CH 31 Sec 1 - Postwar Uncertainty PDF
CH 31 Sec 1 - Postwar Uncertainty PDF
CH 31 Sec 1 - Postwar Uncertainty PDF
Postwar Uncertainty
MAIN IDEA
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
The postwar period was one of
loss and uncertainty but also
one of invention, creativity, and
new ideas.
existentialism
Friedrich
Nietzsche
surrealism
jazz
Charles Lindbergh
SETTING THE STAGE The horrors of World War I shattered the Enlightenment
belief that progress would continue and reason would prevail. In the postwar
period, people began questioning traditional beliefs. Some found answers in new
scientific developments, which challenged the way people looked at the world.
Many enjoyed the convenience of technological improvements in transportation
and communication. As society became more open, women demanded more
rights, and young people adopted new values. Meanwhile, unconventional styles
and ideas in literature, philosophy, and music reflected the uncertain times.
TAKING NOTES
The ideas of Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud had an enormous impact on the
20th century. These thinkers were part of a scientific revolution as important as
that brought about centuries earlier by Copernicus and Galileo.
Summarizing Use a
chart to identify two
people who contributed
to each field.
Field
had found that light travels at exactly the same speed no matter what direction it
moves in relation to earth. In 1905, Einstein theorized that while the speed of
light is constant, other things that seem constant, such as space and time, are not.
Space and time can change when measured relative to an object moving near the
speed of lightabout 186,000 miles per second. Since relative motion is the key
to Einsteins idea, it is called the theory of relativity. Einsteins ideas had implications not only for science but also for how people viewed the world. Now
uncertainty and relativity replaced Isaac Newtons comforting belief of a world
operating according to absolute laws of motion and gravity.
Contributors
science
literature
and
philosophy
art and
music
technology
logical problems. From his experiences, he constructed a theory about the human
mind. He believed that much of human behavior is irrational, or beyond reason.
He called the irrational part of the mind the unconscious. In the unconscious, a
number of drives existed, especially pleasure-seeking drives, of which the conscious mind was unaware. Freuds ideas weakened faith in reason. Even so, by
the 1920s, Freuds theories had developed widespread influence.
Years of Crisis 897
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on many writers. The Czech-born author Franz Kafka wrote eerie novels such as
The Trial (1925) and The Castle (1926). His books feature people caught in threatening situations they can neither understand nor escape. The books struck a chord
among readers in the uneasy postwar years.
Many novels showed the influence of Freuds theories on the unconscious. The
Irish-born author James Joyce gained widespread attention with his stream-ofconsciousness novel Ulysses (1922). This book focuses on a single day in the lives
of three people in Dublin, Ireland. Joyce broke with normal sentence structure and
vocabulary in a bold attempt to mirror the workings of the human mind.
Thinkers React to Uncertainties In their search for meaning in an uncertain world,
some thinkers turned to the philosophy known as existentialism. A major leader of
this movement was the philosopher Jean Paul Sartre (SAHRtruh) of France.
Existentialists believed that there is no universal meaning to life. Each person creates
his or her own meaning in life through choices made and actions taken.
Vocabulary
DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTIONS
1. Making Inferences What seems to be the narrators attitude toward the future?
2. Drawing Conclusions How would you describe the overall mood of the excerpt?
898 Chapter 31
A 1920s
photo of
F. Scott
Fitzgerald
Page 3 of 5
Making
Inferences
What was the
major trend in
postwar art?
Artists Rebel Against Tradition Artists rebelled against earlier realistic styles of
painting. They wanted to depict the inner world of emotion and imagination rather
than show realistic representations of objects. Expressionist painters like Paul Klee
and Wassily Kandinsky used bold colors and distorted or exaggerated forms.
Inspired by traditional African art, Georges Braque of France and Pablo Picasso
of Spain founded Cubism in 1907. Cubism transformed natural shapes into geometric forms. Objects were broken down into different parts with sharp angles and
edges. Often several views were depicted at the same time.
