Period Five: The European Moment in World History 1750 – 1914 The Big Picture: European Centrality & the Problem of Eurocentricism

What are the “major themes” of the period between 1750 – 1914? The creation of a new kind of human society, commonly called “modern,” which was the outgrowth of the Scientific, French, & Industrial Revolutions, all of which took shape in Western Europe Those societies generated many of the ideas that have guided human behavior over the past several centuries – notions of progress, constitutional government, political democracy, socialism, nationalism, feminism, & opposition to slavery Highlighted in Chapters 17 & 18 The growing ability of these modern societies to exercise enormous power & influence over the rest of humankind In some places, this occurred within growing European empires – India, Southeast Asia, & Africa Elsewhere, it took place through less formal means – economic penetration, military intervention, diplomatic pressure, missionary activity – in states that remained officially independent, such as, China, Japan, the Ottoman Empire, & Latin America Together, these two phenomena launch Western Europe, and to a lesser extent North America, into a new & far more prominent role in world history that ever before

What is the difference between the period of “cultural flowering” for the Europeans and those other civilizations throughout world history who achieved periods of primacy? Other worldwide regions where periods of “cultural flowering” were limited to the particular regions of Afro-Eurasia or the Americas where they were located. The European period of “cultural flowering” operated on a genuinely global scale. Also, other periods of “cultural flowering” lasted much longer than the European period. Greeks: 500 BCE – 200 CE Indians of South Asia: 200 – 600 CE Arabs: 600 – 1000 CE Chinese: 1000 – 1500 Western peoples have enjoyed their worldwide primacy for at most two centuries, and some scholars have suggested that the late 20th and early 21st centuries have marked an end (or at least erosion) of the age of Europe

What are some decisions/contributions made by other world civilizations that led to this period of European dominance? The withdrawal of the Chinese naval fleet allowed Europeans to dominate the Indian Ocean in the 16th century Native Americans’ lack of immunity to European diseases & their own divisions and conflicts greatly assisted with European takeover Europe’s Scientific Revolution drew upon earlier Islamic science that was stimulated by the massive amounts of new information pouring in from around the world The Industrial Revolution benefited from New World resources & markets & from the stimulus of superior Asian textile & pottery production

What is meant by the phrase “empire, formal & informal alike, was always in some way a negotiated arrangement?” Even when Europeans exercised political, economic, or diplomatic power, they could not do so precisely as they pleased Formal empires: areas where European powers formally & officially held power in a governing sense – example  British control in India Informal empires: spheres of influence over trade (example  British relationship with China), religious missionaries, diplomatic influence, & military influence Negotiated arrangements – Europeans to prevent revolt/rebellion/resistance worked with the areas/regions/states they had power over to find common ground

What are two examples of how European dominance was manipulated and taken advantage of by non-European peoples? During the Haitian Revolution, enslaved Africans made use of radical French ideas about “the rights of man” in ways that most Europeans never intended. The leaders of a massive Chinese peasant upheaval in the mid-19th century adopted a unique form of Christianity to legitimate their revolutionary assault on an ancient social order.