Belle Époque

The Belle Epoque, meaning the beautiful era, is the name given to the period in European history between the end of the Franco-Prussian War and the outbreak of the First World War. It was a time of relative peace, prosperity and technical progress, with new inventions such as electric light, the telephone, the motor car and cinema, and the cultural life of cities such as Paris flourished. The Eiffel Tower was built for the Paris Exposition of 1889, and artists and writers worked in styles ranging from impressionism to art nouveau. The label was applied afterwards, when people looked back with nostalgia on the years before the war. It overlooked deep social inequalities and rising international tensions.

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