19 c Europe, Part 3; General Observations
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The document discusses several key developments in 19th century Europe from 1871-1914. It notes that liberalism, which was ascendant in the 1870s, was in retreat by the end of the period as new intellectual tendencies emphasized irrational factors in human behavior. Economic trends also weakened liberal parties and philosophy. New problems from population growth, urbanization, and unemployment crises emerged without a shared faith that reason could solve them, increasing the potential for domestic conflict and international insecurity during this era.
![“….The chief occupation of such staffs was the scientific preparation of war plans for
all possible eventualities, a task that required the combined efforts of thousands of
specialists in intelligence, topography, communications, ordnance, transportation, and
logistics, to say nothing of the labors of the military attachés abroad and the agents they
employed to detect the plans of other powers [cf. the Dreyfus Affair, 1893-1906]. Once
these formidable machines were put in motion, it was inevitable that they would arrogate
to themselves policy-making functions. In all countries the leaders of the armed forces
were consulted when difficult decisions of foreign policy had to be made; in some
countries, they tended to make decisions themselves of which the foreign office and
government were only dimly aware but which had the effect of destroying their freedom
of action in moments of crisis. Questions of peace or war tended thus to be settled on the
basis of military expediency. ”
Op. cit., p. 244.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/19ceur-190216234227/85/19-c-Europe-Part-3-General-Observations-25-320.jpg)
![“None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to
check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in
losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in
1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most
important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism
that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was
nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public
schools,…”
Ibid.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/19ceur-190216234227/85/19-c-Europe-Part-3-General-Observations-26-320.jpg)
![“None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to
check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in
losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in
1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most
important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism
that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was
nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public
schools, in the yellow journals,…”
Ibid.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/19ceur-190216234227/85/19-c-Europe-Part-3-General-Observations-28-320.jpg)
![“None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to
check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in
losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in
1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most
important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism
that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was
nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public
schools, in the yellow journals,• which invented jingoism for the new and credulous reading
public produced by those schools, and even in the lectures of university professors. Popular
tribunes like Heinrich von Treitschke,..”
Ibid.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/19ceur-190216234227/85/19-c-Europe-Part-3-General-Observations-30-320.jpg)
![“None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to
check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in
losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in
1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most
important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism
that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was
nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public
schools, in the yellow journals,• which invented jingoism for the new and credulous reading
public produced by those schools, and even in the lectures of university professors. Popular
tribunes like Heinrich von Treitschke, Maurice Barrès,• and Charles Maurras • preached that
the end of all state action should be ‘the exclusive pursuit of national policies, the absolute
maintenance of national integrity, and the steady increase of national power’; and their
eloquence persuaded countless numbers of otherwise reasonable people to regard foreigners as
dangerous and untrustworthy enemies against whom stringent action was necessary and
commendable….”
Ibid.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/19ceur-190216234227/85/19-c-Europe-Part-3-General-Observations-31-320.jpg)
![“None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to
check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in
losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in
1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most
important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism
that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was
nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public
schools, in the yellow journals,• which invented jingoism for the new and credulous reading
public produced by those schools, and even in the lectures of university professors. Popular
tribunes like Heinrich von Treitschke, Maurice Barrès,• and Charles Maurras • preached that
the end of all state action should be ‘the exclusive pursuit of national policies, the absolute
maintenance of national integrity, and the steady increase of national power’; and their
eloquence persuaded countless numbers of otherwise reasonable people to regard foreigners as
dangerous and untrustworthy enemies against whom stringent action was necessary and
commendable….”
Ibid.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/19ceur-190216234227/85/19-c-Europe-Part-3-General-Observations-32-320.jpg)
![“None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to
check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in
losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in
1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most
important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism
that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was
nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public
schools, in the yellow journals,• which invented jingoism for the new and credulous reading
public produced by those schools, and even in the lectures of university professors. Popular
tribunes like Heinrich von Treitschke, Maurice Barrès,• and Charles Maurras • preached that
the end of all state action should be ‘the exclusive pursuit of national policies, the absolute
maintenance of national integrity, and the steady increase of national power’; and their
eloquence persuaded countless numbers of otherwise reasonable people to regard foreigners as
dangerous and untrustworthy enemies against whom stringent action was necessary and
commendable….”
Ibid.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/19ceur-190216234227/85/19-c-Europe-Part-3-General-Observations-33-320.jpg)
![“None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to
check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in
losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in
1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most
important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism
that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was
nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public
schools, in the yellow journals,• which invented jingoism for the new and credulous reading
public produced by those schools, and even in the lectures of university professors. Popular
tribunes like Heinrich von Treitschke, Maurice Barrès, and Charles Maurras preached that the
end of all state action should be ‘the exclusive pursuit of national policies, the absolute
maintenance of national integrity, and the steady increase of national power’; and their
eloquence persuaded countless numbers of otherwise reasonable people to regard foreigners as
dangerous and untrustworthy enemies against whom stringent action was necessary and
commendable….”
