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LITERARY MOVEMENTS
Realism. Realist literature was developed by authors such as Honoré de Balzac (France), Charles Dickens (England), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russia) and Benito Pérez Galdós (Spain).
Naturalism. Naturalistic writers depicted everyday reality with extreme realism. In naturalistic works, people would change for the better if their living conditions changed. Writers in both movements wrote in an objective style, faithfully representing reality in the form of a social critique. -
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SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT
Many cultural and scientific advances were made in the 19th century. The great scientific revolution of the 17th century was followed by a second scientific revolution during this period.
The creation of schools, universities, scientific societies and research centres to support the industrialisation process
Academic prestige as a sign of social prestige. Many scientists became well known public figures or were hired by members of the upper class to give lectures or write articles. -
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SUFFRAGISM AND FEMINISM
At the end of the 19th century, there continued to be great inequality between men and women. Although men had achieved the right to vote thanks to the successive liberal revolutions of 1820, 1830 and 1848, women had not.
ecause of these injustices, women, especially in Great Britain, began to form groups calling for gender equality. Because their main demand at the time was the right to suffrage or to vote, they became known as suffragists, or suffragettes in Great Britain. -
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SUFFRAGISM IN SPAIN
The fight for women’s right to vote in Spain did not begin until well into the 20th century. Novelist Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851-1921) criticised the political advances made by liberal men because they had actually increased inequality between men and women.
Writer and activist Concepción Arenal (1820-1893) believed that women should not be restricted to the traditional roles of wife and mother. -
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EMMELINE PANKHURST
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) is considered the most important British feminist of her time. She was an activist and leader of the suffragette movement, but was criticised by her contemporaries for the very aggressive methods - such as smashing windows and supporting arson - that she used to make her views known. When she was arrested, she often fought with police and went on hunger strikes. She spent years touring, giving speeches and participating in marches. -
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THE BISMARCKIAN SYSTEMS OF ALLIANCES (1872-1890)
First system (1872). Known as the League of the Three Emperors, this was an alliance between the Austro-Hungarian, German and Russian empires.
Second system (1879-1882). Bismarck made a bilateral agreement with Austria (Dual Alliance).
Third system (1887). The German chancellor reinforced the Triple Alliance and signed the Reinsurance Treaty with the Russian tsar. This treaty guaranteed Russian neutrality in the event of an attack by France. -
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ARMED PEACE
After Bismarck resigned in 1890, two opposing diplomatic blocs formed in Europe: the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy) and the Triple Entente (Russia, France and Great Britain). The Entente meant the end of British neutrality in Europe. Britain was worried because Germany’s navy had expanded into a battle fleet that could threaten the supremacy of the Royal Navy. -
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Women and the Struggle for Voting
Until the First World War, the suffragists achieved very little. Only four Nordic states (Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway) and New Zealand recognised women’s right to vote.he situation would change thanks to the Great War, when 20 million soldiers went to fight in Europe. At the end of the war, other nations began to recognise women’s right to vote, such as Germany, Canada, Spain, the United States, Great Britain, Holland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden. -
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THE TENSION ARISES
As diplomatic tension between the two blocs increased, each bloc invested in its military, taking advantage of the advances of industrialisation. This process was called the arms race or armed peace.
Between 1905 and 1911, France and Germany were on the brink of war over control of Morocco, a territory that Germany wanted for its strategic value and because of the raw materials it could provide for German industry.