| ca. 1840s–1890s | Realism dominant in Western arts and literature |
| 1848 | Cholera epidemic and first public health law in Britain |
| ca. 1850–1870 | Modernization of Paris |
| 1850–1914 | Condition of working classes improves |
| 1854 | Pasteur begins studying fermentation and in 1863 develops pasteurization |
| 1854–1870 | Development of germ theory |
| 1859 | Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species by the Means of Natural Selection |
| 1865 | Completion of London sewer system |
| 1869 | Mendeleev creates periodic table |
| 1880–1913 | Second Industrial Revolution; birthrate steadily declines in Europe |
| 1890 | Max Weber publishes The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism |
| 1890s | Electric streetcars introduced in Europe |