Ibid.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/19ceur-190216234227/85/19-c-Europe-Part-3-General-Observations-34-320.jpg)
19 c Europe, Part 3; General Observations
- 1. Nineteenth Century Europe PART 3 1871-1914 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
- 2. Major Themes for Part 3 11. THE GREAT POWERS AND THE BALANCE OF POWER, 1871-1890 12. THE EVOLUTION OF CAPITALISM AND THE SPREAD OF SOCIALISM Economic Developments The Labor Movement A Philosophy for Labor: Karl Marx The Development of Socialism 13.FROM LIBERALISM TO DEMOCRACY:POLITICAL PROGRESS IN WESTERN EUROPE, 1871-1914 Great Britain Belgium, The Netherlands, and Switzerland Northern Europe Southern Europe 14. FRANCE: THE DIVIDED REPUBLIC, 1871-1914 The Aftermath of Defeat, 1870-1878 The Republic: Basic Problems Three Crises The Prewar Years 15. THE GERMAN EMPIRE: PSEUDO-CONSTITUTIONAL ABSOLUTISM, 1871-1914 Bismarckian Germany, 1871-1890 Wilhelmine Germany, 1890-1914 16. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, THE BALKAN STATES, AND TURKEY, 1871-1914 The Dual Monarchy The States of Southeastern Europe 17. IMPERIAL RUSSIA, 1871-1914 Economic Conditions Political Developments The Subject Nationalities 18. IMPERIAL EXPANSION, 1871-1914 The Age of Imperialism The Course of Imperialism The Climax of Imperialism 19. INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND THE COMING OF THE WAR, 1890-1914 The Diplomatic Revolution, 1890-1907 The Road to War, 1907-1914
- 3. Adolph Menzel. The Rolling Mill (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, National Galerie), 1875
- 4. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the period that opened in 1871 was that, at its beginning liberalism was in the ascendancy whereas, at its end, it was in full retreat. In the 1870s the most widely accepted economic and political ideas were those that had been elaborated by champions of the middle class like Richard Cobden John Stuart Mill, Benjamin Constant, Wilhelm von Humboldt.• The prevailing economic philosophy was that of free trade, and, since 1860, most countries had been following the British and French example and scaling down their tariff schedules. The strongest political parties in Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Spain and strong ones in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden either called themselves Liberal or held to such traditionally liberal tenets as constitutional parliamentary government based on limited suffrage, freedom of opportunity and protection of individual liberties against arbitrary power, religious toleration, laissez-faire economics, national self-determination, and, in general, the solution of problems by rational and orderly means. Even in France, which had a republican government based on universal suffrage, the largest organized political grouping was a moderate middle class party that held to most of these same beliefs; and we have seen that tsarist Russia was by no means impervious to their influence either. “By the end of this period, this situation was greatly changed.• Nations that had subscribed to the free- trade policy in the 1850s and 1860s reversed themselves in the 1880s and 1890s, and tariff protectionism had become the order of the day….” Gordon A. Craig, Europe Since 1815, Third Edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1971. p. 241.
- 5. “…The great liberal parties had either fallen to pieces—as was true in Germany—or lost strength in comparison to the conservative and the new working class parties. And, most important, liberalism as a philosophy had lost its cohesiveness and much of its relevance to the problems of the age. “This last point requires some elucidation. Back in the 1850s, and even in the 1870s, it was possible for an intelligent man to subscribe to all the creeds of liberalism—individualism, competition, laissez- faire, suspicion of big government, and the like—without feeling any inconsistency. By the 1880s this was no longer easy. The prevailing economic tendencies seemed to favor not individualism and competition but combination, for this was an age of trusts, monopolies, and cartels. Industrialists who in an earlier age would have insisted that government stay out of business now argued that it was the duty of government to support it by tariffs, subventions, convenient corporation laws, the acquisition of new markets in colonial areas, and the like. They frequently sought political support for their new ideas from parties of the right, which, because they had traditionally believed in a strong active government, were more open to these ideas than the liberal parties; and this explains both the transformation of the conservative parties into parties of big business (or, as in Germany, into allies of heavy industry) and the waning strength of liberal parties.…” Op. cit., pp. 241-42.
- 6. “Simultaneously, men whose liberalism centered around a sincere belief in the necessity of protecting the individual from arbitrary power and who, for that very reason, believed in laissez-faire and opposed the growth of government functions began to suspect that the real threat to the individual was the tendency to combination in business and that only the government could protect the individual, by regulating the operations of the great economic combines. These men, when their new belief proved unpopular with their former political associates, were apt to turn to the new labor parties which did believe in government regulation with another resultant loss to the liberal center. This latter tendency is shown clearly in the career of John Stuart Mill;• in his classic Essay on Liberty (1859), he still regarded strong government as a threat to the free individual, but by the end of his life • he was drifting rapidly in the direction of socialism.• “The economic tendencies of the time, then, by forcing men to revise their views on the role of government, inevitably weakened the pervasiveness of the creeds of liberalism and the strength of liberal parties. This in turn encouraged two things: on the one hand, a polarization of politics, a division into extremes, which was the inevitable result of the decline of the moderate parties of the middle, and was to reach its most dangerous form in the twentieth century; and, on the other, a growing acceptance of big government, the welfare state, and collectivism in general.” Op. cit., p. 242.
- 7. “Another development that should be noted in this period was the weakening of the liberal attitude in politics, which may be defined as a belief in the efficacy of human reason to solve all of man’s problems. In contrast to this faith, all of the prevailing intellectual tendencies seemed either to deify violence or to emphasize the irrational factors in human motivation. This was true of Social Darwinism, which attempted to justify international war, colonial competition, and domestic strife as natural manifestations of the struggle for existence, as well as of Marxism and anarchism, which emphasized class struggle and (in the case of the latter) the use of violence for its own sake. This was largely true also of the newly developed behavioral sciences (sociology, anthropology, and the like), which tended to regard man as a statistic.1 …” Op. cit., pp. 242-43.
