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EUROPE (1815-1848)
1.Summary:At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, in the aftermath of
the Napoleonic Era, Europe's leaders workedto reorganize Europe and
create a stable balance of power. After that Congress, The Austrian
diplomat Metternich would call several more congresses to try and
preserve European stability: the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle
(1818), the Congress of Troppau (1820), and the Congress of Verona
(1822). The Congress System that Metternich established was
Reactionary, that is, its goal was to preserve the power of the
old, monarchical regimes in Europe.
Revolution was brewing, however. In Britain, the Industrial
Revolution continued to accelerate, causing economic
transformations that had serious political and social implications.
All across Europe, and especially in France and Britain, the rising
Bourgeoisie class challenged the old monarchical Reactionaries with
their Liberal ideology. "Isms" abounded. Ideologies such as
Radicalism, Republicanism, and Socialism rounded into coherent
form. In response to events like the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, worker
consciousness of a class struggle between Proletariat and
Bourgeoisie began to emerge. The Bourgeoisie was clearly the
ascendant class between 1815 and 1848; the Proletariat began to
gain a sense of similar unification.
Another "Ism" coming into its own at this time was Romanticism,
the intellectual response to the French Enlightenment rationalism
and emphasis on Reason. At the same time, Romantic thinkers,
artists, and writers posed powerful challenge to the Enlightenment
emphasis on rationalism and reason. Such artists and philosophers
as Herder, Hegel, Schiller, Schinckel, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary
Shelley, John Keats, William Wordsworth, and Delacroix, to name a
few, achieved remarkable intellectual and artistic heights and
gained a wide following throughout Europe, particularly in Germany,
Prussia, England, and to a lesser extent France.
Of all the "Isms" competing in this period, perhaps the greatest
was Nationalism, an ideology, like Romanticism, which reacted
against the universalist claims of French enlightenment thought.
Whereas Romanticism often focused on intellectual and artistic
matters, Nationalism, which proclaimed the unique character of
ethnic and linguistic groups, was more overtly political. The
Nationalist movements in Germany and Italy, which involved an
effort at national unification, and those in the Austrian Empire,
which involved efforts to carve the Austrian Empire into ethnically
or linguistically defined states, created a great amount of
instability in Europe.
In 1830, the various ideological beliefs resulted in a round of
revolutions. These revolutions began when the Paris Mob,
manipulated by the interests of the Bourgeoisie, deposed the
Bourbon monarchy of Charles X and replaced him with Louis Philippe.
In the rest of Europe, the French example touched off various
nationalist revolts; all were successfully quelled by conservative
forces.
Britain notably escaped any outbreak of violence, but it by no
means escaped change: the battle between the formerly dominant
landed aristocracy and the newly ascendant manufacturers led to
thepassage of the Reform Bill of 1832, which partially remedied the
Rotten Boroughs and gave the manufactures an increased amount of
Parliamentary representation. The working class benefited from the
growing class rivalry between aristocracy and middle-class. Often
the aristocrats would ally with the working class to act against
the manufacturers, forcing the manufacturers, in turn, to ally with
the workers against the aristocrats. Although the working class did
not yet have the vote inEngland, they were pushing for universal
adult male suffrage in the late 1830s and early 1840s via the
Chartist Movement. While this movement failed in the short- term,
its demands were eventually adopted.
In the rest of Europe, political change would not happen so
peacefully. In 1848, the February
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Revolution broke out in Paris, toppling Louis Philippe and
granting universal suffrage to adult French men, who elected Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon III) solely on name-recognition.
Europe once again took its cue from Paris, and revolutions broke
out nearly everywhere in Europe during 1848. Rebellion in Germany
led to the establishment of the Frankfurt Assembly, which was
plagued by internal squabbling and was unable to unify Germany. In
the Austrian Empire, the various ethnicities revolted, and the
Magyar nationalists led by Louis Kossuth pushed for an independent
Hungary. Rioting in Vienna frightened Metternich so much he fled
the city. All of the Eastern European rebellions were ultimately
put down, a triumph for the reactionaries. However, the events of
1848 frightened the rulers of Europe out of their complacency and
forced them to realize that gradually, they would have to change
the nature of their governments or face future revolutions.
2.Context: The years from 1815 to 1848 provided a much-needed
respite from the endless wars of the Napoleonic Era. From 1799 to
1815, Napoleon Bonaparte rampaged through Europe, conquering a vast
empire and spreading the liberal ideas of the Enlightenment and
laws based on them (the Napoleonic Code). When a coalition of
European powers finally managed to defeat Napoleon for the last
time, all the rulers wanted to do was return Europe "to normal".
They didn't want Napoleon-style emperors marching their armies all
over Europe, they didn't want legal equality among the classes, and
they didn't want revolutions every few years. In short, they wanted
stability, and the reorganization of Europe undertaken at the
Congress of Vienna was aimed at creating that stability.
However, as much as the monarchs of Europe and their advisors
wanted stability, there were severalhistorical dynamics at the time
that ensured that Europe could not "stay the same". In Great
Britain, the enclosure movement of the early 18th century had
created a large, socially mobile labor force, leading to the
Industrial Revolution in British manufacturing during the 18th and
19th centuries. The years from 1815 to 1848 marked a period of
particular industrial acceleration. While dramatically increasing
the general power and wealth of England, the industrial revolution
also particularly brought new wealth to the Bourgeoisie class of
entrepreneurs and manufacturers. With their wealth came both
influence and a desire for greater influence; the middle class
demanded increased political representation and power. The middle
class also developed a liberal ideology involving laissez faire
economics, which they tried to make the dominant ideology in
England. The battle between the once dominant aristocracy and the
rising Bourgeoisie would open a floodgate of reforms, and this
process would soon be replicated in the rest of Western Europe.
Also during this period, a young intellectual movement called
Romanticism, which was a response to French Enlightenment
Rationalism, held sway in Germany, Britain, and to an extent
France. Romanticism challenged the ideal of universal standards for
all mankind, and led to the glorificationof the unique "national
genius" of each ethnic and linguistic group. Thus, it was also
during 1815 to 1848 that the modern phenomenon of nationalism was
explicitly formulated. Tired of existing as a loose federation,
many people in the fragmented German states hoped for German
unification. The various Italian states sought Italian unification.
Numerous groups within the ethnically diverse Austrian Empire
dreamed of forming their own nation. The possibility of
nationalists achieving their goals greatly frightened the
reactionary rulers of Europe, who knew how destabilizing these
changes might be.
Thus, the years from 1815 to 1848, though not plagued by rampant
wars, can be seen as a more subtle battle between conflicting
worldviews. On one side were the powerful and entrenched members of
the Old Regime, who opposed change of any kind. On the other side
were the forces of change: the bourgeoisie created by the dynamics
of the Industrial Revolution, liberals, socialists, republicans,
radicals, romantics, and nationalists. The struggle of ideas
erupted in the form of various small-scale revolutions, first in
1830 and then on a more widespread scale in 1848, the year
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of revolutions. Although the revolutionaries were disappointed
by results of 1848, ultimately changewas on the way. And what would
replace the old guard? The new systems, which are the "old regime"
in our own time, owe a great deal to the then-revolutionary
concepts developed in the era immediately following the Napoleonic
Wars. The period from 1815 to 1848 was an important crucible in
which were forged many modern ideologies, from classical
"liberalism" (today's conservatism) to communism. In some respects,
the result of this battle between ideologies that reached fever
pitch in the early 19th century is still being resolved today.
3.Important Terms, People, and Events:
TermsBourgeoisie - Term used to refer to the "middle class." In
the 19th century concept of class struggle, the bourgeoisie were
those who owned the means of production and the proletariat
consisted of their workers.
Bund - A confederation of the various fragmented German states
in the period after the Congress of Vienna (1815).
Burschenschaft - Student political groups that formed at German
Universities beginning around 1815. These groups were expressions
of German nationalism.
Capitalism - Generally middle-class economic ideology
emphasizing free markets, the ownership of private property, and
the accumulation of wealth by enterprising businesspeople.
Carbonari - Liberal, Nationalist secret society in Italy in the
first half of the 19th century. They sought a unified Italy under
governments different from those the Congress of Vienna had imposed
on them.
Cato Street Conspiracy - Conspiracy of British Radicalism,
plotting to assassinate the Tory cabinet. When the conspiracy was
discovered in 1820, several conspirators were executed.
