History of the world

History of Australia

The 16th Century

The 17th century

The 18th century

The 20th century - 1st quarter

The 20th century - 2nd quarter

The 20th century - 3rd quarter

The 20th century - 4th quarter

The 21st century

History of religion

History of Western Philosophy

History of Music

although Europe was dominated by Napoleon 1800-14, France was unable to defeat the British who would dominate the century as the strongest empire due to its maritime strengths.

Britain by winning its wars with Portugal & France in the 18th and early 19thC, had managed to drive them out of India & acquire colonies.

the British were rewarded with gigantic new markets for their goods, the making of huge fortunes in foreign trade became 1st possible, then easy.

the staple of British trade was textile manufacture & it was not long before demand for woven goods became greater than spinners & weavers could supply, thus drove the invention of mechanised industry starting with the spinning machine in 1770, then the power loom & by 1825, the cost of weaving fell so low that the hand-weaver could no longer earn sufficient money, thus whenever a trade was mechanised, the domestic worker was undersold & starved out and had no recourse but to work in a factory. 

Austro-Hungarian, Russian & the Ottoman empires dominate the Balkan region, resulting in conflicts with each other and with desire for national independence of the Greeks, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Hungary, Italy, Germany, culminating in the revolutions of 1848 which abolished serfdom in the Hapsburg Empire & although were followed by cynicism & opportunism & use of armed force to settle grievances (eg. Bismarck's age of “blood & iron”), eventually led to Germany & Italy becoming united countries in 1871

the electro-magnetic telegraph patented by Cooke & Wheatstone in 1837 was used for signalling on the Great Western Railway in 1838.

the first public line was established in 1844 & the 1st telegraph company formed in 1847.

the 1st successful submarine cable was laid in 1851 & allowed for the 1st time, prices of stocks in Paris to be known on the London stock market in business hours.

between 1850-70, the telegraph system was extended all over England & in 1872, the Post Office took over telegraphs & made them popular. By the late 1870's cables connected most developed countries of the world including India!

in 1876, Bell had invented the telephone & the 1st telephone exchange was established in 1879, but popularity of the telephone was dependent on number of people able to be contacted on it, & thus widespread adoption was slow.

in 1897, wireless telegraphy was invented & was used when the Titanic sank to send an SOS message, & dramatically change naval warfare.

whilst being a driver for a new wave of industrialisation & economic growth and a new Kondratieff economic wave, it practically destroyed the canal system in England as well as the English Inn for the weary road traveller, which were not to be revived again until the early 20thC with the advent of bicycles & cars.

provided England with a virtual monopoly in engineering - railways, bridges, steamships & created a stimulus for metallurgy & mining with production of iron & coal in 1882 being 5-6 times that in 1840.

allowed factories to be set up distant from the mines ⇒ accelerated urbanisation of people

allowed expansion into remote areas (eg. wheat belt in mid-West USA & Canada)

allowed British middle class to take families on annual holidays to the sea

allowed Londoners to travel to the countryside to enjoy summer evenings

allowed the development of an affordable postal system & thus the first stamps in 1840

allowed increasing migration from England to America

the industrialisation brought urbanisation, over-crowding & separation of the rich from the poor, so that no longer did the rich feel they were obliged to give hand-outs to the poor, who suffered in offensive conditions with exceedingly high mortality rates

state funded education in many countries

medical therapies, microbiology, pathology, organic chemistry, surgery, anaesthetics; genetics;

concrete; metallurgy; steel; railroads; electricity; electric machines;

telegraph; photography;

