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Period: 1500 to
Modern History
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Enclosure Acts
A series of laws called Enclosure Acts were passed by the British Parliament to authorise landowners to take over common land and enclose their property. This reorganisation of land benefited the big landowners, who were able to produce more and increase their profits. -
John Kay´s flying shuttle
The mechanisation process started with John Kay´s flying shuttle which increased the speed of production and made it possible to weave wider fabrics and spinning machines which significantly increased productivity -
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First Industrial Revolucion
The Industrial Revolution started in Great Britanin. Industrialisation transforme the agrarian and artisan-based economy of the Ancien Regíme into a predominantly industrial economy. The changes in production systems involved a new form or economic organisation (capitalism) and led to a profound social transformation (class society) -
James Watt´s steam engine
James Watt was born in Scotland.Steam engines use the power from steam to generate continous movement, which is transformed to machinery. -
Invention of the power loom
Edmund Cartwright´s power loom which dramatically increased fabric production and lowewred the cost in the textil industry. -
Estates-General meeting
A meeting of representatives of the clergy, the nobles and the Third State, called by King Louis XVI to propose solutions to the financial crisis. -
Tennis Court Oath
The States-General met in Versailles. The Third State decided to leave when the privileged class refused to allow them grater representation and one vote per representative. They met in a pavilion in Versailles and proclamed themselves the National Assembly. They pledged to draft a constitution that reflected the majority of the people. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
In the first phase of the Revolution, the moderate bourgeoisie tried to reach an agreement with the king and the privileged classes to make France a constitutional and parlamentary monarchy. To do this the National Assembly between other things aproved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which recognised the rights, individual freedoms and equality of all citizens in law and taxations. -
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Constitutional Monarchy
The first phase of The French Revolution, led by the moderate bourgeoisie. Citizens obtained more rights, nobles had to pay more taxes and church lands were confiscated. -
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French Revolution
Enlightenment principles and the American Revolution gave the bourgeoisie new ideas to help confront the absolutism and the stratified estate system of society. They proposed new forms of social organization and government. This led to a revolution. -
Storming of the Bastille
The people of Paris supported the National Assemblys propposals so they stormed the Bastille (a castle used as a prison where a lot of weapons and gunpowder were saved). The revolution spread to the countryside where nobles houses were burnt creating the Great Fear.
Louis XVI was frightened so in autumm of 1789 accepted the National Assembly, making France a constitutional monarchy. -
Women's March on Versailles
Thousand of angry women marched to Versailles from Paris markets due to high prices on food. They forced the king to abandon his palace and go to Tuileries Palace in Paris. -
First French Constitution
The National Assembly drew up a constitution based on separation of powers, national sovereignity and legal equality, though the king reserved the right of veto. Census siffrage was also introduced, giving the vote to people with certain level of wealth. -
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Social Republic
The betrayal by the king and the military invasion led to the revolt by the common people (sans-culottes). On 10 August 1792 they stormed Tuileries Palace and impresioned the royal family. A republic was declared and the second phase of the Revolution began. -
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Girondin Convention
The Girondins, the more moderate bourgeoisie, controlled the republic. A new assembly, the National Convention, was elected by universal male suffrage. Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were convicted of treason and executed(1793). In response to that, monarchies in Europe formed an absolutist coalition against France. Inside the country, counter-revolutionary revolts broke out and the former privileged classes organised royalist plots. -
War of the First Coalition
The Legislative Assembly declares war to Austria
and Prussia and their armys reach Paris in september. -
Storm of Tuileries Palace
The sans-coulottes stormed Tuileries Palace and impresioned the royal family because of the betrayal by the king and military. -
Execution of Louis XVI
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were convicted of treason and executed. In response monarchies in Europe formed an absolutist coalition against France. -
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Reing of Terror
To reject Austrian invasion during the Jacobin convention, a mass levy was organized. Reing of Terror was imposed to stop conspirators. Freedom were suspended and people opposed to the government were imprisioned or executed by guillotine(Law of suspects) -
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Jacobin Convention
The most radical sctor of the bourgeoisie, the Jacobins, endorsed the demands of the popular sectors and sized power. A new constitution that recognised popular sovereignty (universal male suffrage)and social equality was enacted.The executive was led by a Committe of Public Safety that gave power to Robespierre.
To satisfy sans-coulottes social laws were introduced.
