Unit 7 - 19th Century Perspectives & Political Developments

Romantic Idealism

Looking back as the past as a nobler and more perfect time, emphasizing folk traditions, music, and legends of one's past.

- individual common man was valued

- democracy & liberalism = goal

Victor Hugo

(1802-1885) French writer in the French Romantic movement - best known novels: Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Miserables

- novels depicted poor individuals suffering under cruel societies

Racialism

belief in the existence of biologically distinct races

- some races are superior to others

- umbrella term for racism

Pan-Slavism

a movement to create an independent nation state of Slavic people from Central and Eastern European countries

- popular in Russia & Austria in particular

Antisemitism

hostility to or prejudice against Jews.

- byproduct of militant, authoritarian, & racist nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

- increasing pogroms against Jews

- takes on new racial tone instead of simply religious prejudice as Social Darwinism rises

Pogroms

organized violence towards a particular ethnic group

- most commonly references violence towards and massacres of Jews in Russia or eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon)

Nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte who was elected president of France in 1848 when the French tried to establish another republic

- crowned himself emperor in 1852

- modernized/redesigned city of Paris

- reformed France by building railroads, creating new banks, encouraging shipbuilding, and backing the construction of the Suez Canal in Egypt

Giuseppe Mazzini

Italian nationalist (1805-1872) who supported the idea of a united Italian peninsula

- founded the Young Italy movement in 1832 that led several small uprisings but found little success

- inspiration to later Italian nationalist/unification movements

Camillo di Cavour

known for leading Italian unification, he drove Austrian forces out of Sardinia in 1858 & worked to gain control of northern Italy with the support of Napoleon III and the liberal Italian middle classes

- joined with Garibaldi's united southern provinces to officially unify Italy

Otto von Bismarck

Prussian chancellor from 1862 to 1890

- best known for using realpolitik to engineer a series of wars to unify Germany

- used diplomacy, industrialized warfare, and manipulation of democracy to unify Germany

- maintained balance of power through complex alliance systems designed to isolate France

- tried to create a conservative, centralized state

Dual Monarchy

1867 compromise that joined Austria and Hungary under two different crowns due to the violent revolutions of 1848

- shared ministers for foreign policy, finance, and defense

- recognized political power of Hungarians (largest ethnic minority in the empire) by creating two capitals and two official languages

- Emperor Franz Joseph was a member of the Habsburg family

Karl Lueger

Mayor of Vienna, Austria from 1897 to 1910

- founder of Austrian Christian Social Party

- proudly conservative, nationalistic, and antisemitic

- inspirational to Hitler for his ideologies and use of discriminatory propaganda

Dreyfus Affair

The 1894 accusation and trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish-French military officer accused of passing military secrets to Germany

- Dreyfus was convicted with little to no evidence

- example of increasing antisemitism against Jews (seen as a convenient scapegoat)

Zionism

A movement founded in the 1890s to promote the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine

- hundreds of years of pogroms and persecution caused people to suggest an independent nation for Jewish people to escape violence

- Theodore Herzl was an early founder

Theodor Herzl

(1860-1904) German-Jewish journalist and founder of the Zionist movement urging the creation of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.

- Antisemitism from Dreyfus Affair was integral in inspiring Zionism

- wanted Jews to have a place to safely practice their religion and form their own government

Crimean War

War from 1853-1856 between Russia and an alliance of Ottoman Empire, Britain, and France

- Russia wanted control of Black Sea and to prove their military strength against a weakening Ottoman Empire

- France and Britain wanted to maintain balance of power, so they intervened to help the Ottomans and prevent Russia from becoming too powerful

- one of the first wars to be followed closely by civilians through newspaper coverage, journalist access, & photos

- viewed as a useless war

- humiliating for Russia and showed them the need to industrialize and modernize

King Victor Emmanuel II

(1820-1878)

The King of Piedmont (northern Italy) that appointed Cavour his Prime Minister and supported the unification of Italy.

