Editing History of Europe (section)

==Early modern Europe==
{{Main|Early modern Europe|Scientific revolution|International relations, 1648–1814}}

[[File:Republik Venedig Handelswege01.png|thumb|[[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] (red) and [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] (green) maritime trade routes in the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] and [[Black Sea]]]]

The Early Modern period spans the centuries between the [[Middle Ages]] and the [[Industrial Revolution]], roughly from 1500 to 1800, or from the discovery of the New World in 1492 to the [[French Revolution]] in 1789. The period is characterised by the rise in importance of science and increasingly rapid [[History of technology|technological progress]], secularised civic politics, and the nation state. [[capitalist economy|Capitalist economies]] began their rise, and the early modern period also saw the rise and dominance of the economic theory of [[mercantilism]]. As such, the early modern period represents the decline and eventual disappearance, in much of the European sphere, of [[feudalism]], serfdom and the power of the Catholic Church. The period includes the [[Renaissance]], the [[Scientific Revolution]], the Protestant [[Reformation]], the disastrous [[Thirty Years' War]], the [[European colonisation of the Americas]] and the [[European witch-hunts]].

===Renaissance===
{{Main|Renaissance}}
[[File:Pacioli.jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of Luca Pacioli]]'', the founder of accounting, by [[Jacopo de' Barbari]] ([[Museo di Capodimonte]])]]

Despite these crises, the 14th century was also a time of great progress within the arts and sciences. A renewed interest in ancient [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] led to the [[Italian Renaissance]], a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the north, west and [[middle Europe]] during a cultural lag of some two and a half centuries, its influence affected literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, history, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. The Humanists saw their repossession of a great past as a Renaissance – a rebirth of civilization itself.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert A. Nisbet|title=History of the Idea of Progress|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDRWfZ9Ydw0C&pg=PA103|year=1980|publisher=Transaction Publishers|page=103|isbn=978-1-4128-2548-1}}</ref> Important political precedents were also set in this period. [[Niccolò Machiavelli]]'s political writing in ''[[The Prince]]'' influenced later absolutism and realpolitik. Also important were the many patrons who ruled states and used the artistry of the Renaissance as a sign of their power.

The [[Scientific Revolution]] took place in Europe starting towards the second half of the Renaissance period, with the 1543 [[Nicolaus Copernicus]] publication ''[[De revolutionibus orbium coelestium]]'' (''On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres'') often cited as its beginning.

===Exploration and trade===
{{Main|Age of Discovery}}
[[File:Cantino planisphere (1502).jpg|thumb|[[Cantino planisphere]], 1502, earliest chart showing explorations by [[Vasco da Gama]], [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]] and [[Pedro Álvares Cabral|Cabral]]]]

Toward the end of the period, an era of discovery began. The growth of the [[Ottoman Empire]], culminating in the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, cut off trading possibilities with the east. Western Europe was forced to discover new trading routes, as happened with Columbus' travel to the Americas in 1492, and [[Vasco da Gama]]'s circumnavigation of India and Africa in 1498.

The numerous wars did not prevent European states from exploring and conquering wide portions of the world, from Africa to Asia and the newly discovered Americas. In the 15th century, [[Portugal]] led the way in geographical exploration along the coast of Africa in search of a maritime route to India, followed by Spain near the close of the 15th century, dividing their exploration of the world according to the [[Treaty of Tordesillas]] in 1494.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kwabs.com/tordesillas_treaty.html|title=kwabs.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215021/http://www.kwabs.com/tordesillas_treaty.html|archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref> They were the first states to set up colonies in America and European [[factory (trading post)|trading posts (factories)]] along the shores of Africa and Asia, establishing the first direct European diplomatic contacts with Southeast Asian states in 1511, China in 1513 and Japan in 1542. In 1552, Russian tsar [[Ivan the Terrible]] conquered two major [[Tatars|Tatar]] khanates, the [[Khanate of Kazan]] and the [[Astrakhan Khanate]]. The [[Yermak Timofeyevich|Yermak]]'s voyage of 1580 led to the annexation of the Tatar [[Siberian Khanate]] into Russia, and the Russians would soon after conquer the rest of [[Siberia]], steadily expanding to the east and south over the next centuries. Oceanic explorations soon followed by France, England and the Netherlands, who explored the Portuguese and Spanish trade routes into the Pacific Ocean, reaching Australia in 1606<ref>MacKnight, CC (1976). ''The Voyage to Marege: Macassan Trepangers in Northern Australia''. [[Melbourne University Publishing|Melbourne University Press]].</ref> and New Zealand in 1642.

