AP EURO Ch 26: The Age of Anxiety

How did intellectual developments reflect the general crisis in Western thought in this era?

WWI and its damages caused people to question rationalism, the Enlightenment, and science and become very polar about Christianity. All of this made people feel anxious and uncertain.

Friedrich Nietzche

Part of a small group who rejected faith in progress and rationalism, and was very influential. Believed that rationalism stifles creativity, excellence, and self-realization since it stifles human passion and instincts. He rejected religion as well bc = “slave morality” (glorifies weakness, envy, and mediocrity). He was a big nihilist (human life has no meaning or purpose). To him, all moral systems were lies (liberalism, democracy, socialism = corrupt). PEOPLE NEED TO ACCEPT THE MEANINGLESSNESS OF LIFE TO MAKE IT A SOURCE OF INTEGRITY AND LIBERATION (and become heroes)

Henri Bergson

experience/intuition = as important as science to understanding reality (mystical experiences are easier to understand than a law or equation)

Compare and contrast logical positivism and existentialism

Logical positivism: More present in english-speaking countries, associated with Ludwig Wittgenstein A philosophy that sees meaning in only those beliefs that can be empirically proven, and that therefore rejects most of the concerns of traditional philosophy, from the existence of God to the meaning of happiness, as nonsense

Existentialism: Present in continental countries, inspired by Nietzche’s work, a philosophy that stresses that meaninglessness of existence and the importance of the individual in searching for moral values in an uncertain world. (ATHEISM)

Both: WWI accelerated the revolt against old philosophy, causing both of them

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Associated with Logical Positivism, believed philosophy should study language because philosophy is the clarification of thoughts (which are expressed by language). The philosophical study of God, Freedom, Morality, etc is useless and subjective

Jean-Paul Sartre

“existence precedes essence”=people are born and struggle to define their essence. “Man is condemned to be free”: since life is meaningless we must make our own meaning and define ourselves thru our actions.

Inspired Simone de Beauvoir who believed life is absurd, lonely, and full of despair.

How did the revival of Christianity after World War 1 change certain beliefs? Why was there a revival?

theologians after World war 1 worked to adapt Christianity to modern science and rejected unscientific or magical aspects of it (mostly protestants). There was a revival after world war 1 because because religion served as an answer to all the uncertainty, anxiety, and costs of the war

Soren Kierkegaard and Karl Barth

SK: we can’t prove god’s existence but we must have faith that he does exist (acc worked in mid 1800s but work was rediscovered in 1920s)

KB: people have to accept God’s word with awe, trust, and obedience, not reason or logic, because we are flawed as humans

Christian Existentialists

stressedd human sinful nature, our need for faith, and the mystery of God’s forgiveness

The New Physics

The new physics, or “heroic age of physics” was filled with new discoveries that seemed to make the natural world seem much more relative and uncertain than previously thought (atoms arent like billiard balls, theory of special relativity, Werner Heisenberg’s “uncertainty principle”, that nature is completely unpredictable)

People found it troubling.

Freudian Psychology

Very influential and disturbing, broke idea that human behavior is due to rational calculation, instead it is irrational and led by our unconscious mind. Advocated for the “talking cure” (therapy) to balance unconscious tensions. Anti-civilization because civilization renounces instincts that make us happy (disbalancing id, ego, and superego and making us neurotic)

id, ego, and superego

Freudian terms to describe the three parts of the self and the basis of human behavior, which Freud saw as basically irrational

Id: pleasure seeking, amoral, aggressive

Superego: conscience, kept id in check, overly strict

Ego: mostly conscious, negotiated between other 2, rational. When ego is strongest you are a healthy, balanced person.

Unbalance (caused by unacknowledged drives of id) causes neurosis

Functionalism

The principle that buildings, like industrial products, should serve as well as possible the purpose for which they were made, without excessive ornamentation. Generally had symmetrical rectangles of concrete, and a lot of glass and steel.

Important Functionalists

Pioneered in the US by Louis H Sullivan (skyscrapers) and Frank Lloyd Wright (houses) who built without much ornamentation, movement officially argued for in Le Corbusier’s “Towards a New Architecture”. The Bauhaus in Germany (leading in Euro architecture) taught functionalist architecture and was very popular

Modernism

A label given to the artistic and cultural movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which were typified by radical experimentation that challenged traditional forms of artistic expression.

