Unit Introduction:

Unit 7: The Age of Revolutions

The Age of Revolutions is marked by several events that historians use to “periodize” the era including intellectual, scientific, political, social, military, and industrial change. Preceded by population growth, an expansion in manufacturing, a series of important innovations, colonization, and increasing frustration by the bourgeoisie, it was an era of growth and disruption. Changes resulting from industrialization and revolution reverberated throughout areas of the world under European influence, and have had persistent impact on the present.

The era of 1750-1914 as a whole reflected relatively rapid and far-reaching changes in commerce, communications, and technology. Industrialization, a gradual and self-fueling process in tandem with scientific advances, caused such impact that historians refer to it as “revolutionary”; it is still important to remember that it was a gradual process, in some ways not fitting into definitions of “revolution”. Because of this, current scholarship favors the term “industrialization”.

Nevertheless the impacts within European society were significant, from the fueling of a rising bourgeoisie, to urbanization of the working class, to expansions in literacy and political participation in liberal democracies. Political and social reactions to industrialization included such diverse effects as the rise of the “separate spheres” ideology in gender relations and the demand for universal suffrage. The relationship between agricultural and industrial production became a major element in domestic and international affairs.

Outside of Europe industrialization had a variety of consequences. In areas allowed to industrialize, increasing economic and military strength resulted in relative autonomy. The rise of an educated an politically active middle class had far-reaching consequences. Differences in the timing of industrialization, however, are crucial to understanding increasing European control over pre-industrial areas as well as the active prevention of industrialization to create peripheral areas of raw materials supply as part of an increasingly hegemonic world system. Immediate impacts of an expanding global marketplace included the undermining of traditional manufacture in areas peripheral to the system.

Political revolutions, however, were obvious and sometimes drastic breaks with the old order that resulted in impacts, both domestic and colonial, economic and social. The apex of nationalistic kingdoms and quickening of colonization led to expensive global conflicts that drained treasuries. At the same time, political ideologies calling for absolute power of the monarch, based in part on antiquated notions of “divine right” annoyed and frustrated an increasingly educated and secularly motivated middle class. The new scientific method, when applied to the social, political, and economic sphere, produced a flood of epistolary dialogue and public discussion. Collectively known as the “Enlightenment”, the pan-European (and by extension global) movement both questioned faith and authority based systems and established a mechanistic, secular model of an explainable, controllable universe. When combined with a frustrated bourgeoisie the resulting ideas led to revolution.

The American colonies, France, and Haiti (nee Saint-Dominique) all underwent violent revolutions with different degrees of success. Later conservative scholars insisted that the radical nature of the French revolution doomed it to failure, while the American revolution was considered a success by many. Haiti, though free from immediate French political control, would nonetheless be subject to France’s imperial ambitions resulting in extreme economic exploitation.

In Latin America the battle for local control by colonial governments against European kings led to the establishment of several new states, but also a decrease in protection for native populations. Initially led by the wealthy and powerful, Latin American nationalism was complicated by complex relationships between military leaders, the Catholic Church, wealthy landowners, and the largely indigenous peasants. Revolution (and resulting political, economic, and social instability) became a chronic problem with personalist leaders preventing the establishment of constitutionalism. Later, intervention by industrially superior outsiders would result in the retardation of industrial development and continuation of exploitative relationships. Latin America remained, largely, part of the periphery of the world system while the industrialized nations constituted the core.

New political ideas had impacts beyond sparking revolution. The period is characterized by the rise of liberal democracies and constitutionalism. Reform movements, many of them related to urbanization, industrialization, and abolition of slavery, were realized in some parts of the world as conservative retrenchment was rolled back by progressive politicians. Democracy, though, was limited. Sexism and racism still limited political participation by many. The slave trade was ended, later impacting labor systems throughout the world. Outright slavery or serfdom persisted into the 1880’s in parts of the world. Areas that failed to reform later experienced crippling revolutions and the spread of sometimes radical socialism.

Objectives:

Students will:

Understand the causes of industrial revolution and be able to explain why it began in Britain.
Be able to discuss differing interpretations of industrialization as a process versus sudden change (“revolution”)
Identify key overall impacts of industrialization and revolution and evaluate whether they justify periodization
Analyze the impact of industrialization on the overall pattern of world trade and the establishment of European hegemony
Understand the nature and origins of Enlightenment thinking and articulate how the movement represented a change from the previous paradigm.
Understand the impact of key technologies and the reciprocal relationship between technology and science.
Analyze the impact of industrialization and revolution on the status of women and unfree labor
Analyze causes and effects of differential timing in industrialization in western and non-western areas of the world
Analyze causes and immediate impacts of revolution in the American Colonies, France, Haiti, and Latin America.
Compare the Haitian and French Revolutions
Explain the difference between personalist leaders in Latin America and constitutionally constrained leadership in the US
Analyze the impact of independence of former colonial areas on the native population.

Readings in the text:

Chapter 23: Revolutionary Changes in the Atlantic World

Bulliet, Pages 573-596

Chapter 24: The Early Industrial Revolution

Bulliet, Pages 599-619

Chapter 25: Nation Building and Economic Transformation in the Americas

Bulliet, Pages 621-646

Terms:

Enlightenment	Benjamin Franklin	George Washington	Joseph Brant
Constitutional Convention	Estates General	National Assembly	Declaration of Rights of Man
Jacobins	Maximilien Robespierre	Napoleon Bonaparte	Gens de couleur
Francois Dominique Toussaint L’Overture	Congress of Vienna	Revolutions of 1848	Industrialization
Industrial revolution	Agricultural revolution	Mass production	Josiah Wedgwood
Division of labor	Mechanization	Richard Arkwright	Crystal Palace
Steam Engine	James Watt	Electric Telegraph	Business Cycle
Laissez Faire	Positivism	Utopian Socialism	Simon Bolivar
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla	Jose Maria Morelos	Confederation of 1867	Personalist leaders
Andrew Jackson	Jose Antonio Paez	Benito Juarez	Tecumseh
Caste war	Abolitionists	Acculturation	Women’s Rights Convention
Development	Underdevelopment	World Systems Theory	Hegemony
Differential development