What's Going On In 19th Century Europe?

What is going on in 19th Century Europe? With a lot of things going on in the 18th Century, it only seems that there could not be that much going on during this time, but in reality, that is the complete opposite of what actually happened. Some of the main topics that happened in the 19th Century are The Dreyfus Affair, The Congress of Vienna, Romanticism, The Potato Famine, Communism and The Industrial Revolution. Although all of these are different, they all reflected Nationalism, Liberalism and Conservatism. All of the main topics are very big through out this time frame because of the Political, Economical, Religious, Social, Intellectual and Artistic effects that they caused. To answer the title question "What is going on in 19th Century Europe?", change. Change is going on in 19th Century Europe. Some big changes some little changes. Some of the big changes are portrayed in The Dreyfus Affair, which are Anti-semitism and the separation of Church and state.

Politically, the 19th Century seemed that it was a matter of choosing sides. In The Dreyfus Affair, you could either be for it, or against it by choosing the church or state side, the state supported The Dreyfus Affair and the church did not. In the Industrial Revolution, you could either support the building of factories and urbanization, or you could not. In Romanticism you could either express yourself by using paintings and poems, or you could not and be traditional. With British Imperialism in China, you could support it or you could not. Although most of the topics involve choosing a side, some of the topics you could not choose a side because it was not something that you could stop. An example of this is the Irish Potato Famine, which was a agricultural problem. Although it was not only the choosing of the sides that effected the 19th Century, but it was Nationalism, Liberalism and Conservatism. In the Industrial Revolution, Liberalism caused changes, In the Congress of Vienna Conservatism was trying to crush Liberalism and in Romanticism, Nationalism was reflected in the art that was made.

Economically, it seemed that a lot of bad things were going on, some of them were losing land and money, and people dying. Economically the Dreyfus Affair stopped the inflow of money, this happened because the Jews could boycott anything, so when they did businesses had to close down because they could not keep up with no one buying anything from them. Another thing that happened because of the boycotts were the Jews starving because they were boycotting the stores where the owners supported the Dreyfus Affair. In the Potato Famine, many bad things happened. Because potatoes were their main source of food, people died from starvation, and jobs were lost. Although people died from starvation, jobs did open up because of how many people had died. In the French Revolution of 1848, there was massive unemployment because the poor harvests, people had to spend more money on food, which made them not able to buy manufactured products which caused unemployment. Although some bad things were going on, there were also some good. With the Industrial Revolution, because of all the advances, it made it easier for men to have a job and for them to make more money doing an easier job. There was also a price drop, caused from the easier made products, which actually gave the people who worked more money to spend on what they want. In Communism, Karl Marx fought for equality, and got rid of poor working conditions.

Religiously, it seemed that it was the beginning of the right to choose your religion. During the Crimean War, the Sultan had yielded the law that you had to be Orthodox, which was showing another sign of freedom of Religion. In the Industrial Revolution, it showed that because of all the new technology that was available, Church took the back seat and was not as important as before. In the congress of Vienna, the separation of 300 German states to 39, it would show if Lutheran or Roman Catholic was the more popular religion. In some situations such as the Potato Famine, the idea of Religion was that God had punished them for wrong doing. In the Dreyfus Affair, it showed that the Church backed up the Jews because of the Anti-Semitism. The topic of Religion is probably the most varied of them all because all of the different parts of Europe had different Religions.

Socially there was not much going on, In European Imperialism in China, the fear of Foreigners became an effect because of all the Europeans taking over the land. With Romanticism, people started to appreciate the Art. In The Dreyfus Affair, it split people apart, it made the people who were Jewish and friends with a person from another religion, it made them not talk because of the Affair. It also made the Jews go through a day with stereotype after stereotype.

Intellectually, the 19th Century changed the way people thought. In the Dreyfus Affair, people thought that the Government was against Jews altogether, which they were. In the Potato Famine, the Irish people thought that God was mad at them for doing something bad. In the industrial Revolution, it made people think what will happen in the years coming, how far will technology go. But in Communism, it made people think of the bright future that was ahead. In European Imperialism in China, Europe started to import products and started to sell them, this was big because it showed the Chinese what they were getting from Europe.

Artistically, the only real big thing were the paintings in Romanticism and the Political Cartoons. These all had effects because everybody was into art at this time so it showed people was was going on in the real world with art. This was also very big because the fact that people could now buy art because of the price decrease in the Industrial Revolution. Because of this, painters became more famous while alive, and not dead.

Throughout the 19th Century, many things went on, some good and some were bad. In the end everything worked out for the better because of the good endings. In the Dreyfus Affair, Alfred Dreyfus got released and in the Potato Famine ended. All of the things that went on during this time frame helped frame Europe as we know it today, and if it was not for some of the actions that took place during this time, I do not believe that it could have gotten where it is today.