Welcome! As part of a Historiography project, six Trinity College students gathered to explore revolutions that occurred between the years 1776 to 1846.  They attempted to find a connection between the separate revolts and their findings are quite thought provoking.  Enjoy their dynamic and interesting site, which begins below!

Beginning with the American Revolution, historian John Meagher explores the events of the revolution and notes that "the most important thing about the American Revolution is that it was the first of the    period [the groups is exploring and] served as a beacon to the other revolutions of our time period from 1776 till 1848."

The French Revolution beginning in about 1787 is explored by William Meara who explains "frustrations about employment and political participation were often most keenly felt by the growing population, [which] frequently played an important role in the revolutions of 1848. He further notes that the frustrations "ultimately led to considerable rural hardship and discontent, especially in France."

Geraldine Aine focused on the Haitian Revolution, which began in 1794 during the French Revolution. Quite interestingly noting, Geraldine explains that "one significant reason the Haitian Revolution occurred is due to the revolution in France, which proves that there may be connections between revolutions."

An enthusiastic historian, Michael Pollack focuses on the revolution in Italy, 1848. Pollack does not consider history  as simply ‘the study of the past.' History to Michael is "the past, it is an interpretation. History is about the future, and how our past mistakes can save us from making worse mistakes. History is what we as historians, or one as a human make of it."

Edward Townsend studied Latin American revolutions, which begin respectively in 1806.  Townshend notes that history is "to learn truths, and important events from the past, we can not only understand where we came from, but where we can go from here. We not only need to understand our past, but we need to interpret it in ways that mean things to us."