Revolutions

c. 1750-1900

Objectives

Explain the intellectual and ideological context in which revolutions swept the Atlantic world from 1750 to 1900.
Explain how the Enlightenment affected societies over time.
Explain causes and effects of the various revolutions in the period from 1750 to 1900.

The Enlightenment

"If there is something you know, communicate it. If there is something you don't know, search for it." — An engraving from the 1772 edition of the Encyclopédie; Truth, in the top center, is surrounded by light and unveiled by the figures to the right, Philosophy and Reason

Enlightenment philosophies applied new ways of understanding and empiricist approaches to both the natural world and human relationships; they also reexamined the role that religion played in public life and emphasized the importance of reason.
Philosophers developed new political ideas about the individual, natural rights, and the social contract.
The rise and diffusion of Enlightenment thought that questioned established traditions in all areas of life often preceded revolutions and rebellions against existing governments.

The Enlightenment

The American Revolution

Boston silversmith Paul Revere engraved this image of the 1770 Boston Massacre that fueled anti-British sentiment in the American colonies.

The American Declaration of Independence reflected Enlightenment principles stating that "all men are created equal" and entitled to natural rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The 18th century marked the beginning of an intense period of revolution and rebellion against existing governments, leading to the establishment of new nation-states around the world.
Colonial subjects in the Americas led a series of rebellions inspired by democratic ideals. The American Revolution, and its successful establishment of a republic, the United States of America, was a model and inspiration for a number of the revolutions that followed.
The American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American independence movements facilitated the emergence of independent states in the Americas.
The ideas of Enlightenment philosophers influenced resistance to existing political authority, often in pursuit of independence and democratic ideals.

The American Revolution

The French Revolution

Angry French citizens stormed the Palace of Versailles in October 1789, kidnapped King Louis XVI, and forced him to return to Paris. In this image, the heads of Louis XVI's murdered palace guards are paraded by the crowd atop pikes.

Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of the French in 1804. For a brief while, he dominated the European continent and led the largest empire in Europe since the days of Rome.

The 18th century marked the beginning of an intense period of revolution and rebellion against existing governments, leading to the establishment of new nation-states around the world.
Discontent with monarchist and imperial rule encouraged the development of systems of government and various ideologies, including democracy and 19th-century liberalism.
The ideas of Enlightenment philosophers influenced resistance to existing political authority, often in pursuit of independence and democratic ideals.

The French Revolution

Latin American Revolutions

Free Women of Color with their Children and Servants by Agostino Brunias

Following a successful slave revolt inspired by the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Dessaline became the first Emperor of Haiti.

Simón Bolívar, liberated Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama from the Spanish Empire.

The 18th century marked the beginning of an intense period of revolution and rebellion against existing governments, leading to the establishment of new nation-states around the world.
The American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American independence movements facilitated the emergence of independent states in the Americas.
The ideas of Enlightenment philosophers influenced resistance to existing political authority, often in pursuit of independence and democratic ideals.

Latin American Revolutions

Nationalism

Francisco Goya commemorated Spanish national resistance to Napoleon's armies during the Peninsular War.

fighting in Berlin during the 1848 Revolutions

Giuseppe Garibaldi, flamboyant leader of the Redshirts, took control of Naples then turned his territories over to Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont-Sardinia to unify most of Italy in 1861.

Otto von Bismarck was the driving force behind German unification.

Nationalism also became a major force shaping the historical development of states and empires.
People around the world developed a new sense of commonality based on language, religion, social customs, and territory. This was sometimes harnessed by governments to foster a sense of unity.
Newly imagined national communities often linked this new national identity with borders of the state, and in some cases, nationalists challenged boundaries or sought unification of fragmented regions.

France's humiliating defeat in the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War led to the unification of the German Empire, and set the stage for the First World War.

Nationalism

Political Ideologies

Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People celebrates the July Revolution of 1830.

Karl Marx, the influential author of the Communist Manifesto

An anarchist assassinated American President William McKinley in 1901.

Discontent with monarchist and imperial rule encouraged the development of systems of government and various ideologies, including democracy and 19th-century liberalism.

Political Ideologies

Reform Movements

"Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" medallion created as part of anti-slavery campaign by Josiah Wedgwood, 1787

W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington were the most prominent African American leaders during the era of Jim Crow laws.

Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurt is arrested outside of Buckingham Palace, 1914

Mexican soldaderas

Enlightenment ideas and religious ideals influenced various reform movements. These reform movements contributed to the expansion of rights, as seen in expanded suffrage, the abolition of slavery, and the end of serfdom.
Demands for women’s suffrage and an emergent feminism challenged political and gender hierarchies.
While women and often children in working class families typically held wage-earning jobs to supplement their families’ income, middle-class women who did not have the same economic demands to satisfy were increasingly limited to roles in the household or roles focused on child development.