Unit V Script

Hello and welcome Back to Review Central where todays topic is Unit 5. Often referred
to as the Modern Era, 1750-1900 proved to be some of the most pivotal years in human
history and laid the foundation for the world we live in today. The single most important even of
this time period was undoubtedly the Industrial Revolution (in particular Englands). By this time,
Renaissance ideology from the last time period are predominant and only gaining in popularity.
England seems to be the most about the capatilist lifestyle and individual profiting. However,
thats not the sole reason they industrialized first. Their location as an island enabled no
Napolean take-over, large availiabilty of raw materials, and their rather large potential work force
were are very important in England industrializing. Plus, James Watts steam engine enabled
machinery to move at record pace and produce goods faster than ever before.
How did they get these goods across England, yet alone the world? Fantastic question.
Transportation HAD to advance to compensate for the increase in product. Thats where
railroads became critical at land transportation. Just in England alone, the amount of total
railroads in the first twenty years of the I.R. tripled! Similar results occurred in Europe and
US/Japan. For Sea travel, Steamboats and Canals were established for faster and more
efficient good transport. In particular, the Suez and Panama canals were developed to save
massive time on trans-ocean trading. No more rounding the coast of South America or Africa.
To expedite an already accelerated process, companies began to specialize their labor
meaning they trained workers to do one task extremely well , but didnt teach them anything
else. Production increased, but worker capability and skill diminished. On the flip side,
production got so out of control that workers were being worked inhumane shifts. In response to
the greedy capitalists, workers formed unions and demanded better wages, hours, and working
conditions. Improvemnts were made slowly but surely as time went on. New social classes were
even created during the I.R. Middle Class and the Working class were invented for the first time
in history. Rapid Industrialization led to poorly sanitized cities and much infection was present.
Especially amongst the poor and working class. However, in 1848 Karl Marx wrote down the
first socialist ideas that would later be developed into a political system that rivaled Capitalism.
That system was Communism. Socialism at its most basic principles is where everyone is
equal, no social classes, and everyone is given equal supplies from the government. At first, it
was popular but history has proven it to be unsuccessful (i.e. Soviet Union and Cuba).
Throughout the world though, some embraced change and some didnt. Qing China resisted at
first but eventually succumbed when Europe imposed the Spheres of Influence. Ottomans tried
to Ottomize (Whatever that means), but terribly failed as they had not done their demography
homework and realized a good portion of their population was Arab and other ethnicities that
were not Turk. Clearly, the Tanzimat Reforms was a waste of time. Contrarily, Japan surprisingly
embraced change. After being embarrassed by Matthew Perrys large fleet of steam engines,
the Meiji Restoration became a top priority. In 40 short years, Japan went from isolated to
completely modernized and westernized ready to compete with the big dogs. They
demonstrated their strength in the victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

By this point in history, Europe had more than established themselves as a dominant
force. By 1900, 80% of the world was ruled by Europe. It got to a point where literally, the sun
never set on the British Empire because it had swelled so big. Europes innovation of the gun for
conquest made them a force to be reckoned with. They had 98% of Africa, parts of China, India,
Australia, and parts of Oceania. Those colonies were mainly to supply their savage factories
with materials and once the product was finished, send the product back to the colony to be
sold. In Essence, they were pumping their own economies with steroids and using a third party
country to do it with. With this move, agricultural societies began to sharply decrease in favor of
an industrialized one. Thanks to the gun, Europe was able to fend off any rebellion by the
natives without breaking a sweat. It was almost bullying.
Europe knew this too and thought of themselves as a class above. They justified these
stigmas against non-Euros by saying they were scientifically better and were showing the
natives the better way. Not only did the Europeans take over countries physically, they also
economically imperialized. They did this by gaining Spheres of Influence in China which were
basically sectors of Qing China they were economically run by a certain country. They also
managed to get China hooked on Opium which created a massive economic boom since they
were severely addicted. Overall, Europe acted like the BMOC everywhere they went.
Unlike most of the old world, the Americas by 1830 for the most part had achieved its
freedom from European rule. They did this mainly through revolutions and enlightenment ideas
put infused into government. America was the first to push towards freedom in 1776 away from
the British due to the over explotation of the colonists and unreasonable taxes. They wrote up
the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights which closely resembled John Locke,
Montesquieu, and Voltaire beliefs. All of which were Enlightenment thinkers. Next was France in
1789 when the Third Estate rebelled against the First and Second Estates since they were
hogging all the wealth. Americas successful revolution was clearly a role model for theirs as
once it concluded, the French wrote the Declarations of Rights of Men which almost duplicated
the Declaration of Independence America had written. Post Revoltuinary France is known as the
Age of Napolean as he conquered much of Europe and tried to establish a French Empire. It
was successful for a little while, but was eventually overthrown in 1812 at Waterloo. Latin
America even achieved its independence in the 1820s thanks o Simon Bolivar. He helped South
and Central American nations achieve liberation and became known as the Liberator. He had a
vision for a Gran-Colombia which was basically a United States of South America which he
wrote in the Jamica Letter. Unforunately, this never panned out as caudillos arose and did not
want to unify and lose their respective authority. Haiti achieved its freedom in 1804 with
DeSallienes at the head. It became the first free black nation on the Western Hemisphere. Two
groups (Maroons and Gen DCouloures) were Haitian and eventually the fought one another in
the White-Out Movement in a movement to get rid of all the white people in Haiti. Another first
during this time period was the idea of feminism. Led by de Gouges, Stnaton, and
Wollstonecraft, Feminism and womans suffrage was constantly enforced by women
everywhere. Slowly, countries began to acknowledge women and gave them their basic rights.

Often times, people forget about the major migrations that occurred at the end of this
era. Europeans, Japanese, and Chinese immigrants flooded America because of the vast
opprutunites that existed. Ireland and China had a ton of emigration due to the Potato Famine
and the crumbling of the Qing dynasty. The increase of immigrants created an increase sense of
nationalism which is a major piece to the next unit in history. Its been a pleasure to present this
edition of Review Central and I thank you for your dedicated listening. Stay Capitalist America.