Medicine .
1860s - breakthrough in preventive medicine as idea of germs showed need for cleanliness .
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). finds bacteria 1868. .
Vaccination vs. Rabies 1885. .
Joseph Lister (1827-1912) - began sterilizing wounds - helped stop death from Septicemia.
Decline in death rates was enormous from 1870's onwards.
Housing .
To begin with houses were very crowded, and badly built - little sanitation (Row houses had 200 people to to 1 toilet). Built on rural model not suitable for cities. Houses had to be crowded near factories due total absence of public transport.
After Mid 19th C. - Urban planning and public Transport - people could live away from work. .
Paris was model under Napoleon III - it was transformed into a modern city by Baron Georges Haussman.
1890s - electric trams (streetcars) - real revolution in public transport.
Late 19th C. Urban life improved in quality - still slums, but a good experience for many.
C. Class Structures.
Class continued to be a part of European life. Despite increase in general wealth there continued to be great disparity of wealth - usually the richest 5% got 1/3 of nat. income, the richest 20% got 50 to 60%. .
There continued to be complicated class systems - not just two opposing classes as Marx had predicted. But some classes declined in power and numbers and others became more important.
Losing Ground.
• Rural Aristocracy - gradually lost power in Britain, France and Low Countries, but retained power in Russia and Germany until 20th C. .
• Peasants - As population moved into the towns, peasants became more and more marginal. But this movement took place at different paces. In France, for instance, peasants remained a politically important group until the second half of the 20th century. .
New Social Classes Created by the Industrial Revolution.
• The Factory Owners.
Perhaps the first people to think of themselves as a class in the modern sense.
