The Building of European SupremacyThe Western Heritage

Chapter 23

Population Trends and Migration—Europeanization of the WorldEuropeans—20% of world’s populationAlmost doubled 1850-1910 Urbanization continuedRailroads, steamships, better roads

increased mobility1846—193250 million Europeans

migrate to US, Canada, S Africa, Australia, S America

Second Industrial Revolution Belgium, France, & especially Germany begin

to catch up with G Britain New industries

steel, chemicals, electricity, and oil

Bessemer process – mass produce steel cheaply, revolutionizes the steel industry

Solway process – uses alkali production to make new soaps, dyes, and plastics

Electricity—most significant change in industry

New Industries cont’d

Gottlieb Daimler —1st automobile

Henry Ford – American assembly line idea made the auto accessible to the masseslead to the growth of the oil industryEurope dependent on foreign oil

Economic Difficultiesbad weather & foreign competition

led to late 19th c depression Recovery comes as a result of:

Improved marketingConsumer demandImperialismUrbanization created larger markets

Ascendancy in the Middle Classmiddle class—increasingly diverse

owners and managers – lived like aristocracy entrepreneurs and professional people petite bourgeoisie—“white collar workers”

–lower middle classHaving obtained middle class status—

feared losing it in bad economic timesPrior to WWI—middle class sets

society’s values and goals

Nineteenth Century CitiesCities—Center of government, business,

theater Paris—most famous & extensive

transformation Napoleon III designed wide boulevards for

political purposes–discourage riots Paris Opera, Eiffel Tower, and Basilica of the

Sacred Heart built Subways make suburban living possible

Home & work more separated than ever

Urban Sanitation—Health Disaster cholera – believed caused by filth and smell,

touched all classes—epidemics in 1830’s & 1840’s water and sewer systems – disposed of human

waste and provided clean drinking water government involvement in public health

private property could be condemned if deemed unhealthy

new building regulations Discoveries by Louis Pasteur (France), Robert

Koch (Germany), and Joseph Lister (Britain), led to bacterial theory of disease by late 1800s

Solutions to Unsanitary ConditionsSolution centered on cleanliness

Major engineering achievement of the 2nd half of the 1800s—New water and sewer systems—slow to achieve but very effective

Public health concerns led to expanded governmental power Britain: Public Health Act of 1848 France: Melun Act of 1851

private philanthropy attacked the housing problem

Barriers for Women in Late 19th CenturySocial & legal disabilities in property rights,

family law, and education property – until late 1800s – most women in Europe

could not own property Britain’s law changes in 1882 with Married Women’s

Property Act family law – divorce difficult to obtain, men legally

controlled the children, and contraception was illegal Education—couldn’t attend universities until late

19th centurylittle secondary education for women

New Employment for Women Two major developments in economic life of

women

① Expansion of number and variety of jobs new jobs – secretaries, clerks, etc. still low wagesNew technologies—typewriter & telephone

— fostered female employment

② withdrawal of married women from labor force industries preferred unmarried womenmen living longer (fewer widows forced to

work)social expectations of married women

Working-Class Women

Most worked in textile & garment industry

subject to layoffs when demand for products slowed

low wages—subject to exploitation

Poverty and ProstitutionSurplus of women seeking jobsmost large 19th century cities had

legal prostitutionusually low-skill workers with little

education / customers were working class men

Many were orphans or from broken homes--desperate

Middle Class WomenEnjoyed domestic luxury—vast expansion of

consumerism—clothes, china, carpets, furnitureHad sanitation and electricityHad large home—several domestic servantsBeginning of “ladies” magazinesreligious instruction of children—prayer major

part of daily lifecharity – worked with societies for the poorsexuality – less sexual repression due to

contraceptives--smaller families

Rise of FeminismMany women not feminist because…

sensitivity to class and economic interests cared more about national unity and patriotism religious women uncomfortable with radical

secularistsBritain – suffrage – the movement for

women to vote Millicent Fawcett – led the moderate National

Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies British women given right to vote in 1918

The Subjection of Women—written by John Stuart Mill & wife Harriet Taylor

Applied logic of liberal freedom to the position of women

Feminist—greatly divided over goals and tactics

Emmeline Pankhurst

Activist leader of British Suffragettes

By 1910 became more radical—strikes, arson, and vandalism

Imprisoned—went on hunger strikes

Rise of Feminism cont’dpolitical feminism – women granted

right to vote in France (after World War II) and Germany (1919)

Union of German Women’s Organizations – founded in 1894, supported suffrage, but more concerned about education, social, and political conditions

