The Age Of Imperialism In The Age Of Imperialism

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The Modern Olympic Games were a product of their times. After France was embarrassingly defeated in the Franco-Prussian war in 1871, the French people were left with a feeling of inadequacy. These feelings of inadequacy became a driving force for Baron Pierre de Coubertin in his quest to revive the Olympic Games. During the dominant times of The Age of Imperialism, some of the more successful countries found a way to incorporate sports into their educational systems. The competitive values reinforced by sports led to a more competitive society. When Coubertin was examining the societies of more successful countries, he found this to be true and an idea began forming in his mind about how to solve France’s problems. This idea evolved into what is known today as the Olympic Games. What intellectual, geographical, and social factors led to the evolution of the games into both a political and athletic organization? The ideas that sports and competition are beneficial to “peaceful internationalism” reiterated by Coubertin formed the basic principles by which the International Olympic Committee was governed. The IOC’s decision on where to host the games …show more content…

Turnen combined many forms of exercise to create a nationalistic vibe in German schools. Even after the German unification, Turnen did not lose its nationalistic effect on German young men. As Coubertin was calling for a reform to French educational systems, he did not want to add a physical education that was unenjoyable like Turnen. Therefore, he looked elsewhere for the basis of the French physical education. The British educational system not only valued the physical results of sports, but also the other effects of sports being intertwined into the educational system. “[G]enerations of Englishmen believed in a vital connection between sports and life’s more serious contests” and Coubertin admired how sports built

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