Chartist Movement - Reform movement in Britain of the 1830s and
1840s that demanded progressive political reforms like universal
adult male suffrage and the right of working- class people to serve
in Parliament. Although it failed at the time, the goals of
Chartism were eventually reached.
Congress System - Term referring to the Reactionary method for
maintaining political control; Metternich called a series of
congresses between conservative leaders during the years from 1815
and 1848. These congresses included the Congress of Vienna, the
Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, the Congress of Troppau, and the
Congress of Verona.
Conservatism - British reactionary philosophy supporting
monarchy and old ways. Championed by Edmund Burke, who had been
horrified by the French Revolution, Conservatism argued for prudent
and gradual change.
Corn Law - First passed in 1815, these laws put high tariffs on
grain coming into England. This protected the profits of the
land-owning aristocrats, but also increased food prices, hurting
both workers and their employers, who had to pay higher wages if
the price of bread went up. It is important to realize that in the
British usage here, "Corn" refers to grains in general, not the
kind of Corn (Maize) of which Americans usually think.
Dialectic - Theory of thought and historical progress in which
opposites are created, and then reconciled to create a synthesis.
This approach was pioneered by Hegel.
Holy Alliance - In 1815, Alexander I started the Holy Alliance
to uphold Christian values. However, it became a common name by
which the reactionary Congress System was referred to as a
whole.
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Laissez Faire - In French, it means "allow to do". This economic
philosophy suggests that if government interferes in the economy as
little as possible (takes a "hands off" approach) markets will
equilibrate and the economy will run as smoothly as possible.
Liberalism - 19th century ideology that sought self-government,
increased male suffrage, and legalequality for all and free-market
economic policies. 19th century "liberalism" is a far cry from what
"liberalism" means today. Because 19th century "liberalism"
ultimately triumphed in Western Europe and the United States, 19th
century "liberalism" is actually closer to what is "conservative"
in our own time.
Manchester - Industrial city in Northern England, which greatly
increased in population during theIndustrial Revolution. Because of
the Rotten Boroughs, its interests were underrepresented in
Parliament during the early 19th century.
Monroe Doctrine - American policy announced in 1823 in which
President Monroe demanded thatEurope not interfere with goings-on
in the Western Hemisphere. Monroe's warning was initially followed
not because of fear of the United States, but because the other
European powers knew Britain's Navy would stop any further colonial
adventurism in the New World.
Nationalism - Modern movement in which countries engineer a
sense of unity and common purpose among a large nation. The people
in these nationalist countries develop a strong sense of loyalty to
their nation. Though it seems automatoc to most people in the
modern world, nationalism really developed throughout Europe only
in the early 19th century.
Pan-Slavism - Movement that seeks to unify the Slavs, an ethnic
classification in Eastern Europe that includes Russians,
Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats,
Slovenes, and Macedonians.
Proletariat - In the 19th century, a term developed to refer to
the working class. Proletariats were employed by, and involved in
class struggle with, the bourgeoisie.
Radicalism - Anti-Church, anti-Monarchy reform group in 19th
century England, largely based on the ideas of Jeremy Bentham.
Unconcerned by tradition, the British radicals challenged the old
ways.
Reactionary - Having to do with what is opposed to change and
progress. In 19th century Europe, the Reactionary cause was
championed by Metternich, who wanted the old regimes of Europe to
stay in power.
Republicanism - French equivalent of British Radicalism,
Republicanism glorified the social leveling accomplished by the
French Revolution.
Romanticism - Intellectual movement begun in reaction to the
dominance ofEnlightenment Reason. Romanticism criticized Reason,
suggesting that it could not answer all questions. Leading Romantic
artists and writers included Hegel, Schiller, Schinckel, Keats,
Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Delacroix.
Rotten Boroughs - In England in the 19th century, voting
districts were so poorly drawn that a city with half-a-million
people like Manchester received only as much representation in
Parliament as a small village. Though the Industrial Revolution
rapidly changed the population distribution in England, the voting
districts lagged behind, giving advantage in Parliament to wealthy
landowners while under representing the new manufacturing
cities.
Socialism - Economic ideology, opposed to Capitalism and Laissez
Faire, that holds that key industry and the means of production
should be centrally controlled by the government, so that workers
will not be abused by bourgeoisie factory owners.
Textile - Threads, cloth and clothing. Early in the Industrial
Revolution, textiles were the mainstay of British factory
production.
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Tory - 18th and early 19th century British political party,
opposed to the Whigs. Although the Tories comprised various
factions, the party was opposed to Parliamentary reforms.
Utility - Utility is the measure of good or usefulness of
something. It is often held that something should be done if it
will maximize the overall utility of society. This belief is
formulated as "Utilitarianism," and is described in John Stuart
Mill's bookUtilitarianism.
Volksgeist - German Romantic idea, suggested by Herder, that
each nation has its own particular "special genius". Thus, what is
right for one nation may not be right for another nation, and,
according to German Romantics and Nationalists, each "nation"
should strive to express its individual Volksgeist.
PeopleAlexander I - Russian Czar from 1801 to 1825. He briefly
allied with Napoleonbefore turning against him. Though Alexander
envisioned himself as an "enlightened despot", Metternich managedto
move him towards becoming a Reactionary after the Congress of
Vienna in 1815.
Jeremy Bentham - English philosopher, a father of Radicalism and
Utilitarianism. One example of his unconventional nature: when he
died in 1832, he had his body preserved and placed on display in a
cabinet in University College, London, where it remains to this
day.
Simon Bolivar - South American freedom fighter who led the
liberation of several Spanish colonies around 1820. He subsequently
became a South American dictator, with hopes of uniting a South
American empire.
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte - After the February Revolution in
Paris in 1848, Louis Napoleon was elected President in France
simply on the basis of name recognition among the newly
enfranchised voters. He soon declared himself Emperor Napoleon III.
France prospered under him for two decades.
Bourbon - European royal family, which had kings on the thrones
of France, Spain, and Naples at various times during the early 19th
century.
Edmund Burke - 18th century thinker, statesman, and writer,
whose 1790 work,Reflections on the Revolution in France, became the
classic text of British Conservatism.
George Canning - British foreign secretary and champion of
Liberalism in foreign affairs form 1822 to 1827. Canning briefly
served as Prime Minister in 1827.
Castlereagh - British foreign secretary from 1812-1822.
Castlereagh was a major architect of the new European balance of
power established at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
Charles X - Successor to Louis XVIII, Bourbon king of France
from 1824 to his overthrow in the July Revolution of 1830. He
believed in the divine-right of kings, and was unable to cope with
the new, post-revolutionary realities of France.
Eugene Delacroix - French Romantic painter, who painted exotic
scenes, and whose use of color over line inspired the
Impressionists.
Ferdinand - Austrian Hapsburg Emperor who abdicated during the
revolution of 1848, turning the throne over to Franz Joseph.
Charles Fourier - French theorist of Socialism who wanted to
reorganize society into cooperative "phalanxes".
Franz Joseph - Hapsburg Emperor of Austria from 1848 to 1916. In
1867 he divided the Empire into Austria and Hungary, creating the
"Dual Monarchy".
Goethe - 18th and 19th century German writer, who worked in
nearly every imaginable field, fromscience to drama. Considered one
of the greatest German writers, Goethe was essential in the
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Nationalist construction of a German Volksgeist.
Hapsburg - Perhaps the greatest royal family of modern European
history, the Hapsburg dynasty once controlled Spain, Austria, the
Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire under one man. By the 19th
century, they only really controlled the Austrian Empire. Emperors
Ferdinand and Franz Joseph were both Hapsburgs.
Hegel - G.W.F. Hegel was a 19th century Romantic German
philosopher who held that progress is made through conflicting
opposites being resolved, via the dialectic, in a synthesis. See
IntroductoryLectures on History.
Louis Kossuth - Magyar (Hungarian) Nationalist who briefly
controlled Hungary in 1848 and 1849, but was crushed by the Russian
army.
Louis Philippe - Also called the Duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe
ruled France as King from 1830 to 1848, when his government toppled
in the February Revolution. Louis Philippe drew most of his support
from the Bourgeoisie; he alienated and marginalized the growing
French working class, leading to his overthrow in 1848.
Louis XVIII - Bourbon king of France from 1815 to his death in
1824, during which time he proved moderately Liberal, allowing an
advisory Parliament to meet.
Magyars - Dominant linguistic and ethnic group in Hungary.
Robert Malthus - Early British economist. His most famous idea
was that increasing the food supply would always increase the
population, meaning that eradicating the suffering of the lower
classes was impossible.
