What is the main content of the history of the early modern period. Early modern time: the main features of the era

The oldest decipherable monuments of Indian writing are codes of the 3rd century BC. e. king Ashoka. These inscriptions show two completely different alphabets. One of them, kharoshtkhi, is considered to be an adaptation of the Aramaic script of the Persian Empire. This alphabet was used for several centuries of our era in the north-east of India and in the adjacent regions of Afghanistan and Central Asia. The usual direction of writing, as in Semitic scripts, is from right to left, but vowels are indicated in it as modified consonants, and not with dots.

Another alphabet, reflected in the inscriptions, is brahmi, the origin of which causes a lot of controversy. Brahmi is the ancestor of almost all the later writings of India and Southeast Asia, of which there are more than two hundred. Among the alleged sources of Brahmi are the South Semitic and Aramaic scripts. (Johannes Friedrich, however, points out that recently the prevailing opinion has prevailed about the origin of the Brahmi letter not from Aramaic, but from one of the North Semitic alphabets - Phoenician, probably between 600 and 500 BC.) Some scholars believe that Brahmi dates back to the undeciphered writings of the Indus Valley Civilization, which existed until about 1500 BC. BC, or at least developed under their strong influence, but this cannot be said with certainty until the writings of the Indus Valley are read. The Brahmi script is usually written from left to right, but there are a few examples of the opposite spelling, along the lines of Semitic scripts. If this letter goes back to Aramaic, it is a very successful and bold revision of the latter with many innovations. Braxmi is distinguished by accuracy and efficiency in conveying the features of the language for which this script was created.

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Writing entered Southeast Asia as a result of several waves of Indian cultural and religious influence, and therefore all the oldest writing systems of the Indochina peninsula, Malaysia and Indonesia date back to the Brahmi script.

Around the 4th century A.D. e. in the north of India, the Gupta script, a kind of brahmi, developed and became widespread. Most of the modern writing systems of North India go back to it, including Devanagari (lit. "the script of the city of the gods"), which arose in the 7th century. It was written in Sanskrit and Prakrit, and is used by several modern languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Nepali. Its characteristic feature is the upper horizontal line, the letters from which seem to hang down. Perhaps this feature is explained by the excessive development of the endings of the letters when engraving them on the stone. Text in Devanagari is written from left to right.

In the Devanagari alphabet, vowels come first: short and long - in two versions. The longitude of vowels in Hindi (matra) is a semantic concept and requires strict adherence to the pronunciation of words.

The vowels are followed by consonants, arranged in rows (vargas) in accordance with the place of their pronunciation. For example, the first row (ka-varga, by the name of the first letter in the row) are guteral or throat, the next are affricates, then palatal or palatal (they are also called cerebral), a series of dental and, finally, a series of labial consonants.

Outside the wargas are semi-vowels, hissing and aspirated, with which the Devanagari alphabet ends. There is no division of letters into uppercase and lowercase in Devanagari.

1. What period called "Recent History"? What event was boundary between modern and recent history? What is the main content of modern history?

This is the period of transition from an industrial society to a post-industrial one, which covers almost the entire 20th century. and the beginning of the XXI century. The turning point between modern and recent history was the First World War, which brought Western civilization to a deep crisis and accelerated the process of its modernization. It includes the period between the world wars, World War II, the Cold War, the collapse of the bipolar system, globalization and its consequences.

2. What are the two main periods in modern history? Give them a brief description.

In the history of modern times, two main periods can be distinguished: 1) 1918 - 1945. - the rise of revolutionary movements in Europe and Asia, the struggle of the main models of social development (liberal-capitalist, Soviet and fascist), World War II; 2) 1945 - modernity - a global confrontation between the Soviet model of real socialism and liberal capitalism, the collapse of the bipolar model of the existing world order, the strengthening of trends towards globalization and the unification of social development.

3. What main trends and common features of development can be identified in the history of Western countries in the first half of the 20th century?

Rapid industrial development in the early twentieth century. The latest technologies and new equipment are beginning to play a decisive role in the economies of the Western countries. It can be argued that at the beginning of the twentieth century there was a "second industrial revolution", a technical "explosion". The most developed countries of the West (England, France, USA, Germany) entered the stage of industrial society. Modernization is rapidly beginning to take place in them, the number of urban residents is growing, the number of workers is increasing, a large number of political parties, public organizations and movements are emerging.

