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Revolutions in the Atlantic World

1775–1825

A great wave of revolution rocked the Atlantic world from 1775 to 1825. As trade goods, individuals, and ideas circulated in ever-greater numbers across the Atlantic Ocean, debates and events in one locale soon influenced those in another. With changing social realities challenging the old order of life and the emergence of Enlightenment ideals of freedom and equality, reformers in many places demanded fundamental changes in politics and government. At the same time, wars fought for dominance of the Atlantic economy burdened European governments with crushing debts, making them vulnerable to calls for reform.

The revolutionary era began in North America in 1775, where the United States of America won freedom from Britain in 1783. Then in 1789 France became the leading revolutionary nation. It established first a constitutional monarchy, then a radical republic, and finally a new empire under Napoleon that would last until 1815. During this period of constant domestic turmoil, French armies brought revolution to much of Europe. Inspired both by the ideals of the revolution on the continent and by internal colonial conditions, the slaves in the French colony of Saint-Domingue rose up in 1791, followed by colonial settlers, indigenous people, and slaves in Spanish America. Their rebellion would eventually lead to the creation of independent nations in the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America. In Europe and its colonies abroad, the world of modern politics was born.