Bourgeois Europe, 1850-1914: Progress, Participation and Apprehension

445 Pages·2022·28.769 MB·English

by  Jonathan Sperber

Bourgeois Europe, 1850– 1914
Now in its second edition, Bourgeois Europe, 1850– 1914 is a general history of
Europe from the middle of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First
World War, a successor to Revolutionary Europe: 1780– 1850, also available from
Routledge.
The book offers wide geographic coverage of the European continent, from the
Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean and from the Atlantic to the Urals. Topical
coverage is equally broad, including major trends and events in international
relations and domestic politics, in social and gender structures, in the economy,
and in the natural and social sciences, the humanities, religion and the arts. For
this second edition, the text has been completely revised, the latest directions in
historical research considered, the further reading brought up to date and special
attention has been paid to Europe’s global interactions with the rest of the world
and the structures and norms of gender relations. Tables, charts, maps and other
explanatory features help students explore further in the areas that interest them.
Written in sprightly, jargon- free clear prose, the book is ideal for use as a text
in secondary school or university courses, as well as for general readers wishing to
gain an overview of a crucial era of modern European history.
Jonathan Sperber is the Curators’ Distinguished Professor of History, Emeritus at
the University of Missouri. He has written extensively on the social, political and
religious history of Europe in the century between 1815 and 1914.
Longman History of Modern Europe
In this series:
Europe 1850– 1914
Progress, Participation and Apprehension
Jonathan Sperber
Revolutionary Europe 1780– 1850
Jonathan Sperber
Europe Contested
From the Kaiser to Brexit
Harold James
Bourgeois Europe, 1850– 1914, 2nd Edition
Progress, Participation and Apprehension
Jonathan Sperber
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Longman- History- of- Modern- Europe/ book- series/ PEAMODE
Bourgeois Europe, 1850– 1914
Second edition
Jonathan Sperber
Cover image: Seurat, Georges. A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884– 86.
Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, Art Institute of Chicago.
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Jonathan Sperber
The right of Jonathan Sperber to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978- 0- 8153- 6478- 8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 0- 8153- 6479- 5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 351- 10661- 0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9781351106610
Typeset in Goudy
by Newgen Publishing UK
To the memory of my paternal grandparents, Nathan Sperber
and Fanny née Dolberg, one-t ime loyal subjects of the Habsburg
emperor Franz Joseph, and my personal link to the now- vanished
world of pre- 1914 Europe.

Contents
List of Tables xi
List of Charts xii
List of Boxes xiii
List of Maps xiv
Preface to the Second Edition xv
Introduction 1
PART I
Progress and Realism, 1850– 1875 7
1 The Shape of an Era 9
Population and the Economy 11
Creating Economic Growth 12
Agriculture, Crafts and Commerce in an Industrial World 18
Europe’s Economy in the World 22
Prosperity and Population 24
2 Social Structures and Social Institutions 29
Urban Life 29
3 The Arts and Sciences 45
Expanding the Cultural Universe 45
Science on the Advance 48
Progress and Positivism in the Human Sciences 53
Revealed Religion Facing an Age of Progress 56
The Arts under the Banner of Realism 58
4 The Politics of the People 63
An Era of Reform 63
The Reign of the Notables 66
viii Contents
Liberalism and Nationalism 68
Old Political Tendencies in a New Environment 70
5 The Politics of the Powers 80
Eurocentric Diplomacy 80
Foreign Policy and Public Opinion 81
The Changing Nature and Importance of Warfare 82
6 The Dynamics of Power 87
The Age of Reaction, 1850– 1859 87
Politics in Movement, 1859– 1871 96
Notes to Part I 120
PART II
Doubt and Uncertainty, 1871– 1895 123
7 The Shape of an Era 125
Population and the Economy 127
Industry in “Profitless Prosperity” 131
Agriculture in Crisis 135
A Different Face of Global Interactions 137
Crafts and Commerce in Depressed Circumstances 138
Population Movements: Old Trends and New 140
8 Social Structures and Social Institutions 143
Urbanization as Routine 143
Extension and Expansion of Voluntary Associations 144
Expansion, Extension and Tentative Transformation of
Public Education 149
9 The Arts and Sciences 155
A More Ambivalent Forward March of Science 156
The Social Sciences Reoriented and Realigned 159
Progress and its Discontents 163
The Arts in Transition 166
10 The Politics of the People 173
High Point and Crisis of Liberalism 173
Forms of Opposition to Liberalism 177
Radicalism Divided and Transformed 182
Nationalism, Racism and Anti- Semitism 185
Contents ix
11 The Politics of the Powers 188
Bismarck’s Alliance System 188
The Return of the Eastern Question 190
Rise of the “New Imperialism” 193
12 The Dynamics of Power 204
Political Strife and International Tensions in the 1870s 205
A Conservative Turn in the 1880s 213
An Uncertain Beginning of the 1890s 219
Notes to Part II 224
PART III
Modernity and Modernism, 1890– 1914 227
13 The Shape of an Era 229
Population and the Economy 231
A Second Industrial Revolution 233
Shifting Centers of Industry 238
Agriculture, Crafts, Finance and Commerce 243
Rapid Population Movements 247
An Age of the “First Globalization”? 252
14 Social Structures and Social Institutions 255
Society in the Age of the Second Industrial Revolution 255
The Presence of the City 261
High Point and Transformation of Voluntary Associations 265
Intimations of a Consumer Society 269
A New Gender Order? 276
15 The Arts and Sciences 282
A New World of Science 282
Social Science between Reason and the Irrational 289
The Rise of Artistic Modernism 293
16 The Politics of the People 299
Structures of Mass Politics 300
Issues of Mass Politics 304
Realignments and Confrontations of Mass Politics 313
17 The Politics of the Powers 321
Growing Opposition to European Overseas Expansion 322
The Eastern Question Yet Again 325