===Reformation===
{{Main|Reformation}}
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[[File:Habsburg Map 1547.jpg|thumb|[[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]] realms (green) under [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]]]]
With the development of the [[printing press]], new ideas spread throughout Europe and challenged traditional doctrines in science and theology. Simultaneously, the Reformation under German [[Martin Luther]] questioned Papal authority. The most common dating of the Reformation begins in 1517, when Luther published ''[[The Ninety-Five Theses]]'', and concludes in 1648 with the [[Treaty of Westphalia]] that ended years of [[European wars of religion|European religious wars]].<ref>Euan Cameron, ''The European Reformation'' (1991)</ref>

During this period corruption in the Catholic Church led to a sharp backlash in the Protestant Reformation. It gained many followers especially among princes and kings seeking a stronger state by ending the influence of the Catholic Church. Figures other than [[Martin Luther]] began to emerge as well like [[John Calvin]] whose [[Calvinism]] had influence in many countries and King [[Henry VIII]] of England who broke away from the Catholic Church in England and set up the [[Anglican Church]]. These religious divisions brought on a wave of wars inspired and driven by religion but also by the ambitious monarchs in Western Europe who were becoming more centralized and powerful.

The Protestant Reformation also led to a strong reform movement in the Catholic Church called the [[Counter-Reformation]], which aimed to reduce corruption as well as to improve and strengthen Catholic dogma. Two important groups in the Catholic Church who emerged from this movement were the [[Jesuits]], who helped keep Spain, Portugal, Poland, and other European countries within the Catholic fold, and the Oratorians of [[Saint Philip Neri]], who ministered to the faithful in Rome, restoring their confidence in the Church of Jesus Christ that subsisted substantially in the Church of Rome. Still, the Catholic Church was somewhat weakened by the Reformation, portions of Europe were no longer under its sway and kings in the remaining Catholic countries began to take control of the church institutions within their kingdoms.

Unlike many European countries at the time, the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] was notably tolerant of the Protestant movement, as well the [[Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711)|Principality of Transylvania]]. A degree of tolerance was also displayed in [[Ottoman Hungary]]. While still enforcing the predominance of Catholicism, they continued to allow the large religious minorities to maintain their faiths, traditions and customs. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth became divided among Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Jews and a small Muslim population.

[[File:Europe As A Queen Sebastian Munster 1570.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Europa regina]], 1570 print by [[Sebastian Münster]] of [[Basel]]]]

Another development was the idea of 'European superiority'. There was a movement by some such as [[Michel de Montaigne|Montaigne]] that regarded the non-Europeans as a better, more natural and primitive people. Post services were founded all over Europe, which allowed a [[Renaissance humanism|humanistic]] interconnected network of intellectuals across Europe, despite religious divisions. However, the Roman Catholic Church banned many leading scientific works; this led to an intellectual advantage for Protestant countries, where the banning of books was regionally organised. [[Francis Bacon]] and other advocates of science tried to create unity in Europe by focusing on the unity in nature. In the 15th century, at the end of the Middle Ages, powerful sovereign states were appearing, built by the [[New Monarchs]] who were centralising power in France, England, and Spain. On the other hand, the Parliament in the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] grew in power, taking legislative rights from the Polish king. The new state power was contested by parliaments in other countries especially England. New kinds of states emerged which were co-operation agreements among territorial rulers, cities, farmer republics and knights.

[[File:Alberico Gentili.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Alberico Gentili]], the father of international law]]

===Mercantilism and colonial expansion===
{{Main|Mercantilism}}
[[File:Colonisation2.gif|thumb|left|The evolution of [[Colonial empire]]s from 1492 to the present]]

The [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] kingdoms were able to dominate colonial activity in the 16th century. The Portuguese forged the first global empire in the 15th and 16th century, whilst during the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century, the crown of Castile (and the overarching Hispanic Monarchy, including Portugal from 1580 to 1640) became the most powerful empire in the world. Spanish dominance in America was increasingly challenged by [[British colonisation of the Americas|British]], [[French colonisation of the Americas|French]], [[Dutch colonization of the Americas|Dutch]] and [[New Sweden|Swedish]] colonial efforts of the 17th and 18th centuries. New forms of trade and expanding horizons made new forms of [[Federalism|government]], [[Constitutionalism|law]] and economics necessary.

