Europe’s first single market 2,000 years ago
The first time Europe had free movement of people, a single market, and a single currency was under the Roman Empire.
The Itiner-E project, created with Google’s support, has digitally recreated the enormous 186,000-mile road network that once connected Rome’s dominion from Britain to the Balkans. People, goods, and ideas travelled freely across a continent ruled by Roman law, coinage, and administration.
For the first time in history, Europe functioned as one economic space. But it was a dictatorship.
- The Roman single market was built on conquest, not consent
- There were no human rights
- Millions were enslaved
- Citizenship brought privilege, not equality
- Women were excluded from public and political life
- Power belonged to the emperors, not to the people
Almost 2,000 years later most of Europe once again has free movement of people, a Single Market, and a single currency. But unlike the Roman Empire, the EU is based not on a dictatorship, but instead grounded in democracy, equality, human rights, and consent of the governed.
Winston Churchill had a vision for such a union of Europe almost 30 years before it was established. Back in 1930 he wrote from London for the USA’s Saturday Evening Post and concluded:
“The concept of a United States of Europe is right.”
In his prescient article, which reads like an early blueprint for the European Union, Churchill imagined a Europe without internal barriers or tariffs, or passports, or multiple currencies. He foresaw “the free interchange of goods and services” and “the free travel of people” across the continent. The idea of “European unity” was not new, he asserted.
Reminding his American readers of the Roman Empire, Churchill wrote:
“Europe has known the days when Rumanians lived on the Tyne and Spaniards on the Danube as equal citizens of a single state.”
He added:
“Everywhere, in every age, in every area however wide, or every grouping of peoples however diverse, unity has made for strength and prosperity for all within its circle.
“Why should Europe fear unity?”
Even during the Second World War, Churchill’s conviction did not falter. After the victory at El Alamein in 1942, he wrote to his Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden:
“Hard as it is to say now… I look forward to a United States of Europe, in which the barriers between the nations will be greatly minimised and unrestricted travel will be possible.”
After the war, Churchill promoted the “union of Europe as a whole” as the only way to achieve lasting peace on a war-torn continent.
The Roman roads that once bound an empire can now be rediscovered through the new digital Google map. By contrast, the roadmap of modern Europe is being built through democratic accord, leading towards Churchill’s vision of a continent united not by emperors, but by its citizens.
Today, almost every European country has volunteered to be part of the EU. A true union based on consent, not conquest.
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- Today, almost every European country has volunteered to be part of the EU. A true union based on consent, not conquest.
- Video: Why Britain joined the European Community in the first place – and why we might join again for exactly the same reasons.
