History of Central European
Culture since the 19th century I
spring 2023
Monday 14.00, room C34
Markéta Malá: 2 lectures
Print Media and Their Role in the
19th century
Media in Interwar Period
Events in the 19th century in
Europe
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of
conflicts between 1803 and 1815.
Between France and Britain.
These wars were fought in North
America, the Caribbean, Spain, the
Netherlands, Prussia, and Austria etc.
The Napoleonic Wars were a time of
great change in Europe and the
world.
The Napoleonic
Wars
The Napoleonic Wars
There was a shift from the less formal political
systems of the 18th and 17th centuries to the
more centralized systems of the 19th century.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the French and
British built large armies, navies, and
fortifications.
Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo.
France was forced to give up its large
empire.
Britain kept its large territories
It contributed to the expansion of the British
Empire.
The Battle of Austerlitz 1805
Also known as the Battle of the Three
Emperors: French, Austrian and Russian.
It was one of the most important battles of
the Napoleonic Wars.
The battle took place near the town of
Austerlitz in the Austrian Empire.
Austerlitz is situated not far from Brno in the
Czech Republic.
Napoleon won.
The British Empire Becomes a
Superpower.
The British Empire was the first global
empire.
After the end of the Napoleonic Wars
(1815), Britain was the most powerful nation
in the world.
It was the leader of the Industrial
Revolution.
The author of the liberal political,
economic, and social systems
The creator of modern capitalism.
The British Empire in 19th
Century
Britain’s superpower reach
was worldwide.
During the 19th century, it
was still growing.
Covering over a quarter of all
the land on Earth’s surface.
Home to over 458 million
people.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period of
major mechanization and innovation
The transition from creating goods by hand
to using machines.
Began in Great Britain during the mid-18th
century and early 19th century.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLhNP0
qp38Q
The reasons why in Britain?
Lack of war/conflict within Britain
Colonial system – excess capital
Strong Navy, merchant fleet
Access to ports & Internal water trade
routes
Favourable government policies
Private landownership – enclosure acts
Mobile society – labour force
Coal & iron resources
The European Revolutions
Continue
The revolutions of 1848 in Europe were an
essential part of the 19th century.
There was a series of revolutions.
Liberals wanted to create a more democratic
society.
Ordinary people wanted to have a more
powerful voice in politics.
These revolutions brought many European
countries under the control of liberal
governments.
The Revolution in Belgium in
1830
There were two groups: Catholic and
Protestant.
The two groups could not agree on
who would lead them.
The country split into two countries,
Belgium and Holland.
February Revolution The
French Revolution of
1848
Led to the collapse of the July
Monarchy and the foundation of
the French Second Republic.
The February Revolution had a
major impact on Europe
Sparking a revolutionary wave
known as the Revolutions of 1848.
Revolutions of 1848
Over 50 countries were affected.
There was no significant coordination or
cooperation among revolutionaries.
Why did they break out?
A)dissatisfaction with political leadership
B)demands for more participation in
government and democracy,
C)demands for freedom of the press,
D)economic rights
The Suez Canal is completed.
The Suez Canal was built between 1859
and 1869.
It connected the Mediterranean Sea with
the Red Sea
The canal was an innovation in
engineering.
It was the first major sea-level canal.
It greatly reduced the time to travel
between Europe and Asia.
The canal opened up trade between the
two continents.
Karl Marx publishes his many
works
 Karl Marx was one of the
most important thinkers
of the 19th century.
 In 1867, he
published “Das Kapital” .
 His book attempted to
explain the
contradictions of
capitalism.
 Marx saw
capitalism as one
of the biggest
problems in the
society.
 He believed that a
revolt of the
working class was
essential for the
improvement of
humanity.
 He has been called
the “father of
communism”.
Telephone networks are
installed in the US and Europe.
Telephone networks were first
installed in the the United States in
1876.
More than a decade after that in
Europe.
The telephone was a
„revolutionary invention“.
Telephone networks are
installed in the US and Europe.
Why revolutionary invention?
