Ukraine 9 клас World History

1. Introduction: the modern era

The 'long' 19th century

• Periodisation: How Historians Divide Time into Periods – Periodisation means cutting the long line of time into named periods so we can study it. Years are counted BCE (before) and CE (after) year 1, and grouped into centuries. A common scheme has four great periods: Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the early modern period and the modern/contemporary period, separated by turning points such as 476, 1453 or 1492, and 1789. Other schemes use dynasties, technology ages or regional divisions. Periods are useful tools chosen by historians, not natural facts.

2. Europe in the era of the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars

French Revolution · Napoleonic era

Coming soon

3. Europe and USA 1815–1870

Industrial revolution in Western Europe · Politics and national ideas · USA: Civil War

• The Age of Industrialisation – Before factories, merchants gave raw material to peasant families who spun and wove at home (proto-industrialisation). From the 1760s Britain built cotton mills, machines like the spinning jenny and James Watt's improved steam engine. Change was slow: hand labour stayed cheap and common. In India, weavers once supplied world markets; the East India Company controlled them through gomasthas, and Manchester cloth later flooded India. From 1854 Indian mills grew in Bombay and elsewhere, and small workshops also grew. Makers sold goods through labels, calendars and adverts, and swadeshi adverts appealed to national pride.
• The Rise of Nationalism in Europe – Before 1789, Europe was split into many kingdoms and people were loyal to a king. The French Revolution said power belongs to the people, who form one nation. Napoleon spread equal laws. After 1815 kings came back, but liberals, romantic writers and hungry common people pushed for nation-states in 1830 and 1848. Germany (1871) and Italy (1861) were built by joining many small states. Nations were shown as women figures like Marianne and Germania. By 1914, nationalism mixed with imperial rivalry, and the Balkans tension led to the First World War.
• The American Civil War and Reconstruction (1845–1877) – Between 1845 and 1877 the United States grew west, split over slavery, fought a civil war and then tried to rebuild. The North had factories and free labour; the South grew cotton with about 4 million enslaved people. New western land raised one question again and again: would new states allow slavery? Compromises (1820, 1850) failed, and after Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election, 11 Southern states left the Union. The war (1861–65) killed about 620,000 soldiers. The North won with more people, factories and railways, and slavery was ended by the 13th Amendment. Reconstruction (1865–77) gave citizenship and the vote to Black men, but when federal troops left in 1877, many of these rights were taken away for almost a century.

4. Modernisation in Europe and USA, late 19th – early 20th c.

Industrial society · Leading states · 'Awakening of Asia'

• The Industrial Revolution: Causes, Effects and Reform (1760–1914) – Between about 1760 and 1914 work moved from hand tools at home to machines in factories. A first wave (about 1760–1840) began in Britain with coal, iron, steam power and cotton mills. A second wave (about 1870–1914) brought steel, electricity, chemicals and oil, and spread to Western Europe, the United States, Japan and Russia. Towns grew fast; workers faced long hours, child labour and dirty housing. Workers organised in unions, new ideas (liberalism, socialism, conservatism) argued about what to do, and governments slowly passed factory, health and voting reforms.
• Paths to Modernisation: Japan, China and Korea – Japan, China and Korea all became modern, but by different paths. Japan, opened by US ships in 1853, began the Meiji reforms in 1868: railways, factories, schools and a strong army under the emperor. It then grew into an empire, fought the Second World War and was defeated in 1945. Under US occupation it got a peaceful constitution and rebuilt into a rich country (1964 Olympics). China ended the rule of emperors in 1911 under Sun Yat-sen; after years of civil war and Japanese invasion Mao's Communist Party won in 1949. Mao's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution hurt the economy. From 1978 Deng Xiaoping opened markets under the Four Modernisations, and China grew fast. Korea was a Japanese colony (1910–45), was split in two and suffered a war (1950–53); South Korea then grew through export factories and became a democracy in 1987.
• Asian Civilisations: Persia, India, China and Japan (1500–1900) – Between 1500 and 1800 four Asian lands were strong and rich: Safavid Persia, Mughal India, Ming and Qing China, and Tokugawa Japan. Each had its own faith, art and rulers. European traders arrived; India and Persia stayed open, China allowed one port, and Japan closed its doors. In the late 1800s Asia awoke: Japan modernised fast under the Meiji, and Persia, India and China began reform and freedom movements.

5. International relations, late 19th – early 20th c.

Alliances and crises

• Imperialism: Why Empires Grew and How People Resisted – Imperialism is when a powerful state takes control over other lands and peoples, by war, treaties or money. Colonialism is one form: ruling a colony directly. Between about 1870 and 1914 ('New Imperialism') industrial powers raced for colonies in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. They wanted raw materials, markets, places to invest, ports and prestige, and excused it with racist ideas. Control grew from trading posts to unequal treaties to full colonies. The colonies were drained: raw materials left cheap, factory goods came back, local industry fell. People resisted with revolts, reforms and mass movements, and most colonies were free by the 1970s. The borders and inequalities left behind still shape the world.

6. Culture and everyday life, late 18th – early 20th c.

Culture, science and daily life

• Cultural History: How People's Ideas, Arts and Ways of Life Change – Cultural history is the part of history that studies how people thought, believed, created and lived, not only what kings and armies did. It looks at four pillars: beliefs and religion, arts (literature, music, painting, buildings), knowledge (education, science, technology) and daily life (food, clothing, family, festivals, leisure). Historians use sources such as objects, buildings, books, paintings and letters. Culture changes when ideas are exchanged along trade routes and through travel, missions and migration, as with paper, numerals and faiths. New technologies like printing, newspapers, radio and the internet made knowledge spread faster, and mass schooling raised world literacy from about 12% in 1820 to about 87% today. In every country the same pattern repeats: national schools, universities, science societies, writers and artists shape a people's identity.

7. Conclusion

The 'long' 19th century in history

• Periodisation: How Historians Divide Time into Periods – Periodisation means cutting the long line of time into named periods so we can study it. Years are counted BCE (before) and CE (after) year 1, and grouped into centuries. A common scheme has four great periods: Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the early modern period and the modern/contemporary period, separated by turning points such as 476, 1453 or 1492, and 1789. Other schemes use dynasties, technology ages or regional divisions. Periods are useful tools chosen by historians, not natural facts.