The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment

• 17th and 18th centuries: An era where humankind was studied in relation to government.
• Divine Right asserted monarchs' power as ordained by God, demanding obedience.
• This concept questioned ultimate authority.
• It also related to the Mandate of Heaven in China, which suggested rulers must govern justly.
• Social Contract theory posited that governments arose not from divine will, but to fulfill social and economic needs.
• Philosophers of the age:
• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) believed government should prioritize peace and stability through a powerful ruler.
• John Locke (1632-1704) argued for equality at birth, emphasizing natural rights, and justified revolt if these rights are not secured.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) advocated for equality and a society organized by the general will, where government protects both community and freedom.
• Voltaire (1694-1778) promoted religious toleration.
• Montesquieu (1689-1775) supported the separation of powers within government.
• David Hume (1711-1776) questioned religion due to a lack of empirical evidence.
• Adam Smith (1723-1790) believed an "invisible hand" would regulate the economy if left alone.
• Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) championed political rights for women, including voting and holding office.
• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) suggested knowledge extends beyond observation or reason.
• Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) asserted criminals retain rights and opposed cruel punishment.
• Enlightened Monarchs: Leaders who embraced tolerance, justice, and quality of life improvements.
• Neoclassical Period: A mid-18th century artistic movement imitating ancient Greek/Roman architecture.

Enlightenment Revolutions in the Americas and Europe

• American Revolution:
• British defeated France in the French and Indian/Seven Years' War, gaining American territory and pushing France north.
• Colonists revolted against British rule.
• The British passed laws, like the Revenue Act (1764), Stamp Act (1765), and Tea Act (1773), to raise funds from the American colonizers.
• Colonists resisted, leading to events like the Boston Tea Party (1773).
• Thomas Paine's Common Sense advocated for a better government, leading to the Declaration of Independence.
• France allied with the Americans in 1777, helping defeat the British in 1781 and establishing American democracy.
• French Revolution:
• France faced financial issues due to royal spending, wars, and droughts.
• Louis XVI proposed raising taxes via the Estates-General.
• The Third Estate, facing exclusion, formed the National Assembly in 1789.
• This led to the storming of the Bastille.
• The National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789, changing the French government.
• A constitutional monarchy was established, but the Convention became the new ruling body.
• France became a republic led by Jacobins.
• The Convention created the Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximilien Robespierre, to enforce revolution and eliminate opposition.
• Robespierre was beheaded in 1795, leading to the Directory as the government.
• Napoleon Bonaparte, a general, overthrew the Directory in 1799.
• Napoleonic Codes (1804) recognized equality, dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, and fought other countries.
• Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in 1813.
• The Congress of Vienna convened to address the aftermath of the French Revolution.
• The Congress of Vienna aimed to maintain balance of power in Europe.
• It also tried to erase the French Revolution's impact.
• Haiti:
• Enslaved Haitians, led by Pierre Toussaint L'Ouverture, revolted successfully.
• Jacques Dessalines, a former slave, became governor-general in 1804.

South America

• Napoleon invaded Spain, appointing his brother Joseph Bonaparte to the throne.
• Colonists in Venezuela, led by Simón Bolívar, ejected the French governor and declared independence from Spain in 1811.
• A national congress was established, opposed by Spanish royalists, leading to civil war.
• Bolívar liberated Gran Colombia (Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela).
• José de San Martin led Argentinian, Chilean, and Peruvian armies, securing independence from Spain.
• Brazil:
• John VI of Portugal fled to Brazil due to Napoleon's invasion.
• His son Pedro declared Brazil independent and became emperor, establishing a constitution.
• His son Pedro II took over and abolished slavery.
• Mexico:
• Priest Miguel Hidalgo led a revolt against Spanish rule in 1810 but and was later killed.
• Jose Morelos continued the fight.
• Independence achieved in 1821 via the Treaty of Cordoba, ending Spain's 300-year control.
• Neocolonialism: Independent nations remained controlled by economic and political interests.
• Wealth remained within the landowning class.
• Mexican Revolution: A protest against neocolonialism, rejecting Porfirio Diaz's dictatorship.

