Modern Times (history)

The term Modern Times is recognized by historians as being the period of time
immediately following what is somewhat confusingly known as the Early Modern Times.
The Early Modern Times lasted from the end of the 15th century to the end of the
18th century.
The actual Modern Times began in the the end of the 18th century, going up to the
contemporary present.
ther terms, such as Modern Period, Modern Age, or Modern Era, are also commonly
used.
The European !enaissance "about 1#$%&1'(%) is an important transition period beginning
within the *ate Middle +ges and continuing into the Early Modern Times.
The mo,ement known as -.ostmodernism- (dominant from the 1960s to the early 1980s)
must be seen as a public relations term, for the term -modern times- / by definition /
always includes the present.
Contents
1 0haracteristics
$ .olitics
( 1cience and technology
o (.1 2n,entions
o (.$ 2ndustry
# 3arfare
5 0ulture
' 4ni,ersality

Characteristics
The concept of the modern world as distinct from an ancient world of historical and
outmoded artifacts rests on a sense that the modern world is primarily the product of
relati,ely recent and re,olutionary change. +d,ances in all areas of human acti,ity &&
politics, industry, society, economics, commerce, transport, communication,
mechanization, automation, science, medicine, technology and culture && appear to ha,e
transformed an -ld 3orld- into the 5Modern or New World. 2n each case, the
identification of a !e,olutionary change can be used to demarcate the old and old&
fashioned from the modern.
Much of the Modern world replaced the 6iblically&oriented ,alue system, the
monarchical go,ernment system, and the feudal economic system, with new democratic
and liberal ideas in the areas of politics, science, psychology, sociology, and economics.
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Politics
2n European politics, the transition from feudal institutions to modern institutions has
been marked by a series of !e,olutions and military conflicts, beginning with the Eighty
7ears5 3ar, which resulted in 8utch independence, confirmed in the .eace of
3estphalia. The .eace of 3estphalia "1'#8) established the modern international system
of independent nation&states, ending feudalism in international relations. The English
9lorious !e,olution "1'88) marked the end of feudalism in 9reat 6ritain, creating a
modern constitutional monarchy. The :rench !e,olution of 1;8< o,erthrew the +ncien
!=gime in :rance, and as a result of the >apoleonic 3ars, ser,ed to introduce political
modernity in much of 3estern Europe.
The +merican and :rench !e,olutions limited the powers of the absolute monarchs.
?enceforth the world would become a -Modern- place where 8emocracy, and *iberty,
E@uality, and :raternity became the new standards of go,ernment and of the rules of
society.
Men such as the Emperor >apoleon introduced new codes of law in Europe based on
merit and achie,ement, rather than on a class system rooted in :eudalism. The modern
political system of *iberalism "deri,ed from the word -*iberty- which means -:reedom-)
empowered members of the disenfranchised Third Estate. The power of elected bodies
supplanted traditional rule by royal decree. + new attachment to one5s nation, culture and
language produced the powerful forces of >ationalism. This in turn ultimately
contributed to new ideologies such as the ideology of :ascism, 1ocialism and
0ommunism.
Taken to an eAtreme, the desire to demolish all ,estiges of the past and create a classless
society, resulted in the abuses of 0ommunism following the 6olshe,ik !e,olution in
!ussia, which eAecuted the Tsar and his family, created the 1o,iet 4nion, transformed
serfdom, and forcibly modernized Mother !ussia. 2n 9ermany, once the Baiser had
abdicated in 1<18, chaos ensued, pa,ing the way for the rise of +dolf ?itler and >azism.
The new republic of the 4nited 1tates of +merica granted the ,ote to white, male
citizens, and placed reins on go,ernment based on the new 0onstitution and created a
system of checks and balances between the three different branches of go,ernment, the
legislature, Cudiciary, and eAecuti,e headed by a .resident who was elected ,ia a national
election.
2n 2ndian politics, Mughal "15$'&185;) and then the 6ritish "185;&1<#;) in,asion and
skillful organization gradually brought unification for the first time to a subcontinent of
separate states and kingdoms into a strongly united federalist system, and culminating in
the world5s largest democracy "1<#;&.resent). The European 4nion is now beginning the
e@ui,alent process that the 2ndian 4nion has completed o,er the last 5%% years, of a
continent becoming a federalist union, with the difference being the willingness of the
European states to unite, ,ersus the union being imposed on the 2ndian states by in,aders.
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Science and technology
!e,olutions in science and technology ha,e been no less influential than political
re,olutions in changing the shape of the modern world. The 1cientific re,olution,
beginning with the disco,eries of Bepler and 9alileo, and culminating with >ewton5s
.hilosophiae >aturalis .rincipia Mathematica "1'8;), changed the way in which
educated people looked at the natural world.
Inventions
The mechanical and scientific in,entions that were disco,ered, studied and implemented
changed the way in which goods were produced and marketed. :or eAample, modern
machines in 6ritain sped up the manufacture of commodities such as cloth and iron. The
horse and oA were no longer needed as beasts of burden. The newly in,ented engine
powered the car, train, ship, and e,entually the plane, re,olutionizing the way people
tra,eled. +rtificially created energy powered any motor that dro,e any machine that was
in,ented. !aw goods could be transported in huge @uantities o,er ,ast distancesD products
could be manufactured @uickly and then marketed all o,er the world, a situation that
6ritain used to its ad,antage.
