This unit covers 164 years of history. Previous units have covered hundreds and thousands of years, making this unit incredibly short by comparison. What happened during the period of 1750 to 1914 to warrant an entire unit? A lot.

From the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the start of the First World War, great changes occurred globally. They helped to create the world as we know it.

These changes included:

• The use of fossil fuels as energy.
• New political systems with democratic features.
• The economic systems of capitalism, socialism, and communism.
• The massive growth of factories and cities and the pollution and consumer culture that accompanied them.
• Rapid communications through steamships, railroads, and the telegraph, and then later, the automobile and telephone.
• Modern imperialism and colonialism (and ideas about race and gender that justified these systems).
• Unprecedented migration of people to new places.
• The scientific method and the changing worldviews supporting it.

We sometimes call these changes revolutions. They were enormous transformations that, when combined, created the “modern” world of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Liberal revolutions and national revolutions

By 1750, the idea that people should have individual liberties became increasingly popular. Being free and having rights are two examples of liberties. This idea came from a debate about how to view the world. It helped fuel liberal revolutions for new rights, better lives, and liberty for enslaved people.

From these revolutions, a new set of ideas called nationalism emerged. Nationalism says that a people should govern a state of their own. It inspired revolutionaries around the world to fight for their own nation-states.

Industrialization

Before the Industrial Revolution, products were made and moved by humans and animals using wind, water, and burning wood for energy. By 1750, people had started burning coal, a fossil fuel, to make steam. It powered faster and more complex machines that changed how people worked.

With the invention of steam engines, making clothing became faster because machines did the work. Less human effort was needed. More clothes and other items could be made more quickly and sold at lower prices, allowing more people to buy them.

The Industrial Revolution changed travel and communication. With steam-powered trains and ships, many people could travel further and move to new places. New ways to send messages quickly helped people communicate over long distances. Unfortunately, the Industrial Revolution also polluted the environment.

Imperialism

Industrialization had good and bad effects. So did liberal revolutions. Countries like Britain and France supported democracy, or government by the people. But, they used ships and guns to take over other lands. They said they were civilizing and improving people’s lives, but they conquered countries and built empires through discrimination and mistreatment. The U.S. also built an empire of sorts during this time.

Nationalism encouraged competition between empires. They competed to take over regions and exploit their natural resources. Some people thought it was okay to take over other lands because they wanted to “civilize and improve” the people there. But instead of asking, “How can we help?” they mostly thought, “How can we make you fit what we want?” Many believed their own race was better, so they treated people in colonies as if they were less important.

People in these new colonies had little or no political rights. They lived under colonialism, domination by a foreign country.

Many people resisted colonial rule. More often, they resisted through quiet ways that helped them organize for the future.

Reform movements

Industrialization made business owners wealthy. It also changed the type of work people did. Capitalism may have helped increase productivity, but it made working conditions harder for many. Workers—including children—labored long hours on farms or in factories to increase profits.

Many pushed for reforms. They wanted to end child labor, bad working conditions, and enslavement. They called for women’s rights. They proposed an economic system called socialism, which wanted to give workers more power and distribute wealth more equally.

Conclusion

Were the revolutions of the long nineteenth century good or bad? Did they cause progress or suffering? For some, revolution brought new freedoms and economic opportunities. For others, it brought oppression and suffering. But we shouldn’t treat each revolution in isolation. They were part of a wider debate and struggle among people who sought benefits and tried to shape the future—the society we live in today!