Part 5 and First 1/2 Ch16

Part 5 of Ways of the World is titled the European Moment in World History. The first two chapters of this section talk about the societies that emerged from the intersection of the Scientific, French, and Industrial Revolutions. The second half of this chapter will talk about the ability of these powers that emerged to use their enormous power and influence on everyone else. Western Europe now held a much more prominent role in society. Europeans assumed that they were the dominant race and deemed themselves superior to everyone else. The long nineteenth century was a time when Europeans were the most powerful, most innovative, and most widely imitated on the planet.

Ch 16

The Atlantic Revolutions of North America, France, Haiti, and Latin America were very costly wars that strained European imperial states. The taxes that the conflicts in North America, the Caribbean, West Africa, and South Asia caused contributed to the launching of the North American and French Revolutions. The ideas that the Atlantic revolutions derived from the Enlightenment were shared between the French and American Revolutionaries. The new ideas of liberty, equality, free trade, religious tolerance, republicanism, and human rationality were widely popular. The Atlantic Revolutionaries had a global impact that definitely expanded much further than just their own world.

The North American Revolution was launched by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was fueled by an unexpected effort by the British to tighten its control over their colonies. The American patriots felt as though that they were creating hope for the human race. This revolution inspired the French and gave them hope for their own revolution.

The French Revolution began in 1789, when thousands of soldiers who were providing assistance to the American colonists returned home. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and citizen was made. This document was going against the ancient regime and declared that "men are born and remain free and equal in rights". This document is what started the French Revolution. The French Revolution was much more violent, far reaching, and radical in character than the American Revolution. The French Revolution resulted in many extreme changes in the new nation of France.

In the next part of this chapter, we will talk about the Haitian Revolution, The Spanish American Revolutions, The Abolition of Slavery, and the beginnings of Feminism. The Atlantic Revolutions definitely changed the world and brought rise to many different movements that progressed the world.