It allowed to communicate quickly
and easily over great distances.
It allowed better coordination of
work and increased productivity.
It was an important tool for
communication between
governments and businesses.
Telephone networks are installed
in the US and Europe.
It all started with the invention of
Alexander Graham Bell’s
telephone in 1876.
He called this invention the
“speaking-tube”.
Popularity really started to take
off, when Bell demonstrated his
device to Queen Victoria in 1878.
Telephone networks are
installed in the US and
Europe.
Alexander Graham Bell’s invention
caused controversy.
Some people feared this new
invention because of the privacy
issue.
Bell’s telephone was a device that
could be listened to by anyone in the
same room as the speaker.
The first modern Olympic
Games were held in Greece.
The modern Olympic Games are
also known as the Athens Games.
Why? Because the first Games
were held in the city-state of
Athens, Greece.
When? In 1896.
The first modern Olympic
Games were held in Greece.
During these first modern-day Olympic
games, such events as the marathon,
weightlifting, and boxing were born.
Other popular events were hosted:
fencing, gymnastics, shooting,
swimming, cycling, wrestling… and
many more.
The first modern Olympic
Games were held in Greece.
The Olympics have become one of
the most important sporting events in
the world.
Interesting fact: The following
Olympic games were set to take
place in Paris and didn’t return to
Greece until 2004.
What is the Long 19th
Century?
It is a term for the 125-year period
Beginning with the French Revolution in 1789
Ending with the outbreak of World War I in
1914.
Why the long 19th century?
A bunch of historians have agreed that this
period includes a ton of changes and
deserved its own catchy name.
The Long 19th Century
The long 19th century was a
revolutionary period for European
history.
A time of great transformations:
Human and civil rights
Democracy and nationalism
Industrialisation and free market
systems
Rise of the middle class
Mass culture
What Does Media Mean?
Medium describes any channel of
communication.
This can include anything from
printed paper to digital data.
Modern media come in many
different formats.
What Are the Various Types of
Media?
Print media (books, magazines, newspapers),
The Television
The Radio
Movies
Video games
Music
Various kinds of software
Social Media
The Internet etc.
In General…
In general, the media refers to the
television, the radio, newspapers, the
Internet and other forms of
communication.
What are the 3 main types of media?
Print media
Broadcast media
New media (the Internet, social
media etc.)
The oldest media
The oldest media forms are:
Newspapers
Magazines
Journals
Newsletters
and other printed material
Origins of the Modern Mass
Media
Newspapers – the 17th century,
widespread after 1750
Photography – from 1838, dry plates in
1870s, flash 1890s
Phonograph – from 1876, widespread
after c. 1895
Motion Picture –from the 1890s,
feature films after 1912
Print Media and Their Role in
the 19th Century
Newspapers in all major countries
became much more important in
the 19th century
Why?
Because of a series of technical,
business, political, and cultural
changes.
We have allready discussed some
of them.
Innovations
Until Gutenberg’s invention of the
printing press, books were handwritten
and no two copies were exactly the
same.
The printing press made the mass
production of print media possible.
It was much cheaper to produce
written material
It was easier for texts to reach a wide
audience.
High-speed printing
In 1810, the first high-speed printing
press was invented by Friedrich
Gottlob Koenig (Germany).
The steam-powered rotary printing
press was invented in 1843 in the
United States by Richard M. Hoe.
Allowed millions of copies of one
page in a single day.
High-speed presses made large
circulations possible.
Telegraph networks
Invented in the early 1800´s
The telegraph was first used by the
French government: used it to keep in
touch with commanders in the field
By the late 1840s telegraph networks
linked major and minor cities and
permitted overnight news reporting.
Wood Pulp
Pulp is the major raw material used
in papermaking
Invented in the 1840s
Significantly reduced the cost of
newsprint
Having previously been made from
rags
Typewriter
Christopher L. Sholes, a Milwaukee
newspaperman was the main
creator of this machine.
The first typewriters were placed on
the market in 1874.
The first typewriter wrote capital
letters only.
