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18th century#Inventions, discoveries, introductions

{{Short description|One hundred years, from 1701 to 1800}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}{{Centurybox|18}}

File:1700 CE world map.PNG

File:Prise de la Bastille.jpg, 14 July 1789, an iconic event of the French Revolution.]]

File:Maquina vapor Watt ETSIIM.jpg in the late 18th century was an important element in the Industrial Revolution in Europe.]]

File:Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg took place in the late 18th century.]]

The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCI) to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to challenge the legitimacy of monarchical and aristocratic power structures. The Industrial Revolution began mid-century, leading to radical changes in human society and the environment. The European colonization of the Americas and other parts of the world intensified and associated mass migrations of people grew in size as part of the Age of Sail. During the century, slave trading expanded across the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, while declining in Russia{{Cite book|last=Volkov|first=Sergey|title=Concise History of Imperial Russia}} and China.{{Cite book|last=Rowe|first=William T.|title=China's Last Empire}}

Western historians have occasionally defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work. For example, the "short" 18th century may be defined as 1715–1789, denoting the period of time between the death of Louis XIV of France and the start of the French Revolution, with an emphasis on directly interconnected events.{{cite book |author=Anderson, M. S. |url=https://archive.org/details/historianseighte0000ande |title=Historians and Eighteenth-Century Europe, 1715–1789 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-19-822548-5 |oclc=185538307 |url-access=registration}}{{cite book |author=Ribeiro, Aileen |title=Dress in Eighteenth-Century Europe 1715–1789 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-300-09151-9 |edition=revised |oclc=186413657}} To historians who expand the century to include larger historical movements, the "long" 18th century{{cite book |last=Baines |first=Paul |title=The Long 18th Century |publisher=Arnold |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-340-81372-0 |location=London}} may run from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815{{cite book |title=The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century (Oxford History of the British Empire) |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-924677-9 |editor=Marshall, P. J. |oclc=174866045}}, "Introduction" by P. J. Marshall, page 1 or even later.{{cite book |author=O'Gorman, Frank |url=https://archive.org/details/longeighteenthce0000ogor |title=The Long Eighteenth Century: British Political and Social History 1688–1832 (The Arnold History of Britain Series) |publisher=A Hodder Arnold Publication |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-340-56751-7 |oclc=243883533 |url-access=registration}} France was the sole world superpower from 1659, after it defeated Spain, until 1815, when it was defeated by Britain and its coalitions following the Napoleonic Wars.

In Europe, philosophers ushered in the Age of Enlightenment. This period coincided with the French Revolution of 1789, and was later compromised by the excesses of the Reign of Terror. At first, many monarchies of Europe embraced Enlightenment ideals, but in the wake of the French Revolution they feared loss of power and formed broad coalitions to oppose the French Republic in the French Revolutionary Wars. Various conflicts throughout the century, including the War of the Spanish Succession and the Seven Years' War, saw Great Britain triumph over its rivals to become the preeminent power in Europe. However, Britain's attempts to exert its authority over the Thirteen Colonies became a catalyst for the American Revolution. The 18th century also marked the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as an independent state. Its semi-democratic government system was not robust enough to prevent partition by the neighboring states of Austria, Prussia, and Russia.

In West Asia, Nader Shah led Persia in successful military campaigns. The Ottoman Empire experienced a period of peace, taking no part in European wars from 1740 to 1768. As a result, the empire was not exposed to Europe's military improvements during the Seven Years' War. The Ottoman military consequently lagged behind and suffered several defeats against Russia in the second half of the century.

In South Asia, the death of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was followed by the expansion of the Maratha Confederacy and an increasing level of European influence and control in the region. In 1739, Persian emperor Nader Shah invaded and plundered Delhi, the capital of the Mughal Empire. Later, his general Ahmad Shah Durrani scored another victory against the Marathas, the then dominant power in India, in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761.{{Cite book |last=Chandra |first=Bipin |title=Modern India |location=India |language=en}} By the middle of the century, the British East India Company began to conquer eastern India,{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=John |url=https://www.wdl.org/en/item/2384/ |title=Memoirs of the Revolution in Bengal, anno Dom. 1757 |last2=Watts |first2=William |publisher=A. Millar, London |year=1760 |author-link1=John Campbell (author)}} and by the end of the century, the Anglo-Mysore Wars against Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali, led to Company rule over the south.{{Citation |title=Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Divergence, 1600–1850 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_YEcvo-jqcC&pg=PA207 |page=207 |year=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-49889-0 |given=Prasannan |surname=Parthasarathi}}{{cite book |last=Allana |first=Gulam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nbiAAAAMAAJ |title=Muslim political thought through the ages: 1562–1947 |publisher=Royal Book Company |year=1988 |isbn=9789694070919 |edition=2 |location=Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania |page=78 |access-date=18 January 2013}}

