23 States and Nations

7/31/2019 23 States and Nations

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States and Nations in the

Nineteenth Century, 1830-1870

The Spread of Liberal

Government

The Revolutions of

1848

The Politics of

Nationalism

Nineteenth-Century

Culture

The Spread of Liberal

Government

The great age of liberalism

began in 1830

The representative

monarchies of the West

contrasted sharply with

central and eastern

European states

Liberal constitutional

regimes were committedto civil rights, rule of law,

and the idea of social

progress



Great Britain

Pressure for Reform

Acute pressure for reform

emerged out of the turmoil

of the postwar years

Collapse of wartime

markets and economic

distress led to reform of

the political system

The government at first

responded with repression

A mass meeting for

reform at St. Peter’s

Field

“Peterloo Massacre”

Parliament reacted by

passing the Six Acts of

1819 which restricted

public meetings,

prosecuted radicals, and

imposed a stamp tax

Sir Robert Peel and the

repeal

Religious freedom,

the legitimacy of

unions, tariffs,

freedom of the press

—led to agitation that

focused increasingly

on the need to reform

Parliament itself

Disenfranchisedlaborers set haystacks

afire by night



The Reform Bill

of 1832

Parliament turned to otherreforms. It abolished slaveryin Britain’s colonies in 1833

The Factory Act, limiting thehours children children

worked

Poor Law of 1834, a lawgranting all residenttaxpayers the right to vote—an expansion of the rights of

the popular class

Chartism and the

Corn Laws

*Chartism was a huge,

amorphous workers’movement to extend

political democracy

They presented tens of

thousands of signatures

It failed to define a

program that could

mobilize workers

The Anti-Corn Law

League grew out of

urban resentment over

the high cost of bread

resulting from grain

tariffs—the Corn Laws

—that benefited the

landowning classes

Free-trade

Robert Peel moved to

repeal the Coen Laws

outright



The Revolutions of

1830

Uprising across Europe

The cause of reform in

Britain had benefited

from fear of violent

revolt, following a wave

of revolutions on theContinent in 1830

Belgium

Catholics and Liberals rose

against Dutch rule in the

Netherlands, creating Belgium

The Belgian monarchy created

in 1830 marked a triumph of

liberal constitutionalism

Politics revolved around acoalition of Catholics and

liberals, aristocrats and

members of the upper-middle

class

France’s July Monarchy

Louis-Philippe took the throne inFrance, a combined symbol of

revolution and liberal moderation

The “citizen-king”

*July Monarchy—a constitution ascontract the king swore to keep

Controversy erupted—the right,supported by the church

campaigned against Louis-Philippe

The left saw him as not radicalenough



Limited Liberalism

in France

In both Britain and

France, liberal

governments led by

able men sought

through compromise,

the rule of law, and

parliamentary

politics to unify theirnations

The Revolutions of 1848

The Opening Phrase

France

Under Louis-Philippe,

liberal reforms took hold

throughout France

Universal male suffrage

Right to employment

New taxes and

maintained it’s

traditional tricolor flag



Revolution SpreadsSimilar revolutions and shifts

toward liberal governments andproto-socialism

Hungary, Rhineland, Vienna,Milan, Venice

Conservative governmentswithout constitutions oftenresisted, leading to violence

In Paris, revolutionaries carried

corpses around on a cart toinspire crowds

Many new nations adoptedtricolor flags

Central EuropeMovements in Hungary

inspired students in Vienna to

demand representative

government for Austria

Universal male suffrage was

granted

From Hungary, movements

emerged among the Czechs in

Bohemia, Croatians in Croatia,

and Romanians in Transylvania

The Old Habsburg Empire

seemed to be collapsing

Revolution seemedto have triumphed

in Prussia, too

In May, 830delegates elected inthe various Germanstates convened the

*Frankfurt

Parliament to writea constitution for all

of Germany



The Fatal Dissensions

Social Class

Everywhere, however, thenew freedom exposeddivisions among the

revolutionaries

Middle classes vs.workers

Social programs calledthe “national workshops”

— projects fixing roadsand walls around Paris

When rescinded due tocost, three day riots

erupted in Paris foughtthe Republic’s troops

*June Days — theuprising remained thevery essence of classconflict for socialists

and radicals

National AmbitionsIn Germany and Austria, too,revolution uncovered latent

conflicts between workers

and the middle class and

among artisans, peasants,

and nobles

Frankfurt Parliament felt

little sympathy for uprisings

by other nationalities against

German rule

The Prussian and Habsburgarmies that soon moved on

Frankfurt and Vienna

confronted revolutionaries



Rome also erupted against

the pope who resisted

Italian nationalism—

though economic

conditions worsened,

driving open rebellion

leading to the

“restoration” of the Roman

Republic—a great symbol

for liberals throughout

Europe

Venice and France were

also republics

The Final Phase

New Leaders

Louis Napoleon

Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon, won the

election of 1848—70%

of the votes

Austria also found a

strong new leader in

Prince Felix von

Schwarzenberg

Military Force

The Frankfurt

Assembly’s constitution

for a unified Germany

was completed and

chose the Prussian king,

Frederick William as

emperor of Germany

The Frankfurt

constitution, includeduniversal male suffrage

and civil rights, would

never be implemented



In Italy, too, military

force was decisive.

