SUMMARY OF EUROPE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
The 19th century was also a century of progress, peace, and tremendous social change. The Industrial Revolution which had begun in England during the second half of the 18th century, spread to the Netherlands and France; from there to Germany, Northern Italy, the United States, and Japan. By the end of the century, it was beginning to have an impact on Russia. The substitution of machine labor for human and animal labor constituted the most important social change, in my opinion, since the Neolithic or Agricultural Revolution some 10,000 years ago. The Industrial Revolution has undergone a number of stages or phases and is still evolving. The first phase was from about 1750 to 1850. Coal and the steam engine were were the dominant driving forces of this phase. During the second phase, steel, oil, turbines, electricity, and internal combustion engines replaced the simpler technologies. Wooden sailboats were replaced by diesel powered steel ocean liners and battleships.
Between 1815 and 1914, no major world war disrupted the general progress of economic development. There were many minor wars of which the most significant ones were those connected with the unification of Italy in 1861 under the leadership of Piedmont-Sardinia and Germany under Prussia in 1871.
After 1871, there was a second wave of European colonization which led to the subjugation of almost all of Africa to the European powers. By 1914 almost all the world was under European domination either directly as colonies or indirectly as colonial offshoots which had been founded by Europeans and gained their independence from their mother country like the United States and the South American republics. Chinese, Japanese, and the Ottoman Empires, while remaining independent, were under tremendous pressure to modernize or be subjected to European domination. Japan was the only non-Western state which, by the end of the century, had become industrialized.
Within the European states, industrialization was producing new social classes: the industrial bourgeoisie and the industrial proletariat. The forces of democracy, initiated by the American and French Revolutions, continued to demand an end to aristocratic rule. Class conflict and mass ideologies were prominent features of the 19th century. Nonetheless, the traditional monarchies and their landed aristocratic allies continued to rule in most countries of Europe at the end of the century. But everywhere, the bourgeoisie was gaining economic strength and demanding its share of political power. Unsuccessful revolutions had broken out repeatedly throughout the century. Monarchs and aristocrats were being forced slowly to make accommodations not only to the bourgeoisie but also to the rising working class. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom symbolized a prissy, smug kind of conventional morality. Working class poverty existed side by side with great wealth. The ideas of Charles Darwin on human evolution challenged the Christian sensibilities of Biblical infallibility. These domestic tensions and a growing sense of nationalism helped to bring about World War I.
SUMMARY OF ROMANTICISM
Romanticism (1798-1832) was an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. Romantics mainly cared about individuals, intuition, and imagination. Imagination and emotion were more important than reason and formal rules. Imagination was a gateway to transcendent experience and truth. Along the same lines, intuition and a reliance on “natural” feelings were a guide to conduct that were valued over controlled, rationality. Romantic literature tends to emphasize a love of nature and the valuing of the common, "natural" man. Romantics idealized country life and believed that many of the ills of society were a result of urbanization. Nature for the Romantics became a means for divine revelation. Romantics were interested in the Medieval past, the supernatural, the mystical, the “gothic,” and the exotic. Romantics were attracted to rebellion and revolution, especially concerned with human rights, individualism, freedom from oppression.
The 19th century was also a century of progress, peace, and tremendous social change. The Industrial Revolution which had begun in England during the second half of the 18th century, spread to the Netherlands and France; from there to Germany, Northern Italy, the United States, and Japan. By the end of the century, it was beginning to have an impact on Russia. The substitution of machine labor for human and animal labor constituted the most important social change, in my opinion, since the Neolithic or Agricultural Revolution some 10,000 years ago. The Industrial Revolution has undergone a number of stages or phases and is still evolving. The first phase was from about 1750 to 1850. Coal and the steam engine were were the dominant driving forces of this phase. During the second phase, steel, oil, turbines, electricity, and internal combustion engines replaced the simpler technologies. Wooden sailboats were replaced by diesel powered steel ocean liners and battleships.
Between 1815 and 1914, no major world war disrupted the general progress of economic development. There were many minor wars of which the most significant ones were those connected with the unification of Italy in 1861 under the leadership of Piedmont-Sardinia and Germany under Prussia in 1871.
After 1871, there was a second wave of European colonization which led to the subjugation of almost all of Africa to the European powers. By 1914 almost all the world was under European domination either directly as colonies or indirectly as colonial offshoots which had been founded by Europeans and gained their independence from their mother country like the United States and the South American republics. Chinese, Japanese, and the Ottoman Empires, while remaining independent, were under tremendous pressure to modernize or be subjected to European domination. Japan was the only non-Western state which, by the end of the century, had become industrialized.
Within the European states, industrialization was producing new social classes: the industrial bourgeoisie and the industrial proletariat. The forces of democracy, initiated by the American and French Revolutions, continued to demand an end to aristocratic rule. Class conflict and mass ideologies were prominent features of the 19th century. Nonetheless, the traditional monarchies and their landed aristocratic allies continued to rule in most countries of Europe at the end of the century. But everywhere, the bourgeoisie was gaining economic strength and demanding its share of political power. Unsuccessful revolutions had broken out repeatedly throughout the century. Monarchs and aristocrats were being forced slowly to make accommodations not only to the bourgeoisie but also to the rising working class. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom symbolized a prissy, smug kind of conventional morality. Working class poverty existed side by side with great wealth. The ideas of Charles Darwin on human evolution challenged the Christian sensibilities of Biblical infallibility. These domestic tensions and a growing sense of nationalism helped to bring about World War I.
SUMMARY OF ROMANTICISM
Romanticism (1798-1832) was an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. Romantics mainly cared about individuals, intuition, and imagination. Imagination and emotion were more important than reason and formal rules. Imagination was a gateway to transcendent experience and truth. Along the same lines, intuition and a reliance on “natural” feelings were a guide to conduct that were valued over controlled, rationality. Romantic literature tends to emphasize a love of nature and the valuing of the common, "natural" man. Romantics idealized country life and believed that many of the ills of society were a result of urbanization. Nature for the Romantics became a means for divine revelation. Romantics were interested in the Medieval past, the supernatural, the mystical, the “gothic,” and the exotic. Romantics were attracted to rebellion and revolution, especially concerned with human rights, individualism, freedom from oppression.
- Preoccupation with social and political affairs
- Realistic topics based on folk tales and ballads
- Plain feelings and true emotions
- Emphasis on individual freedom
- Nature in a typically idealized form embracing tradition
- Introducing cultural nationalism
- Exploring national history
- Bringing back medieval national roots including history of language, institutions, thought and architecture
- Rejection of artificialities
- Imagination - mixture of factual details and adventurous doings
- Simple in style, popular in appeal
- Creative, innovative, exploratory in approach
- Inclusive in interests