World History -Test 6 Study Guide: “Revolutions”
· The French Revolution (1789-1799)
o King Louis XVI already inherited debt from previous kings
§ He borrowed heavily to help the Americans beat Great Britain
§ Spent a great amount of money on luxuries for his self and his wife
§ He was a weak leader- very indecisive and he paid little attention to his government advisers
§ Called a meeting of the Estates General to deal with debt issue
o Marie Antoinette-Queen of France born a member of the Austrian royal family, which the French hated.
§ Often interfered in government, providing her husband with poor advice
§ Spent a great amount of money on clothing, jewelry, food, and a gambling addiction
§ Was known in France as MadameDéficit
§ Falsely accused of telling her people, starving from lack of bread, to eat cake instead.
o The Three Estates-Ancien Régime
§ The Estates- General was an assembly of representatives from all three estates in France: each estate had one vote
§ First and Second Estates had more power than the larger Third Estate due to medieval rules and always voted against third estate
o Disagreement developed and the Third Estate left and declared itself the National Assembly
§ Louis XVI responded by sending troops to Paris primarily to quell uprisings over food shortages, but the revolutionaries saw this as a provocation, so they responded by seizing the Bastille Prison on July 14th.
§ On August 26th, the National Assembly proclaimed the Rights of Man and Citizen, which laid out a system of rights that applied to every person, and made those rights integral to the new constitution.
o The most radical wing, of the French legislature, the Jacobins led by Maximillian Robespierre, called for the creation of a Republic
§ Dr. Joseph Guillotine, the inventor of the guillotine, envisioned it as an egalitarian or equal way of dying for all classes.
§ The execution of Louis XVI marks the beginning of The Reign of Terror
§ Reign of Terror ends with execution of Robespierre.
§ In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte led a coup d’état which established him as the 1st Consul of France and later, Emperor.
o Motto of the Revolution was “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”-Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
§ National Anthem is “La Marseillaise”
· The Renaissance (mid 1300’s to the early 1600’s)
o It was a period of great revival of interest in the classical learning and values of ancient Greece and Rome.
o Before the Renaissance occurred, several countries across Europe were suffering from diseases and poverty.
§ In terms of art before the Renaissance began, it was normally centered around religious figures and showed limited skill for making a piece of art look realistic.
o In Florence, Italy, the development of new technologies including the printing press, a new system of astronomy and the discovery and exploration of new continents was accompanied by a flowering of philosophy, literature and especially art.
o Great artists like Lorenzo Ghiberti, Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.
o When the Renaissance began, new techniques of art were introduced such as perspective, individuality, classical art styles of Ancient Rome & Greece, and beauty designs.
o The Catholic Church was a major patron of the arts during the Renaissance
o Much of the art produced during the early Renaissance was commissioned by the wealthy merchant families of Florence, most notably the Medici family of Florence, Italy.
o The seeds of the modern world were sown and grown in the Renaissance.
· The Enlightenment (17TH to 18th centuries)
o Also known as the Age of Reason, was centered on the idea that reason is the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and it advocated such ideals as liberty, progress, tolerance, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.
§ The Enlightenment was marked by an emphasis on the scientific method, along with increased questioning of religious power.
o Society before the Enlightenment was dominated by the Catholic Church that built up its spiritual and political power.
§ Religion was often used to legitimize a ruler dominating people by divine right and absolute power
o The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes ushered in a new debate on government with his work Leviathan in 1651. Hobbes also developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought: the right of the individual; the natural equality of all men; the artificial character of the political order, and the view that all legitimate political power must be “representative” and based on the consent of the people.
o Englishman John Locke and the Swiss Jean Jacques Rousseau also developed social contract theories.
o The French Baron de Montesquieu put forth the idea that power must be separated into branches
o Locke is particularly known for his statement that individuals have a right to “Life, Liberty and Property,”.
o After the Enlightenment, the old way of life that was represented by superstition, an angry God, and absolute submission to authority had begun to end.
§ The thinkers of the Age of Reason ushered in a new way of thinking that championed the accomplishments of humankind.
§ Science and reason could bring happiness and progress.
· The Scientific Revolution (1543 to today)
o was the emergence of modern science which emphasized systematic experimentation as the most valid research method, resulting in developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, anatomy, and chemistry.
§ the 1543 publication of the Polish citizen, Nicolaus Copernicus ‘s, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, is often cited as marking the beginning of the scientific revolution.
o Before the scientific revolution, religion dominated society. Since religion played a big part in the people’s lives, the church had the most power and authority.
