Chapter 21

Reaction, Revolution, and Romanticism,

1815 - 1850

The Conservative Order (1815 – 1830)The Peace Settlement

Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia• Defeated Napoleon • Congress of Vienna (1814 – 1815)

Created policies to maintain European balance of power

• Lead by Prince Klemens von Metternich (Austrian foreign minister)

Believed European monarchs shared common interest of stability

• The principal of legitimacy Considered it necessary to restore legitimate monarchs to

preserve traditional institutions Restore Bourbon monarchy to the throne in Louis XVIII

• A new balance of power Strengthen countries to prevent one country from dominating Napoleon’s escape from Elba prompted the Congress of Vienna

to push France’s borders back to those of 1790 as punishment for enthusiastically accepting him back

Possible Test QuestionAt the Congress of Vienna, the Austrian representative Prince Metternich pursued the policy of legitimacy, meaning

He wished to legitimate the French defeat.He sought legitimate control over central Europe to benefit Austria.He endeavored to restore legitimate monarchs on their thrones and to preserve traditional institutions and values.He sought legitimate proof of England’s economic and industrial support of Austria.He demanded that the state churches, Catholic or Protestant, become the primary rulers throughout all of Europe.

Possible Test Question

The Congress of ViennaGave Prussia complete control over Polish lands.

Created policies that would maintain the European balance of power.

Failed to achieve long-lasting peace among European nations.

Treated France leniently following Napoleon’s One Hundred Days.

Sanctioned the political power of the bourgeoisie.

Conservative IdeologyConservatism became the dominant political thought after the fall of NapoleonFrom Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution of France

• Emphasized the dangers of radical political change

Conservative political thought• Obedience to political authority• Organized religion was crucial to social order• Hated revolutionary upheavals

Advocated slow, gradual changes• Unwilling to accept liberal demands or representative

government

• Wanted to preserve achievements of previous generations while sacrificing individual rights for the well being of the community

Possible Test QuestionConservatism, the dominant political philosophy following the fall of Napoleon

Was rejected by the Congress of Vienna as inappropriate in the new liberal age.

Expressed that individual rights remained the best guide for human order.

Was exemplified by Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, emphasizing the dangers of radical and “rational” political change.

Was too radical for Joseph de Maistre, the French spokesman for a cautious, evolutionary conservatism.

Advocated the creation of oligarchic republics.

New Map of EuropeCongress of Vienna sought to weaken France and maintain a balance power

Created a new enlarged NetherlandsEnlarged SardinaPrussia was given territory on the RhineGermanic Confederation (Germanic States)Kingdom of PolandAustria got territory in northern Italy

Congress of Vienna managed to prevent an all out European conflict for almost a century

Map 21.1: Europe after the Congress of Vienna

Conservative Domination: The Concert of Europe

The Concert of EuropeFear of Revolution & war led to development of the Concert of Europe

Met several times: congresses

Quintuple Alliance • Withdraw armies from France, add France to the

Concert of Europe

Principle of intervention• Outbreak of revolution in Spain and Italy

• Great powers reserved the right to send armies into countries where there were revolutions to restore legitimate monarchs to their throne

• Britain objected to the principle of intervention leading to a breakdown in the Concert of Europe

• Austrian troops crushed Italian rebellion

• French troops crushed Spanish rebellion

• Britain’s refusal kept Continental Europe from interfering in revolutions in Latin America

Possible Test QuestionThe most important factor in preventing the European overthrow of the newly independent nations of Latin America was

European economic collapse.

The Monroe Doctrine guiding American foreign policy.

The sheer size of South America.

Growing support for pacifism in Europe.

British naval power.

