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 centuries.

In these centuries there are a series of political, economic and cultural transcendental changes for the history of Western civilization, its way of understanding the freedom of the individual and how the persons.

Next we will discover the main stages of the Modern Age, divided into artistic movements and highlighting which were the main events that took place in each of them.

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The main stages of the Modern Age

The Modern Age is the third of the stages in 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 around what is the exact date of the beginning and the end. (It is also the subject of 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 discovery European American in 1492, starring Christopher Columbus despite the fact that even he himself did not know that he had stepped 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 Gutemberg developed the printing press in 1459.

The end of the Modern Age has more consensus, considering that what put the 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 began 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 High Modern Age, which would end with the Peace of Westphalia. (1648) ending the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), while the second would be the Late Modern Age, which would reach the Revolution French. However, most prefer to divide the Modern Age according to its centuries and artistic movements, which is what we are going to do next.

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1. The Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries)

The 15th century gave way 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 trade and crafts that would initiate the transition to capitalism.

The crumbling of the feudal system served for kings to gain more power at the expense of the nobility and clergy, which 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 the 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 way. This movement had special importance in Italy, which was where it originated, but it also influenced the rest of the countries of Europe. Occidental, accompanied by a profound philosophical change characterized by a new vision of the human being as the center of the Universe, and No god.

The 16th century was somewhat more particular as it was mainly marked by two factors: the Protestant Reformation and the new trade routes.

The Protestant Reformation affected the Christian religion in Western Europe and it had as its main protagonist Martin Luther, a theologian and originally an Augustinian Catholic friar who, disappointed by the corruption of the Church, protested against her and proposed a series of changes to prevent continued abuses, including the great collection of wealth and the hypocrisies of the hierarchy ecclesiastical.

Luther got a lot of support in several countries, starting the Reformation that would divide Western Christianity in two: Catholics and Protestants. Despite the attempts of the Catholic Church to fight against the Reformation, applying the Counter-Reformation agreed in the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the Holy See could not do much to prevent northern Europe from being catholic.

The other factor that implied an important change in the sixteenth 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 importation of goods and reduce exports, with the intention of protecting local production from competition foreign. This theory reinforced the idea that the wealth of a country was based on the accumulation of precious metals and valuable resources.

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2. The Baroque (17th century)

The 17th century had the Baroque as its artistic movement, coinciding with a rather bad time for the history of Europe. Harvests were poor because the weather was not prone and the land deteriorated. What's more, A plague epidemic occurred again, leading to a large 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 leak due to the lower performance of the metal exploitations in its American colonies. Added to this, France and England became powerful rivals who began to emerge as great powers. continental and, especially the English, began to trade all over the world making a violent competition to the Spanish people.

In this century, feudal society has practically disappeared, with feudal lords unable to contain their increasingly poor peasants. Feudalism is replaced by the absolute monarchy, whose best exponent was the French King Louis XIV, known for his phrase "I am the State."

But what most marked the seventeenth 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 struggle between Catholics and Protestants but also between the main powers of the moment, 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.

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3. The Enlightenment (18th century)

In the 18th century, a movement that would revolutionize politics, society and the economy would have special importance: the Enlightenment. It is a philosophical current that perfectly sums up the Modern Age, although ironically it was the one that precipitated its end. The enlightened affirmed that all human beings are born equal, they maintain 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 heed the enlightened opted for tweak the system a bit, giving rise to enlightened despotism whose philosophy was “everything for the people, but without the village".

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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 a lot of consensus among historians, putting it with the development of the Revolution French.

In 1789 the French ended the absolutist monarchy of Louis XVI in the most savage way that a king could have ever imagined who, like the rest, considered himself a chosen one by God: beheaded. This event was not merely a change of government or political system, but it marked the beginning of the end of the Old Regime and the beginning of the Contemporary Age (in which we find ourselves, for certain).

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 the most extreme poverty, the lower classes rebelled against the injustices perpetrated by the clergy and the 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, causing various conflicts and political crises.

The French, republican government 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 (1799).

Loved by some and hated by others, the general of Corsican origin managed to occupy a large part of the European continent militarily. According to him, the objective of his occupation was to get the rest of the European countries to apply the revolutionary ideas French, although the fact that he proclaimed himself emperor failed to convince the population that these were his true ideals.