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Modern Period (1750 to today)

modern
(1750 A.D. to today)


The period of time covered in this page is probably of foremost interest for people of today. Unlike earlier periods, the Modern period relates directly to the life and times of you, my readers, and is also the only truly open-ended period in my project.

From the colonial period to the post-colonialism of today, this is a time of war on a scale never before seen in human history. The appalling butcher's bill of the two world wars is only quantitatively different from the correspondingly awful waste of human life during the Napoleonic wars (a series of wars that have been described as "the first true world war"). We live now in a period of relative peace, where wars are fought by proxy on behalf of nations too powerful to make direct war on each other, for fear of mutual annihilation.

That this period has also been a period of growing democratic freedom, increasing wealth, improving standards of living and education and general enlightenment, does not change the fact that a lot of people have died violently to make these changes take place.

In the Modern period, my interest lies chiefly with the period of the Napoleonic Wars, and with the American Civil War.


general links

The 1755: The French and Indian War page.

The Victorian Web. A thoroughly well-designed site.

History - the 20th century, at The Mining Co.

the great revolutions

Dave Andress has a well-crafted page on the French Revolution.

napoleonic era

The Napoleon Series - an electronic magazine devoted to Napoleon I and his times.

Napoleonic Literature - a wonderful collection of out-of-copyright electronic books concerning Napoleon I and his times. Highly recommended.

war of 1812

War of 1812-1814 - a well-crafted (albeit slow-loading) site.

american civil war

The American Civil War

The Civil War Sailors and Soldiers site is a database of information on servicemen of the American Civil War.

Antietam on the Web, a page devoted to the bloodiest battle in the Civil War.

Letters of the Civil War, a compilation of letters from the soldiers, sailors, nurses, politicians, ministers and journalists from the newspapers of the cities and towns of Massachusetts. April 1861 - December 1865.

The Civil War in Indian Territory, a rarely-discussed subject.

world war I

World War I - a virtual visit to the wonderful land of trench warfare, mustard gas, and shell shock.

world war II

World War II Resources. A large collection of primary documents.

World War II.

Places of World War II. A guide to historical sites related to WWII.

Lights in the Darkness: Resisters to the Nazi Regime. Well worth a visit.

korean war

Korean War Historical Documents. A collection of primary documents from 1904 to 1995.


documents available on-line

Note: For additional documents, see my page on Historians and Philosophers of the Modern Period.


Book recommendations:

The Civil War : A Narrative
by Shelby Foote

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
by Samuel P. Huntington

...in association with Amazon.com


This page is the work of Peter Ravn Rasmussen.

Updated: September 2, 1998.

Go to Peter's homepage | Go to Peter's History page