A History of Western Society

Chapter 23

Ideologies and Upheavals, 1815-1850

Cover Slide

Ideologies and Upheavals 1815-1850

• The Dual Revolutions– Economic / Political revolutions combined after the

Industrial Revolution into one / reinforcing each other continent wide

• The Peace Settlement – No Revenge / – Checks and Balances against France (Belgium and

Netherlands) – Prussia Bigger / Sentinel on the Rhine– Strong Defense / protect everyone – No National self determination for people

The Congress of Vienna attempted to restore the old order upset by the French

Revolution.• Congress of Vienna (like the UN of Europe)

– Guided by the principle of “Balance of Power” – It sought to restore conservatism and absolute monarchies.– It established a balance of power among European nations.– Holy Alliance by Austria, Prussia and Russia was formed to

check future liberal and revolutionary activity.

• The Congress of Vienna also initiated the “congress system” to settle international crises.– It was believed that an international equilibrium (Balance) of

power would preserve peace in Europe. – Fashioned a General Peace through the use of ---

– No revenge / No Super Power / Keep each other in check to politics

Conservatism • Although liberalism and nationalism flourished,

these tendencies were checked by the conservative reaction of the Great Powers.– Conservative monarchical states wanted to prevent

revolutions in their own states.

• Klemens von Metternich is viewed as the symbol of the age of reaction against the ideas of the French Revolution.– Metternich presided over the Congress of Vienna and

towered over European politics in the first third of the nineteenth century.

Liberalism was reflected in economic thinking

• Liberalism / liberty and equality was the principal idea– Wanted representative government / equality before the law of all classes /

specific individual freedoms • Freedom of press / speech / assembly and arbitrary arrest

• The principle of laissez-faire formulated by Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations .– laissez-faire sometimes called classical liberalism in America– Modern Liberalism is Government involvement in Economic and social

issues– Smith was critical of mercantilism and argued that a free economy would

bring wealth for all, including workers.– The laissez-faireists believed that the economy should be left unregulated.

• Liberalists tended to protect themselves – Businessmen used rights against labor / protected themselves – Right to vote tied to owning land = class distinction = snobbery – Equated to middle class = cut out workers led to radicalism and Marx

Liberal and Conservative Ideas in the 1800s

Male property owners

Protect basic rights to liberty and property

Republic with constitution and separation of powers

Laissez faire

Freedom of religion

Monarch and nobles

Stability and order

Monarchy

Controlled by nobles

Established church

Nationalism/radical idea after 1815.

• Nationalism helped engender feelings of cultural unity.– Modern nationalism had its roots in the French Revolution.

• Nationalism created the desire to match state boundaries with cultural boundaries.– Nationalists believed that common language and traditions would bring

about unity and common loyalties.– Nationalists sought to turn cultural unity into political reality by using

common language / history and territory.– Nationalism also encouraged ideas of racial and cultural superiority.

• Political Reality and the nationalist Vision– Political Reality equaled / defined territory = people = language = Nation

state – Nationalism Long term success based on: complex industrial society / new

workers required a common national language to communicate / push for separate nation state

– Pride led to “National Mission” and “National Superiority”– The We vs. They led to aggression and conflict

Socialism

• French Utopian Socialism – Saw capitalism (laissez-faire) and the Industrial Revolution as selfish

and destructive to society– Believed in economic planning / equal economic conditions for all /

property regulated by the state or abolished all together.

• Socialism was a desire to reorganize society to establish cooperation and a new sense of community.– The early French socialists proposed a system of greater economic

equality planned by the government.– Saint-Simon (wanted improved conditions for the poor) and Fourier

(wanted women freed / anti-marriage / crazy)– Louis Blanc wrote Organization of Work and pushed agitation for voting

rights and a peaceful takeover of the government– proposed a planned economy and socialist communities.

Marxist Socialism• Karl Marx created an additional form of socialism.

– Beliefs based on philosophy of Georg Hegel that history had purpose and dominate ideas (one idea led to another (opposite) through change. This is also know as the Communist Dialectic

– Marx believed that class warfare was an integral part of historical evolution.

– Class struggle for economic hegemony formed a chief principle of Marxism.

– Violent revolution (the Key) was advocated to achieve socialist ends.– A proletarian victory over the capitalists would bring about the perfect

society. – Thought the French Utopian Socialists were naïve because they believed

that they could get the wealthy to help the poor • Wrote the Communist manifesto

– Wanted the emancipation of women and abolishment of family– Workers and middle class were enemies and in a class struggle– The Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat were natural enemies – The end was near / revolution and the end of the middle class would be the

new age

Photograph of Marx

This sepia photograph depicts Karl Marx (1818-1883) in a dignified and confident pose. Interpreting history in economic terms, Marx predicted that socialism would replace capitalism. In his Communist Manifesto (which he published with Friedrich Engels) he called for the proletariat to overthrow capitalism and to establish a classless society.