Colonial expansion continued in the following centuries (with some setbacks, such as successful wars of independence in the [[American Revolution|British American colonies]] and then later [[Haitian Revolution|Haiti]], [[Mexican War of Independence|Mexico]], [[Argentine War of Independence|Argentina]], [[Brazilian Independence|Brazil]], and [[Spanish American wars of independence|others]] amid European turmoil of the [[Napoleonic Wars]]). Spain had control of a large part of North America, all of Central America and a great part of South America, the Caribbean and the [[Philippines]]; Britain took the whole of Australia and New Zealand, most of India, and large parts of Africa and North America; France held parts of Canada and India (nearly all of which was lost to Britain [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|in 1763]]), [[French Indochina|Indochina]], large parts of Africa and the Caribbean islands; the Netherlands gained the [[Indies|East Indies]] (now [[Indonesia]]) and islands in the Caribbean; Portugal obtained Brazil and several territories in Africa and Asia; and later, powers such as Germany, Belgium, Italy and Russia acquired further colonies.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

This expansion helped the economy of the countries owning them. [[Mercantilism|Trade]] flourished, because of the minor stability of the empires. By the late 16th century, American silver accounted for one-fifth of Spain's total budget.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Conquest in the Americas|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575057_13/spain.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028035130/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575057_13/Spain.html|archive-date=28 October 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Herbert S, Klein, ''The American Finances of the Spanish Empire : Royal Income and Expenditures in Colonial Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia, 1680–1809'' (1998) p. 92 [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Herbert-Klein/publication/319175990_The_American_Finances_of_the_Spanish_Empire_1680-1809/links/5997235445851564431d0934/The-American-Finances-of-the-Spanish-Empire-1680-1809.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614034106/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Herbert-Klein/publication/319175990_The_American_Finances_of_the_Spanish_Empire_1680-1809/links/5997235445851564431d0934/The-American-Finances-of-the-Spanish-Empire-1680-1809.pdf |date=14 June 2021 }}</ref> The [[French colonial empire|French colony]] of [[Saint-Domingue]] was one of richest European colonies in the 18th century, operating on a [[plantation economy]] fueled by [[Slavery in Haiti|slave labor]]. During the period of French rule, [[cash crop]]s produced in Saint-Domingue comprised thirty percent of total French trade while its sugar exports represented forty percent of the Atlantic market.<ref>{{cite book|last=McLellan|first=James May|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tIxDYmc0c3YC|title=Colonialism and Science: Saint Domingue and the Old Regime|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-226-51467-3|edition=reprint|page=63|quote=[...] French Saint Domingue at its height in the 1780s had become the single richest and most productive colony in the world.|access-date=22 November 2010|archive-date=27 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427155348/https://books.google.com/books?id=tIxDYmc0c3YC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Alcenat|first=Westenly|title=The Case for Haitian Reparations|url=https://jacobinmag.com/2017/01/haiti-reparations-france-slavery-colonialism-debt/|url-status=live|access-date=20 February 2021|website=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]|language=en-US|archive-date=26 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226224437/https://jacobinmag.com/2017/01/haiti-reparations-france-slavery-colonialism-debt/}}</ref>

===Crisis of the 17th century===
[[File:Prager.Fenstersturz.1618.jpg|thumb|Contemporary woodcut depicting the [[Second Defenestration of Prague]] (1618), which marked the beginning of the [[Bohemian Revolt]], which began the first part of the Thirty Years' War]]
{{further|The General Crisis}}

