Presents a thematic history of the world from 1780 to the onset of the First World War which reveals that the world was far more 'globalised' at this time than is commonly thought. This book considers various themes of the nineteenth-century world, including the rise of the modern state, industrialization and liberalism.

Covering the period 1780–1914, The Birth of the Modern World shows how events in Asia, Africa, and South America – from the decline of the eighteenth-century Islamic empires to the anti-European Boxer rebellion of 1900 in China – had a direct impact on European and American history. And conversely, how the “ripple effects” of crises such as the European revolutions and the American Civil War worked their way through to the rest of the world. None of the great themes of the nineteenth-century world – the rise of the modern state, industrialisation, liberalism, imperialism, and the progress of world religions – is untouched by the novel perspectives of this compelling new history.

This thematic history of the world from 1780 to the onset of the First World War reveals that the world was far more 'globalised' at this time than is commonly thought.

• Explores previously neglected sets of connections in world history.
• Reveals that the world was far more 'globalised', even at the beginning of this period, than is commonly thought.
• Sketches the 'ripple effects' of world crises such as the European revolutions and the American Civil War.
• Shows how events in Asia, Africa and South America impacted on the world as a whole.
• Considers the great themes of the nineteenth-century world, including the rise of the modern state, industrialisation and liberalism.
• Challenges and complements the regional and national approaches which have traditionally dominated history teaching and writing.

Part of The Blackwell History of the World Series

The goal of this ambitious series is to provide an accessible source of knowledge about the entire human past, for every curious person in every part of the world. It will comprise some two dozen volumes, of which some provide synoptic views of the history of particular regions while others consider the world as a whole during a particular period of time. The volumes are narrative in form, giving balanced attention to social and cultural history (in the broadest sense) as well as to institutional development and political change. Each provides a systematic account of a very large subject, but they are also both imaginative and interpretative. The Series is intended to be accessible to the widest possible readership, and the accessibility of its volumes is matched by the style of presentation and production.