Transcript File

You say you want a revolution II
From an economic &
historical perspective,
what's wrong with this joke?
Industrialization: Political
Consequences
• Liberal reforms still hadn't enfranchised the
urban working class, so radicalism remains.
• Artisan classes fear for their trades as
machines replace skilled labor. Luddites most
radical.
• Chartist movement: push in Britain for a
democratic government that would regulate
new technology (future shock?) and promote
education for the masses.
1848: A Year of
Revolts
• Parisian revolts; French monarchy abolished
for good.
• Wider swathe of social reform demands:
socialism, feminism, democracy.
• Achievements of French Revolution sought
by other Europeans: Germans press for
liberal constitutions and end of manorialism.
1848: Widespread Failure
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Conservatives and liberal middle-class suppress socialism
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Prussian King Wilhelm IV rejects a liberal constitution. In
Austria too the army defeats revolutionaries.
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Sure, the French now had their democracy, only to have
Napoleon III rise to power and rule essentially as a king until
1870.
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Abolition of serfdom everywhere (even Russia) satisfies most
peasants.
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Reformers realize that revolution won't work; they'll need to
promote gradual changes.
• Basically, governments learned to avoid what
had provoked and allowed the revolts:
• Poor harvests in 1846 and 1847 had led to
high food prices (and thus urban unrest), so
governments improved transportation
infrastructure to prevent future food crises.
• Most governments trained police in how to
put down riots.
•
The main villain, the aristocracy and aristocratic
privilege, had declined substantially. Industrialization
had undercut their economic dominance, and liberal
reforms had stripped them of most of their legal
privileges.
•
Conservative and middle class groups protected their
self-interest from more radical reforms.
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The old thesis/antithesis (to use Marxist lingo) was
gone. No more Aristocrat v. Peasant. Socialists begin
to lay the framework for a new conflict: middle-class
property owners (bourgeoise) v. property-less workers
(proletariat). More on this in a few moments.
Getting Used to
Industrialization
• Industrialization and urbanization had transformed where and
how people lived. Initial problems were met and resolved:
• Sanitation improved; death rates fall below birth rates in cities,
and for the first time ever, in Britain initially, the urban
population surpasses 50% of overall population.
• Parks and museums improve city life.
• Improvements in food preparation, housing construction, and
policing make life safer.
Life at Home in the Industrial Age
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Birth rates drop: no benefit of large families.
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Parents enjoy their children more. Adolescence becomes a
recognized stage of development (kids aren't just to share in
the work)
•
New attitudes toward women and their family duties: some
elevated positions, some increased demands.
•
Material life improves: by 1900 2/3 of the Western population
lived above the subsistence level. Better diets and leisure
activities promote health. Higher literacy rates spur
newspaper readership. After 1880, child death rates fall below
10%. Pasteur discovers germs, so people clean up better,
especially doctors. Fewer women die in childbirth, so
women's life expectancy exceeds men's.
Rise of Corporations
• Built by investors to pool risks and cover high
start-up costs.
• Less "personal," workers have little or no
connection to the "bosses."
• Hampered by the rise of organized labor.
New Politics, and the
Rise of Nation-States
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By asserting that their monarchs were responsible to
their people moreso than the other way around,
England and France were the first real nation-states.
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Old political issues largely irrelevant by mid-19th
century.
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Few resist the idea that constitutions should temper
governments. In general, greater participation of the
people, or at least reforms aimed at settling the
people's grievances.
Change Sans Revolution
• The French Revolution both inspired and scared the heck out of people.
• After the failed revolutions of 1848, many liberals seek alternate methods
of change. They cooperate with conservatives to spur reforms while
preserving some elements of the monarchy.
• Benjamin Disraeli extends the franchise to working-class men, 1867.
• Count Camillo di Cavour of Piedmont (Italian state) supports industrial
development and reforms.
• Otto von Bismarck's approach: hijack liberal and radical reformers by
promoting moderate reforms--universal manhood suffrage (with
restrictions on certain groups' influence to suppress democracy), religious
freedom (even to Jews), state-sponsored mass education, free-er press.
But all kinda tricky.
Using Nationalism
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Conservatives appeal to nationalism in order to court popular support.
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Expansion/extending the empire makes foreign policy overshadow
domestic affairs. "We've always been at war with Eurasia..."
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Nationalist rebellions unite Italy and Germany.
