Achievements of technical progress at the beginning of the 20th century. Education in Russia. Discoveries in Geography

From the middle of the 19th century. Prussia, which had become noticeably stronger, persistently sought the unification of the German lands, which represented a huge conglomerate of small states, under its auspices. The solution to this problem is largely connected with the name of the largest German politician of that era - O. von Bismarck, who took the post of Chancellor of Prussia in 1862. The most important rival of Prussia in the unification of the German lands was the Austrian Empire, which also claimed leadership in the German Confederation. Although both countries participated as allies in the war against Denmark in 1864, conflict between them was inevitable. In 1866, the short-lived Austro-Prussian War began, which quickly led to the defeat of Austria. According to the Treaty of Prague on August 23, 1866, it permanently withdrew from the German Confederation and renounced its claims to hegemony in Germany. The North German Confederation was formed, in which Prussia played the main role. The last enemy of the German Empire, France, was eliminated as a result of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. This conflict led to the fall of the regime of Louis Napoleon III in France. On January 18, 1871, at Versailles, the Prussian King Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Kaiser. The centuries-old fragmentation of Germany was overcome.

The problem of eliminating political fragmentation was also on the agenda in the Italian lands. The situation here was complicated by the fact that some of the most developed countries

Italy was controlled by Austria, which was extremely uninterested in folding nation state on the Apennine Peninsula. The center of the country's unification became the Kingdom of Sardinia, the most politically and economically developed region of Italy. The process of creating a united Italy took place in the late 50s - early 70s. XIX century. Internal tendencies towards centralization were complicated by the active intervention in Italian affairs of Austria and France. The head of the Sardinian government, C. Cavour, cleverly took advantage of the contradictions between European states for his own purposes. By the end of the 60s. Sardinian troops, with the active support of the masses led by D. Garibaldi, managed to crush the Kingdom of Naples, whose head, Francis II of Bourbon, was an opponent of a united Italy, and expel the Austrian and French invaders. The annexation of Rome to Italy and the liquidation of the Papal States in 1870 marked the completion of the unification process. The stormy processes of changing the political map of Europe, which took place from the very beginning of the 19th century, stopped for a while towards its last quarter.

A common phenomenon in the development of Western civilization in the 19th century was the formation of the foundations of civil society. This process, which took place in a complex struggle, developed in different countries far from the same: if in England and the USA it took an evolutionary path, then many other Western countries (primarily France) experienced numerous revolutionary upheavals along the way. Political development consolidated the rapid socio-economic changes taking place in Western countries, and also led to the formation of a completely new political, legal and social picture of society.

Science 19 – beginning 20th centuries

To solve the technical and economic problems posed by industry, transport and agriculture, a new approach to the phenomena of nature was required. The development of trade and international relations, the exploration and development of geographical areas introduced a lot of new factual information into scientific circulation. They made it possible to fill previously existing gaps in the picture of nature, to include those “missing links” that confirmed the existence of comprehensive connections of natural phenomena in time and space.

In higher scientific and technical education at the beginning of the 19th century. Mathematics occupied a prominent place, since the need to apply it to the solution of practical problems put forward by natural science and technology (in the field of physics, chemistry, astronomy, geodesy, thermodynamics, kinematics of mechanisms, construction, ballistics, etc.) sharply increased.

The successes of descriptive geometry were directly related to the applied problems of drawing up drawings of machinery, buildings, industrial and transport structures. During the same period of time, applied, or, as they said then, “practical” mechanics, emerged, which studied the operation of machines, mechanisms and engineering structures and developed methods for their calculation (G. Monge, T. Jung).

Development of industry at the beginning of the 19th century. led to the emergence of theoretical and practical chemistry (A.P. Lavoisier, K.L. Berthollet). Moreover, scientific chemistry could receive further complete development after the victory of the doctrine of the molecular-atomic-mystical structure of matter.

Development of culture at the beginning of the 19th century.

Culture at the beginning of the 19th century. was formed in Europe and America under the double influence of industrial development (revolutions) and bourgeois revolutions. In addition, national liberation wars in Europe and America made a certain contribution to the development of culture. All changes in society found a response in music, painting, poetry, prose, sculpture and architecture.

A common feature of the development of world culture during this period was the steady growth of international cultural exchange. It occurred thanks to the rapid development of world economic contacts, as well as the improvement of means of transport, communication and mutual information.

The development of literature and art in European countries and the USA took place at the beginning of the 19th century. under the sign of the struggle of classicism with church influence, which was reactionary in nature. The art of classicism of the era of the bourgeois revolution was strictly rationalistic, that is, it required complete logical compliance of all elements of the artistic form with an extremely clearly expressed plan. A characteristic feature of classicism was the inviolability of certain aesthetic norms.

Classicism of the early 19th century. was not a homogeneous phenomenon, in particular for France after the revolution of 1789–1794. Characteristic was the development of revolutionary, republican classicism, which was embodied in the dramas of M.Zh. Chenier, in the early painting of David, etc. During the same period of time, the development of the philosophical and humanistic classicism of Goethe, Schiller, Wieland began. Almost simultaneously with the new classicism at the beginning of the 19th century. a new art direction emerged - romanticism.

In contrast to the socio-political ideals of the classicists, the romantics put forward new heroes - rebellious, lonely individualists, irreconcilably hostile to their environment, following unbridled spontaneous impulses of passion and despising all cold rationality. The spirit of revolutionary romance permeates the poems of Byron and Shelley, the works of Mickiewicz and Chamisso, the paintings of the young Delacroix and Goya, and the works of the writer Germaine de Stael (1766–1817) etc.

