The Age of Empire: 1875–1914

The Age of Empire: 1875–1914

Company type	Book
Industry	Publishing
Founded	1987
Founder	Eric Hobsbawm
Products	History book

The Age of Empire: 1875–1914 is a 1987 publication authored by British historian Eric Hobsbawm. It represents the third installment in his trilogy examining the "long 19th century," succeeding The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848 and The Age of Capital: 1848–1875. The trilogy is followed by the subsequent work The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991.

Themes

Hobsbawm explores an era beginning amid an economic depression known as the Long Depression, which soon gave way to swift economic recovery and expanding capitalist markets. During this time, the previously dominant British economy faced competition from the emerging German economy and the growing American economy. Enhanced productivity led to increased availability of goods and improved living conditions, although disparities in wealth both within and between nations became more pronounced. Culturally, this epoch aligns with the Belle Époque, a period marked by the decline of aristocratic influence and the rise of an affluent upper middle class (bourgeois), who reaped significant benefits from economic transformations.

This phase of relative peace across Europe and other Western regions engendered widespread confidence in continued stability, despite ongoing military-industrial preparations for future conflicts. The period was characterized by a tension between belief in progress and scientific advancement versus adherence to traditional religion. Western colonial dominance also stimulated increased fascination with non-Western cultures. According to Hobsbawm, these contradictions encapsulate the spirit of the age and presage its eventual conclusion.

The narrative closes the chapter on the era initiated by the dual revolution—comprising both the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. Employing a Marxist framework influenced by Vladimir Lenin, Hobsbawm charts capitalism’s development alongside imperial expansion culminating in the outbreak of the First World War. Contrary to Lenin’s forecast of capitalism’s demise, Hobsbawm observes its persistence in a modified form. Confronted with ideological rivals such as communism and transformative events like the Russian Revolution, capitalism survived by integrating certain socialist reforms, including aspects associated with the welfare state.

Contents

• Overture

1. The Centenarian Revolution
2. An Economy Changes Gear
3. The Age of Empire
4. The Politics of Democracy
5. Workers of the World
6. Waving Flags: Nations and Nationalism
7. Who's Who or the Uncertainties of the Bourgeoisie
8. The New Woman
9. The Arts Transformed
10. Certainties Undermined: The Sciences
11. Reason and Society
12. Towards Revolution
13. From Peace to War
14. New Capitalism

• Epilogue

See also

• World-systems theory

External links

• The Age of Empire