The Modern Period (1750-1914)

Period Definition

• Also known as the "Long 19th Century"

• Not entirely new themes as compared to early-modern period (1450-1750) but some significant changes

• Two major themes from early-modern period continue

  • The rise of European military power and brief world dominance

    • The Scientific Revolution contributed to superior military technology on sea and land

• A new world economy taking shape

  • The Industrial Revolution introduced new economic form that is different from agriculture as agriculture was different from hunting and gathering

  • Many regional manufacturing was displaced by European imports

• Two themes from early-modern period no longer having impact

  • Decline or disappearance of land-based empires (e.g. gunpowder empires: Ottomans, Safavid, Mughal)

  • The Colombian Exchange is no longer a major factor in world affairs.

    • The exchange was widespread transfer of animals, plants and population from the old world to the Americas

Social Themes

• Human productive power increased mostly due to fossil fuel and industrialization

• Increasing urbanization: people became concentrated in factories and cities due to industrialization

• Childhood used to be focused on work in agricultural societies, now it is marked by schooling

• Increased exploitation of the bulk of the world by core societies (European and American)

• Gap between core societies and peripheral societies widen (World System Theory)

  • Industrialization was becoming a global force even if it was dominated by Europe early on

  • De-Industrialization of local industries. E.g: n Latin America and India

    • In favor of cheap imports from Europe and America (e.g. textile)

    • Many domestic workers became out of work

• Many peripheral societies switched to export cheap raw materials and food to core societies

• The question of how to respond to this rising European power was a global theme

  • Should societies resist the West?

  • What aspects of Western development could be imitated?

  • How to regain or preserve some degree of regional independence?

Western Military Edge

Mobile artillery, steam ships, the machine gun and other technologies on land and sea

• 1798: Napoleon invades and conquers Egypt

  • The ease by which European forces conquered one of the Islamic world heart land left a mark

  • Later, Muhammad Ali took the path of modernization and hoped to bring industrialization and economic reforms

• 1839: First Opium War in China

  • Britain had trade imbalance with China

    • European wanted silk, tea, porcelain.

    • China did not need much from Europe

• China resisted British demands to open their market.

• British and other Western troops easily overcame Chinese forces

  • Forcing trade of opium to fix imbalance

• 1853: American sailed into Ito Bay in Japan to demand their markets open to Western goods

• 1854–1855: Russians seize additional Ottoman territory

  • Britain and France objected to Russian expansion

    • Britain worried about interruption of access to India

• The West won against Russia in the Crimea.

• Later, Russia started a path of reform

• Afghanistan was one of the few examples not penetrated by Western military power

• No major society could stay isolated from this new global force (military and economy)

• Not all societies were impacted in the same way

  • Colonies in India and Africa

  • Interference in China

• Not all societies re-acted the same way

Atlantic Revolutions

• 1770-1849: Series of uprisings took place in parts of the Atlantic world

  • North America (American Revolutionary War)

  • Western Europe (French Revolution)

  • Latin America (wars of independence 1810–1820)

• These movements brought some new political ideas to the world stage

  • The impact of these ideas on Asia and Africa would lag until the 20th century

Internationalization

Global theme that marks the rise of global organizations and movements

• 1850s: New international organizations rose: Universal Postal Union and International Red Cross

• International agreements introduced to allow technological developments like laying undersea cables.

  • A facet of imperialism, but hint to emerging international political structure

• Transportation arrangements included the cutting of the Suez and Panama Canals.

• 1880s: Emergence of NGOs dealing with issues such as women's right and white slavery

• Internationalization of some western sports as soccer and American baseball show potential for what we could call global consumer culture

Other Global Themes

• Abolition of Slavery and Serfdom

  • With slavery abolished in the Americas, labor needs were met through immigration

  • Sources of immigrants were southern and eastern Europe, Asia and India

• Modernization and Nationalism

  • Modernization is not the same as Westernization

  • Significant changes in educational systems occurred in most societies due to needs of industrialization

  • As opposed to earlier traditional types of loyalty to religion or locality, nationalism is a modern phenomenon

  • Nationalism started in Europe as objection to Enlightenment thinking that all people were the same

  • Nationalists often assert that their nation's culture is better than others and culture should be connected to the state

• Formation of the Latin American Civilization

  • The economies of Latin America faced growing peripheralization and dependence on Western countries

  • A common phenomenon was caudillismo: selection of dictators whose rule promises to end instability

  • "New nations" problems during the 1820s–1840s emerged:

    • Independence leaders were excluded from participation in government

    • People with experience running a state were not available

    • Brief period of economic dislocation: with economic change, certain jobs are no longer needed

• China and Japan

  • Japan demonstrated possibility of modernization without Westernization

  • China resisted the pressure and lagged behind in modernization

  • The different reaction by China and Japan to Western interventions might be due to internal social stability and political situation at the time

Sources: Lectures 24-28 "A Brief History of the World" by Professor Peter Stearns of George Mason University (TheGreatCourses.com)