Crash Course European History: Lecture Summary

Introduction

• John Green hosts the lecture on European History.
• Twentieth century began with significant upheaval:
  • Feminists smashing store windows.
  • Irish contesting British rule.
  • Russian Revolution of 1905.
  • French societal upheaval over Alfred Dreyfus.
  • Anarchist assassinations of political figures.

Art, Science, and Philosophy

• Art, science, and philosophy were deeply intertwined with political and social events.
• Histories of art, philosophy, and science are inseparable from human history.

Modernism

• Music, Art, and Dance Changes:
  • Traditional forms were replaced by modernism around 1900.
  • Modernism involves radical alterations of past practices.
  • Modern music and dance were seen as noise and primitive.
  • Influences came from foreign cultures.

Visual Art

• Trend: "Make it new," frequent changes in style.
• Impressionism:
  • Broke from realism.
  • Created impressions of nature’s changing appearance.
  • Focused on urban life, working class, and industrial themes.
• Notable Artists:
  • Kaethe Kollwitz emphasized the poor's frailty.
  • Art Nouveau style commercial success.

Radical Art Movements

• Geometric abstraction by Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso.
• First entirely abstract painting by Hilma af Klint.
• Influence of global cultures and theosophy on European art.

Scientific Revolutions

• Key Discoveries:
  • 1896: Antoine Becquerel and radioactivity.
  • Marie and Pierre Curie: Polonium and radium.
  • Max Planck (1900): Quantum theory.
  • Albert Einstein:
    • 1905: Special theory of relativity.
    • 1915: General theory of relativity.
• These discoveries led to a paradigm shift from Newtonian science.

Philosophy and Psychology

• Sigmund Freud:
  • Challenged Enlightenment rationalism.
  • Introduced the ego, id, and superego model.
  • Psychoanalysis as a "talking cure."
  • Ideas on sexuality and civilization.

Challenges to Positivism

• Relativists and Pragmatists:
  • Opposed to positivism.
  • Argued about the complexity and irrationality of humans.

Nietzsche

• Denied absolute truths.
• "God is dead" statement indicating decline in traditional beliefs.
• His ideas manipulated for anti-Semitic purposes posthumously.

Conclusion

• Modernism brought fresh ideas and disruptions.
• Current world shaped by modern ideas faces its own upheavals.
• Reflection on future historiography and the impact of today’s choices on unity or polarization.