Karl Marx - German economist and philosopher who, along with
Friedrich Engels, wrote The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital
while in living in England. The ideology of Communism draws its
inspiration from Marx and Engels' work, which was influenced by the
social environment in Western Europe during the first half of the
19th century.
Joseph Mazzini - Italian Nationalist from Genoa who founded
Young Italy in 1832, a movement that would inspire nationalist
groups throughout Europe.
Metternich - Austrian foreign minister, Metternich was Europe's
arch-Reactionary. He was a leading architect of the balance of
power developed at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and he called
the great powers to various Congresses throughout the coming decade
to put down European rebellions wherever they started. In 1848,
during a revolution in Vienna, Metternich fled the city.
Nicholas I - Succeeded Alexander I, serving as Russian Czar from
1825 to 1855. Nicholas' more liberal brother Constantine was
favored as successor by Russian revolutionaries, but Nicholas used
the army to destroy this rebellion.
Robert Owen - Manchester manufacturer who grew upset by the
conditions endured by workers in Industrial Revolution Britain, and
became a reformer.
Robert Peel - Britain's conservative prime minister from 1834 to
1835, and from 1841 to 1846. Peel oversaw the repeal of the Corn
Laws in 1846, partially due to the ongoing Irish Famine.
David Ricardo - Early British economist who helped develop
"Classical" economics. He was responsible for formulating the "Iron
Law" of wages, which stated that any attempt to improve workers'
lots would lead to such a population increase that the increased
competition for labor would ultimately bring workers' wages back
down. This argument held that no improvement in workers' lives was
possible, so the government should not bother legislating wage
increases.
Saint-Simon - French theorist of Socialism, he developed a
concept of "Christian Socialism" emphasizing the brotherhood of all
men. His conception included the centralization of industry and
equal sharing of its profits.
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Jose de San Martin - Much like Simon Bolivar, Jose de San Martin
was a South American military leader involved in the liberation of
several South American countries from Spanish colonial rule.
Friedrich Schiller - German Romantic dramatist of the late 18th
and early 19th century.
Karl Friedrich Schinkel - German Romantic architect who worked
both in classical forms; a leaderin the Gothic Revival.
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Influential British Romantic poet,
married to Mary Shelley. Read the SparkNote on Shelley's
Poetry.
Mary Shelley - British Romantic writer, wife of Percy Bysshe
Shelley, and author of Frankenstein (1818), a classic allegory of
the flaws of Reason and Science.
Slavs - An ethnic and linguistic classification in Eastern
Europe and Western Asia that includes Russians, Ukrainians,
Belarusians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and
Macedonians.
EventsCarlsbad Decrees - 1819 regulation in Germany that
outlawed the Burschenschaft student groups, pushing them
underground. It also established censorship, and government control
of universities. Metternich, from his position of influence in
Austria, helped get this measure passed in the German Bund.
Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle - 1818 Congress in which the
European powers agreed to withdraw their armies occupying France.
Alexander I tried to convince the other powers to form an
international military coalition to suppress Revolution, but
Castlereagh refused British participation.
Congress of Troppau - 1820 Congress, dealing with collapse of
the government in Naples. At the Congress, Metternich received
permission to restore the old government using the Austrian
army.
Congress of Verona - Congress called by Metternich to deal with
revolutionary stirrings in Spain and Greece. France sent an army
into Spain to quell the rebellion there. Although Alexander I
expressed an interest in putting down the South American
revolutions of Simon Bolivar and Jose deSan Martin, Castlereagh
promised British naval opposition. Verona was the last
international Congress held in the period from 1815-1848.
Congress of Vienna - 1814-1815 meeting of the Great powers that
led to the reorganization of Europe in the wake of the Napoleonic
Wars.
Decembrist Revolt - The 1825 death of Czar Alexander I of
Russian sparked a succession dispute between Alexander's two sons.
Constantine, the younger brother of Nicholas, received some
supportbecause he was known to be the more Liberal of the two
brothers. The revolt in favor of Constantine was put down by the
rightful heir, Nicholas I, and the army.
Enclosure Movement - 18th century movement among wealthy British
landed aristocrats to rationalize their farms. Using new farming
technology and systems of crop rotation, they forced the agrarian
poor off the old "village commons" that now became "enclosed" as
private property. The jobless poor ended up constituting the
proletariat working class in the upcoming Industrial
Revolution.
February Revolution - 1848 Revolution in Paris, primarily by
lower-class workers, who overthrew Louis Philippe, established
universal adult male suffrage, and elected Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
president. Along with overthrowing Louis Philippe's regime, the
February Revolution sparked otherrevolutions throughout Europe.
Frankfurt Assembly - From 1848 to 1849, a group of German
bourgeoisie intellectuals and professionals who attempted (and
failed) to create a unified German state.
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Gothic Revival - 1830s movement in architecture when buildings
in the Gothic (high medieval) style became popular. It was in this
period that the British Parliament building was built. This was the
architectural manifestation of Romanticism. Where the Enlightenment
had looked down on the Middle Ages as a "dark" period of ignorance,
the Romantics celebrated the Medieval period for its spiritualism,
depth, and sense of adventure.
Industrial Revolution - 18th and 19th century development,
beginning in Britain, in which manufacturing was increasingly done
in factories by machines, rather than in small workshops by hand
labor. The Industrial Revolution, in combination with the earlier
the Enclosure Movement, radically reshaped the world economy and
social and political development.
July Revolution - 1830 overthrow of Charles X's oppressive
regime; ultimately, Louis Philippe became the new French king.
Peterloo Massacre - In 1819, manufacturers organized around
80,000 workers to protest the Corn Laws. When some of the peaceful
protesters were shot, the event was dubbed the "Peterloo Massacre",
likening the British government's shameful use of violence on a
peaceful crowd to the recent defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
Reform Bill of 1832 - This British bill simplified voting
requirements, though it actually didn't enfranchise many new
people. Most importantly, it partially corrected the problem of
Rotten Boroughs, giving a much larger amount of Parliamentary power
to previously under-represented manufacturers like those
Manchester.
3.Timeline: 1814-1815: Congress of Vienna
1815: Corn Law in Great Britain
December 1816: Corn Law riots in London
1817: Buschenschaft holds congress at Wurtburg
1818: Prussian Zollverein created
1818: International Congress held at Aix-la-Chapelle
1818: Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein
1819: Metternich initiates Carlsbad Decrees
1819: Peterloo Massacre
1820: Several members of Cato Street Conspiracy executed
1820s: British Radicalism gets underway
1820: Louis XVIII's nephew (the Duke de Berry) assassinated
1820: Te Congress of Troppau
1822: The Congress of Verona
1823: Munroe Doctrine
1824: Louis XVIII dies, Charles X becomes French king
1825: Decembrist Revolt put down in Russia, Nicholas I comes to
power
1825: Robert Owen founds New Harmony, Indiana
1827: Anglo-French-Russian navy destroys Turkish fleet, helping
Greek nationalists
1829: Nations of Europe recognize an independent Greece
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1829: First truly successful locomotive tested
1830s: Gothic Revival in architecture
July 1830: Charles X passes "Four Ordinances" in France
July 1830: July Revolution in France. Charles X abdicates, Louis
Philippe becomes French king
1831: Mazzini founds Young Italy
1832: Goethe completes Faust
1832: Parliament passes Reform Bill
1833: Factory Act restricts child labor (Great Britain)
1834: Poor Laws passed (Great Britain)
1838: Anti-Corn Laws League
1838: Chartist movement begins
1839: Chartist movement gains 1 million signatures
1840: Frederick William IV comes to power in Prussia
1840s: Corn Laws repealed
1840s: Railway construction begins in England and Europe
1842: Chartist movement gains 3 million signatures
1847: Ten Hour Act limits women and child labor to ten hours a
day (Great Britain)
January 1848: Marx and Engels publish Communist Manifesto
February 1848: February Revolution in Paris, barricades in the
streets
1848: Louis Napoleon Bonaparte becomes President of France
March 1848: Metternich, terrified of unrest, flees Vienna
March 15, 1848: Hungary granted independence within the Austrian
Empire, revolutions begin throughout Eastern Europe
June 1848: Pan-Slavic Conference held in Prague
May 1848: Frankfurt Assembly
December 1848: Ferdinand of Austria abdicates, Franz Joseph
becomes emperor
4.Britain's Industrial Revolution (1780-1850):
SummaryAlthough Western Europe had long had the basic trappings
of capitalism (private property, wealth accumulation, contracts),
the Industrial Revolution fueled the creation of a truly modern
capitalist system. Widespread credit, business corporations,
investments and large-scale stock markets all become common.
