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Period: Oct 12, 1492 to
Modern History
History period that starts with the discovery of America and the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and ends with the French Revolution, the United States Independence and The Industrial Revolution. -
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Inclosure acts (Enclosure is spelt differently nowadays)
This acts were written to enclose lands previously held in common all over England and Wales, to transform them in legal properties. Any individual could possess any number of lands within their manor. These landowners seeked better farming techniques, and because now they could do anything they wanted to with their land, the production of lands highly increased in this period. To enclose a land the previous owner had to pay some taxes, and if they didn't it would have to get sold. -
John Kay's flying shuttle
This was a wheeled shuttle, or how people called for it's speed, a flying shuttle. This desing allowed for a much faster weaving, so is this that it was described as traveling at a speed which cannot be imagined. After his huge creation, Kay continued working on different inventions, such as for an efficient method of salt production and improving the spinning technology. This wasn't well received among Bury spinners. Also, his shuttle became widespread, what increased the cost of yarn demand. -
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First Industrial Revolution
The First Industrial Revolution was mostly confined to Britain. They were the ones who started this revolution, and it spread to other countries later on. As the British were aware of their head start, they forbade the export of machinery, skilled workers, and manufacturing techniques. They knew they coudn't maintain the monopoly forever, specially since some British saw profitable opportunities abroad, such as William and John Cockerill, who brought this revolution to Belgium. -
James Watt’s steam engine / Boulton and Watt steam engine
The steam engine is considered one of the most imporant factors that triggered the Industrial Revolution. James Watt developed the desing from 1763 to 1775 with the help of Matthew Boulton, and continued improving it. He wasn't the first to came up with the idea, but it was the most efficient one. Basically, water is heated through coal, and the pression of the vapor makes a wheel move. This was very important for steam locomotives, which transported citizens and goods at high speeds. -
(An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of) The Wealth of Nations
Often shortened as The Weatlh of Nations, the author of this book was Adam Smith, a scotish economist and moral philosopher. This book offers one of the world's first collected description of what builds a nations wealth, and it's still one of the staples in classical economics. The book talks about topics such as the division of labour, productivity and free markets. -
Invention of the power loom
Edmund Cartwright was the author of the first power loom. This was one of the key developments for the industrialization in weaving. It was refined continously by Kenworthy and Bullough, to the point that in 47 years they made the process completely automatic. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and taking up new operations. -
Tennis Court Oath (Proclamation of the National Assembly)
The 20th of June the king closed the doors to the Third Estate in the Estate Generals Meeting, and only the nobility and clergy were in the meeting. The Third Estate decided to go to a Tennis Court in Versailles called Jeu de Paume, (xogo de pelota) and as they were more people than the other estates combined they proclaimed themselves the National Assembly, and until they had drafted a constitution they wouldn't leave the court. A few members from the nobility and fromt he clergy also left. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
This was the first document that recognised each of the rights, individual freedoms and equality of all citizens, in law and taxation. It was made by the National Constituent Assembly in France in 1789. -
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French Revolution
The French Revolution was a social and political conflict. It started with the storm of the Bastille in 1789 and ended with the coup of Napeleon in 1799. It was caused by the financial and social crisis, and inspired by the American Revolution and the Enlightenment Ideas. The Third Estate revolutioned against the King, demanding more rights, representation and less taxes. It was divided in 3 phases. -
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Constitutional Monarchy
This was the first phase of the French Revolution. The National Constituent Assembly, that was formed by a moderate bourgeoisie had negotiated with the king and the privileged classes to establish a parliamentary monarchy. To do this, they abolished the feudalism by approving the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and then they approved the first French constitution. -
Estates-General meeting
The Estates-General was a legislative and consultive assembly which the king convened. It was separated in 3 states, and it only served as an advisory tool for the king. This time was the last it was convened. In this last time the third estate asked to remove privileges from the clergy and nobility, but as there was a single vote per estate the third estate couldn't do anything about it, unless they went to another place and established their own system. -