Realpolitik

"realistic politics," practical politics, end justifies the means, power is more important than principles

- needs of country and leader come before everything else

- Machiavellian approach to power politics

- using whatever means necessary to achieve political goals

- used by Otto von Bismarck and Camillo di Cavour

Giuseppe Garibaldi

(1807-82)

Italian patriot and military figure who led the Red Shirts to unify the southern states of Italy by using nationalism

- joined his unified southern states with Cavour's unified northern states to create one united Italy under the rule of King Victor Emmanuel II

Italian Unification

Unified in 1861

- Previously, Italy was separated into many states. Cavour worked to unify the North while Giuseppe Garibaldi unified the South

- ruled by King Victor Emmanuel II

- unification finished in 1871 when Rome was added and became the capital

German Unification

Finalized in 1871 under Prussian rule

- achieved by chancellor Otto von Bismarck using a series of 3 wars that he provoked - policy of "blood and iron"

- excluded Austria from German unification because Austria was Catholic (Bismarck was Protestant), Austria was poorer, and Bismarck wanted them as a German ally

- culmination of growing nationalism in German states

- established Second Reich (German Empire) under Kaiser Wilhelm I

Franco-Prussian War

(1870-1871)

War between France and Prussia and the final step towards the unification of Germany

- Caused by Otto von Bismarck after he altered a telegram from the Prussian King in order to provoke the French into attacking Prussia

- He hoped he could encourage the independent German states to support Prussia in a war against France, and he was correct (thus creating a united Germany)

- important territories of Alsace and Lorraine ceded to Germany

- Treaty of Frankfurt was signed in the Palace of Versailles as a slap in the face for the French and fueling a French/German rivalry for the future

Kulturkampf

"Cultural Struggle"

- policy pursued by Bismarck to diminish the power of Catholicism by passing laws to expel Jesuits, end Catholic education, introduce civil marriage, and break relations with Vatican

- policies were halted because they were unsuccessful and because the threat of socialism seemed more concerning to Bismarck

Kaiser Wilhelm II

(1859-1941)

Kaiser of Germany from 1888-1918 after the death of his father

- supported aggressive foreign policy (building a colonial empire and strengthening military to compete with Britain)

- disagreed with Bismarck's slower and more calculated/restrained approach and dismissed him in 1890

- actions added to growing tensions leading to World War I

Triple Allliance

Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy at the end of the 19th century

- division of Europe into alliances was designed to maintain balance of power but actually increased tension prior to World War I

- goal: isolate France

Triple Entente

Alliance between Britain, France, and Russia in the years prior to World War I

- division of Europe into alliances was designed to maintain balance of power but actually increased tension prior to World War I

- goal: counter growing German strength

Charles Darwin

(1809-1882)

English naturalist who traveled the world studying fossils and plant specimens and developed the theory of evolution

- published his book On the Origin of Species (1859)

Natural selection

Darwin's theory that as populations compete for finite resources, the unfit populations will be weeded out

- stronger individuals with certain traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates and pass down their strong traits, whereas unfit individuals do not reproduce as frequently and the traits are not passed

Theory of evolution

Darwin's idea that species change and adapt over time

- humans descended from primates

- contradicted the Bible teachings by suggesting that humans descended from animals as opposed to being created by God

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and sociologist (1820-1903)

- created Social Darwinism, which applied the theory of natural selection to human societies

Social Darwinism

Belief that Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest" was also true when it came to human races and classes

- upper classes were inherently superior to lower classes

- white Europeans were biologically and culturally superior to people of Africa and Asia, whom they had a "duty" to conquer and "civilize"

Positivism

the belief that knowledge should be derived from scientific observation

- knowledge of facts is based on sensory experience, not intuition

- derived from Enlightenment emphasis on reason

Modernism

A cultural movement embracing human empowerment and rejecting traditional beliefs as outdated

- viewed industry and technology as cornerstones of progress and human achievement

- embraced social change and new ideas in psychology and political theory

Irrationalism

Philosophy that focused on people's impulses, intuition, spirits, and instincts instead of strictly reason or logic

- emphasizes importance of emotions or unconscious mechanisms

Friedrich Nietzsche

German irrational philosopher (1844-1900)

- claimed "God is dead" and that developments in science and reasoning and an increasingly secular world had killed him

- proponent of nihilism (life lacks purpose and nothing matters)

Sigmund Freud

Austrian neurologist (1856-1939) who created psychoanalysis (study of unconscious mind) and distinguished psychology as a separate discipline

- believed human behavior is motivated by unconscious urges

- suppressed sexual urges from childhood may play a role in behavior

Albert Einstein

German physicist (1879-1945)

- redefined how people thought about space, time, gravity, energy, and matter

- developed theory of relativity, which states that time, space, and mass are relative to each other and not fixed

Imperialism

A policy of extending a nation's power and influence over another country through diplomacy or military force

- most notably used by European nations over African and Asian nations in the late 1800s

- motives: resources, rivalries, racism

"White Man's Burden"