Technical progress of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.

The modern scientific and technological revolution, which began at the beginning of the 20th century, is a set of fundamental qualitative changes in means, technology, organization and production management based on new scientific principles. This revolution was prepared not only by the development of science and productive forces, but also by the social changes that occurred in society as a result of the world revolutionary process.

In contrast to the industrial revolution of the 18th century, which marked the transition from manufacturing to large-scale machine production, the modern scientific and technological revolution is a transition to a qualitatively new higher level of machine production - to large-scale automated machine production.

Unlike the machine system of the 19th century, which consisted of three elements: a machine-tool, a machine-engine and a transmission mechanism, the modern automatic system The machine includes, in addition to the indicated three links, another qualitatively new one - the control link. In recent decades, based on the management level, a fundamentally new car- control, which gradually turns into an independent type of machine system. The transition to a four-link structure of machines containing an automatic device that models some of the mental and logical functions of a person is the starting point of the modern scientific and technological revolution.

The scientific and technological revolution is characterized by a restructuring of the technical and sectoral structure of the national economy. In the process of this restructuring, material and material prerequisites are created for the next stage - large-scale automated machine production. Restructuring is taking place in all elements of material production - in the system of machines, in production technology, in the structure of the entire national economy.

The role of science in the development of production has increased immeasurably. Science turns into a direct productive force, becomes an integral specific element of the productive forces of society.

The basis of the modern scientific and technological revolution is electrification and electronization of all parts of the production process. Consequently, the most important changes in the development of production are directly related to the development of energy, electrical engineering, and electronics. Creation of large automated machine production, complex automated systems management, implementation of electronic computers in production, transport, construction, in research, design, and planning organizations it is impossible to implement without huge expenditures of electricity, without the creation of new electrical and electronic devices.

The most general qualitative indicator of the level of technological development is labor productivity. This indicator is directly related to others - the productivity of the machine, expressed in the amount of product it produces per unit of time.

The productivity of machines, and with it the productivity of equipment in general, is constantly growing. The quality of a machine can be measured by its performance. But productivity, in turn, is a consequence of a number of factors, the most significant of which are the intensity and intensity of work. The intensity of machine operation is achieved by increasing the speed of movement, concentration and intensification of mechanical, physical and chemical processes. As an example of the intensification of processes in an electrical device, we can refer to significant increases in voltage in power lines - from tens and hundreds to hundreds of thousands of volts.

Another qualitative indicator of technology development is the efficiency factor, which allows us to evaluate the perfection of machines. We can say that the efficiency of machines tends to increase. As a rule, after reaching 95%, the increase in efficiency slows down, although occasional jumps may occur.

However, in modern conditions development of scientific and technological progress, the qualitative progress of technology can in no case be assessed only by efficiency values ​​and other economic indicators.

Penetrating more and more into the secrets of nature, man, as already noted, has learned to create such powerful technical objects that the powers they develop turn out to be commensurate with geophysical and cosmic ones.

When developing such facilities, an integrated systematic approach is required, taking into account not only the technical and economic, but also the social and environmental consequences of their activities. A modern specialist must always remember that our society must be focused primarily on the individual, on creating conditions for his healthy, creative life, for his all-round development.

In the creative activity of an engineer or scientist, not only the ability to see the germs of the new, but also to correctly evaluate the old is of great importance. In the process of technology development, one type of technical object is constantly replaced by others that are more consistent with new needs. During the period of their emergence, these objects accelerated industrial progress, but over time they began to slow down its further development, despite the fact that they were constantly being improved. For example, steam locomotives, which were widely used in the first half of our century, were many times more powerful, faster and more economical than Stephenson or Cherepanov steam locomotives. But if the first steam locomotives were a new step in the development of transport technology, then they have long looked like an anachronism.

Consequently, unlike living beings, technical objects give way to more modern ones during their peak period. This is also one of the laws of technology. Understanding this process makes it easier to overcome old traditions in relation to technical objects, to which many years of creative activity have sometimes been devoted, and makes it easier to abandon them if they have no prospects for development in the future.

And when assessing the contribution of one or another figure in science and technology, one must first of all keep in mind what he has done that is new in comparison with his predecessors.

An important feature of the development of technology is the return to old ideas based on the achievements of scientific and technological progress. Thus, the first three-phase transformers of M. O. Dolivo-Dobrovolsky had a spatial magnetic circuit, but due to the complexity of their manufacturing technology, they were not used. More than 75 years have passed. Technical level Transformer manufacturing has increased significantly, the development of the production of cold-rolled steel coils and the use of aluminum foil and tape for windings made it possible to establish mass production of powerful transformers with a spatial magnetic core.

One more thing to keep in mind characteristic feature development of technology: new things are often created in old design forms, which seem to scientists and inventors to be the most perfect. For example, one of the first electric motors of the 19th century. (Burbuz engine) in its external forms almost exactly repeated the steam engine: the reciprocating movement of the pistons was replaced by a similar movement of magnets in the solenoids, switching was carried out by changing the polarity, the rotational movement of the shaft was achieved using a crank mechanism. The possibility of using a linear motor was not yet thought of at that time.

When developing new devices, one always has to deal with the technical contradictory requirements for the object, for example, requirements for reliability and intensity of work, speed and strength.

Political doctrines

All political teachings XIX centuries can be divided into three groups: conservative, liberal and radical. Radicalism (primarily Marxism) provided for a radical transformation of capitalism, and conservatism and liberalism (for all their differences) were united in their rejection of radical views. Opposing Marxism and trying to explain (and justify) the diverse Western political reality, liberalism and conservatism evolved during the 19th century and acquired a new philosophical and methodological base - positivism.