- 8. “Another development that should be noted in this period was the weakening of the liberal attitude in politics, which may be defined as a belief in the efficacy of human reason to solve all of man’s problems. In contrast to this faith, all of the prevailing intellectual tendencies seemed either to deify violence or to emphasize the irrational factors in human motivation. This was true of Social Darwinism, which attempted to justify international war, colonial competition, and domestic strife as natural manifestations of the struggle for existence, as well as of Marxism and anarchism, which emphasized class struggle and (in the case of the latter) the use of violence for its own sake. This was largely true also of the newly developed behavioral sciences (sociology, anthropology, and the like), which tended to regard man as a statistic.1 or as a being capable only of acting as a member of a class or group or other category and at the end of the period, of Bergsonian philosophy,• with its emphasis upon the élan vital, and Freudian psychology,• with its insistence that man is moved not by reason but by instinctual forces that he finds it difficult to control. The wide acceptance of these movements wore away the old liberal conviction, expressed in the writings of both Mill and Samuel Smiles,• that man is a responsible being capable of improving himself by his own efforts and solving his difficulties with his own mind.” Op. cit., pp. 242-43. _________ 1 Benjamin Jowett (JEW•it or /ˈdʒoʊɪt/, modern variant /ˈdʒaʊɪt/), the famous master of Balliol College, Oxford, once said: ‘I have always felt a certain horror of political economists since I heard one of them say that he feared the famine in Ireland would not kill more than a million people, and that would scarcely be enough to do much good.’
- 9. “Another development that should be noted in this period was the weakening of the liberal attitude in politics, which may be defined as a belief in the efficacy of human reason to solve all of man’s problems. In contrast to this faith, all of the prevailing intellectual tendencies seemed either to deify violence or to emphasize the irrational factors in human motivation. This was true of Social Darwinism, which attempted to justify international war, colonial competition, and domestic strife as natural manifestations of the struggle for existence, as well as of Marxism and anarchism, which emphasized class struggle and (in the case of the latter) the use of violence for its own sake. This was largely true also of the newly developed behavioral sciences (sociology, anthropology, and the like), which tended to regard man as a statistic.1 or as a being capable only of acting as a member of a class or group or other category and at the end of the period, of Bergsonian philosophy,…” Op. cit., pp. 242-43. _________ 1 Benjamin Jowett (JEW•it or /ˈdʒoʊɪt/, modern variant /ˈdʒaʊɪt/), the famous master of Balliol College, Oxford, once said: ‘I have always felt a certain horror of political economists since I heard one of them say that he feared the famine in Ireland would not kill more than a million people, and that would scarcely be enough to do much good.’
- 10. “Another development that should be noted in this period was the weakening of the liberal attitude in politics, which may be defined as a belief in the efficacy of human reason to solve all of man’s problems. In contrast to this faith, all of the prevailing intellectual tendencies seemed either to deify violence or to emphasize the irrational factors in human motivation. This was true of Social Darwinism, which attempted to justify international war, colonial competition, and domestic strife as natural manifestations of the struggle for existence, as well as of Marxism and anarchism, which emphasized class struggle and (in the case of the latter) the use of violence for its own sake. This was largely true also of the newly developed behavioral sciences (sociology, anthropology, and the like), which tended to regard man as a statistic.1 or as a being capable only of acting as a member of a class or group or other category and at the end of the period, of Bergsonian philosophy, with its emphasis upon the élan vital, and Freudian psychology,• with its insistence that man is moved not by reason but by instinctual forces that he finds it difficult to control. The wide acceptance of these movements wore away the old liberal conviction, expressed in the writings of both Mill and Samuel Smiles,• that man is a responsible being capable of improving himself by his own efforts and solving his difficulties with his own mind.” Op. cit., pp. 242-43.
- 11. “Another development that should be noted in this period was the weakening of the liberal attitude in politics, which may be defined as a belief in the efficacy of human reason to solve all of man’s problems. In contrast to this faith, all of the prevailing intellectual tendencies seemed either to deify violence or to emphasize the irrational factors in human motivation. This was true of Social Darwinism, which attempted to justify international war, colonial competition, and domestic strife as natural manifestations of the struggle for existence, as well as of Marxism and anarchism, which emphasized class struggle and (in the case of the latter) the use of violence for its own sake. This was largely true also of the newly developed behavioral sciences (sociology, anthropology, and the like), which tended to regard man as a statistic.1 or as a being capable only of acting as a member of a class or group or other category and at the end of the period, of Bergsonian philosophy,• with its emphasis upon the élan vital, and Freudian psychology,• with its insistence that man is moved not by reason but by instinctual forces that he finds it difficult to control. The wide acceptance of these movements wore away the old liberal conviction, expressed in the writings of both Mill and Samuel Smiles,• that man is a responsible being capable of improving himself by his own efforts and solving his difficulties with his own mind.”
