The 19th Century

The 19th Century

From Reaction to Revolution,

1815-1850

Peace Settlement after Napoleon:

Congress of Vienna

► Met in March of 1814

► Consisted of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia

► Leader was Klemens von Metternich of Austria - guided

by the principle of legitimacy

► Territorial arrangements

 Bourbons restored in France and Spain

 Poland is reduced and placed under the control of Russia

 Prussia gains some of Saxony and territory along the Rhine

 Austria gains control of northern Italy

 Point of these rearrangements was to restore the balance of

power in Europe

Goal of Congress:

Containment of France

► A means to restoring the balance of power

was containing France

► Territorial changes

 Kingdom of the Netherlands

 Enlargement of Piedmont

 Prussia on the Rhine

► Formation of the Germanic Confederation

► Napoleon’s return from Elba and

Consequences for France

Results of Congress of Vienna

► The Congress of

Vienna, though

generally seen as

restricted, did

prevent a general

European conflict for

over a century

What is Conservatism?

► Was a reaction to contain the liberal and

nationalist forces that were unleashed by the

French Revolution

► Beliefs

 Favored obedience to political authority

 Organized religion was crucial to social order

 Hated revolutionary upheavals

 Unwilling to accept liberal demands for civil liberties or

nationalistic aspirations

 Community took precedence over individual rights

 Society must be organized and orderly

 Tradition remained the best guide for order

Edmund Burke's Reflections on the

Revolution in France

► Modern conservatism is seen as originating with

Burke

► Wrote Reflections in response to the radical

republican and democratic ideas of the

Revolution

► Maintained that society was a contract, both past

and present

► Advised against the violent overthrow of

government, but not change altogether - change

had to occur gradually

Joseph de Maistre's Concept of

Order over Chaos

► Most influential

spokesman for

counterrevolutionary and

authoritarian

conservatism

► Espoused restoration of

heredity monarchy as a

divinely sanctioned

government and the best

means to preserve

society

Conservative Domination:

Concert of Europe

► Concert of Europe was seen as a means to

maintain the new status quo – Quadruple

Alliance of GB, Prussia, Austria & Russia

► Held several conferences from 1818-1822

 Aix-la-Chapelle (1818); France is added forming

Quintuple Alliance

 Troppau (1820)

► Called to discuss the outbreak of revolution in Spain and

Italy

► Metternich calls for intervention to restore the legitimate

monarchs to their thrones

Intervention by the Great Powers

► Protocol of Troppau authorizes the intervention

of the Alliance, though the British are hesitant

► Other members ignore Britain’s reservations and

Britain withdraws

► Austria, Prussia, and Russia meet at Laibach in

1821 and authorize intervention in Italy

► Verona, 1822 – three powers authorize French

intervention in Spain to restore Bourbons

► The success of the policy of intervention has its

cost as the Concert of Europe is broken

Revolt in Latin America

► Although British are unable to prevent intervention in

Europe, they are able to prevent the restoration of

Spanish rule in Latin America

► Most of Latin America had gained independence during

the Napoleonic period, Spain wanted to restore control

with the support of the continental powers

► British opposition, the Monroe Doctrine and the Royal

Navy

► Still, though they gained political independence, Latin

America was soon dominated by British and American

merchants with damaging consequences

The Greek Revolt, 1821-1832

► The policy of intervention was also a double-

edge sword using it not only to prevent

revolution, but also support it when it was in

their best interest

► 1821 – Greeks rebel against their Ottoman rulers

► French, British and Russian intervention

► Treaty of Adrianople in 1829 ends war

► Greek Independence in 1830

► Only revolution that succeeded because the

Great Powers wanted it to

The Conservative Domination:

Britain

► Landed aristocracy still dominated both houses of

Parliament and thus government

► Suffrage was still very limited and unequal

► The new industrial cities of Birmingham and Manchester

had no representatives while the gentry dominated

through their control of pocket and rotten boroughs

► The Tories and the Corn Law (1815)

► Discontent among the working class and the Peterloo

Massacre (1819)

► Minor reforms hold off any major electoral reforms until

the 1830’s

The Conservative Domination:

Bourbon Restoration in France

► Restoration of Louis XVIII in 1814

► Recognized that some of the reforms of the

Revolution and Napoleon had to be accepted -

the Civil Code and property rights were

preserved

► He also established a bi-cameral legislature

whose lower house, the Chamber of Deputies,

was chosen by an electorate no more than

100,000 wealthy people

► Problems with the Ultra Royalists

The Conservative Domination:

