europe and america forces for change, 1890-1914. major forces for change more education for more...
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Major Forces for Change
• More education for more people
• Industry overtakes agriculture
• Industrial growth – prosperity and labor
• Shortened distances and faster communications
• Growth of “scientific knowledge”
• European empires
UNITED STATES
• Resources of most of a continent
• Large and growing industry
• Peaceful neighbors (Canada and Mexico)
• Protected by oceans from other powers
• A tradition of neutrality in relation to the nations of Europe
The Great Powers
• Britain – largest empire and navy• Germany -- recently unified (1871) and ambitious
for colonies and navy• France – Only republic, an issue with Germany
(war in 1870)• Austria – Old empire, much divided by ethnic
differences, worried about SE Europe • Russia – Fastest growing in industry and
population, major internal problems
Alliances
• Germany is allied with Austria and Italy in the “Triple Alliance” to check Russia and France
• France and Russia allied in the Entente to check Germany
• Britain is not allied, but is worried about Germany’s growing navy and trade with rest of world
TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIPS
Queen Victoria, Britain, 1837-1901, by 1900 was the grandmother of many European monarchs.
Victoria
George V, King of Britain in 1914 (right)
Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia, in 1914 (left)
George and Nick
Wilhelm (William) II, the Kaiser of Germany, ca. 1910 – first cousin to both Nicholas II and George V
Wilhelm
Women particularly benefited from larger school expenditures – literacy of woman more than quadrupled from 1860-1900 in Europe, tripled in U.S.
Women and education
Labor forces (such as this 1870s shoe factory) contained adults and children – poor families resisted the enforcement of child labor laws
Child labor
Riis photos ran in newspapers and in his book, prompting new efforts at “social justice Social justice
Poverty
There was still considerable poverty, and beggars were common sights on the streets of major cities and towns.
Socialism
In 1891, Leo XIII, a conservative, issued the Rerum Novarum – a call for “just wages” and the recognition of trade unions. Laborers called him the “Workers’ Pope.”
Marxism
Marxism called for the violent overthrow of wealth and capitalism and the establishment of a “workers’ state.”
Socialism
Various forms of “gradual socialism” were proposed in place of Marxism – creating a better society through political parties, voting and government regulation of the state and the economy
Marxists and socialists generally opposed war, arguing that military costs prevented the improvement of the economy.
British battleship, HMS Dreadnought
Military Costs
Mass Communications
Politics was now influenced by mass communications; newspapers could alter public opinion and government policies.
Colonies –modern technology enabled
European nations to control colonies around the world
U.S. had “territories rather than colonies
“Modernity”Old ideas:
Authority derived from faith or ancient wisdomBehavior a matter of good and evilThe universe was a matter of mechanics – “laws of motion”
New ideas:
Old wisdom is now questioned, frequently discardedBehavior is a matter of “hidden, biological impulses” The universe is much more complex and “chance” plays a a large part in it – Does God play dice with the universe?
Since the 1860s, Darwin’s theories of evolution had frightened the traditional basis of western religion.
Darwin
Laws of physical
dynamics
Bohr’s concept of the atom, Einstein’s theory of relativity, and the idea of “quantum mechanics” made understanding the universe difficult
SUMMARY
• The major nations of Europe are ‘modern” but the pace of change has created much tension
• Rivalries among powers are intense• Social differences within nations are often
intensified by ethnic differences• Alliances exist that could trigger a
widespread war