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Period:1492to
Modern History
The historic period from the discovery of America (1492) to the French Revolution (1789) -
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Enclosure Acts
Act authorised by the British Parliament due to the rise in grain prices, which abolished the open field system. It enclosed lands privately owned.
The positive consequences were the concentration of land ownership, the improvement in farming techniques with the rise of
the production aimed at the market.
On the other hand, poor farmers couldn’t enclose land, they sold
their property, became labourers in exchange for a wage and moved to the cities. -
John Kay’s flying shuttle
The machine that increased production and created wider fabrics -
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First Industrial Revolution
During this period mechanisation started and water and steam power began to be used. -
James Watt’s steam engine
Machine that burnt coal to boil water, which turned into steam. It applied pressure to it, making a continuous cycle, and was transferred to the machinery -
Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith published this book to criticise and deny the mercantilist economic system. He believed it would eventually affect countries' productivity. -
Invention of the power loom
A mechanised device used to knit cloth and tapestry, designed and built by Edmund Cartwright. -
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The Age of the revolutions
It started with the Estates General meeting and ended with the unification of Germany. Between these two dates, there were the 3 phases of the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic consulate and empire. Then, after Napoleon’s fall, the revolutionary waves in 1830 and 1848 revolutionized everything.
Finally, the rise of liberalism and the expansion of nationalism caused the nations to be fragmented (Greece and Belgium) and others to be united (Italy and Germany) -
Estates-General meeting
Meeting in which the Estates-General (the clergy, nobility and common people) were convened by Louis XVI after the financial crisis in France, to approve tax reforms. The Third Estate left the meeting after the privileged classes refused to count votes per head, knowing that this method would be harmful to them, given that the percentage of people that opposed their regulations (not paying taxes) was larger. -
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French revolution
Revolutionary movement that took place in France between 1789 and 1799, and marked the end of the ancien régime. -
Tennis Court Oath
On 20 June 1789, after the members of the French Third Estate were locked out by Louis XIX out of the meeting, they went to the Tennis Court and they took an oath (promised to) never to separate until they established a written constitution for France. -
Storming of the Bastille
After the assembly of the Third Estate in Versailles, they met in Versailles where the Tennis Court Oath happened and decided to start a revolution. For this purpose, they needed arms and gunpowder so they broke in the Bastille to collect them and also free some prisoners, given that this fortress held political prisoners in it. -
Women’s March on Versailles
March where thousands of angry women, due to high prices of food in Paris’ markets, marched to Versailles, where they forced the king to abandon his palace and go to Tuileries Palace in Paris. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
A document created to abolish feudalism and the Ancien Régime, that denied women civil rights like property, legal and fiscal equality or the right to vote. -
First French constitution
They abolished guilds and created a new army force to protect the revolutionaries called the National Guard.
To fix the financial crisis, they obligated the privileged to pay taxes. Also, they confiscated and sold the properties of the Clergy, and signed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy in 1790. -
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Constitutional monarchy
Form of monarchy in which the king exercises authority in accordance with a constitution. This was the first phase of the French Revolution after Louis XVI was forced to accept the National Assembly. It was led by the Moderate bourgeoisie, whose objectives were to abolish the Ancien Régime and have a parliamentary monarchy, so they established a parliament and a constitution. -
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Social Republic
The second phase of the Revolution caused by the betrayal of the king and the military invasion of Prussia and Austria, that caused the monarchy to lose most of its followers. It was ruled by the radical bourgeoisie, first the Girondists (1792-1793), and later the Jacobins (1793-1794). Their main goals were to be a republic with a democratic and equal society. -
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Girondin Convention
The first half of the second phase of the french revolution, the Social Republic, that was ruled by the moderates. The two main events were the National Convention and the execution of the King and Queen. -
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War of the First Coalition
War declared by the Legislative Assembly to Austria and Prussia, given that Prussia and Holy Roman Empire oathed to help Louis XVI against revolutionaries because they were afraid of the spread of liberalism, It ended for France in September of 1792 when the Austrian and Prussian army reached Paris. -
Storm of Tuileries Palace
The angry ex-monarchists joined the republicans after the betrayal of the King and stormed the Tuileries Palace where they imprisoned the
royal family. -
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Jacobin Convention
The second half of the Social Republic, that was ruled by the radicals. The 1793 constitution was written which included the Committee of Public Safety as the executive power, it included popular sovereignty (universal male suffrage) and social equality.
