Unit 5&6: 1750-1900

• Enlightenment philosophies applied new ways of understanding and empiricist approaches to both the natural world and human relationships
• Enlightenment philosophies reexamined the role that religion played in public life and emphasized the importance of reason
• Philosophers developed new political ideas about the individual, natural rights, and the social contract
• The rise and diffusion of Enlightenment thought that questioned established traditions in all areas of life often preceded revolutions and rebellions against existing governments
• Nationalism became a major force shaping the historical development of states and empires
• Enlightenment ideas and religious ideals influenced various reform movements
• Reform movements contributed to the expansion of rights, as seen in expanded suffrage, the abolition of slavery, and the end of serfdom
• Demands for women's suffrage and an emergent feminism challenged political and gender hierarchies
• People around the world developed a new sense of commonality based on language, religion, social customs, and territory
• Governments sometimes harnessed this sense of commonality to foster a sense of unity
• The 18th century marked the beginning of an intense period of revolution and rebellion against existing governments, leading to the establishment of new nation-states around the world
• Discontent with monarchist and imperial rule encouraged the development of systems of government and various ideologies, including democracy and 19th-century liberalism
• Colonial subjects in the Americas led a series of rebellions inspired by democratic ideals
• The American Revolution, and its successful establishment of a republic, the United States of America, was a model and inspiration for a number of the revolutions that followed
• The American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American independence movements facilitated the emergence of independent states in the Americas
• The ideas of Enlightenment philosophers as reflected in revolutionary documents influenced resistance to existing political authority, often in pursuit of independence and democratic ideals
• Newly imagined national communities often linked this new national identity with borders of the state, and in some cases, nationalists challenged boundaries or sought unification of fragmented regions
• A variety of factors contributed to the growth of industrial production and eventually resulted in the Industrial Revolution, including proximity to waterways, access to rivers and canals, geographical distribution of coal, iron, and timber, urbanization, improved agricultural productivity, legal protection of private property, access to foreign resources, and accumulation of capital
• The development of the factory system concentrated production in a single location and led to an increasing degree of specialization of labor
• The rapid development of steam-powered industrial production in European countries and the U.S. contributed to the increase in these regions' share of global manufacturing during the first Industrial Revolution
• While Middle Eastern and Asian countries continued to produce manufactured goods, these regions' share in global manufacturing declined
• As new methods of industrial production became more common in parts of northwestern Europe, they spread to other parts of Europe and the United States, Russia, and Japan
• The development of machines, including steam engines and the internal combustion engine, made it possible to take advantage of both existing and vast newly discovered resources of energy stored in fossil fuels, specifically coal and oil
• The fossil fuels revolution greatly increased the energy available to human societies
• The "second industrial revolution" led to new methods in the production of steel, chemicals, electricity, and precision machinery during the second half of the 19th century
• Railroads, steamships, and the telegraph made exploration, development, and communication possible in interior regions globally, which led to increased trade and migration
• As the influence of the Industrial Revolution grew, a small number of states and governments promoted their own state-sponsored visions of industrialization
• The expansion of U.S. and European influence in Asia led to internal reform in Japan that supported industrialization and led to the growing regional power of Japan in the Meiji Era
• Western European countries began abandoning mercantilism and adopting free trade policies, partly in response to the growing acceptance of Adam Smith's theories of laissez-faire capitalism and free markets
• The global nature of trade and production contributed to the proliferation of large-scale transnational businesses that relied on new practices in banking and finance
• The development of industrial capitalism led to increased standards of living for some, and to continued improvement in manufacturing methods that increased the availability, affordability, and variety of consumer goods
• In response to the social and economic changes brought about by industrial capitalism, some governments, organizations, and individuals promoted various types of political, social, educational, and urban reforms
• In industrialized states, many workers organized themselves, often in labor unions to improve working conditions, limit hours, and gain higher wages
• Workers movements and political parties emerged in different areas, promoting alternative visions of society
• Discontent with established power structures encouraged the development of various ideologies, including those espoused by Karl Marx, and the ideas of socialism and communism
• In response to the expansion of industrializing states, some governments in Asia and Africa, including the Ottoman Empire and Qing China, sought to reform and modernize their economies and militaries
• Reform efforts were often resisted by some members of government or established elite groups
• New social classes, including the middle class and the industrial working class, developed
• While women and often children in working class families typically held wage-earning jobs to supplement their families' income, middle-class women who did not have the same economic demands to satisfy were increasingly limited to roles in the household or roles focused on child development
• The rapid urbanization that accompanied global capitalism at times led to a variety of challenges, including pollution, poverty, increased crime, public health crises, housing shortages, and insufficient infrastructure to accommodate urban growth