is because before that there were petty tribal kings, which were only around for a thousand years at best since they arrived in Europe 3,000 years ago from the present day. Before that the Uralic & Basque people were the dominant tribes in Europe, of which only the Basque, Skjáldic & Sámi people remain in Europe. And even then Skjáldic is questionable since their region sat close to the Russian Europe-Asia split at the Ural mountains. I mean it doesn't anymore, Russia genocided the shit out of them & their remaining people are scattered around Europe, Central Asia, Australia & the American continent. So the majority technically lives in Europe but their home-region is on the borders of Asia.

Nice video, just a few notes. The kingdom of Navarre should be included, its small but unlike Ireland or elsewhere, it was long lived and fully united. Secondly, "Islamic Taifas" should not be included - that isn't a united kingdom. Also, Austria was renamed to Austria-Hungary in 1867. Also, how come you decided to mark Germany and Austria as empires but not Britain or Spain (or for that matter, Italy, Bulgaria or the Dutch)?

20:43 I Think You Mean Since The Fall Of The Ostrogoth Kingdom?

I'm really grateful you made a video about European Kingdoms. We barely got to study them in our history class since we're more focused on our own East Asian History. I remember way back that if I wanted to learn something about Europe I had to do self-study in the library.

I like these different styles of videos and would glady see more of them coming :)

No reason not to include the other ranks. King, emperor, duke,… either you’re a head of state or not. Would you agree?

Very interesting and well-done!

Absolutely wonderful video. History of Europe might be overwhelming with all these events. This video going through all the key points is just amazing. It would be great to have a similar video for Asia.

Russia became an Empire("Tzarstvo" in Russian) under Ivan IV, so much sooner than you showed in your graph here. And Serbia became a Kingdom under Mihajlo Vojislavljevic in 1077 for the first time, and an Empire Under Dusan Nemanjic in mid XIV century. You also missed the Bulgarian Empire. And a Bosnian Kingdom.

4:10 "those tribes don't make there way to Spain but to Spain and Portugal where Suebi and Alans establish themselve in Portugal and the only that really establish only in spain was the vandals.

Looks like holding Europe is a bad game of Risk.

I really loved this video. There's a lot to learn of european history when looking at this different perspective, one of dynasties and crowns.

Do a video about the succession to the ottoman throne and maybe a video on the monarchies of Bohemia and Liechtenstein

the Norwegian Kingdom started in 872 and nobody can tell me otherwise >:) Great video, fun to see how long lasting certain kingdoms are

Thank you for this video, sir . I loved it

Oh boy, =) great video, although I would disagree with a lot of choices on where you cut your path. Nontheless I like your view of the general outline a lot! Keep up the great work! =)

This was a good video! Happy to see you didnt label the British Empire as an Empire as it had no Emperor.

10:58 It's pronounced "Arl" (french r, mute last letters)

do a video about the descendants of the byzantine emperors that are still alive, please!!!!

great video short breakdown of rulers loved it !! love all your vids /charts a truly great channel

The Kingdom of Italy is not the First time Italy has been united since the Roman Empire.

21:20 Well Ottomans did continue until 1922 even if they were de facto'd by outside powers and republic of Turkey

