Political Protest, Reforms, and Revolution 1750 to 1900 - AP World History: Modern

Otto von Bismarck was a conservative chancellor of Prussia and Germany in the second-half of the nineteenth century. He is remembered for leading the unification of Germany through his able diplomacy and timely military conquests. His efforts ensured that Germany would be unified at the exclusion of Austria, and would therefore be dominated by the Prussian state. He also is remembered for preserving the balance of power in Europe in the 1870s and 1880s.

Simon Bolivar fought for South American independence from the Spanish Empire in the early nineteenth century. Bolivar was inspired by the enlightenment ideas he was exposed to during his education in Spain and returned to Latin America to lead the campaign for independence. His actions contributed to the independence of Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia. Bolivar served as President of Gran Colombia from its formation in 1819 until its demise in 1830.

Most revolutions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were intimately connected to the Enlightenment, the intellectual movement that had recently swept through Europe. Many Enlightenment thinkers believed that man has a natural right to self-governance, which made republicanism attractive, while monarchy and imperialism became increasingly unacceptable. After these revolutions first broke out in America and France, many countries in central and South America were inspired to follow suit.

Camillo di Cavour and Giuseppe Garibaldi were instrumental in the process of Italian unification that was completed in 1871. Cavour had been prime minister of Piedmont before Italian unification. Garibaldi was a military commander who led many campaigns for Italian independence.

Muhammad Ali is remembered for establishing the modern nation of Egypt and reigning over the territory from 1805 until 1848. His reign was marked by modernizing reforms and a dedicated effort to design an Egyptian State that could compete with the industrial powers of Europe. The dynasty he established would rule Egypt until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

The Haitian Revolution began as a series of slave revolts led by Toussaint-L’ouverture in the 1790s. The successes of the rebellion encouraged L’ouverture and others to transform the slave rebellion into an independence movement. Although L’ouverture was captured and imprisoned in France, the fight continued in his absence and, in 1804, Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared the independence of the Haitian republic.

The Tanzimat Reforms were enacted in the mid-nineteenth century by the government of the Ottoman Empire. The Tanzimat Reforms were designed to modernize the Ottoman Empire and to address the threat of rising nationalism within the Empire.

Of these Latin American colonies Haiti was the first to gain independence in 1804. Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia followed in the next few decades. Puerto Rico gained its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1898, although was immediately thereafter annexed and occupied by forces of the United States.

Jose de San Martin played a leading role in the southern Latin American war for independence from the Spanish Empire. His actions in the Battle of San Lorenzo contributed to Argentinian independence and his victories in the Battle of Chacabuco and the Battle of Maipu led to Peruvian and Chilean independence. Together with Simon Bolivar, Jose de San Martin is remembered as one of the two leading figures in the campaign for Latin American independence.

Simon Bolivar played a leading role in the independence of all of these countries except Mexico. Bolivar was the first and only President of an independent Gran Colombia during the 1820s.

The Meiji Restoration is the name given to the restoration of imperial rule under the control of Emperor Meiji in 1868. The practical goal of the Meiji Restoration was to rapidly modernize and industrialize Japanese society. It led to the emergence of Japan as a modern, militaristic power by the beginning of the twentieth century.

The Haitian Revolution ended colonial control of the island called Sainte Domingue by France and introduced independence and the renaming of the country to Haiti in 1804.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man (1793) was a seminal work of the French Revolution. It provided the framework for the first constitution of the French Republic.

The Thermidorian Reaction occurred in the summer of 1794. It was a reaction to the excesses and violence of the Reign of Terror. The Thermidorian Reaction resulted in the downfall of Robespierre, the dissolution of the Committee of Public Safety, and the end of the Reign of Terror.

Toussaint-L'ouverture led a series of slave rebellions on the French colony of Saint Domingue. These rebellions culminated in 1800 with the successful liberation of slaves living in Haiti and the eventual establishment of the Haitian Republic.

Defeat in the Crimean War led to a series of modernizing reforms in Russian society, including the emancipation of the serfs, the reorganization of the judicial system, and the encouragement of the growth of heavy industry and manufacturing.

The French Revolution began in 1789 during the reign of the Bourbon monarch Louis XVI. Louis was executed in the early stages of the Revolution.

Miguel Hidalgo was a Catholic priest who inspired a peasant rebellion during the early stages of the Mexican campaign for independence. Hidalgo was executed a full decade before Mexican independence was achieved, but for his lasting impact in the movement he is often remembered as the Father of the Mexican nation.

The Self Strengthening Movement began in China in 1861, in the wake of China’s defeat to Britain in the Opium Wars. The goal of the movement was to modernize the Chinese military and adopt some aspects of western technology.