Other Resistance Movements

• Peru:
• Tupac Amaru II led a revolt against Spanish occupiers.
• West Africa:
• Samory Toure resisted French colonizers.
• United States:
• The Sioux resisted US government's land invasion and were shot.
• Sudan:
• Muhammad Ahdam led Mahadists and revolted against the colonial rule of Egypt but was defeated by the British.
• Slavery and class inequalities persisted in independent nations.
• The Catholic Church maintained dominance.

Comparison of Independence Movements

• This section compared the American Colonies (1764-1787), France (1789-1799), Haiti (1799-1804), and Latin America (1810-1820s)
• American Colonies
• Cause: Unfair taxation, war debt
• Key Events: Boston Tea Party, Continental Congress, Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights
• Major Players: George III, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington
• Impact: Independence, Federal Democracy spreads to France, Haiti, Mexico
• France
• Cause: Unfair taxation, war debt
• Key Events: Tennis Court Oath, National Assembly, Declaration of the Rights of Man, Storming Bastille, Reign of Terror, 5 Man Directory
• Major Players: Louis XVI, Three Estates, Jacobin Party, Robespierre
• Impact: The rise of Napoleon, Congress of Vienna, and a constitutional Monarchy
• Haiti
• Cause: French Enlightenment, Social and racial inequalities
• Key Events: Civil war, Slave revolt, Invasion of Napoleon
• Major Players: Boukman, Gens de Couleur, Toussaint L'Ouverture, and Napoleon Bonaparte
• Impact: Independence, Destruction of economy, Anti-slavery movements
• Latin America
• Cause: Social inequalities and the Removal of peninsulares
• Key Events: Peasant revolts, Creole revolts, and Gran Colombia
• Major Players: Miguel Hidalgo, Simón Bolívar, José de San Martin, and Emperor Pedro I
• Impact: Independence continued, inequalities, a federal democracy as seen in Mexico, Creoles republics and a Constitutional monarchy as seen in Brazil

Industry and Imperialism

• Industrial revolution in Britain was is intrinsically linked with Imperialism
• Industrial countries quickly gained power to exploit colony resources
• It began in Britain in the 19th century, later spreading to Europe, Japan, and the US

Industry and Imperialism - Agricultural and Technological Advancements

• Agricultural output increased significantly leading to more people moved to cities.
• Enclosure: Public lands for farming were enclosed by fences.
• New farming technologies were introduced.
• Which lead to Urbanization - London grew to over 6 million people.
• Domestic system (most work being done on farms or at home or at small shops) preceded.
• New advancements changed production:
• Flying shuttle: sped up waving process.
• Spinning jenny: spinning vast amounts of thread.
• Cotton gin: invented by Eli Whitney, processed massive amounts of cotton quickly.
• Steam engine: invented by Thomas Newcomer and James Watt.
• Steamship: invented by Robert Fulton.
• Steam-powered Locomotive: invented by George Stephenson.
• Telegraph: enabled communication over great distances within seconds.
• Telephone: invented by Alexander Graham Bell.
• Lightbulb.
• Internal Combustion Engine for cars.
• Radio
• Theory of natural selection by Charles Darwin

The Factory System and Social Changes

• Rapid creation of products done in factories.
• Interchangeable parts: machines could be replaced or fixed quickly.
• Assembly line: each worker has one small part in production - man became the machine.
• Workers were overworked, underpaid, and worked in unsafe conditions - child labour was common.
• Leads to Despairing conditions.
• Formation of new social classes - aristocrats who were rich from industrial success, middle class of skilled professionals, huge working class.

Economic and Social Philosophies

• Adam Smith: Success achieved through private ownership and free market system (capitalism) - governments removed from regulation = laissez-faire capitalism.
• Started the Stock market and other financial instruments.
• Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto - working class take over means of production and all resources would be equally - Marxism was the foundation for socialism and communism.
• Luddites: workers who destroyed equipment in the middle of the night to protest working conditions.
• Marxism mixed with capitalist thought to create partly socialist systems in many places.
• Major split occurred among intellectuals and policymakers in regards to response to inhumane factory conditions.
• The Factory Act of 1883: limited hours of each workday, restricted children from working, and factory owners had to make conditions safer.
• Labour Unions: vehicles for employees to bargain for better conditions.
• Living conditions improved - middle class became larger, public education increased, and social mobility became more common.
• The Slave trade was abolished in 1807 in Britain.
• Women became more limited to their traditional roles.

