The Digitalization of History: A Comparison between the English Economy in the Reign of Henry VI in Europa Universalis IV and the Historical Events in Reality

Yizhou Wu

Senior High School, Wuxi Big Bridge Academy, Wuxi, 214000, China

Abstract: Henry VI, one of the most disputed kings in the history of England, lost almost everything gained during the reign of Henry V including the interest in France. In the Europa universalis 4, which is a grand strategy game developed by Paradox Development Studio, he is known as the “Three Zero King.” That is to say, he is rated zero (the lowest) in three aspects including execution, diplomacy and military as a leader of a nation. What happened in the reign of Henry VI? In the first part, the author will analyze the economic situation during the reign of Henry VI in the aspect of the Great Slump of England which took place in the 15th century, the role of wars, and the crown’s income and outcome in the history. In the second part, the author will collect data from the game and compare them to the data in history. We can conclude that the digitalization of history can simplify the events in history. However, when digitalizing the economic situation of a time of turbulences, we may overlook multiple aspects and simply compare the incomes and outcomes. In the last part, this article proposes to take a comprehensive perspective to analyze the history, and to better understand the applications of digitalization of history in real world.

Keywords: Europa universalis; Digitalizing; Strategy games