.rogress continued as 1cience saw so many new scientific disco,eries. The telephone,
radio, E&rays, microscopes, electricity all contributed to rapid changes in life&styles and
societies. 8isco,eries of antibiotics such as penicillin brought new ways of combating
diseases. 1urgery and medications kept on making progressi,e impro,ements in medical
care, hospitals, and nursing. >ew theories such as E,olution and .sychoanalysis changed
humanity5s -old fashioned- ,iews of itself.
Industry
+n 2ndustrial !e,olution initiated by mechanical automation of the manufacture of cotton
cloth and the use of steam engines, commenced in the 18th century in 9reat 6ritain,
followed in the 1<th century by a later series of de,elopments, which saw modern
systems of communication and transportation introduced in the form of steamships,
railroads and the telegraph. 2n the late 1<th century, a 1econd 2ndustrial !e,olution,
prompted by de,elopments in the chemical, petroleum, steel and electrical industries,
furthered transformed the modern world.
Warfare
3arfare was changed with the ad,ent of new ,arieties of rifle, cannon, gun, machine gun,
armor, tank, plane, Cet, and missile. 3eapons such as the atomic bomb and the hydrogen
bomb, known along with chemical weapons and biological weapons as weapons of mass
destruction, actually made the de,astation of the entire planet Earth possible in minutes.
+ll these are among the markings of the Modern 3orld.
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Culture
>ew attitudes towards religion, with the church diminished, and a desire for personal
freedoms, induced desires for seAual freedoms, which were ultimately accepted by large
sectors of the 3estern 3orld. Theories of -free lo,e- and uninhibited seA were touted by
radicals in the 1<'%s.
E@uality of the seAes in politics and economics, women5s liberation mo,ement, gay rights
for homoseAuals and the freedom afforded by contraception allowed for greater personal
choices in these intimate areas of personal life.
2n 2ndian culture, caste di,isions continued, but lost its affiliation with occupations, as
competiti,e eAams became uni,ersal.
The Arts
The Modern +ge, when used in reference to the arts, is the period from around the
beginning of the $%th century, up to the present day. 3hile some art may be described as
post&modern, in reality this is Cust a continuation of the characteristics of modern art.
Modern art is typified by self&awareness, and by the manipulation of form or medium as
an integral part of the work itself. 3hereas pre&modern "3estern) art merely sought to
represent a form of reality, modern art tends to encourage the audience to @uestion its
perceptions, and thereby the fundamental nature, of art itself. Bey mo,ements in modern
art include cubist painting, typified by .ablo .icasso, modernist literature such as that
written by Fames Foyce, Girginia 3oolf and 9ertrude 1tein, and the 5new poetry5 headed
by Ezra .ound and T. 1. Eliot.
Modern music saw the beginning of a fusion mo,ement of different styles and cultures.
Fohn 0oltrane for eAample fused Cazz with 0arnatic music to de,elop his album ndia.
El,is .resley popularized rock and roll, fusing country&western and blues.
Universality
The partisan use of the term -worldwide- gi,es tremendous emotional appeal, and is used
in ,arious countries not only by persons from professional historians to self&taught
curmudgeons but by political groups which want to impose their ,iew of reality upon
their countrymen and e,en the whole world. The easiest way to do this is to establish a
benchmark year and lea,e the particulars to specialists.
6ritainH The 9lorious !e,olution of 1'88 established a king selected by parliament,
ending the troubles in that country in the se,enteenth century. This was primarily done by
the faction called the 3higs, who used the term -modern- for generations thereafter to
gain credit. *ater generations and political parties did not consider this a sufficient
change to merit the term.
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:ranceH +lthough the :rench still glory in the magnificence of Bing *ouis E2G, the end
of his reign in 1;15 is considered by them as a handy spot from which to tout the neAt
phase of :rench glory, the Enlightenment, which they call I l5+ge des lumiJres K. 2n
other words, what happened in 6ritain does not concern them. +fter the :rench
!e,olution of 1;8<, they declared that the modern age had been surpassed by the
contemporary age.
!ussiaH 2t took some time for the European socialists to concei,e that the neAt great
re,olution would start someplace other than in :rance. 6ut the !ussians ha,e always
compared themsel,es to the :rench. +fter the ctober re,olution, the 0ommunist party
of the 1o,iet 4nion declared that the -modern age- began with .eter the 9reat and the
-contemporary age- began with this 6olshe,ik re,olution.
ther countries do not use the terms the same as the :rench and !ussians, especially if
their languages are non&2ndo&European. The Fapanese call the dynasties pre,ious to the
Tokugawa dynasty as medie,al, and the MeiCi !estoration of 1858 is considered
e@ui,alent to the :rench !e,olution of 1;8<, but ha,en5t assimilated a form of the word
modern for Tokugawa. +s for the Third 3orld, the ob,ious benchmarks are colonization
by European imperial powers and the subse@uent decolonization in the twentieth century.
6ut -modern- and -contemporary- are not used for this purpose.
The 4nited 1tates of +mericaH + seemingly natural di,iding point as far as 1pain and the
new world are concerned is the ,oyage of 0olumbus in 1#<$. 6ut the need for such an
undertaking was underscored by the taking of 0onstantinople by the ttoman Empire of
the Turks in 1#5(, so historians once took this as their benchmark.
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