Modern Revolution: Positive Or Negative Force?

Investigation 9: To what extent has the Modern Revolution
been a positive or negative force?
What would life be like had the modern revolution never happened? Would the our society and the world we live in be better or worse? These are two questions that you have to think about and dig into history to answer them. The Modern Revolution started with the steam engine and sparked an era in history that completely changed the way we live. The Modern Revolution has been a positive force because of the spread of democracies, the vaccines created to fight diseases and the literacy and education rates skyrocketing.
First, the Modern Revolution has had a positive impact because of the spread of democracies. From 1816-1991 there has been 353 wars and

the least amount of wars have been between two democratic governments which have been zero. The greatest amount of wars was between two non-democratic governments(Text 7). This shows that governments that are ruled by a democracy are less hostile and they are able to settle their differences without war. Another example that shows how democracies are positive is the death rate from 1900-1989 in wars. There was 169,202,00 deaths total of civilians, 129,547,000 are deaths total of the civilians in the country that was fighting and 38,566,000 deaths are from genocides committed by the government. These deaths don’t include people fighting in the wars, but they show civilians killed in The war (Text 7). Over the years since the Modern Revolution started the amount of democracies have increased significantly but the percent of countries with a democratic government is only 50 (Text 6). There are many ways a government can be successful without a democracy but the spread of democracies is a reason the Modern Revolution had such a positive impact.
Another positive impact of the Modern Revolution is the creations of many vaccines to fight diseases. Edward Jenner discovered the first ever vaccine in 1796 for small pox and it helped diminish many deaths that would’ve occurred (Text 5). As time went on many vaccines for different diseases were created and it saved tens of thousands of people from getting very ill and having a high chance of dying. Vaccines for diseases such as Smallpox, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Polio, Measles and Mumps have infected barely anyone considering the amount it could’ve affected and it saved a great portion of the population. Over population could be an issue in the world, but the amount of people that these deadly diseases could’ve killed would take a negative toll on the world.
The last reason the Modern Revolution has had a positive force is the education and literacy rates that have increased significantly.

From 1850 to present day literacy rates in the world have gone from 10% to 80%. Due to population increasing, the amount of illiterate people have increased but the percent of illiterate people has decreased immensely. The teachings have not all been the same throughout all societies, because of this men are more literate than women, for every 100 literate men there are 88 women. In 2002 100 million children weren’t enrolled in school and 55% were female (Text 3). Even though teachings haven’t been the same throughout the entire world the literacy rates are still increasing. People might argue that women not being taught the same is negative, but different parts of society have different views on where people stand and many countries have to overcome this. While men are getting taught better than women, it isn’t fair but it is positive that we are advancing with our knowledge and collective learning. In some societies the knowledge people recieve might be based on what they look like or what gender they are and this is not right but as time goes on this will change. All-in-all literacy rates going up are a definite

positive.
In conclusion, the modern revolution has had a major positive impact on the world because of the spread of democracies, the discovery of vaccines and literacy rates increasing. As the world advances one might wonder where humans would be if it wasn't for the Modern Revolution, and the question can’t be answered with certainty but without it we wouldn’t be where we are today and that shows how much of a positive impact it had.