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Contemporary History
The historic period that starts with the French Revolution, the United States Independence and with the Industrial Revolution. It is the historic period we currently are in. -
Storming of the Bastille
The Bastille was a castle used as a prison. By that time, only a few prisoners were in there, but it kept a lot of weapons, gunpowder and ammunition. -
Storm of the Bastille
The National Assembly acquired more support and the situation got tenser. The king knew something could happen, so he ordered his army to surround Paris. The Third Estate was furious about the King's actions, so they revolted and stole weaponry from the Bastille, a castle that was used as a prison, but only had a few prisoners back then. They also killed the governor and placed his head on a pike. -
Women’s March on Versailles
In October 1789 thousands of angry people, women and men marched on Versailles and forced the king to abandon his palace and go to Tuileries Palace in Paris. It all started because some women were protesting about the scarcity and the price of bread. They quickly became a large mob of thousands of people that ransacked the city for weaponry and besieged the king's palace. -
First French constitution
It was the first constitution of France, made by the National Constituent Assembly in 1791. It was based on the separation of powers, national sovereignity and legal equality, though the kind reserved his right of veto. Census suffrage was introduced (only men over 25 years old who paid taxes and had a significant amount of lands could vote) -
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Social Republic
This was the second phase of the French Revolution. It began in 1789, triggered by the king's betrayal when he tried to escaping to Austria, and also by the approaching Austrian and Prussian armies. On August 10th 1792, the "sans-culottes" stormed the Tuileries Palace and imprisoned the king declared a republic in France.
The Social Republic was first ruled by the Girondists, the more moderate bourgeiosie for two years, and from 1793 to 1794, the Jacobins, the most radical faction ruled. -
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Girondin Convention
The Girondin Convention governed the first year of the Social Republic. During this period, the National Convention was created: a new Assembly which was elected by universal male suffrage (every men could vote). Both King Louis XVI and his wife Queen Maire Antoinette were executed. This caused other European absolute monarchies to form a coalition against France. It caused counter-revolutionary revolts in the countryside and royalist plots by some privileged classes increased. -
War of the First Coalition
This was a war between the Revolutionary France and the monarchies of Prussia and Austria. With the first French constitution in 1791, the King Louis XVI and the priviliged classes asked other European absolute monarchies to help restore absolutism and Prussia and Austria declared their intention to fight against French Revolution. In April 1792 the Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria and Prussia. -
Storm of Tuileries Palace
With the attempt to flee by the king in June 1791 (Flight to Varennes) and the approaching armies of Austria and Prussia, the republican feelings among "common people" increased.
This led to the they storming the Tuileries Palace on August 10th 1792, imprisoning the king and declaring the first French Republic. -
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Jacobin Convention
The Jacobins seized power, and the most radical part of the revolution started, leaded by Maximillien Robespierre.
In 1793 they enacted a new constitution that declared France as a republic with popular sovereignty and social equality. The Comittee of Public Safety had now the executive power.
During this period the Jacobins attempted to neutralize their enemies with mass levy and what ended causing the Reign of Terror. They also enacted social laws to satisfy the "sans-culottes". -
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Reign of Terror
This was a period in the French Revolution characterised by the executions under the Law of Suspects: someone that was a suspect of being counter-revolutionary or even if someone wasn't very convinced about the course that the revolution was taking, that person would be judged and probably executed. This created a general terror among the people and even more among the nobility, therefore the name of this period. -
Execution of Louis XIV
The goal of the first coalition war was to return absolutism to France, establishing Louis XVI as the king once again. As their invasion was approaching Paris, fearing that an absolutist regime would be established again, the king was judged of treason and he was found guilty. The moderates wanted to deport him, but the most radicals, leaded by Robespierre, wanted to execute him. A vote took place, and only by one vote of difference, the 21st January 1793, he was executed. -
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The Conservative Republic
This is the last part of the French Revolution. It started with the execution of Robespierre and 21 of his supporters and ended with the Coup of 18th Brumaire.
In this period the moderate bourgoisie had the power.
