European Revolts

Congress of Vienna

  • Prince Clemens von Metternich (Austrian foreign minister) presided
  • dominated by conservatives
  • goals
  • principle of legitimacy - restore hereditary monarchies
  • establish a balance of power
  • redrew boundaries of Europe without concern for national cultures
  • Metternich System - opposed liberalism and nationalism in an attempt to maintain the status quo - existing state of affairs

Nationalism

  • outgrowth of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution
  • each nationality wanted its own state

Revolts

  • Serbs (Balkans): 1804 & 1817
  • eventually achieved autonomy within the Ottoman Empire
  • Greeks: 1821
  • appealed to western Europe for support against Ottomans
  • 1830 - independent, but forced to accept a German king
  • 1820s - Spain, Portugal, and Italian states unsuccessfully demanded constitutional governments

Louis XVIII

  • accepted constitution of 1814
  • sought compromise between liberals and conservatives - satisfied few

July Revolution: 1830

  • Charles X came to the throne in 1824
  • July Ordinances: 1830 - suspended legislature, limited right to vote, restricted the press
  • in Paris citizens threw up barricades, fired on soldiers
  • many soldiers joined the rebels
  • within days - rebels controlled Paris - Charles X abdicated

Louis Philippe

  • “citizen king” - owed his throne to the people
  • chosen as king by Chamber of Deputies - lower house of the legislature
  • favored bourgeoisie at the expense of the workers

February Days (1848)

  • discontent over corruption and economic slump
  • govt. attempted to silence critics and prevent public meetings
  • crowds rioted
  • Louis Philippe abdicated
  • SecondRepublic proclaimed

June Days (1848)

  • upper and middle class won control of govt.
  • rioting workers were attacked
  • peasants sided with the nobles
  • left bitter legacy between working class and bourgeoisie

Louis Napoleon

  • National Assembly issued a new constitution for the SecondRepublic
  • suffrage given to all adult men
  • elected Louis Napoleon - nephew of Napoleon
  • 1852 - proclaimed himself emperor - Napoleon III
  • SecondRepublic over - Second Empire established
  • his rule was a combination of repression and reform

Revolts in France inspired Europe

Belgium - 1830

  • became an independent state with a liberal constitution

Poland - 1830

  • failed attempt to gain independence

Metternich - 1848

  • ousted by Austrian govt. following a revolt by students and workers

Hungarian and Czech nationals called for reforms - 1848

  • movements repressed by Austrian military

Italy - 1848

  • unsuccessful attempt by nationalists to end Austrian domination and for liberals to get a constitutional govt.

Frankfurt Assembly - 1848

  • delegates met from the German states to create a constitution
  • offered Prussian leader Frederick William IV the crown - rejected
  • 1849 - assembly dissolved under threat from Prussian military

Industrial Revolution: 1750-1850

  • shift of production from simple hand tools to complex machines
  • steam power replaced human and animal power
  • Contributing factors:
  • Agricultural Revolution – less peasants needed to farm
  • enclosure movement – taking land from peasants, fencing it off, creating pasture land
  • led to increased wool production
  • urbanization: villages shrank – cities grew
  • Population Explosion in 1700s and 1800s
  • Energy Revolution – 1700s: giant water wheels powered new machines and coal fueled steam engines
  • Britain Leads
  • coal and iron resources
  • stable government and available work force
  • center of Scientific Revolution
  • business class had capital (money) to invest
  • mid-1800s spread to other nations: Germany and U.S.
  • Textile Industry
  • Domestic System (Putting Out) – working at home
  • Factory System
  • electricity replaced coal as a power source to run machinery
  • later, interchangeable parts and assembly lines were introduced
  • terrible working conditions
  • Rise of Big Business
  • Capitalism – free-market system where private individuals and businesses own most of the resources and means of production
  • corporations – businesses owned by investors who own stock
  • monopolies – a single entity (individual or corporation) controls a product or dominates an industry
  • cartel – association of corporations to fix prices, set production quotas, divide up the market
  • Social Darwinism – applied survival of the fittest to war and economic competition – encouraged racism

