Europe Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===18th and 19th centuries=== {{Main|Modern history}} {{See also|Industrial Revolution|French Revolution|Age of Enlightenment}} [[File:Europe 1815 map en.png|thumb|The national boundaries within Europe set by the [[Congress of Vienna]]]] The [[Seven Years' War]] brought to an end the [[Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg)|"Old System" of alliances in Europe]]. Consequently, when the [[American Revolutionary War]] turned into a global war between 1778 and 1783, Britain found itself opposed by a strong coalition of European powers, and lacking any substantial ally.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=2144276 |title=The American Revolution as an Aftermath of the Great War for the Empire, 1754–1763 |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=86–104 |last1=Gipson |first1=Lawrence Henry |year=1950 |doi=10.2307/2144276}}</ref> The Age of Enlightenment was a powerful intellectual movement during the 18th century promoting scientific and reason-based thoughts.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Goldie |first1=Mark |title=The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought |last2=Wokler |first2=Robert |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-37422-4 |author-link2=Robert Wokler}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cassirer |first=Ernst |url=https://archive.org/details/philosophyofenli0000cass_u2f3 |title=The Philosophy of the Enlightenment |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-691-01963-5 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 255">National Geographic, 255.</ref> Discontent with the aristocracy and clergy's monopoly on political power in France resulted in the French Revolution, and the establishment of the [[French First Republic|First Republic]] as a result of which the monarchy and many of the nobility perished during the initial [[Reign of Terror|reign of terror]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schama|first=Simon|author-link=Simon Schama|publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]]|title=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution|year=1989|isbn=978-0-394-55948-3|title-link=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution}}</ref> [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]] rose to power in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and established the [[First French Empire]] that, during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], grew to encompass large parts of Europe before collapsing in 1815 with the [[Battle of Waterloo]].<ref name="natgeo 360">National Geographic, 360.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=McEvedy|first=Colin|title=The Penguin Atlas of Modern History|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1972|isbn=978-0-14-051153-6}}</ref> [[Napoleonic Empire|Napoleonic rule]] resulted in the further dissemination of the ideals of the French Revolution, including that of the [[nation state]], as well as the widespread adoption of the French models of [[centralised government|administration]], [[Napoleonic code|law]] and [[Education in France|education]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lyons|first=Martyn|publisher= [[St. Martin's Press]]|year= 1994|isbn=978-0-312-12123-5|title=Napoleon Bonaparte and the legacy of the French Revolution}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Grab|first=Alexander|title=Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe (European History in Perspective) |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan|year=2003|isbn=978-0-333-68275-3}}</ref><ref name="natgeo 350">National Geographic, 350.</ref> The [[Congress of Vienna]], convened after Napoleon's downfall, established a new [[balance of power (international relations)|balance of power]] in Europe centred on the five "[[Great Power]]s": the UK, France, [[Prussia]], [[Austrian Empire|Austria]] and Russia.<ref name="natgeo 367">National Geographic, 367.</ref> This balance would remain in place until the [[Revolutions of 1848]], during which liberal uprisings affected all of Europe except for Russia and the UK. These revolutions were eventually put down by conservative elements and few reforms resulted.<ref name="natgeo 371">National Geographic, 371–373.</ref> The year 1859 saw the unification of Romania, as a nation state, from smaller principalities. In 1867, the [[Austro-Hungarian empire]] was [[Ausgleich|formed]]; 1871 saw the unifications of both [[Italian unification|Italy]] and [[Unification of Germany|Germany]] as nation-states from smaller principalities.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Davies|first=Norman|title=Europe: A History|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0-19-820171-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0}}</ref> In parallel, the [[Eastern Question]] grew more complex ever since the Ottoman defeat in the [[Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)]]. As the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire seemed imminent, the [[Great Power]]s struggled to safeguard their strategic and commercial interests in the Ottoman domains. The [[Russian Empire]] stood to benefit from the decline, whereas the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Empire]] and [[United Kingdom|Britain]] perceived the preservation of the Ottoman Empire to be in their best interests. Meanwhile, the [[Serbian Revolution]] (1804) and [[Greek War of Independence]] (1821) marked the beginning of the end of Ottoman rule in the [[Balkans]], which ended with the [[Balkan Wars]] in 1912–1913.<ref>[http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=3044&HistoryID=ac79] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126020326/http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=3044&HistoryID=ac79|date=26 January 2022}}, ''Ottoman Empire – 19th century'', Historyworld</ref> Formal recognition of the ''de facto'' independent principalities of [[Montenegro]], [[Principality of Serbia|Serbia]] and [[Romania]] ensued at the [[Congress of Berlin]] in 1878. [[File:Marshall's flax-mill, Holbeck, Leeds - interior - c.1800.jpg|thumb|Marshall's [[Temple Works]] (1840); the [[Industrial Revolution]] started in [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]].]] The [[Industrial Revolution]] started in [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] in the last part of the 18th century and spread throughout Europe. The invention and implementation of new technologies resulted in rapid urban growth, mass employment and the rise of a new working class.<ref>{{Cite book|first=George Macaulay|last=Trevelyan|title=A shortened history of England|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1988|isbn=978-0-14-010241-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/shortenedhistory00geor}}</ref> Reforms in social and economic spheres followed, including the [[Factory Acts|first laws]] on [[child labour]], the legalisation of [[trade union]]s,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Webb|first=Sidney | title=History of Trade Unionism | publisher= AMS Press | year=1976 | isbn=978-0-404-06885-1}}</ref> and the [[abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolition of slavery]].<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24160 Slavery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016025606/http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24160 |date=16 October 2014 }}, ''Historical survey – Ways of ending slavery'', Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> In Britain, the [[Public Health Act of 1875]] was passed, which significantly improved living conditions in many British cities.<ref>{{Cite book|first=George Macaulay|last=Trevelyan|title=English Social History|publisher=Longmans, Green|year=1942}}</ref> Europe's population increased from about 100 million in 1700 to 400 million by 1900.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/387301/modernisation/12022/Population-change Modernisation – Population Change] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730041936/https://www.britannica.com/topic/modernization |date=30 July 2022 }}. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref> The last major famine recorded in Western Europe, the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine of Ireland]], caused death and mass emigration of millions of Irish people.<ref>"[https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_01.shtml The Irish Famine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109095015/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_01.shtml |date=2019-11-09 }}". BBC – History.</ref> In the 19th century, 70 million people left Europe in migrations to various European colonies abroad and to the United States.<ref>[http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=1118_0_5_0 The Atlantic: Can the US afford immigration?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704173521/http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=1118_0_5_0 |date=4 July 2010 }}. ''Migration News''. December 1996.</ref> The industrial revolution also led to large population growth, and the {{not typo|[[Demographics of the world#Shares of world population, AD 1–1998 (% of world total)|share of the world population living in Europe]]}} reached a peak of slightly above 25% around the year 1913.<ref name="ggdc.net">{{cite web|url=http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/other_books/appendix_B.pdf|title=Growth of World Population, GDP and GDP Per Capita before 1820|author=Maddison|website=[[University of Groningen]]|date=27 July 2016 }}</ref><ref name="World Population Growth, 1950–2050">[http://www.prb.org/Educators/TeachersGuides/HumanPopulation/PopulationGrowth.aspx?p=1 World Population Growth, 1950–2050]. Population Reference Bureau. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722202806/http://www.prb.org/Educators/TeachersGuides/HumanPopulation/PopulationGrowth.aspx?p=1 |date=22 July 2013 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page