4. What are the characteristics of an industrial society? Why did states enter the industrial age at different times and move at different speeds? What were the consequences?

Features of an industrial society: the predominance of industrial products in the total national income, the formation of a developed and relatively stable political system, the formation of a civil society with its characteristic structure of organizations and social movements independent of the state apparatus, urbanization, a relatively high level of literacy of the population. Because, historically, some regions began to develop earlier and faster, so they had all the necessary resources, climatic conditions and a favorable geographical position for this. This will further lead to the uneven development of the world, the allocation of the countries of the first world, second and third. Now the uneven development of the world is referred to the global problems of our time, as it gives rise to a lot of conflicts in society, primarily for the possession of resources, and leads to economic and political instability of the world.

5. Why the decisions taken at the Paris Peace Conference that ended World War I failed to ensure peace and security and eventually led to World War II?

After the First World War, a period of terrible hardship and loss, people hoped for a better and more just world order. The Paris Peace Conference did not solve the main problems and, in general, was unfair. The signed treaties aroused resentment and indignation in Germany and Italy, contributed to their economic depression in the 1930s. An attempt to reshape the world by the victorious countries also failed. Everyone was dissatisfied with the results, France, England and the United States continued to compete among themselves for the championship. The League of Nations had neither sufficient strength nor support to ensure peace and security during the turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s. The result of this was World War II.

6. What options for historical development emerged after the First World War? Present it in the form of a diagram.

Options for the development of the world after the First World War:

  • Democratic way. The advanced countries of the West (USA, England, France) pursued a new course (state participation in the economy and progressive reforms).
  • Right-wing path. The countries that were defeated in the First World War (Italy, Germany, etc.) took the path of building a fascist regime and totalitarianism.
  • revolutionary path. Russia, after the revolution of 1917, took the path of building a socialist society. All transformations impl. at the expense of the internal resources of the state and the efforts of the population. Totalitarianism.

7. What characterized the development of the countries of the East and Latin America in the first half of the 20th century?

The countries of the East and Latin America became the arena of democratic and national liberation revolutions and movements. Democratic revolutions took place in Mexico, China, Turkey. The republican system was established there. In Egypt, Syria, Iraq and India, which were colonies and semi-colonies, national liberation movements unfolded. After the Second World War, many peoples freed themselves from colonial dependence and found their own state.

Answer to questions to the historical document p. 9.

What role, according to the Russian historian, did the First World War play in the historical development of the world? Can it be regarded as a humanitarian catastrophe? What consequences did she have?

The First World War played a big role. It revealed the contradictions and shortcomings in the development of the countries of the world, directed them to the path of modernization of the political, economic and social, spiritual life of society. It prompted many peoples to create nation-states. Gave impetus to an unprecedented technical revolution. Yes, it can be seen as a humanitarian catastrophe. It was the first war in history that was aimed at the destruction of peoples. Aviation, chemical weapons (mustard gas, etc.), etc. are used for the first time. It left huge destruction, human losses, the collapse of the ideas of humanism, the general spiritual crisis of society, which had to find new values. It showed what kind of cruelty people themselves are capable of, what kind of spiritual crisis the technogenic civilization plunged them into. The Great Depression and the search for new values, the thirst for revenge resulted in World War II, which was the most destructive conflict in world history.

Enlighteners looked at historical writing, first of all, as an exercise of free reason in criticism of power, political institutions or prejudices. The idea of ​​the role of the historian has also changed. From now on, his task was to offer interpretations based on the free use of reason, courageously sow anti-traditionalist, seditious, and sometimes reformist ideas, reinforced by the conviction that the present is known only in the historical continuum.

Guido Abbattista

Scientific revolution and historical knowledge of the 17th century.