Conservatism is a conglomerate of various socio-political teachings that have evolved and changed over time. Therefore, conservatism is not any specific political doctrine, but a “mindset,” a set of certain basic ideological principles that make all conservative concepts related. These conservative principles were first clearly formulated in the work of Edmund Burke, who is therefore considered the founder of conservatism.

E. Burke (1729 – 1797) – English thinker and politician. In 1790, he published the pamphlet “Reflections on the Revolution in France,” which has since become the “bible” of classical Western conservatism.

The end of the 18th century in Britain was the beginning of the industrial revolution, a period of consolidation of political power and socio-economic influence of the bourgeoisie and the bourgeois aristocracy. Early capitalism (“free competition capitalism” or “wild capitalism”) had not yet turned into monopoly; the state at that time refrained from interfering in economic life and social relations. Against this background, socio-political doctrines oriented towards the development and strengthening of bourgeois institutions took shape.

It was English liberalism that became the banner of the rising class of property owners. The requirements of law and order, democratization, inviolability of property and non-interference of the state in the socio-economic sphere - all these principles of liberal teaching made it very beneficial for the bourgeoisie and part of the middle class, that is, for those layers that were interested in creating stable favorable conditions for its business activities.

Liberal ideology, like conservatism, among other things, became the response of bourgeois society to the left-radical concepts of the Great French Revolution (Jacobinism, etc.). Many liberals considered the Enlightenment concepts of the social contract and natural rights to be dangerous delusions, since these ideas were “discredited” during the revolutionary educational experiment in France.

Liberalism was modified throughout the 19th century, so the liberal concepts of the beginning of the century should be considered classical, “original”. The most important role in the development of liberalism was played by the English thinker Jeremy (Jeremy) Bentham (1748 – 1832). His works are the quintessence of classical liberalism.

The liberal concept dominated the capitalist developed countries of Europe and North America while free competition capitalism, based on unlimited private initiative, remained the most efficient type of economic organization. In connection with the reform of capitalism from the beginning of the 20th century to Western Europe and the United States, there was a need to create a system of state regulation of the economy and social support for the population. Therefore, neoliberals, responding to the challenges of the time, were forced to abandon the dogmas of classical liberalism and philosophical utilitarianism. However, classical liberal ideas have experienced a renaissance since the 1980s. within the framework, oddly enough, of neoconservatism. The neoconservatives “picked up” the “ideological arsenal” discarded by the neoliberals. This is why the terms “neoconservatism” and “liberalism” are often synonymous in modern political discourse.

In modern times, the idea of ​​a certain just and happy social system in the future is developing in European political thought - about socialism, which is sometimes understood completely differently by different theorists. German philosophers Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820 – 1895) tried to transform the doctrine of socialism from utopian to scientific, that is, to justify the inevitability of the onset of socialism by the laws of development of the capitalist system itself.

Marx and Engels relied on a materialist understanding of the historical process, proclaiming: “Being determines consciousness.” They saw the main driving force for the development of societies and states in the objective needs of large groups of people, and not in the subjective aspirations and desires of individuals. The material reproduction of people’s lives also determines the form of communication between them (i.e., both society and the state). The research method in Marxism is materialist dialectics.

The foundations of the Marxist materialist understanding of society and the state were formed by the mid-40s. XIX century.

The Marxist idea of ​​the political structure is determined by the doctrine of base and superstructure. The basis is socio-economic relations. Superstructure – state, ideology, culture, etc.

Superstructure phenomena depend on the basic ones, since the superstructure must correspond to the base. Simply put, according to Marx and Engels, the political regime ultimately depends on the method of economic management.

The basis (socio-economic relations) develops dialectically under the influence of internal factors - the contradictions hidden in it. (Recall that the unity and struggle of opposites is the source of development, from the point of view of dialectics). Changes in the basis lead to changes in the superstructure.

However, Marx and Engels did not deny that politics (the superstructure) has some autonomy and can influence the base. However, they still put socio-economic relations in the foreground.

ANARCHISM (from the Greek anarhia - anarchy), a socio-political and socio-economic doctrine that denies the need for state power and political organization of society, proclaiming as its goal the liberation of man from all types of political, economic and spiritual coercion. The main idea of ​​anarchism is the denial of all state power and the preaching of unlimited freedom for each individual person. Anarchists advocated the immediate destruction of all state power as a result of a “spontaneous,” spontaneous revolt of the masses and the creation of a federation of small autonomous producers’ associations. Anarchism developed in the 1840s-1870s in Western Europe; its ideologists were M. Stirner, P. Proudhon, M.A. Bakunin, P.A. Kropotkin. In Russia in the 19th century, the ideas of anarchism were reflected in the theory and practice of revolutionary populism, in the activities of various anarchist groups during the First Russian Revolution (1905-1907) and the Civil War.

Spain in 1820-1849

The Spanish Revolution of 1820-1823 was a bourgeois revolution whose task was to abolish feudal relations in Spain. The causes of the revolution were the socio-economic crisis, the French occupation of 1808-1813, and the separation of the American colonies. The beginning of the revolution was marked by the appearance of troops in Cadiz, which caused an uprising throughout the country. On March 9, 1820, King Ferdinand VII restored the 1812 constitution. Majorates were liquidated, parts of monasteries were closed with the nationalization of their land, church tithes were halved, a direct land income tax was introduced, and a unified customs tariff was introduced.

