[2] The period is noted for the change from absolutist monarchies to representative governments with a written constitution, and the creation of nation states.

Although Napoleon imposed on his conquests several modern concepts such as equality before the law, or a civil code, his rigorous military occupation triggered national rebellions, notably in Spain and Germany.

After Napoleon's defeat, European great powers forged the Holy Alliance at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, in an attempt to prevent future revolutions, and also restored the previous monarchies.

The democratic demands of the revolutionaries often merged with independence or national unification movements, such as in Italy, Germany, Poland, Hungary, etc.

It was the birth of the United States of America, ultimately leading to the drafting and ratification of a U.S. Constitution that included a number of original features within a federated republic and a system of separation of powers and checks and balances.

[9][10][11] The British historian Eric Hobsbawm credits the French Revolution with giving the 19th century its ideology and politics, stating:France made its revolutions and gave them their ideas, to the point where a tricolour of some kind became the emblem of virtually every emerging nation, and European (or indeed world) politics between 1789 and 1917 were largely the struggle for and against the principles of 1789, or the even more incendiary ones of 1793.

The ideology of the modern world first penetrated the ancient civilizations which had hitherto resisted European ideas through French influence.

[12] Popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and aristocracy grew amidst an economic crisis following two expensive wars and years of bad harvests, motivating demands for change.

As the former Financial Times chief foreign affairs columnist and author Ian Davidson puts it:"French society, like others in much of Western Europe, was undergoing a colossal transformation.

The ultra-intellectual Enlightenment of Montesquieu and Voltaire, Bach and Mozart, Isaac Newton and Adam Smith was just the tip of a vast change that was happening throughout society and producing an expanding, educated, literate and ambitious bourgeoisie.

The durable shift here was that, by the time the Estates general convened, their knowledge of law gave them the tools to enter the political scene.

The Haitian Revolution was a slave rebellion in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there[16] and the eventual founding of the Republic of Haiti.

The revolt was motivated by a combination of factors, including Irish nationalism, news of the success of the French Revolution, and resentment at the British-instituted Penal laws, which discriminated against Catholics and Presbyterians in Ireland.

[citation needed] During the later period (1815–1835) a peaceful consolidation of political power developed in the increasingly autonomous Serbia, culminating in the recognition of the right to hereditary rule by Serbian princes in 1830 and 1833 and the territorial expansion of the young monarchy.

[19] Latin America experienced independence revolutions in the early 19th century that separated the colonies from Spain and Portugal, creating new nations.

These movements were generally led by the ethnically Spanish but locally born Creole class; these were often wealthy citizens that held high positions of power but were still poorly respected by the European-born Spaniards.

One such Creole was Simón Bolívar, who led several revolutions throughout South America and helped establish Gran Colombia.

It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history, but within a year, reactionary forces had regained control, and the revolutions collapsed.

This is attributed to the way the upheavals in Vienna resulted in greater loss of life and gained stronger support from intellectuals, students, and the working class.

[23] There was a previously prevalent view that there was only one revolutionary event in Germany but recent scholarship pointed to a fragmented picture of several revolutions happening at the same time.

The Ballarat miners started rallies at Bakery Hill and burnt their licenses, took an oath under the flag of the Southern Cross, elected Peter Lalor as their rebellion leader, and built a stockade (a makeshift fort) around the diggings.

It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east.

It was established by radicalized defectors from the French National Guard, which had been mobilized to defend Paris in the Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870 – 28 January 1871).