Transcript The New Power Balance, 1850 - 1900

The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
Inventions of the time:
• Railroads: by 1915 the U.S. had the largest in the world by
far—they opened up new lands to people
• railroads were also used in unindustrialized nations to
transport raw materials
• Ocean Shipping: more efficient, powerful engines; increased
size of ships to carry more freight, steel replaced wood,
propellers replaced paddle wheels
• Submarine telegraph cables: by 1900 connected all
countries and “annihilated time and space”
• Steel: made cheaper by Henry Bessemer (1/10 cost)
• better than iron because it is both hard and elastic
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
Inventions of the time (cont’d):
• Chemical dyes: hurt tropical nations who used to produce
the most indigo (India)
• Explosives: the invention of nitrogylcerin was important for
making explosives used in mining, railroad building, and
weapons
• Electricity: electric current was at first costly and used
sparingly, then was improved and mostly used for lighting
after that
• Germany had the most advanced scientific institutions and
had become the leading producer of dyes, drugs, fertilizers…
• Economies became closely intertwined as world trade grew,
causing booms and depressions in the business cycle.
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
Industrial Europe:
• a big increase in Europeans moving overseas was due
partially to a lower death rate
• Great Britain controlled most of the world’s trade and
finances by 1900
• Cities changed: railroads with regular schedules brought
food and commuters, police and fire departments were
created, city planning became more common, and improved
sanitation/lower death rates
• Middle class: exhibited wealth in fine house, servants, and
elegant entertainment
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
The Victorian Age:
• rules of behavior and family where the home was idealized
as a peaceful and loving refuge
• a code of morality that England considered universal
• men and women belonged in “separate spheres”; the home
was the sphere of the woman, the business/work world for
men
• Families were considered middle class if they employed at
least one full time servant
• New household technologies were invented to help women
keep the house clean, but it really meant more work as
standards of cleanliness were raised.
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
The Victorian Age for women:
• Women could sometimes work in businesses if there was a
typewriter and telephone—those were suitable tasks for
women (actually, women were cheaper to hire)
• Teaching was a good female profession because it was an
extension of their motherly duties at home
• Women who felt unsatisfied at home worked as volunteer
social workers or nurses, organized reform movements,
worked for women’s suffrage.
• Urban industrial women had to earn extra money for the
house if needed, as well as taking care of house/children
• Working class women could support their families by
sewing, doing laundry for people, taking in boarders, or doing
service/factory work—not teaching—that was for singles.
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
Socialism:
• history is a long series of conflicts between social classesthe most recent one being the struggle between workers and
property owners
• Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto which said there
is a difference between wages people earn and the amount of
money property owners make—this “surplus value” is money
the owners make and workers never see—the revolution will
be over this
• However, most workers felt the best solution was labor
unions and voting
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
Nationalism:
• the most influential idea of the 19th century
• nationalists wanted to realign national boundaries to fit
religious and linguistic divisions (one ethnicity = one country)
• A famous 19th century nationalist was Giuseppe Mazzini—
he wanted to unify Italy, which was still just a bunch of states
• Liberalism was an ideal growing at this time. It believed in
the sovereignty of the people, the need for a constitutional
government, freedom of expression, and the need for a
national government/parliament
• Conservatism was still powerful: the Revolutions of 1848
were ethnic revolutions that were unsuccessful and
conservatism won; taught politicians they couldn’t keep
people out of politics forever
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
Unification of Germany:
• uniting Germany was important—German was the most
widely spoken language in Europe
• Germany was made up of diverse states—Prussia, much of
Austria, and smaller states—religious differences, too
• King Wilhelm I “ruled” Prussia but really it was ruled by Otto
von Bismarck
• Bismarck was a Junker-a conservative wealthy landownerhe became famous for realpolitik—tough power politics with
no room for idealism. He ruled without parliament’s
assistance saying power doesn’t come by having meetings,
but by “Blood and iron.”