The 17th century was an era of crisis.<ref name="Geoffrey Parker and Lesley M. Smith, eds. 1997">{{cite book|editor=Geoffrey Parker and Lesley M. Smith|title=The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-cJyz5jhkbkC|year=1997|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-203-99260-9}}</ref><ref name="Trevor Aston 1965">Trevor Aston, ed. ''Crisis in Europe 1560–1660: Essays from Past and Present'' (1965)</ref> Many historians have rejected the idea, while others promote it as an invaluable insight into the warfare, politics, economics,<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor=40263652|title=The Economic Crisis of the Seventeenth Century after Fifty Years|journal=The Journal of Interdisciplinary History|volume=40|issue=2|pages=151–194|last1=De Vries|first1=Jan|year=2009|doi=10.1162/jinh.2009.40.2.151|s2cid=195826470}}</ref> and even art.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor=40263655|title=The Crisis in the Arts of the Seventeenth Century: A Crisis of Representation?|journal=The Journal of Interdisciplinary History|volume=40|issue=2|pages=239–261|last1=Burke|first1=Peter|year=2009|doi=10.1162/jinh.2009.40.2.239|s2cid=143713154}}</ref> The [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648) focused attention on the massive horrors that wars could bring to entire populations.<ref>Peter H. Wilson, ''The Thirty Years' War: Europe's Tragedy'' (2011)</ref> The 1640s in particular saw more state breakdowns around the world than any previous or subsequent period.<ref name="Geoffrey Parker and Lesley M. Smith, eds. 1997"/><ref name="Trevor Aston 1965"/> The [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], the largest state in Europe, temporarily disappeared. In addition, there were secessions and upheavals in several parts of the Spanish empire, the world's first global empire. In Britain the entire [[House of Stuart|Stuart monarchy]] ([[Kingdom of England|England]], [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]], [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]], and its [[Thirteen Colonies|North American colonies]]) rebelled. Political insurgency and a spate of popular revolts seldom equalled shook the foundations of most states in Europe and Asia. More wars took place around the world in the mid-17th century than in almost any other period of recorded history. Across the [[Northern Hemisphere]], the mid-17th century experienced almost unprecedented death rates.

===Age of absolutism===
{{further|Absolutism (European history)|International relations, 1648–1814}}
[[File:Mária Terézia koronázása a Szent Márton székesegyházban.jpg|thumb|Maria Theresa being crowned Queen of Hungary in the [[St. Martin's Cathedral, Bratislava|St. Martin's Cathedral]], Pressburg ([[Bratislava]])]]

The "absolute" rule of powerful monarchs such as [[Louis XIV]] (ruled France 1643–1715),<ref>John B. Wolf, ''Louis XIV'' (1968)</ref> [[Peter the Great]] (ruled Russia 1682–1725),<ref>Lindsey Hughes, ''Russia in the Age of Peter the Great'' (1998).</ref> [[Maria Theresa]] (ruled [[Habsburg lands]] 1740–1780) and [[Frederick the Great]] (ruled Prussia 1740–86),<ref>G.P. Gooch, ''Frederick the Great: The Ruler, the Writer, the Man'' (1947)</ref> produced powerful centralized states, with strong armies and powerful bureaucracies, all under the control of the king.<ref>Max Beloff, ''The age of absolutism, 1660–1815'' (1966).</ref>

Throughout the early part of this period, capitalism (through mercantilism) was replacing feudalism as the principal form of economic organisation, at least in the western half of Europe. The expanding colonial frontiers resulted in a [[Commercial Revolution]]. The period is noted for the rise of modern science and the application of its findings to technological improvements, which animated the Industrial Revolution after 1750.

The Reformation had profound effects on the unity of Europe. Not only were nations divided one from another by their religious orientation, but some states were torn apart internally by religious strife, avidly fostered by their external enemies. France suffered this fate in the 16th century in the series of conflicts known as the [[French Wars of Religion]], which ended in the triumph of the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon Dynasty]]. England settled down under [[Elizabeth I]] to a moderate [[Anglicanism]]. Much of modern-day Germany was made up of numerous small sovereign states under the theoretical framework of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], which was further divided along internally drawn sectarian lines. The [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] is notable in this time for its [[religious tolerance|religious indifference]] and general immunity to European religious strife.

====Thirty Years' War 1618–1648====
{{Main|Thirty Years' War}}
The [[Thirty Years' War]] was fought between 1618 and 1648, across Germany and neighbouring areas, and involved most of the major European powers except England and Russia,<ref>Peter H. Wilson, ''Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War'' (2009)</ref> involving Catholics versus Protestants for the most part. The major impact of the war was the devastation of entire regions scavenged bare by the foraging armies. Episodes of widespread famine and disease, and the breakup of family life, devastated the population of the German states and, to a lesser extent, the [[Low Countries]], the [[Crown of Bohemia]] and northern parts of Italy, while bankrupting many of the regional powers involved. Between one-fourth and one-third of the German population perished from direct military causes or from disease and starvation, as well as postponed births.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor=649855|title=The Economic and Social Consequences of the Thirty Years' War|journal=Past & Present|issue=39|pages=44–61|last1=Kamen|first1=Henry|year=1968|doi=10.1093/past/39.1.44}}</ref>
[[File:Europe map 1648.PNG|left|thumb|Europe after the [[Peace of Westphalia]] in 1648]]
After the [[Peace of Westphalia]], which ended the war in favour of nations deciding their own religious allegiance, [[Absolutism (European history)|absolutism]] became the norm of the continent, while parts of Europe experimented with constitutions foreshadowed by the [[English Civil War]] and particularly the [[Glorious Revolution]]. European military conflict did not cease, but had less disruptive effects on the lives of Europeans. In the advanced northwest, [[the Enlightenment]] gave a philosophical underpinning to the new outlook, and the continued spread of literacy, made possible by the [[printing press]], created new secular forces in thought.

