History 1A The Birth of the Modern World 1400-1918 - ZHSS1201

‘The Birth of the Modern World’ explores the key themes in global history from 1400 to 1918. The course begins with the pre-modern world and ends with the calamitous disruptions of modernism and World War One. It explores the global causes and consequences of the rise and fall of empires, the age of exploration, scientific and industrial revolutions, and the French Revolution. Disparities both globally and locally in wealth, power, knowledge and welfare grew at an alarming rate from 1750 until 1918. This process triggered not only revolutions, but new ideologies, lifestyles, imperial expansion, and ways of making war. By 1918 the old powers, empires, social systems, and philosophies had exhausted themselves and a new order was emerging. Issues including the place of nationalism, imperialism, industrialisation, gender, science and social reform are examined within this context.