Top Historical Figures by Centuries Krishna - Vedic Religious leader 3000bc Narmer - First King of Egypt 3000bc Sargon - Akkadian Conqueror 2300bc Moses - Religious figure from Egypt 1000bc Cyrus - Founder of Persian Empire 500bc Buddha - Religious figure from India 400bc Alexandre - Founder of Macedon Empire 300bc Chandra - Founder of Maurya Empire 300bc Ashoka - Emperor of Maurya Empire 200bc Huangdi - Founder of Qin Dynasty 200bc Gauzu - Founder of Han Dynasty 200bc Julius - Roman general & dictator 100bc Augustus - First Emperor of Rome 100bc Jesus - Religious figure in Christianity Ardashir - Founder of Sassanid Empire 200ad Shapur II - Longest Sassanid monarch 300ad Constantine - Christian Emperor 300ad Atilla - Feared leader of Huns 400ad Muhammad - Leader of Islam 600ad Charlemagne - Emperor of Rome 800ad William - Norman Conqueror of England 1000ad Arslan - Second Sultan of Seljuk Empire 1000ad Sallahudin - Enemy of Christian Crusaders 1100ad Genghis - Founder & Khan of Mongol Empire 1100ad Kublai - Founder & Khan of Yuan Dynasty 1200ad Osman I - Founder of Ottoman Dynasty 1300ad Musa I - Wealthy King of Mali Empire 1300ad Hongwu - Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty 1300ad Columbus - Explorer who discovered Americas 1400ad Nanak - Religious figure of Sikhism 1400ad Tamerlane - Founder of Timurid Empire 1400ad Babur - First Emperor of Mughal Dynasty 1500ad Suleiman - Longest reigning Ottoman Sultan 1500ad Akbar - Third Emperor of Mughal Empire 1500ad Leyasu - Founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate 1500ad Ivan - Tsar of Kievan Rus Empire 1500ad Washington - First President of United States 1700ad Napoleon - Emperor of the French 1700ad Ranjit - Unifier of Punjab & leader of Sikh Empire 1700ad Bolivar - Liberator of Latin America 1700ad

The first kingdom in Europa was Galicia (NW Spain), year 411, suebian king Hermericus, and is the most durable in Europe. It loses its exclusive character in 1845, being from then on the king of Spain, also king of Galicia until today.

You should have mentioned the Bosnian kingdom in 1389 since it was the most powerful force in western Balkan at that time under king Tvrtko Kotromanić.

Very informative video! Thank you!

I enjoyed the hell out of this! (Yes, I've checked out OllieBye and EmperorTigerstar too 😊.) Could I suggest, as a future possibility, a similar video concerning the zillions of German duchies/principalities/city-states/kingdoms/? There were so many for awhile, and as a history nerd on the wrong side of the pond, it can be hard to keep track of what would be where. Come to that, an Italian one could be interesting too...

I was a little confused with the color set of the land being blue like ocean and I did get over it but it was confusing and I think you could benefit by swapping the colors on the map

You use Englad-Scotland, Denmark-Norway and so on meanwhile you refer to Spain as "Spain", instead of Castile-Leon-Aragon-etc. The title of king of Spain was only used (oficially) at the 19c.

Is it just me, or does anyone else also gets confused and takes blue for the color of the water bordens and white for the land borders in map videos ?

Wait, did ottoman sultans wear mosques instead of crowns on their heads?

In the Polish - Swedish Union Poland was actually the senior partner both over Sweden and Lithuania. Wladislav Vasa was first elected by the Polish Sejm (parliment) who also had to allow for the personal union to happen in the first place under one condition - Sigismund had to return to Krakow after his coronation in Sweden, wich he did. Sweden was ruled by a regent, while Sigismund ruled his 3 realms from Krakow.

10:01 The first south slavic kingdom was the bulgarian one after all 90% of its subjects were slavs and by this time even the ruling classes were speaking old bulgarian which was a south slavic language not bulgar and their ethnic origins were mostly slavic as well.

Very cool video, a great concept, well explained and well illustrated. Thank you a lot for this one !

Vatican city is a monarchy in a way.

Awesome video. You should put the best assumption for country borders if you can for similar videos in the future. I know it’d be a lot more work 😂 but not knowing which countries were established while the kingdoms were ruling was kinda confusing

The Bulgarian kingdom was established in 681 in the Balkans. One of the oldest in Europe. It is not found in your 720 map, maybe not too extensive research.

Wow! This is the explanation I've been looking for! Thank you! Please do more of this, like Asian kingdom etc

9:56 Bulgaria: Am i a joke to you ???

14:50 In 1603 Sigismund had ceased to be King of Sweden after having been overthrown by his uncle Karl who proceeded to become Regent until 1604 when he became Karl IX of Sweden. Thus it is more correct to say Sweden and Poland-Lithuania were separated in 1599.

What about the Bosnian Kingdom in 1377 and later the tittle got expanded in 1390. Sill primarily Bosnian Kingdom.

Extraordinarily marvelous. Great conceptual approach.

