How did Europe become so liberal and tolerant in such a short period?

Well capital punishment was abolished for it much earlier. I think laws used to be more based on cultural heritage back then, as opposed to "do everything you want without hurting someone" philosophy today. Governments might have feared that, if traditional structural order of society was to be broken, it would grow into anarchy, revolts or mutinies. They were not exactly wrong though, I think this "counterculture revolution" played a big part in decolonization and demilitarization in Europe. People no longer attend the Anglican Church, have 11 kids before 30, work in factories for 80 hours a week for a slave wage, protect global colonial interests and surpassing the savage countries, and the fact that London is no longer English. Just like how life in 1800s are viewed as a dystopia today, I'm pretty sure a 1800s man(at least a wealthy man) would view 2017 as dystopia, and making homosexuality illegal or barring women from voting were probably enacted to prevent exactly this.

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