A P Euro: Chapter 23
Vocabulary
Henry Bessemer: (1830-1898): was an English engineer who built a refined blast furnace in 1856 known as
the Bessemer converter, which made steel production cheaper and more efficient than ever before. In turn
machinery and tools became better and cheaper than ever before.
Gottleib Daimler (1834-1900): was a German engineer perfected the modern internal combustion engine.
By 1899, he had mounted it on a carriage body and the modern automobile was born.
Henry Ford (1863-1947): was the entrepreneur and industrialist who in 1913 greatly improved
manufacturing techniques when he introduced the assembly line to automobile production. His conveyor
system carried components past workers at the proper height and speed and each worker performed a
specialized task at a fixed point on the assembly line. This subdivision of labor and the coordination of
operations resulted in enormous productivity gains enabling Ford Motor Company to produce half of the
world’s automobiles in the early twentieth century.
The Panic of 1873: triggered a severe international economic depression in both Europe and the United
States that lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries. The depression was known as the Great
Depression until the 1930s, but is now known as the Long Depression. During this period both prices and
wages – as well a profits fell, so that real wages held firm and even rose in some countries. Also, it was at
this time that the term unemployment was coined
The Great London Exhibition of 1851: was a great exhibition held in London to celebrate progress in
industry and commerce achieved through the new industrial order. The Exhibition marked the point in
history when the middle class became the judge (arbiter) of consumer taste. After the mid nineteenth century
the middle classes were no longer revolutionary in character and became protective of social equality and
property rights.
The Middle Class: refers to that group of a society which occupies a position between the upper class and
the lower classes. It is important to understand that the middle class is always diverse from the very
prosperous (such as large business owners and bankers who were very wealthy) to professional people (such
as professionals, entrepreneurs, teachers, shopkeepers and librarians).
Petite Bourgeoisie: were the lower middle class that included secretaries, retail clerks and lower level
bureaucrats in business and government. They often had working-class origins but had middle class
aspirations and felt above the lower classes. They often pursued educational opportunities to gain
advancement for themselves or for their children.
Georges Haussmann (1809-1891): was appointed prefect of the Seine by Napoleon III from 1853 to 1870.
Haussmann over saw a vast urban reconstruction of Paris in which entire districts were destroyed to make
way for broad boulevards and streets that became the symbol of modern Paris.
The Eiffel Tower: is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris built in 1889. It is
still the tallest building in Paris and one of the most-visited paid monuments in the world; and named after its
designer, Gustave Eiffel, and built as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair.
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The Sacré-Cœur Basilica or Basilica of the Sacred Heart: was built on the of the Montmartre (Hill of
Mars) as an act of national penance for the sins that had supposedly led to French defeat in the FrancoPrussian War.
The Miasma Theory: held that diseases such as Cholera or the Black Death were caused by a miasma
(Μίασμα, ancient Greek: "pollution"), a noxious form of "bad air".
Louis Rene Villerme (1782-1863): was a French doctor who later in life became an economist who wrote
about social issues. In 1840, published Tableau de l’état physique et moral des ouvries [Catalog of the
Physical and Moral State of Workers] about urban working-class conditions in France.
Sir Edwin Chadwick (1800–1890) was an English social reformer, noted for his work to reform the Poor
Laws and improve sanitary conditions and public health. In 1842, he wrote a Report on the Sanitary
Conditions of the Lobouring Population which shocked the English public.
Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902): was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and
politician, known for his advancement of public health. Referred to as "the father of modern pathology," he is
considered one of the founders of social medicine.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895): was a French scientist who proved the germ theory when he linked the presence
of bacteria to certain diseases. He also discovered a process called pasteurization, in which raw milk is
heated just enough to kill harmful bacteria, but do not harm quality of the milk.
Joseph Lister (1827-1912): was the British doctor who discovered how antiseptics prevent infections and
demanded that doctors wash their hands before surgery and use sterilized instruments.
Robert Koch (1843-1910): was a German doctor who identified the bacterium that caused Tuberculosis.
Jules Simon (1814-1896): was a French statesman and philosopher who was an advocate of housing reform.
He believed that good housing led to good family life and, ultimately, to strong patriotic feeling.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797): was a self educated woman, published and influential essay in 1792, A
Vindication of the Rights of Women, in which she argued that women possessed all rights that men
possessed. Moreover she argued that education for all women would actually make them better mothers and
wives and prepare them for professional occupations and even participation in political life
Harriet Taylor Mill (1807–1858) was a philosopher and women's rights advocate. Her second husband was
John Stuart Mill. She wrote very little but had an enormous influence on Mill as developed in Mill’s The
Subjection of Women, in which he argues for the equality of women but which was published eleven years
after her death.
Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847–1929): was an English suffragist (one who campaigned for women to have
the vote) and an early feminist. She led the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. She believed that
Parliament would grant women the right to vote (suffrage) only if suffragists were respectable and
responsible in their political campaigning.
