History is often understood as a story of tension or conflict between continuity and change, tradition and innovation. The era in European history that we have been discussing in class–running approximately from 1750-1890– is regarded as a period of transition from the end of the Old Regime to the close of the 19th century, a time that while not exactly modern and contemporary–no computers or airplanes– does begin to look recognizable. Terms like “the Enlightenment,” “French Revolutionary Era,” ” Age of Romanticism and Revolt” or the “Generation of Materialism” try to capture what was going on–the corruption and decay, the rebirth and renewal, the fear and hope, the challenges, upheavals and opportunities as new and old ideas, beliefs, and ways of life found themselves in conflict, struggling to survive or emerge.
Your assignment (which has two parts) is to write an essay of approximately 1000 words (4 pages) in response to the question: how and why is the the European world of 1890 different from the European world of 1750?
