The significance of Revolutions

What has come from Revolutions? Good? Bad? or Both? Well, western civilization yielded to the world: science, independence, advancements, and exploration to mankind. I chose the Age of Discovery, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment. All these revolutions are like one another in one, with time, human beings changed their way of thinking. They evolved because so many changes were occurring throughout the world. The scientific revolution helped people to realize that religion was not the only way to go. The age of discovery and traveling to “The New World” also opened people up to the idea that there is more out there.

These three are linked together one helping to lead the other e.g. exploring leads to a new way of thinking that leads to science, and then human ability to reason which gave way to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” from the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Age of Discovery revolution: The “Age of Exploration” happened between the fifteenth century and the seventeenth century.

Where the Europeans sailed to the world looking for fresh unfamiliar trading routes and people to trade with and create treaties with to further their capitalistic country. The new world had things that the Europeans did not have and found more than worthy of trade. Christopher Colombus brought things such as tobacco, corn, pineapples, turkeys, cocoa, and even Native Americans some as slaves. The action of trying to find new trade partners and routes by sea happened because Constantinople fell in fourteen-fifty-three, which cut ties to European trade by land with Asia.

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The age of discovery in its way brought about the scientific revolution and the enlightenment period. Because without having found the New World the people might not have grasped the concept that there was something else besides what they have known and while seeming new to them was not new at all. Europeans would have taken a long time, in seeing new hopes and using their imagination for exploring new things whether that being inside of their mind as a society or the earth. Since some thought that the treatment of the natives was unjust and wrong, this could have led to people believing that their country was not as good and just as they had originally thought, it they had never done so before.

The scientific revolution started in fifteen-fifty through the seventeenth century and is known to be the substructure of today’s modern science that is still used today. This time was when mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, and chemistry changed how society and nature were thought to be. This was a time when science was a new religion so to say. Using a telescope Galileo ascertained that the sun had spots, the moon had ridges and peaks, and Jupiter contained four moons. He concluded a theory from his evidence that the earth and other planets revolved around the sun. Other scientists like Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes alone with their deductive and inductive reasoning helped further a new way of thinking in society and all things of nature (the world). Art and paintings induced the idea of human anatomy for the reason that the sculptures and artwork were so accurate in the depiction of the human body. Science, technology, and math all contributed to things like the compass which helped travelers and sailors on their journey to new places like “The New World”. Science and the natural world began to converge and make more sense of the world, thus starting as a foundation for where we are today and slowly moving religion aside to make way for a different way of thinking. Solving the mysteries of that time through the scientific method caused people to formulate their ideas individually to themselves and want to get more involved with the new “modern science”. Since people started thinking differently this caused the hesitation and confusion that linked them to their faith and religion. This revolution influenced every single part of the European essence of life such as philosophy, society, education, and literature. There were many revolts and wars on religion even before the Scientific revolution many people died trying to change how their government or king saw things and ruled over the peoples of their country.

Enlightenment was mostly about philosophical thought occurring from sixteen-eighty-five to eighteen-fifteen. This time was about using your intellectual ability to reason and people striking out on their own and not believing everything that they were told. During the enlightenment, Voltaire who was a philosopher wrote about laws, systems of the court, tolerance of religious standings, and security of rights. He helped to provoke French citizens to want to change how their country goes about business and deals with its citizens. People who followed the old religious ways were not pleased or taken with this new thought process. Furthermore, the French enlightenment philosophes’ ideas affected the American revolutionaries. This gave way to the exchange of ideas and discussion of ethics to create an independent, every man equal, a country with justice. Eventually this transformed monarchy. John Locke even believed that no king or ruler should have absolute power over their country without rules to govern themselves as well. The French were mesmerized by Locke’s social contract. These ideas spread like wildfire through Europe and people caught onto these notions. A majority of the Europeans in the latter half of the seventeenth century were intrigued that scientists and writers like John Locke questioned traditional systems.

These revolutions provided a new way of thinking and looking at every detail in one’s life, spreading ideas and technologies that eventually changed the world. We might not be the thinkers we are today if it were not for the European wars and revolutions in the past. Change brings about many things and multiple sides of people whether good or bad, with pure intentions or bad intentions. Revolutions always have protestors and always involve politics and just like with wars old or new, there will always be casualties.