Life in the Industrial Age

World History Chapter 6

The Industrial Revolution Spreads• New Industrial Powers Emerge

– Britain has early lead– By mid 1800’s, other nations are catching up

• Nations Race to Industrialize– France, Germany, U.S.

• Following Britain’s lead (stealing plans) allowed Germany and the U.S. to surpass Britain in manufacturing by 1900

• Uneven Development– Many Eastern European and Asian states were

unable to modernize rapidly (Japan was the exception)

• Effects of Industrialization– Materiel wealth for industrialized nations, military

power, economic advantages, urbanization.

Technology Sparks Industrial Growth

• Steel Production and the Bessemer Process– Using the Bessemer Converter, Steel could be

produced cheaper than iron.• Innovations in Chemistry

– Alfred Nobel invents dynamite 1866.• Electric Power Replaces Steam

– Light bulbs and motors, dynamos and generators

– Nicolai Tesla• New Methods of Production

– Interchangeable parts– Assembly line

Transportation and Communication Advances

• The Automobile Age Begins– First Auto 1866

• Airplanes Take Flight– Wilbur and Oroville Wright 1903, Kitty Hawk, N.C.– Passenger flights by 1920

• Rapid Communication– Samuel B. Morse 1844– By the 1860’s the first Trans-Atlantic cable was laid– Alexander Graham Bell phone 1876– Marconi Radio 1901

Business Takes a New Direction

• Rise of Big Business– Companies grow to enormous size, corporations begin to dominate

• Move Towards Monopolies– As companies grew larger, they began to acquire their competition,

until only a few were left.– John D. Rockefeller – Standard Oil– Andrew Carnegie – Steel– J.P. Morgan – Finance– Price fixing and cartels

• A Move Towards Regulation– Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?– Breaking up monopolies (trusts)

The Rise of the Cities• Medicine Contributes to Population Explosion

– Mainly due to better diet and sanitation, the population of Europe doubled between 1800 and 1900.– This was due less to increased family size, and more to a lower death rate.

• The Fight Against Disease– Germ theory– Louis Pasteur

• Showed link between microbes and disease• Created vaccines for rabies and anthrax• Developed pasteurization process to clean milk

– Robert Koch• Indentified bacterium that causes tuberculosis

– Yellow Fever and Malaria traced to mosquitoes 1914– Knowledge of disease lead to better sanitation

• Hospital Care Improves– Florence Nightingale, Crimean War (1854)

• Fought to give better medical care, cleanliness

– Joseph Lister• Antiseptics prevent infections

City Life Changes• City Landscapes Change

– Wide boulevards, rebuilding slums (urban renewal)– Settlement patterns change

• Where before, the rich lived in the city centers close to the institutions of power, and the poor lived in the outskirts of the cities, changes in transportation made commuting desirable, and the rich moved to the edges of the city, and the poor inhabited the crowded interiors close to work.

• Sidewalks, Sewers, and Skyscrapers– Paved streets– Gas, then electric lights– Organized police and fire services– Complex and long term sewer and water systems were constructed, greatly

improving sanitation– As property values rose, skyscrapers and multistory apartment buildings

began to dominate the skyline• Slum Conditions

– Despite urban renewal, poor areas of most cities continued to be poorly maintained, and full of crime

• The Lure of the Cities– Despite problems, cities were places of work, wonder, study, entertainment,

and diversity.

The Working Class Advances• Labor Unions Begin to Grow

– Germany, France, Britain legalize unions 1869– Unions grow into the millions by the turn of the

century, using strikes to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

– Child labor laws– Reduced working hours, improved safety conditions– Pensions and disability

• Standards of Living Rise– Cheaper goods allowed poorer families to have

more, but regular recessions and depressions brought unemployment and harsh conditions for families.

Changing Attitudes and Values• A New Social Order Arises

– Peasants and Nobles become a thing of the past• Three Social Classes Emerge

– Lower, Middle, Upper– Wealthy entrepreneurs and Nobility intermarry

• Middle Class Tastes and Values– Middle class families developed their own social etiquette, as well as lifestyles

and tastes.– Clothing, behavior, education, work ethic, family

• The Ideal Home– Cult of Domesticity– More firmly defined gender roles– Home as castle and refuge– Does not apply to lower class

Women Work for Rights– Across Europe and the U.S., women fought against their second class status

• Property rights• Voting• Work and wages• Marriage and Divorce• Abortion and birth control• Temperance Movement (home violence)

• Early Voices– Lucretia Mott– Elizabeth Cady Stanton– Susan B. Anthony

• The Suffrage Struggle– Worked for abolition– Seneca Falls– Sojourner Truth

• Former slave, wrote a biography• “Ain’t I a woman?”

Growth of Public Education– The need for literate and educated workers grow tremendously, for

industry and business.– Better citizens– Punctuality, obedience, discipline, work habits, patriotism (religion)

• Public Education Improves– Teachers get standards and training– Primary schooling becomes compulsory– Secondary education becomes available (expensive)– Girls were sent to school to improve marriage prospects, not to learn math

or science• Higher Education Expands

– Colleges and Universities expand to accommodate the expanding middle class

– Colleges for women open

Science Takes New Directions• Atomic Theory Develops

– The idea that all matter is made of small particles– John Dalton formulates modern atomic theory, from which the Periodic Table was

born• Debating the Earth’s Age

– Charles Lyell presents evidence the Earth formed over millions of years, and other geologists conclude the Earth is at least 2 billion years old.

– In 1856 German scholars uncover Neanderthal, and other early modern human bones.– These discoveries directly challenge Biblical creation, and create tremendous

controversy• Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection

– In 1831 Charles Darwin sailed with HMS Beagle on a five year voyage, collecting all sorts of samples and data.

– In 1859, Darwin presents his ideas in On the Origins of Species, describing natural selection.

• Social Darwinism and Racism– Darwin’s ideas of species was taken and applied to all forms of endeavors, including

business, social systems, and racial identity.– The idea that the strong survive and the weak perish was a natural process led to

horrible interpretations of racial superiority, genocide, and modern racism.

Arts in the Industrial Age• The Romantic Revolt Against Reason

– William Wadsworth, William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Blake Shelly

– Part of the consequence of Industrialization was a move towards the strictly scientific, utilitarian logic that belied human emotion. (Kirk and Spock)

• The Romantic Hero– A hero of emotion, multidimensional

• Inspired by the Past– Re-examining the accomplishments of earlier

peoples, classical revival (Greek theater), Glorification of the past (Rome)

• Music Stirs Emotion– Franz Liszt, Ludwig von Beethoven

• Romanticism in Art

The Call to Realism

– Realism is about the unvarnished truth, depicting the world as it is, with all of the flaws.

• Novels Depict Grim Reality– Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo

• Realism in Drama– Ibsen wrote plays that called out hypocrisy

in government, and corruption• Arts Reject Romantic Ideals

– Move towards realism, accurate depictions, not heroic

The Visual Arts Take New Directions

• The Impressionists– With the introduction of cameras, some

painters moved away from doing realism, and tried to capture the impressions of scenes using soft colors and pastels• Degas, Monet, Manet

• The Post-Impressionists– Post-impressionists moved to more dramatic

content, using art to inspire feelings and emotions.• Van Gogh, Picasso