The Revolt of Latin AmericaBourbon monarchy of Spain toppled

Latin American countries begin declaring independence• Simón Bolivar (1783-1830)

Freed Columbia (1819) & Venezuela (1821)

• José de San Martín (1778-1850) Freed Chile (1817) San Martin & Bolivar joined to crush the last Spanish

authority in Lima, Peru (1821) After 1825, almost all of Latin America was free of

colonial domination Continental Europe looked to intervene, U.S. passed the

Monroe Doctrine pledging to support Latin American countries

British Navy was more of a deterrent than U.S. words

Britain began to dominate Latin American economy• British merchants & investors moved in

Map 21.2: Latin America in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

The Greek Revolt, 1821-1832

Intervention could support revolution as wellGreek revolt in, 1820

• European sympathy for their cause grew

Britain, France, Russia at war• French & British navy destroyed Ottoman Armada• Russia declared war on Ottoman Empire

Treaty of Adrianople, 1829• Ended the Russian-Turkish War• Greece was declared an independent kingdom

Possible Test Question

The Greek revolt was successful largely due to

A well-trained guerrilla army.

The Turks’ lack of fortitude.

European intervention.

Superior Greek military tactics.

Adopting a policy of peaceful coexistence.

Conservative Domination: The European States

Great Britain: Rule of the Tories

Landowning classes dominate Parliament

Tory and Whig factions; Tories dominate

Corn Law of 1815 – placed a high tariff on foreign grain – put a financial strain on working classes

• Peterloo Massacre (1819) – military fired on English protesting high bread prices

Restoration in France

Louis XVIII (r. 1814 – 1824)• Kept some of the Revolutionary changes

Accepted some of the Napoleonic CodeProperty RightsBicameral Legislature Established

Ultraroyalists – hoped to return to a monarchical system & criticized the king’s willingness to compromise

Intervention in the Italian States and SpainConservative reaction against the forces of nationalism and liberalism

• Austrian forces intervene in Italy• French forces intervene in Spain

Repression in Central EuropeMetternich and the forces of reactionLiberal and national movements in Germany

• Initially weak & remained controlled by landowning classBurschenshaften – students societies, dedicated to a free and united Germany (symbol of growing liberalism and nationalism)

Karlsbad Decrees (1819)• Metternich had this decree drawn up by the Germanic

Confederation in response to the Burschenschaften The Karlsbad Decrees (1819)

Disbanded the Burschenschaften Censored the press Supervised universities Restrictions on university activities

Possible Test Question

The Karlsbad Decrees of 1819 did all of the following except

Disband the Burschenshaften.

Impose censorship on the German press.

Placed most German universities under close government supervision.

Dissolved several smaller German states.

Placed restrictions upon university activities.

Russia

Start of 19th century, Russia was rural, agricultural, and autocratic

Alexander I (1801-1825)

• Raised on ideas of the Enlightenment & seemed sympathetic to reform

• Leader of Russia during Napoleonic Wars

• Reformed the Russian education system

• After the defeat of Napoleon, his rule turned stricter leading to opposition

• Used censorship to govern the people

Nicholas I (1825-1855)

• Military leaders of the Northern Union rebelled against Nicholas I taking the throne (Decembrist Revolt)

• Revolt was crushed by loyal troops

• Russia became a police state (secret police) Nicholas feared revolutions in Russia & in Europe

Possible Test Question

Tsar Alexander I of Russia did all of the following except

Become more reactionary after the defeat of Napoleon.

Grant a constitution, freeing the serfs.

Reform the Russian education system.

Revert to a program of arbitrary censorship as a tool of governing.

Was the leader of Russia during the Napoleonic Wars.

Ideologies of ChangeLiberalism

• Economic liberalism (classical economics) Laissez-faire – free from constraints

Supply & Demand would dictate the market Thomas Malthus Essay on the Principles of Population

Presented a case against government intervention Misery & poverty were simply the inevitable result of

the law of nature; no government or individual should interfere with its operation

David Ricardo Principles of Political Economy Iron Law of Wages Wages are cyclical, raising them arbitrarily is futile Increase in population means more workers, lower

wages, resulting in starvation & misery, reducing the population, which increases wages, causing a higher birth rate and the cycle continues

Possible Test Question

The argument that population must be held in check for any progress to take place was popularized by

Adam Smith.

David Ricardo.

Joeseph de Maistre.

Edmund Burke.

