Chapters

  1. History’s Story
  2. Wanderers and Settlers: The Ancient Middle East to 400 B.C.
  3. The Chosen People: Hebrews and Jews, 2000 B.C. to A.D. 135
  4. Trial of the Hellenes: The Ancient Greeks, 1200 B.C. to A.D. 146
  5. Imperium Romanum: The Romans, 753 B.C. to A.D. 300
  6. The Revolutionary Rabbi: Christianity, the Roman Empire, and Islam, 4 B.C. to A.D. 1453
  7. From Old Rome to the New West: The Early Middle Ages, A.D. 500 to 1000
  8. The Medieval Mêlée: The High and Later Middle Ages, 1000 to 1500
  9. Making the Modern World: The Renaissance and Reformation, 1400 to 1648
  10. Liberation of Mind and Body: Early Modern Europe, 1543 to 1815
  11. Mastery of the Machine: The Industrial Revolution, 1764 to 1914
  12. The Westerner’s Burden: Imperialism and Nationalism, 1810 to 1918
  13. Rejections of Democracy: The InterWar Years and World War II, 1917 to 1945
  14. A World Divided: The Cold War, 1945 to 1993
  15. Into the Future: The Contemporary Era, 1991 to the Present
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Chapter 10

Liberation of Mind and Body: Early Modern Europe, 1543 to 1815

Lost in the Stars
The so-called first Scientific Revolution created modern astronomy and physics.

From the Salons to the Streets
The Enlightenment spread scientific attitudes through much of Western culture.

The State is He (or She)
Absolutism, whether justified by Christian divine-right or the Englightenment, flourished as the dominant political system.

(Prosperous) People Power
A few elites established republican representation and constitutional limitations, especially in the Netherlands, Great Britain and the new United States of America.

The Declaration of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
The ideas of the Enlightenment broke free in the French Revolution.

Blood and Empires
Napoleon's successful imperial takeover of Revolutionary France, and then most of Europe, provoked warfare until his ultimate defeat.

 

Last Updated: 2023 June 3