Many often associate the 19th century with old-fashioned ideas and customs, while the 20th century is considered the "modern era." So, between these two extremes, can historians qualify a turning point as the end of one era and the beginning of another? Modris Eksteins gives his point of view in The Rite of Spring, where he uses the Russian ballet of the same name as a metaphor for the evolution of society during the First World War. Eksteins sees Germany as the most modern nation in Europe, despite the outcome of the war, and sees its characteristics in the ballet, with Serge Diaghilev as the ringmaster behind it all. Diaghilev brought the ideas and talent of flourishing Russia to Paris in 1913 with the premiere of The Rite of Spring. Although many considered Paris to be the cultural center of Europe, Germany was the source of the majority of new ideas and ways of thinking. Newly unified Germany is desperately trying to contest its modern ideas against the centuries of tradition that Britain and France are trying to cling to. World War I was significant not only for the massive level of violence on an unprecedented scale, but also for the war on culture raging in the background. On May 29, 1913, when Diaghilev's masterpiece was first performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the audience response was overwhelming, shocked by the erotic and unconventional nature of the dance. What made this spectacle different from what anyone in Western Europe had ever seen before was its jarring and sexual nature. Rather than the music and choreography forming one fluid, coherent unit, they were instead choppy and dissonant, which most likely caught the naive audience off guard. The nature of this ballet is described repeatedly middle of paper...militarism on so many levels. The radical changes in culture across the continent during this period are what historians define as a turning point toward the modern era. The old ways quickly died out as modern ideas from Germany took over Europe. This diffusion of these ideas was accelerated by the new representations of Russian ballet in Western countries, as shown in Diaghilev's The Rite of Spring. The European masses had gone through a period of violent change and at the end of the war found themselves in the early years of the modern era. “The Rites of Spring” by Eksteins “Aproposofwetsnow Blog.” About the Wetsnow blog. Internet. April 29. 2011. .