Make your case for the most interesting generation in human history. I'll start:

It's 1847 to 1872.

-A moment of technological advance unrivaled before or since. Communication across the Atlantic goes from 10 days on a fast clipper to instantaneous telegraph by undersea cable (and people nowadays think moving their phone from the wall to their pocket is progress!). Railroad and steamships lay the groundwork for a global economy.

-Lots of important conflicts and uprisings: 1848, Paris Commune, Sepoy uprising, U.S. Civil War, and the Taiping Rebellion (one of the five deadliest wars in human history)

-The core texts of most of the most important ideologies of today were written then (communism, fascism and many flavors of nationalism, for starters)

-The formation of many of the most important countries of the present day: U.S. becomes a continental power in the Mexican American War, Russia finishes its conquests in Central Asia and settles its borders with China, Germany and Italy are formed, Japan adopts a unitary state after the Boshin War, etc. etc.

Could go on forever, honestly... would love for one of you to convince me I'm wrong.

Some other possibilities I considered: middle of the eighth century, early-mid 17th century