Modern researchers describe the period of European history of the XVI-XVII centuries. as the early modern time - the era of the formation of new forms of political, social, economic, cultural life, the time of profound changes in the system of worldview, expanding the limits of the known and the possible. According to R. Tarnas, “The West saw the birth of a new man, re-realizing himself and his freedom, inquisitive about everything that concerns the world, confident in his own judgments, skeptical of any orthodoxy, rebelling against authorities, responsible for his beliefs and actions , in love with classical antiquity, but even more devoted to his great future ... convinced of the ability of his mind to comprehend nature and subjugate it to himself" 1 .

In the XVI-XVII centuries. principles of knowledge were formed in European culture, different from the traditions of medieval and renaissance scholarship. A broad intellectual movement, thanks to which the system of ideas about the world and man was transformed, the foundations of natural disciplines, historical, political, social, philosophical systems were redefined, was called the scientific revolution.

The boundaries of this period are conditionally correlated with 1543, the date of the publication of the work of Nicolaus Copernicus "On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres", and with the time of the discoveries of Isaac Newton, who published in 1687 "The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy". Thanks to the works of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton and other scientists, an integral natural-science picture of the universe was created in the intellectual culture of the early modern period. Gradually, she replaced the medieval ideas about the movement of planets around a stationary Earth, based on the physics of Aristotle and the astronomical theory of Ptolemy. The very principles of constructing inferences changed: symbols, likenesses, allegorical and moral meanings gave way to experience, an empirical rational explanation of causes and effects.

In Europe, a new image of science was emerging - knowledge that belonged not to an individual "enlightened astrologer" or commentator on Aristotle, but to an independent community of scientists who were guided by a strict method of research and openly demonstrated the results of their labors. Scientific knowledge was understood as an experimental study of the natural world, the process of finding the truth that is beneficial. A science that was autonomous from religion, based on method, verifiable and a collective enterprise of scientists, required the creation of new institutions - societies, academies, such as the Lynch Academy in Rome, the Royal Scientific Society of London, the Royal Academy of Sciences in France and others

Philosophers of the early modern period paid special attention to the very principles of building knowledge, substantiating new research methods in various fields - physics, mathematics, medicine, social sciences. At the same time, history, as knowledge associated with morality and politics, was rarely included in the context of these disciplinary redefinitions. In the writings of the English philosopher, historian, scientist, statesman FRANCIS BACON(1561 - 1626), in particular in his " The New Organon, or the Great Restoration of the Sciences”(1620), an attempt was made to reassess the entire system of knowledge available to a person of that era, to provide guidance for the systematization of sciences and to propose a method for finding the truth. According to Bacon, the activities of philosophers and scientists of previous eras were built on a false foundation. The real aims of research were to master the secrets of nature. If in ancient times Socrates correlated knowledge with virtue, then the English philosopher wrote about the power that the possession of knowledge gives a person.

Scientific knowledge was supposed to bring practical benefits and power to a person, the transformation of everyday life, as well as spiritual advancement towards a new Christian golden age. The empirical method of research exalted the importance of observation and experience, experiment with individual phenomena and objects, sensual and rational penetration into the natural essence of things.

In his writings, Bacon wrote about the unity of history and experimental natural science, considering them, like philosophy and science, as a single concept. In favor of this union, Bacon cited the following arguments: both areas of activity were correlated with a person's ability to remember. Memory, on the other hand, dealt with the individual and the singular. Both civil and natural history were engaged in the study of single events, the description of their timeless properties. Thus, no fundamental differences were made between the study of natural phenomena and past events. Observations were followed by conclusions and reasoning. Knowledge, extracted from private, documented facts, was, according to the philosopher, of real value for practice, in contrast to knowledge, in which examples only illustrated abstract postulates.

In England, Bacon's work had an enormous impact on the character and appearance of the new science. Many scientists wanted to continue his work. But there were few researchers of the past who used analytical and experimental methods in historiography.