Jewish Citizenship

first half of 19th century, Jews in Western Europe began to gain equal citizenship

still many Jews could not own land and were subject to discriminatory taxes

Russian JewsRussia—most discriminatory

against Jews Jews treated as aliens restricted areas where they could live banned them from state service excluded them from higher education

pogroms – organized riots against Jewish neighborhoods, supported by the government

Opportunities for JewsWestern Europe–open to Jew—gov’t,

education, intermarriage with Christians

many Eastern Europe Jews migrate to Western Europe or United States

anti-Semitism – increases in Western Europe late 19th c, especially in France and GermanyGives rise to Zionism

Trade UnionismUnions legal in Britain—1871, France

—1884, Germany--1890Unions sought higher wages and

better working conditionsunions often engaged in long strikesdespite growth of unions, most of

Europe’s labor force never unionized

Political Partiesuniversal male suffrage brings

organized political partiesLargest single group of voters—the

working classSocialism opposed nationalism

When WWI breaks out workers will chose nationalism over socialist feelings—more in common with their countrymen than with fellow workers in other countries.

The First InternationalFirst International—British and French

trade unionists—made up of socialists, anarchists and Polish nationalists

Marx supported efforts by workers & unions to work within existing political & economic processes

Short-lived—but profound impact on future of European socialism

Led to Marxism becoming the most important social strand of socialism

Social Reform in Great Britain Fabian Society- most influential British socialist group

– non Marxist – favored gradual, peaceful approach to social reform Leading members: Sidney & Beatrice Webb, H.G. Wells,

Graham Wallas, George Bernard Shaw Believed in collective ownership on municipal level—”gas and

water socialism” under Liberal Chancellor David Lloyd George, Britain

regulates trade, provides unemployment benefits and health care— National Insurance Act of 1911

Conservative – House of Lords upset with the spending of the Liberal- House of Commons in the Parliament

Edmund Bernstein’s Doctrines

Known as RevisionismArgued against the correctness of

Marxist theoryWrote Evolutionary Socialism

Argued European standard of living was rising

Ownership of capitalist industry was widespread

French Opportunism Rejectedopportunism – participation by

socialists in the cabinets is rejected by Congress

French socialists form their own party—Led by Jules Guesde and Jean Jaures

French workers often voted Socialist, but avoided political action

non-socialist labor unions looked to strikes as their main labor tactic

Syndicalism

France’s labor movement embraced the doctrines of “syndicalism” the idea of the general strike as a means of generating worker unity and power.

Syndicalism expounded by Gorges Sorel in “Reflections of Violence”

Social Democrats and Revisionism in Germany Bismarck represses German Social Democratic

Party (SPD) passes social welfare programs such as accident

insurance, disability and old age pensions as a conservative alternative to socialist policies

The Erfurt Program – supported Marxist ideas of the collapse of capitalism, but wanted to pursue goals through legislative action, not revolution

Revisionism – German socialists ideas of achieving humane social equality without having a revolution founded by Eduard Bernstein

critics of Revisionism felt that evolution towards socialism would not work in militaristic, authoritative Germany

Industrial Growth in Russia Count Sergei Witte – wanted to modernize Russian

economy Most responsible for Russia’s industrialization Appointed finance minister 1892 Pursued polices: economic development, protective tariffs,

high taxes, Russian currency on gold standard

steel, iron, and textile industries expand as Trans-Siberian Railroad is completed (1903)

social unrest –industrialization does not improve lives of the peasants—prosperous farmers known as kulaks

liberal party formed by the local councils (zemstvos), wanted a constitutional monarchy to further civil liberties and social progress

Vladimir Lenin “Two Tactics of Social Democracy”

His organizational theory for revolution in Russia

Urged proletariat & peasantry to unite in a socialist revolution

Social Democratic Party split into two: Lenin’s faction—majorityBolsheviks moderate faction— minority Mensheviks

wanted to unite workers and peasants to overthrow the tsar (idea came about in 1905, but revolution didn’t occur till 1917)

The Revolution of 1905Bloody Sunday – tsar’s troops violently put

down a protest leading to ordinary Russians no longer trusting the tsar

worker groups called the soviets, not the tsar, basically control city of St. Petersburg

Nicholas II issues October Manifesto promising a constitutional government

representative body, the Duma, put into place in 1907 – conservative in nature basically kept the power of the tsar in place

The Revolution of 1905 cont’dStolypin and RasputinP.A. Stolypin – replaced Witte as

finance ministerrepresses socialist rebellion, including

execution of rebellious peasants improves agricultural production by

encouraging individual ownershipassassinated by a Social Revolutionary

The Revolution of 1905 cont’d

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin – replaced Stolypin because

supposedly his wife could heal the tsar’s hemophiliac son

uncouth and strange, tsar’s power is undermined after 1911