- 12. “Another development that should be noted in this period was the weakening of the liberal attitude in politics, which may be defined as a belief in the efficacy of human reason to solve all of man’s problems. In contrast to this faith, all of the prevailing intellectual tendencies seemed either to deify violence or to emphasize the irrational factors in human motivation. This was true of Social Darwinism, which attempted to justify international war, colonial competition, and domestic strife as natural manifestations of the struggle for existence, as well as of Marxism and anarchism, which emphasized class struggle and (in the case of the latter) the use of violence for its own sake. This was largely true also of the newly developed behavioral sciences (sociology, anthropology, and the like), which tended to regard man as a statistic.1 or as a being capable only of acting as a member of a class or group or other category and at the end of the period, of Bergsonian philosophy,• with its emphasis upon the élan vital, and Freudian psychology,• with its insistence that man is moved not by reason but by instinctual forces that he finds it difficult to control. The wide acceptance of these movements wore away the old liberal conviction, expressed in the writings of both Mill and Samuel Smiles,• that man is a responsible being capable of improving himself by his own efforts and solving his difficulties with his own mind.”
- 13. “At a time when difficult new social problems were being created by the ballooning of European population (which increased by more than 30 percent between 1870 and 1900), by the continued drift to the cities (the majority of the British nation were born in cities after 1871 and the number of German cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants increased from eight in 1870 to forty-one in 1900), and by not infrequent crises of unemployment resulting from business depressions, the weakening of reliance upon reason was not a hopeful sign. For if reason could not be applied to these problems, how could they be solved? The answer that was given in more than one country was violence, applied either at those points where social distress led to agitation or at more remote points, outside the country or in distant colonial areas, where it might divert the attention of the masses from the troubles that beset them. “In these circumstances, the domestic politics of the European nations came to be marked by an increasing amount of class conflict and the relations among them by a degree of insecurity unknown in the past. In international affairs, these were, for the most part, years that were free from war, but they could hardly be described as years of peace. The mutual suspicions left over from the wars of the 1860s were heightened now by the increased interstate friction that resulted from the return from free trade to protection and from the resultant tariff wars and competition for markets overseas. They could hardly help but be increased further by the tendency just alluded to, that of seeking to solve domestic discontent by a search for impressive triumphs in the foreign field.” Op. cit., p.243.
- 14. “Other characteristic features of this period contributed to the uneasiness of the powers in their relations with each other. The new custom of forming permanent alliances in peacetime—a practice begun in the 1870s—had the effect in the end of splitting Europe into two great leagues… ” Op. cit., pp. 243-44.
- 15. “Other characteristic features of this period contributed to the uneasiness of the powers in their relations with each other. The new custom of forming permanent alliances in peacetime—a practice begun in the 1870s—had the effect in the end of splitting Europe into two great leagues… ” Op. cit., pp. 243-44.
- 16. “Other characteristic features of this period contributed to the uneasiness of the powers in their relations with each other. The new custom of forming permanent alliances in peacetime—a practice begun in the 1870s—had the effect in the end of splitting Europe into two great leagues held in an uneasy balance that was always threatening to, and finally did, break down. And equally important in increasing tension and insecurity were the important changes in military administration that occurred in this period. “With the exception of Great Britain, all of the major European states adopted universal military service after 1871, and military expenditures and the numbers in the standing army and reserves soon dwarfed the figures of the earlier period. In the conditions of competition that ensued, the lengthening by one nation of its term of service, with an implied increase in its number of effectives, became a matter of international importance, and the addition of a battalion to each regiment in Germany could cause consternation and debate in France. Moreover, all nations now copied the German general staff system,…” Op. cit., pp. 243-44.
- 17. “Other characteristic features of this period contributed to the uneasiness of the powers in their relations with each other. The new custom of forming permanent alliances in peacetime—a practice begun in the 1870s—had the effect in the end of splitting Europe into two great leagues held in an uneasy balance that was always threatening to, and finally did, break down. And equally important in increasing tension and insecurity were the important changes in military administration that occurred in this period. “With the exception of Great Britain, all of the major European states adopted universal military service after 1871, and military expenditures and the numbers in the standing army and reserves soon dwarfed the figures of the earlier period. In the conditions of competition that ensued, the lengthening by one nation of its term of service, with an implied increase in its number of effectives, became a matter of international importance, and the addition of a battalion to each regiment in Germany could cause consternation and debate in France. Moreover, all nations now copied the German general staff system, Op. cit., pp. 243-44.
- 18. “Other characteristic features of this period contributed to the uneasiness of the powers in their relations with each other. The new custom of forming permanent alliances in peacetime—a practice begun in the 1870s—had the effect in the end of splitting Europe into two great leagues held in an uneasy balance that was always threatening to, and finally did, break down. And equally important in increasing tension and insecurity were the important changes in military administration that occurred in this period. “With the exception of Great Britain, all of the major European states adopted universal military service after 1871, and military expenditures and the numbers in the standing army and reserves soon dwarfed the figures of the earlier period. In the conditions of competition that ensued, the lengthening by one nation of its term of service, with an implied increase in its number of effectives, became a matter of international importance, and the addition of a battalion to each regiment in Germany could cause consternation and debate in France. Moreover, all nations now copied the German general staff system, Op. cit., pp. 243-44.