Photograph of Marx

The Romantic Movement

• Literary movement against Classicism and the enlightenment – Believed in emotions / imagination / spontaneity of

art and life– Led weird lives Bohemian outlook – Believed in personal fulfillment was supreme

purpose in life – Rejected materialism

• Nature was the battleground / not controlled or orderly

• Industrial revolution was: ugly / Bleak sought escape for betterment

Friedrich, Traveler Looking over Sea of Fog

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was Germany's greatest romantic painter, and his Traveler Looking over a Sea of Fog (1815) is a representative masterpiece. Friedrich's paintings often focus on dark silhouetted figures, silently contemplating an eerie landscape. He came to believe that humans were only an insignificant part of an all-embracing higher unity.

Friedrich, Traveler Looking over Sea of Fog

The Romantic Movement

• Literary Romantic Giants– William Wordsworth / Samuel Taylor Coleridge

brought nature into poetry

– Walter Scott brought romantic history alive

– Germaine de Stael influenced many writers

– Victor Hugo

– George Sand (Female)

– Brothers Grimm

– Alexander Pushkin

The Romantic Movement

• Art – Delacroix = master of dramatic colorful

scenes that stirred emotions

• Music – free expression and emotional intensity – Beethoven

Delacroix, Liberty Leading the PeopleLiberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) has been called the first political painting in modern art. As an allegory, the painting idealizes and glorifies the idea of liberty. Lady Liberty, the seminude woman, holds a musket in one hand and waves the tricolor flag of the French Revolution in the other, leading the people in their armed revolt. Of special note are the menacing figure with the sword, on the left, who represents the underclass, and the street urchin brandishing pistols.

Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People

Reforms and Revolutions

• National revolts in Greece, France, and the Netherlands achieved some of their aims.

• Greece – The congress of Vienna (Metternich) did not

support Greece because of upsetting the balance of power in Europe

• Greek nationalists fought for freedom from Turkey• Supported by US and many Europeans • Greece became independent in 1830.

– Eventually won the support of GB / France and Russia so succeeded

Delacroix, Massacre at Chios

Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) based his important painting, Scenes from the Massacres at Chios, on an actual event. In 1822, during the Greek War of Independence, Turks massacred 20,000 Greeks on the island of Chios. Delacroix's portrayal focuses attention on both the victims in the foreground (some already dead and others dejectedly awaiting their fate) and those in the background, also waiting to be slaughtered. The vibrant, rich, contrasting colors and the luminescent sky became a staple of his work.

Delacroix, Massacre at Chios

Liberal Reform in Britain

• Political and social reform swept Great Britain.– The British aristocracy feared liberalism.– The Corn Law (1815) is a good example of how the British

aristocracy protected itself from liberal ideas.• Designed to regulate foreign grain trade (Protectionism against cheap

grain from Europe) • 1815 law prohibited imports almost entirely / after war cheap imports

were available / Nobles did not like it / hurt the poor / kept grain high amid unemployment and starvation

– The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846.– St. Peters field (Battle of Peterloo) demonstrated Governments

willingness to repress liberal freedoms (Manchester protests)– Commercial middle class / new wealth wanted more freedom

and a greater say in the government • Won many over / led to change

"Peterloo" MassacreThis engraving from the Public Record Office, London, depicts the events of August 1819 at St. Peter's Fields, in Manchester, when a crowd demanding parliamentary reform was charged by government troops, leading to bloodshed. Using military force against the people as if against the French at Waterloo was seen as wrong, and the confrontation was branded "the battle of Peterloo."

"Peterloo" Massacre

Liberal Reform in Britain • Political and social reform swept Great Britain.

– The political competition between the aristocracy and the middle class was the key for peaceful reforms

– The growth of the middle class and its desire for reform led to the Reform Bill of 1832.

• House of Commons emerged and the legislative body in GB / Made the House of Lords get in line

• Redistributed seats to where the population centers are (more democratic)

– Major reform without riots and blood letting / proved peaceful reform was possible

– The Chartist movement (Radical reform) • Combined economic and political reform • Attempt at universal male suffrage failed.

