Colegiul National “Spiru Haret”Bucuresti

Lucrare de atestat

The Edwardian Era

Candidat: Alina Bajenaru , clasa a XII-a C

Profesor indrumator : Dorina Enciu

2011

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Contents

Foreword…………………………………………….page 3

Chapter I : Overview……………………………….page 4

Chapter II : Edward VII……………………………page 6

Chapter III: Science and Technology………….......page 7

Chapter IV : Religion and Spirituality…………….page 8

Chapter V : Painting, Sculpture and the Graphic Arts…page 9

Chapter VI : Architecture…………………………..page 11

Chapter VII : Literature and Poetry ………………page 12

Chapter VIII : Music………………………………..page 13

Chapter IX : Fashion………………………………...page 13

Chapter X : Food and Cooking……………………...page 15

Chapter XI : Sports, Games and Leisure …………..page 15

Sequitur………………………………………………..page 16

Bibliography…………………………………………...page 17

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Foreword

At times like these , when everybody is rushed to get as fast as they can at their
targets (whatever those are) and following the saying ‘the end justifies the means’ , I
chose this subject for my paper because I believe history is a milestone for modern man’s
evolution. It is more than important to call on history whenever we find ourselves in an
existential struggle.

I chose to write upon the Edwardian Era because I see it as an inspirational era of
elegance governed by scientific and technological progress and the revival of man’s
spirituality

In few words ,the Edwardian Era is well illustrated by the famous Titanic
phenomenon : the construction of the ship reflecting the scientific progress , the
passengers, wealthy people, showing the opulence characteristic to the era , and its
sinkage giving this period a certain tragic aura.

Edwardian Britain is the quintessential age of nostalgia, often seen as the last long
summer before the cataclysmic changes of the twentieth century began to take form. The
class system remained rigidly in place and thousands were employed in domestic service.
The habits and sports of the aristocracy were an everyday indulgence. But it was an age
of invention as well as tradition. It saw the first widespread use of the motor car, the first
aeroplane and the first use of the telegraph. It was also a time of vastly improved
education and the public appetite for authors such as Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling and
E. M. Forster was increased by greater literacy. There were signs too, of the corner
history was soon to turn, with the problematic Boer War hinting at a new British
weakness overseas and the rise of the Suffragette movement pushing the boundaries of
the social and political landscape.

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CHAPTER I : The Edwardian Era (1901-
1919) - overview

The Edwardian era corresponds with the reign of King Edward VII, whose short-lived
governance (1901-1910) preceded the modern House of Windsor in England. The
"Edwardian" style broadly encompasses the years of 1901 through 1919. One author
described the Edwardian era in the following vein: "The end of the century brought the
dawning of a new age and a new attitude toward life. It was an era when social
differences dissipated and the mores, customs, and expectations of the citizenry came
together." The Edwardian era was a historical moment of tremendous technological and
social change. The wonders of the modern world, which had only sprang into being in the
1880s and 1890's, brought the first rewards of modern industrialization and mass-
produced abundance. Americans during the Edwardian age experienced new-found
wealth and indulged in cuisine, fashion, entertainment and travel as never before. Perhaps
the Edwardian era was best captured in the Titanic, the grand ocean liner which
embodied the human progress, opulence, and excesses of the time. The Edwardian era is
aptly remembered as the "Gilded Age."
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For the United States, the Edwardian era ushered in the nation's dominance in
international affairs. After the Spanish-American War of 1898, the United States gained
the Phillipines, Puerto Rico and Cuba from Spain. In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt, who had
gained a national reputation as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy by raising a volunteer
calvary troup of Rough Riders, won the vice presidency. After Presdient William
McKinley's assassination, Roosevelt quickly immersed himself in his new duties as
President. In 1903, he provided the political initiative to support an uprising in Panama
against Colombia, and thereby ensure construction of the Panama Canal. In 1904 and
1905, Roosevelt developed what became known as the Roosevelt corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine. The doctrine endowed the United States with international police power, which
could be justifiably exercised when other nations defaulted on its debts or mistreated
foreign subjects. Roosevelt also negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese War, for which
he won the Nobel Peace Prize, and helped to defuse the Morocco crisis of 1906.