On the continent, the works of the French mathematician and philosopher were very popular. RENE DECARTES(1596–1650) Discourses on Method (1637) and Elements of Philosophy (1644). The works of Descartes made a significant contribution to the formation of a rational mechanistic picture of the world. Descartes himself and his followers - the Cartesians (fr. cartesien - the Latinized form of Descartes' surname - Cartesius) were skeptical about the practices of historical writing and the possibility of obtaining reliable knowledge about the past. Nevertheless, one of the main ideas of Descartes - about the separation of a rational cognizing subject-researcher and the object of study that is open for reading - the great book of the world - subsequently played an important role in shaping the way of cognition on which the sciences of the late 18th century were based. XIX century, and professional historical knowledge. Such a speculative picture became possible, because by that time the idea of ​​two different truths - revelation and knowledge - was more and more firmly rooted in philosophy, justified by Galileo and given in the images of two books - Holy Scripture: the Book of Nature. According to this logic, science and faith are compatible, but their subject matter, meanings, languages, methods are autonomous.

Innovations in philosophy and natural sciences - physics, mathematics, astronomy, anatomy, mechanics - had a significant impact on the intellectual culture of the 17th century. Many principles of the study of nature began to be regarded as universal for understanding society and its history. The natural sciences, with their desire for empirical, exact knowledge, served as a prototype for other disciplines. In the 17th century social philosophers have put forward a number of ideas about so-called natural laws. These laws, like the laws of nature, could be known and used by people. Starting from the idea of ​​the material unity of nature and man, philosophers are trying to create a science of society that focuses on mathematics and physics - social physics. The starting point of such theories was the concept of a separate, isolated person, taken outside the historical context; society itself was interpreted as the sum of individuals who were endowed with properties arising from human nature. So, according to the Dutch philosopher and lawyer HUGO GROTIA(1583 - 1645), people initially sought to communicate, as a result of which their unification became possible. In the reasoning of the English philosopher THOMAS HOBBES(1588 - 1679) argued the opposite assertion that people were characterized by mutual repulsion, which is why in the pre-state, "natural" state they waged an uninterrupted "war of all against all." From the properties of the individual, the consequences of the laws of social mechanics were derived, which provided the key to explaining the state structure and its history. The creation of society was interpreted by philosophers of the 17th century. as a result of a social contract once concluded by people among themselves. The laws of the state were to ""be built on the basis of natural law, following from the nature of man. Despite the prevalence of these theories in social and philosophical works, in the historical writings of the 17th century. such ideas penetrated slowly. It was not until the next century that these theories had a significant impact on knowledge of the past.

History has not yet completely separated from other areas of knowledge about man, society, the world and has not developed as an independent discipline. The study of the past was to a large extent considered in the context of the scholarship of humanists - in connection with literature, rhetoric. In universities, the development of history often had an applied character in relation to the study of ancient languages.

In the wake of interest in ancient literature, attention to the classical past increased. Stories about the events of Greek and Roman history often figured as comments on the works of ancient writers. Moral lessons, typical truths, examples of political decisions were drawn from historical writings. At the same time, the 17th century was marked by a peculiar fashion for the study of history. The latter was interpreted as a storehouse of wisdom and was understood, first of all, as political or politico-legal. The first departments of civic history were opened at Oxford and Cambridge. In the 17th century knowledge of the past has become an important factor in the political struggle. Thus, during the period of the English Revolution, both the supporters of the king and those who supported parliament looked in the documents of the past for the justification of the unlimited power of the monarch or the "ancient liberties" of England.

Classifying the sciences, Bacon characterized the established areas of historical knowledge as "perfect" and "imperfect" history. The "perfect" history included political historiography - chronicles, biographies and stories about great personalities, their state deeds with moral, didactic overtones. Medieval chronicles, oral testimonies, memoirs served as sources. Later, in line with this trend, the study of the medieval history of state and public institutions began. The authors of essays on political and political-legal history sometimes correlated their works with natural science and mathematical knowledge, focusing on the standard of experimental and exact sciences. However, they often demonstrated a greater adherence to models of humanistic historiography.

Bacon himself was the author of a work of this kind - " Stories of Henry VII» (1621). Bacon conceived this work as the beginning of the history of England in the period between the end of the War of the Scarlet and White Roses and the unification of England and Scotland under the rule of a single monarch, James I. The author sought to exalt the Tudor dynasty in the person of its first representative, Henry VII, to consider the principles of the wise rule of the king. The historical narrative was built around the personality of the ruler. Bacon somewhat expanded the scope of traditional Renaissance history by including materials on the history of law.