Charles X and the Revolt of 1830

► Initiative passed to the Ultras in 1824 with the

death of Louis XVIII

► Succession of the Comte de Artois, who

became Charles X

► He immediately began to pursue an

ultraconservative policy

► Public outcry in 1827 forced him to

compromise, but he reneged in 1829 and

dissolved the legislature in 1830 placing France

on the brink of another revolution

Repression of Liberalism in Central

Europe

► In the Vienna

settlement, Germany

was divided into 38

sovereign states

► Prussia and Austria

remained the dominant

powers with Metternich

keeping an eye on

everything

► Liberals of Germany

looked to Prussia, but

hopes are misplaced

Burchenschaften Movement

Thwarted in Germany

► Burchenschaften Movement

 As a result, many of the liberal and nationalist movements in

German were restricted to the Universities

 From 1817 to 1819, they engaged in a variety of activities that

alarmed the German governments

 Wartburg Festival (1817)

► The Karlsbad Decrees (1819)

 Closed the Burchenschaften

 Censorship of the press and placed the universities under close

supervision

► Except for a flurry of activity between 1830 & 1832, the

conservative status quo was maintained in Germany

Tsarist Autocracy in Russia

► Promised Reforms

► Rise of the Northern

Union

► The Decemberist

Revolt (December

1825)

► The Reaction of

Nicholas I

Ideologies of Change:

Liberalism

► What it was

 An ideology which

owed much to the

Enlightenment and

the American and

French Revolutions

 Two types:

Economic and

Political

Economic Liberalism

► Primary tenet was laissez-faire, the belief that the state

should not interfere in the free play of economic forces

and restrict itself to defense of the country, police, and

the building of public works too expensive for

individuals

► If allowed economic liberty, individuals would bring

about the maximum good for the maximum number

and benefit the general welfare of society

► Thomas Malthus on Population: Essay on the Principles

of Population

► David Ricardo on Wages: Principles of Political

Economy

Political Liberalism

► Protection of civil liberties or the basic rights of all people

which included equality before the law, freedom of

assembly, speech, and press, and freedom from arbitrary

arrest

► All of these freedoms should be guaranteed by a written

document

► Separation of Church and State

► Peaceful opposition to government and the making of

laws by a representative assembly - constitutional

monarchy with ministerial responsibility

► Equal civil rights, not equal political rights

Nationalism

► Powerful ideology that arose out of an

awareness of being part of a community that has

common institutions, traditions, language and

customs; focus of loyalty

► Did not become a force for change until the

French Revolution and then after nationalists

believed each nationality should have its own

government

► Therefore, it threatened to upset the existing

political order and destroy the balance of power

established at Vienna

Early Socialism

► Another ideology for change that appeared in response

to the conditions found in the slums, mines and factories

created by the Industrial Revolution

► Product of theorists and intellectuals who wanted to

introduce equality into social conditions and believed that

human cooperation was superior to the competition that

characterized early industrial capitalism

► Examples

 The Phalansteries of Charles Fourier

 Robert Owen's New Lanark

 Louis Blanc and State Socialism

Another French Revolution:

Fall of Charles X

► Elections of 1830 brought another victory to

the French liberals and Charles decides to act

► July Ordinances: 26 July 1830 Charles issues a

series of edicts that imposed rigid censorship

on the press, dissolved the legislative assembly

and reduced the electorate in preparation for a

new election

► His actions prompted an immediate rebellion

known as the July Revolution

► Accession of Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orleans

and constitutional monarchy

The Middle Class Rule of Louis-

Philippe

► Louis-Philippe (1830-1848) has been called the

bourgeois monarch because he support came from the

middle class

► Constitutional changes instituted favored the interests

of the upper bourgeoisie

► Meanwhile, not all were happy with the situation

 To the upper middle class, the bourgeois monarchy was the

stopping place for political progress

 For the lesser bourgeois and the working class, instrumental in

the overthrow of Charles X, it was a severe disappointment

Parties of Movement and

Resistance

► There was also differences of opinion about the

monarchy and its direction in the Chamber of

Deputies

► Two groups emerged, though both were

composed of upper middle class

representatives

 The Party of Movement

 The Party of Resistance

► After 1840, Francois Guizot and the Party of

Resistance dominated the Chamber of Deputies

New Revolutionary Outbursts

► Belgium

 Belgium, which had been added to the Netherlands at Vienna to

provide a northern bulwark to France, rebelled in 1830

 The languages, traditions, and religions of the two had been

incompatible and an independent and neutral Belgium was

recognized by the European states

► Poland and Italy

 Rebellions in Italy and Poland in 1830 were less successful

 Austria crushed the revolts in three Italian states and Russia

crushed the Polish rebellion in 1831 and imposed a oppressive

military dictatorship over Poland

Reform in Britain

► In 1830, the Whigs regained power in

Britain

► Influence of the July Revolution on the

Whigs

 Recognized that reform was preferable to

revolution

► Introduction of the Reform Act of 1832

Whig Reform Act of 1832

► Gave explicit recognition to the changes wrought in

British life by the Industrial Revolution

► It disfranchised 56 rotten boroughs and enfranchised

42 new towns and cities and reapportioned others

► A property qualification was retained (£10 of annual

rent) and thus the electorate only increased from

478,000 to 814,000

► Therefore, the Reform Act benefited mostly the upper

middle class as the lower middle class and artisans and

workers still did not have the vote

Repeal of the Corn Laws (1846)

