Modernity & Imperialism

Chapter 24

Assignments

Notes

Modernism & Imperialism Notes

Spielvogel Chapter 24

  • Things were not as simple as they used to think
    • move away from mechanical universe (new discoveries in physics)
      • Marie Curie (1867-1934) – radiation coming from within atom
        • Atom is NOT solid
      • Max Planck (1858-1947) – radiation comes in irregular patterns called “quanta”
        • Natural world is not constant like a machine
      • Albert Einstein (1879-1955) – theory of relativity
        • Even time/space are variable
    • Philosophy abandons basic notions of progress and good/evil
      • Friedrich Nietzsche (German 1844-1900)
        • Western bourgeois society was incapable of creativity
          • It’s Christianity’s fault – leads to intellectual slavery
        • Steps to renew Western society
          • Realize that God is dead (killed by Europeans; no longer possible to believe in cosmic order)
          • Believe in “the superman”
            • Man is something to be surpassed
            • “Beyond” good vs. evil
            • Will end equality, democratic gov’t, militarism
            • Called “Will to Power” – the strongest is the one who overcomes the rules of society, realizing that truth and morality do not exist
      • Georges Sorel (French 1849-1922)
        • Advocated violent action as the only way to achieve socialism
        • Advocated a “general strike”
          • Believed the strike would inspire workers to take action and revolt
          • Afterwards, thought workers should be ruled by small group of elites (incapable of ruling themselves – too stupid)
      • Social Darwinism
        • Darwin’s ideas of organic evolution applied to society
          • “survival of the fittest”
        • invented by Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
        • When the weak die off, society gets stronger
          • Economics – the more ruthless, the more fit they are
          • Nationalism – war separates the weak from the strong
          • Racism (Germany is a great example)
            • Believed that Aryan (European) race created Western culture
            • Must fight to save it from lesser races (Jews, Negroes, Orientals)
            • The lighter your skin, the better your race/nation
          • Gender – men better than women (stronger)
          • Criminology – potential crooks identifiable from appearance
    • invention of psychology – delving further into the mysteries of the mind
      • Sigmund Freud (Austrian 1856-1939)
        • Developed idea of psychoanalysis
        • The Interpretation of Dreams (1900)
          • Human behavior is determined by unconscious
          • Repression – keeping unfortunate past events in the unconscious
          • Repressed memories affect our current behavior
          • Repressed memories surface during dream interpretation and hypnosis
        • Humans struggle with aspects of their minds
          • Id – desire for pleasure & avoid pain (“pleasure principle”)
          • Ego – the seat of reason, realizes people must use self-control to live in a society (“reality principle”)
          • Superego – represents the moral values of society
            • Imposed by society in general and parents in particular
    • Art reflects complications of reality – Modernism
      • Literature
        • Naturalism – believes literature should be realistic
          • Like realism, but extra pessimism
          • Leo Tolstoy (Russia 1828-1910) – War and Peace
            • Napoleon’s invasion of Russia - Fatalistic view of history
          • Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russia 1821-1881)
            • Believe major problem of his age was loss of spiritual belief
        • Symbolists – reacted against realism
          • Known for poetry
          • Objective knowledge of world was impossible
          • W.B. Yeats
      • Art
        • Impressionism – mid to late 1800s
          • Art is to give an impression of reality, not a depiction of reality
            • Emphasis on light & color
          • Claude Monet – French p. 679
        • Post-impressionism – late 19th to early 20th centuries
          • Add geometric design, retain focus on light & color
          • Begin modern art
          • Paul Cezanne – French p. 680
          • Vincent van Gogh – Dutch p. 681
        • Cubism – early 20th century
          • Used geometric designs as visual stimuli to re-create reality in the viewer’s mind
          • Way to keep art alive after the invention of the camera
          • Pablo Picasso (from Spain; settled in Paris; 1881-1973) p. 682
        • Abstract – early 20th century
          • Avoid representing anything at all – no reference to visual reality
            • Concentrate on color
          • Art should speak directly to the soul
          • Wassily Kandinsky (Russian) p. 682
      • Music
        • Igor Stravinsky (Russian 1882-1971)
          • The Rite of Spring (1913) – based on Russian folktales
            • Known for pulsating rhythms, sharp dissonances, and unusual dancing
            • First performance caused a riot at the theater on 29 May 1913
  • Politics: New Directions
    • Women’s Rights Movement
      • Beginning of its organized period
      • Desired civil rights
        • Property, divorce, child custody
      • Demand for higher education
        • Want admittance to university
        • First professional occupation – teaching (low wages = women’s work)
        • Nursing – the rest of medical profession only for men
      • Political Rights
        • Eventually believe that all other rights will come after the right to vote
        • Some tried to prove they were responsible enough to have the vote
          • Didn’t lead to change
        • Move to radicalism – Emmeline Pankhurst (Britain)
          • Middle & upper class women
          • Throw eggs at officials, chained themselves to lampposts, smashed windows, burned buildings & RR cars, hunger strikes
          • One was killed when she jumped in front of the king’s racing horse
        • Most nations grant women’s rights after WWI
      • The “New Woman” – brave and persistent
        • Maria Montessori (1870-1952) – good example
          • First Italian woman to receive a medical degree
          • Created schools for intellectually disabled children
            • Learn at own pace through natural and spontaneous activities
          • Thought she could use same approach for all students -- Montessori schools
    • Jews in Europe
      • Anti-Semitism
        • Liberal reforms gave more rights to Jews
          • More schooling, property owning, etc. – resented by others
        • Cultural and political nationalism & social Darwinism increase intolerance
          • Foreigners among us
          • Idea that they have a disproportionate amount of financial control
      • Dreyfus Affair (France 1894-1906)
        • Demonstrates a Europe-wide anti-Semitism
        • Alfred Dreyfus (wealthy & ambitious Jewish French army officer)
          • Accused of selling military secrets to Germany
          • Military court condemned him to life imprisonment
            • All while a mob outside yelled “death to the Jews”
          • Dreyfus was innocent – evidence emerged after the trial
          • Dreyfus pardoned in 1899 & exonerated in 1906
      • Eastern Europe (3/4 of all Jews live there)
        • Russia (Ukraine) the most brutal
        • Pogroms kill thousands between 1880-1910
        • Tens of thousand migrate to U.S., Canada, Palestine
        • Zionist movement - Theodor Herzl founds it in 1898
          • Goal to give Jews a Palestinian homeland
    • Germany – growing tensions
      • Authoritarian, conservative (reactionary), militaristic state governed by an unstable and aggressive emperor (William II)
      • 1914 – Germany is the strongest power militarily and industrially
      • Social Democratic Party growing in power (due to industrialization)
      • Strongly imperialist – felt that they needed to expand to survive
      • Increasing anti-Semitism
    • Russian Development and Revolution
      • Russia begins trying to play industrialization catch-up by 1890
        • Working class (proletariat) grows in size and power
        • 1899-1903 – industrial depression
          • Out of work people desire liberal reforms
        • Peasants drafted into army – decrease in farm production
      • Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)
        • Russia beaten soundly, even though social Darwinism says they should win – leads populace to question government
      • Bloody Sunday – Jan. 1905
        • 200,000 protesters go to Winter Palace in St. Petersburg
        • Several hundred killed by police
        • Leads to widespread strikes and formation of unions
      • October Manifesto
        • In response to formation of first Soviet (council of workers)
          • Demand elected city government
        • Nicholas II issued Manifesto, promised freedom of press, speech, assembly
          • Also formed the Duma, a legislative assembly
        • By 1907, the Tsar had already curtailed the power of the Duma
          • But at least it existed
  • Imperialism
    • Definition – economic, political, & cultural domination of one country over other weaker countries or colonies
    • Influences/Justifications/causes
      • Nationalism – 1880s – expansion increases national prestige
        • Made possible with superior military technology/numbers
      • Religious revival – Send in the missionaries
        • When they are killed (which happened occasionally), good excuse to send in the army
      • Scientific Interest (anthropology, biology, geology)
        • Rudyard Kipling’s White Man’s Burden – Europe’s “responsibility” to “civilize” the “savages”
      • Industrialism - economics
        • Raw materials
          • Many available only in tropical regions (rubber, petroleum, coffee, tea, etc.)
        • Easier to secure commodities with legal means of keeping order
        • Could more easily open mines, create monopolies
    • Creating Empires
      • Participation in Imperialism
        • France, Britain, Russia, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Japan, U.S.
        • No clear logic behind race for colonies
          • Once started, quickly turned into a frantic rush
        • No thought given to value or disruption of indigenous cultures
      • Scramble for Africa
        • Leopold II (Belgium) hired Henry Stanley to explore the Congo and claim it
          • That’s the Stanley that found Dr. David Livingstone
        • Other European countries don’t want to be left out
        • Bismarck had called for Berlin Conference of 1885 to avoid war
          • Conference set rules for “Scramble for Africa”
            • All unclaimed territory open for grabs
            • Must settle, not just arrive
            • All other nations must be informed of occupation
        • Between 1885-1914, most of African continent had been claimed by European nations
      • Boer War (1899-1902)
        • Fought over control of South African gold and diamond production
        • British fight descendants of Dutch colonists (Afrikaners)
        • Include them in British social hierarchy after defeat
  • International Rivalry and the Coming of War
    • Bismarck’s System of Alliances
      • Geared to protect Germany – some secret – some not
      • Decline of Ottoman Empire opens Balkans for independence
      • Berlin Congress of 1878 (dominated by Bismarck) makes Romania, Montenegro, Serbia independent
        • Bosnia put under Austrian control
      • Bismarck creates the Triple Alliance (1882) with Austria and Italy for defense against France and her allies
        • Also signs secret treaty with Russia (Reinsurance treaty -1887)
      • Consequence – alliances like a delicate spider web with Bismarck at the center, holding it all together
        • Until Bismarck gets fired by a madman
    • New Direction, New Alliances
      • Kaiser Wilhelm II terminates the Reinsurance treaty with Russia
      • Russia allies with France
        • Sets Prussia/Germany up for a two-front war (Bismarck’s greatest fear)
      • Kaiser’s militaristic posturing frightens France, Britain, and Russia into an alliance against Germany, Austria, and Italy
        • Actually brought on by the first Moroccan Crisis (1905-1906)
          • Germany threatened French activity in Morocco in an attempt to drive a wedge between France & Britain – has opposite effect
      • Balkan Crisis (1908-09)
        • Austria annexes Bosnia
        • Angers Serbia – had hopes for a empire of southern slaves
          • Austria took it precisely to keep that from happening
        • Russia embarrassed at not being strong enough to defend Serbia
      • First Balkan War – 1912
        • Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece declare war on Ottomans – defeat them
      • Second Balkan War – 1913
        • Above countries fight amongst themselves for new acquired territory
        • Serbia hopes to get some of Albia (gain seaport)
        • Austria insures Albania gets independence – Serbia even angrier (landlocked)
        • Result:  Everyone is ticked off at everyone else
      • Before he left office, Bismarck said:
        • “Some d--- thing in the Balkans is going to set off another war.”