Renaissance

The Renaissance took place during the 15th and 16th centuries, it was a time of rebirth that started in Italy. It started in this area because this was an area of high trade and economic power. The Medici family were a family of high economic power, which made them known for being patrons of the arts. They funded many artists of the time such as Michelangelo and Donatello. A new form of art came out of this time which focused on humanism, individualism, and realism. At this time Italy was very divided, with no central government. That caused different sections of the country to have different types of government such as a Republic, Communes and Oligarchies. There were also big problems with the church loosing power during this time because people started focusing more on themselves rather than religion. The printing press also came out of this times of innovation. This started the Northern Renaissance which took place mainly in the HRE. These forms were more based on religious ideals. "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli also came out of this reform. Reforms on education and higher literacy rates also were an outcome of this time.

Reformation

This period of history was started by the people starting to question the church. These ideals particularly put out there by Martin Luther when he nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the Wittenberg chapel. He wrote this the RCC was selling indulgences, which he soon learned were not biblical. He went against the Catholic church and told the people what was right, according to the bible, which was supposedly were the priests were getting their ideas. This caused a form of Christianity to arise called the Protestants. Many different denominations branched off of this including Anabaptism, Calvinism, Lutheranism and the Church of England. All of these denominations had different beliefs and traditions. From this came the counter reformation, which was led by the Catholic church making small changes to their ideals in order to keep the peace with the people. From this came the Council of Trent, which made all the changes being made during this time, the Jesuits, and the Inquisition. Baroque art also came out of this time period.

Wars on Religion

At this time in history the reformation had happened so the Protestants were a very big problem to countries that were known to be Catholic. France, for instance, had a division in the country because the Catholics didn't approve of the new found beliefs in their religion so there were 2 groups of people, the Catholics and Huguenots. The huguenots were represented by the Bourbon family and the Catholics were represented by the Guise family. At the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre the Guise family attacked a large group of huguenots that were gathered together for a marriage. It was later found that the attack was initially put into affect because Catherine de Medici, ruler over France at the time approved it to happen. This all led to Henry IV taking over France. After this came the Spanish Inquisition. Philip II wanted to be the center of all of the action during this time, so he sent out military forces in order to get all of the surrounding area to be Catholics, so he could have better control over them. Philip, as well as many other leaders of the time, tried to take over the area of the Netherlands because of it's religious influence. Elizabeth of England also had many issues with religion because while she was in power she allowed her people to practice whatever religious preference they preferred in order to cut down on the conflicts in her country.

Age of Exploration

This age started after the reformation because people started to pull away from the church and wanted to learn more about what was surrounding them. The invention of many different types of compasses, the idea of map making, and the exploration of different land such as the Americas, Australia, and Africa came out of the point in history. Many explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Samuel de Champlain and Henry Hudson came out of this time.

Age of Absolutism

This age is a time of political power from different countries and many dynasties. This brought about leaders that believed they gained their power from a higher being, they had huge armies and a large military influence, and built large palaces and buildings. Some of these rulers were Louis XIV, James I and Peter the Great of Russia.

Scientific Revolution

This time brought about many innovations in many different scientific fields. It brought about the ideas of heliocentric universe and the scientific method. It also brought about the invention of the microscope, telescope, barometer, and the thermometer. It brought about the ideas of Sir Francis Bacon, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Sir Issac Newton.

Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was the age of human ideas on society and government being recognized and talked about. The ideas of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau influenced the Declaration of Independence and Montesquieu's ideas on the government system influenced the checks and balances system that the American government is built on.

French Revolution/ Napoleonic Age

The French revolution started because the bourgeois started to read the works and learn the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers and say the terrible conditions the lower part of the Third Estate were living in. After the Third Estate was left out of one of the Estates General meeting they formed the National Assembly which made the Tennis Court Oath, which devoted to not back down until they get the rights they deserve. From this came the Storming of Bastille, the Great Fear, the Tricolor, the Radical Phase and the Reign of Terror. From this Louis XVI, the ruler during this period, started to turn to other countries, which made people think he was spreading secrets about the country, so he was killed by the guillotine. After the Reign of Terror ended, the country was void of a government, from this came the rise of Napoleon. When he came to power he wanted to expand his country all over Europe. This caused many wars for the country, which drained the little money that the country had. Even though he was exiled he came back, tried to take back his power, filed and was exiled again.

Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution started in Britain because it had so many imports, so they had the money to start all of these factories and had the resources to make the products the people wanted. New metals and more affordable cotton clothing was made for the citizens. Because of the expansion of the urban areas and how many factories were being built, the working and living conditions were very bad. The people were often working 12-14 hour days, children labor was very high and were very uneducated and a lot of deaths came from disease and factory accidents. From the many innovations that were being made during this time Britain made the Crystal Palace, which was an exhibit to show off the inventions being made. Many people started to riot against the conditions that they were forced to work and live in, which caused the government to come in and try and handle it which led to things such as the Peterloo Massacre and also laws that improved the working conditions for the workers.

Age of Revolutions/ Age of Unity and Nationalism

This time caused the people to start seeing that what was wrong with their governments and what laws were wrong, and to start fighting for what they believed should change in their countries. People started going against their countries and government and going out and fighting for what they want for the people of their country so they got what they believed they deserved. This also caused many countries to come together and unite and have pride in what their countries had come to.

Imperialism

Countries such as Britain, France and Italy started to go to Africa and get the resources that they lost after the colonies started to join together in their own country and stop sending their resources to different countries. Because of Africa being the center of a lot of resources that they countries had lost, they started to go and get the resources they needed. From this caused slavery to not be going to different countries, but in Africa itself because the countries needed someone to harvest the resources they were getting from Africa. It also caused even more tribe wars because rival tribes were forced to work together.