The Industrial Revolution Flashcards

The Industrial Revolution, the increased urbanization of industrial societies, posed challenges and presented opportunities for both government and culture. This deck reviews the efforts of civil authorities to cope with the challenges of industrialization, the rise of realism, and the efforts of political theorists to respond to the new challenges.

1
Q

Define:

Romanticism

A

The Romantic Movement was a cultural movement prevalent in the first half of the 19th century, and emphasized the importance of emotion over reason. Romanticism influenced art, music, philosophy, and religion.

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2
Q

How did Romantics view nature?

A

Unlike Enlightenment thinkers, who sought to understand nature, Romantics drew inspiration from nature’s beauty.

Depictions of the natural world dominated the art of the Romantic Era, driven by a desire to appeal to the viewer’s emotion rather than reason.

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3
Q

What Romantic British poet’s works include Don Juan and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage?

A

Lord Byron, who wrote primarily between 1812 and 1824, when he died of fever while fighting in the Greek War of Independence. One of the most prominent of the Romantic poets, he set Don Juan in the archaic and exotic Spain.

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4
Q

One of the most popular Romantic writers, Sir _____ _____ set his stories in the Scottish Highlands.

A

Walter Scott

In his works, Scott portrayed the Highland Scots as noble, exotic, and ultimately doomed.

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5
Q

In Faust, romantic writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe describes the sale of the main character’s soul to the _____.

A

Devil

Unlike the pragmatic writers of the Enlightenment, many Romantic writers took for their subject spiritual themes, such as God or the Devil.

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6
Q

What composer do music historians commonly regard as the most renowned of Romantic composers?

A

Ludwig van Beethoven is widely considered the most prominent of the Romantic composers; his works appeal to his listeners’ emotion.

Music during the Romantic period did not differ a great deal from previous periods, but it did contain more soaring melodies designed to inspire emotion from the listener.

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7
Q

What Romantic Polish composer wrote his “Revolutionary Étude” in support of his country’s November Uprising of 1831?

A

Frédéric Chopin

Chopin was outside of Poland at the time of the uprising, and avoided its subsequent brutal repression by Russian and Polish troops. His work seethes with emotion for his subjugated country.

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8
Q

In a collection of four operas known as The Ring Cycle, Romantic German composer _____ _____ drew inspiration from Norse myths and the Nibelungenlied, an early German poem.

A

Richard Wagner

Like Wagner, many Romantic writers, artists, poets, and composers drew inspiration from their country’s mythical past, emphasizing both emotive and nationalistic themes.

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9
Q

Although he composed a number of works (such as The Nutcracker), Russian Romantic composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s most famous work may be the _____ _____, written to celebrate his country’s defeat of Napoleon.

A

1812 Overture

Written in 1880, the 1812 Overture is loud, boisterous, and designed to stir emotions of patriotism within the listener. The 1812 Overture remains popular today, especially as Tchaikovsky included cannons in his musical score.

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10
Q

Who was Immanuel Kant?

A

Immanuel Kant was a German Enlightenment philosopher. In his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant argued that science and nature were two separate spheres, and that while science could describe the natural world, it could never be a guide to moral behavior.

Instead, Kant suggested that moral behavior was guided by the “categorical imperative,” an instinct placed by God in man’s mind.

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11
Q

How did Jeremy Bentham propose that a law or institution should be analyzed?

A

Bentham, the founder of the Utilitarians, proposed that the utility of any law or institution should be measured on the principle of “the greatest happiness for the greatest number.”

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12
Q

What did German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel mean when he suggested that progress occurs via the “dialectic”?

A

Hegel proposed the dialectic as a means of studying humanity’s progress. Hegel’s dialectic held that a prevailing idea (thesis) would be challenged by an opposing view (antithesis) to create a whole new idea (synthesis).

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13
Q

What was the Enclosure Movement?

A

Beginning in the late 1700s, British landowners began to erect fences on their property, enclosing them and blocking off land previously available for grazing and farming.

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14
Q

How did the Enclosure Movement affect Britain’s cities?

A

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Enclosure Movement displaced many small farmers, who moved to Britain’s cities to look for work, increasing Britain’s urban population and providing it with a large pool of available and inexpensive workers.

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15
Q

Between 1750 and 1850, the population of Great Britain tripled to 30 million. Why?

A

There were a number of reasons why the British population exploded. Increased agriculture technology made food cheaper and more abundant, leading to an increased birthrate and larger families.

The death rate fell, as disease became better understood and vaccines, such as the one for smallpox, were developed. The increased birthrate meant that there was an increased labor supply, providing the manpower for Britain’s Industrial Revolution.

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16
Q

By the early 1800s, Britain possessed the world’s foremost _____ system, which allowed for efficient investment of excess capital in industry and trade.