- 19. “Other characteristic features of this period contributed to the uneasiness of the powers in their relations with each other. The new custom of forming permanent alliances in peacetime—a practice begun in the 1870s—had the effect in the end of splitting Europe into two great leagues • held in an uneasy balance that was always threatening to, and finally did, break down. And equally important in increasing tension and insecurity were the important changes in military administration that occurred in this period. “With the exception of Great Britain, all of the major European states adopted universal military service after 1871, and military expenditures and the numbers in the standing army and reserves soon dwarfed the figures of the earlier period. In the conditions of competition that ensued, the lengthening by one nation of its term of service, with an implied increase in its number of effectives, became a matter of international importance, and the addition of a battalion to each regiment in Germany could cause consternation and debate in France. Moreover, all nations now copied the German general staff system, which had proven its worth in 1870-1871, and the continent was soon crowded with pseudo-Moltkes …• ”
- 21. “Other characteristic features of this period contributed to the uneasiness of the powers in their relations with each other. The new custom of forming permanent alliances in peacetime—a practice begun in the 1870s—had the effect in the end of splitting Europe into two great leagues • held in an uneasy balance that was always threatening to, and finally did, break down. And equally important in increasing tension and insecurity were the important changes in military administration that occurred in this period. “With the exception of Great Britain, all of the major European states adopted universal military service after 1871, and military expenditures and the numbers in the standing army and reserves soon dwarfed the figures of the earlier period. In the conditions of competition that ensued, the lengthening by one nation of its term of service, with an implied increase in its number of effectives, became a matter of international importance, and the addition of a battalion to each regiment in Germany could cause consternation and debate in France. Moreover, all nations now copied the German general staff system, which had proven its worth in 1870-1871, and the continent was soon crowded with pseudo-Moltkes and latter-day Scharnhorsts.• ”
- 22. “….The chief occupation of such staffs… ” Op. cit., p. 244.
- 24. “….The chief occupation of such staffs was the scientific preparation of war plans for all possible eventualities, a task that required the combined efforts of thousands… ” Op. cit., p. 244.
- 25. “….The chief occupation of such staffs was the scientific preparation of war plans for all possible eventualities, a task that required the combined efforts of thousands of specialists in intelligence, topography, communications, ordnance, transportation, and logistics, to say nothing of the labors of the military attachés abroad and the agents they employed to detect the plans of other powers [cf. the Dreyfus Affair, 1893-1906]. Once these formidable machines were put in motion, it was inevitable that they would arrogate to themselves policy-making functions. In all countries the leaders of the armed forces were consulted when difficult decisions of foreign policy had to be made; in some countries, they tended to make decisions themselves of which the foreign office and government were only dimly aware but which had the effect of destroying their freedom of action in moments of crisis. Questions of peace or war tended thus to be settled on the basis of military expediency. ” Op. cit., p. 244.
- 26. “None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in 1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public schools,…” Ibid.
- 28. “None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in 1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public schools, in the yellow journals,…” Ibid.
- 30. “None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in 1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public schools, in the yellow journals,• which invented jingoism for the new and credulous reading public produced by those schools, and even in the lectures of university professors. Popular tribunes like Heinrich von Treitschke,..” Ibid.
- 31. “None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in 1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public schools, in the yellow journals,• which invented jingoism for the new and credulous reading public produced by those schools, and even in the lectures of university professors. Popular tribunes like Heinrich von Treitschke, Maurice Barrès,• and Charles Maurras • preached that the end of all state action should be ‘the exclusive pursuit of national policies, the absolute maintenance of national integrity, and the steady increase of national power’; and their eloquence persuaded countless numbers of otherwise reasonable people to regard foreigners as dangerous and untrustworthy enemies against whom stringent action was necessary and commendable….” Ibid.
- 32. “None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in 1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public schools, in the yellow journals,• which invented jingoism for the new and credulous reading public produced by those schools, and even in the lectures of university professors. Popular tribunes like Heinrich von Treitschke, Maurice Barrès,• and Charles Maurras • preached that the end of all state action should be ‘the exclusive pursuit of national policies, the absolute maintenance of national integrity, and the steady increase of national power’; and their eloquence persuaded countless numbers of otherwise reasonable people to regard foreigners as dangerous and untrustworthy enemies against whom stringent action was necessary and commendable….” Ibid.
- 33. “None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in 1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public schools, in the yellow journals,• which invented jingoism for the new and credulous reading public produced by those schools, and even in the lectures of university professors. Popular tribunes like Heinrich von Treitschke, Maurice Barrès,• and Charles Maurras • preached that the end of all state action should be ‘the exclusive pursuit of national policies, the absolute maintenance of national integrity, and the steady increase of national power’; and their eloquence persuaded countless numbers of otherwise reasonable people to regard foreigners as dangerous and untrustworthy enemies against whom stringent action was necessary and commendable….” Ibid.
- 34. “None of this would have mattered if there had existed other means or other organizations to check the destructive forces of the age, but there were not. The liberal parties were not alone in losing strength in these years; no political or social or religious organization proved capable in 1914 of asserting the claims of reason against the drift into chaos. For that matter, the most important religion of this age—stronger than liberalism, stronger than the varieties of socialism that will be described [in session 12], stronger even than organized Christianity—was nationalism, a blatant, uncritical, assertive nationalism that was propagated in the public schools, in the yellow journals,• which invented jingoism for the new and credulous reading public produced by those schools, and even in the lectures of university professors. Popular tribunes like Heinrich von Treitschke, Maurice Barrès, and Charles Maurras preached that the end of all state action should be ‘the exclusive pursuit of national policies, the absolute maintenance of national integrity, and the steady increase of national power’; and their eloquence persuaded countless numbers of otherwise reasonable people to regard foreigners as dangerous and untrustworthy enemies against whom stringent action was necessary and commendable….” Ibid.
