18791910

1879-1910 is a span that covers the closing decades of the 19th century and the opening years of the 20th. It was defined by rapid industrialization, urban growth, and expanding global trade and empire. New technologies—electric power, rail networks, the telegraph and telephone, and increasingly wireless communication—transformed production, consumption, and military capability. In science and culture, foundational advances in physics and chemistry accompanied the emergence of modernist movements in literature and the arts. The period also saw the first sustained attempts at powered flight in 1903.

International relations during this era were shaped by intense imperial competition and shifting power balances. The Berlin Conference of 1884–85 formalized European colonial division in Africa, while crises across the globe tested alliances and capabilities. The Spanish-American War of 1898 expanded American influence beyond its continental borders. The Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) reflected anti-imperial sentiment in East Asia, and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) demonstrated the rising influence of non-European powers. Within nations, there were growing labor movements, calls for reform, and in some places the expansion of suffrage or social welfare programs, even as other governments tightened autocratic control. The Dreyfus Affair in France (1894–1906) highlighted tensions around nationalism, anti-Semitism, and civil liberties.

Culturally, the era witnessed a gradual move toward modernism in art and literature, alongside advances in education and public health that contributed to longer life expectancy and more urban planning. By 1910 the world was more interconnected and technologically capable, yet political and social tensions—foreshadowing the upheavals of the following decade—also grew more pronounced.