Ferdinand (Hernando) VII was released by Napoleon to his homeland, but the Cortes demanded that he swear allegiance to the constitution, which he refused to do. The intervention of the army, the transition to the side of the king, General Elio, resolved the issue in favor of an absolute monarchy. After the dispersal of the Cortes and the entry of the king into Madrid, Hernando promised amnesty and the adoption of a new constitution, but began his reign with repression both against those who supported Joseph Bonaparte and against the most liberal supporters of the Cortes. The army and the clergy became the backbone of the monarchy.

Court intrigues and the king's weak character did not contribute to the restoration of order in either internal or external affairs. During the French occupation of Spain, a war of independence began in its overseas colonies, during which the local elites broke away from the weakened metropolis. Discontent was building among the people. The troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Riego proclaimed the Constitution of 1812 on January 1, 1820 and created a provisional government in Isla de Leon, which issued a proclamation to the people. After a number of provinces and Madrid went over to the side of the rebels, the king swore allegiance to the constitution and convened the Cortes. Their activities were directed mainly against the property privileges of the church - the clergy were taxed, but this did not improve the situation in the country. Due to the absence of the bourgeoisie, the liberal initiatives of the Cortes were perceived negatively in society, especially among the peasantry. The Catholic opposition gained strength in the provinces and the country again began to slide into anarchy.

In the elections of March 1, 1822, the radicals received a majority of votes, after which forces loyal to the king unsuccessfully tried to occupy Madrid. Hernando asked for foreign help and in the fall of that year the Holy Alliance decided to intervene armed in the affairs of Spain. In April 1823, a French expedition under the command of the Duke of Angoulême (95 thousand) crossed the border and defeated Spanish troops. Already on April 11, the Cortes, having captured the king, fled from Madrid, where on May 24 the Duke of Angoulême entered, enthusiastically received by the people and clergy. Surrounded in Cadiz, the Cortes returned absolute power to the king, but the resistance of the liberals continued for another two months. To protect the Bourbons, 45 thousand French soldiers remained in Spain.

Ferdinand VII, restored to the throne after liberation from the power of the Cortes, returned to a policy of repression against liberals, relying on the clergy. The Apostolic Junta, which sought to restore the Inquisition, turned into a shadow government and removed all ministers it disliked. This party saw support in the king's younger brother Don Carlos, to whom the throne was to pass. However, when his supporters rebelled in Catalonia in 1827, Hernando decisively suppressed it and three years later issued the so-called. a pragmatic sanction that abolished the Salic law introduced by the Bourbons in 1713 and introduced succession to the throne through the female line. In October 1832, Queen Christina was declared regent for her daughter Isabella in the event of the death of the king. Former minister Cea Bermudez took charge of the administration, declared an amnesty and convened the Cortes, who on June 20, 1833 swore allegiance to Isabella as heir to the throne.

Don Carlos, on April 29, 1833, in Portugal, proclaimed himself King Charles V of Spain. He was immediately joined by the apostolic party, the Basque provinces and Navarre, whose ancient benefits, fueros, including the right to duty-free import of goods, were not recognized by the liberals. The Carlist uprising began in October 1833 with the appointment of a junta and general armament. Soon the Carlists occupied Catalonia. The Madrid government of the “Christinos” (named after the regent) could not suppress the rebellion because it was experiencing deep divisions. In 1834, a new constitution was adopted, which displeased radical liberals, who rebelled in 1836 and forced Christina to return to the 1812 constitution.

However, soon the new president of the Council of Ministers, Calatrava, convened the Cortes, which subjected the old constitution to revision. At this time, Don Carlos won a number of victories, but disagreements among his supporters led to his retreat to France. Not wanting to continue the war, the Cortes confirmed the fueros of the Basque provinces. In the late summer of 1840, all of Spain was under the control of the Madrid government. General Espartero gained popularity and forced Queen Christina to abandon the regency and leave the country. On May 8, 1841, Espartero was elected regent, but two years later he was forced to flee to England after a general mutiny of the army.

The conservative majority of the Cortes on November 8, 1843 declared the 13-year-old Queen Isabella of age, changes soon followed in the political life of the country - rival generals and favorites of the young queen replaced each other at the helm of the state, her mother Christina was returned from exile, a high property qualification for elections was introduced in the Cortes, senators were appointed for life by the crown, and the Catholic religion was declared the state religion.

FRANCE IN 1815–1847

After the defeat of Napoleon's army at Waterloo, the Bourbons returned to the French throne. This time, on July 8, 1815, Louis XVIII entered Paris with an appeal in which he convinced the French that rumors about the restoration of tithes and feudal rights “are a fairy tale that does not deserve refutation. The king promised to “forgive past errors” and leave national property in the ownership of those who acquired them during the revolution.” But in August 1815 a new reactionary Chamber of Deputies was elected. Many figures of the revolutionary years and the Napoleonic period were killed without trial. Extraordinary tribunals have handed down more than 10 thousand convictions in political cases. Up to 100 thousand people who were considered politically “unreliable” were dismissed from the civil service.

Louis XVIII, fearing a new revolutionary explosion in the country, was forced to dissolve the “incomparable chamber” in 1816. New elections brought victory to moderate royalists, supporters of the constitution. But from 1820, especially from the end of 1821, when the ultra-royalists again came to power, the reaction intensified sharply. The electoral system was changed in a reactionary spirit, preliminary censorship was introduced, schools were placed under the supervision of bishops, 1815–1830. entered the history of France as the period of the Restoration with the political domination of the country by the nobility and clergy. Under the Bourbons, large land ownership prevailed. During this period, the French economy—its agriculture and its industry—continued to develop along a capitalist path. The industrial revolution continued in France. Woolen, silk, metallurgical and some other industries rapidly increased their production. From 1815 to 1829 cotton consumption tripled. Coal mining from 1815 to 1830 doubled, and iron production tripled.

