History of Modern Europe - Essay Example

History of Europe Because all men are equal by nature, that is to say, by their basic humanity, nature does not make anyone to others ... Butwithin this natural equality, people are differentiated by factors that make their status unequal, and forge between them relationships and dependencies that determine the various duties of each toward the others, and make government necessary ... Jean Domat, the renowned French Jurist (1697) Introduction Europe is the home of both ancient and modern civilizations. Therefore it is of great interest to historians. Each period in history is marked by distinctive characteristics such as the common political and cultural ideologies and ethical leanings. This period 1815-50 was especially tumultuous with regard to the ideologies that were put forth by Jeremy Bentham, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels, Edmund Burke and the like. These ideologies were given names suffixed with 'ism' to the principle governing theory; like, Radicalism (Radical-ism), Republicanism, Socialism, Nationalism, Conservatism, and Classical Liberalism. They had their origination in the Enlightenment era which had like thinkers Rene Descartes, Voltaire and Jean Jacques-Rousseau. Rousseau argued for liberty, and demand for equality of men. In The Social Contract he states, "the human race would perish unless it changed its manner of life." (p. 34) This brief essay shall try to answer some questions associated with the above period of European history, such as: the impact of the changes in European cities between 1815 and 1850, the impact of Industrial Revolution on the urban landscape, the appraisal of problems of by contemporaries regarding the social cost of the Industrial Revolution and the interpretation of modern historians interpret those costs. In the process it shall envisage an understanding of the subject, in terms of the impact of technological revolution that drove industrial revolution, and ideological changes that effected political changes in countries like France, Britain and indeed whole of Europe. Changes in the European Cities (years 1815-50) In Britain, Manchester had more than about "four hundred thousand inhabitants" (Engels p. 39) and gives a vivid picture of industrial pollution already making the river water "narrow, coal-black, foul-smelling stream, full of debris and refuse" (p.41). His record indicates that a railway line was already established between Leeds and Liverpool. The industrial boom in Manchester is further indicated by his record that there were "tanneries, bone mills and gas-works" (p.41) Manchester, had all the water, railway connection to carry raw materials and its cotton-manufacture-conducive climate, made it and important industrial town. Richard Guest records of the cotton manufacturing activities in Manchester and other cities of England, "In 1818, there were in Manchester, Stockport, Middleton, Hyde, Stayley Bridge, and their vicinities, fourteen factories, containing about two thousand Looms" the same increased to 32 in 1821, with 5732 looms; and since then it only steadily increased. Coal was also mined and at collieries in some places like Yorkshire and Lancashire, East of Scotland and South Wales, women workers were also engaged (Parliamentary Papers, 1842, Vol XVI, pp. 24, 196). 'Chartism' or the radical movement of the English working class, came out with a "People's Charter" (1837) with six points, which was submitted to the British Parliament in the year 1838. The development in Russia/Poland was more political in nature, with Poland declaring independence from Russia in St. Petersburg, in the year 1932, in order ensure "the continuance of all the essential requisites for the happiness of individuals, and of the country in general, namely, security of persons and property, liberty of conscience, and all the laws and privileges of towns and communes" (Hordynacki pp. 424-428) Vienna and the rest of Europe in general seem to be more under the influence of unifications under ideological nationalism and appear to have to have been under siege or political upheavals as indicated from the speech of Mazzini Giuseppe Mazzini the founder (1831) of Young Italy, in his speech in 1852, "They [people] struggled, they still struggle, as do Poland, Germany, and Hungary" (pp. 266). Urban Europe - Positive Impact and the Problems of Industrial Revolution Probably because Engels was a socialist, the changes in the European landscape due to industrialization, is more visible to him. The changes brought about by the economics of industrial revolution, can only be imagined. In a previously agricultural economy, non-skilled workers were out of job due to lack of farming activities; the industrial revolution ensured work and wages all round the year and utilized the ready at hand non-skilled hands. However, wages were not commensurate with the work. Engels and Marx held the view that the capitalistic economy of the industrializing West, only served to deepen the class differences, "while living at Manchester, I was made painfully aware that economic factors, hitherto assigned an insignificant role or no role at all by historians, were, at least under modern conditions, a decisive power in the world." (Engels 1933, p.136) More importantly, houses were also the centre of small scale production units, prior to the industrial revolution; however it changed with the rampant mechanization of spinning units, steam engine units, and porcelain