The Season 4 Preview: The Long 19th Century (1750-1914)

Get ready and get set for the wildest ride yet that starts on Thursday! The framework for world history from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries will be increasing shaped by growing European power. This power will be based on previous gains in international trade and key colonies planted in India, Indonesia, and elsewhere. It will be increased by European population growth and by a more explicit imperialist spirit, eager to seek new gains and conquests in the wider world. It will be greatly furthered by Europe’s growing industrial strength. Industrialization, beginning in the late 18th century, will generate new goods to sell, new modes of international transportation that will facilitate wider market contacts, and new and more lethal weaponry that will enhance Europe’s military advantage. Yet Season Four will by no means be shaped by European activities alone. Most societies will be able to resist European penetration to at least some degree, and several will undertake active reform programs designed to enhance independence and the preservation of important values. Latin America will free itself from direct European control early in the 19th century, although its economic subordination in many ways will intensify. The development of new institutions and social patterns in the United States, Canada, and Australia, although they will reflect Western European strength, will add another important source of complexity to modern world history. Finally, the emergence of various kinds of nationalisms and other cultural responses, in many otherwise different societies, will reflect the capacity to define distinctive identities combined with the pressing need to innovate. By 1900, reform developments, independence movements, and nationalism will begin to limit Western European hegemony, although the full reaction won’t begin to take shape until Season 5. Buckle your seatbelts and get ready for the wildest, most twisted ride yet. Get ready to start Season Four with a BANG on Thursday!