AP EURO UNIT 13: 1871-1894 2ND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND MASS SOCIETY

Michael Faraday*

Micheal Faraday was an inventor of the 2nd industrial revolution, and invented the dynamo. The dynamo was a new way of generating energy, a simple motor that was the first of its kind. Electricity could power light, heat, and other things, easily implemented into machines, leading electric power plants to begin sustaining the factories, and later homes and shopping areas. The new wave of electric power due to the dynamo eventually replaced the initial industrial revolution’s steam power.

-Samuel Morse*

Samuel Morse was an inventor of the 2nd industrial revolution, and created the telegraph. Telegraphs worked by lines that carried pulses, sending morse code to the other end that could be interpreted and delivered. This machine completely changed communication, making messages that would take weeks to receive take way shorter to be delivered.

-Henry Bessemer*

Henry Bessemer was an inventor of the 2nd industrial revolution, and made the process of making iron into steel. With the creation of steel, railroads, buildings, bridges, and other public constructions could be reinforced and made with steel, which was stronger, flexible, and lighter than iron. Guns were also made of steel, with tons of steel being produced following its creation.

-Alfred Nobel*

Alfred Nobel was an inventor of the 2nd industrial revolution, and created dynamite in 1866. Dynamite is a safer explosive that could be used in demolition and construction, but could also be used in war. With the money that he made with his invention, Nobel created the Nobel Prize, awarded to people to contribute to humanitarian efforts.

-Alexander Bell*

Alexander Graham Bell was an inventor of the 2nd industrial revolution, and created the telephone in 1876. This early version of the telephone had an earpiece and mouthpiece, first contacting the phone operator who would connect your call to whoever’s telephone. Like the telegraph, this changed the way people communicated, easily allowing them to talk verbally if they couldn’t meet at the exact time they needed to speak.

-Guglielmo Marconi*

Guglielmo Marconi was an inventor of the 2nd industrial revolution, and created the wireless radio in the 1980s. Wireless signals could be sent between radios and span several miles instantly. This allowed for different types of broadcasts across wide areas, like news, entertainment, and music.

-Thomas Edison*

Thomas Edison was the inventor of the light bulb, phonograph, and stock ticker. The phonograph allowed people to playback sound, . His factory was more like a laboratory, discovering new inventions, leading people to sue him because he allegedly fired people after making prototypes so he could steal their invention.

-Wright Brothers* 

The Wright brothers invented the first successful airplane in 1903. Though the flight only spanned a few seconds, their pilot successfully took flight in Kitty Hawk, NC. They used a combustion engine.

-Assembly Line*

Assembly lines were a method of production that made parts faster to mass produce, then be put together step by step. They were used by Henry Ford, who used them to mass produce automobiles at an extremely fast pace.

-Tariffs

Tariffs are taxes on goods, usually when imported and exported. During this time, tariffs were put on foreign goods to encourage people to purchase their own goods rather than international goods. This was to prevent people from buying from other countries who had free trade and didn't tax on their exports.

-Cartels

Cartels were independent enterprises that controlled prices of goods, trying to prevent prices from becoming lower to make the industries they worked in circulate more money. They increased quotas in certain factories and industries to get rid of competition, affecting the economy of certain industries.

-Depression

Economic depressions occur when a country suffers from a notable decrease in money, and enters a money deficit. This crisis causes prices to drop dramatically due to the lack of money circulating, and creates a lot of struggle across all classes as their currency becomes scarce.

-Evolutionary Socialism

Evolutionary socialism, essentially the same as revisionism, was a branch of socialism that believed that to become a socialist society, they must make change within the system rather than overthrow it. This was completely different from marxistNationalism kept socialists apart because they considered themselves as their nationality before socialist workers.

-Revisionism

Revisionism, or evolutionary socialism, was a political movement branched off from socialism. Contrary to the marxists, they believed that you should work through the system and make change through elections and participating in the government. This occurred in Germany, with the German Social Democratic Party becoming a strong party in the German political landscape.

-Anarchism

Anarchism was the political belief that the government corrupted society, and that the people should live with no rules, laws, or governments holding them back. They thought that the solution to their problems is to abolish all social institutions, no more laws protecting freedoms or people to uphold peace. These anarchist movements formed in less industrialized and democratic areas. Anarchists assassinated the Russian Tsar in 1881, the French president in 1894, the king of Italy in 1900, and the US President in 1901.

-Mass Society

Mass society was the new society that was changed by the second industrial revolution, increased consumerism and leisure. Social structures were changed, malls and amusement parks were created, and populations grew. With new inventions in the modern world, people had more time, and could spend their time out and about. People began immigrating to different countries, traveling, and pursuing different careers. The domestic lifestyle and gender roles also changed and began to be enforced societally. Public cleanliness was upheld, with better plumbings, garbage disposal buildings, and clean water. Public spaces were also made and enjoyed for people to enjoy together in cities.

-Plutocrats

The Plutocrats were a new professional class that was born through merit. In the second industrial revolution, there was now social mobility, allowing someone to climb up the social ladder and work up to earning a lot of money. Rather than unluckily being born into poor conditions, one could become a worker and end up becoming an elite through hard work.

-Mass Education

Mass education was a new movement that encouraged education for all children. For people who had enough money, essentially upper/middle class, they would send their children to boarding school, living away from home. Education included discipline, reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and other extracurriculars for men, however for women they were taught domestic skills and expected to be caregivers as a wife and mother, learning how to sew, clean, and cook.

-Mass Leisure 

Mass leisure was a new movement due to the time saving devices creating more free time for people to enjoy hobbies and have fun. People could travel, go dancing, to the beach, amusement parks, watch a game, show, or music. Sports teams were formed, malls were built, even reading newspapers, books, or listening to the radio. With the new leisure time, there were many new opportunities for entertainment.

-Mass Politics

Mass politics is the creation of several political parties during a time of expanding democracy across Europe. Now that there were different options besides an absolute monarchy, this encouraged people to band together and create political parties and movements to try to change society in the way they seemed fit. Some political parties that formed due to mass politics include the revisionists, the nationalists, the communists, and the anarchists.

-Home Rule

Home rule is the agreement between an empire and its colony, allowing the colony to self rule and essentially be its own empire. The colony could have its own legislature and make its own decisions, however it was still technically a part of the empire, and had to agree to fight wars together on the same side. Colonies like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland are examples of home rule.

-Kulturekampf

Kulturkampf was the attack on the Catholic  church in Germany. Bismarck, along with liberals, participated in kulturkampf because the amount of power and influence it had on the people threatened his own power. With the unification of Germany, Bismarck didn't want any threats to the loyalty of the people to the new country, and the amount of influence the Catholic church had on the people was a huge concern.

-Nationalities Problem

The nationalities problem is the dissonance between people of different ethnic backgrounds despite belonging to the same empire. Feelings of nationalism for one’s ethnicity led to disconnect between the empire that ruled them, for example the Hungarians within the Austrian Empire eventually revolting because they didn't consider themselves as Austrian. This problem caused ethnic groups to revolt and try to break away from their oppressing empire to be ruled by someone they considered one of them.