The Age of Capital: 1848–1875
| Company type | Book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 1975 |
| Founder | Eric Hobsbawm |
| Products | History book |
The Age of Capital: 1848–1875 is a work published in 1975 by Eric Hobsbawm, serving as the second installment in his trilogy on the "long 19th century". It follows The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848 and precedes The Age of Empire: 1875–1914. The narrative continues with a subsequent volume, The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991.
In this book, Hobsbawm utilizes his dual revolution concept, highlighting how the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution together shaped both European and worldwide history, particularly through imperial and colonial linkages.
Beginning with the revolutions of 1848—often called the 'Springtime of Peoples'—the text examines their initial achievements and subsequent failure or consolidation. A key focus is the downfall of France’s July Monarchy, which gave rise to the French Second Republic, later transformed by Louis Napoleon into the Second French Empire.
The second and third sections analyze the emergence of modern "capitalism," a term that gained widespread use during the 1860s. The Great Boom period (1848 to early 1870s) witnessed significant economic expansion that helped stabilize European governments following revolutionary upheavals. This growth also promoted increased global economic interconnection, initiating early phases of globalization and establishing clear divisions between economic "Winners" and "Losers."
Between 1848 and 1875, bourgeois liberalism, rational thought, scientific advancement, and progress dominated—a unique phase between revolutionary turmoil and later radical social-political movements. Despite ongoing conflicts such as the Crimean War, European wars for unification, the American Civil War, and China's Taiping Rebellion, revolutionary social upheaval diminished. During this era, socialist labor organizations also expanded, exemplified by Ferdinand Lassalle’s establishment of the General German Workers Association after 1863.
The narrative concludes with the Great Boom’s decline in the early 1870s, marked by crises like America's Panic of 1873 and Europe's Long Depression. Hobsbawm interprets this as a transition away from laissez-faire capitalism toward greater economic cartel formation, corporate influence, government involvement, and protectionist policies—moving beyond mid-19th-century free trade principles. Although social unrest briefly flared during events such as the Paris Commune of 1871, widespread political radicalization became prominent later during the Age of Empire (1875–1914), fueled by revolutions in Persia, Mexico, China, Russia, and culminating in the Great War.
Contents
- Part I. Revolutionary Prelude
- 1. 'The Springtime of Peoples'
- Part II. Developments
- 2. The Great Boom
- 3. The World United
- 4. Conflicts and War
- 5. Building Nations
- 6. The Forces of Democracy
- 7. Losers
- 8. Winners
- 9. Changing Society
- Part III. Results
- 10. The Land
- 11. Men Moving
- 12. City, Industry, the Working Class
- 13. The Bourgeois World
- 14. Science, Religion, Ideology
- 15. The Arts
- 16. Conclusion