With the devastation of the Eastern Roman Empire, this artery was severed. The renowned Belgian historian Henri Pirenne famously argued that without Muhammad, Charlemagne would be inconceivable.[73] The political vacuum in northwestern Europe ultimately led to the emergence of a new order that was dominated by a patchwork of small kingdoms, feudal lords and thriving city-states but was at the same time unified by its Christian identity, in opposition to its Muslim neighbors to the south and east.
The decline of a strong, central Chistian entity allowed smaller Christian-led territories to form new identies. These identities would bring ideas of nationhood. Without Islam, our modern nations would not exist.