Increase of Readers
The population grew in the 19th century.
In the 18th centrury there was approximately
1 billion people on the Earth. In 1900
approximately 1.6 billion people.
Why?
Agricultural expansion: use of new food
crops
Improved living conditions
Better health care
Global economic growth
Increase of potential readers
The rapid expansion of elementary
education meant an increase in the
number of potential readers.
The inscease in literacy came in the 19th
century among the working class.
In 1800 in Britain 60% of men and 40% of
women were literate
Within a century the number had risen
to 90% for both sexes.
On 10% of the population of the whole
world in 1800 could read.
More Affordable
The 18th century newspapers were
often read in coffee houses – where
businessmen met to smoke their pipes
and discuss the latest.
In the 19th century newspapers
became more affordable and easily
available.
Pictures in Magazines
An innovation which helped the rise in
sales for 19th-century magazines was
the use of illustrations.
The Illustrated London News (1842)
experienced a dramatic rise in sales as
a result of this innovation.
Women Readers
Women readers were an important
market for magazines.
Women’s magazines of the 19th
century addressed the domestic issues,
such as household and children.
Women were instructed in the
domestic skills, such as dress making.
The first women magazine was
published in Paris: Journal Des Dames
(1825).
More affordable: News
Agencies
Only a few large newspapers could
afford to pay their journalists abroad.
They relied instead on news agencies,
founded around 1859
The biggest in Europe:
Reuters in Britain
Wolff in Germany.
Havas in France
Censorship
In the 19th century
most newspapers were censored.
But in many newspapers the opinions about
the existing regime could be found. For
example, in France: La Caricature.
Censorship continued to remain a great
threat.
Great Britain was least restrictive about it.
Overall, it lessened by the mid-19th century.
That led to the establishment of a number
of prominent European newspapers. For
example, Le Figaro in France.
Tabloid Newspapers
Tabloid journalism is a style of
largely sensational journalism.
Became popular in the 19th
century.
The had very wide audiences.
Yellow Journalism newspapers
present little or no legitimate, wellresearched
news
Typical are eye-catching
headlines.
The Daily Mail: Founded in 1896
The modern newspaper
The modern newspaper is a
European invention.
The oldest direct handwritten news
sheets circulated in Venice in 1566.
The first printed newspapers were
published weekly in Germany from
1609.
What Were the 19th
Century English Newspapers?
In 1800, four main daily newspapers
were being published in London:
The Morning Post
The Morning Chronicle
The Morning Herald
The Times
First penny newspaper in London (from
1855): The Daily Telegraph
The Times
It was founded in 1785.
This was the most significant newspaper of
the first half of the 19th century.
It had a big influence, especially in politics.
The Times was one of the first newspapers
to send war correspondents to cover
conflicts abroad.
The Daily Telegraph
Was first published in 1855.
It was the first penny newspaper in
London
It was the medium of the middle class
Had the largest circulation in the world
in 1890.
The Illustrated London News
Founded in 1842
The world's first illustrated weekly
newspaper
Published weekly until 1971 when it
became monthly.
What Were the 19th
Century French newspapers?
Three different eras:
Napoleonic Era
The restoration of the House of
Bourbon
The new Third Republic, 1871–1914
Napoleonic Era
Napoleon allowed only four papers in Paris
One in each of the departments
All of them closely censored
Napoleon owned two military newspapers:
the Courrier de l’Armée d’Italie
La France vue de l’Armée d’Italie.
This allowed him to distribute propaganda
related to his military successes
This propaganda swayed public opinion in
France in his favour.
The restoration of the House
of Bourbon in 1815 allowed
for free press.
The Serre laws (1819)
would govern press
freedom in France f
or much of the 19th
century.
The new Third Republic,
1871–1914
A golden era for French journalism.
Newspapers were cheap, uncensored,
reflected every dimension of political life.
The most important papers: Le Temps, Le
Figaro, La Croix, L'Humanité.
Most popular: Le Petit Journal, Le Matin, Le
Petit Parisien.
