The Growth of Industrial Prosperity
The Second Industrial Revolution
Test Questions
• 1. Why did Europe dominate the world economy by 1900?
• 2. What was the theory expressed in The Communist
Manifesto?
• 3. What inventions were created during the Second
Industrial Revolution and by who?
• 4. Who were (and were not) industrialized nations by 1900?
• Define bourgeoisie, proletariat, dictatorship and
revisionists.
The Second Industrial Revolution
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Western nations from 1850 to 1900 worshipped progress.
At the heart of this progress was the Second Industrial Revolution.
It was marked by a stunning material growth.
The first Industrial Revolution produced the importance of textiles, railroads, iron, and coal.
The Second Industrial Revolution produced the importance of steel, chemicals, electricity, and petroleum.
The first major change was the substitution of steel for iron.
Because of new steel making processes, new lighter, smaller, and faster machines were built.
In 1860 Great Britain, France, Germany, and Belgium produced 125,000 tons of steel. By 1913, the total was
32 million tons.
The Second Industrial Revolution
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
By 1870, the first practical electrical generator was produced.
Electricity could be easily converted into other forms of energy. (heat, light, and motion).
By 1900, hydroelectric power stations and coal-fired steam-generating plants enabled homes and factories
to be tied to a single common source of power.
Electricity gave birth to a series of inventions.
Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876.
Marconi invented the first wireless transmitter in 1901.
By the late 1800’s, streetcars, subways, powered by electricity appeared in major cities.
With electric lights factories could remain open 24 hours a day.
The Second Industrial Revolution
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The development of the internal-combustion engine, fired by oil and/or gasoline provided a new source of
power to transportation.
This new engine gave rise to new ocean liners, horseless carriages, and the airplane.
In 1903, the Wright brothers flew the first airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
By 1919, the first commercial regular passenger air service was established.
New patterns of commerce of lower priced consumable goods was produced.
Wages were increasing for factory workers while all other prices were falling.
Massed produced goods like clocks, bicycles, electric lights and typewriters were sold in great quantities.
The Second Industrial Revolution
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Not all nations benefited from the Second Industrial Revolution.
In Europe, Great Britain, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, the western part of the new AustroHungary Empire and northern Italy made huge industrial progress.
These nations developed a higher standard of living and great transportation systems.
The rest of Europe remain agricultural based. (Russia, Spain, Portugal, most of the new Austro-Hungary
Empire and southern Italy)
A true world economy was beginning to be developed.
By 1900, Europeans were receiving beef and wool from Argentina and Australia, coffee from Brazil, iron ore
from Algeria, and sugar from Java.
By 1900, Europe dominated the world economy.
Organizing the Working Classes
Organizing the Working Classes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The desire to improve working conditions led many to create socialists political parties and socialist trade
unions.
In 1848, Karl Marx published his Communist Manifesto.
He blamed industrial capitalism for poor working conditions.
His solution was a completely new social system.
This new order was called communism.
Marx believed history was nothing but the story of “class struggle”.
He believed there had always been two groups of people:
1. the oppressors
2. the oppressed
Both had been fighting each other for 1000’s of years.
Organizing the Working Classes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The oppressors owned the means of production (land, raw material, money, factories) and had the power
to control government and society.
The oppressed always depended upon their oppressors for their means.
He labeled the oppressors as the “bourgeoisie” and the oppressed as the “proletariat”.
Marx predicted the struggle between the two classes would lead to a world revolution.
He said the proletariat would win and form a dictatorship (one person with total control over government).
This revolution (Marx said) would lead to a classless society.
Then the “state” would slowly disappear since there would be no need or function for a government.
Organizing the Working Classes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Over time, working class leaders formed socialist political parties adopting Marxist ideas.
In Germany, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) emerged in 1875.
The SPD called for armed revolution against the German government and elected their Socialist representatives into
the German parliament.
By 1912, the SPD became the largest single political party in Germany.
In 1889, many nations sent delegates to a world conference of socialists and named themselves the Second
International. (the first one failed in 1872)
But the socialists were divided among themselves.
The pure Marxists wanted total armed revolution against all governments and the revisionists wanted to work within
their governments for better working conditions.
Trade unions began to force better working conditions by the threat of strikes, especially in Great Britain.
The end