In Britain in the middle and second half of the 17th century. a number of historical and political works, memoirs and treatises were compiled on the events of the recent past - the revolution, the civil war, the restoration of the monarchy, such as the "History of the Rebellion" by the Earl of Clarendon, "The History of My Time" by G. Barnet, "Two Treatises on Government" and “On Religious Tolerance” by J. Locke and others. Subsequently, this line was continued in the historiography of the 18th century.

Such a "perfect" history existed in the contexts (of interest in the national past, the formation of nation states in Europe. But a different direction of knowledge about the past correlated with the same processes. "Imperfect" history, according to Bacon, was written by the authors of the initial and raw sketches, comments and lists , those who studied antiquities, surviving fragments of the past.The intellectual current associated with the search, collecting, systematic description and classification of historical documents and monuments, was called antiquarianism(lat. antiquus - ancient). "Imperfect History", according to Bacon and the antiquarians themselves, was of a preparatory nature. The results of the antiquary's work could be used by the authors of political history.

Antiquarians themselves and connoisseurs of documents of the past, erudite, did not consider themselves true historians, but saw themselves as collectors and custodians of antiquities, compilers. By antiquities, they understood various evidence of past eras - Roman and medieval coins, mottos, coats of arms, inscriptions, things, documents, ruins, monuments, etc. In addition to these man-made remnants of the past, rarities and curiosities of the natural world often fell into the sphere of attention of antiquarians.

The historian was primarily a writer, and history itself was a narrative based on written data, chronicles. Antiquarians, relying on the same narrative sources, made extensive use of non-textual evidence. This required them to develop new methods of source criticism (subsequently laid the foundation for new disciplines - archeology, numismatics, paleography, sphragistics, etc.).

The subject of the study of antiquarians was not so much history as the past, homogeneous and undifferentiated. In their writings, the sense of distance that separated modernity from previous eras was weakly expressed. The attention of antiquarians was attracted by the features of the strange and difficult to explain, but they, as a rule, selected answers to questions based on the logic of their contemporary culture. One of the popular genres of research for these authors was chorography- a description of the country's lands by regions, a kind of registration of natural features and riches, as well as remarkable events of the past and curious antiquities.

In England, the foundations of antiquarianism were laid as early as the 16th century. collectors and researchers of the past W. Camden, J. Leland, J. Stowe, who founded the Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries in 1585 in London. The members of this society undertook the first experience of collective work in collecting antiquities and publishing historical monuments.

English antiquarian history flourished in the last third of the 16th century. Interest in the glorious, heroic remote eras in the history of the state and the church was expressed in the study of documents, civil records, in descriptions of the counties and cities of Britain, in an unprecedented work on the search and collection of various material evidence. In the words of the antiquary J. Aubrey, researchers who intended to reconstruct the early periods of British history, like himself, “groped their way through the darkness”, and sometimes they managed “although not to shed bright light on them ... but to turn complete darkness into light fog" 1 . This "darkness" shrouded the periods of the British past, Roman rule on the island, Anglo-Saxon England, the Norman conquest. Trying to delve into these issues, the authors, one way or another, came across mythological stories about the origin of the Britons from the Trojans, about Brutus as the ancestor of modern rulers, about King Arthur and the ancient heroes sung in the book of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Many researchers did not seek to challenge these objects of national pride in their works.

Unlike humanist historians, who preferred to write about the deeds of famous people of the past, antiquarians focused on studying the traces of collective history, from the past of an individual city or family to the history of a country. Historians of the late 16th–17th centuries. gradually recreated Roman or Anglo-Saxon Britain from fragments of sources. At the same time, the works of classical authors and Italian antiquarians left their mark on the appearance of the national past.

In the 17th century large series of medieval sources began to be printed. Societies engaged in their search and study were often established by the Catholic Church with the aim of studying the Christian past and the history of the Roman Church. In many ways, such activity was conceived as a response to the reform movements in Europe.

One of the most famous publishing societies was the group of Maurists in France - the monks of the congregation of St. Maurus from the Benedictine order (since 1627) in the abbey of Paris Saint-Germain-des-Pres. In 1648, they prepared a plan for publications, which included manuscripts on the history of the Benedictine order, churches, documents containing information about the past of the French provinces.