Thomas Malthus.

Political liberalism Ideology of political liberalism

Believed in individual freedom Protection of civil liberties Freedom before the law, assembly, speech, press Modeled after the Declaration of Independence & the

Rights of Man & Citizen The rights of a representative assembly (legislature)

to make laws Political liberalism was embraced by the industrial

middle class They wanted voting rights so they could share power

with the landowning class but they didn’t advocate extending those rights to the lower class

• John Stuart Mill, On Liberty Supported the absolute freedom of opinion and

sentiment on all subjects Supported Women’s rights On the Subjection of Women

The legal subordination of one sex to the other was wrong

Important work for later suffrage movements

Possible Test Question

The foremost group embracing liberalism was made up by

Factory workers.

The industrial middle class.

Radical aristocrats.

Army officers.

The landed gentry.

Nationalism• Part of a community with common institutions, traditions,

language, and customs

• The community is called a “nation” Formation of political loyalty

• Nationalist ideology Arose from the French Revolution and spread across Europe National unity in Germany or Italy threatened to upset the

balance of power established with the Congress of Vienna An independent Hungarian state would breakup the Austrian

Empire Conservatives tried to repress nationalism (Concert of Europe)

• Allied with liberalism Liberals believed their goals could only be realized by people

who ruled themselves Nationalists believed that stronger states comprised of their own

people would eventually link communities and ultimately humanity

Map 21.3: The Distribution of Language in Nineteenth-Century Europe

Early SocialismUtopian Socialists

Against private property & competitive spirit of capitalismCharles Fourier (1772 – 1838)

• Proposed the creation of small model cooperative communities called “phalansteries”

People would live & work together for mutual benefit

Robert Owen (1771-1858)• British cotton manufacturer who believed human

goodness would reveal itself if people worked together

Developed a healthy community in Scotland but failed in U.S.

Early SocialismLouis Blanc (1813 – 1882)

• Thought social problems could be solved by government assistance Denounced competition as an economic evil Proposed establishing workshops that would manufacture goods for

public sale The state would finance the workshops but the workers would own and

operate them These national workshops would become little more than unemployment

compensation units through public works projects

Female Supporters• Utopian socialism attracted many women who hoped to help their

gender by reordering society

Flora Tristan (1803 – 1844)• Traveled Europe demanding equality for the sexes• She was largely ignored

Socialism remained a fringe movement in the early 19th century but it laid the groundwork for later attacks on capitalism

Possible Test Question

The French socialist, Flora TristanDemanded absolute equality of the sexes.Established a cooperative socialist community at New Harmony, Indiana.Felt that the greatest evil in society was the profit motive in business and economics.Started the international “Women’s Social and Political Union.”Condemned Karl Marx as being too revolutionary.

Revolution and Reform, 1830-1850

Another French RevolutionCharles X (1824-1830)

• Liberals were winning elections which angered the king• Issued the July Ordinances

Rigid censorship Dissolved the legislative assembly Reduced the electorate in preparation for new elections

• Immediate revolt by liberals

Louis-Philippe (1830-1848)• Group of moderate liberals appealed to Louis-

Philippe, the Duke of Orleans to become the constitutional king of France

• Charles X fled to Great Britain & a new monarchy was born

• The bourgeois monarch – support for his rule came from the upper middle class

• Constitutional changes favor the upper bourgeoisie Lower bourgeoisie & working class are disappointed that

they are excluded from political power

Revolutionary Outbursts in Belgium, Poland, and Italy (Nationalism)

Primary driving force for these three 1830 revolution was nationalism.

Austrian Netherlands (Catholic Belgium) given to (Protestant) Dutch Republic by the Congress of Vienna

Nationalistic revolt by the Belgians (Protestants) established a constitutional monarchy

Revolt attempts in Poland and Italy• Austrians crushed Italian revolution

• Russians crushed Polish revolution

The Revolution of 1830

Possible Test Question

The most successful nationalistic European revolution in 1830 was in

Poland.

Germany.

Italy.

The United Provinces.