impressionism

art nouveau

classical music, ballet

Charles Dickens, Bronte sisters, Oscar Wilde, Dostoevsky, Zola

established the Bank of France & centralised taxation

Napoleon who had gained control of most of Europe, sends 685,000 men and 250,000 horses to invade Russia after Russia had ended its alliance in 1810 due to the commercial crisis of Europe; His men were forced into a winter retreat leaving only 10,000 men capable of combat; Despite a well planned invasion in June, they soon encountered wet weather which made the muddy Lithuanian roads practically impassable and the resultant inability for wagons to keep up and supply food, water and fodder, within a week and before any fighting, thousands of horses had died while the soldiers caught typhus from lice and dysentery from the contaminated waters and most were left behind to die or be captured, and unlike the fertile lands in Germany and Italy, the army could not live off the land. Napoleon was forced to march his men 30-40km a day in summer heat to try to catch the Russian army before they got too deep into Russia , and exhausted soldiers collapsed and were left behind to die and increasingly desertions began. By mid July the army had advanced nearly 300km into Russia and not yet fort a major battle but had already lost over 130,000 men. But the two Russian armies continued to retreat, burning food stores, poisoned wells and drove cattle with them as they retreated. By end of July, with only 200,000 left of his main 450,000 soldiers, Napoleon had reached Vitebsk and seriously considered abandoning the invasion or over-winter in Vitebsk but this would show weakness and risk revolts of his conquered countries, and give Russia a year to rebuild and further prepare. Napoleon decided to continue and by mid August at the fortified town of Smolensk finally caught up with the Barclay's Russian army before they had united with the other army. Napoleon lay seige to Smolensk and burnt it to the ground but not before most of Barclay's army had escaped and the two Russian armies were now united and retreating towards Moscow. By early Sept, Napoleon's main central force of 450,000 was now reduced to 160,000 troops and the horses were very weak. On the 5th Sept, the united Russian army numbering 135,000 finally were making preparations for a fight and creating fortifications near the village of Borodino, 125km west of Moscow, and Napoleon decided, even though his troops were weakened, he still had over 500 cannons to Russia's 18 giant cannons and other cannons and a battle now was his best chance of victory and ability to take Moscow. After the bloodiest day of fighting of the Napoleonic wars in which both sides lost enormous numbers (Napoleon lost 30,000 and Russia lost 45,000), Napoleon failed to deliver the decisive blow by refusing to allow his 20,000 Imperial Force soldiers to enter the fray - the remains of the Russian army would thus be able to retreat towards Moscow relatively intact, and although technically, Napoleon now held the battlefield and claimed victory, although his army was further depleted and the Russian army had not surrendered. On the 14th Sept, his advance guard reached a deserted undefended Moscow with the fire pumps, arms and grain removed and Napoleon and his army occupied Moscow awaiting a surrender from Russia as was the usual case when an army took a capital. Instead, that night the released Russian prisoners on order, managed to set fire to Moscow and the French were unable to fight the fires which burned for 3 days and burnt 75% of the city. There was not enough food and supplies to sustain Napoleon's 100,000 men more than 3 weeks, most horses dead or dying. Napoleon remained hoping the Tsar would respond to his various letters offering peace treaty, but none were responded to. By mid-Oct, snow was falling, supplies nearly exhausted, disease was spreading. On 18th Oct, Russian forces attacked a small French outpost south of Moscow signalling they were preparing to attack Moscow. The next day, Napoleon ordered a retreat realising that the 1000km of roads back would soon be cut by snow and the Russians, hoping to over-winter in friendly territory in Smolensk. But on the 5th day of their retreat, they again met Russian forces and although they held ground, they lost a further 5000 troops. Napoleon was now forced to retreat back the way they had come - along a route with no options for supplies. Snow started falling and temperatures plummeted but the French soldiers had replaced their warm clothing, boots and field rations in their packs with gold and loot from Moscow. The lack of fodder meant the horses died faster than the men who died from frostbite and hypothermia, and each dead horse was abandoned wagon of supplies, artillery and ammunitions. The Cossacks picked off stragglers forcing soldiers to march faster to exhaustion while Russian peasant partisans joined in to attack the now disorganised and desperate French troops who finally reached Smolensk on Nov 9th but the depot's supplies were largely empty. The French had to retreat from Smolensk 4 days later as Russian forces were closing in. By mid Nov, continued hypothermia and attacks by Cossacks reduced the French army to 40,000 plus another 40,000 non-military who had followed the army, but who had become trapped by an impassable river which the Russians had destroyed the bridges and were closing in with their armies, but miraculously they were able to avoid annihilation thanks to 400 Dutch engineers who were able to construct two narrow bridges across the Berezina near Studianka and re-construct them as the Russians continued attacks over several days allowing 50,000 to cross. Napoleon ordered the bridges to be burnt to prevent Russian forces pursuing them leaving much of the non-military stranded. On Dec 5th, Napoleon left the army on a sleigh on the grounds of a rumour of a coup in Paris. On Dec 14th, the survivors crossed the Neimen River back into Poland - fewer than 10,000 organised soldiers, plus 30,000 starving, frostbitten, diseased casualties.

in the Balkans, with desire for the Serbs, Croats & Slovenes to form a nation Jugoslavia (southern slavs), but was crushed by Vienna;

in Germany & Italy

Paris sewers begun after cholera outbreak of 1848

Cavour, the Prime Minister of Piedmont, builds his state up as a magnet to attract other Italian states, & by 1859, had formed a north Italian kingdom.

