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Romanticism
Towards the end of the 18th century, Europe originated an intellectual movement which consisted of art, literature, music and criticism. This movement was called Romanticism. It emphasized inspiration, subjectivity, emotion, faith, feelings, intuition, imagination, spontaneity, and individualism. Romanticism rebelled against neoclassical literature, period which tried to revive and took inspiration from classical works of ancient Greece and Rome. Romanticism believed in imagination over reason. -
Haitian Revolution
In August 1791, about 100,000 enslave do Africans revolted against their masters. Due to this, Toussaint L'Ouvertute, who was formerly enslaved, led the revolution, took control of the entire island, and freed all enslaved Africans in 1801. He was soon removed from power on January 1802 by 30,000 French troops. He agreed to stop the revolution but in return demanded that the French ended slavery, to which they agreed. He was then accused of planning another revolt and sent to prison. -
Mexican War of Independence
Miguel Hidalgo y costilla, Mexican Catholic priest, initiated the Mexican War of Independence with his battle cry, "Grito de Dolores," which he read publicly in the town of Dolores calling the end of Spanish ruling over Mexico of 300 years, which ended in 1821 in New Spain. This movement was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos, Zambos and Amerindians. It started as a rebellion by peasants towards their colonial masters and escalated to an unlikely alliance between liberals and conservatives. -
Simon Bolivar
A writer, fighter, and political thinker who pushed most of South America to independence. Fought for his country which was proven by surviving many defeats and even two exiles. He helped Venezuela gain its independence and led 2000 into Bogotá, Colombia and took the spanish army by surprise causing him a great victory. He played a huge part in history because he liberated much of Latin America from Spanish control and planned to unite them all into a single country punter called Gran Colombia. -
Jose de San Martin
Jose was an Argentinian general and a prime leader for part of South America's independence. In 1816, Jose Jose led Argentina to a victory for independence. In 1818, he helped Chile gain its independence. In 1824, both Jose and Simon Bolivar led their combined armies to victory, which Bolivar commanded. This victory led all the Spanish colonies to their independence and a combination of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador which created Gran Colombia. -
Brazilian Independence
This movement was different from others because it was bloodless. In 1807, when Napoleons armies invaded Portugal and Spain, the Portuguese royal family fled to Brazil and ran their empire for 14 years from there. Six years after Napoleons defeat, the royal family went back to Lisbon but King John's son, Dom Pedro, stayed behind and planned to make Brazil a colony. The people didn't have what it took to be a colony and asked Dom Pedro to rule which he agreed to. It was a bloodless revolution. -
Greek Revolution
In 1821, there was a rebellion of Greeks towards the Ottoman Empire. The rebellion took place in Moldavia with 4500 Hellenes led by General Alexander Ypsilantis. Another person who took part in the revolution was Lord Byron in 1823 but was soon dead due to his illness. -
Italian Unification
During the 19th century (1861), began the movement for Italian Unification. This was because of Congress who divided the territory during the Napoleonic Wars. There was an Italian patriot named Guiseppe Mazzini. He helped out by trying to make Italy independent. In the France-Prussian War, Italian troops withdrew his troops from Rome and Italians moved in and got their independence on October 1870. -
German Unification
In 1815, the German Confederation group was formed by 39 German states but Prussia wanted to unify all German states. Prussia had a population of mainly German. This resulted in nationalism and the unification of Prussia. Prussia's army was powerful in central Europe. In 1848, a constitutional convention was formed by Berlin rioters. The idea was to write a liberal constitution which would soon pave its way or unification.
