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Mughal Empire 1526-1758
Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur established the Mughal Empire in 1526. Barbur’s grandson, Akbar really architected the Mughal Empire, greatly expanding through military campaigns and establishing religious toleration of Muslims/Hindus. Under Shah Jahan, the capital Delhi was rebuilt as was the Taj Mahal. Later, Aurangzeb revoked religious tolerance and made Islam the law. Religious battles with the hindus and between his successors eventually caused the decline of the Mughal empire by 1758. -
French Revolution
The French Revolution extended from 1787-1799, but peaked in 1789. Fueled by the Enlightenment ideas and the rise of the Third Estate, French citizens stormed the Bastille in July 1789 and ended the ancien regime, with the Assembly adopting the Declaration of Rights of Man, and demanding Louis XVI replace the ancien régime with a system based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech and representative government. The Revolution ended at the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. -
Formation of the National Assembly
On June 17, 1789 Third Estate (representing 98% of the population) broke off from the Estastes-General and became the National Assembly in order to demand voting rights. They met in an indoor tennis court and took the Tennis Court Oath vowing not to leave until a new french constitution was adopted that provided more rights to all peopel. Soon, the nobles and other estates joined them, and on June 27 Louis XVI accepted all three groups into a new assembly. -
The Tennis Court Oath
Three days after theThird Estate formally became the National Assembly and they were locked out of their meeting hall, they met in a nearby tennis court and took the Tennis Court Oath, promising not to leave until a new French constitution had been achieved. Within a week, the rest of the estates had joined them and King Louis XVI declared them the National Constituent Assembly. -
Adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man
The Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen as a basis for the new French constitution. It included more democratic principles based on the Enlightenment ideas developed by philosophers like Rousseau, Locke, Montesquieu. The Declaration committed to replace the ancien régime (monarchy) with a government based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech and a representative government (limited constitutional monarchy.) -
Haitian Revolution
Saint-Domingue was one of the wealthiest colonies in the world, however France forced them to trade exclusively with France. There were white/plantation owners, free coloreds and black slaves which were 90% of the population. Slaves were treated poorly and spurred by the French Revolution, revolted (Boukman Revolt); later general Toussaint led the revolution and on Aug 29 1793 the French freed all slaves. The revolution continued (War of Knives) until independence in Jan 1804. -
Reign of Terror
After the execution of Louis XVI the French Revolution became more violoent. Jacobins (extremists) took control of the National Convention (former National Assembly) and started the Reign of Terror. Led by Maximillien Robespierre, leader of the Committee of Public Safety, all suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the thousands. The Reign of Terror ended with the death of Robespierre on July 28, 1794. -
Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
In 1795, the National Convention adopted a new constitution and five person Directory. It was not very effective, so a young, respeted general named Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup d'etat and became France’s emperor. This marked the end of the French Revolution and the start of the Napoleonic era where France conqered much of Europe. Napoleon established the Napoleonic Code, Lycees, and the Concordat. -
Industrial Revolution 1760-1840
Industrial Revolution marked the change from an agrarian, cottage industry to machine based economy. It began in England because of its natural resources, labor power and economic/political stability. It gave rise to assembly lines and new machines like the spinning jenny (Hargreaves), cotton gin (Whitney) and power loom (Cartwritght.) It also drove mass movement to cities called urbanization. -
The Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was an assembly that restructured Europe after the Napoleonic Wars. It lasted from Sept 1814 until its Final Act in June 1815 around the time of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. Led by Klemmens von Metternich, the Treaty restored country boundaries and regimes to their original status before Napoleon and achieved a balance of power,no reward/no punishment and legitimacy objective. -
Opium War 1839-1842
China was a self-sufficent country, producing salt, tin, silver, iron, cotton, porcelain and carefully regulated foreign trade in its favor. England was desperate to import its goods into China to increase trade, but China didn't need English goods. So Britain smuggled opium, a habit forming drug into China until over 12 million people were addicted. China declared war on England to stop opium trade. China was defeated and signed the treaty of Nanjing in 1842, signing over Hong Kong to Britain. -
Treaty of Nanjing / Nanking
After defeat in the Opium War, China and Britain signed the Treaty of Nanjing which gave Hongkong to Great Britain, opened ports to British trade and severely limited Chinese customs duties. This treaty was one of several treaties that gave foreigners extraterritorial rights in China causing the once independent Chinese economy to turn to dependence on foreign trade. -
Treaty of Kanagawa
For years, Japan was closed to foreigners through the Edict of 1635. As a result of Matthew Perry's visits/threats to Japan to open trade, the Treaty of Kanagawa signed between the US and Japan opening two Japanese ports (Shimoda and Hakodate) to trade and establishing a US embassy. This treaty led later to extraterritorial rights and a subsequent rise in Japanese nationalism. -
Sepoy Mutiny
After the decline the Mughal Empire, Britian's East India Trading Company took control of India (economic imperialism). Britian allowed india to produce only raw materials and cash crops like tea, indigo, coffee. These policies caused famine. The Sepoys,Indian soldiers for the EITC, rebelled against biting/using cartridges they thought were laced with fat. The rebellion spread to Delhi but was put down by British troops, leading to a period of British government rule called the Raj. -
Meiji Era of Restoration 1867-1912
Angry with how foreign influence had weakened Japan, the Tokugawa shogun stepped down and Emperor Mutsuhito took power and established the Meiji or Enlightened Era. he started to modernize Japan. They studied other countries ways and selected the best practices like German Army, Bristih navy, US education systsem. Japan industrialized rapidly building railroads and producing coal, silk, tea for trade. This gave rise to great Japanese imerialism and nationalism. -
Berlin Conference 1884-1885
Motivated by Africa's rich natural resources and available slave labor, European countries met at the Berlin Conference to decide how to divide up Africa for themselves. No one from Africa participated. Imperialism, social darwinism, racism as well as advances such as the maxim gun and steam engine accelerated and enabled Europe's colonization of Africa. The division of Africa created great injustices for the African people, destroying their native cultures. -
The Boxer Rebellion
In 1898, groups of peasants secretly banned together in the Righteous and Harmonious Fists or the Boxers to demand reforms and get rid of foreigners and the spheres of influence they exerted over China. They moved on cities to kill foreigners and fight the Dowager Empress (Qing). Foreign powers defeated the rebellion, but as a result, the Qing Empress began to make reforms for China. -
Partition of Bengal
Under the Raj, India began to modernize and nationalism grew. Indian people wanted more equity, fair pay and rights. Despite the Indian Nat'l Congress and Muslim League, Britian still controlled india. In 1905, Britian decided India was too big to rule so they broke off a Hindu and a Muslim partition, angering Hindus and Muslims. In 1911 they reunited the two in the Bengal province. This, for the first time began to unite Hindus and Muslims in a common cause to become independent of Britain.
