| ca. 1790s–1840s | Romantic movement in literature and the arts | |
| 1814–1815 | Congress of Vienna |
| 1832 | Reform Bill in Britain |
| ca. 1840s–1890s | Realism is dominant in Western literature |
| 1845–1851 | Great Famine in Ireland |
| 1848 | Revolutions in France, Austria, and Prussia; Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto; first public health law in Britain |
| 1854 | Pasteur studies fermentation and develops pasteurization |
| 1854–1870 | Development of germ theory |
| 1859 | Darwin, On the Origin of Species by the Means of Natural Selection |
| 1859–1870 | Unification of Italy |
| 1861 | Freeing of Russian serfs |
| 1866–1871 | Unification of Germany |
| 1873 | Stock market crash spurs renewed anti-Semitism in central and eastern Europe |
| 1883 | First social security laws to help workers in Germany |
| 1889–1914 | Second Socialist International |
| 1890–1900 | Massive industrialization surge in Russia |
| 1904–1905 | Russo-Japanese War |
| 1905 | Revolution in Russia |
| 1906–1914 | Social reform in Britain |