The industrial revolution and the development of capitalism in France led to increased exploitation of the working class, impoverishment and ruin of small artisans and handicraftsmen, and an intensification of the class struggle.

The reactionary policy of the Restoration government, which primarily defended the interests and privileges of large landowners, nobles and the highest Catholic clergy, had a negative impact on the economic development of France. There was growing dissatisfaction in the country with the dominance of the Jesuits at the Bourbon court, in the administration, in schools, and with the defiant behavior of former emigrant nobles who threatened the peasantry with the restoration of feudal orders. The industrial crisis of 1826, and then the depression of 1829–1830, which coincided with a bad harvest, worsened the already difficult living conditions of the working people: large masses of people in the cities were deprived of income, poverty and hunger reigned in the countryside. The consequence of this was the growth of revolutionary sentiment among the masses.

As a result of the July Revolution of 1830 in France, which lasted only three days, the bourgeoisie won a victory over the nobility, but the complete destruction of the monarchy was not part of its plans. The Duke of Orleans, who maintained close ties with right-wing bourgeois liberals, was placed on the French throne.

Louis Philippe d'Orléans was proclaimed first viceroy and then, on August 9, 1830, king of France. This is how the regime of the bourgeois monarchy was established in France. The establishment of this regime, in which the main role was played by bankers, stock exchange and railway “kings”, owners of coal mines, iron mines and forests, and a part of the land owners associated with them, contributed to the industrial and economic development of France in 1830–1847.

In 1847, the internal political situation in France worsened. This was caused by the commercial, industrial and financial crisis in 1847, which increased the need of the masses. 4,762 firms went bankrupt, industrial production fell by 50%, and “Parisian industry” was paralyzed by 70%. This crisis had dire consequences for workers. Unemployment became widespread and reached enormous proportions. At the same time, the petty and middle bourgeoisie and merchants were extremely dissatisfied. They wanted electoral reform and turned to the government and parliament with petitions demanding a reduction in the property qualification. On December 28, 1847, a session of parliament began, during which the government's policies were criticized in both houses. Some of the Orléanists from the so-called Orléanists opposed the government led by Ghisi. dynastic opposition. Its supporters accused the government of bribery, wastefulness, and betrayal of the national interests of France. However, the opposition's demands were rejected, and the Chamber of Deputies adopted a resolution approving the government's actions. But wide sections of the French population were in opposition to the regime of the July Monarchy. The Moderate Liberal Party demanded electoral reform.

On February 21, 1848, the government adopted and published a ban on any meetings, processions and demonstrations. However, on the morning of February 22, Parisians began to gather in crowds that, singing the Marseillaise, headed to the Bourbon Palace, where the Legislative Assembly was located. On the evening of February 22, the first armed clashes between the people and the troops and police began. By early the next day, the Parisians had erected 1,500 barricades. On February 24, all important points of the capital fell into the hands of the rebels. King Louis Philippe renounced his rights to the throne and fled to England. The July Monarchy was overthrown. The people demanded the proclamation of a republic. A provisional government was created, consisting of nine republicans and two socialists. The government was headed by a moderate liberal, poet

Alphonse Lamartine. The republic was recognized by the clergy and the bourgeoisie. The provisional government abolished titles of nobility, issued decrees on freedom of the press, political meetings, the right for all citizens to join the national guard, and the introduction of universal suffrage for men over 21 years of age. The most liberal political regime was established in France.

But the economic crisis in the country continued. The provisional government was unable to solve the problem of employment. The discovery of the so-called national workshops for the unemployed, in which more than 100,000 people were accepted.

To get out of the financial crisis, the Provisional Government introduced a decree on a 45% tax. It caused growing discontent in the country. As a result of this, reactionary representatives entered the Constituent Assembly.

The government newly formed after the elections launched an offensive against the workers of Paris - armed meetings were prohibited. General Cavaignac was appointed to the post of Minister of War.

On June 22, 1848, the new government issued a decree dissolving national workshops, which became the reason for the start of an uprising of Parisian workers. The fighting lasted 4 days - from June 23 to 26. The troops of the Minister of War, General Cavaignac, suppressed this uprising. After the suppression, democratic changes were suspended. The new government closed radical newspapers, clubs and societies. But universal suffrage was preserved.

ITALY in 1815-1847

By the decision of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Italy, previously united under the rule of Napoleon I, was again fragmented into eight kingdoms and duchies, while the northeastern part, the Lombardo-Venetian region, was annexed to the Austrian Empire. The absolute power of the monarchs who joined the Holy Alliance was restored everywhere. In Italy in 1815–1847. semi-feudal nobility and clergy dominated. There are political and customs borders between the Italian states. Each of the Italian duchies had its own special systems of weights and measures, its own monetary system, and its own criminal and civil legislation.

The old feudal order held back development Agriculture Italy. Landless peasants were turned into poor tenants and farm laborers, while they received land for rent on sharecropping terms.

In the industrial development of Italy in 1815–1847. lagged behind not only England and France, but also Prussia. The main industry was the production of raw silk. Cotton production developed in the north of the country. Economic development was also hampered by poorly developed transport. Back in 1807–1810. In the Italian states, secret revolutionary societies of the Carbonari began to be created, with the goal of unifying the country. After the Congress of Vienna in 1847, this movement reached its apogee; they saw the solution to their problems in the overthrow of Austrian oppression and in replacing autocratic monarchies with constitutional ones.