A coup in 1794 ended the Jacobin government. Robespierre and other leaders were executed. -
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Conservative Republic
Jacobins laws were cancelled and exiles from the Reing of Terror were encouraged to retourn. A new constitution(1795)granted executive power to a collegial government, known as the Directory, and restored census suffrage.
The Directory was unestable. Napoleon Bonaparte organised a coup in 1799 that ended it. -
Coup of 18th Brumaire
Napoleon Bonaparte organised a coup agains the absolutist powers and the unestability that ended the Directory. -
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The Consulate
Napoleon was named consul. Period of autocratic and authoritarian rule. The constitution of 1800 did not include separation of powers or a declaration of rights. Liberties were limited and censorship was imposed. The state was organiced into departments that were run by prefects. The public finance sector was reformed and state schools were created. napoleon accepted exiles to come b ack if they accepted the government and he signed a concordat. -
The Constitution of 1800
The constitution of 1800 did not include separation of powers or a declaration of rights. Liberties were limited and censorship was imposed to control public opinion. -
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Contemporary History
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Napoleon Crowned Emperor
Napoleon was crowned emperor by the pope in 1804. -
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The Napoleonic Empire
Napoleon began his conqquest of Europe in 1803 and was crowned emperor by the pope in 1804. His large army and use of new military tactics enabled him to defeat most Eurpean monarchies. After France's victory over Austria and Russia at Austerlitz the french topes seemed unestopables.
In 1808, the French invaded Spain and Napoleon brother was made king. IN 1811 the napoleonich Empire reached his zenith. He was defeated in Waterloo by Great Britain and Prussia in 1812 and he was sent to exile. -
Invasion of Spain and Joseph Bonaparte crowned King
In 1808, the French invaded Spain and joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon brother, was crowned King. -
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Luddite movement
The first workers to protest against industrialisation were the luddites. The luddite movement started in England. It consisted of the violent destruction of machinery in the belief that it was responsible for low wages and unemployment. -
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The Restoration of Absolutism
Between 1814 and 1815 the powers that defeated Napoleon met at the Congress of Vienna. The organiser wanted to stop the spread of liberal ideas and restore absolutism in Europe.
The four great powers(Russia, Britain, Prussia and Austria reshaped the European map to their advantage without considering peoples nationalist aspirations. France returned to its borders of 1792 and the Napoleonic empire was divided among the victors. The Congress of Vienna established the principles of the Restoration. -
Congress of Vienna and Holy Alliance Treaty
The Congress of Vienna reshaped the European map to their advantage and divided the Napoleonic Empire among the winners. They also established the ideological principles of the Restoration, such as legitimacy of the absolute monacrhs and the denial of national sovereignty. Also balance of power between the victors though meetings and the right of intervention.
In 1815 the Holy Alliance Treaty was signed. Stipulating that the absolute monarchs would unite against any threat of liberal revolution. -
Battle of Waterloo
In 1815 the imperial armies were finally defeated in Waterloo by Grat Britain and Prussia. Napoleon abdicated after the defeat and was sent into exile on the island of Sain Helena where he died in 1821. -
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Greek War of Independence
Greece had been part of the Ottomoan empire for ceturies. The Greeks had to pay high taxes, they were excluded from state administration jobs and they felt dominated by a group of people witht different religion and coulture.
In 1822 they declared independence in Epidaurus but it was not recognised by the Turks and resulted in the beginning of a war. European liberals supported the greeks.
In 1827, with help from France and Britain, Greeks won the Ottomans and gained its independence in 1830. -
Abolishment of the Combination Acts
The repeal of the laws prohibiting workers´ associations in England led to the creation of the the first official trade unions, which united workers in the same fiel, such as the Union of Spinners -
Stephenson´s Steam locomotive
The steam locomotive which used a steam engine to generate continous motion of the weels.The new transport system could carry more passengers and goods in less time and a lower cost. This improvement boosted trade and helped create a large domestic market. -
Revolutions of 1830
The movement began in France when Charles X, the absolute monarch who succeded Lousi XVIII a few years after the fall of Napoleon, was overthrown in July 1830. Louis Phelippe I became the new constitutional monarch. In 1830 a revolt also broke out in Poland, which was under the autocratic rule of the Russian Empire, but was harshly repressed by the tarist army. -
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The Age of Revolutions
The Congress of Vienna did not respect the liberal and nationalist principles of Europeans so after 1815 liberalism and nationalism became the two main oposition forces, promptin the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 that ended the restoration of absolutism. The insurrections had significant popular support. When they were succesful, absolutism was replaced by liberal political systems governed by a constitution in which the bourgeoisie held power. -
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The Belgian Revolution
Belgium was made part of the Kingdom of Holland by the Congress of Vienna in the 1815, which then became the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The spread of liberal ideas helped the Belgian revolution, and belgium became a liberal monarchy ruled by leopold I.