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Italy had been fragmented and dominated by foreigners (Austria
controlled northern Italy). Cavour unites most of Italy, reduces political
role of Catholic Church, which had opposed liberalism and nationalism.
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Bismarck orchestrated a series of conflicts to consolidate the German
states under Prussian control. Buddies with Austria against Danes over
Schleswig und Holstein, then war against Austria (led by a powerful
German dynasty) for domination of the German states (1866). War
against France (1871) solidifies a united Germany. Imagine that. The
French didn't want a united Germany!
• German political organization: Der Kaiser,
and a bicameral parliament. Upper house
was conservative, members selected for
interests of state; lower house more liberal as
it was elected by universal male suffrage.
• Add nationalist pride, and you've got a
dynamic country.
American Civil War
• Nationalist--The United States or These
United States?
• Abolition of slavery
• The first really industrial war.
Western Bureaucracies Evolve
• Civil Service Examinations: it's about talent
now, not bloodline.
• Increased regulation (work-safety, labor,
sanitation, health care, passports, even
prostitution).
• Use of public schools to promote civic values,
specialized skills, and control ideas. Even
girls had schooling, but in the domestic
sciences.
Welfare Reform
• Bismarck implements moderated socialist
ideas in order to undercut socialism.
• "Social insurance" in case of accident, illness,
or old age.
• Unemployment relief
• No more peasants can say that the state
does nothing for them.
Marx and Socialism
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A new society of rapid genesis, future-shock, the desire to
understand the new order.
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Dialectical-Materialism (a variation of Hegel's Dialectic):
history shaped by conflict between those who control
capital/the means of production, and those exploited by the
owners.
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Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis (becomes the new Thesis) and
so on.
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Landed aristocracy-landless commoners-Bourgoise (middle
class)
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Bourgoise-proletariat (urban working poor)-?
Marxist Progress
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Capitalism is evil and exploitative in that the few profit
immensely from the labor of the many, who in turn receive
little in compensation.
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Revolution of the proletariate to seize control of the means of
production. Abolition of religion (the opiate of the masses and
an instrument of oppression)
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Dictatorship of the proletariat, abolition of private property (no
more classes at all).
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From each according to his means, to each according to his
needs.
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True freedom; government-useful only to exploiters-withers
away.
A New Socialism
• Much greater in scope and intended to
organize globally.
• Attractive to labor unions and the
disenfranchised (women, minorities).
• Starts in Germany but spreads despite
Bismarck's attempts to be proactive.
• Revisionists try to downplay need for violent
revolution, seeking instead a progressive,
democratic method.
Feminism
• Led by middle-class women.
• Reduction to domestic roles--ugh.
• Times had changed, so...
Cultural Transformations:
Emphasis on Consumption and Leisure
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Better wages by end of 19th century and fewer working hours.
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Massive increase in white-collar jobs (clerical, secretary,
office, sales, bureaucrats) need physical outlet.
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Marketing goods creates product crazes. Be the first to own a
new and improved X!
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Ride your bicycle for fun, healthy, and freedom!
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College sports, popular theater, camping and hiking...
Scientific Advances
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Belief that science and technology=progress toward perfection.
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Chemicals, electricity and gadgetry.
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Darwin and the Origin of Species.
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New physics (Newton was great but not perfect) lead to new
technologies. Note: everything high-tech that you love is because of
Tesla!
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The sciences become too complex for laymen. People more reliant upon
experts. Interesting: new knowledge and new ignorance.
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Freud and psychology.
New Artistic
Expression
• Popular and realistic novels--less of the
fantastic or idealized.
• Romanticism embraces emotion, impression,
and nature. Passion is not bad.
• Poetry's walls broken down. Free verse,
innovative structure, abstractions.
• Less Christian across the board.
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Western Settler
Societies
Africa, Asia, America, Australia and New
Zealand
• United States flexes its muscles, first
Manifest Destiny, then Latin American
"Banana Republics," Alaska, Hawaii,
Philippines. Fueled by immigration and
industrialization, especially post-Civil War.
• Britain relaxes but retains some control over
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
WWI: MUCH Ado
about Nothing
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Nationalism leads to rivalries. Population growth and
colonial competition complicate matters.
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New Alliances: Triple Entente (Britain, Russia, France)
v. Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy)
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Thought that war might unify people (German
socialists would shut up; British feminists and labor
unionists would sit down)
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Starts in the Balkans
Congratulations!
• You made it to the last slide.
• You're a great student.
•
Thanks for reading!