Modernization of the 19th Century

Modernization of the 19th Century:

Modernization can be described as the period characterized by rapid industrialization and urban growth across several countries in the globe. In addition to expanding the scope of interaction and activity, industrialization changes the society into being predominantly urban from being agrarian. Actually, the industrialization period has been widely known as the Second Industrial Revolution or era by many historians since it was characterized by the expansion of industrial process from the production of textiles to new industries. One of the major factors that contributed to this era or revolution is technological advancements that resulted in the development of railways and use of electricity and petroleum more than coal. The political and economic modernization of the 19th Century was negatively impacted by World War I that seemingly destroyed the optimism surrounding this period.

World War I and Modernization:

Modernization basically refers to the model of evolutionary change from a traditional to a contemporary society. According to historians, modernization is widely linked with the industrialization, urbanization, and increase in education. Through this process, an individual becomes the fundamental unit of the society when there is an increase of modernization within the community. In the 19th Century, there was optimism regarding modernization because it was associated with the creation of positive development across the globe. Many countries, especially in Europe were optimistic of the process because of the numerous benefits it provided to them. This contributed to the consideration of modernization as a kind of westernization because of the expansion of the western culture and institutions.

World War I had a huge impact on Germany and other European countries as well as other areas like Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific Islands (Nosotro, n.d.). The First World War seemingly destroyed the optimism about the 19th Century modernization because it had numerous negative effects on several countries. Its apparent destruction of the optimism of the process emanate from its impact on relationships between countries and continents. For instance, the war resulted in the emergence of a crucial change in the relationship between Europe and Africa. The apparent impact of World War I on modernization, which focuses on development, is its negative impact on trade and development in several countries. As a result of this war, there was an increase in the price of every commodity, decline in economic growth, and worsening poverty rate. Actually, the war caused trading between many countries to cease resulting in a great impact on modernization. Moreover, the main reason that the war seemed to change everything was its impact on relationships between countries and the devastating effects that questioned several ideas of superiority based on technology.

Second Industrial Revolution:

The Second Industrial Revolution, which is also known as the Technological Revolution, occurred between 1870 and 1914. This period was mainly characterized by rapid rate of inventions in energy, medicine, chemicals, and materials that had a huge impact on production (Mokyr & Strotz, 1998). This period not only proved to be more drastic on inventions but it was also drastic on social and governmental policies and reforms. As a result of the technological advancements during this period, the revolution contributed to the increase in wealth and power. However, this period also had an impact on people's life as many individuals were living in filth while working for unthinkable hours and receiving little payment.

Today's society has largely been shaped by the technological advances and numerous inventions that occurred during the Second Industrial Revolution. Together with telegraph, railways or railroads were early examples of technological systems during this era. As a major breakthrough in the means of transportation, the invention of railways or railroads resulted in the discovery of a safer, faster, and more comfortable means of transport. The invention of railways was accompanied by the application of steam power to transportation, which was later changed to the use of new power sources like electrical locomotives and the Diesel engine.

The second major discovery during this period that is widely known as the Second Industrial era among historians is electricity. As compared to the development of railways, the use of electricity as the main means of transmitting and using energy was an even more technically difficult invention. The invention of electricity required the discovery of an efficient way to generate electric power from other sources of power. It also necessitated the need for devices that could transform the electricity back into light, heat, or kinetic power and efficient means for transmitting current over long distances.

The invention of electricity during this period can be attributed to the work of Michael Faraday, a British scientist who demonstrated the process of making an electric current. Notably, this invention helped in the home and social life of people in this era since it improved life by providing light, power to machines, improving communications, and resulting in the discovery of telephone and telegraph ("Industrial Revolution," n.d.). Following the breaking down of chemical compounds like vulcanized rubber and synthetic dyes, petroleum was discovered as used as an alternate energy source to coal. This helped in the change from the use of steam engines to internal combustion engine that made transportation less public and faster.