At the end of the 19th century, the “Age of Electricity” began. If the first machines were created by self-taught craftsmen, now science has imperiously intervened in people’s lives - the introduction of electric motors was a consequence of the achievements of science. The “age of electricity” began with the invention of the dynamo; DC generator, it was created by the Belgian engineer Zinovy ​​Gramm in 1870. Due to the principle of reversibility, Gram's machine could work both as a generator and as a motor; it could easily be converted into an alternator. In the 1880s, Yugoslav Nikola Tesla, who worked in America at the Westinghouse Electric company, created a two-phase alternating current electric motor. At the same time, Russian electrical engineer Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, who worked in Germany at the AEG company, created an efficient three-phase electric motor. Now the problem of using electricity rested on the problem of transmitting current over a distance. In 1891, the opening of the World Exhibition took place in Frankfurt. By order of the organizers of this exhibition, Dolivo-Dobrovolsky created the first power transmission line high voltage and a transformer for it; the order provided for such a tight deadline that no tests were carried out; the system was turned on and started working immediately. After this exhibition, Dolivo-Dobrovolsky became the leading electrical engineer of the time, and the AEG company became the largest manufacturer of electrical equipment. Since that time, plants and factories began to switch from steam engines to electric motors, and large power plants and power lines appeared.

A great achievement in electrical engineering was the creation of electric lamps. The American inventor Thomas Edison took up the solution to this problem in 1879; his employees carried out over 6 thousand experiments, testing various materials for incandescent filament; the best material turned out to be bamboo fibers, and Edison’s first light bulbs were “bamboo.” Only twenty years later, at the suggestion of the Russian engineer Lodygin, the filament began to be made from tungsten.

Power plants required very high power engines; this problem was solved by the creation of steam turbines. In 1889, the Swede Gustav Laval received a patent for a turbine in which the steam exhaust speed reached 770 m/sec. At the same time, the Englishman Charles Parsons created a multi-stage turbine; The Parsons turbine began to be used not only in power plants, but also as an engine for high-speed ships, cruisers and ocean liners. Hydroelectric power plants also appeared, using hydraulic turbines created in the 30s by the French engineer Benoit Fourneron. The American Pelton in 1884 patented a jet turbine that operated under high pressure. Hydraulic turbines had a very high efficiency, about 80%, and the energy obtained from hydroelectric stations was very cheap.

Simultaneously with the work on creating heavy-duty engines, work was underway on small mobile engines. At first these were gas engines running on lighting gas; they were intended for small enterprises and craft workshops. The gas engine was an internal combustion engine, that is, fuel combustion took place directly in the cylinder and the combustion products pushed the piston. Operating at high cylinder temperatures required a cooling and lubrication system; These problems were solved by the Belgian engineer Etienne Lenoir, who created the first gas engine in 1860.

However, illuminating gas obtained from sawdust was an expensive fuel; work on engines running on gasoline was more promising. The gasoline engine required the creation of a carburetor, a device for spraying fuel into the cylinder. The first efficient gasoline engine was created in 1883 by the German engineer Julius Daimler. This engine ushered in the era of the automobile; Already in 1886, Daimler installed his engine on a four-wheeled carriage. This machine was demonstrated at an exhibition in Paris, where the license for its production was purchased by French manufacturers Rene Panhard and Etienne Levassor. Panhard and Levassor used only the Daimler engine; they created their car, equipping it with a clutch system, gearbox and rubber tires. It was the first real car; in 1894 he won the first Paris-Rouen automobile race. The following year, Levassor won the Paris-Bordeaux race in his car. “It was crazy! - said the winner. “I was racing at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour!” However, Daimler decided to go into car production himself; in 1890 he created the Daimlermotoren company, and ten years later this company produced the first Mercedes car. Mercedes became a classic car of the early 20th century; it had a four-cylinder engine producing 35 hp. With. and reached a speed of 70 km/h. This beautiful and reliable car was an incredible success; it marked the beginning of mass production of cars.

The efficiency of the Daimler engine was about 20%, the efficiency of steam engines did not exceed 13%. Meanwhile, according to the theory of heat engines developed by the French physicist Carnot, the efficiency of an ideal engine could reach 80%. The idea of ​​an ideal engine excited the minds of many inventors; in the early 90s, the young German engineer Rudolf Diesel tried to bring it to life. Diesel's idea was to compress the air in the cylinder to a pressure of about 90 atmospheres, while the temperature reached 900 degrees; then fuel was injected into the cylinder; in this case, the engine operating cycle was close to the ideal “Carnot cycle”. Diesel failed to fully realize his idea; due to technical difficulties, he was forced to lower the pressure in the cylinder to 35 atmospheres. However, the first Diesel engine, which appeared in 1895, created a sensation - its efficiency was 36%, twice that of gasoline engines. Many companies sought to buy a license to produce engines, and already in 1898 Diesel became a millionaire. However, engine production required a high technological culture, and Diesel had to drive around for many years. different countries, establishing the production of its engines.

The internal combustion engine was used not only in cars. In 1901, American engineers Hart and Parr created the first tractor; in 1912, the Holt company mastered the production of tracked tractors, and by 1920, 200 thousand tractors were already working on American farms. The tractor took on not only field work, its engine was used to power threshers, mowers, mills and other agricultural machines. With the creation of the tractor, mass mechanization of agriculture began.

