Conclusion

The period from the 1870s to the 1890s has been called the age of empire and industry because Western society pursued both these ends in a way that rapidly transformed Europe and the world. Much of Europe thrived due to industrial innovation, becoming more populous and more urbanized. Using the innovative weapons streaming from Europe’s factories, the great powers undertook a new imperialism that established political rule over foreign peoples. As they tightened connections with the rest of the globe, Europeans proudly spread their supposedly superior culture throughout the world and, like Frieda von Bülow and Carl Peters, sought out more power and wealth.

Imperial expansion and industrial change affected all social classes. The upper class attempted to maintain its position of social and political dominance, while an expanding middle class was gaining influence. Working-class people often suffered from the effects of rapid industrial change when their labor was replaced by machinery. Millions relocated to escape poor conditions in the countryside and to find new opportunities. Political reform, especially the expansion of suffrage, gave working-class men a political voice. Workers formed unions and political parties to protect their interests, but governments often responded to workers’ activism with repression.

As workers struck for improved wages and conditions and the impoverished migrated to find a better life, the advance of empire and industry was bringing unprecedented tensions to national politics, the international scene, and everyday life. By the 1890s, racism and anti-Semitism were spreading, and many were questioning the costs of empire both to their own nation and to conquered peoples. Politics in the authoritarian countries of central and eastern Europe was taking a more conservative turn, resisting participation and reform. The rising tensions of modern life would soon have grave consequences for the West as a whole.