Queen Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India.

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), is considered the founder of the German Empire. First as prime minister of Prussia and then as Germany's first Chancellor. He correctly predicted the location where the outbreak of WW I

SRI - 1100+

Politics

Wilhelm was the last German emperor (kaiser) and king of Prussia, whose bellicose policies helped to bring about World War I. Wilhelm was an overtly militaristic man, and believed fervently in increasing the strength of Germany's armed forces.  In particular he was keen to develop a German navy the equal of Britain's Royal Navy, encouraged by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz; the latter desire prompted the Liberal administration of the 1900's to finance rearmament of the Royal Navy.

SRI-1100+ Politics: 

Franz Josef, the aging monarch, had seen the Habsburg Empire lose its holdings in both Italy and Germany until it had become mainly an eastern European power. He was sensitive to these losses and was determined not to allow further decay of the empire by losing Austro-Hungarian holdings in Eastern Europe. It has been said that he was "the last monarch of the old school".

SRI-1100+ 

Politics

Ferenc Deák

Hungarian statesman whose negotiations led to the establishment of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867.

Deák was the son of a wealthy Hungarian landowner. After graduating in law, he entered the administrative service of his county of Zala, which in 1833 sent him to represent it in the Hungarian Diet, in place of his brother, who had resigned his mandate. At that Diet and those of 1839 and 1841, Deák made his mark as a leader of the growing reform movement for the political emancipation and internal regeneration of Hungary. 

 SRI 1100+

Politics

Alexander III

Became the Tsar of Russia after revolutionaries assassinated his father in March 1881 and was in power at the beginning of WWI. Alexander was badly shaken by his fathers’ death. Alexander's father, who was hailed as “the Liberator,” because he freed the serfs, had planned to sign the first Russian constitution. Alexander III ended the reform  and declared that only “absolute autocracy”could fight the revolutionary movement.

In reaction to the Imperialism of Austria-Hungary in Eastern Europe, Alexander III declared Russia the protector of all Slavic people.

SRI 1100+

Art, Archetechture, Science and Technology 

Although Tesla and Edison shared a mutual respect for one another, at least at first, Tesla challenged Edison’s claim that current could only flow in one direction (DC, direct current). Tesla claimed that energy was cyclic and could change direction (AC, alternating current), which would increase voltage levels across greater distances than Edison had pioneered

SRI- 1100+

Art, Archetechture, Science and Technology 

Faraday

His greatest work was with electricity. In 1821, soon after the Danish chemist, Hans Christian  Orsted, discovered the phenomenon of magnetism, Humphry Davy and William Hyde Wollaston tried but failed to design an electric motor. After looking at their work he was able to solve the problem creating the first dynamo.  

Unwisely, Faraday published his results without acknowledging his debt to Wollaston and Davy, and the resulting controversy caused Faraday to withdraw from electromagnetic research for several years.

Art, Archetechture, Science and Technology 

James Watt,

His condenser solution made the steam engine more effecient for industrial use. Edward Bull started constructing engines for Boulton and Watt in Cornwall in 1781. By 1792 he had started making engines of his own design, but which contained a separate condenser, and so infringed Watt's patents. Two brothers, Jabez Carter Hornblower and Jonathan Hornblower Jr also started to build engines about the same time. Others began to modify Newcomen engines by adding a condenser, and the mine owners in Cornwall became convinced that Watt's patent could not be enforced.

Sri 1100 + 

SRI- Art, Archetechture, Science and Technology 

Alfred Nobel

He garnered 355 patents and was extremely wealthy. Dynamite  as a more predictable substitute for nitroglycerin and gunpowder was his most famous invention. Later in life Noble was tormented by a sense of guilt for having created a substance that inflicted so much maiming and death. He recoiled from the idea that dynamite was used in conflicts when he had developed it for construction.

In his will signed on November 27, 1895, Nobel set up a fund of about $9 million. The interest was to be committed to annual prizes, one of which was for the most creative work in championing world peace. The Nobel Prize was born.

Sri 1100 + 

Society- Hierarchy,Traditions -

Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx

Friedrich Engels (one on the left), son of a successful German industrialist. Engels was shocked by the poverty in the city of Manchester and began writing an account published as Condition of the Working Class in England (1844). 

Engels met Karl Marx( one on the right) the two men became close friends. 

Engels and Marx began writing a pamphlet together.The Communist Manifesto begins with the assertion, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." Marx and Engels argued that if you are to understand human history you must not see it as the story of great individuals or the conflict between states. Instead, you must see it as the story of social classes and their struggles with each other.

Sri 1100 + 

SRI- Art, Archetechture, Science and Technology 

Madame Curie was the physicist with expertise in chemistry that, in 1898, discovered the radioactive substances of radium and polonium in Paris, France. She was the first to isolate pure radium, and was world renowned as the leading expert on radiation. In fact, she coined the term, "radioactivity." The Curies and Henri Becquerel shared the Nobel Prize for Physics because of their discovery of natural radioactivity. Years later, after a brutal political fight, Marie was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry for determining the atomic weight of radium.