Modern Period Overview
A Truly “Revolutionary” Unit
Democratic Revolutions in the Atlantic World
Go look up the word “revolution.” Seriously… go look it up. OK, now with that in your brain, let’s begin. With the exception of the Greek city-state of Athens and the brief Roman republic, most civilizations throughout history organized themselves politically as centralized imperial bureaucracies. In these absolute monarchies, Emperors (or Kings, Khans, Caliphs, Sultans, God-kings, Son of Heavens…) often allied themselves with god(s) and wielded total authority over their subjects using an army of loyal administrators to maintain the day-to-day functioning of the state. This form of government was great if your leader was someone like Peter the Great, Akbar or Suleyman. But what about when you get stuck with an Ivan “the Terrible” exercising absolute authority over you? Beginning in the Early Modern Period, some European philosophers began to question this ancient form of government. It did not seem rational or logical to these “Enlightenment thinkers” that one man should have absolute power over their subjects. These thinkers developed an ideology that claimed every human (well… at least every human who was male, wealthy, and white) had rights, and that the job of government was to protect those rights. Wealthy merchants and professionals throughout Europe and its colonies gravitated to these ideas. See they were rich, but because they were colonial subjects or members of the Third Estate, they had NO say in government. So they led revolutions against their governments. First the British colonies in North America declared independence, which led to the creation of the United States! Soon after, the French people overthrew their king and started their bloody revolution. The enslaved Africans on France’s most valuable Caribbean colony, Haiti, led the most successful slave revolt in world history. And the once-mighty Spanish Empire will lose most of their Latin American colonies to different revolutions. All of these revolutions transformed the way these states governed themselves. While most democratic governments did not allow everyone to participate politically (sorry ladies and people with high levels of melanin in their skin), they did establish new governments that included more people in the decision-making process. Say bye, bye to the all-powerful absolute rulers ☺!
On a side note: You’ll notice all of these revolutions occurred in the Atlantic World. Remember that the Atlantic was a major “network of exchange” in the Early Modern Period. As always, goods are not the only thing that travel on trade routes. Enlightenment ideas crisscrossed the Atlantic alongside sugar, silver, and slaves.
A Truly “Revolutionary” Unit
Democratic Revolutions in the Atlantic World
Go look up the word “revolution.” Seriously… go look it up. OK, now with that in your brain, let’s begin. With the exception of the Greek city-state of Athens and the brief Roman republic, most civilizations throughout history organized themselves politically as centralized imperial bureaucracies. In these absolute monarchies, Emperors (or Kings, Khans, Caliphs, Sultans, God-kings, Son of Heavens…) often allied themselves with god(s) and wielded total authority over their subjects using an army of loyal administrators to maintain the day-to-day functioning of the state. This form of government was great if your leader was someone like Peter the Great, Akbar or Suleyman. But what about when you get stuck with an Ivan “the Terrible” exercising absolute authority over you? Beginning in the Early Modern Period, some European philosophers began to question this ancient form of government. It did not seem rational or logical to these “Enlightenment thinkers” that one man should have absolute power over their subjects. These thinkers developed an ideology that claimed every human (well… at least every human who was male, wealthy, and white) had rights, and that the job of government was to protect those rights. Wealthy merchants and professionals throughout Europe and its colonies gravitated to these ideas. See they were rich, but because they were colonial subjects or members of the Third Estate, they had NO say in government. So they led revolutions against their governments. First the British colonies in North America declared independence, which led to the creation of the United States! Soon after, the French people overthrew their king and started their bloody revolution. The enslaved Africans on France’s most valuable Caribbean colony, Haiti, led the most successful slave revolt in world history. And the once-mighty Spanish Empire will lose most of their Latin American colonies to different revolutions. All of these revolutions transformed the way these states governed themselves. While most democratic governments did not allow everyone to participate politically (sorry ladies and people with high levels of melanin in their skin), they did establish new governments that included more people in the decision-making process. Say bye, bye to the all-powerful absolute rulers ☺!