They also executed the neutralisation the enemies by mass levy against absolutists and imposed the Reign of Terror based on the Law of suspects.
Lastly, the made social laws such as the Law of maximum to satisfy sans-culottes. -
Execution of Louis XVI
It was one of the main events during the Girondin's convention, which caused counter-revolutionary revolts, royalist plots and absolutist revolutions. -
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Reign of Terror
A period of the French Revolution when they were Counter-revolutionary revolts and plots. They were also executions
under the Law of suspects. -
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Conservative Republic
The third and last phase of the French Revolution, where the moderate bourgeoisie seized power, cancelled Jacobin laws and drafted the 1975 constitution which included census suffrage and the Directory as the executive power, which caused the end of this period because of the discontent of the aristocracy and the common people. -
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Consulate
The autocratic and authoritarian rule, with Napoleon as governor, that had as objective the consolidation of some of the revolutionary principles and economic recovery through a government that represented the interest of the bourgeoisie. During this period, they wrote the 1800 constitution based on a new political system, economic reforms and some other reforms such as the civil code for all citizens, the Concordat with the church, the creation of Lycées. They also allowed the exiles to return. -
Coup of 18th Brumaire
The coup organised by Napoleon Bonaparte in a context of crisis after the unstable situation in the Directory due to the opposition of the aristocracy and the common people, that was supported by a large part of the bourgeoisie which was the begging of Napoleon's started and authoritarian rule. -
Constitution of 1800
Constitution of the new system where liberties were very limited and public opinion was censured. Also, states were organised in departments, run by prefects. -
Napoleon crowned emperor
Napoleon was crowned emperor by the Pope, one year after starting his conquest of Europe, which led to the Napoleonic Empire (1804-1815) -
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Napoleonic Empire
In 1804, after being crowned emperor by the Pope, Napoleon kept conquering Europe with the help of his large army.
After Austerlitz in 1806, the Napoleonic army became unstoppable. In 1808, Spain was invaded and Joseph Bonaparte was proclaimed the new king.
In 1811, the empire reached its zenith but after the failure of the invasion of Russia in 1808 and the revolts against Joseph in 1812, everything started going downfall till the Battle of Waterloo that marked its end in 1815. -
Invasion of Spain and Joseph Bonaparte crowned king
Spain was invaded by the Napoleonic troops and Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother was named its king. -
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Luddite movement
The protests were started in England by the workers. Because of their anger, they started destroying machinery. They believed that machinery was responsible for low wages and unemployment. -
Battle of Waterloo
The battle between the Napoleonic army versus Great Britain and Prussia. Napoleon's side lost and that marked the end of his empire. -
Congress of Vienna and Holy Alliance Treaty
Congress where the powers (Britain, Prussia, France, Russia and Austria) met. It was organised by the Austrian Chancellor Metternich, who proposed stopping the spread of liberal ideas and the restoring of absolutism.
Then, with the Holy Alliance Treaty in 1815, the absolute monarchs (Russia, Prussia, Austria) promised to unite against any threat of liberal revolution. -
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Restoration of absolutism
The 4 great powers met at the Congress of Vienna with France after the defeat of Napoleon, which was organised by the Austrian Chancellor Metternich to stop the spread of liberal ideas and restore absolutism.
The principles of the restoration were the legitimacy of absolute monarchs, the denial of national sovereignty, the balance of power and right of intervention.
