History 309 – Contemporary Europe – September 19, 2005  

EUROPE BETWEEN THE WARS:

TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY BETWEEN OLD & NEW  

Note:   The pace of change accelerated rapidly in the 1920s.  Europeans not only had “work through” the traumas of the past, but they had to adapt to the onrushing future. They had a very hard time of it indeed.   

I.                    TERMS TO KNOW.  Be sure you can define the following:

From W & H:

1.      Second industrial revolution.

2.      Rationalization of production.

3.      An “undigested mass of discontented refugees” (132).

4.      “Profound economic grievances” (134).

5.      Germany hyperinflation of 1923.

6.      “Proletarianization of the middle class.”

7.      French losses in WWI.

8.      The “new white-collar middle class.”

9.      Urbanization.

10.  “Flappers.”

11.  “Americanization”

12.  Leisure & rise of “mass entertainment culture.”

13.  Emancipation of women.  

From Perry:

1. Valéry, “Disillusionment.”
2. Remarque, “Lost Generation.”
3. Von Solomon, “Brutalization.”
4. Freud, “Embitterment.”

 

II.                 QUESTIONS.    

1. World War I ended in 1918, yet its EFFECTS went on for years.  Each of our four readings from Perry suggests some of the psychological, sociological, and spiritual, effects of the war.  Select ONE of these readings and carefully explain just what the author is saying.
2. As the note above suggests, Europeans in the 1920s faced a double task: they had to recover from the past – and adapt to the onrushing future.  Be specific now: name ONE huge issue from their present and future which they’d have to face too.  Why was this issue important? 

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Modified by:  H.  Kamerling