The Maurists collected many medieval manuscripts. Each of them was published on the basis of a careful comparison of all lists of the document, reconciliation of different versions of the text. The erudite Maurists also published guides on dating and establishing the authenticity of manuscripts. In 1668 - 1701. they published the Lives of the Saints of the Benedictine Order in nine volumes, including sources up to the 12th century. The main work on the criticism of texts was done by J. Mabillion.

At the same time, from 1643, the publication of medieval sources began in Antwerp. It was carried out by Bollandist Jesuits, named after their leader, J. Bolland. The Lives of the Saints series published by them contained medieval legends and traditions about the deeds of Christian saints. The lives were arranged according to the days of the calendar year: stories about each saint were timed to coincide with his day. This work contains several dozen volumes.

The publication of chronicles and documents was undertaken in Germany, Italy, England, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Spain. Thanks to the activities of erudite publishers, rules for the critical analysis of manuscript texts were developed, which later played an important role in the development of auxiliary historical disciplines (paleography, chronology, diplomacy) and historical knowledge in general.

Periodization issues

New time, in short, is a long period in the history of civilization and mankind, which has a certain time frame. It is located between the Middle Ages and modern times. As in the case of the periodization of the Middle Ages, in different countries the beginning of a new time is defined differently.
If we take the Soviet time, then the date of the English bourgeois revolution of the 17th century was taken as the beginning. European countries considered the discovery of America by Columbus, the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the Reformation, the French Revolution as the starting point of the new time.
Even more incomprehensible is the situation with the definition of the end of the period of the new time. For a long time it was considered the revolution in Russia in 1917. Later, the majority of historians decided to take the First World War as the date of the end of the new time.
The concept of new time, in short, appeared in the 15th century, in the era of the Renaissance (Renaissance). Then the humanists proposed an approximate division of history into three periods: ancient, Middle Ages and modern times. Thus, they wanted to demarcate and simplify the study of human civilization.
The new time, in short, is still a rather conditional concept, since all countries entered it at different times. Disputes about the time frame of this historical period continue in modern historiography (the science that studies history) to this day.

The history of modern times is sometimes divided into two large periods:
1. XVII - XVIII centuries;
2. XX century


New time - meaning and influence

New time was a stage of great changes in all spheres of life: economic, social, political. It occupies a shorter period when compared with the Middle Ages, and even more so with the ancient world, but in history this period is extremely important. The famous geographical discoveries, the book of Nicolaus Copernicus changed the old ideas of people about the Earth, expanded human knowledge about the world.
The Reformation, which passed through all the countries of Europe, abolished the power of the popes over the minds of people, and led to the emergence of the Protestant movement. The humanists of the Renaissance achieved the emergence of many universities and led to a complete revolution in the mind of man, explaining his place in the world around him.
In the era of modern times, in short, humanity has realized that it actually lives in a small space. Geographical discoveries led to the convergence of countries and peoples. In the Middle Ages, things were different. The slow speed of movement, the inability to cross the ocean led to the fact that even about neighboring countries there was no reliable information.
Western Europe has carried out expansion in modern times, establishing its dominance over most countries in Asia and Africa. For the peoples of these countries, the new time has become a period of brutal colonization by European invaders.
How did the small countries of Western Europe manage to subjugate vast territories in Africa and Asia in a short time? There were several reasons for this. European countries are far ahead in their development. In the East, the life of subjects, their lands and property belonged to the ruler. Most of all, it was not the personal qualities of a person that were valued, but the interests of the community. The basis of the economy was agriculture. In the West, things were different. Above all were human rights, his personal qualities, the desire for profit and prosperity. The cities that arose in the Middle Ages led to the emergence of a variety of crafts and a breakthrough in the development of technology. In this respect, the countries of the European countries have gone far ahead of the eastern ones.