Britain led the way in this transformation.
By the 1780s, the British Industrial Revolution, which had been
developing for several decades, began to further accelerate.
Manufacturing, business, and the number of wage laborers
skyrocketed,starting a trend that would continue into the first
half of the 19th century. Meanwhile, technology changed: hand tools
were replaced by steam- or electricity-driven machines.
The economic transformation brought about the British industrial
revolution was accompanied by a
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social transformation as well. Population boomed, and
demographics shifted. Because industrial resources like coal and
iron were in Central and Northern England, a shift in population
from Southern England northward took place. Northern cities like
Manchester grew tremendously. These changes in social and
demographic realities created vast pressure for political change as
well. The first act to protect workers went into affect in 1802
(though in practice it did very little). Pressure to redress the
lack of representation for the new industrial cities and the newly
wealthy industrial manufacturers also began to build.
Meanwhile, industrialists developed an ideology called Laissez
Faire based on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (1776) and continued
by David Ricardo and Robert Malthus. Based on this, the discipline
known as "economics" developed, largely to give the manufacturers a
basis for arguing for little or no regulation of industry. Instead
of government interference, these economists argued that a free
market, in which everyone followed their own self- interest, would
maximize the nation's utility.
Britain, with its head start in manufacturing, its many world
markets, and its dominant navy, would dominate industry for most of
the 19th century. Towards the end of that century, the United
States and Germany would begin to challenge Britain's industrial
power.
CommentaryAmong the Western European countries, Britain was the
ideal incubator for the Industrial Revolution because an
"Agricultural Revolution" preceded it. After the 1688 "Glorious
Revolution",the British kings lost power and the aristocratic
landholders gained power. The landholders tried to rationalize
their landholdings and started the Enclosure Movement to bring more
and more of their own land under tighter control, a process that
went on throughout the 1700s. This policy had two main effects: it
increased the productivity of the land, and transformed the people
who used to workland into an unemployed, labor class of poor in
need of work. Thus, the first factories had a ready labor- supply
in Britain that was not available in other nations. Important
inventions like the "Spinning Jenny" to produce yarn began to be
made in 1760s, and soon the British textile industry was booming,
aided by Eli Whitney's invention of the "Cotton Gin" in America,
which provided a ready source of cotton.
The Industrial Revolution represented a shift in influence away
from the traditional power-holders in England. Aristocratic rule
was no longer supreme, for "upstart" manufacturers were now often
more wealthy and more important to the nation's overall well being
than the landed gentry. They also employed a far greater percentage
of the national economy. However, the aristocratic landholders did
not entirely lose out: they maintained some power, and only
grudgingly gave it up to business interests. Often, the
aristocracy, trying to take power away from the manufacturers,
would ally with the working class. As both sides, aristocrats and
manufacturers, competed for the support of the workers, reforms in
Britain gradually took place through Parliamentary deal- making
without the need for a bloody revolution. In its impact on human
societies, the industrial revolution was probably the most
important change in its era, more important, perhaps, than any
events in the last few thousand years. The Industrial Revolution
allowed increasing urbanization and greatly increased the overall
wealth and production power of humanity, although not everyone
always shared in the benefits of industrialization equally.
Though industrialization was most prominent in Europe, its
transformative powers must be seen as a theme through the period of
1815-1848. Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution went
hand-in-hand with the Western European countries' liberal
traditions. Many of the same principles underlying the French
Revolution were being developed via the Industrial Revolution in
Britain. Industrializing nations developed middle classes who began
to wield political clout. Further, the Industrial Revolution would
give Western Europe the economic system and technology to dominate
much of the world in the colonial period towards the end of the
19th century. The countries that did not transition to industrial
systems very quickly got left behind, and often ended up as
satellites to
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the major powers.
It would be some time before workers developed a
counter-ideology of their own. Yet as manufacturing brought
hundreds of thousands of workers into the cities, they started
thinking about organizing to protect their own political interests.
By 1825, the workers in the industrializing nations would become a
social and political force of their own.
5.Europe After Napoleon:
SummaryAfter Napoleon's domination of Europe from around 1800 to
1814, the rulers of Europe wanted to insure that no one would ever
be able to come so close to taking over all of Europe again. To
this end, the diplomats from all of the Great Powers met at the
Congress of Vienna to negotiate from 1814 to 1815. There they
reorganized European boundaries in hopes of creating a stable
Europe where coalitions of nations could always ally to defeat one
nation that got out of hand.
The rulers after Napoleon were dedicated to stopping revolution
(like the French Revolution in theirown countries. Louis XVIII,
whose brother Louis XVI had been executed during the French
Revolution, certainly didn't want another revolution in France. The
Tory government in Great Britain was archconservative and greatly
opposed social upheaval. Metternich, the foreign minister in
Austria, was willing to do anything to stabilize Europe and
preserve Hapsburg power.
FranceIn France, Louis XVIII did his best to balance the tense
situation following Napoleon's defeat. On both sides, Louis granted
amnesties, hoping to "start over" in France. The wealthy, however,
remembering the leveling effects of the Revolution, became
passionately anti-revolutionary, or reactionary. The reactionary
element only increased after the King's nephew, the Duke of Berry,
wasassassinated in 1820. In 1824, Louis XVIII died, and was
replaced by the assassinated Duke's father, Charles X. Unlike the
moderate Louis, Charles was a hard-core reactionary, and hated all
the changes taking place in France, even the ones Louis had
initiated. Charles believed himself to be a monarch appointed by
God, and he started trampling on basic elements of liberalism like
the Frenchconstitution.
PolandPoland was a state recreated by the Congress of Vienna and
ruled by Czar Alexander I. Initially, its government was quite
liberal; though ruled by Alexander, Poland had a constitution.
Alexander considered himself an "enlightened despot" and spoke
often of granting freedom to the people, but he soon found that
when he did give the people some self-government, they didn't
always agree with what he wanted them to do. Liking liberal reforms
in theory more than practice, Alexander increasingly curtailed
Poland's right of self- government. As a result of its frustrated
desire for self-rule, Polish Nationalism began to rise. Secret
societies developed, and a university movement (which Alexander put
down in the 1820s) got underway.
GermanyIn Germany, nationalists motivated by Romantic ideas such
as the belief in a special German Volksgeist hated the results of
the Congress of Vienna, since the ongress split up into a loose
federation called the Bund. Dissatisfaction centered among students
and intellectuals, who began to form highly nationalist clubs
called Burschenschaft. In 1817, the Burschenschaft held a national
meeting at Wartburg, convincing Metternich that German nationalism
was a force to be reckoned
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with. When the German nationalists began assassinating
reactionary leaders, Metternich intervened by pushing the Carlsbad
Decrees through the Bund in 1819. The decrees outlawed the
Burschenschaft and pushed them underground. Secondarily, the
decrees increased government regulation of the universities,
limiting what was taught, and made way for government censorship of
German newspapers. The Carlsbad Decrees quieted the German
nationalist movement for about adecade.
Great BritainIn Great Britain, in 1815, the aristocrat-dominated
Parliament passed the Corn Law, which raised tariffs on grain to
make imports impossible. The high tariffs also raised prices beyond
the reach of the working class. In December 1816, starving workers
rioted in London. Meanwhile, in Manchester, the ascendant
industrialists who dominated the city had been hoping to get
Parliamentary representation for some time. Realizing how
discontented the workers were, the industrialists helped organize
80,000 workers to demonstrate at St. Peters Field against the Corn
Law and for universal male suffrage. The protest was peaceful, but
British soldiers nonetheless firedinto the crowd, killing several.
The event became a national scandal, called the Peterloo Massacre.
The Tory Parliament, frightened of the potential for worker
revolts, passed acts in 1819 aimed at stopping mass political
organization. Not appeased, a group of workers decided to try and
assassinate the Tory cabinet. This group, known as the Cato Street
Conspiracy, was discovered in 1820. Several members were
executed.
CommentaryAfter Napoleon, a period of Reactionary governments
swept Europe. Having swung so far one way during the French
Revolution and Napoleon's rule, the historical pendulum now swung
back the other way, as rulers tried to prevent the "excesses" of
the French Revolution from happening again. Fear among the
traditional rulers was not without basis, either. Revolution was
brewing throughout Europe.