Political Theory

  • Capitalism - free-market system where private individuals and business own most of the resources.
  • Socialism - belief that the means of production, such as land, raw materials, and factories, should be controlled by society, so that wealth can be distributed equally among all citizens.
  • Utopian Socialism - popular theory in the 18th and 19th centuries: society could obtain perfection if all citizens shared the wealth.
  • Communism - a society without class distinctions or private property.
  • Karl Marx - Scientific Socialism - History is a class struggle between the people who have wealth and those who do not. The working class (proletariat) will defeat the people who own the industries (bourgeoisie) and end capitalism.
  • Communist Manifesto (1848) - Marx and Friedrich Engels
  • Das Kapital (1867) - Marx

19th Century England

  • Queen Victoria: reign 1837-1901
  • longest reign in British history
  • Victorian age: duty, thrift, honesty, hard work, respectability
  • time of confidence in the future
  • expansion of British empire
  • Political Parties
  • Liberal Party replaced Whigs - led by William Gladstone
  • Conservative Party replaced Tories - led by Benjamin Disraeli
  • both alternated as Prime Minister and brought reforms
  • 1900: Labour Party is formed by socialists and union members - by 1920s surpassed Liberal Party to compete with Conservatives
  • Social and political reforms
  • came through legislation
  • 1815: rich v. poor
  • 1928: democracy, major social improvements

Britain’s “Other” Colonies

Canada

  • French Catholic until Treaty of Paris of 1763 ended the Seven Years War
  • 30,000 Protestant colonists arrived after the American Revolution
  • rivalry between Protestant English and Catholic French
  • Canada Act of 1791 - created two provinces
  • Upper Canada - Ontario - English-speakers
  • Lower Canada - Quebec - French-speakers
  • each had their own laws, legislature, and royal governor
  • 1837 - both felt oppressed by the ruling British elites - rebellion
  • Durham Report 1839 - Lord Durham was sent to investigate the cause of the unrest
  • suggests that the two Canadas unite and be given control over their own domestic affairs - Britain to manage foreign affairs
  • 1849 - right to self-government
  • 1867 - British North America Act created Dominion of Canada
  • worried that the U.S. may try to dominate
  • 4 provinces - 6 more came later
  • own parliament - modeled after British
  • some control over foreign policy
  • close ties with British monarchy
  • John Macdonald - first Prime Minister - encouraged expansion
  • 1885 - transcontinental railroad linked east and west
  • some conflict with indigenous peoples - original inhabitants
  • 1894 - 1914: 3 million immigrants came from Europe and Asia
  • two issues: French minority hindered a single national identity & U.S. had a strong economic and cultural influence

Australia

  • 1600s - Dutch explored
  • 1770 - Captain James Cook claimed for Britain
  • Aborigines (Kooris) came 50,000 years earlier - probably from Southeast Asia
  • hunter-gatherers
  • 250 languages
  • penal colony established by Britain
  • convicts had previously been sent to Georgia
  • American Revolution wrecked that
  • petty theft, political agitation, murder
  • 1788 - 700 convicts arrived in Botany Bay
  • early 1800s - free citizens encouraged to emigrate
  • given land and tools
  • at first occupied coast
  • later went inland to raise sheep
  • 1850 - given self-government by Britain
  • 1851 - gold discovered
  • settlers went to the Outback - ranches and farms established
  • Aborigines pushed off the land
  • 1901 - Britain helped colonies unite into independent Commonwealth of Australia
  • British monarch recognized as head of state
  • constitution based on U.S. and Britain
  • Senate and House of Representatives
  • Prime Minister chosen by majority party in parliament

New Zealand

  • 1769 - Captain Cook claimed for Britain
  • 1814 - missionaries sent to convert Maoris to Christ
  • Maoris came from Polynesia in 1200s
  • settled farmers - warlike - struggled to defend land against the British
  • settlers from Australia brought sheep and cattle
  • fierce wars with Maori
  • 1840 - annexed by Britain
  • 1852 - self-government
  • 1870 - Maori population dropped from 250,000 to 50,000
  • 1907 - independence: parliament, prime minister, ties to Britain

