industrialization

Mykhaylenko M.V. Controversy of late industrialization: the land-based empires argument for East Central Europe

The article ponders upon the social science controversy of late industrialization and therefore modernization with concern to imperial nations between the 18th and 20th centuries in an attempt to look for the explanations of why they didn’t fit into both waves of the industrial revolution. The research attempts to consider the case of the states that fell out of the first and second industrial revolutions, but were not the part of the traditionally understood developing world in terms of the difference in capabilities of land-based and naval-based empires. It’s also studied the ability of land-based empires to overcome the modernization challenge and the influence of Eurocentric stereotypes on this discussion. The examples of Habsburg Austria, Romanov Russia, Japan and Turkey are also analyzed. The descriptive comparison points to other factors responsible for relatively laggard modernization of these states.

Christensen C.S. Civil rights, workers, women, financial figures and the orator, landlord Henry Hunt. The Peterloo Massacre in Manchester on August 16, 1819

On Monday 16 August 1819 perhaps 40-50,000 men, women and children gathered for a mass rally in Manchester. The protesters had progressed to St Peter’s Field from the city’s working-class districts and the surrounding textile weaving regions. Monday was the traditional day off for handloom weavers and other artisan workers, and the marchers wore their best clothes and symbols to create a festive atmosphere. A couple of hours later, soldiers and police had stopped the peaceful demonstration with very harsh methods. This article examines why this incident became one of the most important events in history of democracy in Europe. The author also tries to explain the real causes of the Peterloo Massacre and the historical background of the British society in the beginning of the 1800s from the perspective of Thomas Paine (1737-1809), the English-born American philosopher and political theorist.