Nationalist Movements and Other Developments

• Nationalism was strong after the Napoleonic era.
• France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and Russia had unified.
• Italy and Germany, which were city-states, took longer to unify and alter balance of European power:
• Italy: Count Camillo Cavour was named prime minister of Sardinia by Victor Emmanuel II (pushed for nationalism) and after Giuseppe Garibaldi, another nationalist overthrew other Italian kingdoms, a lot of Italy was unified in 1861.
• Germany: Under the rule of William I who appointed Otto von Bismarck as prime minister, defeated Austria and engaged in the Franco-Prussian War to create the new German Empire.
• New emperor William II forced Bismarck to resign and built a huge military force.

Other Nationalist Movements

• Philippines: The Propaganda Movement served as a means of resistance against Spanish occupiers, advocating for true independence.
• Puerto Rico: National fervor was exemplified by poet Lola Rodríguez de Tió, staunchly opposed to Spanish colonizers.
• Maori: As the Maori resisted British rule, tensions led to battles between 1845 and 1972.
• Balkans: Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia declared national independence as the Ottoman Empire weakened.

Russian and Ottoman Empires + Nationalism

• Russia:
• Romanov czars held power in the 19th century.
• Alexander II began reforms with the Emancipation Edict, abolishing serfdom but with limited impact.
• A small middle class emerged leading to the formation of an intellectual political group , The People's Will, assassinating Alexander II.
• In response, Alexander III initiated Russification, enforcing the Russian language and conversion to Russian Orthodoxy.
• Ottoman Empire: Was close to collapse, so Britain and France worked to maintain it to prevent Russia from gaining control over the Mediterranean.
• The Growth of Nationalism:
• Nationalism is the desire of people of common cultural heritage to form independent nation-state/empires that protect their cultural identity.
• Which had a Major influence and effects all over the world.

The Search for Natural Resources

• Coal and iron for power and factory equipment were available in Europe, but there was a need for other raw materials which led to colonization.
• Colonization gave industrial countries great wealth.
• Europe colonized nations on every continent, depleted raw materials, destroyed and polluted environments.
• Transnational Businesses: international corporations that strengthened Europe's Economic power in Asia in Africa.

European Justification

• Europe had an ethnocentric view on the world (other cultures were barbaric and uncivilized), even as progressives were denouncing the slave trade.
• Social Darwinists: applied natural selection to sociology, stating there were dominant races and that Britain was the most powerful/fit.
• Others believed in their moral obligation to civilize others, an idea that was described in Rudyard Kipling's poem "White Man's Burden".

India and European Imperialism

• India had many luxuries to Europeans- tea, sugar, silk, salt, jute.
• India was vulnerable to external powers after wars in the 18th century the Mughal empire and religious conflict.

India and European Imperialism (Cont)

• France and England battled each other in Seven Year's War for colonial superiority and Britain won.
• British East India Company: Joint-stock company had exclusive trade rights in India - led by Robert Clive.
• Britain started slowly taking over Mughal Empire territory and setting up administrative regions through empire:
• first island of Ceylon, then Punjab Northern India, then Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• Sepoy Mutiny: Indian soldiers called Sepoys rebelled against British Muslim/Hindu disrespect in 1857.
• The British then made all of India a crown colony -> Queen Victoria made Empress of India and it had almost 300 million Indian subjects.
• Mughal Empire ended when the last ruler Bahadur Shah II was sent into exile.
• British Imperialism in India: upper castes taught English, Christianity spread, industrialization and urbanization but more and more Indians dreamed of being free from Britain.
• In 1885, a group of Indians formed the Indian National Congress to fight for independence in the mid 20th Century.

