europe between 1871 and 1918

8/9/2019 Europe Between 1871 and 1918

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Europe Between 1871 and 1914 (I)

Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Britain were the major

powers in this period.


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Europe Between 1871 and 1914 (II)

Germany. After the unification and the defeat of the French 2nd Empire,

became the major power in Europe. By means of a set of alliances,

Bismarck sought to keep France isolated to avoid revanchism.

Britain. Defended by a powerful fleet, and with a prosperouseconomy, she kept a splendid isolationism from the political affairs

of the continent, encouraging a balance of power subjected to her

influence. The main threat to British imperialist interests seemed to

come from Russia, because of her expansionist thrust into the

Mediterranean sea.

France. After her defeat in 1871, a democratic republic was

established. A minority faction sought to recover Alsace-Lorraine from

Germany, but her main task in this period was imperialist expansion

overseas, and the overcome of political isolation.


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Europe Between 1871 and 1914 (III)

Russia. Her main goal was to achieve access to the Mediterranean at

the expense of the Ottoman Empire. The Russian Tsar also proclaimed

himself as the defender of the Slavic peoples of the Balkans, which led

to tension with Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Britain.Expansion allowed Russia to reach the Pacific ocean in East Asia.

Austria-Hungary had interest in the Balkans, based on keeping her

multinational empire safe from Slavic nationalist claims.

The alliance system devised by Bismarck to isolate France began tocrumble when he was forced out of power in 1890. From this moment,

political alignments in Europe began to change, leading to the alliances

that were going to confront each other in the First World War.

Complete this chapter in http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/westn/powerbalance.html#Bismarck


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Political Systems

3 2

P o li t ic a l S y s t e m s

I be r al u t ho r i tar ia n

U K

I II r e n c h e p u b l ic

I I e r m a n

m p ir e

us tr ia - u ng ar y

I ta ly

r a d u a l e m o c r a t is a ti o n o

t h e P o l i t i c a l S y s t e m

P o l i t ic a l S t a g n a ti o n

x p a n s i o n i s m

u s s ia n m p i r e

o l o n i a l m p i r e s


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Alliance Systems

1879

The Dual Alliance

Germany and Austria-Hungary

make an alliance to protect

themselves from Russia.

1881

Austro-Serbian Alliance

Austria-Hungary makes an alliance

with Serbia to prevent Russia gaining

control of Serbia.

1882The Triple Alliance

Germany and Austria-Hungary

make an alliance with Italy to stop

Italy taking sides with Russia.

1894Franco-Russian Alliance

Russia allied with France to protect

herself from Austria-Hungary and

Germany.

1904

Entente Cordiale

This was an agreement but not aformal alliance between Britain

and France

1907

The Anglo-Russian Entente

Britain and Russia ended their

differences with this alliance.

1907

The Triple Entente

This alliance between Britain, France and

Russia was made because of worsening

relations between Germany and Russia andGermany and Britain

Represent in a

blank map the

alliance systems


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The Industrial Revolution (I)

The Industrial Revolution is the change from the use of hand methods

of manufacturing to machine methods.

It began in Britain, at about 1750, and later spread to other countries.

It is called a revolution because it changed the ways of life of people.

The result was a industrialized society, where most of the people

worked for a wage instead of growing their own food, and boughtinstead of making, the products they used.

Once it started, it can be said that the Industrial Revolution has not

stopped until nowadays, taking into account different aspects.


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The Industrial Revolution (II)

The Industrial Revolution was based on previous or simultaneous

changes:

In demography: medical advances and improvement in nutrition

resulted in a population rise in Britain throughout the 18th century.Cheap labour force was then available for farms and factories.

In agriculture, changes in the structure of property (Enclosure Acts),

farming methods (Norfolk system) and technological advances

(Rotherham plough) allowed higher productivity.

Steam machines (Watt, 1769), as well as new machines in the textile

industry and siderurgy were introduced. This led to the expansion of

the factory system at the expense of the older domestic system.


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The Industrial Revolution (III)

Transport also changed with the introduction of machines.

Railways were used firstly in mines. But since 1829 (Stephensons

steam locomotive) they began to expand throughout Europe, so that

fifty years later there was a dense railway network. Goods andpassengers were cheaply transported, widening markets.

Steam engines were applied to iron ships too. The result was an

increase of intercontinental trade and the end of sail ships after

thousands of years of being in use.


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The New Industrial Society (I)

A basic feature of the new society lies in how it was organized.

Instead of birth, it was wealth that made social differences apparent.

The social groups are no longer named estates, but classes. The mainones were the bourgeoisie and proletariat.

The great bourgeoisie was composed of the owners of factories,

bankers, traders, etc. A middle group of bourgeois included doctors,

professors, engineers, small traders... Finally, employees and

shopkeepers were the main part of little bourgeoisie.