• “Blood and iron” referred to the industry and nationalism he
saw around Europe, wanted to imitate it
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
Unification of Germany (cont’d):
• Bismarck formed the North German Confederation with
Prussia and some smaller states and attacked France,
winning Alsace and Lorraine, a place where the people spoke
German but felt French—a conflict in nationalism
• This Franco-Prussian war changed the politics of Europe.
France became more liberal; Germany, Russia, and AustriaHungary became more conservative
• Bismarck, after obtaining some territory, focused on keeping
Germany conservative, so he gave all adult males the vote—
kept middle class liberals from having too much influence
• French society was struggling—they’d changed
governments yearly from 1871-1914. The event that
epitomized their social divisions was the Dreyfus Affair
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
The Dreyfus Affair:
• Alfred Dreyfus was a Jewish officer in the French army from
Alsace (German-speaking France until 1871)
• Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted of treason and put in jail.
• Many liberals and socialists were on the side of Dreyfus,
saying he was innocent, while conservatives thought he was
guilty. The case needed to be reopened due to new evidence,
but doing so would have exposed the corruption in the French
army.
• Ultimately Dreyfus was released from prison but “the Affair”
caused anti-Semitism to increase in France.
• The rise of Zionism (nationalism for Jews who wanted a
Jewish state) can be traced to this event.
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
Great Britain:
• GB had many problems at this time:
• the Irish resented British rule—threat to nationalism
• the empire had grown expensive—Britain had fallen
behind the economies of U.S. and Germany in industrial
production
• the empire was expensive to maintain (recall the Sepoy
Rebellion in India—colonies were expensive)
• Britain maintained a policy of “splendid isolation” from the
rest of Europe for much of the 19th century. They only helped
during the Crimean War to fight Russia in 1854.
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
Russia and Austria-Hungary:
• Nationalism failed to unify them—their empires included too
many ethnic and language groups to unify
• In Russia only 45% of people spoke Russian
• South-central Europe had the most division—the Balkan
peninsula and the Slavic people there were very nationalistic
but weren’t becoming countries.
• Tsar Alexander II freed the serfs to enlarge the labor pool
and industrialize. All it did was create a lot of poor communal
farmers and he failed to create a modern state based on the
Western model
• The Russo-Japanese war in 1904-1905 caused a popular
uprising: the Revolution of 1905, forcing the tsar to have a
constitution and a Duma (parliament)
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
China and Japan:
• China and Japan had opposite responses to the new power
balance and the new imperialism: China resisted the West
and Japan transformed itself into a major industrial power.
• China, devastated by the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)
turned inward and started the “self-strengthening movement”
trying to reform government spending and corruption
• The emperor of Japan had no real power. Power rested in
the hands of the military leader called the shogun
• The Tokugawa Shogunate began in the 1600s. Its biggest
weakness was the inability to resist foreign invasion, so
Japan closed its borders to foreigners. Anyone leaving the
country or allowing someone in could be killed.
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
China and Japan:
• In 1853 Matthew C. Perry (navy) arrived in Japan and gave
them one year to decide to open their ports, sparking a crisis
in the country—accept foreign influence or no?
• In 1858 the Treaty of Kanagawa was written on the model of
the unequal treaties between the West and China. Japan
didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of China and the opium
war.
• 1868 rebels overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate and
declared Mutsuhito emperor “restored” or Meiji Restoration.
• The Meijis wanted to protect Japan from imperialists so
tried to become rich with a strong army.
• The wanted to embrace foreign ideas, institutions and
techniques—German government and army, British navy, etc.
The New Power Balance, 1850-1900
China and Japan:
• Once government-owned industries in Japan became
profitable they were sold to private investors
• Japan’s plan for imperialism included controlling a “sphere
of influence” to include Manchuria, Korea, and part of China
• They had to fight Russia for Manchuria in 1904-1905 and
won—it stunned the world that Asians had beaten Europeans.
• Boxer Uprising 1900: a series of riots against the foreign
presence in China—the Dowager Empress supported the
uprising but didn’t back it up with an army. The European
powers were able to block the Boxers (Society of Righteous
and Harmonious Fists) but nationalism grew in China.