The Beautiful AgeThe Beautiful Age

The years between ~1871 to 1914 have been, in retrospect, called "La Belle Époque" or The Beautiful Age, marked by the establishment of the German Empire, The Third French Republic, and other Western European societies. It was a rare period of relatively little conflict in Western Europe.

This was the time of the Second Industrial Revolution, which brought into the world four key innovations: Steel, Chemicals, Petroleum and Electricity. With the advent of these technologies, things could be produced faster, cheaper, more efficiently and could be distributed to more people. This increased the standards of living, created booming markets, and fostered a mass consumer culture.

Economic and Social DividesEconomic and Social Divides

It is important to note that there was a significant divide between Western Industrialized Europe which saw most of the benefits of the age, and Eastern Agricultural Europe which was mainly rural and impoverished. Even within Western Europe itself there was a large class divide between the wealthy elites and the poor working class. Yet, changes of the Second Industrial Revolution lead to an increase in wages and standard of living for most.

Indeed these changes also lead to the rise of socialism and socialist parties, the rise of anarchism and more frequent assassination of leaders, and the rise of unions that saw some success in improving the lives of those involved.

As work weeks and hours got shorter, people began to have more leisure time and more disposable income, and so, we witnessed the creation of a mass society. With a mass society came mass consumerism, products began being created and advertised to the mass market at a scale and scope never before seen by past generations. Leisure became prevalent; sports, parks, theatre, and music all flourish with the new rise of consumerism.

A sign of prosperity of the time is the family, in which the wife stays home to raise the children and the husband is the sole breadwinner. While that was the norm, many women went out to work and found jobs as telephone operators, teachers, and nurses.

Shifts in Science and PhilosophyShifts in Science and Philosophy

Scientific advancements challenged long-standing Newtonian physics, with Albert Einstein at the forefront of new discoveries. Marie Curie’s pioneering research on radioactivity revolutionized the field of physics and chemistry, while Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch’s development of the germ theory of disease fundamentally changed medical practices.

In Psychology, there is a growing sentiment that the “irrational” is more important than previously thought by enlightenment thinkers. Some intellectuals go so far as to even abandon the ideas of rational human progress, which had driven European society since the renaissance. The idea that through constant improvement we can reach a perfect society was being questioned, despite the clear advancements of the time.
Nietzsche puts forth the idea that God is dead, we killed him and we are incapable of reaching a perfect society. He posits that some people are born superior to others and those are the ones who should be given control to make the best decisions for a society, this would have disastrous consequences in the coming decades.

The thought that there is no God becomes increasingly popular, science and religion are found to be constantly at odds and people adopt agnosticism, which allows science to move forward without addressing the question of God.

Breakdown of Art and PoliticsBreakdown of Art and Politics

In art, we move away from the depiction of realism with the advent of the camera. The importance for artists to capture a moment in the real world becomes less and less important and they move into impressionism, post impressionism, cubism. and abstract art. Art becomes about the way the artist interprets reality instead of depicting it.

Politics reacts to these change in various ways. The increase in wealth and standard of living increase the number of people voting.
The woman’s suffrage movement succeeds in granting women the right to vote. And because of the wealth gap between the haves and have nots, we see a rise in socialism. We also see new imperialism, Western Europe empires colonize new areas of Africa and India. Eventually all good things come to an end and tensions once again began to rise. France, Russia and Great Britain enter into an alliance against the Germans and Austria-Hungarian Empire which sets the stage for the Great War.

ConclusionConclusion

La Belle Epoque is just one era of prosperity we can look back
to in history to see the potential of human flourishing on sound money. The renaissances of Florence and Venice, the great Pax Romana, the industrialization of America. These eras account for some of the most important and meteoric rises in human living standards throughout history. It is safe to say that we would not enjoy the levels of wealth and prosperity that we have today, were it not for the progress of these eras. It is, of course, important to not look back at history with rose colored glasses. In every one of these prosperous times, certainly some groups suffered so that others could thrive. Yet, in the long arc of time, human flourishing continues to go up and to the right.

Can we, as a society, look back on these great episodes of history and be inspired by the potential of what is possible? And will we be able to charge forward having learned the hard lessons of the past?
I believe that we may yet enter into another belle époque, one that is built on a Bitcoin standard. One that is not marred by the materialism of a decadent culture but rather one we enter into with a culture already focused on the values of personal responsibility and self sacrifice. One that doesn’t declare the death of God, but embraces the truth of a higher power. One where science is subordinate to a higher moral law and can once again coexist with religion.

Just as a society built on candles and oil lamps could not imagine the wonder of electricity. One cannot imagine what wonders would come about from a world built on sound money and sound culture.

Thanks for reading. This is the first piece of writing I’ve ever published, any feedback especially critique is greatly appreciated, I’m very eager to improve on this skill. Thanks again :)
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This writing is primarily a summary of the two part video series on La Belle Époque by Paul Sargent, informed by several other video sources, and concluded with my personal thoughts. Thank you for reading

Sources:

https://youtu.be/UsQ-Mu4hluM?si=Xdadyc47whAQvREB
https://youtu.be/drhtu8PjMpU?si=2sANds1AGMDbQJ5o
https://youtu.be/cZS2Sw5KRYw?si=UZ5o3wNNSH9uD_Cp
https://youtu.be/D-sfnPpD-2Y?si=r0PLMsBiO7-AYYEI
https://youtu.be/pdv0_TupOuE?si=dw8yOIhEJmP-D5sJ