CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Introduction

II. European Demography and the Increase in Life

Expectancy

III. Disease in Nineteenth-Century Europe

A. Medicine, Public Health, and the Conquest

of Disease

IV. Food and the Vital Revolution

A. Drink and Drugs in the Nineteenth Century

V. The Life Cycle: Birth and Birth Control

A. The Life Cycle: Youth

B. The Life Cycle: Marriage and the Family

VI. Sexual Attitudes and Behavior in the Nineteenth

Century

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CHAPTER 23

DAILY LIFE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

T

his chapter examines the dramatic changes in

the daily life of Europeans during industrial-

ization. The biggest changes were so dra-

matic that they constitute a vital revolution.

In 1800 the average European had a life expectancy at

birth of about thirty-five years, but a boy born in 1900

could expect fifty years and his sister fifty-two years.

Chapter 23 discusses this great change. Historians at-

tribute 15 percent of all European deaths during the

eighteenth century to smallpox; in a typical year, small-

pox, typhus, and typhoid accounted for 35 percent of

all deaths. By the early twentieth century, these diseases

caused less than 1 percent of deaths in the most ad-

vanced regions of Europe. Similarly, the typical adult

man of 1800 stood about 5′ 1 ′′tall, but in the early

twentieth century the average reached 5′ 6 ′′. The his-

tory of this vital revolution often receives less attention

than the actions of princes, popes, and presidents, but

no leader affected daily life as much as the conquest of

disease and the improvement of diet did.

Chapter 23 also looks at the stages of the life cycle.

It begins with birth and shows the falling birthrate

caused by growing acceptance of birth control. For

youth, the nineteenth century meant the beginning of

compulsory education. The next great stage in life,

marriage, increasingly began at a later age and pro-

duced a smaller family than the Old Regime had expe-

rienced. Even as basic an aspect of daily life as human

sexuality changed during the nineteenth century, and

the chapter considers such attitudes as the double stan-

dard and new laws regarding sexuality.

European Demography and the Increase

in Life Expectancy

Nineteenth-century demography is a good illustration

of historical perspective: The subject looks very differ-

ent if viewed from the perspective of the early

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