manufacturing units, factories became the norm. The money based economy pulled more people from the rural areas to the cities and thus they were over crowded with people, hardly displaying "a trifling degree of cleanliness;" "irregular cramming together of dwellings" with "every scrap of space left has been filled up until not a foot of land is left to be further occupied" (Engels 40). Andrew Ure details the advantages of industrialization with less negativity, and mentions that a factory near Stockport was able to reduce nearly 50% of the expenditure on wages because of mechanization (p 45). Furthermore, as accounted by Ure, the advent of railways created a demand for fuel, and helped pay the miners better and also supported by ship building and canal system improved the transport system, and commerce. However, even in Britain, problems of poor sanitary conditions, lack of infrastructure in housing, poor working conditions for workers, and lack of sufficient power, were the problems of rapid urbanization and industrialization, which could not be tackled immediately by the state. In Germany, industrialization was transforming its urban spaces especially Prussia's Rhineland and especially transformed Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin and Vienna. New political forces were transforming the reality on the ground. Railway lines laid in 1830-50 fuelled the demand of coal and steel. Thus Prussian coal fields, like the Ruhrgebiet and the Saar underwent metamorphosis from agrarian regions to industrial regions (Merriman p.685-7). In contrast, Paris and other European cities were yet to catch up with Britain's industrial revolution, France went through its worst famine in 1846. Though Benjamin Franklin records the French method of making stove for burning 'pitcoal', wherein there is "no smoke" and that the method maybe of great benefit to "businesses," in other words large smelting industries (Franklin p. 410-31), the country's political climate was hardly in a position to take industrial revolution. When in Paris (1948), the bourgeoisie tried to organize fund raising in all major urban areas, by hosting ticket-for-dinners with speeches; it was canceled for the fear of protest from the proletariat. This French experience reminds one of the words of Frederich List "it [history] justifies at the same time the exigencies of government and nationality, showing how nations have perished for not having sufficiently watched over the interests of their culture and power" (List 63-81). The Social Cost of Industrial Revolution Probably the most important social cost of Industrial revolution was the change in the value system. In countries like France and Holland, the taxing of middle classes led to large-scale protests and revolution. Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto was published in 1948, and his Communist ideology spread rapidly all over Europe, and was soon be adopted as the state policy by some nations (like China and Russia). On the civil code and justice systems, Cesare Beccaria (1817) applied his knowledge of Enlightenment theories to the analysis of crime and punishment, in order to highlight the shoddiness of the conventional legal and penal codes. He repeats the age-old maxim that prevention is better than cure "It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. This is the fundamental principle of good legislation, which is the art of conducting men to the maximum of happiness, and to the minimum of misery, if we may apply this mathematical expression to the good and evil of life..." (pp.xii -148149). In Britain, the pioneer of industrial revolution, economy goes through its boom and fall, prompting more and more people to abandon the agrarian occupations and to take up jobs in unknown cities and towns. There is a drift in the population causing 'alienation' - the term taken from Hegel's philosophy that human beings become alienated from God. Engels cries out that industrial revolution has only served to enhance the difference between the moneyed and the working-class, "with outspoken conscious determination, the working people's quarters are sharply separated from the sections of the city reserved for the middle-class" (p. 39). Florence Nightingale's (often called as the Lady with the Lamp) laments the conditions as "indeed a pitiful and disgusting story" (Nightingale pp. 38287). Nightingale also has drawn clear plans as to how human waste should be disposed, and role of the Scavenging Authority to participate in the movement. The greatest social shift, as the result of industrialization was that of women leaving their traditional domains of the household - domestic chore routines, in search of industrialized jobs. Even though the concept of women working in households as tailors and domestic help was nothing new, breaking away from their traditional confines to work is factories is mentioned by Ure, Parliamentary Papers and Florence Nightingale's writings, quoted above. Child Labor was also a normal practice, and frequently any child above thirteen years of age would supplement the family income by working at the factory. Modern Historians Interpretation Immanuel Wallerstein, in his work The Modern World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World Economy in the Sixteenth Century, discusses the transformations that have given birth to the modern capitalistic world. According to his interpretation, capitalism of the Western nations was the consequence of the short comings of the feudal system. Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist minister, takes a rather critical view of the impacts of industrialization, stating that some aspects of industrialization indeed increase the insecurity of the working-class, instead of alleviating it. The factors are: the entry of mechanization, and the reorganization of the industry, the redundancy of human labor due to the speed of machines, and the entry of immigrant labor in the job market lowering wages (Rauschenbusch p. 230-86). Conclusion Europe has been irreversibly changed by the industrial revolution. Britain, due to some factors like availability of coal, suitable climatic conditions, technological advancements, and a relatively peaceful existence, pioneered the industrial revolution in Europe. Germany also progressed technologically, while countries like France and Italy caught up with industrialization later on. The most prominent impact of the western industrialization is the rise of capitalism; however, socialism and other 'isms' or ideologies too gained importance, due to the rapid spread of industrialization. One of the most important social impacts was women taking up factory jobs to supplement wages. Debate on whether industrialization has done more good or bad is an on-going debate, even today. It makes useful study, since by learning the sequence of the past, one can equip oneself for the happenings of the future, because as the maxim goes, 'History repeats itself'. List of works cited Beccaria, Cesare. An Essay on Crimes and Punishments, E. D. Ingraham, trans. (Philadelphia: H. Nicklin, 1819),pp.xii,1819,47,5960,9394,104-105,148149. Online source - Modern History Sourcebook. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/18beccaria.html Domat, Jean. Le droit public, suite des lois civiles dans leur ordre naturel, vol. 3, Oeuvres completes, nouvelle edition revue corrige, ed. Joseph Remy (Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1829), pp. 1-2, 15-2 1, 26-27, 35, 39, 40, 44-45. Translated by Ruth Kleinman in Core Four Sourcebook. Online source - Modern History Sourcebook. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1687domat.html Engels, Frederick. The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1892), pp. 45, 48-53. Online source - Modern History Sourcebook: Industrial Manchester, 1844. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1844engels.html Engels, Frederick. Germany: Revolution and Counter-Revolution (New York, 1933), p. 126. Franklin, Benjamin. "Description of a New Stove for Burning Pitcoal and Consuming All its smoke. Written at Sea 1785." State Library of Pennsylvania: Ben Franklin Collection (1818-1819). Online source. April 15, 2007. http://205.247.101.31:2005/cdm4/document.phpCISOROOT=/SLP2005001&CISOPTR =891&REC=14 Hordynacki, Josef. "Tsar Nicholas I: Imperial Manifesto on Poland, March 25, 1832" in History of the Late Polish Revolution and the Events of the Campaign, (Boston, 1833), pp. 424-428. Online source Modern History Sourcebook: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1832poland.html List, Friedrich George. National System of Political Economy (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1856), pp. 63-64, 69-70, 73, 77-81. Online source. Modern History Sourcebook: George Frederich List: National Economy. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1856list.html Mazzini, Giuseppe. "Europe: Its Condition and Prospects," Essays: Selected from the Writings, Literary, Political and Religious of Joseph Mazzini, ed. William Clark (London: Walter Scott, 1880), pp. 266, 27778, 29192. Online source. Modern History Sourcebook. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1852mazzini.html Merriman, John. "Industrialization in the German States" in: A History of Modern Europe, NY: W.W. Norton, 1996. pp.685-687. Nightingale, Florence. Selected Writings of Florence Nightingale, ed. Lucy Ridgely Seymer (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1954), pp. 38287. Online source. Modern History Sourcebook. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/nightingale-rural.html Parliamentary Papers (Great Britain) 1842, VoL XVI, pp. 24, 196. Online source. Modern History Sourcebook: Women Miners in the English Coal Pits. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1842womenminers.html Rauschenbusch, Walter. Christianity and the Social Crisis (New York, The MacMillan Company, 1908): 230-86. Online source. Modern History Sourcebook: The Social Gospel. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/rausch-socialgospel.html Rousseau, JeanJacques. Contrat social ou Principes du droit politique (Paris: Garnier Frres 1800), pp. 240332, passim. Translated by Henry A. Myers. Online source. Modern History Sourcebook: JeanJacques Rousseau: The Social Contract, 1763. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/Rousseau-soccon.html Ure, Andrew. The Philosophy of Manufactures (London: Chas. Knight 1835), pp 5-8, 14-15, 20- 21, 23, 29-31. Online source. Modern History Sourcebook: The Philosophy of the Manufacturers, 1835. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1835ure.html Wallerstein, Immanuel. The Modern World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World Economy in the Sixteenth Century (New York: Academic Press, 1974). Online source Modern History Sourcebook: Summary of Wallerstein on World System Theory. April 15, 2007. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/wallerstein.html Read More