Page 103 - ABCTE Study Guide_Neat

Review

• The Renaissance was a cultural movement that began in Italy in the fourteenth century
and that marked the transition point between the Middle Ages and the modern era.
• The Reformation was a revolt against the all-powerful Catholic Church. It was touched
off by Martin Luther, a German priest who disagreed with church doctrine. He nailed his
Ninety-five Theses to a church door on October 31, 1517 .
• The Age of Exploration defines an era when European powers began finding ways to
reach new parts of the globe, mostly in an attempt to discover new trade routes.
• The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries that placed a premium on humans and their reason.

The Modern Era

Lesson Objective

Now we’ll turn our attention to the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries and examine some
of the major changes and key figures and events of this time period.

Previously Covered

In the previous sections we touched on some of the major features of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth centuries.

Imperialism and Industrialization

An increasing desire for cultural, religious, and economic gain motivated the colonization efforts in the Age
of Exploration as nations and explorers expanded their reach beyond their borders and took cues from
Greek and Roman empire builders. The imperialism and colonialism of the nineteenth century also had
roots in discovery and innovation, as nations enjoyed the first profitable years of the Industrial
Revolution and scrambled for natural resources in Africa, Southeast Asia, China, India, Latin America,
and the Philippines.

Nineteenth-century colonialism divided the world into allies and enemies, with European nations shifting
control of the resources across the world. It was only a matter of time until these shifting alliances reached
their own boiling point. The catalyst was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, and the
result was a mass of countries calling on alliances and declaring war.

As a result of the Industrial Revolution, World War I was an increasingly mechanized battle. The invention
of, and improvement upon, new tactics and technologies (such as machine guns, airplanes, poison gas,
submarines, trench warfare and tanks) cost thousands more lives than previous methods of warfare. The
machines allowed troops to move quickly, but natural geography also proved to be a factor in warfare.

Machine guns were no match for bad terrain; many battles were lost or won as a direct result of one side’s
proximity to a river or the inhospitable nature of wintry mountains in the infantry’s way. Most clashes
across the Carpathian mountain range in the eastern front ended in stalemates.