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928): was the leader of the more radical branch of British feminists and
suffragists. She was widely criticized for her militant tactics, and historians disagree about their
effectiveness, but her work is recognized as a crucial element in achieving women's suffrage in Britain.
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The Women’s’ Social and Political Union: was founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters
Christabel and Sylvia. The Union became known for its militant activity. Pankhurst once said: The condition
of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we
do. For years they were known derisively as Suffragettes as they used violent tactics such as arson, breaking
windows and destroying postal boxes. They marched en masse on Parliament and many of the members were
imprisoned where they were force fed because they went on hunger strikes.
Hubertine Auclert (1848-1914): was a leading French feminist and a campaigner for women's suffrage. in
in 1880, Auclert launched a tax revolt, arguing that without representation women should not be subjected to
taxation; she continued her activism for full equality for women until her death.
The National Council of French Women: was organized in 1901 among upper-middle class women even
though it did not support suffrage for women for many years. Like almost all French feminists, members
rejected violence and believed that women could achieve the right to vote through careful and peaceful
agitation.
The Union of German Women’s Organizations: was founded in 1894 and by 1902 was calling for the
right to vote for women along improving women’s social conditions such as increased access to education.
Pogroms: were organized riots against Jewish neighborhoods in Russia and Poland.
Anti-Semitism: is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their
Jewish heritage.
Trade Unionism: is a reference to the work of either a trade union (British English), labour union (Canadian
English) or labor union (American English) which is an organization of workers that have banded together
to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. Trade Unionism came of age when governments
extended legal protections to trade unions during the second half of the nineteenth century.
Otto von Bismarck: was the German chancellor who brought about the unification of Germany and also
proved to be a most surprising Evolutionary Socialist, (well, sort of!) when he introduced medical insurance,
unemployment compensation and retirement pensions for German workers. Bismarck was not a proponent of
Liberalism but, like Robert Owen, he understood that secure workers make more productive workers and his
reforms greatly increased German industrial output.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) were German theorists and Revolutionary
Socialists who believed that social problems of the nineteenth century were the inevitable results of a
capitalist economy.
The First International: In 1864 a group of British and French trade unionists founded the International
Working Men’s Association, known as the First International. Its aim was to unite different left-wing
socialists, Marxists, anarchists and trade union organizations that were based on the working class and class
struggle.
James Keir Hardie (1856–1915): was a Scottish socialist politician, and was the first Independent Labour
Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Hardie is regarded as one of the
primary founders of the Independent Labour Party as well as the Labour Party of which it later was a part.
The British Labour Party: first won seats in the elections of 1906. Their goals were not socialist but they
became more militant as the government became more active in mediating labor disputes.
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Fabian Socialism: was founded in 1894 and became Great Britain’s most influential socialist group. The
group took its name from Quintus Fabius Maximus, the Roman general whose tactics again Hannibal
involved avoiding direct conflict that might lead to defeat. Its leading members were Sidney Webb, his wife
Beatrice Webb, H. G. Wells, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw. They sought to educate the
country about the rational wisdom of socialism and were much interested in types of collective ownership on
the municipal level such as gas and water works [this led them to be called the Gas and Water Socialists].
The National Insurance Act of 1911: was a law passed by the British Parliament which provided
unemployment benefits and health care for most workers, paid for by taxation. The Act is often regarded as
one of the foundations of modern social welfare in the United Kingdom and forms part of the wider social
welfare reforms of the Liberal Government of 1906-1914. The increasing influence of the Labour Party
among the population had put the Liberals under pressure to enact social legislation.
The Parliament Act of 1911: came about when the House of Lords refused to pass a budget to pay for the
National Insurance Act of 1911. The result was the Parliament Act of 1911 which allowed the House of
Commons to override any legislative veto of the House of Lords. The Act was pushed through the House of
Lords when George V who threatened to create sufficient Liberal peers to overcome the Conservative
majority in the House of Lords. The Act effectively removed the right of the Lords to veto money bills.
Jean Jaurès (1859-1914): was a French Socialist leader. Initially an Opportunist Republican, he evolved
into one of the first social democrats, becoming the leader, in 1902, of the French Socialist Party, which
opposed Jules Guesde's Revolutionary Socialist Party of France. Jaurès believed that socialists should
cooperate with the middle class to ensure government enactment of needed legislation. [An antimilitarist,
Jaurès was assassinated at the outbreak of World War I, and remains one of the main historical figures of the
French Left.]
Jules Guesde (1845-1922): was a French socialist journalist and politician who opposed Jaurès and argued
that socialists could not, with integrity, support a bourgeois cabinet they were theoretically dedicated to
overthrowing.
The Second International: was founded in 1889 and dedicated to unify the various national socialist parties
and trade unions. By 1904, the Amsterdam Congress of the Second International debated the issue of
Opportunism such as that of Jaurès or socialists serving as cabinet ministers. The congress condemned
Opportunism in France and ordered French socialists to form a single party. Jaurès accepted the decision and
thereafter French socialists began to work together.
