Political Effects
Positive
Negative
Emergence of strong military European powers
=> increasing national pride in short-run
Development of new forms of transport like steamships, creating new vehicles of war
Surplus capacity of heavy industry often diverted into the military field to build up a powerful and technologically advanced force
Scientific research boasted military capabilities, leading to breakthroughs in military technology
European powers gained upper hand in military powers, in position to dominate weaker parties
=> gave Euro. Powers in boost to their military powers, increasing national pride & int. prestige
Encouraged int. cooperation => foster cordial relations among European powers
Crane Brinton: IR bound nations closer together by stimulating int. trade btw. Countries and lowering the barriers of distance through improved transport and communication
Increased production, more commerce, closer int. ties as factors of production became more mobile, spread from Brit. To Continental Europe
Eg. Emergency loan granted to England by Bank of France in 1825, only a decade after Waterloo
Rivalry, tension, outbreak of WWI in long-run
Greater desire among powers to build most updated weapons
Technological advancements => more lethal weapons Eg. Maxim's machine gun
New transport, steamship in 1820, created vehicles for war
C.Brinton: fortified nationalism with an economic appetite, ignited...
Naval and military arms race Eg. Brit. & Gr. Competed in manufacture Dreadnought-class battleships early 1900s
Brought possibilities of war btw. Major industrial powers closer to reality
Created backlash in arms race, political tensions
Paved way for New Imperialism
Raw materials needed for industrialism provided by colonies Eg. Rubber & tin from British Malaya
Advanced technology gave Euro. Powers an edge
Military, economic superiority new acquired, able to impose demands and control over weaker nations
Ability to colonize states => int. prestige
Crane Brinton: New Imperialism inspired a bloodless war for markets and raw materials
Emergence of new political thought/.ideology/nationalism
Created need for labour, uprooting of people from rural areas to cities
Proliferation of large urban ...
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Created backlash in arms race, political tensions
Paved way for New Imperialism
Raw materials needed for industrialism provided by colonies Eg. Rubber & tin from British Malaya
Advanced technology gave Euro. Powers an edge
Military, economic superiority new acquired, able to impose demands and control over weaker nations
Ability to colonize states => int. prestige
Crane Brinton: New Imperialism inspired a bloodless war for markets and raw materials
Emergence of new political thought/.ideology/nationalism
Created need for labour, uprooting of people from rural areas to cities
Proliferation of large urban centers, new factory proletariat
William Carr: dynastic loyalties were crumbling and religious beliefs were fading fast, nationalism... supplied a brand-new social cement
New surroundings, refuge in sense of community in nationalism
Substitute for organized religion.
Marxism, reaction to social injustice against the proletariat and offshoot Communism
Social
Positive
Negative
Changes in lifestyle/SOL
Increased availability of goods, due to mass production
Almost every ordinary person could own products
Development of transportation (steamships, railroads) => more common for travel out of people's place of birth
Improvement in communications (telegraph, telephone, radio) expanded array of information sources available to masses => huge improvements coordination large organizations
Awareness of hygiene, sanition. Less prone to illnesses. SOL ^
Advances in science (radiation: Marie Curie) and medicine (x-ray) SOL^
Establishment of labour unions
Exploitation of labour led to unions, alleviate plight
Creation of laws and regulations, made working less risky
Passing of acts that lessened working hours for children and women
Enforcement of safety and sanitation regulations
Enforcement of personal safety and security
At the end of the century, unionism was no longer a mater of sporadic and temporary association, but beginning to appear as a political movement
Social disorder and protests
Often rootless new factory workers, showed discontent by drinking, abandoning religious practice, stealing
Breakdown of normal controls that had prevailed in the more traditional society of the countryside
Strikes and local rebellions helped lay the foundations of the 1848 Revolutions
Exploitation of Labour
Mass products => demand for labour ^ => exploitation of workforce
Introduction of child labour. Children exploited to work up to 16 hours a day doing risky labour tt could cause serious injury with only 1 shilling a week.
Women exploited, forced to work long hr at 5 shilling per wk
T S Ashton The outstanding feature of the social history of the period... is the rapid growth of population.
Materialism & Consumerism
A new quantitative and material view of the world
Thrift saving and staying out of debt = fundamental virtues, consumerism became the new watch-word
Rapid improvements boat-keeping, warehousing, recording shopping =>dev. Giant departmental stores, supermarkets, mail order catalog mkt.
Aimed at moving gds as rapidly and efficiently as possible
Rise of the Middle Class
From feudalism to capitalism, businessmen and manufacturers first to make inroads to regions previously controlled by privileged aristocracy
Peter S Jones: after 1948 rev, the middle class of Gr. Were able to accelerate the industrialization process
Dev. Working class consciousness
Changes in system of economic organization led to changes in social organization
Realization of the fact that the middle class owned the means of production
A blessing for workers, aware of their rights.
Long-run: social segregation
Religious Effects / Secularisation of Society
Need for labour => uprooting of people from rural areas to the cities. With industrialization, many workers worked long hrs and the preoccupation with work & materialism curtailed their time for religion.
Emphasis on scientific thinking led many to apply logic, question role of religion
Eric Hobsbawm: (small craft workers of Vienna) sacrificed their religious practices "transferring their faith to socialism"
Economic
Positive
Negative
Emergence of the factory system
Subsistence => huge factories & complexes, job specialization, massive ^ in productivity, regimentation, assembly lines, mechanization
Increased Productivity
Technological breakthroughs
Substitution of mechanical devices for human skill
Eg. Cotton printing machine
Eric Hobsbawn: mechanization greatly increased the productivity of labout
Dev. Steam engine
Trans. Of gds faster, improving trade and commerce.
More efficient fuel-burning. Longer dist, carrying more bulk.
Factories no longer had to be close to raw materials.
Railways
^ mobility of goods, unified nations.
Technological changes in other related industries eg. Iron, steel and bridge building. ^ job opportunities, facilitating better infrastructure
Monetary alternatives
^ consumption and materialism, generated dd.
Capital needed to keep up, leading to greater I.
Eric Hobsbawm: the 3rd quarter of the 19th C was a fertile period for experiments in the mobilization of capital in financial dev.
Variety of devices dev.
Investment bank. Stock exchanges flourished.
Banks, similar institutions.
Tom Kemp: investment habit spread and with growing prosperity, more funds available
Whole apparatus of credit sprung up, making Paris leading Continental financial center => ^I, providing capital
Trans. Economy from feudalism to capitalism
Land owned by autocracy and the church. Status and wealth hereditary. Little upward mobility.
Capitalism: private ownership, more incentive for people to work and innovate. ^productivity and growth.
Threatened livelihood of hand-workers and artisans
Skilled workers lost jobs, new machines replaced them
Handloom workers lost their jobs with intro. Of power loom
AS Milward, SBSaul: a whole regional economy and a pattern of existence which had survived >2 C was rendered unviable in a few yrs
Weavers in Silesia rioted as jobs disappeared
Uncertainty of UnN due to econ. Fluctuations, no control
Financial crisis, collapse of land boom in US => serious depression in Brit. Textile industry
Loss of craftsmanship and 'de-skilling' of the workforce
Urbanization
Growth of factory system
Eric Hobsbawn: cities grew with extraordinary rapidity.
