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Agricultural Revolution
Improvements in farming techniques and equipment, such as Jethro Tull's seed drill, led to increased agricultural productivity. -
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First Industrial Revolution
Developments and advancements on steam power, iron and coal industries, canal and railway networks and the factory system.
Social and cultural changes:
Urbanisation
Rise of the working class
Inequality and wealth disparities
Poor labour conditions
Social Reforms and Labour movements
Impact on education
Family Dynamics and Gender Roles
Growth of cities -
Passage of the Stamp Act
It imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America. The tax applied to many printed materials in the colonies, such as newspapers, legal documents, and licenses, which had to be produced on stamped paper produced in London. It was met with fierce resistance and protests by the colonists, who argued that it violated their rights. -
Boston Massacre
It was a deadly riot that occurred in Boston. It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier, but quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. Several colonists were killed, and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
Boston Tea Party
An incident in which 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company were thrown from ships into Boston Harbor by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians. The Americans were protesting both a tax on tea and the monopoly of the East India Company. -
Passage of the Intolerable Acts
Punitive measures enacted by the British Parliament in retaliation for acts of colonial defiance. -
Declaration of Independence
The American Revolution officially began with the Declaration of Independence.
It was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. It summarized the colonists' motivations for seeking independence. -
Battle of Saratoga
It was a confrontation between American and British armies in The Revolutionary War, where the americans turned out victorious. The American defeat of the British army lifted patriot morale, furthered the hope for independence, and helped to secure the foreign support needed to win the war. -
Battle of Yorktown
Final major victory for Americans.
The Battle of Yorktown proved to be the decisive engagement of the American Revolution. The British surrender forecast the end of British rule in the colonies and the birth of a new nation—the United States of America. -
End of the war
The war for independence officially ends with the Treaty of Paris. Americans achieve their independence from Britain.
The Treaty of Paris was signed by U.S. and British Representatives on September 3, 1783, ending the War of the American Revolution. -
Assembly of notables
The meeting of the Assembly of Notables in 1787 was a last-ditch effort by the ministers of King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792) to fix the disastrous condition of French finances. The assembly failed to agree on a series of radical financial reforms and insisted on convening the Estates-General, a representative body, which alone had the authority to consider reforms. -
Estates-General
The Third estate declares itself the National Asembly.
It was a meeting of the three estates of pre-revolutionary France: clergy, nobility, and commons. Summoned by King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792) to deal with financial and societal crises, it ended with the Third Estate breaking from royal authority and forming a National Assembly -
Tennis Court Oath
An oath sworn by members of the Third Estate who had just formed the National Assembly and were locked out of the meeting of the Estates-General. Meeting at a nearby tennis court, these members of the Third Estate pledged to remain together until they had drafted and passed a new constitution. -
Storming of the Bastille
On July 14, 1789, the Parisian crowd stormed the Bastille, a symbol of royal tyranny.
It had little practical consequence, but it was an enormous symbolic act against the ancien régime, inspired the revolutionaries, and is still celebrated today as the French holiday Bastille Day. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
A document, issued by the National Assembly, that granted sovereignty to all French people. The declaration, which drew from the ideas of some of the Enlightenment’s greatest thinkers, asserted that liberty is a “natural” and “imprescriptible” right of man and that “men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” -
Creation of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
A document, issued by the National Assembly in July 1790, that broke ties with the Catholic Church and established a national church system in France with a process for the election of regional bishops. The document angered the pope and church officials and turned many French Catholics against the revolutionaries. -
Constitution of 1791
It established a Constitutional Monarchy, or limited monarchy, with all executive power answerable to a legislative assembly. Under the new constitution, King Louis XVI could only temporarily veto legislation passed by the assembly. The constitution restricted voting in the assembly to the upper and middle classes of French society and abolished “nobility” as a legal order. -
France proclaimed a republic
The First French Republic was proclaimed. This significant event occurred during the French Revolution when the National Convention of France announced the abolition of the monarchy -
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed
Louis XVI was judged by the Convention, condemned to death for treason, and executed on January 21, 1793; Marie-Antoinette was guillotined nine months later. -
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Reign of Terror
Period of the French Revolution, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place.
With civil war spreading from the Vendée and hostile armies surrounding France on all sides, the Revolutionary government decided to make “Terror” the order of the day (September 5 decree) and to take harsh measures against those suspected of being enemies of the Revolution (nobles, priests, and hoarders) -
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Thermidorian Reaction
The post–Reign Of Terror period ushered in by the execution of Maximilien Robespierre in July 1794 and the reassertion of moderate power over the French Revolution. The Thermidorian Reaction brought the Revolution’s focus back to the first stage of moderate changes designed to benefit the business classes of French society. -
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Directory
The new executive branch established by the constitution written during the moderate Thermidorian Reaction of 1794–1795. The Directory was appointed by the legislative assembly. However, after 1797 election results proved unfavorable to elements in the Directory, it orchestrated an overthrow of the assembly and maintained dubious control over France until it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. -
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Second Industrial Revolution
Developments on the steel industry, electrical power, communication and transportation and mechanical engineering.