1899 poem by Rudyard Kipling that encouraged the idea that European countries had a "duty"/responsibility to spread their religion and culture to those "less civilized"

- turned imperialism into a "civilizing mission"

- comforting to Europeans at home as a successful justification for violent imperialism

Mission Civilisatrice

"civilization mission" - French term for the drive to civilize the people they controlled during the Age of Imperialism

- similar to ideas employed by Europeans during the Age of Exploration

- importance of indoctrinating indigenous people to accept Western ideals of religion and government

Minie Ball

Advanced type of bullet used by new rifles in the late 1800s

- made rifles more accurate from a farther range

- led to massive casualties in Crimean War, American Civil War, and imperial conquests

Louis Pasteur

French chemist (1822-1895) who developed the germ theory of disease and helped control the spread of disease

- found that the growth of bacteria could be suppressed by heat (called pasteurization)

Germ theory

Pasteur's theory

- fermentation and disease were caused by microorganisms

- led to pasteurization to kill germs in food and vaccines against diseases

Joseph Lister

British surgeon (1827-1912) who concluded that infections were caused by contamination of wounds by bacteria

- used Pasteur's germ theory to develop antiseptic surgery and preventative healthcare

- led to plummeting hospital death rates

Quinine

a drug used for fighting malaria and other fevers

- allowed European imperialism to move from the coast into the interior of Africa

Berlin Conference

Meeting hosted by Otto von Bismarck from 1884-1885

- called together all the European powers to lay down rules for the division of Africa

- Agreed that any European power could claim land in Africa by notifying other nations of their claims and showing that they could control the area

- intended to prevent conflict between European powers in Africa

- no Africans were invited

"Scramble for Africa"

Sudden competitive wave of conquests in Africa by European powers in the 1880s and 1890s

- Britain obtained most of eastern Africa

- France obtained most of northwestern Africa

- Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Spain acquired less territory

Belgian Congo

Colony personally owned and controlled by King Leopold II of Belgium

- prosperous rubber and ivory colony

- treated indigenous people savagely, often cutting off their hands if rubber quotas were not met

- subject to one of the first uses of the term "crimes against humanity"

- international outcry led the Belgian Parliament to take the colony away from Leopold in 1908, becoming a Belgian colony

Zulu Resistance

1879 failed attempt by the Zulu people of South Africa to resist British interference

- Zulu organized an army of 40,000 that was met with British military attacks

- Zulu surrendered after 6 months and resistance ended

Sepoy Rebellion/Mutiny

a revolt by Indian soldiers against British rule between 1857 and 1858 over the rumors of the use of pig and cow fat used on weapons

- soldiers had to tear rifle cartridges with their teeth, but biting cartridges greased in pig or cow fat violated the religious beliefs of Hindu and Muslim soldiers

- suppressed and caused British to increase their political and military presence in India

Boxer Rebellion

1900 rebellion in Beijing, China started by a secret society of poor Chinese peasants who opposed the European and Japanese influence in their country, particularly the Christian missionaries who they viewed as disrespectful.

- rebellion was ended by British troops, but 100,000 were killed and the Europeans forced Chinese government to pay millions of dollars in reparations

Romantic artists

Wanted to express their emotions, feelings, imagination, and nostalgia

- Francisco Goya and Eugene Delacroix are the best examples

Romantic music

Romantic composers broke from classical musical forms to create works that were less formulaic and showcased personal expression, emotion, and individuality

- Ludwig van Beethoven and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Swan Lake, Nutcracker, 1812 Overture) are the best examples

Realism

A 19th century artistic movement (1850-1900ish) in which writers and painters sought to show life as it is rather than life as it should be

- emphasis on truth and honest depiction

- rejection of Romantic nostalgia and emotion

- drew attention to social problems of the day (effects of industrialization, etc)

- Famous artist: Jean-Francois Millet

- Famous writers: Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy

Impressionism

Art style that gained popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

- rejected Realism

- depicted visual impression of a moment

- sought to capture a momentary feel, moment, or impression

- often very colorful

- Famous artists: Claude Monet & Edgar Degas

Post-Impressionism

Artistic style in the late 19th century

- incorporated Impressionist use of color and brushstrokes but used these to express certain emotions

- rejected Realism

- more focused on line and structure

- Famous artists: Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cezanne

Cubism

Artistic style of the early 20th century

- subject matter is portrayed by geometric forms, especially cubes

- influence of technology and fast-moving industry

- Famous artist: Pablo Picasso