Belgium.

Reform in Great BritainThe Reform Act of 1832

New political power for industrial urban communities (Whigs take power over Tories)July Revolution in France set the stage for changeBenefited the upper middle class (wealthy industrial middle class)

• Reform Act of 1832 – Industrial communities gained a voice in voting

• Number of voters increased from 478,000 – 814,000• Artisans, industrial workers & lower middle classes still had no vote

New Reform LegislationPoor Law of 1834 – based on the theory that giving aid to the poor & unemployed would encourage laziness

• The poor were crowded into workhouses where the living & working conditions were intentionally miserable so people would be encouraged to find employment

Repeal of the Corn Laws (1846)• Economic liberals advocated free trade & lower bread prices for

workers

Possible Test Question

The Reform Bill of 1832 in Britain primarily benefited the

Landed aristocracy.

Peasants.

Working class.

Clergy.

Upper middle-class.

The Revolutions of 1848Yet Another French Revolution

1846 – agricultural & industrial depression

1847 – 33% unemployment rate in Paris

Government was corrupt & failed to initiate reform• No suffrage for the middle class

Louis-Philippe abdicates, February 24, 1848 (fled to Britain)

Provisional government established• Elections to be by universal manhood suffrage

• National workshops – jobs for unemployed

• Growing split between moderate and liberal republicans Moderate Government – most of France Radical liberals – Parisian working class

Provisional government established workshops under the influence of Louis Blanc

• Unemployed workers got jobs raking leafs, ditch digging & other manual labor jobs

• Unemployed workers in the national workshops rose from 10,000 to 120,000, emptying the treasury & prompting moderates to halt the programs

• Became little more than unemployment compensation units through public works projects

• Workers refused to except the decision leading to four days of fighting in this working class revolt (government prevailed)

Second Republic established• New Constitution ratified• Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was elected in December,

1848 (nephew of Napoleon)

Map 21.4: The Revolutions of 1848 – 1849

Revolution in Central Europe

French revolts led to promises of reformFrederick William IV (1840-1861)

• Germanic state rulers made concessions to the growing revolutionary sentiments

Freedom of press, abolishing censorship, new constitutions, & working towards a united Germany

• Frankfurt Assembly All German parliament elected by universal male suffrage Purpose was to prepare a constitution for a united Germany Frederick William IV refused the offer of “emperor of the

Germans” Frankfurt Assembly disbanded without accomplishing their goal

of a united Germany

Possible Test Question

In 1848, the Frankfurt AssemblyUnanimously adopted a Grossdeutsch solution for the Germanies.

Succeeded in making Prussia’s Frederick William IV president of a united Germany.

Failed in its attempt to create a united Germany.

Gained the support of Austria.

Declared its solidarity with revolutionary France.

Austrian Empire Louis Kossuth, Hungary

Advocated the formation of a legislature

• Metternich flees the country after demonstrations begin & he is dismissed from office

• In Vienna, revolutionary forces took control calling for a constituent assembly

• Hungary’s wishes granted Own Legislature National army Control over its foreign policy & budget

Austria Cont’d• Emperor Ferdinand I & Austrian officials made

concessions to revolutionaries but waited for an opportunity to reassert conservative control

• Tried to capitalize on division between radical & moderate revolutionaries

• Military forces suppressed Czech rebels• Ferdinand I abdicated in favor of his nephew• Francis Joseph I (1848-1916)• Nicholas I of Russia sent in troops to defeat

Kossuth’s forces and suppress the revolution Austrian emperor & propertied classes remained in power

Revolts in the Italian StatesGiuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872)

Risorgimento - resurgenceFounded organization called Young Italy, 1831Goal: a united Italy

Cristina Belgioioso (1808-1871)Wealthy aristocrat who worked for a united ItalyItalian citizens rose up in 1848

Charles Albert (r. 1831 – 1849)King of Italian state of Piedmont took up to the call for a war of liberation from AustriaThe revolution (resurgence) was defeated by combined forces from the Pope, France and Austria.

