Ère victorienne 1837-1901 (document en anglais)

Victorian era 1837-1901

A. Victorian is for Victoria

Exclusively british period. It has become the lost golden age of the british history for several reasons.

Period of great economic wealth and expansion, the British Empire has never been as big as that time.

Nowadays, it’s everywhere in the british cultural media.

B. The Age of the capital and the Age of the Empire

Theory by historian Hobsbowm

He chose to focus on two different aspects of the victorian era

-Economic wroth

-Conquest of territories

Period of confidence in progress.

But related to a crisis : creation of a very poor working class and problems in new territories.

Song that belongs to the British navy and was used as a 2nd national anthem

Rule Britannia

When Britain first, at Heaven’s command,

Arose from out the azure main,

Revolutions

A. Technology and progress

Life-changing technological innovations from the XIXth century

Every-day impact : railway network – people needed trains to be on time, creation of the Greenwich meridian

Controversial evolution theory

-Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, 1859

-Technologies capturing the immaterial : sound

-1877, Edison : the photograph

B. The Age of Empire

By the end of the Victoria’s reign, the British empire extended over about one-fifth of the earth’s surface and almost a quarter of the world’s population at least theoretically owed allegiance to the « queen empress ».

Glorification of colonialism.

Literature : Kipling « The burden of whitemen » and « The Jungle book ». Defense of the white control and power on occupied societies.

There were rebellians, specially in India.

India became independent in 1947 but the main rebellion occured in 1857, called The Great Rebellion : federation of indians who rebelled against British presence.

Class divisions

A. Age of the middle-class

The laboring classes represented a considerable part of the British society.

Most of textual factories where in the north of England, like the mine industry.

Big social inequalities :

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