Analysis Of Fin De Siecle: The End Of The Nineteenth Century

When historians discuss the end of the nineteenth century, they use a term called Fin de Siecle, or “End of Century.” One would assume that this period would end December 31, 1889. However, historians like to think of a long 19th century that lasts until the start of the first World War in 1914. World War One was an event that had a devastating global impact and was the result of poor political decisions over a course of 40 previous years. This event marked the end of the road for Europe’s ideology based leaders and ironically led to one such group of ideologues: Anarchists. In 1915, the Anarchists wrote the “International Anarchist Manifesto on the War” (IAMW). Throughout this document, they argue that the currents states that are in control

Shortly after this event, most of Europe erupted into a multi-state war. This tragic event that started with an angry Serbian shooting a spoiled Austrian and his wife and ended with the involvement of nations thousands of miles away had deeper underlying causes than just the couple’s untimely death. These causes were the actions of many European nations that went back decades before the war even started. Since the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution during the 18th century, European countries began to move away from feudalistic societies and more toward Liberal, Capitalist ones. The new Liberal ideas called for a limited democracy with the laissez-faire economics that we saw further explained in Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations.” Liberalism also had a strong emphasis on individual liberty and this was expressed by John Stuart Mill in his book “On Liberty.” However, Liberalism also called for democratic participation, and once suffrage is granted to some, it will eventually spread to others. “The logical consequence of such systems was the political mobilization of the masses for and through elections, that is to say for the pressure of putting pressure on national governments,” (Hobsbawm 87). Once the poor, less educated masses gained suffrage, a new political strategy came into being called “mass politics.” New political ideologies sprung up to convince the masses to stray away from the popular Liberal values. Socialism, Communism, Anarchism, and other extreme forms of political theory used mass media, propaganda, and other forms of technology to channel the masses’ anger against the Liberal policies that failed to bring them into prosperity like the bourgeoisie. These ideologies didn't entirely destroy Liberalism, but instead they combined with existing government policies to create a clouded atmosphere of anti-capitalism, nationalist sentiments, and