The last decades before the First World War were truly a wonderful era: the technological breakthrough, the flourishing of photography, the birth of cinema and the revolution in the automotive industry led to a sense of limitless possibilities. During the lecture, we will talk about why humanity was able to form a new worldview, and most importantly, how changes in simple everyday things influenced this: food, technology and ways of transportation.

We will move from simple to complex. Let’s see how changing diets and reducing the risk of starvation have led to a population surge, and how the construction of the metro and rail network has compressed time and space. Mass migration, when a person becomes a citizen of the world, expeditions to Antarctica – we will cover all the main achievements that happened on the eve of the Great War.