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Mass Society and Democracy, 1870-1914

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Mass Society and Democracy, 1870-1914 Mass Society and Democracy 1870–1914 Key Events As you read this chapter, look for the key events in the development of mass society. • The Second Industrial Revolution resulted in changes in political, economic, and social systems. • After 1870, higher wages and improved conditions in cities raised the standard of living for urban workers. • The late 1800s and early 1900s were a time of political conflict that led to the Balkan crises and, eventually, World War I. • New discoveries radically changed scientific thought, art, architecture, and social consciousness between 1870 and 1914. The Impact Today The events that occurred during this time period still impact our lives today. • Because of poor working conditions, labor unions were organized to fight for improvements. Millions of workers are members of various unions today. • Many of the inventions produced during this time, such as telephones and automobiles, are still used today. World History—Modern Times Video The Chapter 13 video, “The Industrial Movement,” chronicles the impact of the development and advancements of the Second Industrial Revolution. 1876 Alexander Graham Bell Transmitter and invents the receiver used for telephone first telephone call 1835 1845 1855 1865 1875 1848 1861 1871 The Communist First Civil War British unions Manifesto is battle fought in gain legal published United States recognition Karl Marx 394 The Gare Saint-Lazare: Arrival of a Train by Claude Monet, 1877 This painting illustrates Monet’s fascination with light as it is reflected and absorbed by the sky, clouds, windows, and trains. World War I recruitment poster 1888 1905 HISTORY Eastman A revolution in 1914 creates the Russia produces World War I Kodak camera limited reforms begins Chapter Overview Visit the Glencoe World History—Modern 1885 1895 1905 1915 1925 Times Web site at wh.mt.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 13– Chapter Overview to 1889 1901 preview chapter information. Daimler and Marconi sends Maybach build radio waves gasoline- across the powered car Atlantic Early German automobile, Daimler-Stahlradwagen, 1889 395 Steeplechase swimming pool at Coney Island, New York, c. 1919 The New Leisure y the second half of the nineteenth century, new work Why It Matters patterns had established the concept of the weekend A new leisure was one part of the Bas a distinct time of recreation and fun. New forms of trans- mass society that emerged in the portation—railroads and streetcars—enabled workers to late nineteenth century. The devel- make brief trips to amusement parks. Coney Island was only opment of this new mass society eight miles from central New York City; Blackpool, in Eng- helped improve the lives of the land, was a short train ride from nearby industrial towns. lower classes, who benefited from With their Ferris wheels and other daring rides that threw extended voting rights, a better standard of living, and public educa- young men and women together, amusement parks offered tion. In addition, the European a whole new world of entertainment. Before leaving, people nation-states now fostered national purchased picture postcards to remember the day’s fun. loyalty and created mass armies. Thanks to the railroad, seaside resorts—once visited only Political democracy grew as the by the wealthy—became accessible to more people for week- right to vote was extended to all end visits. One upper-class seaside resort regular expressed adult males. his disgust with the new “day-trippers”: “They swarm upon the beach, wandering about with History and You In 1850, a per- son born in the West could expect apparently no other aim than to get a mouthful of fresh air. to live about 40 years. By 1910, life You may see them in groups of three or four—the husband, expectancy had increased to 54 a pale man, dressed in black coat, carries the baby; the wife, years. Using a recent almanac, com- equally pale and thin, decked out in her best, labors after with pare the life expectancy rates of a basket of food. And then there is generally another child... people in the United States, United wandering behind.” Kingdom, and Russia today with the Businessmen in resorts like Blackpool, however, welcomed rates in 1910. Create a bar graph the crowds of new visitors and built for them boardwalks with the data you find. laden with food, drink, and entertainment. 396 The Growth of Industrial Prosperity Guide to Reading Main Ideas People to Identify Reading Strategy • New sources of energy and consumer Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Cause and Effect As you read this products transformed the standard of Guglielmo Marconi, Karl Marx section, complete a diagram like the one living for all social classes in many Euro- below showing the cause and effect rela- pean countries. Places to Locate tionship between the resources and the • Working-class leaders used Marx’s ideas Netherlands, Austria-Hungary, Spain, products produced. to form socialist parties and unions. Portugal, Russia Electricity Key Terms Preview Questions bourgeoisie, proletariat, dictatorship, 1. What was the Second Industrial Steel revisionist Revolution? 