Ideologies and Revolutions (1815-1850)

Ideologies and Revolutions 
The Age of Metternich (1815-1850)
I. Overview 
a. Conservatism – dominated at the beginning of this era
i. Metternich was the Austrian conservative minister (wanted to return to old conservatism, Monarchy in France)
ii. Conservatives worried that the lower classes were too Liberal. Also worried about Nationalism because it is a tool that can be used to unite the two classes, also, nationalism could break up the Austro-Hungarian empire. Try to limit these two forces at the Congress. 
b. Liberalism – unleashed by Napoleon trying to spread his ideas (France had two revolutions during this time (Bourbons overthrow (1830), republic on 1848)
c. Nationalism – greatest force for revolution because ethnic groups don’t like being controlled by other ethnic groups , UK and Russia are able to avoid nationalist revolution 
d. Socialism – unhappy workers 
e. These make up the pushes and pulls of the time period 
f. Romanticism – nature, individualism, emotion, faith (link nationalism and liberalism)
II. Congress of Vienna 
a. Putting humpty dumpty back together again  restore social and political order Balance of Power the major powers in Europe didn’t agree, they didn’t want anyone to get an upper hand 
b. They don’t like the idea of revolution so they want a monarchy 
c. Issues:
i. Legitimacy
ii. Returning former ruling families to their place  legitimacy (in the countries napoleon conquered)
iii. Compensation – limited at first, mainly in the form of land. England: wants more Naval bases (South Africa, Cyprus, Sri Lanka). Austrian gets Lombardi and Venetia as well as some of Poland, Russia gets Poland, Ukraine, Prussia get Poland too, the Rhineland and 3/5 of Saxony  
iv. Balance of Power – rules:
1. End the Hapsburg holy roman empire: Create the German Confederation (Bund), consolidation, keeps some of the original reorganization of Napoleon, still under Austrian rule 
2. England are the only ones who gain from this because they never really lost anything under Napoleon 
d. Balance of power lasts until German unify, then WWI, it also underestimated the amount of French Nationalism, they didn’t realize just how much the revolution had altered the French Psychie 
III. Concert of Europe (1815-1850’s), lasted until the Crimean War 
a. Two major provisions and one proposal 
i. Quadruple Alliance (Russia, Prussia, UK, and Austria) – if anyone gets out of hand they will step in to stop it. (pre-NATO) – poised to slap down the French, no Bonaparte will ever again rule France. They use this alliance to push conservatism, liberalism and nationalism are seen as threats to the status quo 
ii. Congress System – meetings designed to figure out how to keep the status quo (only lasted until the 1820’s) Plan the collective security of Europe (UK pulled out)
iii. Tsar Alexander proposes a Holy Alliance between the three other members because they all had strong monarchies, it never really worked out 
IV. Conservatism – fear that prompts the push of conservatism  the French revolution 
a. Supported by both ruling classes and by the bourgeoisie, they have something to lose. They are for stability, but against government intervention  
b. Edmund Burke – reflections on the revolution in France defended inherited privileges in the British system , predicted anarchy in France as a result of the revolution 
c. Metternich was afraid that the individual ethnicities in Austria would rebel and destroy his empire
i. Used their control over the German states to prevent nationalism there
ii. Carlsbad Diet – issues decrees cracking down on liberalism, especially in universities (went after the intellectual learning centers in Germany, it goes underground) censor any document that proposes German unification 
1. Prussia also repress their liberals 
iii. Conservatives in charge of Parliament, also suppressed liberalism 
1. Corn laws – no importation of foreign grain (screws all but the rich), also suspends habeas corpus  poor people upset, have rallies 
Peter Loo Massacre - 11 died, police cracked down, press had a field day  government cracks down of press, government bans mass meetings 
iv. The most liberal place in all of Europe at this time was France 
1. 1815 – white terror, royalists go around killing revolutionaries 
2. Moderate royalist will be reelected into power in 1816
3. Louis XVIII – 1814-1824
4. Charles X takes the throne, 1829 – heir is murdered, used as excuse to crack down on rights 
v. Spanish revolution crushed, 1823, another bourbon ruler on the Spanish throne 
d. Russia – conservatism leads to oppression
i. Tsar Alexander, initially favored enlightened despotism, died in 1825  power vacuum in Russia  uprising “Decembrist Uprising” (junior military officers, came from the upper class, opposed the autocratic government, first upper revolt wanted Alexander’s younger brother to assume the throne, Nicholas controls it and becomes the most autocratic  turns Russia into a Police state, censorship, state sponsored terrorism, no representative assemblies at all, education is limited, university curriculum severely monitored 
1. Intellectual liberals will be truly pissed, but are unable to get their act together: split into the Slavophil and the Westernizers  
V. Liberalism – guarantee social liberties 
a. Classical Liberalism – reformist, not revolutionary (john Lock), written constitution 
i. Representative government (republican)
ii. Democratic – more radical 
iii. Economics – 1776, Adam Smith writes the wealth of nations 
1. True lassaiz faire – government neither help nor hinder
2. Bible of capitalism 
3. Invisible hand of competition
iv. David Ricardo – wages will be lower if there are enough workers (iron law of wages)
v. Thomas Malthus – wages should not encourage population increase, war and famine would keep the carrying capacity
vi. Bentham – Utilitarianism – what is best for the majority is best 
vii. John Stuart Mill – On Liberty - tyranny of the majority  
viii. Liberals were somewhat successful, two revolutions in France, 10 different constitutions in the German states, reform measures in Britain, German student orgs.  
