Second Industrial Revolution

• Driven by chemistry
• Machines to make other machines is the biggest change.
• Mass produced machines start having impact on common men and women.
• Electricity!
• Large corporations start becoming common as pace of industrialization quickens.
• Large population migration to cities, start of rapid urbanization in US, Europe and other parts of the world.
• Mass produced consumer products, like coca-cola, which are sold everywhere in the country and world.
• Pharmaceuticals, surgical machines, x-rays, and may other advances in healthcare products.
• Manufacturing needs raw materials, which leads to mining frenzy.
• Universities, private and government funded, leading the pace of research and development.
• The speed of - Problem->Solution->Problem quickens.

Modern Capitalism

• Gold standard
  • Starting with Britain, increasing number of countries adopted gold standard and standardized money.
  • Money exchange rates stabilized, giving acceleration to international trade.
  • Gold rush in South Africa, Alaska and other parts of the world.
  • Banking institutions such as insurance, trade exchanges, bonds market became common.
• Large corporations
  • Assembly lines made it possible to make products, extremely cheaply with out requiring craftsmanship.
  • Factory towns in all over United States which produced machine made products.
  • Limited Liability companies.
• Industrial society
  • Universities
  • Police
  • Doctors
  • Professional services - advertising, typing, marketing.
• As a response to increasing power of large corporations, workers started unions.
• Food Manufacturing and processing became big industry to support increasingly urban population.
• Safe seas made world trade much more reliable.

World trade grew 400% from 1890 to 1910.

Modern political systems

• Modern cities are faced new kinds of problem, living conditions, wages, working conditions.
• Size of modern cities, spread of newspapers enable rise of modern political parties which have millions of members.
• Politics breaks away from only elite class and is becomes an important aspect of lives of common citizens.
• Various violent protests across Europe and US by anarchists.
• Many political ideologies gain widespread support.
• National Traditional - religious, want to maintain established order, racial and ethnic. Rural containing farmers, landowners.
• National conservatives - secular, pro big business, strong national governments, protectionist, modern military. Supported by new professional class.
• Liberals - limited/weak national government, individual liberty, secular or Christian, pacifist, anti empire, free trade and free markets, equal rights to women. Supported by small farmers, small businesses.
• Democratic socialism - strong national government, against big business, secular, workers rights, unionists, pacifist,
• Revolutionary socialists - against existing order, against military and police, secular, direct (violent) action, strikes, marxists, internationalist.

Political wars

• All over the world status quo is being challenged.
• China - empire falls, giving way to a republic led by conservatives.
• Russia - After being defeated by Japan, peasants rebel. Empire survives, but is now considering reforms and adopting a constitution.
• Spain, Mexico, Ottoman empire all under go political upheavals resulting in change in political systems.
• Governments are forced to adopt more libertarian values as a result.

1890 to 1990 (end of cold war), the hundred year wars, is defined by struggle about how to organize modern nation states.