Man in the mirror

The Ottoman Empire

The war between the Ottoman Empire and Russia resulted from religious problems superficially. Russia put forward protection of “the holy place” in Ottoman Empire. This demand was refused by Ottoman Empire Sudan of Constantinople. Catholicism of France and British Protestant were also going against Russia because Russia built strongholds in Palestine. Russia took military action as the reason that was refused by Sudan. In 1853 Russia broke off the relationship with the Ottoman Empire, and began to capture the Turkey dependency in Danube valley.

The real cause of the war was the gradual collapse of the internal the Ottoman Empire. Russian thought that this was a good opportunity to expand power in Europe; especially it was a good chance to access to the Mediterranean and occupy the Balkans. The governance of the Ottoman Empire on the Balkans was obviously crumbling at that time; and Russia was seeking to the right of control Canakkale Channel and Istanbul Channel. Britain and France fought against Russia's expansion in order to maintain their interests and powers in Southeastern Europe; and they did not want Russia to occupy those strategic positions.  

The Crimean war was the first modern war in the world history. Today most people have forgotten the war, but it changed the status and relations between European powers in terms of military and political. It was the second significant event after Vienna conference in 1815.

 It was the first time when modern armored ships and explosive bombs were used in Crimean War. It was also the first trench war and still war in history. Cable was applied in the war and they used train to transport supplies and reinforcements for the first time.

War correspondents could report the situation to the home newspaper instantly on the same date. A British officer’s mistake caused about 900 British cavalry to be killed in a less than 20 minutes in the attacks. London Times reported that loss at that night and set off a crisis in Britain. In addition, reporters also used the photography to record the war and heroic deeds for the first time.

The First Industrial Revolution and The Secound Industrial Revolution

          The Industrial Revolution was largely confined to Britain from 1760 to 1830, and then spread to Belgium and France. Other nations lagged behind, but once Germany, the U.S., and Japan achieved industrial power they outstripped Britain's initial successes. Eastern European countries lagged into the 20th century, and not until the mid-20th century did the Industrial Revolution spread to such countries as China and India. Many analysts saw evidence of a second, or new, industrial revolution in the later 20th century, with the use of new materials and energy sources, automated factories, new ownership of the means of production, and a shift away from laissez-faire government.

           The Second Industrial Revolution began in England in the 18th century; there were so many changes during this period. Technological changes included the use of iron and steel, new energy sources, invention of new machines that increased production (including the spinning jenny), development of the factory system, and important developments in transportation and communication (including the steam engine and telegraph). Other changes included agricultural improvements, a wider distribution of wealth, political changes reflecting the shift in economic power, and sweeping social changes.

           In the first Industrial Revolution time, many technical inventions all originated from artisan's experience, the science and the technology not yet truly unified. But in the second Industrial Revolution time, the natural sciences recent development started the same Industrial Revolution close union; science played a more vital role in the impetus productive forces development aspect. He caused the second Industrial Revolution with the technical union to yield the huge result. Next, the first Industrial Revolution first occurred in England. The important new machine and the new production method mainly were invented in England; other countries Industrial Revolution development advancement was relatively slow. But the second Industrial Revolution nearly synchronized in several advanced capitalist countries. The new technology and the invention surpassed a country's scope, its scale was more widespread, and the development was also rapid. Third, because the second Industrial Revolution started at different times, somewhat main capitalist countries, for instance, Japan had not yet completed the first Industrial Revolution; to them, two Industrial Revolutions was doing simultaneously. They both might have absorbed the first Industrial Revolution’s technical achievement and might have used the second Industrial Revolution’s directly new technology. The national rate of economic development was also quick.

The Chartist Movement

        The Chartist Movement marked the proletariat as a British independent political force was on the stage of history, starting with the struggle of bourgeoisie for political power. Although the Chartist Movement failed, it had great influence in English history and international workers' movement. The Chartist Movement was the first independent national political movement of the working class, which had experiences and lessons on International Workers' Movement. The lessons from the Chartist Movement played a significant role on Marx and Engels scientific communist theory; the struggle of Chartist achieved some progresses for British workers. In order to avoid repeating the Chartist movement, the bourgeoisie government had to make some concessions to the working class. After Chartism Movement failed, some participants in this movement moved to the United States, Australia and New Zealand; they spread the seed of democratic theory into these places, which made an important contribution to the development of democratic movement.

          British parliamentary-based democratization process was completed nearly 300 years; it was a result of long-term struggling made by British industrial and commercial class and the people, especially the working class and land nobles, and big bourgeoisie. And undoubtedly the Chartist Movement had a significant impact on the UK political democratization process. All previous election reform movement in the second half of the nineteenth century was affected by Chartism Movement at a varying degree.  At the beginning of the twentieth century, the British basically realized the universal suffrage of citizens; the representative system of bourgeoisie was improved gradually. In the Chartism Movement, heroic struggle did by working class and the masses fought for the right of universal suffrage greatly encouraged the European working class. They applied the peace or armed methods to strive for the right of democracy, which advanced the progress of democratic politics.

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