Among the reactionary rulers and leaders of Europe in the
post-Napoleonic era, only the liberal, progressive, and fervently
Christian Alexander I, Czar of Russia, seemed a wild card when it
came to change. He certainly wanted to rule, but he also wanted to
change the world for the better. Highlyeducated, he saw himself as
an "enlightened despot" or a "philosopher-king" able to foresee
reformsthat were in the best interest of all. In 1815, the rulers
of Europe were all worried about what Czar Alexander might do.
However, once Alexander found out that granting constitutions and
self-government to people led to them doing things that he
sometimes disagreed with, his interest in liberal reforms began to
sour, and he fell further into the reactionary fold over time.
Why was Metternich so upset about possible German unification?
He was afraid that a powerful and unified Germany might upset the
balance of power, not to mention pose a threat to neighboring
Austria. Although Austria did not have a tremendous amount of
formal influence in the German Bund, it could put informal pressure
on the German states, and Metternich did this heavily in the period
to get the Carlsbad decrees passed.
British Parliament designed the Corn Law (1815) to protect the
profits of landed aristocrats in Britain. But the action
demonstrates the degree to which Parliament was out of touch with
the socialand political situation. The tariffs raised food prices,
naturally affecting the poor. The raise in prices also affected the
industrialist manufacturers, who had to pay their workers more to
insure that they had people physically able to man the industrial
factories. Whereas the poor had no political power, and little
tendency to political action, the wealthy manufacturers had both.
The teaming up of the manufacturers and poor demonstrated a
changing reality in British social and political life. Parliament's
eventual recognition of this change can be seen in the Tory
government's subsequent passage of a high tax on newspapers as an
attempt to limit the spread of ideas among workers. The Tory
government even went so far as to restrict the right of public
assembly.
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6.Metternich and his Congresses (1815-1822):
SummaryThe Congress of Vienna established an international
system of reactionary governments dedicated to maintaining a set of
European boundaries, preventing revolutions and changes in
government, and stopping any one power from becoming too powerful.
To this end, the Congress powers agreed to meet whenever trouble
should crop up in Europe to discuss how to fix it.
The first meeting of the Congress System was in 1818, at the
Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. This meeting dealt with the coalition
of European armies that had been occupying France since Napoleon's
defeat. At Aix-la-Chapelle, the powers decided to withdraw their
armies. Alexander I, always a champion of "collective security",
suggested the idea of an international military force, made up of
troops from all nations, that would be available to suppress
revolutions wherever they appeared. The British foreign minister
Viscount Castlereagh vehemently opposed the suggestion. Alexander
I's suggestion was not adopted.
In 1820, as a reaction to the evident collapse of the government
of Naples, Metternich called another meeting, the Congress of
Troppau. Metternich wanted to stop the revolution in Naples from
spreading. At Troppau, Metternich met with Alexander I and managed
the formerly liberal Czar to adopt a more reactionary stance. The
Czar, who had seen that liberal reforms in Poland had inevitably
led his subjects to disagree with him, did not need much
convincing. At Troppau, Austria,Prussia and Russia allied to
restore the King of Naples. Britain, though anti-Revolutionary, did
not want to be bound by continental commitments. Thus, Britain
stayed out of intervention in Naples, as did France.
Despite the congresses, revolutionary hotspots continued to crop
up. In the early 1820s the Bourbongovernment of Spain seemed
especially fragile. At the same time, Greek nationalists sought
more actively to establish a Greek nation in Turkey. To deal with
these developments, Metternich called the Congress of Verona in
1822. The congress moved against the Greek revolutionaries, who
really did not have the military power to take over Turkey at this
time anyway. The Congress also allowed France to send an army into
Spain to end the revolt and stabilize the Bourbon king. The
revolution in Spain was quickly smashed.
CommentaryThe period of Metternich's congresses defined an era
in which the governments in power attempted to create a reactionary
international system. This system came to be called the Holy
Alliance, appropriating the name of the coalition of Christian
values Alexander had wanted to set up at the Congress of Vienna.
The Holy Alliance was also called the Congress System, and in
general the powers involved saw revolution and change as diseases.
The reactionaries believed that if revolution cropped up in one
part of Europe, it had to be destroyed, or else would spread like
some epidemic.
Aix-la-Chapelle requires some explanation. First of all, why,
only three years after Napoleon, did the European powers so easily
agree to withdraw their forces from France? For one, they wanted
the French to accept Louis XVIII, and if he was backed by foreign
armies, it was almost certain thatthe population would hate him.
Furthermore, French banks had paid off the French war debt (France
now owed the debt to its bankers, not the other powers), so there
was less reason for European armies (costly to maintain in the
field) to remain stationed in France. Second, why did theBritish
oppose an international "peacekeeping" force to put down
revolutions throughout Europe? Were they pro-revolutionary? The
answer is a resounding no. The Tory government in Britain was
highly conservative. However, they wanted to be able to decide
British intervention in military matters on a case-by-case basis.
They did not want to commit forces to future events that might
spiral out of control.
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The Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle also continued the discussions
over ending the Atlantic slave trade that had began at the Congress
of Vienna. Only Britain truly wanted to end the practice, and to
that end Britain had built up a West African Squadron of ships
patrolling for slavers. However, if the slavers ran up the flags of
other countries, British naval vessels could not legally board
them. At Aix-la-Chapelle, Britain negotiated for a "right of
search" regarding European ships of other countries, allowing them
to stop slavers from falsely running a foreign flag to prevent
boarding. TheBritish efforts went primarily for naught: the slave
trade would continue throughout the period to 1848. Incidentally,
very little of the slaves were shipped to the United States. Most
slaves crossing the Atlantic in the 19th century were destined for
Cuba or Brazil.
Outside the sphere of Europe, the Spanish New World during the
1820s was in revolt, as those living in the colonies wanted
increased say in their government. Simon Bolivar led independence
movements in Venezuela and Colombia, while Jose de San Martin
fought for independence in Argentina and Chile. The two worked
together in the liberation of Peru. At the Congress of Verona,
Alexander I suggested intervening to stop the New World revolts.
Britain, however, made clear it would use its sea power to oppose
any such attempt. Britain knew that free New World colonies would
be more likely to establish good trade relations with Britain than
Spanish-dominated colonies, so Britain acted out of economic
self-interest rather than political liberal support. And without
British support, no intervention in the New World could take place:
the British Navy, whichhad established dominance since the battle
of Trafalgar, could easily prevent European troops from ever
reaching South America. Furthermore, in 1823, the United States
issued the Munroe Doctrine, promising to fight against any European
power that attempted to intervene in the New World. The new British
foreign secretary after Castlereagh, George Canning, was happy to
accept this American support, even though it was really British
naval dominance that prevented the European powers from intervening
in South America.
The 1822 Council of Verona was the last of the international
reactionary councils. Although the three councils subsequent to the
Congress of Vienna all met with short-term success, the institution
of a large-scale anti-liberal system never materialized, largely
because of the British refusal to bind itself into possible
long-term commitments. The congresses did help to create a clear
definition of the forces at work in Europe leading up to 1848:
Reaction versus Liberalism and Revolution.
7.Battling Ideologies (1815-1830):
SummaryThe years between 1815-1830 saw the rise of a number of
related and competing ideologies, each holding a powerful influence
in their own time. That influence often extended well into the
future, continuing to the present day. This section will outline
those ideologies.
Classical LiberalismBeginning in Spain and France during the
1820s, liberalism soon spread to England. Consisting of businessmen
and professionals, the liberals wanted modern, efficient
self-government, although they were not always for universal male
suffrage. They wanted freedom of the press and freedom ofthe
assembly. They wanted constitutions, and Laissez Faire economic
policies, such as free trade and low tariffs. They were generally
against unions.
Radicalism and RepublicanismRadicalism appeared in the 1820s in
England as the "Philosophical Radicals". This principled and
unconventional group, consisting partially of workers and partially
of industrialists, had its greatest leader in the colorful Jeremy
Bentham. The Radicals were anti-church and anti-monarchy, and
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generally opposed the old ways. They were a force unto
themselves until 1832, after which they merged with the British
Liberals. The European counterpart to Radicalism was usually
referred to asRepublicanism, which grew out of the French
Revolutionary tradition. Republicanism sought complete political
equality in the form of universal suffrage. Republicanism opposed
monarchy and the Catholic Church.
SocialismCounter to liberalism was Socialism, which sought
economic equality for all, and was very much against the Laissez
Faire ideal of liberalism. Socialism looked at the free-market
economies of Western Europe in the midst of the Industrial
Revolution and saw exploited workers leading miserable existences
while manufacturers profited enormously. Socialists felt that with
the rich profiting so much, the poor should get some of the
benefits, since worker's labor supported the entire system.
