19th century

The 19th century was a time of dramatic change for Europe, where countries took the path undergoing imperialism to settle their cravings for power. Nationalism was also something important that developed in the 19th century. Countries under distress and scattered were ones who developed nationalism, to unify their country and gain power once again. Germany plays a big role in the 19th century for their strong belief of nationalism. After the French impearialized Germany they felt the sense to rebuild what was lost and restore order. More over to the unification of Italy and how it restored order undergoing the belief of nationalism, which later grows in to militarism. With Italy restoring its power and becoming a whole nation once again, it started to tie in with the balance of power and cause tensions between nation. where militarism takes place is the wars Italy fought during its unification. Other nations such as Great Britian were undergone in impearilizing China. Great Britian used China for its natural resources. Major wars were fought between the nations such as the opium wars which were fought over the drug opium and the people of China who were addicted to the drug. China demaded that there were to be no more shipments of opium from Great Britian to China, this started the war. The Crimean penninsula which is the heart of the Balkins took a fall during the 19th century also. With the Balkins falling economically due to high imports and low exports this led to the fall of the Ottoman empire. The Congress of Vienna also played a large role in the 19th century. The idea of the Congress of Vienna was to create new national borders in Europe. The borders were required due to the previous borders were altered by Napoleon. The major start off to the 19th century was the French Revolution. The French Revolution set a basic political system that other countries around it and in the future could grow off. It also led to the distress and break up of Germany. The Greeks were also a country who had to gain their independence which was from the Ottoman empire at the time who they were ruled by for 400 years. They fought from 1821 to 1831 and gained independence in 1829 on March 25.

With putting the major political aspects of the 19th century aside we can move on to things such as the Industrial Revolution, which ties in with almost everything that has happened in the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution in this time gave power to countries in many ways, with the growth of new technology such as the steam boat and rail roads. Such changes allowed countries to ship more goods. The growth in money in ones country is what leads to the growth in population, and population was the key to a powerful nation economically and politically. The key concept of the Industrial Revolution was that it caused to growth in population which led to nationalism which soon to came was the birth of militarism. The Irish Potato Famine(1845-1851) was a large event in the 19th century, which led to the death of over a million people of Europe and caused another million to emigrate away. It started in Ireland and killed around 750,000 citizens. This affected economically, because it left open jobs for the living.

Religion also plays a role in the 19th century, dealing with the influence of the French Revolution. This is also where the Age of Enlightenment comes into play with the sense of change in philosophers opinions. With the conservatives tring to keep order and countries breaking away from the traditional ways, religion was soon to fall.Philosophers such as Fredrich Nietzsche was one who wanted to break from religion with hiis phrase "God is dead". Even art in this time was for new reasons besides religion with the idea of Romanticism, which was art that showed the true view nature and its beauty. This is what almost all art was based on in the 19th century with the famous movement known as the Post-Romantic era(1890-1910). The idea of this movement was to bring back the passion in earth with its beauty and sensuality, it also characterized the meaning of humandaily life. Another Thing that effected art in the 19th century was Richard Wagner who was a music theorist and a producer of many great opereas.

The 19th century also deals with changes socially, with the birth of Social Darwinism. Charles Darwins theory on evolution and race is expressed in the way that only the superior will remain in existance while the poor and weak fade away and die off. Other philosophers in this time such as Fredrich Nietzsche who promoted the idea of racism in this time. Another major social struggle during the 19th century was Feminism. The whole idea of Feminism was to give females their political rights and have a say in government. Feminism was to thought out to be started in the Age of Enlightenment when Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. The book took time to focus on equal education and how boys and girls should have equal rights toward their education. Another aspect of the book was to give women to work in society as men do, not just at home. This is most of which Mary Wollstonecraft
argueed for. Other important people that demanded social change were Karl Marx who wished for a classless society. To achieve his goal he demanded that the government was to own all property so people were to all be paid equally.

The 19th century also took in the concept of education. The whole idea of a well educated country was that it would lead to the modernization of that country. People of the country would soon come out with new ideas and technology. Another key concept of a well educated country was to promote nationalism so that the people of their country would serve in extreme ways. Knowledege that was gained was Sigmund Freuds discoveries of the unconscious mind.

With Much change the 19th century was a significant time for Europe, with the modernization of countries economically and politically. Europe in this time broke away from traditional times and developed the ideas of nationalism, militarism and impearialism.