Chapter Overview

Between 1871 and 1914, liberal ideas withstood the challenges of innovations in the sciences, the arts, and the growing influence of popular political movements. Against the backdrop of Europe's increasing economic influence and prosperity, workers embraced trade unionism and parliamentary socialism as a means of ameliorating the demands of capital, much to the dismay of radicals. Marxism was transformed from a revolutionary vision to one embracing social democracy. In the sciences, the theories of Darwin and Einstein undermined older notions of the natural world. Freud, the new cultural anthropologists, and philosophers like Nietzsche, initiated a debate about the nature of human beings. Religion underwent a rigorous questioning, which the Catholic church responded to more effectively than did Protestants. Finally, although classical liberalism was indeed undermined, it did not disappear, but rather was transformed into a new liberalism. The new liberalism embraced a greater role for government intervention in national economies, most socialists sought compromise rather than revolution, and despite an increase in racism and nationalism, the humanitarian strain of liberalism still held sway over Europe.