VI. Nationalism – exceptionalsim – everyone thinks they are special 
a. French started nationalism, although the people who articulate this philosophy are German. Johann Gottfried Herder – father of modern nationalism Volksgeist – evolves over centuries. These people should live together in s sovereign country 
b. Fichte – German nationalism, superiority, criticism of the Jews (+1814)
c. Revolutions
i. 1820’s – 
1. Spain, crushed by French troupes under the auspices of the three 
Powers 
2. Naples – Carbonari, ruled and pissed, Austria goes in to settle matters
3. Piedmont – another uprising is put down by Austrian troupes
4. Greek revolution – the big one, the one we’ve all been waiting for (1821-29) trying to break away from the Ottoman empire, powers accept Greece’s appeal to help Greece for their own devices 
ii. 1830’s- backlash against conservatism 
1. France - Louis XVIII dead, Charles abdicated, Louis Philippe
2. Italy – 1831-1832 – Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini inspires outbreaks in the northern states  want to achieve national unification, Austria step in “Risorgimento” 
3. German states – 1830-33 – university protests lead to temporary constitutions in several minor German, Metternich then does away with them 
4. Belgium – 1830 – had been merged with the Dutch, there was resistance, July Revolution inspires them, revolt un Brussels, Dutch Defeated, forced to retreat by a combined French/British fleet, Belgium create a national constitution, 1839 – they become neutral territory  
5. Poland – crushed by Tsar Nicholas I declared Organic Statute – Poland is an integral part of the Russian Empire (1832)
6. Prussia – most interesting, it is chafing because Austria is in control of the German states.
a. 1834 – Zollverein – Prussia joins with 17 of the German states and created a free trade zone 
VII. Liberal Reform, England 
a. 1820-30 – Tories were not united, some wanted liberal reform. (George Tanning and Robert Peele, he was the one who was responsible for standardizing the London Police Force )They also abandoned the Congress system in 1822 (tired of dealing with the other three powers) also reformed the Prisons, reformed the criminal code, even allowed membership in Labour Unions 
i. Another aspect of liberal reforms at this time was Religious reforms. They repealed the Test Act of 1673, now non-Anglicans could hold public office. 
