The Haitian Revolution and the anti-slavery movement led by Britain might have been a watershed movement in the slave trade as a whole. It wasn't, however. Slave owners and West Indian island administrators were certainly terrified of new political risings by slaves. The movement in Britain to be rid of the slave trade needs to be understood in the context of religious movements within Britain itself. Many British historians have emphasised the moral high ground, as British legislation outlawed both the trade in slaves and slavery itself in 1807 and 1833…

All progressive movements - such as the Haitian and later the Russian Revolutions - were deeply resented by the established authorities, and in 1815 the British, the Russians and the Ottomans attempted to replace the fallen monarchies. In this blog our aim is to examine the underlying causes which set the French Revolution in action. The sudden turmoil and revolutionary wars which consumed all of Europe after 1793 were a direct consequence of the French Revolution and loosened the ropes which held the feudal system of government in place…

Racism was the ideology that accompanied Colonial invasions over these long 500 years. Racism was also the backbone of ideas that accompanied industrialisation. The ideology provided the perfect explanation for the people who dominated globally; at the same time as they created new inventions technologically. The people involved assumed that they were a superior ‘breed’ of people. The French, Dutch, British and latterly the Americans absorbed racist ideas as the ‘natural’ order. The ideas of race and the racism that sprang from these ideas permeated Nations, so whole peoples assumed their innate superiority.

We need to ask and understand what are the necessary conditions for a society to transform itself so that it can industrialise? This question is perhaps one of the critical issues of history. In this blog, I examine what transformation entails for society and what conditions are necessary for this to occur. The components needed for transformation include the following occurring more or less simultaneously: 1. The reformation of ideas. Everywhere old ideas, in particular, religious frameworks are challenged…