In East Asia, the century was marked by the High Qing era, a period characterized by significant cultural and territorial expansion. This period also experienced relative peace and prosperity, allowing for societal growth, increasing literacy rates, flourishing trade, and consolidating imperial power across the vast Qing dynasty's territories. Conversely, the continual seclusion policy of the Tokugawa shogunate also brought a peaceful era called Pax Tokugawa and experienced a flourishment of the arts as well as scientific knowledge and advancements, which were introduced to Japan through the Dutch port of Nagasaki. In Southeast Asia, the Konbaung–Ayutthaya Wars and the Tây Sơn Wars broke out while the Dutch East India Company established increasing levels of control over the Mataram Sultanate.

In Africa, the Ethiopian Empire underwent the Zemene Mesafint, a period when the country was ruled by a class of regional noblemen and the emperor was merely a figurehead. The Atlantic slave trade also saw the continued involvement of states such as the Oyo Empire. In Oceania, the European colonization of Australia and New Zealand began during the late half of the century. In the Americas, the United States declared its independence from Great Britain. In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. In 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as the first president. Benjamin Franklin traveled to Europe where he was hailed as an inventor. Examples of his inventions include the lightning rod and bifocal glasses. Túpac Amaru II led an uprising that sought to end Spanish colonial rule in Peru.

Events

{{For timeline}}

{{see also|Georgian era}}

=1701–1750=

{{main|1700s (decade)|l1=1700s|1710s|1720s|1730s|1740s}}

File:Europe, 1700 - 1714.png, 1700]]

File:Marten's Poltava.jpg in 1709 turned the Russian Empire into a European power.]]

File:Marlborough-duke-first.jpg]]

File:7 Muhammad Shah and Nadir Shah. 1740, Musee Guimet, Paris.jpg with the Persian invader Nader Shah.]]

File:Portrait of the Qianlong Emperor in Court Dress.jpg]]

File:The Battle of Culloden.jpg system came with the defeat of the clansmen at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.{{cite web|url=http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/unspoilt/20/clans |title=A guide to Scottish clans |publisher=Unique-cottages.co.uk |access-date=2009-04-25|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080511181304/http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/unspoilt/20/clans |archive-date = May 11, 2008|url-status=dead}}]]

=1751–1800=

{{main|1750s|1760s|1770s|1780s|1790s|1800s (decade)|l6=1800s}}

File:Catherinethegreatroslin.jpg, Empress of Russia.]]

File:Encyclopedie de D'Alembert et Diderot - Premiere Page - ENC 1-NA5.jpg]]

File:Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789.jpg]]

Inventions, discoveries, and introductions

{{main|Timeline of historic inventions#18th century|Timeline of scientific discoveries#18th century}}

File:Spinning jenny.jpg]]

File:Red building Putuo Zongcheng Temple.JPG of Chengde, completed in 1771, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.]]

Literary and philosophical achievements

{{main|18th century in literature|18th century in philosophy}}

Musical works

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Black, Jeremy and Roy Porter, eds. A Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century World History (1994) 890pp
  • Klekar, Cynthia. "Fictions of the Gift: Generosity and Obligation in Eighteenth-Century English Literature." Innovative Course Design Winner. American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies: Wake Forest University, 2004. <[http://asecs.press.jhu.edu Home | American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS)]>. Refereed.
  • Langer, William. An Encyclopedia of World History (5th ed. 1973); highly detailed outline of events [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo00lang online free]
  • Morris, Richard B. and Graham W. Irwin, eds. Harper Encyclopedia of the Modern World: A Concise Reference History from 1760 to the Present (1970) [https://archive.org/details/harperencycloped00morr online]
  • Milward, Alan S, and S. B. Saul, eds. The economic development of continental Europe: 1780–1870 (1973) [https://archive.org/details/economicdevelopm0001milw online]; note there are two different books with identical authors and slightly different titles. Their coverfage does not overlap.
  • Milward, Alan S, and S. B. Saul, eds. The development of the economies of continental Europe, 1850–1914 (1977) [https://archive.org/details/developmentofeco0000milw online]
  • The Wallace Collection, London, houses one of the finest collections of 18th-century decorative arts from France, England and Italy, including paintings, furniture, porcelain and gold boxes.

External links

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