Overview of the 2nd IR 

This article lays out some of the major inventions from the 2nd Industrial Revolution. Although the 2nd IR saw many social and cultural changes, it all stemmed from improvements in science, technology, and architecture. These advancements affected how society looked, moved, and thought. How might it feel to watch a town grow from ten-story buildings to fifty stories? How might people travel differently if trains became much safer, boats became more passenger-friendly, and one could travel to hundreds more places than before? Consider which inventions might have affected certain social groups and how their lives would have changed. 

Situated at the end of the 2^nd Industrial Revolution, World War I has been nicknamed “the first modern war.” This is because WWI was fought with the industrialized weapons that would come to define modern warfare. New inventions included machine guns, submarines, tanks, chemical weaponry, barbed wire, and airplanes. Although militaries were eager to use this technology, they were unprepared for the loss of life it would cause. Military strategists had no method to defend against the advanced weapons. Over 20 million people died during the 4 ½ years of fighting.

However, the same war that decimated so many countries also brought some of them together. World War I was full of complicated alliances between countries across the globe, with the result that men from a variety of nations fought alongside each other. German, Austrian-Hungarian, and Turkish soldiers worked together on one side, and France, Great-Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and later the United States made alliances on the other. When not actively fighting, soldiers spent their free time taking or playing games with each other despite language and cultural barriers. WWI bases became hubs for international exchange and communication.

National Archives Catalog, Unofficial WWI Collection

Note: In the Red cross photo pictured above, American (Army and Navy), British, and French soldiers are visible.

Among the three purses, the Belgian one sticks out for multiple reasons. For one thing, it was made about ten years later than the other two. For another thing, it has a notable extra material: sequins. Sequins did already exist in the 1910s (in fact they had existed since approx. 1300 BCE), but they weren’t very popular until the 1920s when a famous king was photographed with them in his “wardrobe.” That king was King Tutankhamun from ancient Egypt, and his “wardrobe” was his tomb.

King Tut’s tomb was discovered and excavated in 1922, and it has since become known for its variety of well-preserved artifacts. Some of those artifacts were clothes covered in thin, circular metal plates, which resembled coins. The ancient sequins were most likely meant to represent money and ensure that King Tut would be wealthy in the afterlife. As pictures of the tunic spread in newspapers and magazines, Western fashion designers became obsessed with adding sequins to their own clothes. This article by the Smithsonian Magazine lays out more about the history of sequins, from Egypt to China to Europe and the United States.

Smithsonian Mag- A History of Sequins

The ITV/PBS television series Downton Abbey brought 1910s-1920s fashion to life through well-researched costuming. Downton Abbey told the story of a noble household in England between 1912 and 1926. Not only did the series highlight beautiful clothes, but it also provided authenticity through little details and accessories. Look through these pictures and try to spot the purses, which look very similar to the ones in the Sage Collection.

The show also captured other accessories from the time (hats, briefcases, gloves, etc.). Some of these have English or Western European backgrounds, but others do not. The oil-paper umbrella in the last picture represents a style from China. Just as western culture was exported to other continents during the 2^nd Industrial Revolution, foreign cultures also got imported. Fashionable westerners carried oil-paper umbrellas, wore patterns based on Native American weaving, and women even experimented with harem pants (pants were considered generally scandalous for women until the 1960s). Downton Abbey demonstrates how the globalization of fashion and culture went both ways during the early 20^th century.