Territory is the land defined by the physical boundaries under a ruler or a state. In ancient times the idea regarding the Territorial authority was very different than the modern territorial authority. There was open interference in other nations matters, often even militarily. The governmental system in ancient world was Hierarchical system, which is a pyramid style system; on top it was the Emperor and everyone below them, meaning that the Emperor had the supreme authority over all the lands and people. The modern idea on territorial authority consists of popular Sovereignty, that the Government has the support of the people. (Diez et al, 2011: 216)
Roman Empire was the longest standing empire. The Roman’s believed that the God chose the Emperor and
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At one point Roman Empire consisted of whole of the Europe. When the Roman Empire collapsed in 5th AD there was a great power vacuum in Europe. Church grew in power and the old system of Lords was back. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the states were in constant battles over land. Byzantine Empire and European states now consisted of Europe. There was no mutual recognition of the territory and sovereignty of the other state was not respected.
In 1618 a religious war in Holy Roman Empire erupted that ended up being one of the bloodiest wars in the European history. This was the Thirty Years war. The old system of authority had failed and a new system was needed. In 1648, numbers of treaties were signed in Osnabruck and Munster known as Peace of Westphalia, ending the thirty years war. Holy Roman Empire soon disintegrated in smaller nation states. Nation states was a new concept at that time, nation states are different than Empires or Non-nation states; in a nation