Austria defeated

Piedmont (allies of the

Italian republics)

With them this support

removed, the Roman

Republic collapsed after a

three-month battle with

French armies sent by

Louis Napoleon to

defend the papacy

The Results G. M. Trevelyan called 1848

“the turning-point at which

modern history failed to turn”

(1) liberal constitutions and

increased civil rights failed to

pull strong and lasting support

from artisans, peasants, and

workers

(2) the revolutions of Februaryand March were made

primarily by the middle classes,

strengthened for the moment

by popular discontent

(3) the leaders of the

revolutions often mistook

parliaments for power and leftintact the established royal

bureaucracies and armies that

would soon turn on them

(4) nationalism motivated some

revolutionaries but dividedothers and prevented the

transnational cooperation

essential for durable success

(5) no major nation was ready

to intervene in behalf of change



Widespread revolution

reflected the failures of

restoration and exposed the

effects of a generation of

profound social change

Some gains of 1848

endured, the most

important of which is the

emancipation of peasants of

eastern Prussia and the

Austrian Empire from

serfdom and the creation of

limited constitutional

governments

The Politics of Nationalism

*Nationalism wasa modern

phenomenon andoften seemed to

require persistentpropaganda

Nationalism cameto be embraced

and used by boththe left and the

right



The Elements of

Nationalism

Nationalism — A shared senseof regional and cultural identity,custom, language, and religion

The Experience of the FrenchRevolution that established

nationalism as a political forcecapable of mobilizing popular

enthusiasm, of reformingsociety, of creating seeminglyirresistible political movements,

and ultimately of greatlyadding to the power of the state

Liberation and

ModernizationIn Germany the fight against

Napoleon was called a

national war of liberation

The association of liberation

and nationalism had been

particularly marked in the

New World, an example to

liberals in Europe

Increased communication,literacy, and mobility further

stimulated the sense of

belonging to a larger but

definable community

National Identity

Nationalism was international

phenomenon, everywhere

emphasizing the importance

of culture, and often inspired

by Romanticism, with its

rejection of Enlightenment

universalism

Ethnic origins, philology

(*Gaelic), folk culture andnational history (Italians

claimed Roman and Christian

history)



Political Goals

In places subject toforeign rule, thepolitical goal of

nationalistmovements wasindependence

Germany, Italy,Hungary

A New Regime: The Second

Empire in FranceFrom Republic to Empire

Louis Napoleon, president of the

Second Republic—chamber of

Deputies filled with monarchists

who did not want a republic—Rejection of amendment for 2nd

term—coup 1851

Restored universal male suffrage,

restricted by the conservative

Chamber

Second Republic became theSecond Empire—Emperor

Napoleon III

90% approval rating—

supported by all segments

Napoleon III was influenced

by liberal nationalism

Under his rule, the French

State sponsored programs for

social welfare and economic

growth—tax incentives

French economy boomed inthe 1850s; patron of

educational and social reform



The Liberal Empire

Napoleon III graduallyliberalized France, enlargingthe role of the legislature in1860; freedom of the pressand assembly was granted

in 1868; A full parliamentarysystem was in place by 1870

The Second Empirepioneered a new kind of

regime—authoritarian butplayed to public opinion,

imposed order but fosteredsocial programs and

economic growth

Nationalism and

International Relations

1848 had revealedthe political potentialof nationalism—thepolitics of patriotism

The Crimean War

The pursuit of international influenceled France and GreatBritain to war against

Russia in 1854 overcompeting claims byRoman Catholic and

Greek Orthodox monksto be the guardians of Jerusalem’s holy places



Russia had expanded into the

Ottoman region, trying to gain

power

The British was worried about

general Russian expansion,

threatening the British colonial

investments

After Russian defeat of the Ottoman

fleet in Crimea, Britain and France

went to war with Russia directly

After long fought war, Russia sued

for peace

Congress of Paris

Russia ceded to the demand of

the Congress that it surrender

claims to any Christian lands in

the Ottoman Empire and a ban

on warships in the Black Sea

Almost 500,000 soldiers died—

the highest death toll between

the Napoleonic wars and WWI

Following the conflict, the

Ottoman Empire and Russiaunderwent fundamental

modernization

A New Nation: The

Unification of Germany

German cultural identity had

grown throughout the first half

of the 19th century, from the

battles against Napoleon to the

vision of the Frankfurt

Parliament

The Prussian and Austrian

monarchies continued to vie forprimacy among the German

states, but it was Prussia that

created modern Germany



The Dominance of

Prussia

Prussia was the largest

German state, with a

powerful army and an

efficient administration, and

Prussian politics began a new

era in 1858 with the rule of

William I

He named *Otto vonBismarck

Bismarck’s Leadership Bismarck surprised conservatives

with his appeal to nationalism,

shrewdly used power wherever hefound it, and made success in

foreign policy his justification

Bismarck dissolved the parliament

and used heavy government

pressure in the subsequentelections but with little effect

He ignored parliament andencouraged divisions within the

legislature—He closed opposing

newspapers



The Austro-

Prussian War, 1866

Austria and Prussia were

a;ready mobilizing when

Prussian troops found an

excuse to march into Holstein

in June 1866

The Austro-Prussian War

lasted just seven weeks

Prussia, well-equipped and

ready, applied the lessons of

the American Civil War, usingrailroads and the telegraph to

move with a speed for which

Austria was unprepared

The Franco-Prussian

War, 1870

In vying for dominance, France

and Prussia went to war

Bismarck wanted the war but

France first declared it

The normal cause of the war

derived from competition over

influence in Spain

France hoped for support from

Italy and Austria but had failed

to establish formal agreements,

and these states remained

neutral

The brief war hadprofound effects. A

German national state wascreated in its wake. In

France, the Second Empirefell and succeeded by the

Third Republic

France was required to payan indemnity of 5 billion

francs (1 billion dollars)and lost Alsace and

Lorraine, embitteringFrance









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23 States and Nations