class 9 social science chapter 2 history notes
Answers
The Age of Social Change
• The French Revolution opened up the possibility of creating a dramatic change in the way in which society was structured.
• Not everyone in Europe, however, wanted a complete transformation.
• Some were ‘conservatives’, while others were ‘liberals’ or ‘radicals’.
Who were Conservatives?
• They resisted change.
• After the revolution, they started accepting change provided it was slow and had links and respected the past.
Who were Liberals?
• They wanted a nation which tolerated all religions.
• They argued for an elected parliamentary government, subject to laws interpreted by a well trained judiciary that was independent of rulers and officials.
• They were not Democrats.
Who were Radicals?
• They wanted a nation in which government was based on the majority of a country’s population.
• They disliked concentration of property in hands of a few, not the existence of private property.
Industrial Society and Social Change
• This was the time of economic and social change.
• Men, women and children were pushed into factories for low wages.
• Most of the factory owners were often liberals and radicals and they felt that workers’ efforts must be encouraged.
The Coming of Socialism to Europe
• Socialists were against private property.
• They had different visions of the future.
• Some believed in cooperatives.
• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels added that industrial society was capitalist.
Support for Socialism
• By the 1870s, socialist ideas spread through Europe.
• Workers in England and Germany began forming associations to fight for better living and working conditions.
The Russian Revolution
• In 1914, Nicholas II ruled the Russian empire.
• The Russian Empire included territory around Moscow, current-day Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus.