Chapter 23

After 1871 the nations of Europe were preoccupied for a quarter century with achieving true national unity, making economic adjustments to the second industrial revolution, and adapting to the realities of rapid urbanization. Despite the rise and acceleration of international rivalries and animosities, they were during this time too busy to fight among themselves.

During this period inventions based on steel, electricity, and the internal combustion engine led to a new industrial economy which changed the nature of markets and created a truly world economy. Some women found new opportunities for employment, but others were forced into subservience and prostitution. Socialist parties, with a more moderate form of Marxism, began organizing for action through trade unionism and political action. Europe suffered the birth pangs of a new age.

Mass Society was born. The European population increased dramatically through better sanitation and diet, yet emigration prevented overcrowding. Class divisions continued to dictate styles of living. Women of the upper strata were encouraged to pursue a cult of domesticity, yet this age also saw the dawn of female consciousness and of birth control. The amount and quality of education increased in order to provide a better-trained work force and a more intelligent voting public, and there arose more opportunities to enjoy life through leisure activities.

European nations moved in two opposite directions. In Britain and France liberal parties increased democratic participation in government, while in Germany, Austria, and especially Russia, monarchs stubbornly held onto their traditional powers. The times were changing, but it was not clear what the new twentieth century would bring.