1931 - Statute of Westminister created the British Commonwealth of Nations, wherein Canada and all other former colonies became equal partners with Britain = still bound to the British crown

19th Century France

  • Napoleon II: Second Empire
  • ruled like a dictator in the beginning
  • 1860s: political, economic, and social reforms
  • failure at foreign affairs
  • placed Maximilian (Hapsburg) on the throne of Mexico
  • Franco-Prussian War - ended French domination
  • New National Assembly was elected
  • 1871: Paris Commune - uprising of radicals to save republic from royalists - led to bloody civil war
  • 1871 - Third Republic established - lasted 70 years
  • two-house legislature
  • govt. based on coalitions of political parties
  • a lot of govt. corruption and many scandals
  • 1894 - Dreyfus Affair - reflected rise of anti-Semitism
  • Zionism - movement to rebuild a Jewish state in Palestine
  • 1897 - Theodor Herzl - organized 1st World Congress of Zionists
  • Modest Reforms - early 1900s
  • improved working conditions, free elementary schools, separation of church and state

Unification of Germany

  • Early 1800s: many small German-speaking states
  • Napoleon: 1807-1812 - Holy Roman Empire dissolved and reorganized into French-controlled Rhine Confederation
  • encouraged freeing the serfs
  • made trade easier
  • abolished laws against the Jews
  • sparked German nationalism
  • Congress of Vienna
  • Metternich opposed nationalist demands
  • created German Confederation - weak body headed by Austria
  • 1830s: Prussia created Zollverein - economic union that eliminated tariffs
  • 1848 - Frankfurt Assembly
  • liberals offered the throne of a united Germany to King Frederick William IV of Prussia - rejected this offer from the “gutter” (people)
  • Otto von Bismarck
  • from Junker class - conservative landowning nobles
  • served as a diplomat in Russia and France
  • 1862: King William I made him chancellor (prime minister)
  • policy of “blood and iron” united German states under Prussian rule within a decade
  • “Germany does not look to Prussia’s liberalism, but to her power….The great questions are not to be decided by speeches and majority resolutions—that was the mistake of 1848 and 1849—but by blood and iron!”
  • not a nationalist - primary loyalty to the Hohenzollerns (ruling dynasty of Prussia) - unification would make them the masters of all Germans
  • master of Realpolitik (realistic politics) - not necessarily legal or ethical
  • strong will, ability to manipulate others, tough-minded evaluation of the needs of the state
  • “For the state, in contrast to the individual, self-preservation is the supreme law. The state must survive at any price; it cannot go into the poorhouse, it cannot beg, it cannot commit suicide; in short, it must take wherever it can find the essentials of life.”
  • first move as chancellor was to build up military
  • when liberal legislature refused to allocate funds for the military, Bismarck used money collected for other purposes
  • Victory in Three Wars
  • Schleswig and Holstein
  • 1864 - formed alliance with Austria
  • together they “liberated” German-speaking Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark
  • Austria administered Holstein - Prussia administered Schleswig
  • War with Austria
  • 1866 - Bismarck used a dispute over Holstein as an excuse to attack Austria
  • seven-week war - Prussian victory
  • Prussia annexed Holstein and several north German states
  • Bismarck dissolved the Austrian-led German Confederation and created the North German Confederation which Prussia dominated
  • to avoid leaving any desire for revenge, Austria and four other southern German Catholic states were allowed to remain independent
  • Franco-Prussian War: 1870
  • relative of Prussian king was offered the vacant Spanish throne - France under Napoleon III protested
  • remembering the invasions of Napoleon I sixty years earlier, all Germans rallied to the cause
  • hoping to mask problems at home with military glory, Napoleon III did little to avoid war
  • Bismarck edited a telegram between King William I and the French ambassador to make it appear they had insulted each other and released the phony telegram to the press
