History of Urcea (1798-1902): Difference between revisions

During the 19th century, railroads became a major force within the economic life of Urcea and a regular feature of industrial society. Urcea's general economic prosperity during the first decades of Aedanicus's reign was partly driven by the rise of this new technological innovation, and the 1840s and 1850s saw a general boom in all things railroad, also leading to significant enhancements in the steel and logging industries. With this revolution in transportation underway, many men - mainly [[Social class in Urcea#Privilegiata_2|privilegiata]] - became millionaires practically overnight, greatly transforming social and economic dynamics within Urcea. By the late 1850s, a large class of railroad tycoons had emerged, largely displacing the [[Social_class_in_Urcea#Optimate_2|optimates]] in high society; due to their self-made status, the new men of high Urcean society did not have the successive generation requirement necessary to become optimates, and these new men embraced their continued status as privilegiata. The rise of the privilegiata high society, most of whom were far wealthier than their optimate peers due to successes in capitalist exploits, functionally ended any residual influence of the optimates and reduced them to an urbanite social class, though one still heavily resented by the privilegiata. Far more important than the impact on class structure, however, was the political impact of the new class of men. The money and power wielded by the railroad tycoons was easily transferred to politics, where the men generally collaborated to make the state deferential to railroad interests, acquiring land designated for [[Ómestaderoi|homesteads]] using {{wp|eminent domain}} while exempting railroads from [[Guilds (Urcea)|guild]] requirements. Their interests went beyond just railroad-related concerns, however; these educated privilegiata generally believed in a program of reform for Urcea to modernize it and place men such as themselves, rather than clerics, nobles, or the [[Julian dynasty]], at the center of it, not only to benefit their own enterprises but also to make the state more "meritocratic" in their view. The politically motivated railroad tycoons would become known as the "railroadocrats", and their influence over the Urcean state would grow rapidly between the 1860s and [[1889]].