Race relations remained difficult in the United States, and ethnic groups won only a
limited number of legal and political successes on their continual struggle for equality.
Under the Gentleman's Agreement with Japan, the United States agreed not to restrict
Japanese immigration in exchange for Japan's promise not to issue passports to Japanese
laborers for travel to the continental United States. In the face of ongoing anti-Chinese
sentiment, the Supreme Court decided in Wong Kim Ark v. United States that Chinese
born in the country could not be stripped of their citizenship. However, the Asiatic
Exclusion League was established in 1905, and the state of California enacted a number
of discriminatory laws segregating Asian American children from attending schools with
whites, and forbidding marriage between whites and "Mongolians." In 1913, California
passed an Alien Land Law prohibiting "aliens ineligible to citizenship" from buying land
or leasing it for longer than three years; Arizona followed suit in 1917. Immigration of
Koreans and Asian Indians were also restricted in California.

Meanwhile, the African continent experienced prolonged domination by British, French

and Belgian colonists. The discovery of gold and diamonds in the Transvaal caused
tensions in the region to sour, as the Boers' taxation of mining companies and differential
treatment of immigrant workers sparked conflict. The First Boer War resulted in
England's acquisition of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The ensuing attempt by
British colonists to anglicize the former republics intensified national identity and
renewed an Afrikaans Movement. Self-government was restored in 1906, and Britain
created the Union of South Africa as a dominion within the empire in 1910.

In China, the quelching of the Boxer Rebellion led to a shift in governance. After limited
reforms under the Dowager Empress, Tzu-Hsi, proved unsatisfactory, western-educated
Sun Yat-sen led republican revolutionary groups to challenge the Manchus. Although the
imperial army should have been able to crush the rebels, General Yuan Shi-Kaiin in an
unexpected move offered to defect in return for the presidency of the Chinese republic.
Fearing the consequences if they refused, the Manchu Grand Council agreed. On
February 12, 1912, the five-year old emperor, Pu-Yi, abdicated his throne, ending the
Ching dynasty and ushering in the establishment of the Republic of China.

Tensions and wars abounded in other areas of the world as well. Serbia, Bulgaria and
Greece attacked the Ottoman Empire in the First Balkan War. Russia experienced a
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decade of tumultuous events such as Bloody Sunday and an ensuing revolution, the short-
lived governance of a second Russian Duma, the murder of Russian Premier Peter
Stolypin, and the empowerment of Grigori Raspute over the Russian royal family.

In 1914, World War I erupted after the assassination of an Austrian archduke. Trench
warfare, fighter planes, poison gas, and tanks were introduced for the first time as
weapons of war. Following early reverses, the entente powers of France, Britain and Italy
gained control on the Western front. American soldiers left their homeland in 1917 to
serve alongside their European Allies. In 1918, Russia lost on the eastern front and
withdrew from the international feud, resulting in the collapse of its empire and
replacement by the Bolsheviks. Meanwhile, the Kaiser of Germany abdicated his throne.
The war ended with an armistice and the adoption of the Treaty of Versailles.

