Terms : Hide Images
| 302351724 | New Industrial Revolution | 1870 onwards. Sometimes referred to as the Second Industrial Revolution. Characterized by new sources of power, increased mechanization, new industries, the rapid spreading of industry, and more rapid forms of transportation and communications. (This was distinct from the first/old industrial revolution, 1750 onwards, when the emphasis was steam, textiles and metals industries). In the New Industrial Revolution there was still the use of steam but also now electricity, the gas and diesel engines using petroleum, airplanes, submarines. Oil became a very important resource. New industries such as chemicals were born. Explosives were refined - facilitated digging of tunnels -improved transportation and canals. (Suez -1869, Kiel - 1895, Panama - 1914) Metals improved with Bessemer and Siemens processes. Communications improved - Bell, Marconi. Medical improvements - X-rays and anaesthesia. By 1870 only GB and Belgium could be said to be truly industrial but thereafter the process spread amazingly rapidly through France,Italy, Japan and Russia but MOST ESPECIALLY THROUGH U.S. AND GERMANY. | |
| 302351725 | Balance of Payments | Britain had opened up Free Trade era in 1846 with Repeal of the Corn Laws and tended to import more than it exported but still had a favorable Balance of Payments because of invisible exports. Britain exported capital by making huge investments overseas. France and Germany did likewise. The interest and dividends came back to the invisible exporter thus offsetting the Balance of Payments imbalance. This was taking place in the century before 1914. During WW I Britain lost 1/4 of its investments overseas, France lost 1/3 and Germany lost all. | |
| 302351726 | Invisible Exports | Capital investment overseas plus shipping and insurance/service industries of Europe made up difference between balance of trade and balance of payments for European countries like Britain (ex. British merchant marine, Lloyds of London, English banks like Bank of England were known world over and borrowed from - especially after 1816 when Britain went on Gold Standard and established currency stability). | |
| 302351727 | The Corporation | Limited liability corp. There was an increasing number of these after 1880 and fewer small vulnerable ones. More big corps. Especially as mechanization required more capital. Large corporations in retail, commerce and industry(steel industry is a good example of this). Really big corporations would integrate vertically - i.e. also buy into other industries which would compliment original endeavor - if in steel, might buy into mines, railroads, shipbuilding, etc. | |
| 302351728 | Trusts and Cartels | Trusts in US or cartels in Europe. These were names given to organizations within the same level of production of an item which combined to protect themselves against fluctuations in prices and markets. Could fix prices, divide up the markets, restrict production - all for members' common interests. They were quite usual in many of the new industries at close of the 19th century - chemicals, aluminum, oil. In Germany they included companies such as Krupps(steel); Schnieder-Creusot in France; Vickers-Armstrong in GB; and Carnegie, Morgan, Rockefeller in US. | |
| 302351729 | Vertical Integration | When corporation buys into different processes - from mining to finished product and thus ensures independence from producers who might sell to whomever they please and thus manipulate the prices. | |
| 302351730 | Horizontal Integration | When companies at same level of production combine to reduce competition and protect themselves against fluctuations in prices and markets. | |
| 302351731 | Paris Commune | The revolutionary municipal council, led by radicals, that engaged in a civil war (March-May, 1871) with the National Assembly of the newly established Third Republic, set up after the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War. New president, Thiers, ordered bombardment of Paris - 20,000 lives lost, many by executions. Those radicals who participated in Paris Commune referred to as communards. Most saw them as destroyers of civilization. Marx saw them as potentially bringing about the downfall of the bourgeoisie. | |
