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Period: 1492 to
Modern History
History up to the present day, from some arbitrary point taken to represent the end of the Middle Ages. In some contexts it may be contrasted with ‘ancient’ rather than ‘medieval’ history, and start (for example) from the fall of the Western Roman Empire. -
Period: to
Enclosure Acts
Concentration of land ownership
Improvement in farming techniques: rise of
production.
Production aimed at the market (Ø personal
consumption).
Poor farmers couldn’t enclose land = they sold, their property and, became labourers in exchange for a wage, moved to the cities. -
Period: to
First Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution marked a period of development in the latter half of the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies in Europe and America into industrialized, urban ones. -
Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations
Probably the most influential book on market economics ever written. -
James Watt’s steam engine
Burning coal → Boiled water → Steam →
Pressure → Continuous movement
transferred to machinery -
John Kay’s flying shuttle
Using the flying shuttle, one weaver could weave fabrics of any width more quickly than two could before. -
Invention of the power loom
The power loom was a steam-powered loom that mechanized the process, reducing the need for humans to oversee the weaving process. -
Estates-General Meeting
The Estates-General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm summoned by Louis XVI to propose solutions to France’s financial problems. It ended when the Third Estate formed into a National Assembly, signaling the outbreak of the French Revolution. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, passed by France’s National Constituent Assembly in August 1789, is a fundamental document of the French Revolution that granted civil rights to some commoners, although it excluded a significant segment of the French population. -
Period: to
French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of major social upheaval that began in 1789 and ended in 1799. It sought to completely change the relationship between the rulers and those they governed and to redefine the nature of political power. It proceeded in a back-and-forth process between revolutionary and reactionary forces. That happened because when the king sought to increase the tax burden on the poor and expand it to classes that had previously been exempt, revolution became all but inevitable. -
Period: to
Constitutional Monarchy
First French Revolution phase when the Natinal Constituent Assembly abolished feudalism, approved Declaration of The Rights Of Man and of the Citizen and a drew up a constitution. -
Period: to
Contemporary History
Period which starts in 1789, with the French Revolution, and goes up to the present. -
Storming of the Bastille
A state prison on the east side of Paris, known as the Bastille, was attacked by an angry and aggressive mob. The prison had become a symbol of the monarchy’s dictatorial rule, and the event became one of the defining moments in the Revolution that followed. This article reporting the events of 14 July was published in an English newspaper called The World, a few days after the event took place. Based on the ideas ofliberty, equality and brotherhood. -
Tennis Court Oath
The deputies of the Third Estate, realizing that in any attempt at reform they would be outvoted by the two privileged orders, the clergy and the nobility. Finding themselves locked out of their usual meeting hall at Versailles on June 20 and thinking that the king was forcing them to disband. There they took an oath never to divide until a written constitution had been established for France. June 27 ordered the clergy and the nobility to join with the Third Estate in the National Assembly. -
Women's March on Versailles
In October 1789 is often credited with forcing the royal court and family to move from the traditional seat of government in Versailles to Paris, a major and early turning point in the French Revolution. -
First French Constitution
The Constitution of 1791 was the revolutionary government’s first attempt at a written constitutional document. Motivated by Enlightenment ideas and the American Revolution, it was intended to define the limits of power in the new government. By the time of its adoption, however, the situation in France had changed significantly and the Constitution of 1791 was no longer fit for purpose. -
Period: to
Social Republic
The Republic was brief, barely two years, but it put up a victorious struggle against the armies of the European Coalition and against the forces of the counter-revolution. However, the period also includes such grim events as the execution of Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette, the crushing rule of the revolutionary government, and the 'Terror' in Paris and in the provinces; and the eventual bloody collapse of the Jacobin dictatorship. -
War of the First Coalition
Late in 1792 the Convention issued a decree offering assistance to all peoples wishing to recover their liberty. This decree, the execution of Louis XVI, and the opening of the Scheldt estuary provoked Great Britain, Holland, and Spain to join Austria and Prussia in the First Coalition against France. Sardinia had already declared war after France had occupied Savoy and Nice.France declared war on Britain and Holland, and on Mar. 7, on Spain. Things rapidly turned against France. -
Storm of Tuileries Palace
On August 10th 1792, a little more than three years after their victory over the Bastille, the people of Paris laid siege to another royalist symbol. This time the target was the Tuileries Palace, the official residence of Louis XVI and the home of the Legislative Assembly. The attack on the Tuileries effectively brought the Bourbon monarchy to a close in France. -
Period: to
Girondin Convention
Throughout the winter of 1792 and spring of 1793, Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The new Convention, occupied mostly with matters of war, did little to remedy the problem until April 1793 when they created the Committee of Public Safety. Eventually headed by Maximilien Robespierre, this committee was given the monumental task of dealing with radical movements, food shortages, riots and revolts, and recent defeats of its armies. -
Period: to
Reing of Terror
A period of violence during the French Revolution incited by conflict between two rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of “the enemies of the revolution.” The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with 16,594 executed by guillotine and another 25,000 in summary executions across France. -
Period: to
Jacobin Convention