Chapter II : Edward VII (1841-1910), King of

Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India
(1901-1910).
Edward was born on November 9, 1841, in Buckingham Palace, London, the eldest son
of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and was christened Albert Edward. He attended
the universities of Edinburgh, Oxford, and Cambridge. In 1860 he visited Canada,
inaugurating the custom of goodwill visits by members of the British royal family,
particularly the Prince of Wales, to British dominions and foreign countries.
In 1863 Edward married Alexandra, eldest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark.
The prince and princess then assumed much of the burden of court ceremonial and
public functions, which Queen Victoria had abandoned on going into virtual retirement
after the death of the Prince Consort in 1861. Edward travelled extensively. In Russia
and France, particularly, he made valuable personal contacts in political and social
circles. At home, his popularity was increased both as Prince of Wales and as king by
his interest in sports, notably yachting and racing; his horses won the Derby in 1896,
1900, and 1909, and the Grand National at Liverpool in 1900.
Edward succeeded to the throne in 1901. From the beginning of his reign he adopted a
policy of promoting international amity in Europe, where political tension had been
mounting. His visits to various European capitals from 1901 to 1904 and return visits to
him by European rulers helped promote the signing of arbitration treaties in 1903-1904
between Great Britain and France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Portugal. He was also an
important force behind two agreements that strengthened the position of Great Britain
on the Continent, the Entente Cordiale of 1904 between France and Great Britain, and a
pact between Russia and Great Britain in 1907. In 1909 the king and queen paid a
diplomatic visit to Emperor William II of Germany (Edward's nephew) that temporarily
dispelled German suspicion that the increasingly friendly relations between Great
Britain and France and Russia were aimed at weakening Germany. Because of his

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efforts to increase international amity the king became known as Edward the
Peacemaker.
Edward died at Buckingham Palace on May 6, 1910, having reigned for only nine
years. Three daughters and two sons were born of the marriage between Edward and
Alexandra. The sons were Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, and George, Duke
of York, who succeeded Edward as George V. In 1896 Edward's youngest daughter,
Princess Maude Charlotte Mary Victoria, married her cousin, Prince Charles of
Denmark, who later became King Håkon VII of Norway.

CHAPTER III : Science and Technology

The Edwardian era is described by one author as "the dawning of the age of material
novelties, heard in the clatter of the telegraph, the jingle of the telephone and the
cacophony of the first mass-produced typewriters, experienced in the eerie feeling of
ascent on the first elevator rides, the dazzling aura of electric light, and the new,
democratic mobility of the bicycle." The Edwardian era was a period of incredible
scientific and technological progress. The first motion pictures were developed from the
technological advances of inventors such as Thomas Edison and Louis and August
Lumiere. The era also ushered in the first mass-produced automobiles such as Henry
Ford's Model T. Among the inventions of the Edwardian era are such modern
conveniences such as the vacuum cleaner, air conditioner, fire extinguisher, household
detergent, cellophane, synthetic ammonia, neon lighting, diesel locomotive, stainless
steel, brassiere, tear gas, AM radio, SONAR, electric food mixer, and the refrigerator. In
addition, discoveries made during the era include amino acids, Vitamins A and D,
hormones, radium, quantum theory, relativity theory, genetic heredity, atomic structure,
superconductivity and x-ray diffraction.

In 1903, the Wright Brothers made their ground-breaking first flight in North Carolina.
Orville and Wilbur Wright were sons of a minister in the Church of the United Brethren
in Christ and his wife. As youngsters, the brothers looked to their mother for mechanical
expertise and their father for intellectual challenges. Their father brought the boys various
trinkets he found during his travels for the church. One such trinket, a toy helicopter-like
top, sparked their interest in flying. As young men, the brothers started their own printing
firm and referred to themselves for the first time as the "Wright Brothers." They later
started their own bicycle repair business in 1893, and made their own bicycles called Van
Cleves and St. Clairs. Their interest in flying was renewed in 1896, when Wilbur read
about the death of a famous German glider pilot. Soon afterward, Wilbur began reading
everything that had been published in aeronautical research to date.

Before long, Wilbur had defined the elements of a flying machine: wings to provide lift, a
power source for propulsion, and a system of control. Of the early aviators, only Wilbur
recognized the need to control a flying machine in three axes of motion: pitch, roll, and

