| 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 |