A

banking

The development of the British banking system was spurred in part by the financial exigencies of Britain’s wars with France as the Bank of England was responsible for raising the necessary funds for Britain’s armed forces. In turn, the Bank of England became responsible for issuing currency backed by gold reserves.

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17
Q

In the late 18th century, cotton replaced wool as the preferred cloth of Britons for clothing. Why was cotton preferable?

A

Cotton was preferable to wool because cotton was lighter and had less of a tendency to retain moisture during the cold British winters.

Global demand for cotton cloth kept pace, and cotton became the first product of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, as British entrepreneurs financed technological developments to increase production.

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18
Q

During the early years of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, what was the primary power source used to create textiles?

A

Early British textile companies were powered by water; inventions such as Richard Arkwright’s water frame and Edmund Cartwright’s power loom used waterpower from streams and rivers as the motive force for production.

Textile production required manufacturers both to be close to a water source and have a central location where the means of production could be housed; the first modern factories developed next to Britain’s rivers and streams.

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19
Q

What 1769 invention displaced rivers and streams as the motive source for British factories?

A

In 1769, James Watt patented an improved steam engine, which replaced rivers and streams in textile factories. British textile production, no longer hampered by the speed of water, skyrocketed to 2 billion yards of cotton fiber per year in the 1850s.

In addition to textile manufacturing, the steam engine had all sorts of other applications, ranging from mining to shipping.

20
Q

What mineral powered the early steam engines?

A

Early steam engines were powered by coal. Britain possessed an abundance of coal, providing the country with cheap fuel with which to ignite the Industrial Revolution.

21
Q

During the first half of the 19th century, inland transportation costs for British manufactured and agricultural goods plummeted, lowering their cost for both British and overseas buyers. Why?

A

By 1850, Britain had more that 6,000 miles of railroads, powered by steam-driven locomotives. Shipping goods via railroad was inexpensive, and the lower cost of British products allowed industrialists to compete successfully in international markets.

22
Q

In 1846, in the face of widespread demand, Parliament repealed what law?

A

In 1846, with food shortages caused by the Irish Potato Famine, Parliament repealed the Corn Law. The repeal movement was headed by the Anti-Corn Law League, formed by urban industrialists dedicated to free trade and cheap food for urban workers.

The industrialists were not motivated solely by goodwill; cheaper food meant wages could be lowered and profits increased.

23
Q

In 1851, Britain held the Great Exhibition in London at the Crystal Palace. What was Britain celebrating?

A

Britain had become the dominant industrial power in the world. 66% of the world’s coal, 50% of the world’s cotton, and 33% of the world’s trade came from Great Britain.

The Crystal Palace’s large exhibition spaces showed off the machinery and technology of Britain’s Industrial Revolution.

24
Q

Drawn by the prevalence of jobs, British cities experienced exponential growth during the Industrial Revolution. What was the effect of rapid urbanization on living conditions in the cities?

A

Cities became increasingly crowded, and neither regulation nor construction could keep pace. The new urban areas lacked proper sanitation and housing, and the prevalence of coal dust and smoke coated everything in a constant state of filth, and contributed to lung diseases.

25
Q

Britain’s Industrial Revolution led to the growth of the _____ _____, populated by bankers, shopkeepers, merchants, accountants, and lawyers.

A

middle class

The rise of the middle class (which Marx termed the bourgeoisie) was fueled by the need for an educated or semi-educated group to oversee the higher needs of the Industrial Revolution.

26
Q

Britain’s Combination Acts of 1825 allowed for British workers to form _____.

A

unions

Union growth and the actions of middle-class reformers contributed to limitations on child labor, better worker safety, and slightly improved working conditions. It was not until 1875 that British labor unions achieved complete legal status, enhancing their power once they’d achieved the right to strike.

27
Q

Who were the Luddites?

A

Named for their leader Ned Ludd, the Luddites were a group of British workers who broke into early factories and smashed machines.

The Luddites were motivated primarily by despair as the new machinery threatened to displace their livelihood. Parliament acted quickly, passing laws which allowed British courts to give the death sentence to any person caught destroying machinery.

28
Q

Why did British economist Thomas Malthus believe that famine and misery were mankind’s inevitable fate?

A

Malthus believed that while population increased exponentially, food production only increased arithmetically.

Thus, population would eventually outstrip the available food supply. Malthus’s theory failed to take into account the increase in food production enabled by the development of agricultural technology.

29
Q

What did British economist David Ricardo posit in his “Iron Law of Wages”?

A

Ricardo contended that labor prices are determined by the law of supply and demand; and that increased wages led workers to have more children. This led to an increased supply of workers, who drove wages inexorably downward. Industrialists used Ricardo’s argument to support denying high wages to workers.

30
Q

What is utopian socialism?

A

Developed after the carnage of the French Revolution, utopian socialism was a belief prominent in the 1840s and 1850s that emphasized cooperation, not competition, as being the best means of organizing society. Utopian socialists such as Robert Owen and Charles Fourier suggested that cooperative communities and economic planning would create ideal societies, which they named “Utopia” after Thomas More’s work.