- 35. “…The existence of a new literate but gullible reading public, capable of being played upon by the apostles of integral nationalism, was one of the complications of the age. Statesmen who sincerely wanted to preserve peace had to spend unceasing effort to inform and direct this impressionable public opinion. Politicians only interested in holding their jobs were tempted to tickle the ears of the groundlings, thus aiding and abetting the ugly nationalism of the age. “That the period which extended from 1871-1914 was one filled with impressive achievements in many fields cannot be denied. One need only think of the tremendous improvement in the material conditions of living, the achievement in most countries of systems of free compulsory elementary education, the steady progress of science, which was marked by such notable triumphs as the promulgation of the electron theory…” Op. cit., pp. 244-45.
- 36. “…The existence of a new literate but gullible reading public, capable of being played upon by the apostles of integral nationalism, was one of the complications of the age. Statesmen who sincerely wanted to preserve peace had to spend unceasing effort to inform and direct this impressionable public opinion. Politicians only interested in holding their jobs were tempted to tickle the ears of the groundlings, thus aiding and abetting the ugly nationalism of the age. “That the period which extended from 1871-1914 was one filled with impressive achievements in many fields cannot be denied. One need only think of the tremendous improvement in the material conditions of living, the achievement in most countries of systems of free compulsory elementary education, the steady progress of science, which was marked by such notable triumphs as the promulgation of the electron theory • and the discovery of radioactivity,• or the great increases in medical knowledge, which found immediate reflection in longer life and the decline of infant mortality. “In the field of the arts, the accomplishments of this period were hardly less distinguished. The least cultivated of the vastly expanded reading public doubtless found their artistic tastes satisfied by the popular newspapers (like Le Petite Journal • of Paris and The Daily Mail of London,• which consistently sold more than a million copies daily by providing a varied literary fare for its subscribers) or by family journals with names like Tit Bits • and Die Gartenlaube.• But more serious readers could choose from a literature varied enough to suit every taste….” Op. cit., pp. 244-45.
- 37. “…The existence of a new literate but gullible reading public, capable of being played upon by the apostles of integral nationalism, was one of the complications of the age. Statesmen who sincerely wanted to preserve peace had to spend unceasing effort to inform and direct this impressionable public opinion. Politicians only interested in holding their jobs were tempted to tickle the ears of the groundlings, thus aiding and abetting the ugly nationalism of the age. “That the period which extended from 1871-1914 was one filled with impressive achievements in many fields cannot be denied. One need only think of the tremendous improvement in the material conditions of living, the achievement in most countries of systems of free compulsory elementary education, the steady progress of science, which was marked by such notable triumphs as the promulgation of the electron theory • and the discovery of radioactivity,…” Op. cit., pp. 244-45.
- 38. “…The existence of a new literate but gullible reading public, capable of being played upon by the apostles of integral nationalism, was one of the complications of the age. Statesmen who sincerely wanted to preserve peace had to spend unceasing effort to inform and direct this impressionable public opinion. Politicians only interested in holding their jobs were tempted to tickle the ears of the groundlings, thus aiding and abetting the ugly nationalism of the age. “That the period which extended from 1871-1914 was one filled with impressive achievements in many fields cannot be denied. One need only think of the tremendous improvement in the material conditions of living, the achievement in most countries of systems of free compulsory elementary education, the steady progress of science, which was marked by such notable triumphs as the promulgation of the electron theory • and the discovery of radioactivity,• or the great increases in medical knowledge, which found immediate reflection in longer life and the decline of infant mortality. “In the field of the arts, the accomplishments of this period were hardly less distinguished. The least cultivated of the vastly expanded reading public doubtless found their artistic tastes satisfied by the popular newspapers (like Le Petite Journal • of Paris…” Op. cit., pp. 244-45.
- 41. “…The existence of a new literate but gullible reading public, capable of being played upon by the apostles of integral nationalism, was one of the complications of the age. Statesmen who sincerely wanted to preserve peace had to spend unceasing effort to inform and direct this impressionable public opinion. Politicians only interested in holding their jobs were tempted to tickle the ears of the groundlings, thus aiding and abetting the ugly nationalism of the age. “That the period which extended from 1871-1914 was one filled with impressive achievements in many fields cannot be denied. One need only think of the tremendous improvement in the material conditions of living, the achievement in most countries of systems of free compulsory elementary education, the steady progress of science, which was marked by such notable triumphs as the promulgation of the electron theory • and the discovery of radioactivity,• or the great increases in medical knowledge, which found immediate reflection in longer life and the decline of infant mortality. “In the field of the arts, the accomplishments of this period were hardly less distinguished. The least cultivated of the vastly expanded reading public doubtless found their artistic tastes satisfied by the popular newspapers (like Le Petite Journal • of Paris and The Daily Mail of London,• which consistently sold more than a million copies daily by providing a varied literary fare for its subscribers)…” Op. cit., pp. 244-45.
- 43. “…The existence of a new literate but gullible reading public, capable of being played upon by the apostles of integral nationalism, was one of the complications of the age. Statesmen who sincerely wanted to preserve peace had to spend unceasing effort to inform and direct this impressionable public opinion. Politicians only interested in holding their jobs were tempted to tickle the ears of the groundlings, thus aiding and abetting the ugly nationalism of the age. “That the period which extended from 1871-1914 was one filled with impressive achievements in many fields cannot be denied. One need only think of the tremendous improvement in the material conditions of living, the achievement in most countries of systems of free compulsory elementary education, the steady progress of science, which was marked by such notable triumphs as the promulgation of the electron theory • and the discovery of radioactivity,• or the great increases in medical knowledge, which found immediate reflection in longer life and the decline of infant mortality. “In the field of the arts, the accomplishments of this period were hardly less distinguished. The least cultivated of the vastly expanded reading public doubtless found their artistic tastes satisfied by the popular newspapers (like Le Petite Journal • of Paris and The Daily Mail of London,• which consistently sold more than a million copies daily by providing a varied literary fare for its subscribers) or by family journals with names like Tit Bits • and Die Gartenlaube.• But more serious readers could choose from a literature varied enough to suit every taste….” Op. cit., pp. 244-45.