The upper bourgeoisie intermingled with the old nobility. The former

often exchanged money for social prestige. Anyway, his customs,

values and ways of life became the model to imitate.


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The New Industrial Society (II)

The word proletariat refers to the urban factory workers, who worked

for a salary. They were the most numerous social group amongst the

urban population, living and working in incredibly harsh conditions.

At first, there was no laws to establish working conditions. Hence,timetables, salaries and holidays were arbitrarily set by the

employers.

As a consequence, living conditions were very hard. Working days

lasted from twelve to fourteen hours. Wages were insufficient to

support a family. This forced women and children to work for

extremely low salaries. On the other hand, workshops, pits and

factories lacked good hygienic conditions causing the spread of

disease among workers.


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Children Labour

sing your own words, write a two page long composition about

child labour in 19th century in Europe. Consider the following

questions:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRchild.htm

http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/IndustrialRevolution/lifeduringindust

rialrevolution.htm

The age that children started working Industries that employed children and reasons for this

Accidents and working hours

Opponents to child labour and legislative measures adopted.

Help yourself with the following links:

http://www.redruth.cornwall.sch.uk/curriculum/History/britain.htm


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The Workers Movement (I)

The workers movement arose in the first decades of 19th century as

a reaction to the introduction of new machines, which made

unemployment grow and salaries fall. This first reaction was called

luddism, and resulted in the destruction of machinery and arsonattacks on the factories that used them.

Growing class consciousness (the awareness of belonging to the

same social class and of common interests by the workers) led to the

set up of the first workers mutual aid societies to assist in case ofillness or unemployment.

The first Trade nions were founded in Britain after repealing the

laws that forbade them in 1825. The Great Trade nion was founded

in 1834, gathering workers from different trades.


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The Workers Movement IIIn Spain, the workers movement began with luddite outbreaks in

1825 in Alcoy and in 1835 in Barcelona (arson of textile mills and

steam machines). Workers associations were concentrated mainly

in Barcelona, the largest industrial region in Spain.

In 1840 the Weavers Association of Barcelona was founded,

taking advantage of the increased tolerance of the liberal

progressive governments. The first general strike in Spain took

place in 1855.

In 1870, during the democratic period, the Spanish Federation of

the International Workingmens Association was organized. With it,

Marxism and anarchism began to spread in Spain.


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The Workers Movement III

The aim of the Trade nions was to

improve working conditions. Their first

claims were the defence of association

rights, the reduction of working hours,

improvement of salaries and regulation

of child labour.

National Trade nions felt the necessity

to organize themselves at a wider level tofight against capitalism. In 1864 the first

International Workers Association was

created. In it Marxists, anarchists and

trade-unionists gathered together until its

dissolution in 1876.


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Marxism

By mid-19th century arl Marx and Friedrich Engels denounced

the exploitation of workers by the capitalist economic system. In

their economic and political writings they set out how capital gains

derived from the workers unpaid labour.

From this they drew the consequence that a workers revolutionwas needed to overcome the unfair relationship between capital

and labour. Although this was their main source of wealth, the

workers were doomed to lead a life of abject poverty

The target of the revolution would be the building of a societywhere class differences would disappear. To reach this goal, a

workers political party (the socialist party) would be organized to

promote the revolution, notwithstanding its participation in

parliamentary politics. In the long term, the goal of revolution

would be finally abandoned by the socialist parties.


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Anarchism

Anarchism is more diverse than Marxism, for it is based on the

philosophy of many thinkers. However its better known exponents

are Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Mijail Bakunin and Piotr ropotkin.

Anarchism stresses individual freedom and social solidarity, while

criticising private property and the principle of authority and itsmain exponent, the state.Anarchists are in favour of revolutionary action of industrial

workers and peasants to destroy the state and build a collectivist

and egalitarian society. On the other hand, they are opposed to

taking part in parliamentary politics and to political parties.

The anarchists were frequently organized in revolutionary Trade

nions (anarcho-syndicalism). In other cases some anarchists were

in favour of violent actions to overthrow the state and the capitalist

system, while others were staunch pacifists.


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Anarchism and Marxism: Differences

Capitalism

Predominance of the bourgeoisie

Private property

Workers miseryMarxism Anarchism

Collective property

Workers revolution

Workers parties

1st stage: Dictatorship of the proletariat

Workers state

Nationalization of property

2nd stage: Communism

Extinction of the state

Society without classes

Aim

Headed by

To reach

Individual freedomSocial solidarity

Collective property

Rejection of authority

Rejection of political parties

Social revolution

By means of the

Trade nions

Spontaneous

Society without classes

End of the stateCollective property

Aim

against aganist

europe between 1871 and 1918

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