Europe and the World
- Latin American nations won independence.
- National rivalries inspired acquisition of overseas colonies in Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific.
- Imperialism extended Europe's global influence and increased contact with non-European peoples.
- Industrial technologies were used to expand empires and increase imperial control.
- Imperial colonies provided markets and sources of industrial raw materials.
- Imperial expansion was justified by beliefs in European cultural and racial superiority and s[d1] ocial Darwinism.
- Imperialism provoked strong resistance in India, China, and Africa.
Poverty and Prosperity
- Britain industrialized first and was dominant until the mid-1800s. Belgium, France, Germany, and Russia industrialized later. Southern and Eastern Europe remained primarily agricultural.
- Industrialization produced the factory system, led to rapid urban growth, and increased consumerism.
- Conservatism, liberalism, and socialism developed opposing ideologies toward social inequality.
- Romantics and realists critiqued industrial life. Labor unions and socialist parties sought improved working and living conditions.
- Victorian values dominated middle class culture and family life.
- Standards of living rose and cities modernized during the Second Industrial Revolution, but prosperity was uneven.
Objective Knowledge and Subjective Visions
- Conservatism, liberalism, and socialism offered different approaches toward social order and social problems.
- Romanticism emphasized irrationality and emotion.
- Imperial encounters with non-Europeans and the rapid pace of technological change altered cultural norms.
- Modern art was subjective, abstract, and expressive.
- Scientific realism and faith in progress was embraced but new discoveries and theories led to a loss of confidence in the objectivity of knowledge.
States and Institutes of Power
- The Congress of Vienna reestablished conservative order.
- Liberal revolutions were fought to expand constitutionalism.
- Mass political movements sought reform.
- States encouraged and regulated industrialization and urbanization.
- Nationalism united Germany and Italy, threatened multinational empires, and inspired overseas imperialism.
- A balance of power maintained relative peace for nearly a century.
- Industrialization of warfare increased centralized state power.
- Imperial rivalries influenced militarism.
- German unification and industrialization upset the balance of power.
Individual and Society
- Industrialization produced intensified class conflict.
- The rise of the industrial bourgeoisie challenged traditional aristocratic social dominance.
- Mass political movements led to protective legislation to reduce the worst horrors of industrialization.
- Liberals, radicals, and suffragettes worked to expand suffrage.
- Anarchists sought abolition of government.
- Feminists challenged the middle class cult of domesticity.
- Social Darwinism and Marxism explained social relations.
- Social Darwinism and scientific racism sought to explain European global supremacy.
- Anti-Semitism shifted from religious to racial in nature.
- Serfdom persisted in Russia until 1861.
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