European Events 1800’s-Early 1900’s

Victorian Era Queen Victoria was the symbol of British life from She ruled longer than anyone in British history. In reality, she had little to do with politics but she did set the tone for what is today known as the Victorian Era.

Victorian Ideals Victorian ideals included duty, thrift, honesty, hard work and above all respectability. cat.com/queen/1873/queen1.jpg&imgrefurl=

Queen Victoria’s England When Victoria ascended to the throne, England was essentially agrarian and rural; upon her death, the country was highly industrialized and connected by a massive railway network. Such a transition was not smooth by any stretch of the imagination, nor were the early decades of the period without incident. The first decades of Victoria's reign witnessed a series of epidemics (typhus and cholera, most notably), crop failures and economic collapses.

Victorian Images What do you notice about the following images?

Queen Victoria

The Great Hunger The Irish Potato Famine

The Great Hunger The Famine was due to the appearance of "the Blight" – the potato fungus that almost instantly destroyed the primary food source for the majority population.

Impact Much is unrecorded, and various estimates suggest that between 500,000 and more than one million people died in the five years from 1846 to 1851 as a result of hunger or disease. Some two million refugees are attributed to the Great Hunger and much the same number of people emigrated to Great Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia. = The Irish Diaspora

Genocide The deliberate attempt to eliminate a race or ethnic group.

An Act of Genocide 1. The potato was diseased. 2. The British took the other crops/grains that could have been consumed as a substitute for the potato. 3. The British took and sold the crops/grains for a profit leaving little to no food for the Irish. 4. The act is considered by many to be an intentional act of genocide on the Irish by the British.

Famine Memorial in Dublin

Irish Demands Irish demands for self rule (home rule) increased. The debate dragged on for years. In 1914 Parliament passed a home rule bill. It was delayed however due to the outbreak of WWI.

Division in France The Dreyfus Affair

Alfred Dreyfus Captain in the French Army Has access to many military secrets Jewish Scapegoat

In 1894 Dreyfus was arrested on charges of spying for Germany. The French government claimed to have much evidence against him but could not share it in court as it was “top secret”. The real problem was that Dreyfus was disliked due to high rank in the military. He was the first Jew to reach such a high ranking position. Dreyfus was condemned to Devils Island. He left proclaiming his innocence. Eventually a novelist (Emile Zola) uncovered the real spy.

Dreyfus was eventually cleared of all charges and was issued the French Medal of Valor. The real spy had so much political power that he was cleared of all charges and then fled the country. isle.jpg

Impact of the Dreyfus Affair Dreyfus Affair = Rise of Anti-Semitism

Demands for a Jewish State The Dreyfus Affair in France and the Pogroms in Russia stirred Jewish leaders into action. In 1896, Herzl a journalist published The Jewish State. It called for Jews to form their own separate state, where they would have rights and freedoms denied to them in European countries. = ZIONISM