The Last Time Humanity Believed in Unstoppable Progress: Paris in the Belle Époque (1871-1914)

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2024

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many of the specific features we associate with Paris today – impressive sites like the Eiffel Tower and Sacré Coeur, French cinemas, and even the distinguished Art Nouveau Metro entrances – were born out the period of the Belle Époque. This era, which lasted from the later 19th century up to the beginning of World War I, is oft characterized as one of pleasure, wealth, and beauty.

But it was also an era riven by political unrest, plagued by many of the issues the contemporary world contends with today, with the rise of radical political factions that resorted to extreme protests and violence to achieve their This can be seen in the construction of the Basilica of the Sacré-Coeur, symbol of reactionary French Catholicism, and the Eiffel Tower, centerpiece for the Universal Exposition of 1889—both of which were the result of significant technological progress. That progress also brought electricity (Paris became “the city of light”) as well as industrial displacement, already underway with the other construction projects of Baron Georges Haussmann.

To explore these themes is today’s guest, Mike Rappaport, author of “City of Light, City of Shadows, Paris in the Belle Époque.” We explore social pressure from both right and left to address the deepening sense of social injustice and inequalities in the form of violent anarchism and syndicalism.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Scott here with another episode of the History and Plug Podcast.
0:07.0	Paris has probably been the world's top international travel destination for centuries
0:12.0	and there was arguably no better time to visit
0:14.0	Paris than during the Bellepoc, or the Beautiful era, which lasted from the 1870s up to World War
0:19.7	1. This time period saw the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the Paris Opera, and it was one of the first cities to be electrified.
0:27.0	People around the world flock to Paris as part of the first wave of mass international tourism.
0:31.0	Most of all, it was a period of
0:32.5	incredible optimism about the future before the nihilistic trench warfare
0:36.1	of the 19th. But underneath all this glamour there was growing social tension. There
0:40.5	was leftist radical socialist anarchist tendencies growing, but also conservative calls for a return to France's monarchy.
0:47.0	This is also a period of media warfare, particularly in the Dreyfus affair, where a Jewish artillery captain was falsely accused of passing military secrets to the Germans,
0:55.6	but long after intelligence appeared that showed he was exonerated, a push by the military
0:59.9	and part of the press tried to suppress this fact.
1:02.1	This was a period of optimism for growing
1:04.2	social divisions that led to chaos and to explore these seems as today's guest, Mike Rappaport,
1:08.8	author of City of Light, City of Shadows, Paris, and the Bellipoc. Hope you enjoy this discussion.
1:16.8	And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for word from our sponsors.
1:21.6	They were some of the most powerful men who've ever lived.
1:24.5	They waged war, forged peace, and altered the fates of billions of people, and yet they were
1:29.3	just as human, just as flawed as you and me.
1:32.4	They were the President of the United States,
1:34.0	and they are the subjects of the history podcast,
	...

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