Bauhaus

A German interdisciplinary school of fine and applied arts that brought together many leading modern architects, designers, and theatrical innovators

New Artistic Movements (and description)

Impressionism: Monet, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, portraying sensory impressions, tryna capture fleeting (real) moment

Expressionism: Van Gogh, color, light, psychological elements, expressing inner feelings, not real scenes

Avant-garde: Cubism: Picasso, geometric abstract art, Futurism: Filippo Tomas Marinetti, wanted new art to express the modern condition

Dadaism: Richard Huelsenbeck, life is meaningless so art is meaningless, meant to be insulting and nonsensical

Surrealism: Salvador Dali, influenced by Freudian psychology (wild dreams and weird symbols, images of the unconscious)

How did the rise of the Nazis impact the Art capitals

This caused artists and intellectuals to flee to the US, making the US the capital of modern art, not Paris or Berlin as it was

Dadaism

An artistic movement of the 1920s and 30s that attacked all accepted standards of art and behavior and delighted in outrageous conduct. Started by a group of exiles in switzerland

Twentieth century Literature in a nutshell

pessimistic, alienated, experimental, confused, single POV, includede Freudian confusion and irrationality. Used new literary techniques and dark imagery to capture the anxiety of age. Ex: TS Eliot: anti-utopias to come expressed despair after WW1, Franz Kafka’s work was similar

stream-of-consciousness technique

A literary technique, found in works by Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and others, that uses interior monologue to explore the human psyche

Modern Music in a nutshell

weird. modernism flourished in ballet and opera, which were meant to be strange and unpredictable, almost Dadaist, abstract like art, no harmonies or tonality (Arnold Schonberg)… spooky storylines as seen in literature of time

How did consumer society change everyday life?

industrialized factory system → mass-produced goods → credit, retail, and ads sell good, and cinema and radio → commercial entertainment/leisure time

What caused the mass culture and how did it impact people’s lives?

The mass culture was caused by mass-produced goods being sold everywhere. Modern appliances changed people’s habits, like a car of vacuum, commercialized entertainment changed how people spent their daily lives, people associated social status and attractiveness based on the products they bought. Cars and tourist agencies allowed for more mobility and travel

Mass culture undermining and reinforcing social differences

anyone with $ could buy anything → less social barriers, but the expenses of certain things → only rich ppl could buy them → products=status symbol

modern girl

Somewhat stereotypical image of the modern and independent working woman popular in the 1920s (most women couldn’t afford this lifestyle)

Cons of consumer culture to different social groups

everyone: modern girl → decline of traditional family values

religious people: it caused individualism/greediness/materialism

conservatives: mass-production hurt artisans and national traditions

socialists: appeal of consumerism undermined working class radicalism (workers → consumers)

Cinema and Radio

grew rapidly in interwar years

Cinema: dominated by US, people went to see it multiple times a week

Radio: by 1930s=everywhere

both: GREAAAT for propaganda (battle of the Somme, Kitler and Mussolinni Ctrl radio, US fireside chats)

What obstacles to lasting peace did European leaders face?

Germans hated Treaty of Versailles

France=fearful and isolated

GB= undependable, US=absent

E Euro: confusion

USSR: unpredictable

1930s: depression brought dicators

What caused the Ruhr Occupation?

Germany was unable to pay its reparations after its first installment (which had brought on major inflation) and France, who needed the reparations most, led by Poincare decided to occupy germany’s heart of industry, the Ruhr valley

John Keynes

very influential Brit who hated on the reparations Germany was being forced to pay, explaining that it would eventually cause Germany to be poor and Communist, causing economic problems everywhere

How did the Ruhr occupation end?

