Impressionist Music
Claude Debussy
– Elusive moods and haunting sensations
– Debussy’s musical compositions were often
inspired by the visual arts.
Igor Stravinsky
– Ballets based on Russian folk tales
– Unusual dancing, pulsating rhythms, sharp
dissonances.
– (one show caused a riot in the theater)
Late 19th-century Politics
. Post 1894—decline in democracy
Jews in Europe
1. Emancipated post 1848, especially in
France and Germany.
2. Severely persecuted in eastern
Europe, especially Russia and the
Ukraine.
3. Rise in antisemitism—seen in
nationalistic political parties in Austria
and Germany. Also, in the Dreyfus
Affair in France--1895
Zionist Movement
Theodor Herzl—The Jewish State—
response to antisemitism.
Liberalism in Great Britain
1. David Lloyd George and liberal party
shifted to a more modern day liberal
image—embraced values of the Labour
Party on the left. Abandoned old liberal
ideas of laissez-faire.
2. National Insurance Act of 1911—
sickness and unemployment benefits.
Beginning of welfare state.
3. Weakened House of Lords in 1911
France’s Third Republic
1. 1895 Dreyfus Affair—highlighted
anti-semitism. Ended up backfiring for
conservatives. Church divorced from
state schools and other activities.
Church lands seized. Army purged of
anti-republican members.
Germany
1. Growing tension—more industrialized
economy, thus more industrial workers.
Socialist Democratic Party became the
largest party in the Reichstag.
2. Bismarck wasn’t into imperialism, but
conservatives later persuaded Wilhelm
II to support to boost nationalism. It was
a good political distraction.
3. Pan-German League stressed
nationalism and imperialism—right wing
group
Russia
Sergey Witte-Finance Minister
1. Focused on industrializing Russia,
building rail lines, such as the TransSiberian railway, and implementing
protective tariffs. Steel production
increased.
2. Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905—
fought of access to Korea—Russia lost.
3. Led to 1905 Rev. sparked after
Bloody Sunday
Imperialism
1. Review from last year. All the
motives.
2. Germany last to enter in to the
imperialist ranks. Berlin Conference
1884-1885—plan to divide up Africa.
3. China. Opium War 1839-1842, Boxer
Rebellion 1900-1901 and Open Door
Policy, 1899.
Austria-Hungary
1. Nationality problem never settled.
2. Right to vote led to more agitation
from minorities. Prime Ministers just
ignored Parliament.
3. German nationalist groups rose up in
response.
4. Hungary kept in line by the threat of
democracy for its minorities.
Africa from 1878 to 1914
1. What changes to
you see between
the map in the
bottom left and the
map on the top
right? What could
explain these
changes?
Social Darwinism
Henry Spencer was
the main advocate
of this ideology.
Racial superiority as
advocated by
Houston Stewart
Chamberlain in The
Foundations of the
19th-Centry
– 5. More benign, but
equally racist was the
White Man’s burden: The
belief that it is the White
Man’s moral obligation to
civilize the “savage”
peoples of the world.
This belief is centered on
racial superiority.
– How does the cartoon to
the left depict the White
Man’s burden?
Key Events in Africa
1. Suez Canal 1857
2. Berlin Conference 1882
3. Belgian Congo under Leopold (1882-1905)
4. Failed Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1896)
5. Late arrival of Germany. Why?
6. Successful Italian invasion of Libya (1912)
7. Boer War 1899-1902
8. Cecil Rhodes’ influence
Key Events in Asia
1. Sepoy Rebellion 1857
2. Peace of Paris after 7 Years’ War-1763
3. Opium War 1839-42
4. Spheres of Influence in China
5. Boxer Rebellion
6. US Open Door Policy
7. Russo-Japanese War 1905
8. Japanese occupation of Korea 1910
9. US asserts dominance in Philippines after
Span-Amer war 1898.
10. Thailand remains neutral. Why?