(RVS) Revolutions 1750-1900 Module Overview

Revolutions 1750-1900 Module Overview

Introduction A series of political revolutions began in 1775 with the American Revolution and continued with the French Revolution of 1789, and later lesser revolutions. Major trends reversed previous quieter eighteenth-century European themes. Intellectual ferment was high beneath the calm eighteenth-century surface. Enlightenment thinkers challenged the existing order and opened a gap between intellectuals and established institutions. They were joined by businesspeople in encouraging economic and technical change. Another source of disruption was the effect of a huge population increase. Upper-class families, to protect their more numerous children, tightened their grip on public offices. Business families were more willing to take risks. Rural families were forced into the proletariat. The population growth stimulated a rapid expansion of domestic manufacturing and consumerism. Youthful independence grew as the possibility of inheritance from parents declined. Sexual behavior, especially among the lower social classes, altered, with premarital sex rapidly increasing the number of out-of-wedlock births.

 

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The parts of Asia still independent from European dominance after 1750 suffered from political decline and from the reactions to new challenges. They also faced the threat of Western imperialism and the West's industrial lead. China, under the Qing dynasty in the seventeenth century, enjoyed growth and prosperity and had the power to limit European intervention. The Ottomans, on the contrary, were in full retreat. Russia and Austria seized territories, North African provinces broke away, and local leaders throughout the empire became more independent. Economic and social disruption accompanied the political malaise. Although the Ottoman rulers did not have a solution to their problems, they regained some strength during the nineteenth century by following Western-style reforms. At the end of the century, the foundations of Chinese civilization had been demolished by internal and external pressures. Russia and Japan defied the pattern of nineteenth-century European domination. By 1914, they launched significant industrialization and accomplished other changes that preserved their independence. Both achieved economic autonomy and were able to join in the imperialist scramble. There were differences between the two. Japan displayed more political flexibility than did Russia. Change in Russia increased internal strains and led to revolution. Japan, through its reforms, pulled away from the rest of East Asia; Russia continued expanding its influence in Eastern Europe and central Asia. Among the characteristics common to the two nations in their maintenance of independence was their prior experience of cultural imitation, Japan from China and Russia from Byzantium and the West. They were able to learn without destroying their own cultures. Both also had improved their political effectiveness during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a situation allowing the state to sponsor change.

 

Essential Questions

  • Explain the intellectual and ideological context in which revolutions swept the Atlantic world from 1750 to 1900.
  • How did the Enlightenment affect societies over time?
  • What were the causes and effects of the various revolutions in the period from 1750 to 1900?
  • What environmental factors contributed to industrialization from 1750 to 1900?
  • Explain how the different modes and locations of production have developed and changed over time.
  • How did technology shape economic production over time?
  • What were the causes and effects of economic strategies of different states and empires?
  • Explain the development of economic systems, ideologies, and institutions and how they contributed to change in the period from 1750 to 1900.
  • What were the causes and effects of calls for changes in Industrial societies from 1750 to 1900?
  • How did industrialization cause change in existing social hierarchies and standards of living?
  • To what extent did industrialization bring about change from 1750 to 1900?

 

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