The History Book (Big Ideas Simply Explained)

Britain achieved notable victories over France. A French invasion attempt on Britain was thwarted by Britain’s superior navy, and Britain scored colonial victories over France in West Africa, the Caribbean, and North America where there were major successes in Canada. Britain forced France to cede all of their territory east of the Mississippi River, effectively ending the threat France posed to Britain’s North American colonies.
There were similar victories in India. The British general Robert Clive, wrongfooted the French by defeating the Nawab of Bengal at Plassey in 1757 and acquiring his territory for Britain, paving the way for the British domination of India. The end of the Seven Years’ War left Britain the leading colonial power.

In 1768, British navigator James Cook sailed to Tahiti to make scientific observations of the Transit of Venus across the Sun, a rare event that could be seen only from the southern hemisphere. Having recorded the event, Cook sailed on in search of the rumored “unknown land of the South.” He mapped the New Zealand coast, and then traveled northwest, discovering the eastern coast of Australia in the process. Claiming the land for Britain, he named it New South Wales. Working closely with botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, he also produced unique records of the indigenous peoples, flora, and fauna.

English essayist Francis Bacon insisted that scientists test their observations using reasoned argument, and French philosopher René Descartes championed the use of mathematics and logic to address scientific questions. By emphasizing the importance of human reason, such philosophers broke free from the notion that explanations of the physical world depended on Christian faith and church doctrine. This paved the way for the intellectual movement called the Enlightenment, and even for the work of later scientists such as Albert Einstein, who modified and refined Newton’s theories.

The era of the Three Emperors was conservative in many ways: Han Chinese men were required to wear the Manchu hairstyle, in which the front and sides of the head were shaved, and the remaining hair plaited into a braid; society was rigidly hierarchical, and there were strict conventions regarding the conduct of women, laws against homosexuality, and censorship. Yet the country’s economy grew substantially in the early part of the Qing period, thanks to a strong demand in the West for luxury products such as silk, porcelain, and tea.
However, by the beginning of the 19th century, the regime’s repressive treatment of the Han Chinese people, together with famine and widespread addiction to opium—which had been brought into China by European traders— had sent the country into decline. These factors sowed the seeds of rebellions, trading disputes, and wars with European trading partners in the mid-19th century.