The Enlightenment

18th Century

Definition
Enlightenment: the term can more narrowly refer to the intellectual movement of The Enlightenment, which advocated Reason as the primary basis of authority. It manifested itself in France (Sicle des Lumires), Britain (The Age of Reason) and Germany (Aufklrung)

Historical Context
Ever increasing role of the bourgeoisie The enlightened monarch Rousseaus social contract: man born good and pure, society leads to mans depravation Various social uprisings throughout Europe 1789 The French Revolution : anti-royal and anti-clerical Industrialization in England Many of the United States' Founding Fathers were also heavily influenced by Enlightenment-era ideas, particularly in the religious sphere (Deism) and, in parallel with the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, in the governmental sphere (the United States Bill of Rights).

French Revolution
Resentment of royal absolutism; Resentment by the ambitious professional and mercantile classes towards noble privileges and dominance in public life Resentment of manorialism (seigneurialism) by peasants, wage-earners, and, to a lesser extent, the bourgeoisie; Resentment of clerical privilege (anti-clericalism) and aspirations for freedom of religion; Continued hatred for "Papist" controlled and influenced institutions of all kinds, by the large protestant minorities; Aspirations for liberty and (especially as the revolution progressed) republicanism; Hatred toward the King for firing Jacques Necker and Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune (among other financial advisors) who represented and fought for the people.

France
The fall of Bastille
- July 14th, 1789

The Reign of Terror

M. Robespierre

Public execution of King Louis XVI

- between 18.000 and 40.000 people were guillotined during the reign of terror (1793-1794)

Russia
Sankt Petersburg founded by Peter the Great. Russian capital till 1918.

Great Britain
Act of Union passed merging the Scottish and the English Parliaments, thus establishing The United Kingdom of Great Britain.

Scotland

England

Prussia

Frederick the Great King of Prussia

Prussia

American War of Independence

George Washington
Declaration of Independence, 4th of July 1776

American Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

American War of Independence

The Patriot

France
Following a coup detat, Napoleon Bonaparte becomes dictator of France (1799)

Cultural Context
1709: The first piano was built by Bartolomeo Cristofori 1712: Steam Engine invented by Thomas Newcomen. 1717: The diving bell was successfully tested by Edmond Halley, sustainable to a depth of 55 ft. c. 1730: The sextant navigational tool was developed by John Hadley in England, and Thomas Godfrey in America 1736: Europeans discovered rubber - the discovery was made by Charles-Marie de la Condamine while on expedition in South America. It was named in 1770 by Joseph Priestly 1740: Modern steel was developed by Benjamin Huntsman 1741: Vitus Bering discovered Alaska 1745: The Leyden jar invented by Ewald von Kleist was the first electrical capacitor 1751 - 1785: The French Encyclopdie 1755: The English Dictionary by Samuel Johnson 1764: The Spinning Jenny created by James Hargreaves brought on the Industrial Revolution 1765: James Watt enhances Newcomen's steam engine, allowing new steel technologies. 1761: The problem of Longitude was finally resolved by the fourth chronometer of John Harrison 1768 - 1779: James Cook mapped the boundaries of the Pacific Ocean and discovered many Pacific Islands, including Australia 1776: The Wealth of Nations, foundation of the modern theory of economy, was published by Adam Smith 1779: Photosynthesis was first discovered by Jan Ingenhouse of the Netherlands 1798: Edward Jenner publishes a treatise about smallpox vaccination

Literature
DRAMA bourgeois drama Philosophical drama : Nathan the Wise, G.E. Lessing Historical drama: Don Carlos, Friedrich Schiller Tragedy: Faust, J.W. v. Goethe

Literature
NOVELS - Wider narrative structures (adventure novels, picaresque novel, fantastic and utopist novel, journal or letter-novel, etc.) - Disregard for the Classical unities of time

Literature
POETRY - Ballads - Love poems and poems inspired from popular lore

Main Representatives
Denis Diderot J.J. Rousseau Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Friedrich Schiller Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Voltaire Jonathan Swift Daniel Defoe