The consequences of it were the Holy Alliance Treaty (1815) and the reshaping of the European map. -
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Greek War of Independence
Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire for centuries and the Greeks had to pay high taxes, were excluded from state administration jobs and felt dominated by people with a different religion and culture.
In 1822, Greeks declared independence, which wasn't recognized by the Turks
Then in 1827, Greek won thanks to the French and British military, and finally, in 1830, they were recognized independent. -
Abolishment of the Combination Acts
Set of laws prohibiting workers right to organize in associations to fight for higher wages or controlling their workplace conditions.
It was abolished when unions of workers from the same field came together and repealed them. -
Stephenson’s Steam locomotive
This creation allowed more passengers and goods to travel in less time with a lower cost. -
Revolutions of 1830
They were caused by the disrespect of the Congress of Vienna to the liberal principles or the nationalist aspirations of
some Europeans. They started in France and later spread to places like the Netherlands.
In some places, they succeeded and absolutism was replaced by
liberal political systems governed by a constitution in which the bourgeoisie held power, like in France. In other places, they went back to the absolutism, like in Poland. -
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The Belgian Revolution
After the Congress of Vienna, the kingdom of Holland (protestant and absolutist) and Belgium (catholic and liberal) united.
Because of their obvious differences, between 1830 and 1839 there was an armed conflict after Belgium’s declaration of
independence, which was finally recognised in 1839 as a liberal monarchy ruled by Leopold I. -
Zollverein
A custom union created by Prussia that united the majority of Germanic states. -
Grand National Consolidated Trades Union
Also called the Great Trade Union Union was a union project created to bring together different types of workers. It defended the right of workers to associate between themselves, as well as the improvement of wages and the regulation of child labour. -
Revolutions of 1848
Countries under the control of empires wanted to pursue the idea of nationalism and the creation of new liberal governments.
It caused the rise of liberalism and the expansion of nationalism.
In the Austrian empire, nationalistic uprisings based on liberal principles appeared in different places. And in France, a popular uprising proclaimed the Second Republic. -
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French Second Republic
Republic caused by the revolutionary waves of 1830, that adopted democratic measures such as universal male suffrage, press freedom, the abolition of the death penalty and certain rights for workers. -
Invention of the Bessemer converter
A machine or process that converted iron into steel Henry Bessemer -
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Italian Unification process
In the Congress of Vienna, Austria annexed Lombardy-Venetia.
To start the unification process, in 1859, the Kingdom of Piedmont declared war to Austria and annexed Lombardy, and a popular uprising led by Garibaldi appeared in central and southern Italy, which abolish absolutist monarchies.
Then, in 1861, Victor Manuel II of Savoy was proclaimed king.
In 1866, Austria left Venetia and finally, in 1870, the Papal States were annexed and Rome became the capital. -
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German Unification process
It was divided into 36 states (the German Confederation) where Prussia and Austria were competing for power.
In 1834, Prussia created the Zollverein, a customs union.
Then in 1861, Wilhelm I was proclaimed king and Otto von Bismarck chancellor in Prussia, which benefited them.
Later, 3 wars happened in Austria, Denmark and France, until finally, in 1871, Wilhelm I was proclaimed as Kaiser of the Second German
Empire or Reich. -
First International
It was an organisation based on the initiative of Marx, which was created to unite different socialist, communist and anarchist groups It Also promoted trade unions that were based on the working class and its social class struggle. -
Karl Marx publishes Das Kapital
It mainly is a description of how the capitalist system works and how it will end up destroying itself. He explains how the bourgeoise rises in power, but the proletariat rises as well, so at one point the proletariat will be unstoppable and seize power. -
Second International
It was an organization created by various Markis, socialist and labour parties who worked together and coordinated to achieve international socialism.
It established some symbols of the labour movement such as the anthem “The Internationale” (here's the Russian version of it https://youtu.be/t8EMx7Y16Vo ) or the International Workers’ Day that takes place every year on the 1st of May. -
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Contemporary history
Historic period from 1945 to the present