From the Union of Krewo, central and eastern Europe was dominated by [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)|Kingdom of Poland]] and [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]]. In the 16th and 17th centuries Central and Eastern Europe was an arena of conflict for domination of the continent between [[Swedish Empire|Sweden]], the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (involved in series of wars, like [[Khmelnytsky uprising]], [[Russo-Polish War (1654–67)|Russo-Polish War]], the [[Deluge (history)|Deluge]], etc.) and the [[Ottoman Empire]]. This period saw a gradual decline of these three powers which were eventually replaced by new enlightened absolutist monarchies: Russia, Prussia and Austria (the [[Habsburg monarchy]]). By the turn of the 19th century they had become new powers, having [[Partitions of Poland|divided Poland]] between themselves, with Sweden and Turkey having experienced substantial territorial losses to Russia and Austria respectively as well as pauperisation.

[[File:Vienna Battle 1683.jpg|thumb|right|The defeat of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]] at the [[Battle of Vienna]] in 1683 marked the historic end of [[Ottoman wars in Europe|Ottoman expansion into Europe]].]]

====War of the Spanish Succession====
{{Main|War of the Spanish Succession}}
The [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1701–1715) was a major war with France opposed by a coalition of England, the Netherlands, the Habsburg monarchy, and Prussia. [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Duke of Marlborough]] commanded the English and Dutch victory at the [[Battle of Blenheim]] in 1704. The main issue was whether France under King Louis XIV would take control of Spain's very extensive possessions and thereby become by far the dominant power, or be forced to share power with other major nations. After initial allied successes, the long war produced a military stalemate and ended with the [[Treaty of Utrecht]], which was based on a balance of power in Europe. Historian [[Russell Weigley]] argues that the many wars almost never accomplished more than they cost.<ref>Russell Weigley, ''The Age of Battles: The Quest for Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo'' (1991).</ref> British historian [[G. M. Trevelyan]] argues:
:That Treaty [of Utrecht], which ushered in the stable and characteristic period of Eighteenth-Century civilization, marked the end of danger to Europe from the old French monarchy, and it marked a change of no less significance to the world at large – the maritime, commercial and financial supremacy of Great Britain.<ref>G.M. Trevelyan, ''A shortened history of England'' (1942) p. 363.</ref>

====Prussia====
{{Main|Kingdom of Prussia}}
[[Frederick the Great]], king of Prussia 1740–86, modernized the [[Prussian army]], introduced new tactical and strategic concepts, fought mostly successful wars ([[Silesian Wars]], Seven Years' War) and doubled the size of Prussia.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Paul M. Kennedy|title=Grand Strategies in War and Peace|url=https://archive.org/details/grandstrategiesi00paul|url-access=registration|year=1991|publisher=Yale UP|page=[https://archive.org/details/grandstrategiesi00paul/page/106 106]|isbn=978-0-300-05666-2}}</ref><ref>Dennis E. Showalter, ''The Wars of Frederick the Great'' (1996)</ref>

====Russia====
{{ Main|Territorial evolution of Russia}}
[[File:Russia 1533-1896.gif|thumb|upright=1.1|Russian expansion in Eurasia between 1533 and 1894]]

Russia fought numerous wars to achieve rapid expansion toward the east – i.e. [[Siberia]], [[Russian Far East|Far East]], south, to the Black Sea, and south-east and to central Asia. Russia boasted a [[Imperial Russian Army|large and powerful army]], a very large and complex internal bureaucracy, and a splendid court that rivaled Paris and London. However the government was living far beyond its means and seized [[Russian Orthodox Church|Church]] lands, leaving organized religion in a weak condition. Throughout the 18th century Russia remained "a poor, backward, overwhelmingly agricultural, and illiterate country."<ref>Nicholas Riasanovsky, ''A History of Russia'' (4th ed. 1984), pp. 192–194, 284</ref>

