Modern history facts for kids
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Modern history is the history of the world beginning after the Middle Ages. Generally the term "modern history" refers to the history of the world since the advent of the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
- The Early Modern Times lasted from the end of the 15th century to the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 18th century, circa 1450/92 to 1750/92.
- Modern Times are the period from Enlightenment and the 18th century until today.
- Modernity, based on Modernism, explores the changes of society due to the industrialization.
- Postmodernity, Postindustrialism are theories to apply the art movement term of postmodernism (below) to social and cultural history, or to refer to the change of the industrial society during the past fifty years when the industry was no longer the most predominant basis of economy and society; the prefix "post-" implies a reaction to modernity and in that sense does not cover all contemporary history.
The modern period has been a time of many advances in science, politics, warfare, and technology, and globalization. During this time that the European powers began a political, economic, and cultural beginning to the world.
Contents
Late 15th to early 18th century
- Further information: 16th century and 17th century
This period is also called the early modern period. This time was a time where the Europeans found the New world and began colonizing it. It also saw trade with China and other Eastern Asian cultures.
- Discovery of America (1492): Age of Discovery.
- Gutenberg's moveable type printing press (1450s): information age and newspapers.
Within the early modern period, some events shaped the world immensely:
- Martin Luther challenges the Church on 31 October 1517 with the 95 Theses: Reformation.
- Fall of the Spanish Armada 8 August 1588 enabled the Rise of the British Empire
- Thirty Years' War 1618-1648 in Central Europe decimated the population by up to 20%.
- The treaties of the Peace of Westphalia are signed in 1648, which ended several wars in Europe and established the beginning of sovereign states.
- Treaty of Utrecht marked the change from Spanish to British naval supremacy.
- Louis XIV, "roi soleil".
Industrial Revolution
This period saw advances in industrial technology. Industries were beginning to make clothes, armaments, and other useful tools people need. This industrial revolution began the modern world as we know it.
- Inventions of the Steam engine (1764) and Spinning Jenny (1769), one of the peak events influencing Romanticism.
- Rejection of monarchy and absolutism: Declaration of Independence by the British Colonies in America, then USA, 1776, influencing the French Revolution of 1789.
Napoleonic era
The Napoleonic era is a period in the History of France and Europe. It is also known as the fourth stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory. The Napoleonic era begins roughly with Napoleon's coup d'état, overthrowing the Directory. It ends at the Hundred Days and his defeat by the alliance of several nations at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
19th century
The 19th Century is a time in history from 1815 to 1914
During this century, the Spanish, Portuguese, and Ottoman Holy Roman and Mughal empires start to die
Following the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire became the world's leading power, controlling one quarter of the World's population and one third of the land area. It helped trade, and battled piracy. This time also sees the first lightbulb, Cars, railways, airplanes, printing press and other inventions
20th century
The 20th century was a time in which advancements in technology and medicine changed peoples way of life. Some advancements were in space exploration, nuclear technology, genetics, and the beginning of the information age.
This was also a time of the two world wars (World War I, World War II), the outbreak of Spanish Influenza, the Cold War, and the decolonisation of many parts of the world.
Related pages
Images for kids
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John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia
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North America 1797
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American westward expansion is idealized in Emanuel Leutze's famous painting Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way (1861).
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Xinhai Revolution in Shanghai; Chen Qimei organized Shanghainese civilians to start the uprising and was successful. The picture above is Nanjing Road after the uprising, hung with the Five Races Under One Union Flags then used by the revolutionaries.
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The Communist Manifesto
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With Sino-German cooperation until 1941, Chinese industry and military was improved just prior to the war against Japan.
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The Blue Marble, a photograph of Earth as seen from Apollo 17. The second half of the 20th century saw an increase of interest in both space exploration and the environmental movement.
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European trade blocs as of the late 1980s. EEC member states are marked in blue, EFTA – green, and Comecon – red.
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This high-resolution image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field includes galaxies of various ages, sizes, shapes, and colors. The smallest, reddest galaxies, are some of the most distant galaxies to have been imaged by an optical telescope
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Countries in the Americas by date of independence. Note that the United States did not complete its continental territorial expansion until 1867
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Development of Spanish American Independence
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Map of territories that became independent during those wars (blue).
See also
In Spanish: Edad Moderna para niños
