Nothing comes of it. But that same night in Vienna, Colonel Redl shoots himself after being convicted of espionage. On the very same night in Vienna, Adolf Hitler packs his bags and takes the first train to Munich. The artists’ group Die Brücke breaks up. In Paris, Stravinsky celebrates the première of The Rite of Spring and catches his first glimpse of his future lover Coco Chanel. Brecht is bored at school and has palpitations. So he starts writing poetry. Alma Mahler runs away from Oskar Kokoschka. Rilke argues with Rodin and can’t get round to writing. (illustration credits 5.1) The time has come: Max Weber invents his memorable phrase ‘the disenchantment of the world’. In a little essay on fundamental concepts in sociology he writes about what is important for the capitalist structure of society – and that includes the increasingly mechanical, scientific and rational treatment of everything previously considered a miracle. ‘Disenchantment of the world’ means, in Weber’s own words, that humanity believes it can control everything by means of calculation.
