Nineteenth Century: the Beginning of Modern Europe

Modern Europe started at the opening of the nineteenth century which brought a lot of changes to Europe. The ambition to colonize territory grew stronger in order to support the increasing needs for raw materials. Capitalism abolished feudalism and many Europeans ventured to make a living in the New World. These unrests was the result of the industrial advancements like the introduction of big steam ships and the opening of two major canals that bridged oceans and made traveling efficient.

However, unrest was not just felt in Europe but also in the colonies. The opening of the two major canals opened up the colonies to the ideas of the social contract philosophers and these triggered the colonies to seek independence from the mother country. However, the old view of racial superiority and manifest destiny seemed to decline. The slave trade was abolished. However, in nineteenth century Europe, major imperialist still did not desire to get loose of their colonies and the competition to discover and colonize seemed renew.

Many battles were fought between countries specifically Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and Germany regarding disputes between territories. Yet, many European statesmen in the nineteenth century had already expressed unwillingness to support further expansion and agreed to ultimately grant liberty to the colony. Moreover, the nineteenth century was also the start where women asserted their right s to suffrage and many privileges that only men held in the past. Nineteenth century was the stage where meaningful transformations in women occurred.

Society started to acknowledge the contributions that women brought to the society. Women started to unraveled themselves and freely spoke their ideas unlike in the sixteenth century where women used to employ male names in order to persuade the society to hear their ideas just like the case of the Bronte sister. Moreover, in the nineteenth century, the church became less and less powerful. Church -derived morality were already unpopular. Morality in the nineteenth century appeared to be no longer derived from religious affiliations but to social groups where a person belongs.

Science had also improved a lot. Many discoveries further improved the lives of many European. Standardizations of measures were also instituted. The British had claimed the suppose position of the prime meridian were standard time will be calculated. The start of the nineteenth century was also the start of modern Europe. This is the time where totally deviant ideas were observed to have begun, flourished and grew. This is also the time where Europe started to take on new identities and became open to the view of other races.