Surrealism, an art movement that sought to link the world of dreams with
real life, was inspired by Freuds ideas. The term surreal means beyond or above
reality. Surrealists tried to call on the unconscious part of their minds. Many
of their paintings have an eerie, dreamlike quality and depict objects in unrealistic ways.
Composers Try New Styles In both classical and popular music, composers
moved away from traditional styles. In his ballet masterpiece, The Rite of Spring, the
Russian composer Igor Stravinsky used irregular rhythms and dissonances, or harsh
combinations of sound. The Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg rejected traditional harmonies and musical scales.
A new popular musical style called jazz emerged in the United States. It was
developed by musicians, mainly African Americans, in New Orleans, Memphis,
and Chicago. It swept the United States and Europe. The lively, loose beat of jazz
seemed to capture the new freedom of the age.
The
Persistence of
Memory (1931),
a surrealist work
by Spanish artist
Salvador Dali,
shows watches
melting in a
desert.
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Women like
these marching
in a 1912
suffrage parade
in New York City
helped gain
American
womens right to
vote in 1920.
changes women were making in their lives. The war had allowed women to take on
new roles. Their work in the war effort was decisive in helping them win the right
to vote. After the war, womens suffrage became law in many countries, including
the United States, Britain, Germany, Sweden, and Austria.
Women abandoned restrictive clothing and hairstyles. They wore shorter, looser
garments and had their hair bobbed, or cut short. They also wore makeup, drove
cars, and drank and smoked in public. Although most women still followed traditional paths of marriage and family, a growing number spoke out for greater freedom in their lives. Margaret Sanger and Emma Goldman risked arrest by speaking
in favor of birth control. As women sought new careers, the numbers of women in
medicine, education, journalism, and other professions increased.
900 Chapter 31
Summarizing
How did the
changes of the
postwar years affect
women?
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Increased auto use by the average family led to lifestyle changes. More people
traveled for pleasure. In Europe and the United States, new businesses opened to
serve the mobile tourist. The auto also affected where people lived and worked.
People moved to suburbs and commuted to work in the cities.
Airplanes Transform Travel International air travel became an objective after the
war. In 1919, two British pilots made the first successful flight across the Atlantic,
from Newfoundland to Ireland. In 1927, an American pilot named Charles
Lindbergh captured world attention with a 33-hour solo flight from New York to
Paris. Most of the worlds major passenger airlines were established during the 1920s.
At first only the rich were able to afford air travel. Still, everyone enjoyed the exploits
of the aviation pioneers, including those of Amelia Earhart. She was an American
who, in 1932, became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
Recognizing
Effects
What were the
results of the
peacetime adaptations of the technology of war?
SECTION
Radio and Movies Dominate Popular Entertainment Guglielmo Marconi conducted his first successful experiments with radio in 1895. However, the real push
for radio development came during World War I.
In 1920, the worlds first commercial radio stationKDKA in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvaniabegan broadcasting. Almost overnight, radio mania swept the
United States. Every major city had stations broadcasting news, plays, and even
live sporting events. Soon most families owned a radio.
Motion pictures were also a major industry in the 1920s. Many countries, from
Cuba to Japan, produced movies. In Europe, film was a serious art form. However,
in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, where 90 percent of all films were made,
movies were entertainment.
The king of Hollywoods silent screen was the English-born Charlie Chaplin, a
comic genius best known for his portrayal of the lonely little tramp bewildered by
life. In the late 1920s, the addition of sound transformed movies.
The advances in transportation and communication that followed the war had
brought the world in closer touch. Global prosperity came to depend on the economic well-being of all major nations, especially the United States.
Dressed in a
ragged suit and
oversize shoes,
Charlie Chaplins
little tramp used
gentle humor to
get himself out
of difficult
situations.
ASSESSMENT
TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
Albert Einstein
theory of relativity
Sigmund Freud
existentialism
Friedrich Nietzsche
surrealism
jazz
Charles Lindbergh
MAIN IDEAS