The advent of the internal combustion engine played a major role in the birth of aviation. At first they thought that it was enough to put an engine on a winged device - and it would rise into the air. In 1894, the famous inventor of the machine gun, Maxim, built a huge aircraft with a wingspan of 32 meters and weighing 3.5 tons - this machine crashed on its first attempt to take off. It turned out that the main problem of aeronautics is flight stability. This problem was solved through long experiments with models and gliders. Back in the 1870s, the Frenchman Peno created several small models driven by a rubber motor; the result of his experiments was the conclusion about the important role of the tail. In the 1890s, the German Otto Lilienthal made about 2 thousand flights on a glider he designed. He controlled the glider, balancing his body, and could stay in the air for up to 30 seconds, flying 100 meters during this time. Lilienthal's experiments ended tragically; he was unable to cope with the gust of wind and crashed, falling from a height of 15 meters. Work on the creation of gliders was continued by the American Wright brothers, owners of a bicycle workshop in the city of Dayton. The Wright brothers introduced a vertical rudder, transverse ailerons, and measured the lift of the wings using blowing in a wind tunnel they invented. Built by the Wright brothers, the glider was highly controllable and could stay in the air for about a minute. In 1903, the Wright brothers powered the glider with a small gasoline engine that they built themselves in their workshop. On December 14, 1903, Wilbur Wright made the first powered flight, flying 32 meters; On December 17, the flight range reached 260 meters. These were the first flights in the world; before the Wright brothers, not a single airplane could take off. Gradually increasing engine power, the Wright brothers learned to fly their airplane; in October 1905, the plane stayed in the air for 38 minutes, flying in a circle for 39 kilometers. However, the Wright brothers' achievements went unnoticed, and their requests to the government for help went unanswered. Also in 1905, the Wright brothers were forced to stop their flights due to lack of funds. In 1907, the Wrights visited France, where the public was very interested in the flights of the first aviators - however, the flight range of the French aviators was measured only in hundreds of meters, and their airplanes did not have ailerons. The stories and photographs of the Wright brothers created such a sensation in France that its echo reached America and the government immediately provided the Wrights with an order for 100 thousand dollars. In 1908, the Wrights' new airplane made a 2.5-hour flight. Orders for airplanes poured in from all sides, and the Wright aircraft manufacturing company was founded in New York with a capital of $1 million. However, already in 1909, several disasters occurred on the “rights”, and disappointment set in. The fact is that the Wright brothers’ planes did not have a tail, and therefore often “noded off.” French aviators knew about the need for a tail unit from Penaud's experiments; they soon borrowed ailerons from the Wright brothers and surpassed their American counterparts. In 1909, Louis Blériot flew across the English Channel. In the same year, Henri Farman created the first mass-produced airplane model, the famous Farman-3. This aircraft became the main training machine of the time and the first aroplane to be mass-produced.

At the end of the 19th century, work continued on the creation of new means of communication; the telegraph was replaced by telephone and radio communications. The first experiments in transmitting speech over a distance were carried out by the English inventor Reis in the 60s. In the 70s, Alexander Bell, a Scot who emigrated to America and taught first at a school for deaf-mute children and then at Boston University, became interested in these experiments. A doctor he knew suggested that Bell use a human ear for experiments and brought him an ear from a corpse. Bell copied the eardrum, and by placing a metal membrane next to an electromagnet, he achieved satisfactory speech transmission to short distances. In 1876, Bell took out a patent for the telephone and sold more than 800 copies that year. The following year, Davis Hughes invented the microphone, and Edison used the transformer to transmit sound over long distances. The first one was built in 1877 telephone exchange, Bell created a company for the production of telephones, and after 10 years there were already 100 thousand telephones in the United States.

While working on the telephone, Edison had the idea of ​​recording the vibrations of the microphone membrane. He equipped the membrane with a needle, which recorded vibrations on a cylinder covered with foil. This is how the phonograph appeared. In 1887, the American Emil Berliner replaced the cylinder with a round record and created the gramophone. Gramophone discs could be easily copied, and soon many recording companies appeared.

New step in the development of communications was made with the invention of radiotelegraph. The scientific basis of radio communications was the theory of electromagnetic waves created by Maxwell. In 1886, Heinrich Hertz experimentally confirmed the existence of these waves using a device called a vibrator. In 1891, French physicist Branly discovered that metal filings placed in a glass tube changed resistance when exposed to electromagnetic waves. This device was called a coherer. In 1894, the English physicist Lodge used a coherer to record the passage of waves, and the following year, the Russian engineer Alexander Popov attached an antenna to the coherer and adapted it to receive signals emitted by a Hertz vibrator. In March 1896, Popov demonstrated his apparatus at a meeting of the Russian Physicochemical Society and transmitted signals over a distance of 250 meters. At the same time as Popov, the young Italian Guglielmo Marconi created his own radiotelegraph installation; he was the first to patent this invention; and next year organized Joint-Stock Company for its use. In 1898, Marconi included a jigger in his receiver, a device for amplifying antenna currents, which made it possible to increase the transmission range to 85 miles and transmit across the English Channel. In 1900, Marconi replaced the coherer with a magnetic detector and made radio communications across the Atlantic Ocean: President Roosevelt and King Edward VIII exchanged greeting telegrams by radio. In October 1907, Marconi opened its first radiotelegraph station to the general public.

One of the remarkable achievements of this time was the creation of cinema. The emergence of cinema was directly related to the improvement of photography invented by Daguerre. The Englishman Maddox developed the dry bromine gelatin process in 1871, which reduced shutter speed to 1/200 of a second. In 1877, the Pole Lev Warneke invented a roller camera with silver bromine paper tape. In 1888, German photographer Anschutz created the instant curtain shutter. After this, it became possible to take snapshots, and the whole problem came down to creating a jump mechanism to take snapshots at split-second intervals. This mechanism and the first cinema camera were created by the Lumière brothers in 1895. In December of this year, the first cinema was opened on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. In 1896, the Lumières toured all European capitals, showing their first film; these tours were a huge success.