Socialists, therefore, wanted to nationalize parts of the economy,
such as industrial and financial sectors, giving these areas of the
economy over to government control. Thus, the benefits could be
distributed more equally to the various members of society. For
example, Robert Owen, a manufacturer in Manchester, grew upset at
his worker's living conditions and began payinghigher wages then
other manufacturers did, and he treated his workers well,
counseling them against drinking and other vices. In fact, Owen did
fairly well in business despite giving his workersa higher than
ordinary wage. Owen wanted to continue reform, and eventually he
became frustrated with the slow pace of change in Britain. In 1825,
he founded New Harmony, Indiana, an experimental socialist
community in the United States. Other leading socialist thinkers
included the Frenchmen Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier. Fourier
wanted to organize society into groups called "phalansteries", in
which everyone would be able to do whatever work they wanted and
all be paid the same wages. Some phalansteries actually were set up
in the United States.
NationalismNationalism was the most powerful of all the "isms"
in this period. France and Great Britain's strong nation-states had
inspired jealousy throughout the rest of Europe; other nations,
disorganized as they were, wanted to unify. German intellectuals
living in (and hating) the loosely organized Bund provided much of
the vocabulary for nationalism, stating that each nation had a
particular Volksgeist, or national spirit. Soon, just about every
European language group wanted to have their own nation. Quickly
outlawed by reactionary forces, nationalist groups formed secret
societies suchas the Italian Carbonari and German Buschenschaft.
These societies distributed propaganda leaflets and plotted
rebellions. Often, nationalism combined with other ideological
issues, from liberalism to socialism.
In 1831, Joseph Mazzini founded "Young Italy" as a nationalist
group, which soon tried to organize a coup in the Italian state of
Sardinia. Soon exiled, Mazzini remained a leading writer on
nationalist issues. Nationalism, though pushed underground by the
Carlsbad Decrees, was still very much alivein Germany in the 1820s
and 1830s.
In Eastern Europe, the Poles wanted their own state, and in
Austria, the Magyars wanted their own kingdom of Hungary.
Throughout the Austrian Empire, the various language groups revived
the study of their languages and hoped to carve their own nations
out of the empire. A particularly potent nationalist force known as
Pan-Slavism began to circulate among various Slavs in Russia,
Poland, and Austria. All of these Eastern European groups began a
renewed interest in their own cultures.
ConservatismThe final important "ism" of the period was
Conservatism, a reactionary philosophy supporting monarchy and the
old ways. Championed by Edmund Burke, who had been horrified by the
French
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Revolution, Conservatism argued for prudent and gradual change
to be made as slowly as possible.
CommentaryThe period from 1815 to 1848 saw an explosion in new
ideologies. These various "isms" are still around today. Largely,
the "isms" were reactions to or products ofEnlightenment thinking,
although they all went in a variety of different directions. Many
of the new movements therefore dealt with ideas that had been
around for a while; but it was only in this period that the ideas
gained formal, coherent structure. As new doctrines were born, the
question arose: which would ultimately win out? The competition of
"isms" still has not been entirely resolved today.
Liberalism in the early 19th century is not the same from what
we think of as "Liberalism" today. Infact, much of what was liberal
in the 19th century (free trade, keeping government out of
business) is today considered conservative. Really, liberalism then
was the ideology of the bourgeoisie (the business and professional
class), and was geared towards protecting bourgeois interests.
Still, the liberals invariably argued that what was for their
benefit was actually to the benefit of everyone. The liberal
tradition of the 19th century has confusingly become what is
"conservative" today in the United States.
Jeremy Bentham, the figurehead of the British Radicals, targeted
various reforms in Britain, and didnot care at all about customs or
traditions. He argued against the preference given to the Anglican
Church and opposed monarchy in all forms. He wanted fair treatment
of the poor, and wanted to redistrict the Rotten Boroughs. The
ultimate unconventionalist, Bentham had his body preserved and
placed in a cabinet at University College, London, where it remains
to this day.
The socialist experiments of Owen (New Harmony, Indiana) and
Fourier (his "phalansteries") in theUnited States were too marginal
to have very much effect on events in Europe. Isolated and
comprised of very committed socialists, these socialist experiments
ended up, essentially, as dead ends. However, socialism itself
helped give rise to one of the most powerful ideological forces of
the twentieth century. Some German exiles in France, especially
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, combined the socialist ideas of
Owen, Fourier, and Saint-Simon with Republicanism in the 1840s
togive rise to "Communism", an ideology aimed against the power of
the liberal bourgeoisie.
The idea that each language group should have its own nation, to
express its ownvolksgeist, especially frightened the Austrian
Empire, of which Metternich was foreign minister. Since Austria
contained dozens of subjugated language groups (including the
Magyars, Czechs, Slovaks, Slavs, Rumanians, Serbs, Croatians,
etc.), the upsurge in nationalism threatened totear Austria to
pieces. The Austrian government's position as prime reactionary was
certainly due in lart part to its fear of dissolution were
nationalism to win out.
Today, we often think of nationalism and patriotism as something
that "just makes sense". "Of course everyone loves their country,"
we think, "it's always been that way." Not true. Modern nationalism
on the wide scale it is seen today is actually a fairly new
phenomenon, especially in Eastern Europe. The numerous ethnic
groups there had been more or less happy to live under Austrian
Hapsburg rule for hundreds of years, and their languages and
histories were being forgotten. Only the advent of the ideology of
nationalism led to the creation of "national identities" and a
"desire for self-government." Today, it is easy to think that
people everywhere have always wanted their own countries for their
own ethnic groups. In fact, this modern conception of nationalism
developed in large part between 1815 and 1848.
8.Romanticism:
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SummaryRomanticism, unlike the other "isms", isn't directly
political. It is more intellectual. The term itself was coined in
the 1840s, in England, but the movement had been around since the
late 18th century,primarily in Literature and Arts. In
England,Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, and Byron typified Romanticism.
In France, the movement was led by men like Victor Hugo, who wrote
the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Although it knew no national
boundaries, Romanticism was especiallyprevalent in Germany,
spearheaded by artists like Goethe and thinkers such as Hegel.
The basic idea in Romanticism is that reason cannot explain
everything. In reaction to the cult of rationality that was the
Enlightenment, Romantics searched for deeper, often subconscious
appeals. This led the Romantics to view things with a different
spin than the Enlightenment thinkers. For example, the
Enlightenment thinkers condemned the Middle Ages as "Dark Ages", a
period of ignorance and irrationality. The Romantics, on the other
hand, idealized the Middle Ages as a time of spiritual depth and
adventure. Looking wistfully back to the Middle Ages, the Romantic
influence led to a Gothic Revival in architecture in the 1830s.
Gothic novels increased in popularity,and in art, paintings of
various historical periods and exotic places came into vogue.
It would be impossible to cover all of the Romantics in such a
short space (and a disservice to them to attempt it), but
representative examples can be given. Mary Shelley (the wife of
Percy Bysshe Shelley, published Frankenstein in 1818. Few would
argue that it is the best work of the British Romantics, but it is
indicative. In this story, a scientist is able to master life,
animating an artificiallyconstructed person. But this "miracle of
science," far from a simple story of man mastering nature through
reason, ends up having monstrous results.
In Germany art, Friedrich Schiller produced plays known for
their sense of a German "Volk", or national spirit. Karl Friedrich
Schinckel led the Gothic Revival movement, beginning his first
plans for Gothic structures as early as the 1820s. German romantic
philosophy was dominated by W.G.F. Hegel. He construed the
development of the state as part of a historical process, or
"teleology". He is particularly famous for outlining a concept of
the dialectic: the mind makes progress by creating opposites, which
are then combined in a synthesis. Hegel tied his philosophy into
nationalism by arguing for a German national dialectic that would
result in synthesis into a state. Hegel's work increased the
emphasis people put on historical studies, and German history
writing boomed. Partially as a result of Hegel's influence, the
idea developed that Germany's role was to act as a counterbalance
to France. Seeing themselves as such, Germans began to feel that
liberalism was notappropriate in Germany.
The French had their Romantics too, though not in the same
profusion as Germany. For instance, Romantic painting is always
associated with Eugene Delacroix, who prized the emotional impact
ofcolor over the representational accuracy of line and careful
design. Delacroix painted historical scenes, such as "liberty
Leading the People" (1830) which glorified the beautiful spectacle
of revolution, perhaps construing it as part of the French national
character. After 1848, Romanticism fell into decline.