The Jacobin laws were cancelled and a new constitution was drafted in 1795: it granted census suffrage and the Directory had the executive power. However, the Directory was unestable due to the opposition of aristocracy and common people. -
Coup of 18th Brumaire
The Directory (the institution that held the executive power in the conservative republic) was very unstable due to the lack of support of the aristocracy and the common people. Napoleon Bonaparte took profit from this situation and organised the Coup of 18th Brumaire, and it was supported by a large part of the bourgeoisie and the army.
He was named consul and started and authoritarian rule. The French Revolution was finished. -
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The Consulate
In this period, as the name suggests, Napoleon was the consul. It started with his coup and ended in 1804 when he was crowned emperor by the Pope. Its main objetives were the elimination of the political instability of the French Revolution, the consolidation of some revolutionary principles and recover the economy.
During this period a new constitution was enacted, more authoritarian than the last, and some Economic Reforms and other reforms like the Civil code took place for all citizens. -
Constitution of 1800
This constitution was enacted after the Coup.
In this consitution there was no separation of powers and declaration of rights; there were very limited liberties and the public opinion was censured. The territory was organised in states divided in departaments, which were run by prefects. -
Invasion of Spain and Joseph Bonaparte crowned king
In 1804, under the pretext of invading Portugal, Napoleon moved his troops across Spain. The Spanish people revolted against the already unstable regime and the royal family and Godoy had to flee to Bayona, in France. There, Napoleon blackmailed Fernando VII so his brother Joseph Bonaparte was given the crown of Spain.
Despite the initial failure of Bailén, Napoleon took command of his troops and quickly neutralized the Spanish armies. However, the war continued as a guerrilla war until 1814. -
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The Napoleonic Empire
The 18th of May Napoleon was crowned emperor by the Pope, and the Napoleonic Empire started.
Napoleon won a lot of wars against the european absolute monarchies like Austria, Prussia or Rusia thanks to his large army and new military tactics. In 1806, when he won the battle of Austerlitz, he seemed unstoppable.
In 1808 the invasion of Spain started and in 1811 the Napoleonic Empire had reached its zenith, but the failed invasion of Russia in 1812 marked the start of its decay. It ended in 1815. -
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The Luddite Movement
This was a movement originated by some tailors who were afraid (and for good reason) that their job will be replaced by machines. These required less workers, therefore crafting the same piece would cost less if it was crafted with the help of a machine. That's why they destroyed this kind of machines. This movement was supressed in the 1817 with legal and military force. Nowadays the term ludism refers to oppose industrialisation, automation and computerisation. -
Congress of Vienna and Holy Alliance Treaty
The Congress of Viena was a meeting organised by the Austrian Chancellor Metternich. In these meetings Austria, Prussia, Rusia, Great Britain and France discussed about how to restore absolutism in Europe and what the new borders should be.
At these meetings the Holy Alliance Treaty was signed. It consisted on abolishing any sign on liberalism in Europe, and to do that they would unite the 3 armies of Russia, Prussia and Austria. -
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The restoration of absolutism
Between 1814 and 1815, the absolute monarchies of Europe (Prussia, Austria and Russia), Great Britain and France met at the Congress of Vienna. The main objectives of this meeting was to bring back absolutism to all Europe, have a balance of power (Concert of Europe) and to have the right of intervention to deny national sovereignty.
The four great powers also reshaped the European map to their advantages, leaving France with the borders it had in 1792. -
Battle of Waterloo
In 1805, during the Waterloo campaign, after victories of Quatre-Bras and Ligny, Napoleon lost in Waterloo, in Belgium, against an Anglo-allied army commanded by the Duke of Wellington with reinforcements of the Prussian army commanded by Blücher.
