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150 Years Ago in West and North Europe

Railway Locomotive

Fulton produced the first working steam-powered ship in 1807. Seven years later Stephenson made the first railway locomotive. Steam powered ships and trains were the first two of four major innovations that would revolutionize transportation, the other two being the internal combustion engine (automobile) and the airplane. The first railway was built between the English industrial cities of Liverpool and Manchester in 1830. By 1848, the British rail network extended 8000 kilometres.

In reaction to the problems of industrialization, the British government brought in the first Factory Act in 1833. It included the first laws dealing with child labour in factories. Unlimited before, child labour was now limited to eight hours a day. Under the new "Poor Laws" brought in at the same time, paupers were subject to forced labour in "workhouses". Charles Dickens (1812-1870) through his fictional stories (Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Hard Times etc.) brought attention to the terrible conditions in these workhouses, as well as highlighting the horrible living conditions of the poor--this when Britain was the richest and most powerful country in the world.

Queen Victoria becomes ruler of the British empire in 1837. Her reign lasted to her death in 1901, one of the longest reigns in history. This whole time period is called the "Victorian era".

The Chartist movement is founded in 1838, the first political workers movement. The Chartists wanted to improve working conditions. In 1847, a ten-hour work day, down from a 12 or 14 hour work day, was established in factories, and the Chartist movement began to decline.

The Great Potato Famine strikes Ireland between 1845 and 46. A blight killed off the potato harvest leading to mass starvation. Ireland also grew lots of wheat but this was sold to England, and not given to the Irish peasants. About one million died, while another million Irish left for North America. An Irish revolt against British rule in 1848 was put down.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) becomes one of the main writers of the new philosophy called Socialism. The Socialists warned against the dangers of laissez-fair capitalism (see Adam Smith in 250 Year Ago) which they believed would lead to social conflict and revolution. Instead of class divisions, or social divisions based on wealth, the Socialists wanted to build a society where everyone was equal and there was no rich or poor. Marx's main work, Das Kapital, was published in 1867. These ideas became the foundation of a new political and social movement called Communism.

In 1848 major revolutions break out all in all the major European states, except Russia and Britain, partly inspired by the socialist philosophies. In France, the monarchy was again overthrown, and the 40-year old nephew of Napoleon, Louis Napoleon, was made president of a new republic. This so-called Second Republic only lasted four years, before Louis Napoleon had himself crowned emperor Napoleon III in a coup d'etat. Revolutions are put down in Austria and Prussia, but the foundation of a new German nation has been laid.

Florence Nightingale

The Crimean War was the first major war to be photographed. The camera was still a fairly new invention, but they had become advanced and light enough that cameras could be used on the battlefield. For the first time, people not at the battlefield could see graphic and unromanticized images of the wounded and dead. The process allowing photographs to be printed in newspapers had not yet been developed. However, special engravers would copy the photographs by hand so they could be printed. William Russel, a reporter for the London Times neswpaper, was the first modern war correspondent despatching reports from the battlefield via telegraph.

In terms of information technology and news coverage, the Crimean War can be seen as the first modern war.

Florence Nightingale, (1820-1910) shown here, became famous for her medical care of the sick and wounded soldiers during the war. She not only invented the modern nursing profession, but she also marks the introduction of women into the medical profession. Aside from traditional herbal medicine where women had often been healers, or in the role of midwife, women had been excluded from medicine. Although most nurses today are women, before Florence Nightingale this was very unusual.

Both doctors and nurses were usually men.

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