  • people in both nations wanted war
  • Napoleon III declared war on Prussia
  • superior Prussian troops aided by other German states smashed the poorly organized French troops
  • within a few weeks, Napoleon III surrendered
  • Second Reich: 1871
  • delighted over victory, princes from southern German states and the North German Confederation persuaded William I to take title of kaiser
  • heir to the Holy Roman Empire (First Reich) founded by King Otto the Great in the 900s and abolished by Napoleon in 1806
  • constitution by Bismarck established a two-house legislature
  • Bundesrat (BOON duhs raht) (upper house) appointed by rulers of the German states
  • Reichstag (lower house) elected by universal male suffrage - over 25
  • not a democracy
  • Bundesrat could veto decisions of the Reichstag
  • kaiser and chancellor had real power
  • Germany became the industrial leader of Europe late 1800s
  • chemical and electrical industries
  • shipping second to Britain
  • iron and coal resources
  • rapidly growing population
  • disciplined and educated work force
  • 1850s and 1860s - large companies founded, railroads built
  • after 1871
  • house of Krupp: industrial complex produced steel and weapons for a world market - “arsenal of the world” armed 46 countries
  • August Thyssen built steel empire
  • govt. supported research and development in universities
  • companies hired trained scientists to solve technical problems
  • govt. issued single currency, reorganized the banking system, coordinated railroads built by different states, raised tariffs in late 1880s to protecthome industries from foreign competition
  • Bismarck - “iron chancellor”
  • sought to keep France weak and isolated
  • built strong bonds with Austria and Russia
  • respected Britain’s naval power, “ Water rats do not fight with land rats”
  • on home front, sought to erase local loyalties, attempted to crush all opposition to the imperial state, targeted Catholic Church and socialists
  • Catholic Church
  • Lutheran Bismarck distrusted Catholics
  • clergy’s first loyalty to the pope
  • third of German population
  • launched Kulturkampf (battle for civilization)
  • goal to make Catholics put loyalty to the state above allegiance to the Church
  • laws gave the state the right to supervise Catholic education and approve appointments of priests, expelled Jesuits from Prussia, forced couples to be married by a civil authority
  • backfired: faithful rallied behind the Church, CatholicCenter party gained strength in the Reichstag
  • Bismarck made peace with the Church
  • Socialists
  • late 1870s - German Marxists organized Social Democratic party, which called for a true parliamentary democracy and laws to improve conditions for working class
  • laws passed to dissolve socialist groups, shut down newspapers, ban meetings
  • backfired: workers united in support of socialist cause
  • Bismarck changed course and sponsored laws to protect workers hoping to draw them away from socialism
  • health and accident insurance and retirement benefits became a model for other European nations
  • “Give the workingman the right to work as long as he is healthy, assure him care when he is sick, and maintenance when he is old…then the socialists will sing their siren songs in vain, and the workingman will cease to throng to their banner.”
  • Social Democratic party continued to grow - by 1912 had the most seats in the Reichstag
  • Kaiser William II: 1888
  • grandson of William I
  • confident in his abilities - believed in his divine right to rule
  • 1890 asked Bismarck to resign
  • “There is only one master in the Reich, and that is I.”
  • no democratic reforms, but provided many social services: cheap transportation and electricity, excellent system of public schools begun under Bismarck - reading, writing, arithmetic, and obedience to the emperor
  • funded strong military and began a campaign to expand navy and build overseas empire to rival Britain and France
  • 1900 - strong national pride
  • military victories, economic development, best education system in Europe, most advanced university education in the sciences

