🔥 Revolutions and ideas
The Renaissance and the Reformation, the scientific revolution, the American and French Revolutions, nationalism and the unification of Italy and Germany, the Industrial Revolution, and the socialist revolutions in Russia and China.
🎨 The Renaissance
A new ‘humanist’ culture in the towns of Italy.
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1304–78
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarch represented the change towards humanist learning.
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1452–1519
Leonardo da Vinci
He had an amazing range of interests, from botany and anatomy to mathematics and art.
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1455
Gutenberg’s printing press
150 copies of the Bible were printed in the workshop of Johannes Gutenberg, who made the first printing press.
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1475–1564
Michelangelo
Remembered for the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the Pieta and the dome of St Peter’s Church in Rome.
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1513
Machiavelli’s The Prince
Niccolo Machiavelli wrote about human nature in The Prince.
⛪ Reformation and the new science
Challenges to the Church, and a new picture of the heavens.
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1517
Martin Luther
A young German monk launched a campaign against the Catholic Church, arguing that a person did not need priests to reach God.
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1540
The Society of Jesus
In Spain, Ignatius Loyola set up the Society of Jesus to combat Protestantism.
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1473–1543
Copernicus
The turning point in European science came with his work; Kepler and Galileo later bridged the gap between ‘heaven’ and earth.
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1662 and 1670
Scientific academies
The Royal Society in London (1662) and the Paris Academy (1670) held lectures and experiments for the public.
🗽 The age of revolutions
New nations built on the idea of the people.
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1776
American independence
The US Declaration of Independence.
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1789
The French Revolution
The first clear expression of nationalism: sovereignty passed from the monarchy to the body of French citizens.
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1804
The Napoleonic Code
The Civil Code did away with privileges based on birth, established equality before the law and secured the right to property.
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1848
Revolutions of 1848
Revolts of the poor and a revolution of the liberal middle classes swept Europe; in France the monarch abdicated and a republic based on universal male suffrage was proclaimed.
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1861
Italy unified
Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy.
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18 January 1871
Germany unified
The Prussian king, William I, was proclaimed German Emperor at Versailles; Otto von Bismarck was the chief minister.
🏭 The Industrial Revolution
Machines, steam and cotton in Britain.
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1764
The Spinning Jenny
Devised by James Hargreaves, it speeded up spinning and reduced the demand for labour.
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1781
Watt’s steam engine
James Watt improved Newcomen’s steam engine and patented the new engine.
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1760–1787
Cotton booms
Britain’s raw cotton imports rose from 2.5 million pounds in 1760 to 22 million pounds by 1787.
💡 Ideas and ideologies
The words that shaped two centuries of politics.
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Liberalism
From the Latin liber, ‘free’: freedom for the individual, equality before the law, and government by consent.
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Conservatism
A political philosophy that stressed tradition, established institutions and customs, and preferred gradual change.
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1917
Socialism and the Soviet Union
The Russian revolution was inspired by socialism, as opposed to capitalism — perhaps the biggest attempt in history to abolish private property and build a society based on equality.
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1949
The Chinese revolution
The People’s Republic of China was founded after the communist revolution led by Mao.
How we check: every entry is from an NCERT textbook; our build fails unless its key phrases are found in the chapter itself. Ideas are described as NCERT defines them.