The 4 Stages Of The Modern Age (and Their Characteristics)
Although its beginning and end are a matter of debate, it is agreed that the Modern Age was a period of European (and partly world) history that goes from the 15th to the 18th century.
In these centuries, a series of political, economic and cultural changes took place that were transcendental for the history of Western civilization, its way of understanding the freedom of the individual and how people should be governed.
Next We will discover the main stages of the Modern Age divided into artistic movements and highlighting the main events that occurred in each of them.
The Modern Age is the third of the stages into which European history is usually divided, the fourth if we also take into account Prehistory. It is considered that this age includes the 15th and 18th centuries, although there is not much consensus regarding its exact start and end date (It is also subject to debate depending on the historian and the source consulted).
In many places, including Spain, it is considered that the Middle Ages, the previous period, ended with the European discovery of America in 1492, led by Christopher Columbus even though he himself did not know that he had set foot on a new continent. In others, however, it is considered that the Modern Age began half a century earlier with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire. And if this were not enough, there are those who prefer to establish the beginning of the Modern Age when Johannes Gutenberg developed the printing press in 1459.
The end of the Modern Age has more consensus, considering that what put an end to this period was the French Revolution of 1789 Likewise, in this aspect there is also a bit of controversy, since there are those who consider that it was the Independence of the United States that really gave rise to the next stage, the Contemporary Age, while others speak of the Spanish American Wars of Independence as the end of the Modern Age, at least in the Hispanosphere.
The stages of the Modern Age are also the subject of some debate. Anglo-Saxon historians usually divide it into two different stages, the first being the Early Modern Age, which would end with the Peace of Westphalia (1648) putting an end to the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), while the second would be the Low Modern Age. Modern Age, which would reach the French Revolution. However, most prefer to divide the Modern Age according to its centuries and artistic movements, which is what we are going to do next.
The 15th century marked the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. Its beginning was marked by the end of the great plague epidemic that decimated the European population of the Late Middle Ages, in addition to the beginning of the collapse of feudal society due to a great economic crisis. At this time, a new social group was consolidated, the bourgeoisie, possessors of great wealth thanks to commerce and crafts that would begin the transition to capitalism.
The collapse of the feudal system allowed the kings to gain more power at the expense of the nobility and the clergy, which It caused a change in the European political structure, creating stronger kingdoms, with absolutist governments In these monarchies the powers of the sovereign were justified through religion, declaring that royal power emanated from God. The first nationalist sentiments also appeared, although the creation of great nations such as Italy or Germany would not take place until many centuries later.
The Renaissance, a cultural movement of the 15th and 16th centuries, was characterized by revolutionizing art, science and knowledge in every sense This movement was especially important in Italy, which was where it originated, but it also influenced the rest of the countries of Western Europe, accompanied by a profound philosophical change characterized by a new vision of the human being as the center of the Universe, and not God.
The 16th century was somewhat more particular as it was marked mainly by two factors: the Protestant Reformation and the new trade routes.
The Protestant Reformation affected the Christian religion in Western Europe and its main protagonist was Martin Luther, a theologian and originally an Augustinian Catholic friar who, disappointed by the corruption of the Church, protested against it and proposed a series of changes to prevent further abuses, including the great collection of wealth and the hypocrisies of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.
Luther gained a lot of support in several countries, starting the Reformation that would divide Western Christianity into two: Catholics and Protestants. Despite the attempts of the Catholic Church to fight against the Reformation, applying the Counter-Reformation agreed upon at the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the Holy See could not do much to prevent northern Europe from ceasing to be Catholic.
The other factor that implied an important change in the 16th century was the exploitation of the colonies, which favored the emergence of a new economic theory called mercantilism This argued that it was more beneficial for countries to increase the import of goods and reduce exports, with the intention of protecting local production from foreign competition. This theory reinforced the idea that a country’s wealth was based on the accumulation of precious metals and valuable resources.
2. The Baroque (17th century)
The 17th century had the Baroque as an artistic movement, coinciding with a rather bad time in the history of Europe. The crops were poor because the weather was not favorable and the land deteriorated. Besides, A plague epidemic occurred again, causing a great increase in mortality and times of famine
This period was especially critical for the Spanish Empire, a nation that had reached its maximum extent during the previous centuries. Its power began to fail due to the lower performance of metal exploitation in its American colonies. Added to this, France and England became powerful rivals that began to emerge as great continental powers and, especially the English, began to trade all over the world, competing violently with the Spanish.
In this century, feudal society has practically disappeared, with feudal lords unable to contain their increasingly poorer peasants. Feudalism is replaced by absolute monarchy, whose best exponent was the French king Louis XIV, known for his phrase “the State is me.”
But what most marked the 17th century is a conflict that could well be considered a distant antecedent to the First World War: The Thirty Years’ War This conflict was motivated by religious issues, a fight between Catholics and Protestants but also between the main powers of the time, including the Ottoman Empire, Spain, England, France and the Holy Empire. This conflict destroyed much of Germany and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
3. The Enlightenment (18th century)
In the 18th century, a movement that would revolutionize politics, society and the economy would be of special importance: the Enlightenment. Is a philosophical current that perfectly summarizes the Modern Age, although ironically it was the one that precipitated its end The Enlightenment affirmed that all human beings are born equal, uphold the primacy of reason and must be subjects with freedom.
The enlightened were not supporters of absolutism, since this type of monarchical system was based on the primacy of the king over the rest of the citizens. Although not all monarchs were sensitive to these opinions, those who did listen to the enlightened opted to tweak the system a little, giving rise to enlightened despotism whose philosophy was “everything for the people, but without the people.”
4. End of the Modern Age
Contrary to what happens with the year of its beginning, it seems that the end of the Modern Age is something that enjoys quite a consensus among historians, placing it with the development of the French Revolution.
In 1789, the French ended the absolutist monarchy of Louis XVI in the most savage way that a king who, like the rest, considered himself chosen by God could have ever imagined: beheaded. This event was not merely a change of government or political system, but rather marked the beginning of the end of the Ancien Regime and the beginning of the Contemporary Age (in which we find ourselves, by the way).
The Enlightenment had a lot to do with these tragic events for the French Bourbons Hungry for freedom, equality and fraternity, and also for food since they lived in extreme poverty, the lower classes rebelled against the injustices perpetrated by the clergy and nobility.
After the triumph of the French Revolution, calm did not come to France. In fact, the revolutionary spirit spread to the rest of Europe, motivating various conflicts and political crises.
The French government, republican after the execution of Louis XVI, was taken over by different factions whose power implied the passage of several stages, more or less violent, that did not “calm down” with the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte after carrying out a coup d’état (1799).
Loved by some and hated by others, the general of Corsican origin managed to militarily occupy a good part of the European continent. According to him, the objective of his occupation was to get the rest of the European countries to apply French revolutionary ideas, although the fact that he proclaimed himself emperor did not convince the population that these were his true ideals.
