CHAPTER 24: 1894-1914
AN AGE OF MODERNITY, ANXIETY, AND IMPERIALISM
READING QUESTIONS
1. Define Social Darwinism. How did this interpretation of human existence shape late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century European society? In what sections of modern society today do we see the persistence of this philosophy?
2. What did women hope to achieve in the feminist movement? To what extent were they
successful by 1914? Today?
3. Describe the situation of and attitudes toward European Jews in the nineteenth century?
4. Evaluate the Russian Revolution of 1905, as to its causes, course of events, and results.
5. What were the causes of the "New Imperialism" of the late nineteenth century? What were
some of the arguments to justify this imperialism? What were the results or consequences of this
imperialism?
6. What were some of the underlying causes for the Great War that broke out in 1914?
7. How did “bearing the white man's burden” affect European society in modern times?
Identifications:
1. Max Planck and quanta
2. Albert Einstein’s E=mc2
3. Friedrich Nietzsche’s “slave morality”
4. Henri Bergson’s “life force
5. Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis
6. the ego, the id, and the superego
7. Social Darwinism and Herbert Spencer
8. Houston Stewart Chamberlain
9. Ernst Renan’s Life of Jesus
10. Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors
11. Leo XIII’s De Rerum Novarum
12. Emile Zola and Leo Tolstoy
13. the Symbolists
14. Impressionism
15. Camille Pissarro and Claude Monet
16. Post-Impressionism
17. Paul Cezanne and Vincent van Gogh
18. George Eastman
19. Pablo Picasso and Cubism
20. Wassily Kandinsky and Abstract Expressionism
21. Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
22. the Pankhursts and the “suffragettes”
23. the “new woman”
24. Maria Montessori
25. Alfred Dreyfus
26. Theodore Herzl and Zionism
27. Fabian Socialists
28. David Lloyd George
29. trasformismo
30. Pan-German League
31. Russo-Japanese War
32. “Bloody Sunday”
33. Peter Stolypin
34. New Imperialism
35. “white man’s burden”
36. Cecil Rhodes
37. Boer War
38. Suez Canal
39. Hong Kong
40. “open door” policy
41. Commodore Matthew Perry
42. Boxer Rebellion
43. Meiji Restoration
44. Indian National Congress
45. Bismarckian System
46. Congress of Berlin
47. Triple Alliance
48. Emperor William II
49. Triple Entente
50. Balkans’ Crises
MAP EXERCISES
!. Africa in 1914. MAP 24.1. What parts of Africa were still independent in 1914? Why? Which
European nations controlled the largest territories in Africa? Can one ascertain from the map which areas would be of greatest value? Why and or why not? Which of the European powers were the “have nots” in Africa? Could that be a cause for war in Europe? Why and or why not? (page 706)
2. Asia in 1914. MAP 24.2. From a geographical perspective, why was China more subject to the
foreign pressures of the New Imperialism than Japan? Compare and contrast Britain’s Asian empire with
that of Germany? How can the differences be explained? (page 707)
3. The Balkans in 1913. MAP 24.3. Which of the major European powers had the greatest opportunities
in the Balkans and why? From a geographical perspective, why did the breakup of the Ottoman Empire
have such a momentous impact on the history of Europe in the twentieth century? (page 713)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR THE PRIMARY SOURCES (BOXED DOCUMENTS)
1. “Freud and the Concept of Repression”: What did Freud mean by the concept of repression? What is the relationship between repression and the unconscious? What forces in modern European society would have contributed to force individuals into repressive modes of thinking and acting? Why is Freud considered to be one of the seminal figures of the twentieth century? (page 685)
2. “Advice to Women: Be Independent”: How do you explain the differences between this approach to the role of women and the one found in the selection by Elizabeth Sanford in the last chapter? What is the role, if any, of the artist in changing societal norms? What developments in the social, political, and cultural histories of Europe in the period between the two documents may explain the differences you detect within them? Would Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House,have been controversial when first performed, and if so, why? (page 694)
4. “The Voice of Zionism: Theodor Herzl and the Jewish State”: What forces in European society came together to aggravate anti-Semitism in the late nineteenth century? What is the relationship between nationalism and Zionism at this time? Was Herzl’s Zionism simply a reaction to Western anti-Semitism, or were there also other causes that led to his movement? Could he be considered a prophet? Why or why not? (page 696)
5. “Bloody Sunday”: What were the possible factors that led to the shooting of the demonstrators by the troops? Who did Father Gapon hold responsible for the massacre of the demonstrators? Was that justified? Why and or why not? What were the immediate consequences of the Revolution of 1905? What impact, if any, might have the violence of 1905 have on the events of 1917? (page 700)
6. “The White Man’s Burden”: What is the central argument in Kipling’s poem? Is he advocating European expansion and Western imperialism or is he pointing out the responsibilities that go with imperialism or both? Is the poem idealistic, racist, paternalistic, or what? How? Within European society, who might be inspired by Kipling’s poem and who would not? (page 704)
7. “The Emperor’s ‘Big Mouth’”: What did Emperor William II mean to say? What did he actually say? What does this interview with William II in 1908 reveal about the emperor's attitudes and character? Might another German monarch have avoided war in 1914? How? (page 712)