§ People believed in the idea of a geocentric universe proposed by Greek philosopher Aristotle, where the sun, moon, stars and planets all revolved around the earth.
o The heliocentric model of Copernicus involved the radical displacement of the earth to an orbit around the sun.
o The discoveries of the German Johannes Kepler and Italian Galileo concerning astronomy and the movement of planets gave the theory credibility.
o The English Isaac Newton’s Principia, which formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that dominated scientists’ view of the physical universe for the next three centuries.
o New scientific tools were developed that deepened the understating of sciences, including the mechanical calculator, refracting and reflecting telescopes, vacuum pump, and the mercury barometer.
o The increased emphasis placed on experimentation and empirical knowledge during the Scientific Revolution caused many philosophers and scientists to rethink the very nature of knowledge itself.
o Rather than accepting knowledge based on revealed truths, those who espoused the principles of the Scientific Revolution believed that truth and fact lay through firsthand observation and experimentation.
· The Agricultural Revolution (mid-17th and late 19th centuries)
o Was the unprecedented increase in agricultural production in Britain between the due to increases in labor and land productivity.
§ This increase in the food supply contributed to the rapid growth of population in England and Wales adding to the urban workforce on which industrialization depended.
o The Agricultural Revolution has been cited as a cause of the Industrial Revolution.
o Before the Agricultural revolution, the Middle Ages’ open field system used a two-field crop rotation system where one field was used to grow crops, while one was left fallow or turned into pasture for a time to try to recover some of its plant nutrients. The tools of the farmer had not changed much since the age of the Roman Empire, and many tools were not as refined as in Rome.
o One of the most important innovations of the Agricultural Revolution was the development of the Norfolk four-course crop rotation, which greatly increased crop and livestock yields by improving soil fertility and reducing fallow time where land was left unfarmed.
o The addition of clover and turnips allowed more animals to be kept through the winter, which in turn produced more milk, cheese, meat, and manure, which maintained soil fertility.
o The mechanization of agriculture was a key factor of the Agricultural Revolution with new tools invented and old ones perfected.
§ Joseph Foljambe used new shapes as the basis for the Rotherham plough and by 1770, it was the cheapest and best plough available.
§ In England, the seed drill was further refined by Jethro Tull in 1701. Tull’s drill was a mechanical seeder that sowed efficiently at the correct depth and spacing and then covered the seed so that it could grow.
§ A threshing machine or thresher was invented by Andrew Meikle to remove wheat seeds from the stalks and husks. Mechanization of this process removed a substantial amount of drudgery from farm labor.
o The increase in agricultural production and technological advancements during the Agricultural Revolution contributed to unprecedented population growth and new agricultural practices, increased food supply, and triggering such phenomena as rural-to-urban migration, growth of cities, development of a regulated agricultural market, and emergence of capitalist farmers.
· The Industrial Revolution (mid 18th to mid 19th centuries)
o Was the transition to new manufacturing processes including going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, the increasing use of steam power, the development of machine tools and the rise of the factory system.
o Prior to the Industrial Revolution most people resided in small, rural communities where their daily existences revolved around farming.
§ Life for the average person was difficult, as incomes were meager, and malnourishment and disease were common.
§ People produced the bulk of their own food, clothing, furniture and tools. Most manufacturing was done in homes or small, rural shops, using hand tools or simple machines.
o The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, and many of the technological innovations were British.
o Textiles were the dominant industry of the Industrial Revolution in terms of employment, value of output and capital invested, and the textile industry was also the first to use modern production methods.
§ Around 1764, Englishman James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny, a machine that enabled an individual to produce multiple spools of threads simultaneously.
§ In the 1850s, British engineer Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) developed the first inexpensive process for mass-producing steel.
§ In 1712, Englishman Thomas Newcomen developed the first practical steam engine (which was used primarily to pump water out of mines).
§ By the 1770s, Scottish inventor James Watt had improved on Newcomen’s work, and the steam engine went on to power machinery, locomotives and ships during the Industrial Revolution.
o The transportation industry also underwent significant transformation during the Industrial Revolution. In the early 1800s, American Robert Fulton built the first commercially successful steamboat, and by the mid-19th century, steamships were carrying freight across the Atlantic.
o The Industrial Revolution brought about a greater volume and variety of factory-produced goods and raised the standard of living for many people.
§ However, life for the poor and working classes continued to be filled with challenges.
§ Wages for those who labored in factories were low and working conditions could be dangerous.
§ Children were part of the labor force and often worked long hours and were used for such highly hazardous tasks.
§ Industrialization also meant that some craftspeople were replaced by machines.
§ Additionally, urban, industrialized areas had overcrowded housing and polluted, unsanitary living conditions in which disease was rampant.