ii. Catholic Emancipation Act - gave Catholics their full civil rights  
b. George IV – asks the Whigs leader to form a new government in 1830, they take over parliament (supported by middle class, considered a mile stone in British history) Cholera epidemic 
i. When the Whigs took office, they expanded the vote from 6% to 12% and they consolidated districts (rural districts had been blocking the house of lords because they were controlled by wealthy land owners, but the new boroughs in the industrial cities)  the house of lords becomes very important in parliament 
ii. Earl Gray – leader of the Whigs who and the new government 
c. Labour Reform – 1830’s
i. 1832 – the Reforms Bill
ii. 1833 – Factory Act – helped with the problem of child labour, no child working under the age of 9, abolished slave labour in the British West Indies 
iii. Wilberforce – driving force behind the abolition of slavery
iv. 1834- new poor law that required able bodied people who don’t have jobs to work in Work Houses
v. 1842 – Mines Act – prohibits child labour in the mines
vi. 1847 – 10 hour act – women and children 
vii. Chartist Movement – more political power for the working class so they could improve their status - universal white male suffrage, secret ballots, no property qualifications, salaries for members of parliament, equal election districts, annual elections for parliament  most they will eventually get 
viii. 1846 – repeal the corn laws because of the Irish potato famine  
ix. The only countries that weren’t affected by revolutions were Britain and Russia 
1. Queen Victoria ascends the throne 1837- 1901
VIII. Revolutions of 1848 
a. Caused by forces of nationalism and liberalism, economic dislocation and instability, Romanticism, only Russian and UK will avoid significant upheaval, absolutist conservative government and liberal government
b. Results: End of serfdom in Austria, universal suffrage in France, parliaments in German states, beginning of the push for German unification and in Italy 
c. France – gets the ball rolling again with another little revolution, February Revolution, Working class was upset with the King Louis Philippe and his minster Guizot, King abdicated
i. Alfonse Lamartaine - Liberal who helped declare the second French republic 
ii. Louis Blanc – too
d. Liberal capitalist and Socialists new assembly  June Revolution
i. Cavaignac – General in the French Army who crushed the worker’s rebellion after assuming dictatorial powers – 10,000 dead
ii. Looses to Louis Napoleon as president of the republic, he declares himself emperor Napoleon III of the French Republic 
e. Italy also has an uprising trying to end foreign domination, various rulers defeated, Mazzini declares the Italian Republic in 1849, supported by Garibaldi, pope forced to flee 
i. Austrian general retakes Sardinia Piedmont and Lombardi and Venetia, pope restored by the French , Revolution failed, people in the countryside didn’t support it, the revolutionaries were NOT united, people who were moderate leaders feared radicalism and didn’t embrace the republic, weren’t so great at administrating  
f. Revolutions in both Hungary and Bohemia, only 25% living in the Austrian empire were actually German 
g. Louis Kossuth – leader of the oppressed Hungarians, demands independence, as to do the Czechs in Bohemia, Austrian Empire collapse, Metternich flees (1848) Hungarians army’s are in sight of Vienna but are defeated, get semi-independence in another 18 years, minorities are still not united, Russians send military aid  
i. Prague Conference 1848 – Austro- Slavism. Autonomy of the minorities within the Austrian Empire  this collapses because the minorities don’t particularly like each other, rebellion crushed by Austrian forces who occupied Bohemia 
h. German states – liberals demand either union or constitutional government 
i. Frankfurt Parliament – 1848 – combo of nationalist, liberal, romantic leaders n meet, call for elections and assembly of the all German states in the Bund, also want War with Denmark for Schleswig and Holstein, so Prussia declares war to get the areas 
ii. Parliament presented a constitution with it emperor being Prussia’s Frederick IV. He says No… because he doesn’t want to be handed a crown from the gutter, he believes in the divine right of Kings, the constitution was Liberal! He wanted to be an absolutist ruler without limits to his power 
iii. Austria will demand Prussian allegiance to the Bund Humiliation of Olmutz, drops his attempts to unify German states  
i. Reasons for the Revolutions failing
i. Lack of organization
ii. Middle class feared working class radicalism 
iii. Lack of planning and forethought 
iv. Didn’t have the support of the countryside, they were urban
v. There is an underlying desire for Unification of Germany and Italy
vi. They don’t have much to show for their revolutions 
IX. Romanticism 1800-1850, backlash against classicism, neo classicism 
a. General characteristics
i. Emotion over Reason
1. Human senses
2. Passion
ii. Glorification of Nature, beautiful, wild ,untamed force, less of the human hand involved 
iii. Reject the enlightenment view of precision
iv. Reject enlightenment view of the past, progress isn’t necessarily good, they like simplicity, turning back the clock, often drew on the middle ages for inspiration, chivalry, honor, revival of gothic architecture (houses of architecture)
v. Emphasize feeling
vi. Works will fight against poverty, slavery, industrialization
vii. Believe in personal freedom 
b. Philosophical underpinning
i. Rousseau – society corrupted human nature. Materialism 
1. Man has been diminished because he has been removed from nature 
ii. Kant – human freedom 
iii. French revolution as an inspiration 
iv. Sturm und Drang – storm and stress, Germany, poems and plays of heavy emotional intensity 
v. Haegel – another German, came up with the formula Thesis- antithesis- synthesis 
vi. Fichte – saw a vision of Germany as a united romantic people