Edwardian Era

During the Edwardian era, also known as La Belle Epoque, which means the beautiful epoch, was a time of disagreeable factors such as pessimism. However, the era also had some agreeable characteristics such as optimism, beauty and hopefulness. Some of the negative aspects for this era came partly from the fact that Britain was such a strong and influential country.
The main, undeniable reason for the idea of pro-violence was for protection of the British colonies against other “anti-Britain” countries. Alliances between multiple countries create instability and uneasiness for everyone. Not only did this violence morality come come from wanting be safe and protected, but it was also a result of the wealthy society of Britain and its colonies’ love for their country. Patriotism can be thought of as pride to one’s own nation which thus, can empower negativities such as violence and all the reactions that lead to it. Violence as retribution is immoral when one thrives on hatred or evil intentions rather than peaceful and positive results. It starts to get out of hand when violence is the answer for just about everything one does. War does not seem to further benefit or disprove the fact that violence is immoral. War is usually a long-term and massive battle amongst two opposing sides for a certain goal whether it be reasonable or unreasonable.

Edwardian Synthesis

In the late 1930’s, propaganda was used by Hitler in his war campaign. A poster made by Hans Schweitzer effectively justifies the German’s justification of violences as righteous retribution. The caption translates to “The Jew: The inciter of war, the prolonger of war.” Depicted is a large face of a presumably Jewish person, characterized to look evil. His eyebrows are furrowed and each facial feature is exaggerated. He looks over the German congregation with a sneer. The poster appeals to the common German citizen. They are on the ground with fists pumped in unison, as to agree to fight in a war. Hitler uses this type of artwork to persuade the German citizens that the mass extermination of the Jewish population was acceptable. To back this idea, Hitler used scientific studies, such as the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin. Eugenics promoted the “survival of the fittest” concept and encouraged that the procreation of “inferior” people would benefit society. This example of art was used by Hitler to justify the violence he supported during the Edwardian time period. Violence here is immoral, not amoral. Hitler deliberately violated moral rules, rather than being amoral, which is when one has no morals. From the German citizen standpoint, the propaganda and intentions conveyed by Hitler was probably not immoral, but rather for the benefit of the country. This piece of art, and the many other propaganda posters of this time period, successfully justified violence righteous retribution during the Edwardian era in Germany.

P2 Team 5

Kaylee Anderson, Ben Hillman, Ben Lee, Kimberlin Low