After this battle Napoleon was force to abdicate and he was sent to the island of Saint Helena the same year of his defeat, where he died in 1821. -
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Greek War of Independence
Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire, who had an entirely different culture and religion. This had been for centuries, and the Greeks had to pay taxes+they were excluded from any administrative related job. With this situation, they organized a revolution against the Ottoman Empire. First, they declared the independence in 1822, and a war started. Five years later, the Greeks won thanks to the French and British military intervention, and in 1830 the Ottoman Empire recognised it's independence. -
Abolishment of the combination acts
In the end, due to the popular and worker pressure and the work of Francis Place forced the Parliament to repeal these laws in 1824. This was very important in the sindicalism history, as this was the first country which permitted the constitution of working associations. The next year, the Combination act of 1825 was approved, which kept the sindicalism and the strikes just as before, but prohibited any form of persuasion or intimidation to non-sindicates. -
Stephenson's steam locomotive, "The Rocket"
This locomotive was built for the Rainhill Trials, created by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to decide what design of this engine was better suited for them, and this was the winner. "The Rocket" was built in 1829, and it came with several upgrades from past locomotives. So is this, that the template of this machine was used for the following 150 years. -
Revolutions of 1830
As the Congress of Viena did not respect the liberal and nationalist principles of some European nations, a revolutionary movement that begun in France spreaded through Europe.
Although it had a significant popular support, most of the revolutions were unsuccessful and continued with Absolutism, for example in Poland. But where they were successful the absolutism was replaced by liberal political systems governed in which bourgeoisie had the power, an example of this occurred in France. -
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The Belgium Revolution
At the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was created, which unified two nations that were separated for a lot of time (and for good resaon) and had different ideologies and religions: The Kingdom of Holland was protestant and absolutist while Belgium was catholic and liberal.
In 1830 Belgium declared their independence and a war started. Nine years after,it ended, and the Kingdom of Holland recognized the independence of Belgium as a liberal monarchy ruled by Leopold I. -
Zollverein
Zollverein was a customs union created by Prussia in 1834 in which tariffs were removed all between the German States except Austria. -
Grand National Consolidated Trades Union
In 1834 in the United Kingdom the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union brought together different types of workers to defend the right of association, improve salaries and regulate the child labour. -
Revolutions of 1848
In this time, there were lots of people that lived under the rule of an empire, such as the Austrian, Russian or Ottoman, or were fragmented into various states such as Germany and Italy. And with the increasing nationalist feelings and liberalist ideas they revolutionized and made independent nations that were free from the control of absolutist empires. -
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French Second Republic
In February 1848 in France a popular uprising proclaimed the Second Republic. It adopted a some democratic measures such as universal male suffrage, freedom of the press, the abolition of the death penalty and the recognition of certain rights for workers. -
Invention of the Bessemer converter
The Bessemer converter was the first cheap industrial process for mass production of steel. It was named after it's inventor, Henry Bessemer, and consisted in the removal of impurities by oxidation. It was made in such a way that the heat was kept inside, keeping everything molten. Although Henry Bessemer was the one who took the patent in 1856, it is said that, in 1851 William Kelly was who discovered this, though the claim controversial. -
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Unification of Italy
Italia was divided into several states, one of them being Lombardy-Venetia, which was annexed by Austria.
With the increasing nationalist feelings through all Europe, in 1859 the liberal monarchy of the Kingdom of Piedomnt decided to start the unification of Italy.
They quickly gained more territories: Lombardy, Naples...
In 1861 Victor Manuel II was proclaimed king of Italy, five years later Austria left Venetia and in 1870 the Papal states were annexed. Rome became the capital. -
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Unification of Germany
Gernamy was divided into 36 states which were associated with the German Confederation, where Prussia and Austria were competing for power.
In 1834 Prussia created a customs union. Later in 1848, the first freely elected parliament offered the crown of Germany to the king of Prussia, who refused it. In 1861 King Wilhelm I was crowned king and Otto von Bismark as chancellor.
in 1871, after winning three consecutive wars, the Second German Empire (or Reich) was proclaimed with Wilhelm I as Kaiser. -
First International
The International Workingmen's Association (First International) was an international association which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trade unions. It was created at the initiative of Marx in 1864. However, ideological differences between Marxists, anarchists and trade unions didn't make it work, and it dissolved in 1876. -
Karl Marx publishes Das Kapital
In 1867 Karl Marx publishes "Das Kapital", where he exposes his analysis on capitalism from a historical materialist point of view. -
Second International
The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued the work of the previously dissolved First International, but it excluded the powerful anarcho-syndicalist movement and trade unions.
It established symbols of the labour movement: the anthem “The Internationale”, and the International Workers’ Day.