===Enlightenment===
{{Main|Age of Enlightenment}}
The ''Enlightenment'' was a powerful, widespread cultural movement of intellectuals beginning in late 17th-century Europe emphasizing the power of [[reason]] rather than tradition; it was especially favourable to science (especially Isaac Newton's physics) and hostile to religious orthodoxy (especially of the Catholic Church).<ref>Margaret C.C. Jacob, ''The Enlightenment: A Brief History with Documents'' (2000)</ref> It sought to analyze and reform society using reason, to challenge ideas grounded in tradition and faith, and to advance knowledge through the [[scientific method]]. It promoted scientific thought, skepticism, and intellectual interchange.<ref name="Alan Charles Kors 2003">Alan Charles Kors, ''Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment'' (Oxford UP, 2003)</ref> The Enlightenment was a revolution in human thought. This new way of thinking was that rational thought begins with clearly stated principles, uses correct logic to arrive at conclusions, tests the conclusions against evidence, and then revises the principles in light of the evidence.<ref name="Alan Charles Kors 2003"/>
{{multiple image
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Enlightenment thinkers opposed superstition. Some Enlightenment thinkers collaborated with [[Enlightened absolutism|Enlightened despots]], absolutist rulers who attempted to forcibly impose some of the new ideas about government into practice. The ideas of the Enlightenment exerted significant influence on the culture, politics, and governments of Europe.<ref>Geoffrey Bruun, ''The enlightened despots'' (1967).</ref>

Originating in the 17th century, it was sparked by philosophers [[Francis Bacon]], [[Baruch Spinoza]], [[John Locke]], [[Pierre Bayle]], [[Voltaire]], [[Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Francis Hutcheson]], [[David Hume]] and physicist [[Isaac Newton]].<ref>Sootin, Harry. "Isaac Newton." New York, Messner (1955).</ref> Ruling princes often endorsed and fostered these figures and even attempted to apply their ideas of government in what was known as [[enlightened absolutism]]. The [[Scientific Revolution]] is closely tied to the Enlightenment, as its discoveries overturned many traditional concepts and introduced new perspectives on nature and man's place within it. The Enlightenment flourished until about 1790–1800, at which point the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on reason, gave way to [[Romanticism]], which placed a new emphasis on emotion; a [[Counter-Enlightenment]] began to increase in prominence.

In France, Enlightenment was based in the [[Salon (gathering)|salons]] and culminated in the great ''[[Encyclopédie]]'' (1751–72). These new intellectual strains would spread to urban centres across Europe, notably England, Scotland, the German states, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Italy, Austria, and Spain, as well as [[Thirteen Colonies|Britain's American colonies]]. The political ideals of the Enlightenment influenced the [[United States Declaration of Independence]], the [[United States Bill of Rights]], the French [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]], and the Polish–Lithuanian [[Constitution of 3 May 1791]].<ref>Robert R. Palmer, ''The Age of the Democratic Revolution'' (1964)</ref>

Norman Davies has argued that [[Freemasonry]] was a powerful force on behalf of Liberalism and Enlightenment ideas in Europe, from about 1700 to the 20th century. It expanded rapidly during the [[Age of Enlightenment]], reaching practically every country in Europe.<ref>{{cite book|author=Norman Davies|title=Europe: A History|url=https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=Oxford UP|pages=[https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0/page/633 633]–34|isbn=978-0-19-820171-7}}</ref> The great enemy of Freemasonry was the Roman Catholic Church, so that in countries with a large Catholic element, such as France, Italy, Austria, Spain and Mexico, much of the ferocity of the political battles involve the confrontation between supporters of the Church versus active Masons.<ref>Richard Weisberger et al., eds., ''Freemasonry on both sides of the Atlantic: essays concerning the craft in the British Isles, Europe, the United States, and Mexico'' (East European Monographs, 2002)</ref><ref>Margaret C. Jacob, ''Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and politics in eighteenth-century Europe'' (Oxford UP, 1991).</ref> 20th-century [[totalitarian]] and revolutionary movements, especially the [[Fascism|Fascist]]s and [[Communism|Communist]]s, crushed the Freemasons.<ref>{{cite book|author=Art DeHoyos and S. Brent Morris|title=Freemasonry in Context: History, Ritual, Controversy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXq4lJeX_DUC&pg=PA101|year=2004|pages=100–01|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-0781-2|access-date=31 May 2018|archive-date=27 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427155355/https://books.google.com/books?id=hXq4lJeX_DUC&pg=PA101|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{anchor|Modern Europe}}

{{anchor|19th century}}<!--linked-->