Enlightenment Ideas and Modern Revolutions

Unit 5: Revolutions (c. 1750–1900) This unit examines how new ideas,

political revolutions, and industrialization combined to create the modern world. Between 1750 and

1900, people increasingly challenged traditional authority and sought to reorganize society

using reason, nationalism, and industrial technology. These changes reshaped governments,

economies, and social structures across the globe. ⸻ 5.1 The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement centered on the belief that human reason could

be used to understand and improve society. Before this period, most Europeans accepted monarchies,

social hierarchies, and religious authority as natural and unchangeable. Enlightenment thinkers rejected these assumptions