► Another important piece of liberal legislation

was the repeal of the Corn Laws

► Richard Cobden, John Bight and the Anti-Corn

Law League (1838)

► The repeal also found support among the

industrial middle class, who as economic

liberals, favored the principals of free trade

► The Laws were finally repealed in 1846 when

Robert Peel, leader of the Tories persuaded

some of his associates to support free trade

and abandon the Corn Laws

Yet Another French Revolution

► In 1846, a severe industrial and agricultural

depression brought great hardship to the

French working class

► Additionally, scandals, graft and corruption

were rife and the government’s refusal to

extend the suffrage further angered the

disfranchised members of the middle class

► Opposition to Louis-Philippe’s government rises

► Call for reform in the “political banquet”

Yet Another French Revolution

► During the winter of 1847-48, over seven

banquets were held with a grand culminating

banquet planned for Paris on February 22

► The government forbade the banquet, but

people still came and barricades again rose in

Paris

► Louis-Philippe now proposed reforms but could

not form another ministry and abdicated on

February 24

Yet Another French Revolution

► A provisional government of moderate and radical

republicans was established

► Louis Blanc and the national workshops

► In the elections for the new National Assembly, the

radicals whose support came from the working class of

Paris were in a distinct minority

► Closing of the national workshops, June 23

► The workers refused to accept the decision and poured

into the streets - in four days of bloody battle,

government forces crushed the uprising

The Second Republic

► On 4 November 1848, a new constitution

was ratified with a unicameral legislature

elected by universal male suffrage with a

president serving for four years

► In the elections held in December 1848,

four republicans were soundly defeated

by Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte

Frankfurt Assembly in Germany

► The news of the revolution in Paris set off other

revolutions throughout Germany and central

Europe

► Rulers soon granted constitutions and liberal

reforms (e.g., universal male suffrage)

► The citizens of Germany were then allowed to

vote for deputies to an assembly at Frankfurt to

prepare a constitution for a united Germany

Frankfurt Assembly in Germany

► Many of the

delegates at the

assembly were

ahead of their

terms in terms of

nationalism

► Cause of

Controversy

► “Big” or “Small”

Germany

Failure of the Frankfurt Assembly

► The problem of a “Big” or “Small” Germany was

made mute when the Austrians withdrew and

Frederick William IV refused the title of

emperor of Germany

► With the Prussian withdraw, the assembly

disbanded as they had no means to impose

their constitution on Germany

► Therefore, the Frankfurt Assembly and the

German liberal’s dream for a united Germany

were a failure

Revolution in Austria

► Upheavals also occurred in the Austrian Empire,

and their immediate result was the dismissal of

Metternich

► Calls for a constitution

► Louis Kossuth and Calls for Hungarian

autonomy

► Conservative recovery

 Emperor Ferdinand is replaced by his nephew Francis

Joseph

 Austrians, with Russian support, reestablish control

over Hungary

Mazzini's Risorgimento in Italy

► With the failure of the 1830 revolutions, the nationalist

movement in Italy came under the guidance of

Giuseppe Mazzini, a dedicated Italian nationalist who

founded a organization known as Young Italy in 1831

► His, and other nationalists, dreams seemed on the

verge of fulfillment as several Italian states rose in

revolt in 1848

► The rulers granted liberal constitutions with Charles

Albert of Piedmont assuming a leadership role

► Failure of 1848

Failures of 1848

► Although the

Revolutions of 1848

were initially

successful, there

were two main

reasons why they

failed

Failure of 1848

► In the beginning, the radicals and moderates

were aligned against the conservatives

► However, that alliance soon broke over the

greater and more radical demands of the

working class

► Fearful for their property and security, the

middle class rallied to the old ruling classes for

the sake of order and fear of social revolution

by the workers

Failure of 1848

► The other reason was the division of

nationalities

► Again, they had allied against their overlord,

but once that had been achieved, they soon

fought among themselves

► The best example was the Hungarians

 They wanted to autonomy from the Austrians but refused the

same to their minorities, the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs

 As a result, the Austrians were able to regain control by playing

Hungary’s minorities against the Hungarians