IL ÉTAIT UNE FOIS LE VIEUX PARIS 1890 - La belle époque

The Belle Époque is a retrospective chrononym designating the period marked by social, economic, technological, and political progress, primarily in France, extending from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the First World War in 1914. For the British, the term corresponds to the end of the Victorian era and the Edwardian era. For the Germans, it is Wilhelminism. The French expression is understood and used in most European countries. According to the historian Dominique Kalifa, the expression originated in the late 1930s. For historians Jean Garrigues, Philippe Lacombrade, and Dominique Lejeune, the expression originated in 1919. This retrospective appellation contains an element of reality (expansion, carefree spirit, faith in progress, gaiety, etc.) and an element of nostalgia for an idealized time. After the Franco-Prussian War, Europe experienced a rare four-decade period of peace, a time conducive to economic and technological progress. This progress particularly affected France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. Throughout Europe, the workforce organized itself into unions and political parties: it was during this period that the first European socialist parties emerged and grew increasingly influential. The populations of this era were very optimistic and carefree about the future, thanks to extraordinary technological advancements. Positivism and scientism had taken root. The Belle Époque was felt primarily on the boulevards of European capitals, in cafés and cabarets, in workshops and art galleries, in concert halls, and in the salons frequented by the upper middle class, who benefited from economic progress. Economic inequality, however, reached its peak (after growing slowly since the French Revolution, and before declining significantly until the 1980s), with, for example, 85% of total private property held by 10% of the population (and 55% by 1%). After the Great Depression of 1873 to 1896, France entered a period of sustained growth within the framework of the Second Industrial Revolution, against a backdrop of rapid international expansion of the Paris financial center. France expanded considerably during the Second Empire. It acquired Nice and Savoy, but it lost Alsace-Lorraine (the present-day department of Moselle, and all of Alsace except for the territory of Belfort) in the Treaty of Frankfurt of 1871.