At the end of the 19th century. For the first time, substances now called plastics are created. In 1873, J. Hiett (USA) patented celluloid - the first of such substances to come into wide use. Before World War I, Bakelite and other plastics, collectively known as phenolics, were invented. The production of artificial fiber began after the French engineer G. Chardoneau developed a method for producing nitro silk in 1884; subsequently they learned to produce artificial silk from viscose. In 1899, the Russian scientist I. L. Kondakov laid the foundation for the production of synthetic rubber.

Last decades of the 19th century. were a time of technical advances in the construction business. The construction of high-rise buildings, or “skyscrapers” as they became known, began in Chicago in the 1980s. XIX century. The first building of the new type is considered to be a 10-story building of a Chicago insurance company, built in 1883 by architect W. Jenney, who used steel floors. Reinforcing the walls with a steel frame, on which the beams of the interfloor floors began to rest, made it possible to double the height of the buildings. The tallest building of those times was the New York 58-story skyscraper, 228 meters high, built in 1913. But the tallest structure was the Eiffel Tower, a kind of monument to the “Steel Age”. Erected by the French engineer Gustave Eiffel on the Champ de Mars in Paris in connection with World's Fair 1889, this openwork tower was 300 meters high.

Along with metal structures, reinforced concrete structures were widely used at this time. The man who discovered reinforced concrete is the French gardener Joseph Monier. Back in 1849, he made tubs for fruit trees with a frame made of iron wire. Continuing his experiments, in the 60s he patented several methods for making pipes, tanks and concrete slabs with iron reinforcement. The most important was his patent for reinforced concrete vaulted ceilings (1877).

The end of the 19th century was a time of rapid growth of the world railway network. From 1875 to 1917 length railways increased 4 times and reached 1.2 million kilometers. Famous construction projects of that time were the Berlin-Baghdad highway and the Great Siberian Route; the length of the Siberian route by 1916 was 7.4 thousand kilometers. New railroads laid steel rails, crossed some of the world's greatest rivers, and built giant steel bridges over those rivers. The beginning of the “era of steel bridges,” as contemporaries put it, was laid by the arch bridge of engineer J. Eads across the Mississippi River (1874) and the Brooklyn suspension bridge by architect Roebling in New York (1883). The central span of the Brooklyn Bridge was about half a kilometer long. Powerful locomotives of the compound system with multiple expansion and high steam superheat worked on the new roads. In the 90s, the first electric locomotives and electrified railways appeared in the USA and Germany.

The construction of railways required a manifold increase in steel production. In 1870-1900, steel production increased 17 times. In 1878, the English engineer S. J. Thomas introduced the Thomas method of converting cast iron into steel; this method made it possible to use the phosphorous iron ores of Lorraine and provided the metallurgical industry of Germany with ore. In 1892, the French chemist A. Moissan created an electric arc furnace. In 1888, American engineer C. M. Hall developed an electrolytic method for the production of aluminum, opening the way for the widespread use of aluminum in industry.

New technical capabilities have led to improvements military equipment. In 1887, the American Hiram Maxim created the first machine gun. The famous Maxim machine gun fired 400 rounds per minute and was equivalent in firepower to a company of soldiers. Rapid-firing three-inch guns and heavy 12-inch guns with shells weighing 200-300 kg appeared.

The changes in naval shipbuilding were especially impressive. Wooden sailing giants with hundreds of cannons on three battery decks also took part in the Crimean War (1853-1856), the weight of the heaviest shells at that time was 30 kg. In 1860, the first iron battleship Warrior was launched in England, and soon all wooden ships were scrapped. A naval arms race began, England and France competed to create more and more powerful battleships, and later Germany and the USA joined this race. In 1881, the English battleship Inflexible was built with a displacement of 12 thousand tons; it had only 4 main caliber guns, but these were colossal 16-inch caliber guns, housed in rotating turrets, the barrel length was 8 meters, and the projectile weight was 700 kg. After some time, all the leading naval powers began to build battleships of this type (though mostly with 12-inch guns). A new stage in the arms race was caused by the appearance in 1906 of the English battleship Dreadnought; The Dreadnought had a displacement of 18 thousand tons and ten 12-inch guns. Thanks to a steam turbine, it reached a speed of 21 knots. Before the power of the Dreadnought, all previous battleships turned out to be incapable of combat, and the naval powers began to build ships similar to the Dreadnought. In 1913, battleships of the Queen Elizabeth class appeared with a displacement of 27 thousand tons and ten 15-inch guns. This arms race naturally led to world war.

The cause of the World War was the discrepancy between the real power of the European powers and the size of their possessions. England, taking advantage of its role as leader of the Industrial Revolution, created a huge colonial empire and captured most of the resources needed by other countries. However, by the end of the 19th century, Germany became the leader in technical and industrial development; Naturally, Germany sought to use its military and technical superiority for a new redistribution of the world. In 1914, the First World War began. The German command hoped to defeat their opponents in a couple of months, but these calculations did not take into account the role of the new weapon that had appeared at that time - the machine gun. The machine gun gave a decisive advantage to the defending side; The German offensive was stopped and a long “trench war” began. Meanwhile, the English fleet blocked German ports and interrupted food supplies. In 1916, famine began in Germany and, which ultimately led to the disintegration of the home front, to revolution and to the defeat of Germany.