British start using the Red Sea route to India (and thus allowing British women to travel to India) rather than sail around Cape of Good Hope.

Turkey, then an under-prepared Britain & France declare war on Russia with Austria remaining neutral but becoming an enemy of Russia for doing so; 

Russian forces worn down in the Crimea in 1855 & the new Russian Tsar Alexander II sued for peace;

1841, 'Lower Canada' (an extended, predominantly French-speaking Quebec) and 'Upper Canada' (now Ontario) unite;

1867, British Nth America Act establishes Dominion of Canada with union of  'Lower Canada', 'Upper Canada', Nova Scotia & New Brunswick

1870, Red River settlement (Manitoba) joins Canada

1871, the joined colonies of Vancouver Is & British Columbia join Canada

1873, Prince Edward Is joins Canada

1905, Saskatchewan &  Alberta join Canada

1825: development of university fraternities and sororities esp. in America eg. Kappa Alpha Society founded 1825

1835-6: Battle of Alamo - Federalist Ben Milam led Texian and Tejano volunteers against the centralist Mexican troops quartered in the city and took control but then had to defend it against Santa Anna's army. Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee, but the heroic efforts of the nearly 200 could not stop Santa Anna regaining control. The battle became a symbol of the struggle for freedom against over-whelming odds and played a critical role in the Texas Revolution which effectively ended when General Houston defeated Santa Anna's army near the present day city of Houston in April 1836. The officials of the newly formed Republic of Texas were able to extract a Treaty of Velasco which promised to grant Texas independence.

1847, Mormons found Salt Lake City;

1848, Mexican-US war: a rogue US general sponsored by J.P.Morgan and Wall St, electively invade Mexico for its oil, gas and mineral wealth; US gets Texas, New Mexico, California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona & parts of Colorado & Wyoming from Mexico in return for a large indemnity; Wisconsin becomes a state;

1850, California becomes a state;

1858, Minnesota becomes a state;

1859, Oregon becomes a state;

1860, Abraham Lincoln becomes 16th President

1861, Kansas becomes a state of USA; Washington Peace Convention tries to preserve Union, but Congress of Montgomery forms the Confederate States of America (S.Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana) leading to outbreak of the American Civil War

1863, W.Virginia becomes state of US; French capture Mexico City;

1864, massacres of Cheyenne & Arapahoe Indians at Sand Creek, Colorado; Nevada becomes a state;

1865, Abraham Lincoln assassinated; 13th amendment to constitution abolishes slavery;

1867, Nebraska becomes a state;

1875, Mark Twain “The adventures of Tom Sawyer”;

1889, N&S Dakota, Montana & Washington become states;

1890, Idaho & Wyoming become states;

1893, Hawaii proclaimed a republic, annexed by treaty to US which was then withdrawn;

1896, Utah becomes a state;

1898, USA declares war on Spain over Cuba - the Spanish-American war

1899, US declares war on Philippines after it had been ceded to US following the defeat of Spain - the Filipinos-American war

1821, Mexico wins independence from Spain

1836, Mexico loses Texas to US

1838, emancipation of slaves in Jamaica with the declining 150 yr-old sugar cane industry, results in a period of relative poverty

1846-8, Mexico loses California, Utah & New Mexico to US following Mexican-US war 

1851, Cuba declares its independence;

1858-61: Mexican civil war

1866, Jamaica becomes a Crown Colony of Britain

1864-7, brief Mexican monarchy under the Habsburg Maximilian, followed by further anarchy

1876-1910, Mexico has a period of political stability & economic development under virtual dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz although control of many of its resources fall into foreign hands

1895, Cuba fights Spain for independence;

1898, Spain cedes Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, & the Phillipines to USA for $20m;