On a side note: You’ll notice all of these revolutions occurred in the Atlantic World. Remember that the Atlantic was a major “network of exchange” in the Early Modern Period. As always, goods are not the only thing that travel on trade routes. Enlightenment ideas crisscrossed the Atlantic alongside sugar, silver, and slaves.
The Industrial Revolution: The Second Most Important Event in World History
Since the Agricultural Revolution, manufacturing things (or making things) has always been one of the major aspects of civilization. Agricultural surplus meant that people could specialize their labor and spend time producing things other than food. Humans have also always used tools to help them manufacture things: looms to help weave, boats to sail, cranes to help build monumental architecture. These tools were always powered by animate (living) sources. Human legs powered the looms and cranes, horses pulled the plows, winds pulled the sails. But then, in the mid-18th century, James Watt invented a machine that would revolutionize the way humans produced things: the steam engine. The steam engine was a machine that converted the energy stored in fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) into energy that could be utilized to create motion. These machines would replace animate sources of energy, giving humans, animals and winds a much-needed break. In short, the steam engine revolutionized the way we make things and led to a dizzying period of invention (mechanized looms, railroads, steamships…). The Industrial Revolution, as it is often called, changed the world as we know it. Britain industrialized first, followed other Western European countries and eventually the United States, Russia and Japan. All of these industrialized societies experienced dramatic change. Poor country folk moved to cities to work in cotton textile mills. Farmers became coal miners or poor factory workers. Women and children entered the work force in large numbers. Burning fossil fuels caused pollution never before seen in human history. Unregulated capitalism exploited and injured the workers. Things were really good for the factory owners, but really bad for the factory workers ☹.
Industrialization and technology also caused massive movements of people to faraway lands. Railroads and steamboats moved workers, missionaries, indentured servants and travelers. Workers from all over Asia filled plantation jobs when slavery was abolished. The United States attracted immigrant workers from around the world as they become an industrial power. Poor and middle-class Europeans (Irish, Scottish, Italian, Jewish, Russian) and Asians (Indians, Japanese & Chinese) migrated to the Americas looking for a better life.
Since the Agricultural Revolution, manufacturing things (or making things) has always been one of the major aspects of civilization. Agricultural surplus meant that people could specialize their labor and spend time producing things other than food. Humans have also always used tools to help them manufacture things: looms to help weave, boats to sail, cranes to help build monumental architecture. These tools were always powered by animate (living) sources. Human legs powered the looms and cranes, horses pulled the plows, winds pulled the sails. But then, in the mid-18th century, James Watt invented a machine that would revolutionize the way humans produced things: the steam engine. The steam engine was a machine that converted the energy stored in fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) into energy that could be utilized to create motion. These machines would replace animate sources of energy, giving humans, animals and winds a much-needed break. In short, the steam engine revolutionized the way we make things and led to a dizzying period of invention (mechanized looms, railroads, steamships…). The Industrial Revolution, as it is often called, changed the world as we know it. Britain industrialized first, followed other Western European countries and eventually the United States, Russia and Japan. All of these industrialized societies experienced dramatic change. Poor country folk moved to cities to work in cotton textile mills. Farmers became coal miners or poor factory workers. Women and children entered the work force in large numbers. Burning fossil fuels caused pollution never before seen in human history. Unregulated capitalism exploited and injured the workers. Things were really good for the factory owners, but really bad for the factory workers ☹.
Industrialization and technology also caused massive movements of people to faraway lands. Railroads and steamboats moved workers, missionaries, indentured servants and travelers. Workers from all over Asia filled plantation jobs when slavery was abolished. The United States attracted immigrant workers from around the world as they become an industrial power. Poor and middle-class Europeans (Irish, Scottish, Italian, Jewish, Russian) and Asians (Indians, Japanese & Chinese) migrated to the Americas looking for a better life.