What were the 19th
Century German newspapers?
 A large number of newspapers and magazines
flourished.
 A typical small city had one or two newspapers.
 Big cities like Berlin and Leipzig had dozens.
 Censorship was strict: political news was
controlled.
 After 1871 strict press laws were used
by Bismarck to shut down the Socialist
newspapers.
 Popular was the novel, with a new chapter every
week.
German newspapers and me
dia conglomerates
Leipziger Illustrirte Zeitung (founded in
1842)
Berliner Börsen-Zeitung(founded in 1855)
Berliner Tageblatt (founded in 1872)
Conglomerates: Mosse, Ullstein
Verlag, August Scherl Verlag
Censorship in Austria in the
19th Century
The Czech lands were part of Austria
from the 16th century, then AustroHungary
(from 1867).
In the first half of the 19th century
censorship intervened the most in the
area of newspapers.
Sharpened censorship did not allow free
opinion and free expression.
The political reporting in newspapers was
quite short and discreet.
Censorship in Austria in the
19th Century
A significant change happened in
1848
A new law was issued
Censorship was abolished
Introduced freedom of the press
However, in a short time, repressive
laws were introduced.
Most famous Czech
Newspapers in the 19th
Century
Krameriovy císařsko-královské
vlastenecké noviny
Národní listy
Lidové noviny
Politik
Krameriovy císařsko-královské
vlastenecké noviny
Czech Publisher Václav Matěj Kramerius
published his newspaper in Prague from
1789
It was the first regular Czech newspaper
Played an important role in the process
of the Czech national revival
The newspaper shut down with
Kramerius´s death in 1808.
Národní listy
A Czech newspaper published
in Prague from 1861 to 1941.
The first issue of the newspaper was
fpublished in January 1861 in an edition of
7,000 copies.
From 1861 to 1894 it was published
by Julius Grégr.
Since 1874 it was the main newspaper of
the Young Czech Party.
Prominent Editors: Jan Neruda, Vitezslav
Hálek, Karel Sladkovský, Karel
Čapek, Josef Čapek, Viktor Dyk.
Politik
A daily newspaper written in German.
Published in Prague between 1862 and
1907
It was founded by a group of Czech
politicians and publishers (František
Ladislav Rieger, Jan Stanislav Skrejšovský,
Eduard Grégr, František Šimáček etc. )
The aim was to promote Czech national
interests.
Lidové noviny
A daily newspaper still published in Prague.
It is the oldest Czech daily still in print, and
a newspaper of record.
Lidové noviny was founded by Adolf
Stránský in Brno in 1893.
Its high prestige was due to the number of
famous Czech personalities that were
contributing - writers, politicians and
philosophers.
It was also the first Czech daily
publishing political cartoons.
Other Important Czech
Newspapers Founded in the
19th Century
Právo lidu
Dělnické listy
Rovnost
Národ
Hlas
Čas
What Was the Role of
Newspapers in the 19th
Century?
Political agitators
Nationalist agitators
Public view generators
Promoters
National servicing: spreading infor
mation nationwide
Entertaining role
Famous Journalists in the
19th Century (Europe)
Rudyard Kipling
English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and
novelist
Best remembered for his fiction work The
Jungle Book.
He was born in India.
Correspondent for The Friend newspaper
Many of his works are inspired by his life in
the country.
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans, known by her
pseudonym George Eliot
She was an English poet, novelist,
translator, and journalist.
She was an editor of the left-wing
journal The Westminster Review.
One of the most prominent writers of
the Victorian era.
Emile Zola
Emile Zola was a French novelist,
journalist, and playwright.
He was also a political journalist and
was influential in the political
liberalization of France.
His articles on literature and art
appeared in journal L'Événement.
He was nominated for the Nobel Prize
in Literature twice.
Alfred Douglas
Alfred Douglas was an English journalist
and poet.
He edited the journal Spirit Lamp.
Best remembered as one of the lovers
of the famous Irish poet Oscar Wilde.