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yaw. His solution to the problem of control was 'wing warping.' He also developed a
revolutionary system by twisting an empty bicycle tube box with the ends removed. In
August of 1900, Wilbur built his first glider, and immediately contacted the U.S. Weather
Bureau for information on windy regions of the country. Reviewing the list, he chose a
remote sandy area off the coast of North Carolina named Kitty Hawk, where winds
averaged 13 miles per hour. He and Orville then journeyed to Kitty Hawk where they
tested a a number of gliders. After achieving success with their gliders, the brothers set to
building a "flying machine." Having designed a propeller with the same principles they
used to design their wings, Wilbur and Orville then built their own 4-cylinder, 12-
horsepower engine. On December 14, 1903, Wilbur won a coin toss and made the first
attempt to fly the machine. He stalled it on take-off, causing some minor damage. The
plane was repaired, and Orville made the next attempt on December 17. At 10:35 a.m., he
made the first heavier-than-air, machine powered flight in the world. In a flight lasting
only 12 seconds and covering just 120 feet, Orville achieved their dream of flight.

CHAPTER IV : Religion and Spirituality

The Edwardian era was an exciting time for Christianity in America. During the 1890s, a
number of "Spirit-filled" revivals had already taken place across the country. In 1905, an
African American minister named William Seymour began holding meetings where both
black and white Christians worshipped together. Seymour's gatherings, which often
culminated in widespread repentance, confession, praise, and an "outpouring of the Holy
Spirit" (frequently accompanied by attendees breaking out in spiritual tongues), became
so large that they soon moved to an abandoned warehouse building on Asuza Street in
Los Angeles. Stirred by a passionate desire for interracial harmony, Seymour wrote, "No
instrument that God can use is rejected on account of color or dress of lack of education.
This is why God has built up the work [at Azusa]." At the Asuza Street Mission,
Christians from many races, nationalities, and classes gathered in a time of tumultuous
racial prejudice. Women were also given full equality in worship, releasing their talents
and leadership. By May of 1906, the energetic revival meetings at the Apostolic Faith
Mission at Asuza Street had attracted the attention of ministers from across the United
States, as well as the secular news media. By January 1908, numerous missionaries from
Asuza Street were commissioned and sent to Liberia, China, and Japan, while people
came from all over the world came to attend services held three times each day. Despite
the widespread attention, Seymour himself is remembered as a humble, soft-spoken and
unassuming man whose heart always remained steadfastly on the Lord.

The movement also sparked intense scrutiny and criticism. Charles F. Parham, a pastor
and leader of the Apostolic Faith movement in Texas, whose classes Seymour had
attended and from whom Seymour had first learned about the working of the Holy Spirit,
came to Asuza in 1906 seeking to claim his "rightful" leadership in the burgeoning
movement. Repulsed by the display of interracial fellowship, Parham began preaching
that God was "sick at his stomach." Parham's racially hostile efforts weakened the Asuza
Street revival, which ended in 1909. After the movement ended, Seymour continued to
pastor at the Azusa Street Mission, which remained interracial until the end. He died of a
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heart attack on September 28, 1922, although his congregation maintained that he died of
a broken heart. Seymour is remembered for his dream that people of all colors would
worship together, under the power of the Holy Spirit, during an era when racial hatred
and strife persisted.

CHAPTER V : Painting, Sculpture and the

Graphic Arts
The Edwardian era saw a variety of artistic movements such as Post-Impressionism,
Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism and Futurism; and toward the end of the period,
Dadaism, De Stijl and Constructivism. However, perhaps the most popular, at least in
mainstream America and Europe, was Art Nouveau. This new style of design in
architecture, furniture, clothing, commercial art, and household articles entered the scene
at the turn of the century, propelled by the enterprising spirit of Siegfried Bing, an elusive
and brilliant connoisseur in Paris. The style was characterized by patterns and motifs
inspired by nature and expressed in exuberant colors, forms, and lines. Artists whose
names became synonymous with the style include the American Louis C. Tiffany,
renowned for his stained glass windows and Favrile glass; the Austrian Gustav Klimt,
recognized for his passionate, colorful paintings (for example, The Kiss, pictured at left);
the French Toulouse-Lautrec, famed for his posters of the demimonde, the Café-Concerts
and Montmartre; Belgian Victor Horta, French Alphonse Mucha and Hector Guimard,
celebrated for their architectural genius displayed in their Metro stations; and Spanish
Antonio Gaudi, known for his popular illustrations. Art Nouveau appealed especially to
the enlightened elite and nouveau riches of the Edwardian era, whose tastes, uninhibited
by tradition, encouraged designers to stylistic excesses. However, these patrons soon tired
of the "new art", and the style was considered out of fashion and tacky before the first
World War.

