Nationalist movements unify Italy and Germany while European powers carve up Africa and Asia in the greatest wave of colonial expansion in history.
European powers redraw the map after Napoleon's defeat, creating a conservative order that nationalists will spend the next century challenging.
Britain forces China to accept the opium trade and cede Hong Kong, beginning China's 'century of humiliation.'
The 'Springtime of Peoples' — nationalist and liberal uprisings in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Hungary challenge the conservative order.
Commodore Matthew Perry's 'Black Ships' force Japan to end its isolation, triggering the crisis that will produce the Meiji Restoration.
After Garibaldi's legendary campaign and Cavour's diplomacy, most of the Italian peninsula is unified under the Piedmontese monarchy.
The Tokugawa shogunate falls and Emperor Meiji is restored, launching Japan's extraordinary transformation into a modern industrial power.
Bismarck's wars of unification create a powerful German nation-state, fundamentally altering the European balance of power.
European powers agree on rules for colonizing Africa — without any African participation — triggering a competitive rush that colonizes 90% of the continent.
Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War announces its arrival as a modern military power and accelerates the collapse of Qing China.
Britain's brutal war against Dutch-descended Boer settlers foreshadows the total warfare of the 20th century, including concentration camps.
Japan's stunning victory over Russia is the first modern defeat of a European power by an Asian nation, inspiring anti-colonial movements worldwide.
Bolívar, San Martín, and other leaders launch independence movements across Spanish America, inspired by Enlightenment ideals.