The utopian socialist experiment did not work, but the ideas of the utopian socialists proved a profound influence on Karl Marx.

31
Q

Who wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848?

A

In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote and published The Communist Manifesto.

The Manifesto laid out how the capitalist system would be replaced by socialism, and eventually communism. Marx and Engels emphasized that “[t]he history of hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”

32
Q

In his work Das Kapital, Marx emphasized the _____ _____ of history.

A

economic interpretation

To Marx, history was determined almost solely by economics, and the struggle between those who own the means of production and the workers.

33
Q

Marx adopted what analytical tool from Hegel to analyze the history of class conflict?

A

Marx adopted Hegel’s dialectical process, but instead of Hegel’s idealism, Marx used materialism and realism (known as “dialectical materialism”) to study history and class conflict.

34
Q

In Marx’s dialectical materialism, what group formed the “thesis”?

A

Under Marxist Socialism, the “thesis” was the bourgeoisie, those who owned the means of production, such as the factories.

Marx believed that the bourgeoisie formed one of the two great classes of society, the other being the workers, or proletariat.

35
Q

In Marx’s dialectical materialism, what group formed the “antithesis”?

A

Under Marxist Socialism, the “antithesis” was the proletariat, the working class who labored in the factories. Marx believed that the proletariat formed one of the two great classes of society, the other being those who owned the means of production, the bourgeoisie.

36
Q

In Marx’s dialectical materialism, what would be the result of the “synthesis”?

A

Marx believed that the class struggle between the thesis (the bourgeoisie) and the antithesis (the proletariat) would result in synthesis, which he termed the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” in which the proletariat take control of the political process through violent revolt.

37
Q

Why did Marx believe that socialism was inevitable?

A

Marx believed that socialism was inevitable because capitalism contained the seeds of its own demise. In Marx’s view, capitalism led to overproduction, displacement of workers, and most importantly a growing gap between rich and poor.

Marx believed that the proletariat would eventually rise up and overthrow the bourgeoisie.

38
Q

According to Marx, what resulted from the dictatorship of the proletariat?

A

In Marx’s view, the triumph of the proletariat would lead eventually to a classless and property-less society. In Marx’s view, the classless society would be guided by the maxim, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”

39
Q

What was Marx’s theory of surplus value?

A

Marx contended that the true value of a product was the labor that went into its creation and that the worker only received a small portion of this value in the form of wages.

The difference between the actual value of the product and its labor price was the “surplus value,” which was stolen from the proletariat by the bourgeoisie.

40
Q

How did Marxist Socialism and Utopian Socialism differ?

A

Unlike the romantic view of the Utopian Socialists, Marxist Socialism, also known as Scientific Socialism, contended that socialism would be the result of violence and revolution as the proletariat seized the means of production.

41
Q

In Marx’s view, socialism would lead to a _____ society.

A

classless

Marx believed that the classless society, known as Communism, was the end result of the class struggle.

42
Q

The _____ believed that the centralized state must be destroyed.

A

Anarchists

Anarchists such as Mikhail Bakunin stemmed from the more mainstream socialist movement, and contended that the centralized state was, in and of itself, a hindrance to humanity.

43
Q

What cultural movement began as a reaction against Romanticism?

A

In the 1850s, Realism began as a reaction against Romanticism.

Realists attempted to portray subject matter truthfully and accurately, without artificiality, and sought to avoid exotic and supernatural elements.

44
Q

What author is widely credited as the founder of French realism?

A

Most literary historians credit Honoré de Balzac as the founder of French realism.

Balzac’s sequence of interconnected novels and short stories, known as La Comédie humaine, described characters in exhaustive detail. By using complex detail Balzac presented multifaceted, complicated, and real characters to his audience.

45
Q

What realist author used his novels, such as Hard Times, to point out societal ills?

A

Charles Dickens

Many of Dickens’ hugely popular novels realistically depicted societal ills. For example, in Hard Times, Dickens described the conditions in Britain’s newly industrialized cities, and in Little Dorrit he critiqued Britain’s debtors’ prison system.

46
Q

What French realist artist painted The Absinthe Drinker and Olympia?

A

Édouard Manet

Although Manet’s work was realist in depiction, it also incorporated elements (certain brush strokes and a use of color) that would be adopted by the Impressionist school.

47
Q

Taking realism one step further, _____ writers such as Émile François Zola sought not only to describe their subjects, but also find the underlying causes which influenced their subjects’ actions.

A

naturalist

Naturalists such as Zola were strongly influenced by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Rather than simply describing a societal ill, naturalists sought to explore their underlying causes.

For example, in Zola’s twenty novels exploring the life of successive generations of a family, the Les Rougon Macquart, Zola explored the physical, social, and environmental causes which led one branch of the family to succeed, and the other to fail.