The Thermidorian Reaction occurred in the summer of 1794. It was a reaction to the excesses and violence of the Reign of Terror. The Thermidorian Reaction resulted in the downfall of Robespierre, the dissolution of the Committee of Public Safety, and the end of the Reign of Terror.

Camillo di Cavour and Giuseppe Garibaldi were instrumental in the process of Italian unification that was completed in 1871. Cavour had been prime minister of Piedmont before Italian unification. Garibaldi was a military commander who led many campaigns for Italian independence.

Muhammad Ali is remembered for establishing the modern nation of Egypt and reigning over the territory from 1805 until 1848. His reign was marked by modernizing reforms and a dedicated effort to design an Egyptian State that could compete with the industrial powers of Europe. The dynasty he established would rule Egypt until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

Toussaint-L'ouverture led a series of slave rebellions on the French colony of Saint Domingue. These rebellions culminated in 1800 with the successful liberation of slaves living in Haiti and the eventual establishment of the Haitian Republic.

Defeat in the Crimean War led to a series of modernizing reforms in Russian society, including the emancipation of the serfs, the reorganization of the judicial system, and the encouragement of the growth of heavy industry and manufacturing.

The French Revolution began in 1789 during the reign of the Bourbon monarch Louis XVI. Louis was executed in the early stages of the Revolution.

Miguel Hidalgo was a Catholic priest who inspired a peasant rebellion during the early stages of the Mexican campaign for independence. Hidalgo was executed a full decade before Mexican independence was achieved, but for his lasting impact in the movement he is often remembered as the Father of the Mexican nation.

The Self Strengthening Movement began in China in 1861, in the wake of China’s defeat to Britain in the Opium Wars. The goal of the movement was to modernize the Chinese military and adopt some aspects of western technology.

The Sepoy Rebellion occurred in British occupied India in 1857. The Sepoys were Indian soldiers who served in the armed forces of the British East India Company, who administered the Indian subcontinent directly prior to the Sepoy Rebellion. The rebellion began due to British abuses of the Hindu and Muslim troops serving in the armed forces and was quelled when the British government stepped in and began to oversee the administration of India directly (removing the East India Company from ultimate authority). The Sepoy Rebellion is usually called the First Indian War of Independence in India.

Prior to the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 the Indian subcontinent was administered by the British East India Company. However, after the outbreak of violence and rebellion in 1857 the British government took direct control of India (a period known as the rule of the British Raj) so as to prevent further disorder.