Douglas played an important role in
Wilde's imprisonment for
homosexuality.
Homosexuality was illegal at that time.
Carlo Collodi
Carlo Collodi was an Italian journalist, author,
and humourist.
He founded the satirical newspaper Il
Lampione.
He is best remembered for his popular
children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio.
 The novel and its title
character Pinocchio achieved international
recognition when Walt Disney adapted it
into an animated musical film.
Joseph Pulitzer
Was a Hungarian-American politician
and newspaper publisher
Today, his name is best known for
the Pulitzer Prizes, which were
established in 1917
The prizes are given annually to reward
excellence in American journalism,
photography, literature, history, poetry,
music, and drama.
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist
and novelist
Best remembered for his historical novels.
He was the author of the internationally
known best-seller Quo Vadis.
He began his career as a journalist: an
editor of newspaper Slovo.
Soon became one of the most popular
Polish authors of his era.
He was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in
1905.
Dietrich Eckart
Anti-Semitic poet, playwright,
journalist, publicist, and political
activist.
One of Adolf Hitler's earliest mentors.
Hitler acknowledged him as the
spiritual co-founder of Nazism.
Eckart was the original publisher of
the Nazi Party newspaper Völkischer
Beobachter.
Béla Kun
Hungarian Bela Kun later rose to
be one of the most
prominent Communist leaders of
his country.
Later established the Hungarian
Communist Party.
But first he was a journalist
Famous Czech Journalists of
the 19th Century
Jan Neruda
Karel Havlíček Borovský
Vítězslav Hálek
Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod
Jan Neruda
Was a Czech journalist, writer, poet
and art critic.
One of the most prominent
representatives of Czech Realism.
He started his career in Národní listy.
Later he worked for Obrazy života
and Čas.
He also contributed to Květy and
Lumír.
Karel Havlíček Borovský
A Czech writer, poet, critic,
politician, journalist, and publisher.
An editor of Pražské noviny (later
Národní noviny)
He was liberal nationalist,
He criticized the régime in Austria.
In 1851 he was arrested by the
police and forced into exile in
Brixen, Austria
Vítězslav Hálek
A Czech poet, writer,
journalist, dramatist and
theatre critic.
At the beginning of 1961,
he worked as an editor
in Národní listy.
Later founded newspapers
and journals (Lumír,
Květy or Zlatá Praha).
Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod
Was a Czech writer and
a journalist.
He worked, for example,
for the newspapers
Našinec and Národní
listy.
Bibliography
Eric Hobsbawm (9 June 1917
– 1 October 2012)
Was a British historian
He wrote about the rise
of industrial
capitalism, socialism and nat
ionalism.
Hobsbawm´s work
His best-known works include his
tetralogy about what he called
the "long 19th century"
The Age of Revolution: Europe
1789–1848
The Age of Capital: 1848–1875
The Age of Empire: 1875–1914
 The Age of Extremes on the short
20th century
Dual Revolutions
The historian used twin
revolution thesis.
This thesis recognized the dual
importance of the French
Revolution and the Industrial
Revolution as “midwives“ of
modern European history.
Bibliography: List of other
importatnt names
Standage, T: The Victorian Internet. Walker &
Company 1999.
Tarr, J. A.; Finholt, T.; Goodman, D.: The City
and the Telegraph: Urban
Telecommunications in the Pre-Telephone
Era. In: Journal of Urban History 1987, vol.14,
no.1, pp. 38-80.
Edmond D. Coblent: Newsmen Speak:
Journalists on Their Craft. U of California Press
1954.
Bibliography
Franklin, Bob: Pulling newspapers apart:
analysing print journalism. Routledge 2008.
Paul Manning: News and News Sources: A
Critical Introduction. SAGE Publications
2001.
 Theodore S. Hamerow: The Social
Foundations of German Unification, 1858-
1871. In: Ideas and Institutions 1969, pp.
284–91.
Kenneth E. Olson: The history makers: The
press of Europe from its beginnings through
1965, LSU Press 1966, pp. 99–134.