- 45. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,…” Op. cit., p. 245.
- 46. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,…”
- 47. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,…”
- 48. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,…” Op. cit., p. 245.
- 49. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;…”
- 50. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,…”
- 51. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,•…”
- 52. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,…”
- 53. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,…”
- 54. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling, H. Rider Haggard,…” Op. cit., p. 245.
- 55. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;…”
- 56. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds …”
- 57. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s);…”
- 58. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,…”
- 59. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith, Henry James,…”
- 60. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,• Henry James,• and George Moore;…”
- 61. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,• Henry James,• and George Moore;• and the first works of such writers of the post-war period as John Galsworthy,…”
- 62. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,• Henry James,• and George Moore;• and the first works of such writers of the post-war period as John Galsworthy,• Thomas Mann,…”
- 63. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,• Henry James,• and George Moore;• and the first works of such writers of the post-war period as John Galsworthy,• Thomas Mann,• and Marcel Proust.…”
- 64. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,• Henry James,• and George Moore;• and the first works of such writers of the post-war period as John Galsworthy,• Thomas Mann,• and Marcel Proust.• In the field of the drama, the most popular productions continued to be of the type made fashionable by Dumas,…”
- 65. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,• Henry James,• and George Moore;• and the first works of such writers of the post-war period as John Galsworthy,• Thomas Mann,• and Marcel Proust.• In the field of the drama, the most popular productions continued to be of the type made fashionable by Dumas,• but at the beginning of the 1880s naturalism began to conquer the stage. The most profound influence in this respect was that wielded by the Norwegian Henrick Ibsen,…”
- 66. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,• Henry James,• and George Moore;• and the first works of such writers of the post-war period as John Galsworthy,• Thomas Mann,• and Marcel Proust.• In the field of the drama, the most popular productions continued to be of the type made fashionable by Dumas,• but at the beginning of the 1880s naturalism began to conquer the stage. The most profound influence in this respect was that wielded by the Norwegian Henrick Ibsen,• whose attacks upon the conventions of the romantic drama affected the work of a whole generation and were reflected in the plays of Hauptmann…in Germany,…”
- 67. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,• Henry James,• and George Moore;• and the first works of such writers of the post-war period as John Galsworthy,• Thomas Mann,• and Marcel Proust.• In the field of the drama, the most popular productions continued to be of the type made fashionable by Dumas,• but at the beginning of the 1880s naturalism began to conquer the stage. The most profound influence in this respect was that wielded by the Norwegian Henrick Ibsen,• whose attacks upon the conventions of the romantic drama affected the work of a whole generation and were reflected in the plays of Hauptmann…in Germany,• Chekhov in Russia,• …”
- 68. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,• Henry James,• and George Moore;• and the first works of such writers of the post-war period as John Galsworthy,• Thomas Mann,• and Marcel Proust.• In the field of the drama, the most popular productions continued to be of the type made fashionable by Dumas,• but at the beginning of the 1880s naturalism began to conquer the stage. The most profound influence in this respect was that wielded by the Norwegian Henrick Ibsen,• whose attacks upon the conventions of the romantic drama affected the work of a whole generation and were reflected in the plays of Hauptmann…in Germany,• Chekhov in Russia,• Schnitzler in Austria,…”
- 69. “…This included the work of such masters of psychological realism as Tolstoy,• Zola,• Thomas Hardy,• the Berlin novelist Theodor Fontane,• and the Norwegian Bjørnson;• the historical romances of Robert Louis Stevenson,• Conrad Ferdinand Meyer,• and Henryk Sienkiewicz,• and tales of adventure in exotic lands by Rudyard Kipling,• H. Rider Haggard,• and Pierre Loti;• H. G. Wells’• stories of science and future worlds and A. Conan Doyle’s • reports on the exploits of Sherlock Holmes (who became a European figure in the 1880s); the elaborately styled novels of George Meredith,• Henry James,• and George Moore;• and the first works of such writers of the post-war period as John Galsworthy,• Thomas Mann,• and Marcel Proust.• In the field of the drama, the most popular productions continued to be of the type made fashionable by Dumas,• but at the beginning of the 1880s naturalism began to conquer the stage. The most profound influence in this respect was that wielded by the Norwegian Henrick Ibsen,• whose attacks upon the conventions of the romantic drama affected the work of a whole generation and were reflected in the plays of Hauptmann…in Germany,• Chekhov in Russia,• Schnitzler in Austria,• and, above all, Ibsen’s truest follower, George Bernard Shaw,• whose assaults upon bourgeois morality, romantic idealism, and the heroic and the sublime equalled those of his master in vigor.”
- 70. “In painting and poetry the most significant movement was impressionism, which Arnold Hausner has suggested was an artistic reflection of the new dynamism and new feeling for speed and change that were introduced into European life by modern technology. In painting impressionism was characterized by an attempt to portray reality not as something existing but as something in the process of becoming or ceasing to be; and every impressionistic picture, whether it was painted by Degas.” Ibid.
