Directions: You must write one 3-5 page essay, to answer one of the following questions. The best essays will argue a thesis , and will use logic and specific examples to support that argument,...

1. How “belle” was the Belle Epoque? Explain historically why people in Western Civilization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century thought that they were enjoying the best era in the history of mankind. Make sure to assess the extent to which they were right.
Introduction
The French term ”The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque” which means "Beautiful Epoch or Beautiful Age" was a period of French and Western History. It is predictably dated from the end of the Franco- Prussian War on 1871 to the outbreak of World war 1914. This era was considered as a golden period due to several reasons. It was regarded as technologically inclined era sustaining provincial peace, optimism, economic richness, Colonial empires and cultural innovations. The “Belle Époque” was an era which was remarkably marked as a period when visual art, music, theatre, art and culture gained recognition and valued the most. According to R.R Palmer, a historian stated “"European civilisation achieved its greatest power in global politics, and also exerted its maximum influence upon peoples outside Europe” .The period was observed as a golden age due to the improved standards of living and security which was experienced by the people of that time as compared to the humiliation that was suffered before and the devastation of the end which completely changed Europe's mind-set. Although the lower class and middle class hardly received any benefit in that period and nothing much changed for them in the “Belle Époque” era . It coincides with the “Glided Age” of the US. In the United Kingdom the Belle Epoque overlay Edwardian era and Victorian era in a period known as “Pax Britannica”. In Germany it collided with the reigns of , Frederick III , William I and the Wilhelminism of Wilhelm II.
Perceptions of Peace and Security
Third republic was formed after the downfall in the Franco- Prussian war which was occurred during 1870-71, in which French Second Empire was...