Germans stop working in resistance → French occupy ruhr w colonial African troops → black shame/racism → German gov prints money to support striking workers → inflation → Gustav Stresemann takes power in 1923, calls off ruhr resistance, agrees to reparations if re-examined, everyone’s happy. power in Germany and france is passed to anti-confrontational leaders → steps towards peace

Dawe’s Plan

War reparations agreement that reduced Germany’s yearly payments, made payment dependent on economic prosperity, and granted large US loans to promote recovery (stupidity triangle)

Describe the 1925-1929 general peace

DE and FR agreed on their border, GB and Italy agreed to attack either if one invaded other, DE agreed one border w/Poland and CZ, DE joined league of nations in 1926, 15 countries sign Kellogg Briand Pact

Weimar Republic back and better than ever <3

momentarily collapsed after inflation caused by Ruhr occupation, brief Hitler/Nazi rule, quickly crushed, Weimar Republic became liberal democratic → prosperity (more elections, new currency, businessmen in gov wanted good int.l relationships)

Political Divisions in DE

Nazi Party: support from anti-Semites, ultranationalists, ex-servicement

Right/Army: nationalists and monarchists

Communists: noisy and active, directed from Moscow

Social Democrats: nonrevolutionary, majority in working class

French government and econ in 1920s

Commies and socialists fought for worker support, rebuilding NE region → inflation → Poincare comes back and stabilizes econ till 1930

GB in 1920s and 1930s (generally)

not too much unrest, CRAZY high unemployment in early 1920s → general strike 1926 → gov gave unemployment benefits so standard of living didn’t drop, Labour Party = champion of working class, revisionist, gradual socialism led by Ramsay Macdonald

what were the effects of the Great Depression? What was the main cause?

mass unemployment, growth in social welfare programs, growth of extremists, democratic governments faltered, Fascists gained power. Cause: crash of US stock market

Great Depression:

A worldwide economic depression from 1929-1939, unique in its severity and duration and with slow and uneven recovery

Great Depression catching fire

Spark everybody in US was buying a ton of stocks on margin, and when prices fell in 1929, margin buyers had to put more money in or sell, most ppl sell, and everyone gets wiped out.

Spiraling Decline: ppl lose money → buy less → low prices, slow production, and unemployment

Spreading: US banks recall int.l loans → euros withdraw $ from banks → banks collapse → world prices collapse (businesses js tryna get cash to pay loans)

Worsening: countries follow US and raise crazy high tariffs, follow GB and go off gold standard

2 reasons why things SUCKED 1929-1933

1. no strong int.l leadership to stabilize crisis

2. Poor national economic policy: govs cut budget to balance budget but should have raised spending to stimulate econ

effects of mass unemployment

dramatic increase in poverty, losing spirit, hopelessness, postponed marriages, birthrates drop, increase in suicide and mental illness

Whose idea was the New Deal and what was it?

it was President Roosevelt’s idea, who was elected after Hoover completely mismanaged beginning of GD, had forceful gov intervention in the economy, and it made tons of social programs to stimulate the economy and provide Jobs

new deal: NRA vs WPA vs AAA

NRA: National Recovery Administration: meant to reduce competition by setting min wages and prices, ppl hated and din’t work well, unconstitutional

WPA: Works Progress Administration gave tons of ppl “federal” jobs

AAA: Agricultural Adjustment Act: limited agricultural production → raise prices and farm income (Roosevelt also devalued dollar to do this)

How did Scandanavian countries respond to the GD

most successfully due its special socialism which benefitted peasants and workers and tradition of cooperation across classes. Government chose to have huge deficits to support public works and maintain production and employment (and high taxes)

how did the Brits recover from the GD?

even though both Macdonald’s Labour gov and then conservative gov kept balanced budget and tight spending, recovery came with reorientation of economy from int.l to national (high tariffs, no gold standard, home demand industry instead of export industry, low interest rates → housing boom)

Everything sucking for France during GD

less industrialized → GD hit late but stayed

Moderate republicanism was being weakened from attacks from fascists and communists

Popular front was est.d and elections won more communist and socialist seats

Pop front = sabotaged by inflation and fascist accusations of revolution

rich ppl took money outta country, labor unrest increased

Spanish Civil War made everything worse bc Communists wanted FR to help Spanish republicans and conservatives wanted to help Fascists

France = on verge of civil war, Blum resigned 1937 and the Popular front collapsed

Popular front

A short-lived New Deal inspired alliance in France led by Leon Blum that encouraged the union movement and launched a far reaching program of social reform