2. What were the chief ideas of Karl Internal- combustion engine Preview of Events Marx? ✦1845 ✦1855 ✦1865 ✦1875 ✦1885 ✦1895 ✦1905 1848 1875 1879 1889 1903 Marx and Engels publish Creation of German Thomas Edison The Second International Wright brothers The Communist Manifesto Social Democratic Party invents the light bulb socialist association forms make first flight Voices from the Past On December 12, 1901, Guglielmo Marconi reported a remarkable discovery: Shortly before mid-day I placed the single earphone to my ear and started listen- ing.“ . I was at last on the point of putting... my beliefs to test. The answer came at 12:30 when I heard, faintly but distinctly, pip-pip-pip. I handed the phone to Kemp: ‘Can you hear anything?’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘the letter S’—he could hear it. The electric waves sent out into space from Britain had traversed the Atlantic—the distance, enormous as it seemed then, of 1,700 miles [2,735 km] —It was an epoch in history. I now felt for the first time absolutely certain the day would come when mankind would be able to send messages without wires... between the farthermost ends of the earth.” Guglielmo Marconi and his —Eyewitness to History, John Carey, ed., 1987 wireless apparatus, 1896 Marconi’s discovery of radio waves was one of the many advances of the Second Industrial Revolution. The Second Industrial Revolution Westerners in the late 1800s worshiped progress. At the heart of this belief in progress was the stunning material growth produced by what is called the Second Industrial Revolution. The first Industrial Revolution had given rise to textiles, railroads, iron, and coal. In the Second Industrial Revolution, steel, chemicals, electricity, and petroleum led the way to new industrial frontiers. CHAPTER 13 Mass Society and Democracy 397 New Products The first major change in industry Electricity gave birth to a series of inventions. between 1870 and 1914 was the substitution of steel The creation of the light bulb by Thomas Edison for iron. New methods for shaping steel made it use- in the United States and Joseph Swan in Great ful in the building of lighter, smaller, and faster Britain opened homes and cities to electric lights. machines and engines, as well as railways, ships, and A revolution in communications began when weapons. In 1860, Great Britain, France, Germany, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in and Belgium produced 125,000 tons (112,500 t) of 1876 and Guglielmo Marconi sent the first radio steel. By 1913, the total was an astounding 32 million waves across the Atlantic in 1901. tons (29 million t). By the 1880s, streetcars and subways powered by Electricity was a major new form of energy that electricity had appeared in major European cities. proved to be of great value. It could be easily con- Electricity transformed the factory as well. Conveyor verted into other forms of energy, such as heat, light, belts, cranes, and machines could all be powered by and motion, and moved easily through space by electricity. With electric lights, factories could remain means of wires. In the 1870s, the first practical gener- open 24 hours a day. ators of electrical current were developed. By 1910, The development of the internal-combustion hydroelectric power stations and coal-fired steam- engine, fired by oil and gasoline, provided a new generating plants enabled homes and factories to be source of power in transportation. This engine gave tied to a single, common source of power. rise to ocean liners with oil-fired engines, as well Distributor The Automobile any new forms of transportation were created in the Industrial Revo- Mlution, but none affected more people on a daily basis than the auto- Cylinder mobile. It was the invention of the internal-combustion engine that made the automobile possible. Piston A German engineer, Gottlieb Daimler, invented a light, portable internal- combustion engine in 1885. In 1889, Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach pro- duced an automobile powered by a gasoline engine that reached a speed of 10 miles [16 km] per hour. In 1926, Daimler and Karl Benz, another German, merged to form Daimler-Benz, an automotive company that would later manufacture the Mercedes-Benz. Internal-combustion engine Early cars were handmade and expensive. Only several hundred were sold between 1893 and 1901. Their slow speed, 14 miles [22.5 km] per hour, was a problem, too. Early models were not able to climb steep hills. An American, Henry Ford, revolutionized the car industry in 1908 by using an assembly line to mass-produce his Model T. Before, it had taken a group of workers 12 hours to build a single car.
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