Victorian Era: Alliances, Capitalism & Imperialism
The Victorian Era and European Alliances
In Europe, the Victorian Era (1837-1901) saw the United Kingdom maintain its position as the strongest commercial and financial power in the world, lasting for 63 years.
European Alliance System
- Bismarck’s Alliance System: Promoted by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (a very important figure in Germany), this system comprised a set of alliances based on secret diplomacy. Its objectives were to isolate France, which was at enmity with Germany due to the loss of Alsace and Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian War, and to prevent a French alliance with Russia against Germany.
- Peace Through Strength: Peace was maintained during these years. However, anticipating war, European countries rearmed and formed two alliance blocs: the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy) and the Triple Entente (France, Russia, and Great Britain).
Industrial Advancements: Taylorism and Fordism
- Taylorism: Applied by Frederick Taylor, aimed to achieve maximum work efficiency. This involved determining the exact way of carrying out each task, timing each task, and granting production incentives.
- Fordism: Applied by Henry Ford in his automobile factory, initiated mass production and necessitated enormous factories. Work was organized in assembly lines: each worker performed only one task in the manufacturing process of the product, which was placed in front of them by a conveyor belt. This increased performance and allowed products to be sold at lower prices.
The Rise of Finance Capitalism
The increasing size of companies and the large sums of money needed for financing brought about a new period in Capitalism called “Finance Capitalism.” Its basic features were financial and corporate concentration.
- Financial Concentration: Led to the emergence of large banks like the Crédit Lyonnais (France), Deutsche Bank (Germany), and Lloyd’s Bank (Great Britain). These institutions intensified their relationship with industrial enterprises, granting them loans or participating as shareholders.
- Corporate Concentration: Aimed to dominate the market by eliminating competition among companies. Different kinds of concentration were created: the cartel, the trust, and the holding. As a result, antitrust laws had to be created.
Social Developments and the Labor Movement
The labor movement gained affiliates when states recognized freedom of assembly and association and legalized workers’ associations. Over time, laborers’ parties emerged, aiming to access political power and promote democratic and social reforms. The first and most important of these was the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), founded in 1875, followed by others in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain.
Labor internationalism was revived by the formation of the Second International or Socialist International (Paris, 1889), conceived as a federation of socialist and labor parties based on Marxist principles. Marxist purists, who supported accessing power through revolutions, clashed with revisionists, who advocated reaching power by participating in elections. The International also condemned Capitalism, Imperialism, and war.
Imperialism and Its Causes
Unlike the previous form of Colonialism, whose main objective was to dominate the economic resources of the colonies, Imperialism implied the military, political, and economic control of the European minority over the dominated territories.
The new colonial momentum was due to different causes:
- Political and Strategic: The possession of colonies assured the power and international prestige of countries or allowed trade routes and strategic territories to be controlled.
- Demographic: The colonies provided territories where excess population could be sent to reduce unemployment and relieve internal social tensions.
- Economic: Increased production brought about by the Second Industrial Revolution required territories that could supply raw materials for industry and purchase manufactured products without customs barriers. Furthermore, colonies provided cheap labor and places to invest capital.
- Ideological: Certain ideologies manipulated the ideas of Darwin (Social Darwinism) and proclaimed the superiority of the white race along with its ‘mission’ to ‘civilize’ the rest of the world.