The Nature of European Society Essay

Submitted By Naomi-Abdo
Words: 961
Pages: 4

The Nature of European Society
1901- Worlds population was about 1600 million
The world’s population:
57% Asia
25% Europe
7.5% Africa
5% North America
0.4 N.Z and Australia
Although Europe didn’t have the largest population, they were the greatest power and influence.
1880-1914 - around 25m migrated from Europe, mostly to the United States.
Europe, like everywhere else, people’s experiences of life and their ways of thinking differed according to their sex, nationality, religion, social class, economic position and location.

INDUSTRILISATION
Led to the modern world -> globalisation – trade of goods between countries and continents (triggered by colonialism)
Industrial revolution: the revolution in industry that first took place in Gulf in the mid eighteenth century and spread to Europe and beyond in the 19th century.
The prediction of goods using machinery rather than manual labour
Increase in worker rights – through trade union they negotiated with bosses. Adequate pay and hours.
Exploitation of workers – could no longer compete with factories.
Britain and Germany were Western Europe’s industrial giants
Industrialisation stimulated technology innovation
Countries that had not began to industrialise or were making a slow progress suffered from not changing balance of power that industrialise created.
Industrialised European countries comprised three ties. The autocratic, the middle classes and the working and peasant classes. The working classes were the most disadvantaged. Mass production made goods cheaper and working conditions less tolerable. Working conditions and social conditions worsened because of Industrialisation.
The industrial skills provided the military medical and communication technology that gave them their success in imperial expansion.

NEGATIVE

POSITIVE
Overcrowding in cities due to urbanisation -> caused health problems and unhealthy dirty streets/cities.
Work in factories, dangerous + dirty -> employees was underplayed and overworked.
Lack of sanitation – working conditions caused fatigue + illnesses.
Creation of power machines and factories provided job opportunities
New machinery increased the speed of productions and gave people the ability to transport raw materials.
Steam engine – provided cheap movement of goods.

URBANISATION
The trend for people to leave their rural environments to live and work in cities
Urbanisation brought about changed patterns of land use, population distribution and economic activities
Saw cheap, unhygienic houses
Major catalyst for challenge and change to the old political, social, economic and cultural order
Due to the industrialisation, large masses of people living in the countryside had begun to migrate to the city.
Led to the spread of disease which became a major problem
The style and location of the housing reflected the division between the upper and lower classes
IMPERALISM
Definition: the policy involving the extension of one nation’s authority over another nation or territory
Imperialism was seen as a means for Empires to economically, politically and culturally expand their dominance over other weaker countries. ‘Prestige’ was earned by empires that displayed Imperial tendances and thus they had influence over countries foreign policy. Empires were seen to be good and smaller countries looked up to them for assistance and support.
Winning empires brought adventure and glory, their exploitation brought wealth and trade.
Reasons for the growth of imperialism -> Motivated by competition of resources, power and status.
Imperialism undermined the existing religious, cultural and political structures that had once created a sense of unity among a colony’s indigenous peoples and disrupted their ongoing development.
BRITAIN:
Britain’s empire gave it status as the world’s greatest power
Covered about 25% of the Earth’s surface
Britain had control and/or influence over 27 million square kilometres in of land and 390 million people. ->