Unification of Italy

  • Metternich: “Italy is a geographic expression”
  • for centuries Italy was a battleground for ambitious foreigns and local princes
  • people identified themselves with local regions rather than as Italians
  • invasions by Napoleon sparked nationalism
  • a united Italy made sense: common language, shared traditions, glories of ancient Rome and medieval papacy
  • economic sense: end trade barriers, encourage railroad building, stimulate industry
  • Congress of Vienna gave Austria control of northern Italy - southern Italy controlled by Hapsburg monarchs - Spanish Bourbon ruler controlled Naples and Sicily
  • secret patriotic societies sought to expel Austrian forces from the north
  • 1820-1848: nationalist revolts crushed by Austria
  • Giuseppe Mazzini
  • founded nationalist secret society “Young Italy” in 1830s
  • goal “to constitute Italy, one, free, independent, republican nation”
  • 1849 - set up a revolutionary republic in Rome - toppled by French forces
  • spent much time in exile
  • “Ideas grow quickly when watered by the blood of martyrs.”
  • Risorgimento (ree sor jee MEHN toh) - Italian nationalist movement
  • Kingdom of Sardinia
  • after 1848 revolt took a leadership role
  • Victor Emmanuel II
  • came to throne - 1849
  • constitutional monarch - hoped to join other states to Sardinia
  • Count Camillo Cavour
  • appointed prime minister in 1852
  • from noble family - but favored liberal goals
  • believed in Realpolitik: flexible, practical, crafty, used any means to achieve goals
  • royalist loyal to Victor Emmanuel II
  • reformed economy: improved agriculture, built railroads, supported free trade to encourage commerce
  • long-term goal: expel Austria and add Lombardy and Venetia to Sardinia
  • 1855 - joined Britain and France in the Crimean War against Russia
  • earned respect but no territory
  • seat at peace conference - stage to voice demand for unification
  • 1858 - secret deal where Napoleon III promised to assist in the event that Sardinia went to war with Austria
  • 1859 - Cavour provoked war and with French help was victorious
  • annexed Lombardy
  • Savoy and Nice went to France
  • nationalist groups in other northern states overthrew Austrian rulers and voted to join with Sardinia
  • Giuseppe Garibaldi
  • Kingdom of Two Sicilies - southern Italy
  • longtime nationalist - ally of Mazzini - wanted to create an Italian republic
  • 1860 - recruited force of 1,000 volunteers - “Red Shirts”
  • Cavour provided them with weapons and transport to Sicily
  • Red Shirts quickly won control and marched north to Naples
  • Cavour feared that Garibaldi would set up a republic in the south
  • he sent Sardinian troops - they overran the Papal States and hooked up with Garibaldi in Naples
  • in a patriotic move, Garibaldi turned Naples and Sicily over to Victor Emmanuel II, and southern Italy voted to approve the move
  • 1861 - Victor Emmanuel II was crowned king of Italy - Cavour died
  • Rome and Venetia not part of Italy
  • 1866 - peace treaty ending Austro-Prussian War - Venetia acquired in a deal negotiated by Bismarck
  • 1870 - Franco-Prussia War - France forced to withdraw troops fromRome - Italian troops entered the city - became capital of the new nation
  • first time since fall of Rome - Italy was united
  • constitutional monarchy with two-house legislature
  • upper house appointed by the king - could veto bills passed by the lower house which was elected by the small number of men who had the right to vote
  • problems
  • no tradition of unity - local loyalty stronger than national
  • regional disputes
  • differences: wealthy, more urban north (center of business and culture) v. rural, poor, illiterate south
  • hostility between the state and the Roman Catholic Church
  • popes resented seizure of the Papal States
  • saw themselves as prisoners in the small territory of the Vatican that was granted by the govt.
  • urged Italian Catholics not to cooperate with the new govt.
  • socialists organized strikes
  • anarchists - people who wanted to abolish all govt. - turned to sabotage against the conservative govt.
  • solutions
  • govt. extended suffrage to more men and passed laws to improve social conditions
  • to distract from troubles at home, govt. set out to win an overseas empire
  • economic development after 1900
  • industrialization in the north despite abundant natural resources
  • urbanization as peasants took factory jobs in cities
  • reformers campaigned to improve education and working conditions
  • population explosion created tensions - many left for U.S., Canada, and Latin America

Russia