Inspired in part by Enlightenment ideas, the French Revolution introduced mass politics, led to the creation of numerous political and social ideologies, and remained the touchstone for those advocating radical reform in subsequent decades. |
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Revolution, c. 1648-c. 1815
The French Revolution was the most formidable challenge to traditional politics and diplomacy during this period. Inspired in part by Enlightenment ideas, the revolution introduced mass politics, led to the creation of numerous political and social ideologies, and remained the touchstone for those advocating radical reform in subsequent decades. The French Revolution was part of a larger revolutionary impulse that, as a transatlantic movement, influenced revolutions in Spanish America and the Haitian slave revolt. Napoleon Bonaparte built upon the gains of the revolution and attempted to exploit the resources of the continent in the interests of France and his own dynasty. Napoleon’s revolutionary state imposed French hegemony throughout Europe, but eventually a coalition of European powers overthrew French domination and restored, as much as possible, a balance of power within the European state system. Conservative leaders also attempted to contain the danger of revolutionary or nationalistic upheavals inspired by the French Revolution.
The romantic movement of the early 19th century set the stage for later cultural perspectives by encouraging individuals to cultivate their uniqueness and to trust intuition and emotion as much as reason. Partly in reaction to the Enlightenment, romanticism affirmed the value of sensitivity, imagination, and creativity and thereby provided a climate for artistic experimentation.
Source: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-european-history-course-and-exam-description.pdf
The romantic movement of the early 19th century set the stage for later cultural perspectives by encouraging individuals to cultivate their uniqueness and to trust intuition and emotion as much as reason. Partly in reaction to the Enlightenment, romanticism affirmed the value of sensitivity, imagination, and creativity and thereby provided a climate for artistic experimentation.
Source: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-european-history-course-and-exam-description.pdf
Colonial Rivalry
Britain and France vied for control of North America and India during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The French Revolution
The Haitian Revolution
Following a successful slave revolt inspired by the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Dessaline became the first Emperor of Haiti.
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The Napoleonic Empire
The Congress of Vienna
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Louis XVIII trying on Napoleon's boots. This British political cartoon by George Cruikshank mocks the conservative Congress System's interventions to smother liberal revolutions following the Congress of Vienna.
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Romanticism
Painting
Literature
Architecture
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Music
German Romantic Nationalism
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The Brothers Grimm contributed to early German nationalism by writing down a collection of German fairy tales from the peasant oral tradition.
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