Industrial Revolution

Industrialization has always been a good topic of discussion. There is always the question of whether it was the best decision for our country or not. Mahatma Gandhi stated, "Industrialization, I'm afraid, is going to be a curse for mankind...". I don't know where I stand in this debate, I guess you could say I'm neutral. I think there are both ups and downs to how fast our country evolved. One good thing is that it brought our country more efficient ways of life and made things easier on people. Things such as tractors and plows made growing crops easier on farmers. In some countries today, farmers use humans to pull plows because they aren't modernized. Also trains and steam engined provided a much more efficient way  of transporting things across the country.
   Though a lot of good came out of the revolution it also brought some negatives. There were a lot more jobs to give out but some of them were dangerous. Things such as coal mining and factory working caused great danger to ones health. Coal mining could get you sick very easily and with working in a factory you always risk injury from getting caught in one of the machines. Another down side is the hygiene and how unsanitary the city was. The industry boomed so quickly, the city didn't have time to prepare for the amount of people it would bring. People working in the city often lived in cramped apartments with multiple people, sometimes with no bathrooms. They would use a bucket if they didn't want to walk to the nearest bathroom. There was no trash or recycling man so trash filled the streets. It took a good amount of time for the city to adjust to the boom. The revolution shaped big cities all around the world into what they are today. It was good, it was bad, it changed us.

Revolutions and Slavery

Throughout this chapter I have noticed how one revolution seems to echo off of another. The French Revolution echoed off the North American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution echoed off the French, and the Spanish American echoed after all three. What was so intriguing about the Haitian Revolution was that it was one of the richest colonies in the world. It produced about 40% of the worlds sugar and half of its coffee. With all these plantations they had a lot of slaves, about 500,000. But what's interesting is that even with slaves there were about 30,000 gens de couleur libres, which are free colored people. Their revolution was about slavery, to free slaves or keep the system. The French sided with the slaves and declared an end to slavery as well as burning 1000 plantations and killing hundreds of whites. It was soon an interracial war. From this is where we got the Louisiana Purchase.
     After these revolutions many different movements started taking off worldwide: The abolition of slavery, nations taking in nationalism, and women's right. Nationalism brought countries to unite but also forced dissatisfied ones to revolt. Overall it did more good than evil.

The French Revolution

The French Revolution took place from 1789 till 1815. It was considered to be Act Two of the drama in the Atlantic Revolutions. Considering that the American Revolution was Act One of the drama I found it interesting that US and France teamed up in an effort to overpower Britain. Thomas Jefferson stated that France "has been awakened by our revolution". France was falling into bankruptcy in the struggle so king Louis XVI was called into session an ancient parliamentary body consisting of 3 estates: the clergy, the nobility and the commoners. The clergy and nobility consisted of 2% of the population and the commoners 98%. Shortly after this was established the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was drawn up declaring that "men are born and remain free and equal in rights".
    The French and American Revolutions differed a lot in how they let influence spread. Once Napoleon took over a lot of things changed for France. He is given credit for taming the revolution and all of its social conflicts it generated. He managed to preserve civil equality, a secular law code, religious freedoms and promotion by merit. Napoleon's intent was to spread these benefits far and wide. Many people followed in his footsteps. He saved France from Britain and should be considered a hero.

The American Revolution

     The French Revolution was considered to be the "centerpiece" and starting point for the Atlantic Revolutions. The Haitians followed them with the first successful slave revolt in history. These were only two of the many Revolts and Revolutions made in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. All of the Revolutions were said to have shaped most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
     The North American Revolution took place from 1775-1787. In simple terms, it was a struggle for Independence from British rule. The Declaration of Independence started the struggle, followed by a military victory in 1781. Even with gaining independence, British soldiers still held a tight reign on the thirteen colonies. Britain began to get power hungry, imposing new taxes and tariffs on the colonies with no consent from them whatsoever. Even with the long struggle, we were still yet to be fully independent from the Brits.

The Big Picture

The modern revoltuion between 1750 and 1940 has guided human behavior for centuries and beyond. It has improved notions of progress, constitutional government, political democracy. socialism, nationalism, feminism and opposition of slavery. The modern era was a worldwide thing and affected everyone it in. Another theme in this extended 19th century was the growing ability of these modern societies to exercise enormous power and influence over the rest of human kind. In small regions this affected economic penetration, military intervention, diplomatic pressure and missionary activity.
    I also took a look at the chart on pages 496 and 497. I found it very interesting that almost every continent had a revolution between the years 1775-1800. Also between 1800 and 1850 every continent was either getting invaded or having some sort of war. This seemed to be a period of great violence. It seems that once the fighting was over, unification and progress was made in various countries. There was a unification of Italy and Germany, Mexico established a girls school, Cuba and Brazil abolish slavery and the Ottoman constitution was established. What is most interesting to me is the fact that after all this change, war broke back out in the 20th century. WW1 broke out as well as the Spanish-American War, Mexican Revolution, Chinese Revolution, Russo-Japanese War and Boer War in South Africa.
    

Religion and Science Pt 2

When finishing the science and religion chapter I found the section about Science and Enlightenment to be most interesting. During the Enlightenment there seemed to be a new level of knowledge which everyone wasn't comfortable with. Large numbers of people believed that the long-term outcome of the revolution would be "enlightenment". If human reason could control the universe, it could uncover ways where humankind could govern itself more effectively.
    The Enlightenment was described as "a mans emergence from his self-imposed inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance' by Immanuel Kant. The age of the Enlightenment also witnessed a reaction against too much reliance on human reason. It was challenged not only by romanticism and religious enthusiasm but also by the continued development of science.

Religion and Science

In the section Globalization of Christianity, it talks a lot about the expansion of the Christian religion. The religion spread from Spain and England to Russia, all the way down to Egypt, Ethiopia and Southern India. There was also a chart on pg 464 which showed great differences between Catholics and Protestants. One difference I found to be the most interesting was the religious authority. Catholics have the pope and church hierarchy, where the Protestants used the Bible as their leader. Another bid difference between the two is their form of prayer. The Catholics pray to god but through Mary and the Saints. The Protestants also pray to god but Mary and the saints play no role.

     With Catholicism and Christianity conversion played a big role. Followers were encouraged to spread their religion globally. Christian faith spread into Spanish America in countries such as Mexico, Spain and other Spanish colonies. With many other religions conversion wasn't important, they were fine keeping their religions in set countries such as India and China.