Through the early phase of the Convention, the club was a meeting place for the Montagnards, and it agitated for the execution of the king and for the overthrow of the moderate Girondins.They raised supplies for the army and policed local markets. Often local government officials were replaced with members of clubs. As centres of public virtue, the clubs watched over people whose opinions were suspect, led the dechristianizing movement, and organized Revolutionary festivals. -
Execution of Louis XVI
One day after being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention, King Louis XVI is executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris. -
Period: to
Conservative Republic
This First Republican period is characterized by the fall of the monarchy, the establishment of the National Convention, the infamous Reign of Terror, and the Thermidorian Reaction in 1799. Furthermore, this section also features texts that highlight the impact of the Revolution on French culture and several of the important monuments and arts institutions. -
Coup of 18th Brumaire
The Coup of 18 Brumaire occurred on 9/11/1799 when Napoleon Bonaparte led a bloodless military coup against the French Directory in Paris, France and established the French Consulate with himself as its leader. Directory leader Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes became the dominant figure in the Directory after eradicating the Jacobin Club in the 30 Prairial coup of 18 June 1799, and he sought to recruit the successful Napoleon as the leader of a coup that would bring himself to power as a French dictator. -
Consititution of 1800
Constitution made by Napoleon which included a new political system with no separations of powers and not declaration of rights, some liberties were limited to control public opinion -
Period: to
The Napoleonic Empire
Napoleon ruled for 15 years, closing out the quarter-century so dominated by the French Revolution. His own ambitions were to establish a solid dynasty within France and to create a French-dominated empire in Europe. The empire was defeated in the battle of Waterloo in 1815. -
Napoleon Crowned emperor
In Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Napoleon I, the first Frenchman to hold the title of emperor in a thousand years. Pope Pius VII handed Napoleon the crown that the 35-year-old conqueror of Europe placed on his own head. -
Invasion of Spain and Joseph Bonaparte crowned king
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was an elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1806, he crowned him as King of Naples and Sicily and later King of Spain in 1808. -
Period: to
Luddite movement
First workers to protest in England (early C.19th)
Violent destruction of machinery (responsible
for low wages and unemployment). -
Congress of Vienna and Holy Alliance Treaty
Holy Alliance (1815) Agreement signed at the Congress of Vienna by the crowned heads of Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Its purpose was to re-establish the principle of hereditary rule and to suppress democratic and nationalist movements, which sprung up in the wake of the French Revolution. -
Period: to
The Restoration of absolutism
The powers who defeated Napoleon met at the Congress of Vienna, they decided to stop the spread of liberalism and restore the absolutism. -
The Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo, which took place in Belgium on June 18, 1815, marked the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. Through a series of wars, he expanded his empire across western and central Europe. The Battle of Waterloo, in which Napoleon’s forces were defeated by the British and Prussians, marked the end of his reign and of France’s domination in Europe. -
Period: to
Greek War of Independence
In 1822 Greece declared independence in Epidauris, but it wasnt recognised by the Turks, and a war began. In 1827 France and England helped Greece and in 1830 they got their independence. -
Abolishment of the Combination Acts
Forbade workers to organize for the purpose of obtaining higher wages or controlling work-place conditions. -
Stephenson’s Steam locomotive
Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ was the first modern steam locomotive, born during a short frantic period of development from 1828 till 1830. The reason for this was the proposed opening of the world’s first inter-city passenger railway, the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1830. -
Period: to
The Age of the Revolutions
The Age of Revolution is a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th centuries in which a number of significant revolutionary movements occurred in most of Europe and the Americas. The period is noted for the change from absolutist monarchies to representative governments with a written constitution, and the creation of nation states. -
Period: to
The Belgian Revolution
The far-reaching meddling of the Protestant William I irritated various groups in the South, including the Catholics, the French speakers, and the Liberals. However, imminent revolt was still out of the question. This changed after the July Revolution in France of 1830, which saw the overthrow of the French king. Soon thereafter, incidents also broke out in the Southern Netherlands, beginning in Brussels. -
Grand National Consolidated Trades Union
Was an early attempt to form a national union confederation in the United Kingdom. There had been several attempts to form national general unions in the 1820s, culminating with the National Association for the Protection of Labour, established in 1830. -
Zollverein
Customs Unions created by Prussia in 1834 which involved the majority of the states of the German Confederation. -
Period: to
French Second Republic
Due the age of revolutions Charles X was overthrown, and Louis Philippe I became the new constitutional king, but in 1848 a popular uprising proclaimed the second republic, with some democratic measures. -
Period: to
Italian Unificattion Process
In 1859 kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, declared war to Austria and annexed Lombardy. In 1861, Victor Manuel II of Savoy was proclaimed king of Italy, and five years later Austria left Venetia. Finally Papal states were also annexed and Rome became the capital of Italy. -
Period: to
German Unification proccess
In 1834 Prussia created a customs union with the Germanic States. In 1861, Wilhem became king of Prussia, and they declareted war to Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866 and France in 1870. Prussia won all the wars and Germany was unificated. -
First International
First International of International Workingmen’s
Association was created at the initiative of Marx in 1864. -
Karl Marx publishes Das Kapital
The first of three volumes of Das Kapital was published on 14 September 1867, dedicated to Wilhelm Wolff and was the sole volume published in Marx's lifetime. -
Second International
Second International was founded by Marxist in 1889 to
coordinate the various socialist parties. -
Invention of the Bessemer converter
The Bessemer process - the conversion of iron into steel - was invented and patented.