Rise of industrial society

The new time, in short, has led to a change in the political system in many countries. The rapid development of trade, especially during the period of famous geographical discoveries, the emergence of banking, the emergence of manufactories began to increasingly contradict the traditional economy and political system. The emerging new class, the bourgeoisie, is gradually beginning to play a significant role in the state.
In the 18th century the power of the bourgeoisie increased manifold. In many countries, the contradictions between the capitalist mode of production and the feudal system, which had reached their limit, led to bourgeois revolutions. This happened in England and France. Capitalism is finally victorious in Europe. The industrial revolution begins, and the obsolete manufactory is replaced by the factory.
Most European countries in modern times are going through a difficult time of changing forms of power, a crisis of absolute monarchy. As a result of changes in the political system, parliamentary democracy is emerging in the most progressive countries. In the same period, the modern system of international relations began to take shape.

Change in thinking

Modern times, in short, is a period of a kind of second Renaissance. Reality showed how much an ordinary person can actually do and change. Gradually, a thought is formed in the human mind - a person can actually do anything. There is a conviction that he can subdue nature and change his future.
Philosophy is developing a lot. There is a literal rebirth. Philosophy has managed to retain its dominant position among the sciences. Modern philosophers sincerely believed that society needed their ideas. A completely new philosophy is being formed, the problems of which remain important today.

Technique and production

New time - a period of rapid development of technology. One of the important inventions of that time, which played a huge role in the development of culture, is printing. The advent of the printing press accelerated the speed of book creation many times over. Previously, books were copied by hand, or created using stamps, and this process took a huge amount of time. Now everything is much simpler.
In the XVIII century in England, where there was a large raw material base, the first spinning, weaving and sewing machines were created. The development of navigation, the growth of armies, the emergence of light industry lead to an increase in the role of machine building and the metallurgical industry. At the beginning of the 18th century, Europeans learned how to smelt cheap cast iron and discovered the secret of steel. At the same time, the Marten brothers invented a furnace that made it possible to restore steel from cast iron. In their honor, it received the name of the open-hearth furnace. In the 19th century, the problem of transporting a large amount of raw materials and products was solved - the steam locomotive and the steamboat were invented.

Culture in modern times

The heyday of European culture occurs in the XVII - XVIII centuries. Thanks to the works of Galileo and Copernicus, a new picture of the world is being created - heliocentric. In science, it is not the authority of the scientist that comes first, but personal experience and experiments.
There are big changes in art. New styles appear - baroque and classicism.
In the XVIII century, as in its time, in the Renaissance, there is a great need for enlighteners. A brilliant constellation of minds is emerging in almost every field of art and science. These are Voltaire, Lomonosov, Locke, Kant, Diderot, Rousseau. Their common unifying feature was a great faith in science and progress.

1. What is the early modern period? What is its chronological framework?

Modern time is the time after the Middle Ages, different, however, from the modern time in which we live. It lasted from the end of the 15th century until the end of the First World War.

2. What is the content and essence of modernization? How are the concepts of "traditional society", "industrial society", "modernization" related?

Modernization is the process of updating a traditional society, entering the path of movement and an industrial society and improving the latter.

3. What are the main consequences of the Great geographical discoveries for European and world history?

Consequences of the Great geographical discoveries:

(a) the dissemination of European achievements in science and technology began;

(b) the scientists of Europe enriched their knowledge with materials from the newly discovered lands;

(c) coffee, cocoa, tea, vanilla, new spices were brought to Europe;

(d) Europeans brought horses, small and large cattle, crops, grapes, olive trees, sugar cane (which became the source of prosperity for the colonies of the West Indies) to the Americas; in Africa, they contributed to the cultivation of wheat, beans, sweet potatoes, in China - peanuts and corn;

(e) European expansion began;

(f) expansion was soon accompanied by the slave trade;

(g) many civilizations and peoples (primarily in the Americas) were destroyed;

(h) there were constant wars for possession of the colonies;

(i) the influx of gold and silver caused inflation in Europe, rising prices, which hit, first of all, the poor.