Took me a while to realize the blue was Europe

I would like to note that, for two months, Finland had a king in 1918, Charles I, King of Finland and Karelia. He never actually ruled there and renounced his claim to the throne when Germany lost WW1, but according to some, during those days, Finland was a de jure kingdom.

part of me wants to add about 20 to whenever i see the HRE, as it was never unified, but worked more like a monarchic EU of sorts. part of me wants to point at the EMPIRE part.

This same type of map breakdown would be very interesting for Africa, since the European (and Asian) history is generally so well-known.

Mate Georgia was kingdom for almost whole of its existence

This video is super nice, but I think that the colors on the map are quite confusing. Because the European continent is blue, and the seas ate on white...

How weird is it that 6 of the current 7 kingdoms border the North Sea...

my man. ur vids are fire and so are ur charts. keep it up

I am surprised you never labeled Norway as a kingdom after about 872, as Harald Hairfair gathered more of Norway into one kingdom, which gave him the title as the first king of Norway

You missed that Hanover also became a Kingdom just like Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony after the Napoleonic Wars, but it is in a personal union with the UK until Queen Victoria's ascension to the British throne, why did you not mention that Hanover was in a personal union with UK when you mentioned the personal union of Holy Roman Empire and Spain.

21:09 why isn’t Great Britain shown as an empire?

0:10 Europe according to Europeans 0:25 Europe according to Italians

You missed The Bulgarian empire and the Serbian empire.

Thanks for the video. I very much enjoyed this alternative way of seeing/listening to broad European history via a geographical context ( rather than genealogical ). I agree with another poster... maybe Asia next. Maybe even Africa. And it wouldn't necessarily have to be kingdoms, just the evolution of major political boundaries.

as a Portuguese, every time you use the world Spain interchangeably with Iberian Peninsula or Iberian Union, a bit of my soul dies....

România has never really lost its kingdom and is waiting to return to its glory days! 👑 🇷🇴

Weird to think the Roman empire was the start and the end of the dark ages/middle ages

In 1603 Sigismund III Vasa was already kicked from the Swedish throne...

The first thing I noticed was that Vatican wasnt included but I guess thats fine cos its really small and no one sees them as a kingdom. Then Great Moravia shouldnt be included cos it was a principality. Btw why when Russia was first created it wasnt clasified as an empire ? What I know first monarch of russia was tsar Ivan the terrible and tsar means emperor

the blue land and white water makes a great fantasy map if you view it inverted

you placed Kingdom of Serbia around time when it was acknowledged by the Pope, although it existed for many centuries before that, so I ask: Is that criteria used for western kingdoms as well?

17:08 Not quite true. France did establish its first republic at this point, but don't forget that Cromwell briefly had made it so that Britain could become a republic without a monarch for a time. And this was almost a century and a half prior to the French Revolution.

Ah yes... the "Holy" "Roman" "Empire"

one of the best vidoes on utube , huge thanks for this great and informative lesson :)

I'm a simple man, If I see a new video from UsefulCharts, I watch.

If you consider Frankia to be an empire then you should consider Bulgaria as well. The Emperial title of the Bulgarian rulers was recognised by the Eastern Romans themselves. Our first emperor Simeon the Great was crowned by the Byzantine patriarch. At that time the early medieval English kingdom could not muster more than 20 000 while the Bulgarian Tsar had 60 000 warriors at his disposal and with those defeated the even larger Byzantine army on multiple occasions.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Bulgarian_Empire en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bulgarian_Empire

Not gonna lie I was very confused at first. I thought the blue was the ocean and white were the continents.

Didnt see the Serbian Empire, Stefan Dusan proclaimed a title "Tsar" (the equal to emperor) in 1345, but was crowned on the 16th April 1346

Hey Usefulchart, you should do a video on the republics of Europe in the future. Just an idea.😊 In a similar concept as this video that is.

The Iberian Peninsula was united for the first time by only one crown by the Visigoths and not the Spanish, or you could even consider it by the Roman Empire

I never knew there were 7 kingdoms still alive in Europe, great

I love how you represented the Islamic empires with the symbol of dome of mosque !

Your videos are so interesting and well researched. I hope you don't mind but I just have one comment about the number of Kingdoms in the British Isles. Scotland and England are united in Britain but I believe they are still separate Kingdoms. The UK being composed of 2 Kingdoms, a Principality and a Province. All the best, Peter