HIST 1F95 Lecture Notes - Three Cities, Indian Summer, Victorian Era
Document Summary
Reading assignment due at the beginning of seminar next week. The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there. Belle epoque is a french term given to the time around the turn of the 20th century, with the english translation meaning beautiful era . This was the golden era of prosperity and peace, and a time full of optimism that peace would continue. The belle epoque would become known as an indian summer at the end an era. In 1900 life looked, smelled and sounded very different than modern life: Smell of horses as opposed to the smell of gasoline/diesel. Hear horses, street vendors, carriage wheels, perhaps locomotives- automobiles still uncommon as they were reserved for the very rich (a modern comparison for the exclusivity would be private jets) Travel to distant lands via ships- not common (a luxury) Telegraphs were a popular form of international communication. Newspapers were the main form of news distribution.