- 71. “In painting and poetry the most significant movement was impressionism, which Arnold Hausner has suggested was an artistic reflection of the new dynamism and new feeling for speed and change that were introduced into European life by modern technology. In painting impressionism was characterized by an attempt to portray reality not as something existing but as something in the process of becoming or ceasing to be; and every impressionistic picture, whether it was painted by Degas Ibid.
- 72. Ballet Rehearsal, 1873, The Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- 74. “In painting and poetry the most significant movement was impressionism, which Arnold Hausner has suggested was an artistic reflection of the new dynamism and new feeling for speed and change that were introduced into European life by modern technology. In painting impressionism was characterized by an attempt to portray reality not as something existing but as something in the process of becoming or ceasing to be; and every impressionistic picture, whether it was painted by Degas • or Toulouse-Lautrec,…” Ibid.
- 75. At the Moulin Rouge by Toulouse-Lautrec (1892) —Google Art Project
- 77. “In painting and poetry the most significant movement was impressionism, which Arnold Hausner has suggested was an artistic reflection of the new dynamism and new feeling for speed and change that were introduced into European life by modern technology. In painting impressionism was characterized by an attempt to portray reality not as something existing but as something in the process of becoming or ceasing to be; and every impressionistic picture, whether it was painted by Degas or Toulouse-Lautrec, was the portrayal of a moment in time in such a way that it enabled the observer to sense the unceasing processes of growth and decline. In the age of rapid urbanization, impressionism was art for the city dweller, who lived amidst impermanence and sensation. The poets of impressionism sought equally to express reality in terms of fleeting sensations, momentary moods, and vague perceptions; and this made it more difficult for the general reader to understand the poetry of Verlaine and Mallarmé,…” Ibid.
- 78. “In painting and poetry the most significant movement was impressionism, which Arnold Hausner has suggested was an artistic reflection of the new dynamism and new feeling for speed and change that were introduced into European life by modern technology. In painting impressionism was characterized by an attempt to portray reality not as something existing but as something in the process of becoming or ceasing to be; and every impressionistic picture, whether it was painted by Degas • or Toulouse-Lautrec,• was the portrayal of a moment in time in such a way that it enabled the observer to sense the unceasing processes of growth and decline. In the age of rapid urbanization, impressionism was art for the city dweller, who lived amidst impermanence and sensation. The poets of impressionism sought equally to express reality in terms of fleeting sensations, momentary moods, and vague perceptions; and this made it more difficult for the general reader to understand the poetry of Verlaine and Mallarmé, or Detlev von Liliencron and Rilke,…”
- 79. “Impressionism affected the philosophy as well as the art of the last years of this period. Both Freud’s psychoanalysis and Bergson’s philosophy of vitalism are intimately connected with it, for the Viennese doctor’s notions would be incomprehensible without impressionism’s view of reality as composed of constantly changing moods, impressions, and ideas, and Bergson’s emphasis upon the spiritual as opposed to the mechanical forces in life was informed by impressionism’s implicit denial of materialism as a philosophy. With respect to this last point, it may be noted that, in the years immediately preceding the outbreak of World War I, Bergson’s philosophy had great influence not only upon introspective novelists and poets like Alain-Fournier, Francis Jammes, André Gide and Stefan George but upon others, like Charle Péguy, Romain Rolland, Jules Remains and Gabriele d’Annunzio, who abandoned the passive art for art’s sake attitude of earlier impressionist writers and turned to a new activism that sought to change society. “In music the giants of the period were still Wagner, Gounod, and Verdi, whose work had begun before 1870. The last of these was to grow in stature as a result of his inspired collaboration with Arrigo Boito, which was to produce Otello in 1887 and Falstaff in 1893. But there were new names also. Tchaikovsky, Moussorgsky, Rimski-Korsakov, Smetana, Dvorak, and, in the last years before the war, Enescu made the folk music of eastern Europe known to the whole continent, while Grieg and Sibelius accustomed audiences to novel nordic strains. Italy gave the world the music of Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Respighi, and that master of operatic writing Puccini, whose Manon Lescaut (1893) and La Bohême (1896) aroused lachrymose enthusiasm all over the Western World….” Op. cit., pp. 245-47.
- 80. “….For French music this was a golden age, introduced by the premiere of Bizet’s Carmen in 1875 (an event that led Nietzsche to cry delightedly, ‘We must Mediterranean-ize music!’); marked in the years that followed by the great achievements of Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré and Jules Massenet, whose Manon (1884) is the most French of all operas; and reaching a new height in the year 1902 with the first presentation of Maurice Ravel’s Pavane pour une enfante défunte and of Claude Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande, a work which, in the words of Ernest Walker, is ‘the summit of musical impressionism, catching every faint nuance of the words, always suggesting rather saying, but always tense and direct and full of throbbing beauty.’ In Austria and Germany the majestic blending of the classical and romantic symphonic styles that had begun with Beethoven was continued by Brahms in the first years of the period and by Gustav Mahler in the last; while in opera Wagner’s penchant for the grandiose and sensational was carried further by Richard Strauß whose first operas, Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909), outraged or baffled critics. The British were less productive; but no one would deny that the Savoy operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, which had their first performances between 1871 and 1889, were a valuable contribution to the gaiety of nations. “These triumphs were so notable that one wonders what might have been achieved in Europe had not so much of the energy of these years been devoted to activities that were essentially destructive. Op. cit., pp. 247.