We will analyze central processes that configured the modern western world: the Atlantic Revolutions during the late 18^th Century and the beginning of the 19^th Century and the establishment of Modern Republican regimes (the United States, the French Revolution, Haiti and the new independent republics in Spanish America), the industrial revolution and its consequences, the struggle between conservatives and liberals, the development of modern nationalism, the development of the working class and new socialist ideas, Imperialism and new forms of colonialism, “scientific” racism, social sciences and experiments in social engineering, globalization process in transport and communications. While trying to maintain a broad view of global processes we will focus on specific cases in Western Europe and Latin America