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Western Europe and Political Democracy
Growing prosperity after 1850
contributed to the expansion of
democracy in Western Europe.
Western Europe and Political Democracy
• In the late 1800s, political democracy was
spreading in Western Europe, as universal
male suffrage laws were passed, political
parties formed, and ministerial
responsibility became the dominant
political entity.
Europe, 1871
(cont.)
Western Europe and Political Democracy
• Great Britain:
(cont.)
– A two-party parliamentary system
emerged as the Liberal and Conservative
parties vied for political power.
– The Liberals voted for social reforms, such
as unemployment benefits and pensions.
Western Europe and Political Democracy
• France:
(cont.)
– In 1875 the Third Republic in France
gained a republican constitution.
– The new government was established with
a president and a legislature made up of
two houses.
Western Europe and Political Democracy
• Italy:
(cont.)
– Italy had emerged by 1870 as a united
national state, but the disparity of wealth
and widespread government corruption led
to a weak, centralized political system.
Central and Eastern Europe: The
Old Order
Although Germany, Austria-Hungary,
and later Russia instituted elections
and parliaments, real power remained
in the hands of emperors and elites.
Central and Eastern Europe: The
Old Order (cont.)
• In Germany, the government established by
Otto von Bismarck set up a two-house
legislature.
• Although the Reichstag was elected by
male voters, the emperor still maintained
political power by controlling the military and
foreign policy.
Central and Eastern Europe: The
Old Order (cont.)
• By the reign of William II (1888 to 1918),
Germany was the strongest military and
industrial power in Europe. Conservative
forces thwarted the rise of democracy in
Germany.
• In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the
emperor Francis Joseph largely ignored the
Austrian parliament and governed by
imperial decree. Ethnic problems threatened
the stability of Austria.
Central and Eastern Europe: The
Old Order (cont.)
• In Hungary, the parliamentary system
worked, although it was dominated by the
nation’s landholding class.
• Nicholas II became the czar of Russia in
1894, and was committed to autocratic rule
of the large nation.
Central and Eastern Europe: The
Old Order (cont.)
• Russia was becoming an industrialized
nation, and the rising working class
demanded more political power. In 1905 the
bloody breakup of a peaceful demonstration
in St. Petersburg left hundreds dead.
• Czar Nicholas relented and permitted the
establishment of the Duma, although he had
limited the power of the legislative body
by 1907.
The United States
In the United States, the Second
Industrial Revolution produced wealth
that was more concentrated than it
was in Europe.
The United States (cont.)
• In the United States, the Civil War had
destroyed the Southern way of life, and new
amendments to the U.S. Constitution
protected the civil liberties of African
Americans.
• Between 1860 and 1914, the United States
switched from a farm-based economy to an
industrial economy.
The United States (cont.)
• The populations of urban centers soared,
and by 1900, three American cities had over
1 million inhabitants.
• Around the turn of the century, America
became imperialistic and acquired territories
abroad.
• American forces deposed Queen
Liliuokalani in Hawaii and acquired
territories from the vanquished Spanish in
the Spanish-American War.
International Rivalries
The German emperor pursued
aggressive foreign policies that
divided Europe into two hostile
alliance systems.
International Rivalries (cont.)
• To prevent France from limiting its power,
Germany entered into a defensive alliance
with Austria-Hungary and Italy by 1882. This
coalition was known as the Triple Alliance.
• In 1890 Emperor William II fired Bismarck
and took control of Germany’s foreign policy.
In 1894 William II ended the treaty Germany
had with Russia.
• By 1907, France, Great Britain, and Russia
had drawn into an alliance known as the
Triple Entente.
International Rivalries (cont.)
• The two opposing alliances of the Triple
Alliance and the Triple Entente had become
more divided and less willing to compromise
at the beginning of the twentieth century.
• As the Ottoman Empire began to lose power,
the provinces of Greece, Serbia, Romania,
and Montenegro in the Balkans began to
gain their freedom. Austria and Russia vied
for influence in the region.
International Rivalries (cont.)
• In 1908 Austria-Hungary annexed the Slavic
territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This
outraged Serbia, which wanted to establish a
Slavic kingdom.
• Serbia and its ally Russia prepared for war
against Austria-Hungary. Germany
demanded that Russia accept the Austrian
annexation or face war; Russia, weakened
by war with Japan, backed down.
• By the beginning of 1914, the crisis in the
Balkans threatened the security of Europe.
The Culture of Modernity
Dramatic innovation occurred in
literature, the visual arts, and music in
the late 1800s.
The Culture of Modernity (cont.)
• Between 1870 and 1914, many writers and
artists produced works known as
modernism.
• The naturalist writers addressed social
problems such as alcoholism, women in
society, and urban slums.
• Symbolist writers produced work that
functioned for its own sake, and did not
attempt to criticize or understand society.
The Culture of Modernity (cont.)
• In France, artists such as Claude Monet
embraced a painting style known as
impressionism. Impressionists rejected
indoor studios and went into nature, where
they captured the interplay of light, sky,
and water.
• Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cezanne used
color and structure to express mood in a
form known as postimpressionism. These
artists wanted to represent reality, not mirror
it, as did the camera, which had been
invented in 1888.
The Culture of Modernity (cont.)
• The Spaniard Pablo Picasso painted in a
new style, using geometric designs to recreate reality. This modern style of art is
called cubism.
• Modernism influenced architecture as well,
and skilled builders Louis H. Sullivan and
Frank Lloyd Wright created buildings that
were clean-lined and functional.
The Culture of Modernity (cont.)
• In music, the ‘modern’ sounds of Stravinsky’s
The Rite of Spring caused a near-riot by
Parisians, who were upset by the new
sounds and rhythms of the performance.
Uncertainty Grows
Scientific discoveries in this period
had a profound impact on how people
saw themselves and their world.
Uncertainty Grows (cont.)
• At the end of the nineteenth century, Marie
Curie challenged the accepted view that the
universe existed independent of its
observers, with her discovery that the
element radium gave off energy.
• The German-born scientist Albert Einstein
provided a new view of the universe with his
theory of relativity, which stated that space
and time are not absolute, but are relative to
the observer.
Uncertainty Grows (cont.)
• A doctor from Vienna named Sigmund
Freud asserted that human behavior was
strongly determined by past experiences and
internal urges.
• Freud used a method known as
psychoanalysis, in which he and a patient
probed deeply into the patient’s memory for
healing purposes.
Freud: In Search of the Unconscious
Extreme Nationalism
In the late 1800s, extreme nationalism
was reflected in the movements of
Social Darwinism and anti-Semitism.
Extreme Nationalism (cont.)
• In the 1800s, many Europeans became
fiercely nationalistic. They used Social
Darwinism to justify the strength and wealth
of nations.
• In Europe, anti-Semitism had been around
for centuries, but became more intense
during the late 1800s. So as to win voters,
political groups blamed Jews for many
problems.
Extreme Nationalism (cont.)
• The worst treatment of Jews occurred in
Russia, where persecutions and pogroms
were widespread.
• A Jewish nationalist movement called
Zionism helped many Jews to emigrate from
Europe to the United States and Palestine.