CommentaryRomanticism can be construed as an opposite to
"classicism," drawing on Rousseau's notion of the goodness of the
natural. Romanticism holds that pure logic is insufficient to
answer all questions. Despite a founding French influence,
Romanticism was most widespread in Germany and England, largely as
a reaction to the French Enlightenment. It also was a response to
French cultural domination, particularly during the Napoleonic
Wars. The Romanticist emphasis on individualism and self-expression
deeply impacted American thinking, especially the transcendentalism
of Emerson.
Instead of labeling, classifying, listing, tallying and
condemning, the Romantics were relativist. That is, they looked
less for ultimate, absolute truth than did Enlightenment thinkers.
Romantics
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tended to think that everything had its own value, an "inner
genius". Even in morality, the Romantics began to question the
notion that there even was such a thing as absolute good and evil.
Instead, each society was seen to create its own standards of
morality. Romanticism also fueled many "isms" with the basic idea
that "genius" had the power to change the world. German
Romanticism, with its idea of a Volksgeist unique to each nation
(derived from Herder's writings), gave an intellectual basis to
nationalism.
The movement of Romanticism encompasses several contradictory
aspects: several ideas are grouped into the movement, and they do
not always fit together. For instance, some Romantics utilized the
ideology to argue for the overthrow of old institutions, while
others used it to uphold historical institutions, claiming that
tradition revealed the "inner genius" of a people. Basically, as
long as romantic intellectual passion, not rationalism and strict
reason, were the basic underpinning of an idea, than it can be
classified as "Romantic."
Interestingly, because of its geographical distribution, some
historians argue that Romanticism was the secular continuation of
the Protestant Reformation. Romanticism was most prominent in
highly Protestant countries like Germany, England, and the United
States. France, which had a significant Protestant movement but
which remained Catholic-dominated, had something less of a Romantic
movement. Other solidly Catholic countries were even less impacted
by Romanticism.
8.Change in the 1830s (1827-1832):
SummaryMetternich's reactionary Congress System began to fail in
the late 1820s and the early 1830s. In Greece, nationalists were
pushing for independence from Turkey. Metternich would have liked
to suppress this movement, but Czar Nicholas I supported the Greek
movement with the hope of increasing Russian influence in the
region. Great Britain and France, hoping to stop Russian expansion
in the Balkans, decided to join in. The result was an Anglo-French-
Russian navy that smashed the Turkish fleet in 1827. By 1829, an
independent Greece was internationally recognized. In addition to
the Greeks, several Balkan states gained independence and Egypt
broke out of Ottoman rule. The stability in Europe that Metternich
had worked so had to preserve was starting to crumble.
It would soon get worse. In France, the reactionary Charles X
had reigned since assuming the throne in 1824. Charles X's
reactionary policies antagonized much of the French population, who
were used to liberal and republican reforms. Charles thought of
himself as divinely appointed to restore the "old ways", and he
accordingly gave more power to the aristocrats and Catholic clergy.
When the French Chamber of Deputies moved against these changes,
Charles dissolved them, passing the four "July Ordinances" in 1830.
First, he dissolved the Chamber of Deputies. Second, he censored
the press. Third, he disenfranchised (took voting rights away from)
the bourgeoisie. Fourth, he called for a new election, with the
bourgeoisie no longer voting. Charles actions sparked the advocates
of Republicanism into anger. The bourgeoisie and radical
republicans from the lower classes quickly took to the streets of
Paris in the July Revolution, rioting and setting up barricades to
stop the military and end traffic and commerce. Charles X quickly
abdicated, and the bourgeois leaders of the rebellion moved quickly
to install a constitutional monarchy. The revolutionary leaders
brought in the Duke of Orleans, known as Louis Philippe. He
accepted constitutional monarchy and the principle of the July
Revolution, and even changed the official flag of France to the
Republican tricolor.
The July Revolution rippled through Europe, starting revolutions
in Belgium and Poland. Belgium'srevolution was essentially
successful. The country ended up with self-government as long as it
remained a neutral state, and the other powers agreed not to invade
it. Polish nationalists, looking tothe successful revolutions in
Belgium in France, also decided to revolt in 1830. Czar
Nicholas
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quickly crushed the Polish rebellion.
In Britain, the Tory Party demonstrated an increasing
sensitivity to the middle class. Foreign Minister George Canning
and Robert Peel became more "liberal" Tories, trying to satisfy the
middleclass, passing Laissez Faire laws, creating a more secular
state, and even creating a police force. Problems remained,
however. Most critical were the Corn Laws, which remained too high
for manufacturers' tastes, and the Rotten Boroughs, which furnished
Southern England with far more political representation than it
deserved while neglecting populous manufacturing cities like
Manchester. In the 1830s, a reform bill came up which would remedy
these problems, but it was quashed by Prime Minister Wellington.
Wellington's action led to rioting. Parliament realized it had to
pass the bill, which it reluctantly did in 1832. The Reform Bill of
1832 simplified voting, although maintaining a property
requirement, and abolished the smaller boroughs, giving their
seatsto the large industrial cities like Manchester.
As a result of the redistribution of British political power
created by the Reform Bill of 1832, several reforms took place,
beginning in 1833 with a Factory Act that limited child labor. In
1847, a Ten Hours Act passed into law, limiting the number of hours
women and children could work per day.
CommentarySpurred by the July Revolution in France, 1830 became
a year of revolt. For the most part, however,those revolts resulted
in little direct change. Though the revolution in France deposed a
king, it also installed a new king: the revolution simply prevented
the rights of the bourgeoisie from being trampled by Charles X.
To the reactionary rulers of Europe the July Revolution of Louis
Philippe (1830) seemed like a dire thing. To the French bourgeois,
it was merely a necessary action to maintain the rights they
considered naturally theirs, and which they had won nearly fifty
years earlier. Working-class Republicans wanted more, and they
began to prepare for another revolt. The July Revolution, if sortof
a disappointment to radical republicans, heartened revolutionaries
throughout the rest of Europe. It sent a message: the preemptive
suppression of revolution by the Continental System was no longer
working very well.
Once the revolutions were in motion, however, the powers that be
did often have the strength to put them down. Russia had no problem
crushing the Polish rebellion. Yet Russia's success stemmed in
large part from the domestic factors limiting Britain and France
from using the Polish rebellion as a lever to hurt the power of the
Russians. Britain was facing its own reform movement, and Louis
Philippe did not want to appear to have Napoleonic ambitions. In
other words, of the conservative powers, only Metternich and
Austria refused to intercede against the Russians on ideological
grounds. Britain and France, had they been able, might very well
have placed the contingencies of politics above the demands of
conservative dogma.
Surprisingly, it was in Britain, where no revolt happened, that
the most change occurred. In large part this change resulted from
the societal transformation created by the Industrial Revolution.
Evenso, the July Revolution certainly spurred the political
process. The French July Revolution showed the British bourgeoisie
that if there was a revolution by the lower classes, the
bourgeoisie could quickly assume control and use a working-class
revolution to middle-class advantage. The realization that the
bourgeoisie was acquiring more and more power and could use that
power to create a revolt led the Tory party to grant some
concessions.
The British Reform Bill of 1832 was really a compromise, since
the reformers did not get everything they wanted. However, the bill
was very important in that it made way for future reforms.
Especially since the manufacturing cities of the North finally had
substantial representation, the balance of power in British
politics changed. Wealthy businessmen became part of the political
elite. Parties reorganized, and the Whigs, a few radical Tories,
and the radical
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industrialists formed the Liberal Party, while most of the
Tories formed the Conservative Party. Under this new political
configuration, and with the certain progression of the industrial
revolution, further reforms were destined to take place.
Interestingly, one aristocratic tactic to maintain power involved
allying with the workers to strike back at the wealthy liberal
businessmen. Landed aristocrats now allied with the poor so they
could overcome the Liberal industrialists who were coming to
dominate Parliament. Soon, the liberal industrialists caught on to
this ploy, and allied with workers on certain issues. In 1838,
manufacturers encouraged workers to form an Anti Corn Law League,
and in 1846, under Prime Minister Robert Peel, the Corn Laws were
abolished. Of course, the abolition of the Corn Laws were not only
out of interest for Laissez Faire, but also because of a horrible
famine in Ireland. The emergence of a political system with two
parties of generally equal power allowed the less powerful workers
to play both sides against each other and thereby gain concessions
such as the Ten Hours Act. Ultimately, these progressive
concessions allowed the British to avoid revolution, since those
least represented in British society still felt as if they had some
means to bettering their situation.
