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Various events can be seen as the start of Modern History, one of which is the American Revolution. Another would be the Napoleonic Wars. Most commonly, the Industrial Revolution serves as the starting point.
Modern History was an era of change. All aspects of life were changed and (for the first time in history) the entire world was very much involved with those changes.
In large parts of the world people moved from the countryside to cities and started working in the (new) factories that had been made possible due to the invention of the steam engine and its effect on the industrial world. Steam-driven trains and boats greatly accelerated the ability to transport goods and people.
This modernisation also had its downsides, however, as living conditions for labourers working in the new factories were very poor and the labourers were often compared with the slaves of the Southern states of the United States. Entire families were made to work in the factories and children no older than 10 were forced to work 10-15 hours a day, just for the families to be able to survive. Meanwhile, certain industrialists became ultra-wealthy. It was in this environment of great inequality and social upheval that Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and other thinkers began to develop the theories of socialism and communism.
Towards the end of the 19th century living conditions had improved greatly and with the end of the American Civil WarThe American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the northern states, popularly referred to as "the U. the Union," " the North," or "the Yankees"; and the seceding southern states, commonly referred to as "the Confederat (1860-1865), slaves all over the Southern states of the United States were emancipated.
In EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se the period of enlightenmentFor the period in European history, The Age of Enlightenment For the corresponding movement in the European Jewish community, see Haskalah''. For the Hindu religious concept of enlightenment, see moksha For the Buddhist religious concept, see enlightenmen had also brought significant improvements for the "common man", although living conditions remained poor by current standards.
Politically the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly was the only superpowerA superpower is a state with the ability to influence events or project power on a wide scale. In modern terms, this may imply an entity with a strong economy, a large population, and strong armed forces, including air power and satellite capabilities, an of the era, with large coloniesThis article refers to a colony in politics and history. For alternate meanings of colony see colony (disambiguation). In politics and in history, a colony is an administrative unit under the control of a geographically- distinct entity, usually an autono all over the world, a monopoly on trade, and an apparently undefeatable military. That military dominance was primarily based on the ability of the Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the navy of the United Kingdom. It operates a number of aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, fifteen nuclear submarines, and various other ships, as well as aircraft and Britain's amphibious forces, the Royal Marines. The Royal Navy to control the oceans. After the Napoleonic Wars there wasn't a country with the resources to challenge the British. This period in British History is sometimes called the Victorian Age, in honor of Queen Victoria, who ruled the United Kingdom during most of that period.
It was an era of relative peace, in that there were no major wars fought, although it was also during this period that many improvements were made in the art of war, culminating in both World Wars. With the end of World War II, most European countries began to rapidly lose their colonial empires. Europe became the battleground for a war between the new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union.