– 10 hours act to protect women and children

Ireland and the Great Famine

• Ireland was occupied and controlled by GB absentee landowners – Irish population grew quickly

• Extensive cultivation of the potato (Would support many on little land)• Early marriage (Marry anyway no point in waiting and life does not get

better) • Exploitation of the peasants by landowners Peasants starve and no one

knew or cared. – Population grew dependent on the potato

• Famine brought it all down • Government did not care / help • People starved still paid taxes

– Aftermath • Left hard feelings against British ever since • Many left to USA and the world / great migration

McDonald, Discovery of Potato BlightIn this painting, The Discovery of the Potato Blight in Ireland, 1847, Daniel McDonald depicts an Irish family that has dug up its potato harvest and has just discovered to its horror that the blight has rotted the crop. Like thousands of Irish families of the time, this family now faces the starvation and the mass epidemics of the Great Famine.

McDonald, Discovery of Potato Blight

Continental Revolutions (France)

• Revolution of 1830 in France – Socialists did not initially believe in violent class

warfare – Constitutional Charter of 1814 was a Liberal

Constitution – Success based on the artisans, shopkeepers and

workers of Paris – Protected gains by middle class and peasantry

during the revolution – King tried to go back / did not work abdicated Louis

Philippe took over – Accepted the Tri Colour / and the 1814 charter – Winners were the Notables in this revolution

1830 Revolution in BelgiumAfter the 1830 uprising that overturned the restored monarchy in France, Belgians rose up to declare their independence from Holland. In Poland and Italy similar uprisings, combining nationalism with a desire for self-governance, failed. This painting by Baron Gustaf Wappers (Flemish historical and genre painter, 1803-1874) romantically illustrates the popular nature of the Belgian uprising by bringing to the barricades men, women, and children from both the middle and the working classes.

1830 Revolution in Belgium

Triumph of Democratic Rights, FranceThis French allegorical lithograph constructs a joyous, optimistic vision of the initial revolutionary breakthrough in 1848, but it no longer has passionate immediacy and sense of urgency. A procession of peoples of Europe, joined together around their respective national banners, file past the statue of liberty, now rigid in marble. The conventionality of the figures and the exaggerated gestures of triumph somehow convey only tepid convictions; revolution is just a word. (Archives of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan)

Triumph of Democratic Rights, France

Continental Revolutions (France)

• Democratic Republic (2nd Republic) – Ran off the Monarchy /

– Many hated competition and capitalism wanted craft unions and control by the Government

– Socialist Louis Blanc was part of Government and wanted Socialist the right to work in laws

– Set up national workshops for jobs

– Revolution was a failure France limped along

Constitutional Government, DenmarkOn March 21, 1848, 15,000 Danes, inspired by the example of Paris, marched on the palace to demand constitutional rights. Unlike in the French capital, however, this event was peaceful and led to the establishment of constitutional government. This painting honors the new parliament that came into being after the liberal constitution was adopted in 1849.

Constitutional Government, Denmark

Continental Revolutions

• The Austrian Empire faced uprisings from Hungarian and Czech nationalists.– Liberals wanted constitutions / peasants followed Urban

workers /students protested looked as if would change – Began in Hungary due to nationalism / autonomy / civil

liberties / suffrage – Hungary wanted territory but Serbs / Croats / Romanians did

not like nationalism as they also live in the territory – The Austrian Hapsburgs played ethnic groups against each

other / won in the long run – Monarchy won with the army Took back Vienna from the

students / bombed Prague / invaded Hungary with Russia – Ruled Hungary as a conquered territory / suppressed all

nationalism

Revolutionary Justice in ViennaAs part of the conservative resurgence, in October 1848 the Austrian minister of war ordered up reinforcements for an army that was marching on Hungary. In a last defiant gesture, the outraged revolutionaries in Vienna, as shown in this engraving, seized the minister and lynched him from a lamppost for treason. The army then re-conquered the city in a week of bitter fighting.

Revolutionary Justice in Vienna

Revolutions in TransylvaniaThis is a detail of a larger painting from the National Historical Museum, Bucharest, depicting Ana Ipatescu, of the first group of revolutionaries in Transylvania against Russia. (National Historical Museum Budapest/The Art Archive)

Revolutions in Transylvania

Continental Revolutions

• Liberals, artisans, and factory workers struggled against monarchy in Prussia

• Nationalism was the key factor / motivated the middle class – Frankfurt National assembly left out labor leaders

but all other groups were represented

• German Confederation re-established – Germany had to wait for unification

– No-one wanted an emperor in Germany

Map: Europe in 1815

Europe in 1815Europe's leaders re-established a balance of political power after the defeat of Napoleon. Prussia gained territory on the Rhine and in Saxony and consolidated its position as a Great Power.