History of Canada in the twentieth century and beyond: At the turn of the twentieth century the world was changing rapidly In 1900 the world’s population was only 1.6 billion people (compared with 7+ billion today) Railways begin to link small isolated towns with larger industrialized cities. Improvements in medicine begin to extend peoples life-spans. By 1901, death rates begin to drop sharply, however, birth rates remain high.

Mass society: By the turn of the century people were drawn increasingly to urban centers from rural areas A new society was created: a “mass society” Instead of living in the same place for their whole lives, masses of people began to emigrate to new countries and the increasingly larger city centers. This led to overcrowding and increasingly difficult living conditions

Mass production: The assembly line first developed by Henry Ford, for the production of Automobiles, jump-started the mass production of goods. This contributed to the development of the factory system which in turn led to more urbanization These factors, combined with a skilled labour force and specialized machinery meant that large quantities of goods could be produced quickly at low costs. This made more goods available to more people at lower prices Ford Model T Assembly Line

Mass Media: Industrialization led to the large scale mechanization of the printing industry This created the beginnings of mass media Newspapers, magazines and books were published in record numbers This made information far more accessible to far more people than ever before The motion picture industry begins to develop as a method of entertainment and a vehicle for propaganda Charlie Chaplin Click to see a silent movie starring Chaplin

Propaganda: The art of controlling public opinion through the use of media disney nazi cartoon Disney Nazi propaganda cartoon

The new industrial order and the development of unions: Factories often employed thousands of workers New types of employment emerged creating two separate types of workers, those who ran the machines and those who kept the accounts and managed the books Many factory workers felt they had no control over the conditions in which they worked To protect themselves and their interests workers began to organize into UNIONS

Response to Unionization: Employers often responded to their workers attempts to unionize by firing union activists In protest workers staged demonstrations or went on strike Police were often called in to end labor unrest In industrialized countries (including Canada) labor unrest gives rise to the development of new political parties, with more of a socialist philosophy

Anarchism and Socialism At the turn of the century many countries (like tsarist Russia) were autocratic states This meant that no one had the right to vote Many people began to demand democratic reforms, they were denied This oppression led to the formation of secret political societies that advocated the destruction of autocratic states

Industrialization Industrialization allowed the power of countries like Great Britain, France, Germany, the US, Russia and Japan to develop into the dominant powers of the world This created among these global powers fierce competition for resources which when combined with a sense of ultra nationalism and an unstable balance-of-power structure created international tensions which contributed to the outbreak of WWI When their own resource bases were depleted the industrialized nations turned to imperialism to secure access to the resources necessary to run their industrial machine. This naturally caused a rise of tensions between the industrial powers as each attempted to expand its sphere of influence.