Transitioning into the 20th Century
Preview and Processing via the
Anticipated Reading Guide
The Victorian Era
•Ruled from 18371901 (born 1819)
•Ruled for 63 years
•Longest reign to date
•9 children
•42 grandchildren
•Great –great
grandmother to
Elizabeth II (and
Prince Phillip)
•4 greats to Princes
William and and Harry
Queen Victoria
 Her
god parents
included Czar
Alexander I
 Named Alexandrina,
after Emperor
Alexander I of
Russia, and Victoria
after her mother
The Grandmother of Europe



Tied Europe together and
earning her the nickname
"the grandmother of Europe“
last member of the Hanover
Dynasty
Relationships included:
 Wilhelm II of Germany
 Czarina Alexandra
 Great Grandson Alexis’
 King of Denmark
 King of Spain
All of Europe basically 1st
cousins
Preview and Processing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
At what age did children go to work in the
1800s?
Why did parents need their children to
work?
What type of jobs would children do?
How did industrialization increase the
need for child labor?
How did industrialization demonstrate the
need for changes in the work
environment?
Working Conditions
“It is a most painful thing
to contemplate the dull,
dungeon-like life these
little creatures are
doomed to spend. A life
for the most part passed
in solitude, damp and
darkness.”


More jobs opportunities
Not dependant on on weather
 14 hrs. a day; 6 days a
wk.

Children
 Mines: trappers
 Orphans
 3am to 10:30 pm
 Factory Act 1833
○ Illegal to hire children
under 9
○ 9 – 13= 8 hrs
○ 14-18 =12 hrs
Makin the Connection
1. How did industrialization lead to
class tension and division?
2. Did the government have any
responsibility in reforming working
conditions?
Class Tensions
 Gap
btw. Rich & poor was natural
 Gov’t should only
1. Wage war
2. uphold law & order
 Hands off social and economic conditions
 Adopted “laissez faire” attitude
 Only lg. property owning men could vote
Charles Darwin
 Origin of
Species by
Means of
Natural
Selection, 1859
Darwin’s Principles
1.
2.
3.
More born than can survive wh/
= struggle for survival
Variation=no 2 alike
Survival of the fittest or natural
selection allows for evolution and
advancement of the species
Making the Connection
1. How was Darwinism used to
justify economic / class
differences?
2. What is Social Darwinism?
3. What would you do to change this
idea?
 Reforms:
new fields open to
women
 Teachers, nurses, secretaries
 Unions:
Better working conditions
2. Better pay
3. Improved health and safety
regulations
4. Power of the strike
1.
The Turn of the
Century
The “Beautiful Era”
 Despite
reforms:
 Upper Class: Still
in control
1 to 2%
• Middle Class:
25 to 35 %
 Lower Class
63 to 75%
Making the Connection
How did the class divisions help to
set the stage for World War I?
Governments Attempted Change
 Germany: shared power btw. Kaiser and
Chancellor
 Bicameral
1. Reichstag: elected
2. Bundesrat: chosen
 Kaiser elected the chancellor
 Otto von Bismarck
○ Social insurance; Accident or sickness;
pension
○ Made strong alliance w/ Austria-Hungary
 Wilhelm II came to power & forced
Bismarck to resign: didn’t want to share
power
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Chancellor Otto Von
Bismarck
 Great
Britain
 Irish Question: Home rule
 Supported by RC & Protestants
 Then in N. Prot. Said not to HR
because they feared being in the
minority
 WWI breaks out & HR tabled
 Situation went from bad to worse after
the war
Making the Connection
1.
2.
How is the country of Ireland divided today?
How do the pictures you see below reflect a
problem that is still on going?
What do
you think
IRA stands
for?
 Britain's Parliament
Attempts Reform
 Bicameral
○ House of
Commons
○ House of Lords
 David Lloyd
George=Prime
Minister
○ People’s Budget
○ Heavy Taxes on
the wealthy
○ HOL voted it down
because it would
directly effect them
The Powder Keg of Europe
 Nationalism
○ Balkan Peninsula
○ Serbs, Bosnian,
Croats, etc.
○ Slavic lang.
 Pogroms: violence
against the Jews
○ Bulgaria 1 mil
Jews were
massacred
 War was brewing