747 The Abbasids foment revolt against the Umayyads.

751 The Lombards take Ravenna. The Pope appeals to the Franks for protection of the Papal State.

756 After a civil war, a surviving Umayyad establishes an independent emirate in the Iberian peninsula. The civil war enables the Asturias to expand their territory into the larger Kingdom of Galicia.

756-9 In return for the Pope's support for his elevation to the Frankish throne, Pepin defeats the Lombards and places a Papal state, enlarged to cover the former Byzantine province, under Frankish protection. Pepin also drives the Arabs from Septimania.

758 The Bavarian Duchy establishes a protectorate over the Slavs on its eastern border. This is the beginning of a movement that will eventually distinguish the northern from the southern Slavs.

by 771 Some time during the 6th and mid 8th centuries, the Getes succumb to the Swedes.