the vienna settlement and the concert of
TRANSCRIPT
The Vienna Settlement and the Concert of
Europe
1814-1832
Europe, 1812Before the Congress of Vienna.
Europe, 1815Europe after the Congress.
CONGRESS OF VIENNA CONVENESSeptember 1814
Vienna, 1814Expected Time: 2 monthsActual Time: 9 months
Diplomats present: 700Dominant Figures: 5
Goals1. Restore Balance of Power2. Restore “legitimacy”3. Compensation
Austria
Metternich
Foreign minister of Austria
M.I.P Europe: 1814 to 1848
Reactionary, opponent of war
Francis I
Emperor of Austria
Timid soul
Only job is to restrain Metternich
Britain
Lord Castlereagh
British Foreign Minister, 1815-1822
Realistic, but has vision of peace
Wants peace through some type of organization
Posterity will ne'er survey A nobler grave than this: Here lie the bones of Castlereagh: Stop, traveller, and piss.
-Lord Byron
Russia
Czar Alexander I
Complex, unstable
Has vision of a “Holy Alliance”
Prussia
King Frederick William III & Karl von Hardenburg
Goals: Recover Prussian territory lost to Napoleon Gain additional territory in northern Germany (Saxony).
France
King Louis XVIII [Bourbon]
Talleyrand, foreign minister
THE SETTLEMENTCongress of Vienna, 1815
Balance of Power
• Territorial Adjustments:– Belgium (former Austrian Netherlands) to
Netherlands (House of Orange)– Austria receives parts of N. Italy (Lombardy &
Venetia)– Russia receives Finland & most of Poland– Norway goes to Sweden (from Denmark)– Sardinia receives Savoy
Balance of Power, cont.
• Britain GAINS– Islands in West Indies, land in S. America, Ceylon
in Indian Ocean, & S. Africa’s Cape Colony• Reorganization of German States
– German Confederation of 39 autonomous states– Francis I of Austria president of Confederacy
• France restored to 1792 borders
The Legacy of Napoleon?
“Napoleon ‘exported’ the Revolution to Europe.”
NATIONALISM & LIBERALISM
The Concert of Europe‘An Alliance System’
• Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1818• Acted as international government/ policeman• Greatest threats: nationalism and liberalism• Lasts as long as memories of Napoleonic Wars
last
The Age of Metternich
The Revolt against Revolt
Conservatism vs. Liberalism & Nationalism
19th Century Liberals
• Who were they?– Those excluded from the existing political process;
they were NOT democratic.– From the middle class --> bourgeois.
• Hostile to the privileged aristocracy.• They sought the removal of economic
restraints (laissez-faire economics).
19th Century Conservatives
• Who were they?– Traditional ruling classes– Peasants
• Skepticism regarding Enlightenment principles• Against the "excessive" belief in individual
rights• Church, State, and Family: the sources of
social order
The Revival of Religion
• Catholic countries restored power & status of the church
• Protestant countries witnessed religious revivalismThe Second “Great
Awakening” in America
Political Challenges to Conservative Rule
• Popular revolts for Constitutional rule:– Spain – Russia
• Nationalist movements:– Italy– Balkans and Greece
• Wars of Independence in Latin America
Nationalist Movements
Round One: Crisis in Germany
• Wartburg Festival• Carlsbad Decrees
– Attacked who?– Is censorship ever
effective?
• The Tzar is upset
Round Two: Spain & Italy
• The Congress at Troppau
• Revolution in Spain, 1820– Liberal revolt– Congress of Verona,
1822– Crushed by French
troops
• Revolutions in Italy– The Carbonari– Congress of Laibach,
1821– Results
“When a state, by revolutionizing itself,
leaves the alliance, the alliance has the right to
compel it to return.”
-Troppau protocol
Round Three: Russia
• Death of Tzar Alexandar I– Nicholas I appointed heir
to throne– Moscow regiment &
others wanted Constantine
• The Decembrists Revolt, 1825 – Moscow regiment refused
to take oath, Nicholas used force & crushed revolt.
The Decembrists
Nicholas I
“Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationalism”
Round Four: Greece
• Cry for Greek Independence
• Why are the Europeans sympathetic?
• Results– Treaty of
Adrianople, 1829
– Independent Greece
Overview of the Revolutions: 1820-1825
Revolutions Abroad
1804-1830
Revolutions in Latin America
The Haitian Revolution‘…the only successful slave revolt in history…’
• 1659-1804: Saint-Domingue was French territory
• Slavery was based on relentless terror• Toussaint L’Ouverture led successful
independence movement
Revolution of 1830’s
The Conservative Order is Shaken at Home
“When France has a cold, all Europe
sneezes.”
- Metternich
France in the 19th Century
A Crisis of Identity?
1814 to 1830
• Reign of Louis XVIII– Conservative, realistic &
agreed to a Charter– 1820, son murdered– Conservative Reactions
• Reign of Charles X– 1824– Reactionary– The Four Ordinances
The Four Ordinances
1. Dissolved the entire parliament2. Strict censorship imposed3. Limited franchise to wealthiest people4. Called for new elections
The July Revolution
Louis-PhilippeThe Citizen King (1830-
1848)
• Doubled right to vote (1/30)
• Catholicism: “religion of the majority”
• Censorship abolished • Industrial boom in
France + acquisition of Algiers
• One major flaw?
Louis-Philippe: The Citizen King?
• Socially, very conservative (no sympathy for working class)
• Worker revolts in Lyons, 1832 & 1834
• By 1848, Louis-Philippe will be forced to flee
A United Netherlands?: 1815-1830
North: Dutch, Protestant, seafarers and traders.
South: French, Catholic, farmers and individualworkers.
BELGIUM BECOMES INDEPENDENT (1830)
With the help of the Lord Palmerston & the British.
Revolutions of 1830
The British Response1789-1832
From Political Repression to the Great Reform Bill
The British Response?
• Reactionary, at first.– Edmund Burke’s Reflections
on the Revolution in France, 1790
• William Pitt the Younger– Led coalition against
Napoleon in Europe – Led a campaign against
radicals at home– Suspended Habeas Corpus,
etc.
The British Response?
• Lord Liverpool’s Ministry (Tory)– Corn Laws, 1815– Coercion Acts, 1817– “Peterloo” Massacre
• Six Acts of Parliament, 1819
The Six Acts of 1819
1. Forbade large unauthorized meetings2. Raised the fines for seditious libel3. Speeded up trials for political dissidents4. Increased newspaper taxes5. Prohibited the training of armed groups6. Allowed local officials to search homes
The British Response?
• By 1825, Younger Tories moderate the party– Produce liberal
foreign & economic policies
• Catholic Emancipation Act, 1829George Canning
The British Response, cont.
• William IV – 1830– Whigs called for
parliamentary reforms
• Earl Grey – (leader of the Whig
Party) asked by William IV to form a new government
The British Response, Cont.
• A reform bill increased the electorate by 50% and “Rotten Boroughs” were replaced
• Great Reform Bill did not resolve all political inequities
• BUT marked a new beginning in English government
The Conservative Order and the Challenges of Reform
(1815-1832)
Important Leaders
METTERNICH, AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER
FREDERICK WILLIAM III OF PRUSSIA
ALEXANDER I OF RUSSIA
NICHOLAS I OF RUSSIA
TALLEYRAND, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER
LOUIS XVIII OF FRANCE
CHARLES X OF FRANCE
LOUIS PHILIPPE OF FRANCE
LORD CASTLEREAGH, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER
LORD LIVERPOOL, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER
WILLIAM IV OF BRITAIN