Possible Test QuestionGiuseppe Mazzini’s nationalist organization, Young Italy,

Liberated Italy’s northern provinces from Austrian control.

Failed to achieve his goal of “resurgence” by 1849.

Helped inspire successful liberal constitutions throughout Italy.

Used the liberals in governments to extend suffrage to Italy’s working classes.

Allied itself with the papacy to drive France out of Italy.

The Failures of 1848

Division within the revolutionariesRadicals and liberals

Liberties from propertied classes failed to extend male suffrage to the working classes

Liberals were concerned about their property & security & the fear of a social revolution by the working class

Divisions among nationalitiesHungarians demanded autonomy from Austrians but refused to offer the same autonomy to their minorities

The Maturing of the United States

The American Constitution contained forces of liberalism and nationalismAlexander Hamilton (1757-1804), Federalist

Favored a financial program that would establish a strong central government

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), RepublicanFeared centralization & consequences for popular liberties

Effects of War of 1812Brought an end to the Federalists who had opposed the war

John Marshall (1755-1835)Strengthened the Supreme Court (checks Congress)

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) and democracy Male suffrage – dropped property qualification

The Emergence of an Ordered SocietyDevelopment of a regular system of police

Purpose of police• Preserve property & lives, maintain domestic order, investigate crime, & arrest offenders & to

create a disciplined law-abiding society

French Police – Known as SerfientsFirst appearance of new kind of police in Paris

British Bobbies“Bobbies” introduced in 1829 – 1830Goal was to prevent crime

Crime and Social ReformNew poor lawsMoral reformersOrganized religion

Prison ReformThe United States takes the lead (Auburn Prison in New York, Walnut Street Prison in Philadelphia)Prison reform in France and Britain

Possible Test QuestionProfessional civilian police forces known as serfients first appeared in 1829 in

Germany.

Russia.

Italy.

Bavaria.

France.

The Characteristics of RomanticismEmotion, sentiment, and inner feelings

Reaction to Enlightenment’s preoccupation with reason Romantic movement had its roots in Germany

Tragic figureJohann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832),The Sorrows of the Young Werther

• Literary model for early Romantics

Individualism – interest in unique traits of each personRebellion against middle-class conventions – changes in hair, clothes

Interest in the pastGrimm Brothers (published local fairy tales)Hans Christian Andersen (fairy tales from Denmark)Walter Scott

• Best selling novels (Ivanhoe)

Gothic literatureEdgar Allan Poe (1808-1849)Mary Shelley (1797-1851)

Possible Test Question

The romantic movement can be viewed as a(n)

Reaction against the Enlightenment’s preoccupation with reason.Continuation of Enlightenment ideals and practices.Attempt to create a socialist society.Movement of lower-class, less literate people.Fascination with war and conflict.

Romantic Poets and the Love of Nature

Poetry was the most important literary formArtists focused on landscapes and naturePercy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Prometheus Unbound (revolt of human against laws & customs)Lord Byron (1788-1824)

Dramatized himself as a romantic hero (died in Greek revolt)Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)The mysterious force of nature Mirror where people could learn about themselves

Edgar Allan PoeAmerican romantic author of The Fall of the House of Usher

Critique of ScienceWorship of nature led criticism of industrialized world Shelly’s Frankenstein symbolized the dangers of science trying to conquer nature

Religion in the age of RomanticismCatholic revival especially in Germany

Possible Test Question

Which of the following were major themes/subjects of Romantic artists?

Portraits

Madonnas and religious scenes

Landscapes and depictions of nature

Scenes from aristocratic family life

Urban scenes.

Romanticism in Art and MusicHector Berlioz (1803-1869)

Symphonie Fantastique – first complete program symphony

Casper David Friedrich (1774-1840)Art depicted God and nature

Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)Most famous French Romantic artistPassion for color

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)Beethoven, whose compositions bridged the gap between Classicism and Romanticism

Romantic architecture favored Gothic style

Caspar David Friedrich, Man and Woman Gazing at the Moon

Eugène Delacroix, The Death of Sardanaplus