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Dadaism

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CHAPTER VI : Architecture
The busy battle of styles of the Victorian period finally ended in an eclectic aesthetic,
where the diverse melange of interests finally came together. With the death of Queen
Victoria in 1901 after almost 64 years on the throne came a flush of new ideas,
ornamentation of the Classical, and inklings of the birth of the garden cities,
suburbia, and commuter-land.

CHAPTER VIII : Music

At the dawn of the century, Ragtime music popularized by Scott Joplin became the rage
in North America. Ragtime is a style of lively, syncopated music filled with counterpoint
and harmonic contrasts. Typically, the bass notes establish the beat and the the melodic
notes fall unexpectedly on and off beat, creating an energetic and original sound. The
musical style has its roots in African American traditions on Southern plantations, such as
"Coon songs" and "Cakewalks" which were often accompanied by vibrant music
reminscent of African dances. Even before the Edwardian era, ragtime had begun to
sweep across the Mississippi Valley in the late 1890s, predominantly driven by African
American pianists such as Theodore Northrup and W.H. Krell. Joplin, known
affectionately as the "King of Ragtime", borrowed from the classic styles of composers
such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Louis Moreau Gottschalk to create a renowned
musical tradition that reached its height of popularity in the late 1910s. Joplin's most
popular rags are titled "The Entertainer" and "The Maple Leaf Rag."

CHAPTER IX : Fashion
At the advent of the Edwardian era, the shape of women's fashions transitioned from the
popular "hourglass" figure to dresses designed with an "S" curve. The new style allowed
women to cast away the confining corsets of the Victorian age and embrace the new
"health corsets" that supported the spine and abdomen. The curvaceous clothing line of
this period resounded with the curving lines of Art Nouveau style. In addition, ladies' hats
became larger, a trend that continued steadily until 1911. The Art Nouveau style also
invaded women's jewelry styles, as peacocks, dragonflies and moths created out of
dazzling enamels and gold filigree became standard adornments for ladies' combs and
brooches.

Throughout the Edwardian period, women's fashions were highly influenced by the
advancing feminist Suffrage movement. Women modeled their behavior and appearance
upon the "Gibson Girl", the popular image of the "New Woman". Designers soon
borrowed from men's clothing styles such as the suit, shirt, hard collar and tie, to create
fashions appropriate for women entering professions formerly occupied by men.

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During the later half of the Edwardian era, fashions once again transitioned from the "S"
curve dresses to the pre-flapper, straight-line clothing of the late 1910s. As women began
participating in athletics, casual and comfortable "sport clothing" also became popular.
Women's fashions also generally became lighter in construction and materials, as
epitomized by the "lingerie dress", a feather-light white cotton dress inset with strips of
open-work lace and net. In sum, women's fashions became progressively more
comfortable, practical and aesthetically pleasing during this era, such that the period from
1890 to 1914 is remembered as "la Belle Epoque" ("The Beautiful Epoch").

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CHAPTER X : Food and Cooking
The Edwardian era saw the beginning of the modern American food industry, largely due
to inventions such as the steam tractor, which transformed farming into a grand-scale
operation. The United States passed its Food and Drug Act, giving the government
increased control in regulating food quality in the marketplace. Self-service grocery
stores and supermarket chains opened for the first time in history. A host of brand-name
foods emerged in these newfangled grocery stores, including Crisco oil, Oreo cookies,
and Kellogg's cereal. Finally, the invention of the refrigerator, pyrex dishware, and
toaster oven brought time-saving convenience and efficiency to the modern kitchen.