9.Bourgeoisie and Chartism (1830s and 1840s):
SummaryThe 1830s and 1840s were a time of great industrial
progress and growth in Britain and France, but not everyone in the
population shared in the new wealth.
In 1834, British Parliament made a concession to the workers,
passing a Poor Law that was aimed to protect workers from
starvation in time of unemployment. Poor houses represented the
beginnings of a welfare society, since they provided places for
workers to go if they ran out of money and work. However, British
lawmakers were concerned that the workers would stop workingand
flock to the poor houses, so they made the poor houses depressing
and wretched. Instead of encouraging workers to find work, the
wretchedness of the poor houses only further enraged workers
against the "bourgeoisie" government. Though still illegal, workers
formed labor unions to negotiate for better wages and conditions.
Some started to seriously advocate the overthrow of the wage-labor
system, in order to replace it with Socialism.
In France, Socialism was spreading rapidly, and the working
public became more and more interested in the memory of highly
radical leaders like Robespierre. Writers like Louis Blanc began to
glorify the act of Revolution.
In Britain, where Revolutions were far more rare than France,
the workers sought reforms within the system, forming the Chartist
Movement. A reform bill was drafted in 1838, called the Charter.
The Charter demanded six reforms:
1. Annual elections to the House of Commons
2. Universal suffrage for adult males
3. Secret ballots
4. An end to the Rotten Boroughs
5. Allowing poor workers to be elected to the House of
Commons
6. Salaries for members of the House of Commons, so any workers
elected to that body could affordto serve as a member.
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Although it did not pass, the unfazed Chartists started
collecting signatures. By 1839 they had a million signatures, but
the House of Commons still would not pass the Chartist bill. By
1842, the Chartists reached 3 million signatures, but despite the
millions of signatures and the possibility of violence, Parliament
continued to vote against the Chartist reforms. After the failure
of Chartism, the British labor union movement began to swell in
numbers.
CommentaryThe revolutions of 1830 and the Reform Movement of
1832 in Britain provided more political and social power to the
disenfranchised but wealthy bourgeoisie. The liberal ideal of the
time seemed to be that if you were wealthy, you deserved to vote.
In Britain, even after reforms, only an eighth of adult males could
vote. In France the percentage was even lower. However, in Britain,
the landed aristocrats, though losing power to the manufacturers,
could at least stop them from being totally dominant. In England,
the workers were be able to play the aristocracy and the
bourgeoisie against each other. Thus, no violent revolution was
needed in Britain for change to occur. In contrast, France, under
Louis Philippe, was so utterly dominated by the bourgeoisie that
the laborers had little hope of improving their lot outside of
violent rebellion.
In both countries, industry was growing rapidly by the 1830s, as
capitalists made more and more money, reinvested it, and continued
the growth cycle. New laws, particularly modern corporation laws,
were powering industrial growth. Previously, corporations had to be
"chartered" to serve the government in some way. Now, these new
corporations helped businessmen structure their enterprises and
reduce risk and liability without having to get a specific charter
from the government. Manufactures were also changing in emphasis at
this time, from textile to iron production. Steamships services
began to appear, further accelerating trade.
As workers continued to live in terrible conditions while the
rich got richer, Laissez Faire economists argued that the world had
to be this way, because if the workers had easier lives and higher
wages, they would simply produce more children, glutting the labor
market and driving wages down and unemployment up. Workers, and the
thinkers who championed the cause of workers, found fault with this
explanation of the system, and suggested other ways of organizing
society. The idea of a totally disenfranchised, exploited
proletariat class began to appear in the 1830s and 1840s. Observing
the plight of workers, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote their
influential works on Communism.
The Chartist Movement was very progressive, probably more
forward-looking than any other majormovement at the time. In the
late 1830s and early 1840s, British political elites feared that if
the uneducated "mob" was allowed to vote, they might destroy
democracy by making bad decisions. Although it failed in its own
time, the demands of the Chartist movement nearly all became law in
Britain eventually. While other acts would soon be passed to
satisfy workers, Chartism was simply too advanced for its time.
The battle between the "isms" was continuing, and slowly the
balance was turning towards more inclusive, equal societies. (At
least in Western Europe) More and more, a division between the
Liberal West and the Reactionary East was developing, as the
Western bourgeoisie class increased in power. The workers, who had
only shared very little if at all in the vast economic growth of
the early 19th century, were now starting to enter the political
fray.
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10.1848 Revolution: Paris
SummaryIn France, Louis Philippe's government remained a
bourgeoisie-dominated affair, disappointing to the workers who had
manned the barricades in 1830. Only a thirtieth of adult males
could vote, and Louis Philippe staunchly opposed enlarging the
voting base. Popular discontent finally resulted in the February
Revolution of 1848. The working classes again put barricades up in
the streets, and an unruly Paris mob frightened Louis Philippe into
abdicating. The Radical Republicans then managedto get the
provisional government to pass socialist programs. This included
the creation of National Workshops, which were centralized,
state-owned manufacturing establishments where workers would be
guaranteed work. In the National Workshops, however, there wasn't
any real work for the workers to do, since the government did not
take their establishment very seriously. The National Workshops,
promising employment, soon became jam- packed with thousands of
discontented workers, fermenting still more agitation. In May, the
military turned against the lower class agitators. In late June,
three days of especially violent class warfare broke out in Paris.
The army soon restored order, but the political landscape had
changed.
After June 1848, the French began to draw up a new constitution.
The constitution included provisions for a strong president, who
would be elected via universal male suffrage (all adult males would
vote). Four candidates entered the election, which was the first
election most of the uneducated, newly enfranchised voters had ever
experienced as active participants. The most ambiguous candidate
was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon I's nephew. He had no real
platform, and few knew his leanings. He merely said that his uncle,
Napoleon, had been liberal, and that he would be liberal. Since the
name Bonaparte still resonated so strongly among the general
population of France, Louis Napoleon won the election over the
other, more experienced candidates.
Though claiming to be liberal, the newly elected President was
mostly interested in reestablishing order. After gaining support by
promising universal male suffrage, he promptly got rid of
socialists in the government. He encouraged religious influence in
school teaching, and then, after becoming confident of his support
base, he declared himself Emperor Napoleon III. The revolution in
France ended with a new government, but once again a new
dictator.
Like the July Revolution of 1830, the February Revolution of
1848 reverberated throughout Europe,resulting in a series of
revolutions, most powerfully in Germany and Vienna. In Britain, the
French upheaval revived the Chartist Movement. In London, however,
no barricades went up in London's streets. Instead, a new petition
went to Parliament.
CommentaryThe years from 1815 to 1848, although free of major
wars, were the site of a different conflict, between Reaction and
Revolution. As 1848 approached, Revolution had been brewing, but
the Reactionary forces led by Metternich had been successful in
preventing any major revolutionary "disasters." The boundaries
established by the 1815 Congress of Vienna, if a little worse for
the wear, remained for the most part standing by the opening of
1848.
There have not been many years like 1848, for 1848 was the
ultimate year of Revolution throughoutEurope. The Revolutionary
forces made a concerted push throughout the continent in even
greater force than in 1830. Among the major European powers, only
Great Britain, where some reforms hadblunted the wrath of the
working class, and Russia, where the monarchy still held firm
control, escaped from 1848 without undergoing a revolution. Was the
simultaneity of the revolutions a product of an international
conspiracy? Probably not, though the revolutionary groups
throughout
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Europe were transnational and did communicate. More likely,
Metternich's hypothesis that revolution could spread from one
country to another was proven true. Revolution in Paris served as
the signal for revolutions throughout Europe.
In France itself, the February Revolution's radical socialist
changes were doomed from the start. Outside of Paris, the people in
the countryside (the majority of France) were much more
conservative than the workers in the city, and were generally
anti-socialist. After the Paris reformerswent beyond what the
country was willing to accept, it was only a matter of time before
their revolutionary changes were reversed. Furthermore, by 1848
France had had so many governments in the past 50 years that new
governments were easy to bring down. This was very much unlike
Britain, whose government had been so stable for so long that
discontented people were hesitant to overthrow it, merely because
it had such a long tradition behind it. In Britain, reforms would
pass gradually withinthe system rather than by violent
rebellions.
Regarding the Paris barricades, it is interesting to note that
an angry mob of civilians