The First World War and the revolutions in Russia and elsewhere shattered many traditional ideas, beliefs, and institutions. As a result, many people of the postwar era found themselves living in an age of anxiety and continuous crises. Many developments in thought, science, and the arts after the war encouraged this crisis even further. The first half of this chapter deals with major changes in ideas and in culture that were connected to this age of anxiety. Some of these changes began before 1900, but they became widespread only after the great upheaval of the First World War affected millions of ordinary people and opened an era of uncertainty and searching. people generally became less optimistic and had less faith in rational thinking. Radically new theories in physics associated with Albert Einstein and Werner Heisenberg took form, while Sigmund Freud's psychology gave a new and disturbing interpretation of human behavior. Philosophy and literature developed in new ways, and Christianity took on renewed meaning for thinking people. There was also great searching and experimentation in architecture, painting, and music, all of which went in new directions. Much painting became abstract, as did some music. Movies and radio programs, which offered entertainment and escape, gained enormous popularity among the general public.In short, there were revolutionary changes in thought, art, and popular culture.
FOR ADDITIONAL RESOURCES CHECK THESE LINKS:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