CHAPTER XI : Sports, Games and Leisure

In America, the period from 1894 to 1915 allowed workers more leisure time than in
previous times. One reason for this was that industrial employers began to decrease
working hours and institute a Saturday half-day holiday, which gave workers more free
time for leisure activities. Employers also began to offer vacation time, albeit unpaid. The
monotony of specialized industrial work and the crowding of urban expansion also
created a desire in the worker to have leisure time away from his or her job and away
from the bustle of the city. The Progressive movement was another factor, as workers
began to pay greater attention to their health and well-being. Yet another factor was the
installation of electric lighting on city streets, which made leisure activities after dark less
dangerous for both sexes.

Within cities, people attended vaudeville shows, which would feature a multitude of acts.
Shows often ran continuously so that theatergoers could come and go as they pleased.
Vaudeville shows crossed economic and ethnic boundaries, as many different social
groups would mix in the audience. Other popular shows of the time included circuses and
Wild West shows, the most famous of the latter being William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody's.

Motion pictures also served as entertainment during leisure time for urban audiences.
Initially the movies were novelties in kinetoscope viewers, until they became acts in their
own right on the vaudeville stage. As motion pictures became longer, they moved into
storefront Nickelodeon theaters and then into even larger theaters.

Outdoor activities remained popular as people attended celebratory parades and county
fairs, the latter featuring agricultural products, machinery, competitions, and rides. Some
workers with limited budgets went to the countryside or the beaches. Towards the latter
part of the nineteenth century, resorts opened in the outskirts of cities, such as the beach
area of Asbury Park in New Jersey, which was founded in 1870. Amusement parks
opened in places like Coney Island, New York, founded in 1897, offering rides, fun
houses, scenes from foreign life, and the latest technological A Glimpse of the San Diego

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Exposition breakthroughs, such as motion pictures. National parks were created by the
federal government to preserve nature and many began to tour these areas on vacation.
One such example was Yellowstone Park where people camped or stayed at the hotels
built there in the late 1880s.

World's fairs and expositions held in different U.S. cities offered Americans a chance to
"tour the world" in one place. The fairs celebrated progress and featured exhibits of
science and technology, foreign villages, shows, rides and vendors. The first major one
was the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, which was followed by fairs in
Chicago (1893), Atlanta (1895), Nashville (1897), Omaha (1898), Buffalo (1901), and St.
Louis (1904).

After the Civil War, the popularity of sports as leisure activities grew as people began to
see the importance of exercise to health. While initially only the wealthy could partake of
most sporting events, the opening of publicly available gymnasiums, courts, and fields
allowed the working and middle classes to participate also. Basket Ball, Missouri Valley
College Athletic clubs such as the New York Athletic Club were organized and the
YMCAs began to institute sports programs. These programs mostly focused on track and
field events, instituted by communities of Scottish and English descent, and gymnastics,
heavily influenced by German athletics. Gymnasiums, which featured exercises using
Indian clubs, wooden rings, and dumbbells, were opened in many Eastern cities.

Sequitur
Henry Steele Commager, American historian, once stated, "History, we can confidently
assert, is useful in the sense that art and music, poetry and flowers, religion and
philosophy are useful. Without it, as with these, life would be poorer and meaner; without
it we should be denied some of those intellectual and moral experiences which give
meaning and richness to life. Surely it is no accident that the study of history has been the
solace of many of the noblest minds of every generation." The study of history is vital to
understanding our current world; its origins, its reasonings, and its possibilities for the
future. Indeed, the analysis and interpretation of the past provides an essential context for
evaluating contemporary institutions, politics, and cultures, and also reveals unique
insight into human nature and civilizations. By demanding that we view the world
through the eyes of our predecessors, we develop a sense of context and coherence while
recognizing complexity and ambiguity, and we confront the record not only of human
achievement but also of human failure, cruelty, and barbarity. The study of history thus
provides us with a substantive framework for understanding the human condition and
grappling with moral questions and problems.

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Bibliography

1. Encarta 97 Encyclopedia

2. http://www.erasofelegance.com/history.html

3. www.wikipedia.org/

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