Wealth and Power in Pre-World War I Europe: The Danger of Transitional Periods
Vienna's Ringstrasse Europe: 1871-1914. Some political commentators believe we are returning to a political order similar to that of Europe in the years preceding World War I. It was a period of tremendous economic development, economic growth, and economic change. Some economic historians call this period the Second Industrial Revolution. Much of the technology of the modern world was created during this period - electricity, steel, skyscrapers, autos, oil refining, chemicals, telephones, radio, movies, record players, and airplanes. Large expansion of railroads and steamships. Mass production, factories, industrial centers and the modern corporation. Large expansion in the economic role of finance and financial institutions. Also a large increase in international trade that threatened established national economic groups with political power, especially European landowners and farmers (except in Austria-Hungary). As the Industrial and Transportation Revolutio