Modernity the Birth of Modern History, 1815
It may be asked why modern history should begin with 1815. There is no spectacular date to signify the opening of modern times. Yet it is necessary to begin somewhere and 1815 is convenient, because it was in that year that Napoleon Bonaparte was finally defeated at Waterloo, and his attempt at building a European empire was ended. A long period of revolutionary turmoil came to a close in 1815. It has lasted for almost half a century if we count the American Revolution, which had broken up the old British Empire, temporarily weakened France, and established the United States of America. The new American republic aroused great interest in Europe, for it gave new meaning and a new force to ideas of constitutional government and of political rights and civil liberties. These ideas were magnified and geographically extended by the French Revolution of 1789. For twenty years from 1794 to 1814, a renovated France dominated the European continent. The early stages of movements for Latin American independence also began. Looking either to Europe or the Americas, anyone forty years old in 1815 had personal memories of staggering events.What such a person could not know was, of course, the future, which, as it turned out, was to b
The "modern" world consists of a kind of uniform civilization that overlies many of traditional cultures. Each region has its own familiar and deeper level of life, Europe and the United States as well as India or Bolivia, but above them all is the interconnected world of science, fast transportation, radio and television, industry and machines, trade and finance, loans and debts, investments and bank account. In most countries, as they become modern, there have been pressures for increased democracy, and all modern governments, democratic or not, must seek to arouse the energies and support of their populations. In a modern society old customs loosen, and ancestral religions are questioned. There is a demand for individual liberation, and an expectation of a higher standard of living. Everywhere there is a drive for more equality- between sexes and among races, between high and low incomes, between adherents of different religion, or between different parts of the same country. Movements for social change may be slow and gradual, or revolutionary and catastrophic, but movement of some kind is universal. e a time of extraordinary change. The century from 1815 to 1914, or from collapse
Some common words found in the essay are:
French Revolution, Asia Africa, India Bolivia, Industrial Revolution, Europe Americas, Napoleon Bonaparte, America American, , World War, America European, begin 1815, french revolution, century 1815, asia africa, twentieth century,
Approximate Word count = 809
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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