European Imperialism in China

• Prior to the 1830's, Europe could only trade with China in city of Canton as China was relatively isolationist until Europe gained industrial power and forced trade
• Opium Wars:
• British traders traded Opium to China in 1773, which was forbidden and seized in 1839 as it caused widespread addiction.
• Britain wanted to continue trade, so declared war with China.
• Treaty of Nanjing: China was forced to sign an unequal treaty that gave Britain considerable rights to expand trade with China.
• Hong Kong declared crown possession of Britain in 1843.
• The Second Opium War occurred in 1856 - for four years when Britain tried to further trade.
• British takeover caused Chinese to resent their government's failings.
• White Lotus Rebellions (beginning of 19th century): Buddhists who were frustrated over taxes and government corruption.
• Taiping Rebellion (mid-19th century): Rebels led by religious zealot, almost succeeded to bring down Machu government.
• Self-Strengthening Movement (1860s): Manchu Dynasty attempt to get its act together.
• Korea declared independence from China in 1876.
• Sino-French War (1883): Chinese lost control of Vietnam.
• Defeated by Japan in Sino-Japanese War.
• Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895): China was forced to hand control of Taiwan to Japan and to give China the right tot Trade.
• France, Germany, Russia, and Britain took their own spheres of influence in China, as Manchu Dynasty still had authority.
• In 1900, the US pledged to support sovereignty of Chinese government and equal trading to prevent full British takeover through the Open Door Policy despite barring Chinese immigrants from the US in 1882, Chinese Exclusion Act.
• Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, Boxers: Chinese peasant nationalists attempted to rebel by slaughtering Christian missionaries and controlling foreign embassies in response to governments defeats and concessions to west but failed.
  • By 1911 the Imperial government ended and Chinese culture started to crumble
  • China was forced to pay Europeans and Japanese in rebellion costs

Japanese Imperialism

• Japan kept Europeans away in 17th and 18th centuries, until European and US appetite for power intensified and Commodore Matthew Perry from the US arrived in a steamboat in 1853.
  • Japan felt obligated to join industrialized world
• Treaty of Kanagawa (1854) trade agreement with West.
• The Samurai revolted against shogun who ratified it and restored Emperor Meiji to power.
• Meiji Restoration: era of Japan's Westernization that became a world power.
• In the 1870s railways and steamboats built + abolished Samurai warrior class.
• Japan prioritized military power.
• 1890s: Japan became powerful enough to reduce European and US influence Seizure of Korea and Taiwan from China in 1895.

European Imperialism in Africa

• Interior Africa remained unknown to Europeans.
• Costal regions used for limited trade, ship stopping points, and the slave trade.
• 1807-1820, most European nations abolished slavery as the Enlightenment principles gained more force. - slavery abolished a few decades later.
• South Africa: Dutch first arrived and settled Cape Town, Britain seized it 1795.
• South African Dutch, Boers moved northeast and discovered diamonds and gold, the British followed and fought the Boers war (1899-1902) to gain rights to resources but they won.
• Egypt: When Napoleon tried to take control of Egypt in 18th century during weekend Ottoman ruled, Muhammad all defeated French + rolling the Ottoman Empire in 1805 began industrialization and agriculture expensive
• The Suez Canal was constructed with French and completed in 1869 which connected Mediterranean to Indian Ocean.
• The Canal was eventually taken control by the British.

European Colonization of Africa

• Otto van Bismarck hosted European powers in Berlin in 1884 to discuss land claims in African Congo, encouraging colonialism
• By 1914, almost all of africa it was colonized by Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium except Ethipia and Liberia
• Europeans added substantial infrastructure to the continent. Most exercise direct rule + implementation of customers oversee African people except the British who are already busy with India
• Europeans disregarded African boundaries, cut tribal land and half or forced enemy tribes together, ignoring history and culture
• Traditional African culture also started falling apart

US Foreign Policy

• Monroe Doctrine: US President Monroe declared the Western Hemisphere would be off limits to Europeans in 1823. Britain agreed out of fear of Spain's potential actions
• Roosevelt core Larry to Monroe Doctrine: US would be responsible for and intervening in financial disputes between Americas and Europe has to maintain peace because Europe was still investing in land industry.
  • US was exercising own imperialism over Latin America- built their Panama Canal in Panama.
  • US launched Spanish-American War in 1898 to aid Cuba in their conflict with Spain.
  • After defeating Spain, US gained control over Philippines Guam, Puerto Rico and Cuba (given independence in exchange of construction of US military bases

Overview of The Enlightenment era. It covers Divine Right, Social Contract theory, and philosophers like Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu. They influenced modern political thought.