Re the OP, here’s something I wrote a few years ago:
Consider the 1680’s, when John Locke was writing (but unable to publish) his most influential works, in exile from the Catholic James II, while Louis XIV was revoking the Edict of Nantes, and witches were swinging in the Massachusetts of Cotton Mather. Fast forward 100 years and it’s unthinkable that you have the founding of the United States, where freedom of religion and the press are part of the founding principles. The point is that big changes can happen, ideas are vital to those changes, and history is very unpredictable. As is the future.
http://forum.objectivismonline.com/index.php?showtopic=22063&p=278209
I should have mentioned that Germany was still smouldering from the aftermath of the 30 Years War. And the Turks were on Vienna’s doorstep. You think we’ve got it rough?