This document provides an overview of the Victorian period in Britain from Queen Victoria's ascension to the throne in 1837 until the beginning of the 20th century. It highlights the optimism of the era due to industrialization, technological advances, and imperial expansion. However, it also notes the tensions this progress created as the profits were not shared by the poor and working classes. Key figures and events of the period mentioned include Charles Darwin, whose theories challenged religious beliefs, and the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny, which shook Victorian confidence.

1. London, 24th May 1819 –
Osborne House (Isle of Wight), 22nd January 1901
Victoria I
Queen of England and Ireland
Empress of India

2. VICTORIA’s REIGN (1837-1901)- 64 years
• Early Victorian (1830-7)
• Mid-Victorian (1850-1877)
• Late Victorian (late 1870s-until
beginning of 20th century)

3. After Victorian period:
“Edwardian literature”
Reign of Edward VII (1901-1910)
“Georgian Literature”
George V’s reign (1910-1936)

4. Victorian period: Optimistic one?
-Monarchy as national symbol
- England’s prosperity:
- Imperial expansion
- Rapid industrialization (1800-1850)
- Increase of population
- Technological advances
- Changes in industry (cotton industry)
- Advances in coal and iron industries
- Boom in railroad constructions
- Many discoveries and inventions

5. NEW INVENTIONS:
Daguerrotype (1839)
Telephone (1876)
Phonograph (1877)
Record (1896)
Wireless radio (1896)
Cinema shows (1896)
AND SOCIETY’S CAPACITY
TO ASSIMILATE AND MAKE
USE OF THEM IN A
RELATIVELY SHORT PERIOD
OF TIME

6. THOMAS A. EDISON
(1847- 1931)
Phonographe
Lamps

7. Crystal Palace, Londres
Joseph Paxton (1803-1865)

9. Machinery Section at the Great Exhibition of 1851

10. Steam-Powered Tractor and Agricultural Machinery

12. Gothic-style Metal Stove

13. The old Brighton Pier

14. The other side of Victorian times
• Technology displaced people from natural
links and their surroundings
• The profits of the nation were not shared
by the poor
• Clash between rich and confident class
and the labour force: tensions

15. Tensions and changes
• Economic distress of working classes:
– Destruction of machinery (Luddites)
– Destruction of farm property
– Unions organized (1840: rise of Chartism)
• Middle class achieved political and
economic aims:
– Parliament was reformed

16. DISRAELI
GLADSTONE

17. From 1850s: challanges to Victorian optimism
• The Crimean War (1853-6): Britain,
France and Turkey against Russian
ambitions in the Middle East
• Mutinity in India (1857)
• Blow to religious beliefs: Darwin’s “Origin
of Species” (1859)
– Agnostic attitudes
– Socialist ideas
– Criticism of Victorian values (imperialism and
others)

18. Charles Robert Darwin
(1809-1882)
Beagle’s Trip

19. Rudyard Kipling
(1865 – 1936)