1808, the Portugese court, driven from its homeland by Napoleon's invasion, moved to Rio de Janeiro;

1811, Venezeulan locally born whites (creoles) who had taken over govt from the Spanish in 1810, declared independence from Spain resulted in prolonged warfare between Simon Bolivar's creole army which eventually defeated Spanish forces in 1821  

1816, independence of the Spanish colony of Argentina (incl. Paraguay, Bolivia & Uruguay which broke away from Argentina later)

1817, Chile becomes independent of Spain after Spanish forces defeated by combined Chilean & Argentinian forces;

1822, independence of the Portugese colony of Brazil, with Dom Pedro, the son of the Portugese king, being crowned emperor;

1824, Peru becomes independent of Spain after Spanish forces defeated by armies of Antonio Jose de Sucre & Simon Bolivar

1828, Uruguay becomes independent of Argentina with the help of British mediation

1829, Venezuela splits from Gran Colombia

1830, Ecuador splits from Gran Colombia

1879: Indian wars end

1880-4, Chile war against Bolivia & Peru;

1889, Pedro II abdicates, Brazil becomes a republic;

1903, Panama splits from Gran Colombia

1857-8, Indian mutiny against the British suppressed, Britain proclaims peace; powers of East India Company transferred to British Crown;

1850, Taiping rebellion; Hung Hiu-tsuen proclaims himself emperor, attacks Peking & takes Nanking & Shanghai;

1860, Anglo-French troops defeat Chinese at Pa-li-Chau; Treaty of Peking;

1894, loses war against Japan and cedes Formosa to Japan, the public outcry over China's failure to modernize like Japan had done would eventually lead to the 1911 revolution and the end of dynastic rule.

1896, Russia & China sign Manchuria Convention;

1898, Russia obtains lease of Port Arthur; Britain obtains lease of Kowloon; “The Boxers” - an antiforeign, anti-Western organization formed; 

1853: the arrival of the US Black Ships and their advanced military technology in Tokyo and subsequent effective “surrender” to the US via a treaty which did not favour the Japanese, shocked the Japanese who were still reliant upon swords and their Samurai, and this would lead to rapid change and adoption of Western industrialism, government and military which would eventually see the end of the Shogun and Samurai era.

1854, the Japanese policy of seclusion under the shōguns of the Edo period came to an end and the country was opened to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa

1868, Shogun Kekie abdicates; Shogunate abolished; Meiji dynasty restored and commences the Meiji Restoration to make Japan competitive;

1874, Japan uses its new Western style and military to invade Formosa but with only partial success but enough to encourage the Japanese to continue with their Western experiment of industrialisation and warfare

1885, the Tientsin Convention effectively eliminated China's claim to exclusive influence over the Joseon dynasty of Korea, and made Joseon a co-protectorate of both China and Japan

1890, 1st general election;

1894, First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Korea; Japan sent an expeditionary force to Korea and captured the Korean emperor. War broke out between China and Japan with taking Korea and invaded Manchuria. The war ended with a Treaty in which China ceded Formosa (Taiwan) to Japan, while Japan gained a predominate position in Korea.

26th Aug 1883: Krakatoa volcano, west of Java, erupts & self-destructs creating a massive tsunami with waves 40m high obliterating everything in its path in Indonesia, & became the greatest disaster in recorded history. Its eruption was so thoroughly & scientifically documented that it dramatically advanced the study of vulcanology. Sound heard in Perth & in east coast Africa, shockwaves traveled around the globe 7 times. Cloud blocked solar radiation, cooling the earth by 0.5degC.

1893, France acquires protectorate over Laos;

1873, Britain annexes Fiji;

1880, France annexes Tahiti;

1884-5, Holland, Germany & Britain annexe New Guinea

1892, Philipine revolution against Spanish occupation commences

1898, Philippines ceded to USA from Spain after Spanish-American war and the Philipine revolution, resulting in US capturing Manila but creating enemies with the Philipine revolutionary insurgents who they excluded from Manila

1899, US declares war on Philippines - the Filipinos-American war which some historians say resulted in over 1 million Filipinos being killed, many dying in US concentration camps, and 150,000-200,000 civilians dying from cholera at war's end. Atrocities were committed on both sides. ¹⁾