unit 5 Ap World

Theme Focus: Political revolutions, Enlightenment thought, nationalism, industrialization, reform movements, imperialism.

KEY CONCEPT 5.1: The Enlightenment and Revolutions

A. The Enlightenment

  • Intellectual movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and skepticism of traditional authority.

  • Key Thinkers:

  • John Locke: Natural rights (life, liberty, property); government by consent.

  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Social contract; general will.

  • Voltaire: Religious tolerance and free speech.

  • Montesquieu: Separation of powers.

  • Adam Smith: Capitalism; free markets (laissez-faire economics).

B. Revolutions Inspired by Enlightenment

  • American Revolution (1776): Declaration of Independence; influenced by Locke.

  • French Revolution (1789): Overthrow of monarchy; Declaration of the Rights of Man.

  • Haitian Revolution (1791): Toussaint Louverture; only successful slave revolt.

  • Latin American Revolutions: Creole leaders (e.g., Simón Bolívar); inspired by Enlightenment and earlier revolutions.

KEY CONCEPT 5.2: Nationalism and Nation-States

A. Rise of Nationalism

  • Defined by shared language, culture, and history.

  • Fueled unification and independence movements:

  • Germany: Otto von Bismarck led unification through wars.

  • Italy: Cavour and Garibaldi unified Italy.

  • Balkans: Nationalist tensions against Ottoman rule.

B. Anticolonial Nationalism

  • Resistance to imperial control in colonies.

  • Example: Sepoy Rebellion (1857) in India, inspired by growing nationalist sentiment.

KEY CONCEPT 5.3: The Industrial Revolution

A. Causes

  • Agricultural innovations (e.g., crop rotation).

  • Access to coal and iron (esp. in Britain).

  • Capital, labor, and entrepreneurship.

B. Inventions & Technology

  • Steam engine (James Watt).

  • Spinning Jenny, power loom.

  • Railroads, steamships, telegraph.

C. Spread of Industrialization

  • Britain led the way.

  • Spread to Belgium, Germany, U.S., and Japan (Meiji Restoration).

KEY CONCEPT 5.4: Industrialization’s Effects

A. Economic Changes

  • Capitalism (Adam Smith): Private ownership, free markets.

  • Communism/Socialism (Karl Marx): Class struggle; overthrow of capitalism.

B. Social Changes

  • Urbanization, rise of working and middle classes.

  • Harsh labor conditions → child labor, low wages, poor housing.

C. Responses to Industrialization

  • Labor unions.

  • Factory Acts (Britain) to regulate child labor.

  • Utopian socialism (Robert Owen).

KEY CONCEPT 5.5: Reform Movements

A. Abolitionism

  • End of Atlantic Slave Trade: Britain banned in 1807; U.S. in 1808.

  • Slavery abolished in British Empire (1833), U.S. (1865), Brazil (1888).

B. Feminism

  • Early women’s rights movements emerged.

  • Mary Wollstonecraft: Early feminist thinker.

  • Seneca Falls Convention (1848): Elizabeth Cady Stanton; women demand suffrage.

KEY CONCEPT 5.6: Imperialism and State Expansion

A. Justifications for Imperialism

  • Social Darwinism

  • White Man’s Burden

  • Civilizing mission

B. European Imperialism

  • Scramble for Africa: Berlin Conference (1884–85); partition without African input.

  • India: British Raj after Sepoy Rebellion.

  • Southeast Asia: Dutch and French expanded colonies.

C. Japan’s Response

  • Meiji Restoration (1868): Rapid modernization and industrialization to avoid colonization.

KEY CONCEPT 5.7: Resistance to Imperialism

  • India: Sepoy Rebellion.

  • China: Boxer