18601904

1860–1904 marks a period of rapid change that spans the late Industrial Revolution and the dawn of the modern era. Global connectivity expanded through rail, steamship, telegraph, and later wireless technology. Political systems were transformed by reform, revolution, and empire-building.

In Europe, national unifications reshaped power: Italy (1861) and Germany (1871) brought larger nation-states; Russia emancipated its serfs in 1861; the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 formed a dual monarchy; the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) altered continental borders. The Suez Canal opened in 1869, shortening transcontinental routes.

Across the Atlantic and in Asia, the United States recovered from the Civil War and industrialized rapidly, while Brazil abolished slavery in 1888 and Japan launched the Meiji Restoration (1868) to modernize its economy and institutions.

In science and technology, the period witnessed the telephone (1876), electric light (1879), and phonograph (1877). Wireless communication appeared in the late 1890s, and the Wright brothers achieved powered flight in 1903, signaling new possibilities in transport and warfare.

The economy intensified the Second Industrial Revolution, with rail expansion, mass production, and growing global trade. Urbanization and education reforms accompanied rising labor movements, while social and political reform efforts—advocacy for workers, broader suffrage, and women's rights—began reshaping public life.