4. What is a price revolution? What significance did it have for modernization?

A price revolution is a fairly significant inflation, an increase in prices for all goods in Western Europe starting from about the 1540s, most likely due to the import of a huge amount of precious metals and the New World (much more coins were minted as a result, with the number of goods did not grow as sharply). Everyone who received fixed incomes (land rent, wages) lost from the price revolution. Because the workforce has become more accessible to entrepreneurs. Those who benefited from it were those who profited from trade and production, that is, those who carried out modernization. Most of them invested the funds received in expanding their business, that is, in further modernization. In addition, their success made their business more attractive and more people, respectively, capital poured into modernization. Therefore, we can conclude: the price revolution has become a disaster for the general population, but it has become a boon for modernization.

5. Explain the meaning of the term "manufacturing capitalism." What is the difference between centralized factories and scattered ones?

Manufactory is an enterprise with a division of labor and manual production, respectively, manufacturing capitalism is based on this form of production. Manufactories were of two types. The same artisans worked on the scattered one at their former jobs, but cut off by the merchant-entrepreneur from the purchase of raw materials and the sale of products. The future was for centralized manufactories, in which all workers worked in one room. Then it was easier to organize a real division of labor.

6. What is the significance of the Renaissance in changing the spiritual sphere of society? What principles and ideas can be considered the most important for the ideology of the Renaissance?

The Renaissance finally and irrevocably changed the spiritual life of Western Europe. Suffice it to recall that it was the Renaissance figures who developed the term New Age, delimiting it from the earlier period of the Middle Ages. The most important in the Renaissance were the return to the aesthetic ideals of antiquity and the principles of humanism, including the ideals of individualism and anthropocentrism.

7. What were the causes and essence of the Reformation?

The essence of the reformation was the creation of a new, different from the Catholic Church with new rules, which tried to return to the ideals of the first Christians. The reasons for the creation of such a church are as follows:

(a) the hierarchs of the Catholic Church preached contempt for worldly goods, but lived in luxury themselves;

(b) church offices were being sold;

(c) an absolution (indulgence) for a certain amount could be bought by any fraudster;

(d) church rituals were expensive, especially for the poor;

(e) despite the gospel commandments about the equality of all Christians, the church owned serfs.

8. Describe the main directions of the Reformation. What are the similarities between the teachings of Luther and Calvin, and how do they differ from each other?

Both Lutheranism and Calvinism did not recognize the supremacy of the Pope, celibacy, church land ownership and the luxurious decoration of churches. Both directions abolished monasteries and recognized only some of the sacraments of the Church. There are many differences between Lutheranism and Calvinism. J. Calvin believed that the Lord in advance, long before birth, determined which of the people after death were destined for hellish torments, for whom - heavenly bliss. God helps His chosen ones, sends good luck. Therefore, success in all matters, including trade and even usury, is a sign of the Creator's favor. M. Luther, on the contrary, denounced usurers. The Lutheran Church stood up for obedience to any authorities and obeyed them, the Calvinist Church retained autonomy and supported resistance to tyrants.

9. What is the historical significance of the Reformation?

Meaning of the Reformation:

(a) new church organizations sprang up in many countries;

(b) the Catholic Church also underwent significant changes in its efforts to resist the Reformation;

(c) the enmity between Catholics and Protestants has been the cause or cause of many wars, including civil ones;

(d) sectarian strife resulted in significant bloodshed outside the battlefield (the most famous examples are the activities of the Inquisition and St. Bartholomew's Night);

(e) secularization provided the means for the development of many states;

(f) the change in the status of the church led to changes in society;

(g) it was the Reformation that became the driving force behind the revolution in the Netherlands;

(h) controversy between denominations in journalism gave impetus to the development of printing.

10. What are the features of the European society of the XVIII century.? Why do historians speak of this time as a period of crisis of the "old order"?

In the XVIII century, despite several centuries of modernization, the vast majority of the population continued to engage in agriculture, the position of a person was determined, first of all, by origin. The delimitation of the estate became even tougher than in the Middle Ages. These features were especially pronounced in France. It was for her that the concept of the “old order” was invented to emphasize the difference from the “new order” that the revolution created.

11. What processes that took place in the 18th century allow us to talk about the continuation and expansion of modernization?

First of all, the beginning of the industrial revolution speaks about the continuation and expansion of modernization. She raised production to a new level and began to change society, which finally ceased to be agrarian. It was the industrial revolution that ensured the transition to an industrial society, this transition is considered the essence of modernization in those centuries.