An armed conflict followed belgium's declaration of independence. It finally ended when the Netherlands recognised Belgium's independence in 1839. -
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First Carlist War
The war was not just about who would occupy the throne of Spain, but also whether to retain an absolutist political system or give way to a liberal monarchy.
Absolutists supported Infante Carlos, who represented the Ancien Régime. Liberals supporters of Isabella II argued for a constitutional monarchy. -
Grand National Consolidated Trades Union
It brought together different types of workers, was founded in 1834. Its first tasks were to defend the right of association, to reduce the working day, to improve wages and to regulate child labour. -
Zollverein
Prussia created a customs union(Zollverein) that united the majority of Germanic states. In 1848, Germany's first freely elected parliament met and offered the crown of Germanyto the king of Prussia, who refused it because its parliament was liberal. -
1837 Constitution
It recognised national sovereignty with census suffrage, the separation of powers and the two chambers (the Congress of Deputies and Senate and it granted rights and individual liberties. -
1845 Constitution
Moderate constitution in which suffrage was higly restricted, civil liberties were limited and sovereignty was shared between the Cortes and the Crown. -
The Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848("The Spring of Nations") showed how countries under the control of empires wanted to pursue the idea of nationalism and the creation of new liberal governments. In the Autrian Empire the revolt in Vienna was liberal in character, anthe revolution forced chancellor Metternich to resing. There were also nationalist uprisings in HUngary, Bohemia, northen Italy and the german Confederation. -
Frech Second Republic
In France a popular uprising proclamed the Second Republic, which adopted a number of democratic measures, such as universal male suffrage, press freedom, abolition of the death penalty and recognition of certain rights for workers.
Although these revolutions were suppresses, democratic reforms and many nationalist aspirations were consolidated in the second half of the 19th century. -
Invention of the Bessemer converter
The Bessemer converter made it possible to manufactured steel (an alloy of iron and carbon). This was a more flexible material, ideal for constructing machinery, tools, buildings and public works. -
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Italian Unification Process
In 1859, the liberal monarchy of Piedmont-Sardinia, governed by Prime Minister Cavour, started a unification process. They declared war on Austria and annexed Lombardy. At the same time, a popular uprising led by Garibaldi overthrew the absolute monarchies in central and southern Italy.
In 1861, Victor Manuel II of Savoy was proclaimed king of Italy. In 1866, Austria left Venetia, and in 1870, the Papal States were anexed by Italy. The newly unified state stablished capital in Rome. -
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German Unification Proocess
In 1861, Wilhelm I became king of Prussia and mate Ottp von Bismarck chancellor. prussia declared war on Denmarck in 1864, on Austria in 1866 and in France in 1870.
Prussia was victorius in all, making the unification of Germany posible. In 1871 Wilhem was proclamed emperor of the Second German Empire(Reich). -
First International
At the initiative of Karl Marx, the International Workingmen´s Association (First INternational) was created in 1864. Marxist, anarchist an trade unions joined, but the ideological differences betweeen them made it unworkable and it split in 1876. -
Karl Marx publishes Das Kapital
It avocated the need for a revolution to end capitalism and built a new egalitarian society. -
Start of the monarchy of Amadeo of Savoy
The constitution of 1869 established a palamentary monarchy, for which they had to choose a new king. They choose Amadeo of Savoy who was supported by progressives, unionists and democrats. He had two strong opponents: Moderates and some representatives of the Churuch, who remainded loyal to the Bourbons. -
Proclamation of the First Republic
When Amadeo abdicated in 1873, the Cortes voted to form a republic even though mos deputies did not support the new form of goverment, as they were monarchists. The 1873 elections were won by the federal republicans. -
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Reign of Alfonso XII
In 1874, General martínez Campos proclaimed Alfonso XII, Isabella's son, king of Spain. He adopted the Canovist system, ended the Carlist war in 1876 and the Cuban Ten Years' War in 1878.
To guarantee stability, Constitution of 1876 was drafted. It was open enough to allow conservatives and liberals to rule, without modifying it. -
Second International
The marxist founded the Second International to coordinate the various scialist parties. The Second International established some identity symbols of the labour movement, such as the anthem "The Internationale" and the 1 May Holiday.
