Congress of Vienna & the Rise of Nationalism & Liberalism (1815-1848) - Prof. Douglas Baxt, Study notes of Cultural History of Europe

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Lecture 19: Politics of Reaction 1815-1848 Congress of Vienna  Goal: To restore political stability to Europe after Napoleonic disruption  Decisions made by 5 Great Powers:  England  Austria  Russia  Prussia  France Ambitions of the Great Powers  England  Primacy of colonial interests  Maintenance of balance of power to prevent French aggression  Austria (Prince Metternich)  Conservatism  Anti-liberalism  Anti-nationalism  Russia (Tsar Alexander I)  Mixture of autocracy/liberalism  Advancement of Russian power  Prussia: gain territory  France (Talleyrand)  French survival  Balance of power Accepted Principles  Legitimacy  Compensation to the victors  Balance of Power  Insurance  Conservatism Legitimacy  Restoration of monarchies  Exceptions  Small states in Germany  Holy Roman Empire replaced by German Confederation Compensation to the victors  England  Malta  Ceylon (Sri Lanka)  Cape Colony (S. Africa)  Russia  Finland 1  Austria  Northern Italy Balance of Power  Polish Question  Russia wants all of Poland  Prussia wants all of Saxony  Compromise:  Russia gets Napoleonic Poland  Prussia gets 2/3 Saxony Insurance against France  Creation of Kingdom of Netherlands (Holland & Belgium) NE of France  Enlarged Savoy to SE of France  Prussia Rhineland E of France Conservatism: Common action by Great Powers to ensure peace & stability  Concert of Europe: 5 Great Powers guarantee the peace settlement  Congress System: Great Powers to meet regularly to face threats to established order  Congresses meet in 1818, 1820, 1821, 1822  Troops sent to handle revolution in Spain & Italy Accomplishment of Congress of Vienna  Ensures peace among Great Powers 1815-1854  France treated generously; no desire for revenge  Ultimately fails to forestall power of liberalism & nationalism unleashed by French Rev & Napoleon Threats to the conservative order  Romanticism  Liberalism  Radicalism  Nationalism  Socialism Romanticism (Reaction to Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason)  Complex, diverse movement of thinkers & artists (both conservative & revolutionary)  Stressed importance of feeling, emotion, imagination  Idealism: desire for faith, belief, a cause to give meaning to life.  sometimes a veneration of the past, esp. for Middle Ages (conservative) or folklore (nationalism)  stressed individuality, uniqueness of the individual, best seen in Romantic Hero who challenges the system (alienated & revolutionary) 2  Nicholas I, 1825-1855 & open repression: censorship, secret police  Policy of “Orthodoxy, Autocracy & [Russian] Nationalism” France & Bourbon Restoration  King Louis XVIII, 1814-1824 = moderate regime  Charter of 1814: conservative constitution & representative assembly, but equality before law, rule by law, freedom of religion, of press  the “Ultras” --ultraroyalists  murder of the heir, Duke de Berri, 1820 & increasing conservatism (censorship, arrests) French elections  Only those over 30 and wealthy could vote  Only those over 40 and wealthier could run for office  Electorate of 100,000 out of 28 million Bourbons (continued --)  Charles X (1824-1830)  elaborate coronation at Rheims  compensation for émigrés  attempt to make gov’t pro-aristocratic & pro-clerical  Revolution of 1830, July 1830  Growing political dissatisfaction  Meetings & demonstrations  Gov’t troops can’t control capital  King flees July Monarchy 1830-1848  King of the French: Louis-Philippe, from Orléans branch of royal family  Drab monarch & colorless regime  narrow support: “notables” (rich bourgeoisie & nobles)  fear of lower & working classes Waves of revolution 1820s-1830s  Liberal revolutions of 1820 in Spain, Italy  Greek Revolution of 1821 against Turks (appeal of nationalism, romanticism)  National revolutions of 1830: Belgium (against Dutch), Poland (against Russia) Revolutions of 1848: culmination of liberalism & nationalism  Pattern of Revolution:  Growing political dissatisfaction  Meetings & demonstrations  Gov’t troops fire on crowds 5  Barricades & rioting  Loose alliance of liberals & radicals & nationalists to overthrow gov’t  Disunity & conservative triumph Locations  France: Second Republic & then Napoleon III for stability & glory (Napoleonic Legend)  Austria  Austrian uprising  Hungarian uprising  Czech uprising  Italian revolt  Germany: rev in Prussia & other states Failure of Revs of 1848  Basic disunity between liberals & radicals  Emergence of idea of Class Struggle  Middle Class fears “Red Terror”  Workers turn to Marxian socialism  Split between nationalism & liberalism and alliance with conservatism (Germany & Italy)  Universal manhood suffrage is a conservative weapon England The exception. Did not face revolution England  Dual interrelated issues:  human cost of industrialization  representation in Parliament (House of Commons)  Dual approach:  struggle for unionization & collective bargaining  drive for universal (male) suffrage Conservative repression  Peterloo Massacre:  public disturbance in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England, Aug. 16, 1819, also called the Manchester massacre, when police attacked a crowd of some 60,000  Six Acts & English repression  Forbade unauthorized public meetings  Allowed search of homes without warrants in disturbed areas Slow Change  Reform Act of 1832 6  Doubled electorate (478,000 to 814,000 or 1 out of every 5 adult males)  Abolished “rotten boroughs” (56 old electoral districts replaced by 42 new)  Result: wider representation & greater voice for reform  The most famous "Rotten Borough" in British political history was Old Sarum which in 1832 returned 2 Members of Parliament on the votes of just five electors. “Chartism” of 1830s & 1840s  working class petition movement  Goals:  drive for annual parliaments  secret ballots  pay for members of Parliament  universal (male) suffrage  Lack of success until 1870s-80s Factory legislation  Factory Act of 1833 (child labor)  forbade child labor under 9  limited labor to 9 hrs for ages 9-13  Limited labor to 12 hrs for ages 13-18  No night work for children under 13  Factory Act of 1844 (female labor)  limits female employment under unsafe conditions  Factory Act of 1847 (workday)  10 hours workday  5 ½ days a week Result: Gradual reform  Gradual British change  Respect for British law & traditions  Upper class believed it had to accommodate to changing economic and social life  Repression would ultimately fail End of Course Thank you for listening! 7