Chapter 8: The Age of Enlightenment
Topic: The Age of Enlightenment
Summarize key ideas/ main Notes
points (Tips: Skip a space between ideas/topics and use abbreviations)
The Enlightenment Introduction
● The Enlightenment took place in the 18th century
● The Enlightenment took place before the French Revolution of 1789
○ The leading ideas of the Enlightenment were in: reason, science,
education, social reform, tolerance and enlightened governance.
■ The Enlightenment has often been challenged by other
influential cultural movements, such as, romanticism,
postmodernism and religious revivals.
■ The Enlightenment has also been challenged by modern
political movements, such as, fascism [one-party
dictatorship] and ethnic nationalisms [a nation is defined in
terms of ethnicity].
● The Enlightenment has influenced modern society in both political and
cultural ways
○ At the end of the 18th century, the Enlightenment had caused
explosive political revolutions in America and Europe.
■ The Enlightenment has shaped ‘modernity’
35. The Philosophers - and Others ● The ‘Spirit of Progress’ during the Enlightenment was derived from the
scientific and intellectual revolutions of the 17th century
● The Enlightenment shed light on the ideas of Bacon, Newton, Locke,
, Descartes, Bayle and Spinoza.
○ John Locke’s Natural Law
● The Enlightenment is the first time when people believe in progress [the
idea that each next generation is better of than the last generation].
, History of the Modern World Since 1750
Chapter 9: The French Revolution
Topic: The French Revolution
Summarize key ideas/ main Notes
points (Tips: Skip a space between ideas/topics and use abbreviations)
The French Revolution Introduction
● In 1789 France fell into revolution [the revolution lasted 10 years]
○ The revolution changed the ‘old regime’ into ‘modern society’
○ The French revolution extended beyond France and provokes
debates about social reform, political radicalism and
revolutionary violence.
■ The French Revolution was a transformation from a
collection of privileged groups to a nation
How the French Revolution
impacted the rest of the world
● The revolution in France also contributed to other revolutions in the
Atlantic world.
○ E.g. The great slave uprising in the French colony of Saint
Dominique, which began in 1791 and led eventually to the creation
of the Independent Republic of Haiti, was inspired in part by reports
of the recently declared “rights of man” in France.