| 302351732 | Marshal Macmahon | An early president of the Third Republic who, in 1877, attempted to dismiss a premier of whom he disapproved but who had backing of Chamber of Deputies. Also dissolved Chamber and held new elections. But memory of Napoleon III turning the Second Republic into authoritarian regime was too fresh. Popular elections vindicated principle of parlimentary primacy and responsiblity of premier and cabinet to legislature. Premier would be the true executive for some time in France. Problem would be - holding a majority in Chamber. There tended to be a lot of factionalism. | |
| 302351733 | General Boulanger | 1886-9 - had following of Bonapartists, monarchists, aristocracy and even a few extreme Republicans - an odd mix. Wanted revenge on Germany for loss of Franco-Prussian War and Alsace-Lorraine. Boulanger became a popular hero - fine military figure depicted on white horse. Was about to seize power but lost heart and fled. After the Third Republic charged him with treason he committed suicide. Whole incident sometimes referred to as the Boulanger affair. | |
| 302351734 | Dreyfus Affair | 1894 - Dreyfus was a Jewish officer in French army. Charged with giving secrets to the Germans. Courtmarshaled despite protestations of innocence and sent to Devil's Island, a penal colony off coast of S. America. Shortly afterwards, a Colonel Georges Picquart was made head of Intellegence in army and re-opened the case. Found lack of evidence and new suspect, a Major Esterhazy, came to light. Re-trial opened whole new can of worms as the anti-Semitism that had probably made Dreyfus the innocent victim to start with now surfaced on large scale in France. Writer Emile Zola wrote an article, J'ACCUSE, which indicted the military and Catholic-Conservative elite for victimizing Dreyfus. Case talked about throughout Europe and America. Finally, Dreyfusards had victory in 1906 - pardon issued but NOT an overturning of conviction. Amounted to defeat of ultraconservatives, monarchists and clericals. Government renewed its anti-clerical campaign and in 1905 it abrogated Napoleon's 1801 Concordat. The Zionist movement was founded in response to the obvious anti-Semitism in this affair. | |
| 302351735 | Laic Laws of 1905 and The Separation Law | The law that abrogated the 1801 Concordat and completed separation of Church and state. Resulted from the fall-out from Dreyfus affair. | |
| 302351736 | Radical Socialists | Most important single party of the Third French Republic. Not really very socialist. Really more like Radical Republicans. Very patriotic and anticlerical. Spoke for the small shopkeepers and lesser propertied interests. Drew line at advanced social legislation that Labor wanted. Even opposed unionization and strikes. Much more moderate than name implies. | |
| 302351737 | Victorian Era | r. of Queen Victoria of England, 1837 to 1901. Queen's name given to this distinct era of MATERIAL PROGRESS, LITERARY ACCOMPLISHMENT AND POLITICAL STABILITY. Two great political parties of the era were the Liberals led in heyday by William GLADSTONE and Conservatives led by Benjamin DISRAELI. The extension of suffrage, first to middle class ('32) then to urban working class ('67) then finally to farm workers ('84) helped maintain political stability of the era. In literary field the movments of romanticism and realism were felt. Carlyle wrote history; Tennyson, Wordsworth, and Browning wrote poetry; Eliot, Hardy and Dickens were great novel -writers of the period - to name just a few | |
| 302351738 | Reform Bills of 1867 and 1884 | Second Reform Bill ('67) in response to continued demand for wider suffrage(Chartism been unsuccessful in 1830s and '40s). Conservatives and Liberals both trying to outdo each other in area of reform and thus build support for their parties within the new electorate. Second Reform Bill introduced by Disrael i(Conservative) but his party lost the next election nonetheless. This '67 Bill increased suffrage from 1 million to 2 million (1 in 3 males now eligible). Enfranchised urban working class. The '84 Bill was passed by a Liberal government under Gladstone and added 2 million more male voters. Now 3 in 4 males could vote though still excluding agricultural workers with no residence or men in domestic service. No universal male suffrage until 1918 when women over 30 were also given the franchise. During the period of these reform bills, the Conservative and Liberal governments had similar policies. Liberals tended to attract industrial and commercial interests plus some working class. Conservatives attracted landed aristocracy and other wealthy landowners plus some working class. |