Georges Sorel (1847-1922): was a French philosopher and theorist of revolutionary syndicalism. In his
book, Reflections on Violence, he taught that urging workers to strike can be used to both unite the workers
and gain power for them. His ideas inspired both Marxists and Fascists.
Syndicalism: is an economic system that is meant to replace capitalism but without fully developed state
socialism. It combines socialists visions with corporate groups in order manage the economy and maintains
that all participants in an organized trade internally share equal ownership of its production. In a socialist
state, the state directs organized businesses but does not care how unions operate internally; Communism
rejects such government direction and favors ownership by the people who are engaged in business, that is
the proletariat; Syndicalism merges capitalist business ownership and labor unions share a complicated
relationship of co-operation and opposition with the state.
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German Social Democratic Party: began in the 1860s, and became the biggest party of the world around
1900. Its roots lay in the labor agitation of Ferdinand Lasalle (1825-1864) who wanted workers to
participate in German politics. Wilhelm Liebknecht (1826-1900) and August Bebel (1840-1913), who
were Marxists opposing reformist politics, son joined the party. Thus, from its founding, the SDP was
divided between those who advocated reform and those who advocated revolution.
The Erfurt Program: of 1891 was formulated under the political guidance of August Bebel and Karl
Kautsky (1854-1938). The Erfurt Progam declared that Capitalism was doomed and socialist ownership of
production was the only solution.
Sergei Witte: served as Russia’s finance minister from 1892 to 1903. Witte oversaw construction of the
Trans-Siberian Railroad and worked to push Russian industrialization by reforming commercial law,
protecting infant industries, supporting steamship companies, and promoting nautical and engineering
schools. He invited foreign investors and encouraged the establishment of savings banks. As a result of his
efforts, Russia had enormous coal and iron industries and a government demand for weapons.
Kulaks: were free Russian peasants who became wealthy after their liberation.
Gregory Plekhanov (1857-1918): was the leading late 19th century Marxist whose chief disciple was
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov who later took the name Lenin, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and
communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the
Soviet state during its initial years (1917–1924), as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian
Civil War and worked to create a socialist economic system.
London Congress of the Russian Socialist Democratic Party of 1903: was the occasion when Lenin
forced a split in the party ranks. he and his followers lost many votes on questions put before the congress
but near its close they mustered a slim majority. Thereafter their party was known as the Bolsheviks
(meaning majority) and the other more moderate and democratic faction became known as the Mensheviks
(meaning minority). It is important to note that Lenin believed that a mass party functioning in a democratic
fashion would seek only to reform workers’ wages, hour and living conditions whereas he wanted a
revolution that would transform Russia.
The Tactics of Social Democracy in the Bourgeois-Democratic Revolution: was Lenin’s theory where his
urged the socialist revolution to unite the proletariat and the peasantry. His theory was based on the
assumption that the Tsarist government could not suppress both the workers and peasants if they both
rebelled.
The Russo-Japanese War was a result of Nicholas II’s attempt to deflect attention from domestic unrest, by
foolishly trying to expand Russia’s holdings in Korea and Manchuria. Tiny Japan launched a surprise attack
and destroyed the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in 1904 and then went on to defeat another Russian fleet the
following year (at the Battle of Tsushima) while Japanese army troops threw the Russians out of Korea and
inflicted a humiliating defeat on Russia who had to sue for peace in 1905 (brokered by President Theodore
Roosevelt). The embarrassment of the Russo-Japanese War caused widespread disturbances in Russia.
Bloody Sunday occurred in January, 1905 when soldiers fired on a crowd of peaceful demonstrators and
killed one hundred and thirty men women and children.
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The Revolution of 1905 was a direct result of the Bloody Sunday massacre which caused an unprecedented
wave of anger to sweep Russia that culminated in labor unrest, peasant revolts, student demonstrations and
mutinies in the army and navy. In short Russia came to a standstill. Moreover, both peasants and factory
workers began to organize in the cells or groups called Soviets. The Revolution forced the Tsar to grant
reforms and the establishment of the first Duma.
The Duma was the Parliament of Russia, created by Romanov dynasty during the 1905 revolution. Nicholas
II made sure that the Duma did not have power to create or bring down governments.
The Fundamental Laws was Nicholas II’s 1906 betrayal of the 1905 October Manifesto, in which was stated
that the Tsar's ministers could not be appointed by and were not responsible to the Duma. Moreover, the Tsar
had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wishes.
Peter Stolypin was prime minister over a second Duma and later procured a third Duma which was
dominated by the nobility and landowners. Stolypin continued government repression. Secret police arrested
thousands, as pogroms and government repression continued. He was assassinated in 1911.
Soviet: was a name used for several Russian political organizations. Examples include the Czar's Council of
Ministers, which was called the “Soviet of Ministers.” As the revolution of 1905 intensified, strikes broke out
in Saint Petersburg and worker groups called Soviets controlled the city until the Tsar made concessions.
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