Age of Metternich, 1815-1848

• The period between 1815 and 1850 is knows as the "Age of Metternich".

Politics in the "Long 19th Century" (1789-1914)

• French Revolution and Napoleon lasted from 1789 to 1815.
• "Age of Metternich" spanned 1815 to 1848.
• "Age of Realpolitik" was from 1848 to 1871.
• "Age of Mass Politics" occurred from 1871 to 1914.

Conservatism and the "Age of Metternich"

• The Congress of Vienna in 1815 temporarily triumphed for the old conservative order.
• This era was represented by Austrian minister Klemens von Metternich's leadership and policies.
• Napoleon faced defeat, leading to the restoration of former rulers, such as the Bourbons in France and the Pope in the Papal States.
• Victors at the Congress of Vienna aimed to prevent liberalism and nationalism from disrupting the conservative order.
• Repression was used to suppress liberal or nationalist challenges.
• The Concert of Europe was the most effective expression of conservatism.

Rise of Liberalism

• The liberalism unleashed by the French Revolution was largely controlled after the Congress of Vienna.
• Liberalism became a major force in France during the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848.
• The Bourbons were overthrown in 1830 and replaced with Louis Philippe, known as the "Bourgeois King."
• France became a republic in 1848, though only for 4 years.
• Liberalism led to reforms in Britain by 1850, such as the Reform Bill of 1832 and repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.

Emergence of Nationalism

• Nationalism was a major revolutionary force between 1815 and 1850.
• Italy revolted against Austrian rule in 1830 and 1848.
• A revolution in Prussia in 1848 failed to unify Germany.
• The Austrian Empire faced nationalist revolts by Hungarians and Bohemians.
• Greece gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832.
• Belgium gained independence from the Netherlands in 1830.
• Poland's attempt to gain independence failed in 1830-31.
• Britain and Russia were spared nationalist revolutions.

Romanticism

• Philosophy challenged Enlightenment rationalism, emphasizing individualism, emotion, faith, and nature.
• Romanticism was linked to liberalism and nationalism.

Socialism

• Socialism challenged the bourgeoisie for mistreating workers during the Industrial Revolution.
• Advocated for a new social and economic order based on equality.

Congress of Vienna (September 1814-June 1815)

• Representatives of major European powers met to redraw territorial lines and restore the ancien regime's social and political order.

The "Big Four"

• Austria was represented by Klemens Von Metternich, he embodied the conservative reaction to the French Revolution.
• Metternich opposed liberal and reformer ideas because they threatened the multinational Habsburg Empire.
• England was represented by Lord Castlereagh, he sought to balance power by surrounding France with larger, stronger states.
• Prussia aimed to recover territory lost to Napoleon in 1807 and gain more territory in northern Germany, like Saxony.
• Tsar Alexander I represented Russia, he demanded a "free" and "independent" Poland with himself as its king.
• France became involved later, represented by Foreign Minister Talleyrand.

Principles of Settlement: Legitimacy, Compensation, Balance of Power

• "Legitimacy" meant to restore ruling families to power after revolutionary warfare: Bourbons were restored in France, Spain, and Naples, Dynasties were restored in Holland, Sardinia, Tuscany, and Modena, Papal States were returned to the Pope.
• “Compensation” meant to territorially reward states that sacrificed to defeat Napoleon, including giving England naval bases like Malta, Ceylon, and Cape of Good Hope, Austria recovered Lombardy, and gained Venetia, Galicia and Illyrian Provinces along the Adriatic.
• Russia was given most of Poland, with the Tsar as king, as well as Finland and Bessarabia (modern-day Moldova and western Ukraine), Prussia was awarded the Rhineland, 3/5 of Saxony, and part of Poland, Sweden was rewarded with Norway.
• "Balance of Power" involved arranging the map of Europe so that no state could upset the international order again.
• Encirclement of France was achieved by a stronger Netherlands, Prussia received Rhenish lands near the eastern French frontier, and Switzerland was guaranteed neutrality.
• End of the Habsburg Holy Roman Empire enhanced Austrian influence by creating the German Confederation (Bund) of 39 states, with Austria as the President of the Diet (Assembly), it maintained Napoleon's reorganization, and members remained sovereign.
• Sardinia (Piedmont) had territory restored, with the addition of Genoa.
• A compromise on Poland was reached with "Congress Poland," led by Alexander I of Russia as king; lasted 15 years.
• Only Britain remained a growing power after 1814.

Evaluation of the Congress of Vienna

• Successfully restored the European balance of power, and no world wars occurred between 1815 and 1914.
• Germany's unification in 1871 compromised the balance of power.
• It was more successful in stabilizing the international system than treaties in the 20th century.
• Liberals and nationalists criticized it for repressing reforms and nationalist movements and it underestimated new nationalism generated by the French Revolution.

Concert of Europe (1815-1850s)

• The concert lasted from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 until the Crimean War of the 1850s.
• It enforced the status quo defined by the Vienna settlement, and was highly conservative.
• It was essentially a crusade against liberalism and nationalism, Metternich was its primary architect.
• Two major provisions was the Quadruple Alliance and the Congress System.
• Quadruple Alliance: Russia, Prussia, Austria and England.
• It provided concerted action against any threat to peace or the balance of power.
• France was seen as a possible violator of the Vienna settlement and the alliance agreed that no Bonaparte should ever govern France.
• Austria used the alliance to defend the status quo established at Vienna against changes or threats and Liberalism and nationalism were seen as threats to the existing order.
• European international relations were initially controlled by meetings held by the Great Powers to defend the status quo and The principle of collective security required unanimity among members of the Quadruple Alliance.
• It worked effectively until the 1820s, and Britain withdrew in 1822 effectively killing the Congress system, because Britain disagreed with suppressing a liberal revolt in Spain.

The "Holy Alliance"

• Proposed by Alexander I in 1815, included Russia, Prussia and Austria.
• It was the first attempt to stop the growth of liberalism.
• It proposed that all monarchs sign a statement agreeing to uphold Christian principles of charity and peace.
• The plan proved to be overly ideological and impractical with few taking it seriously.
• Liberals saw it as an unholy alliance of monarchies against liberty and progress. Took it more seriously in eastern Europe as they squashed nationalism.

Conservatism and Repression

• Conservatism reacted to liberalism and was a popular alternative for those frightened by the violence, terror, and disorder of the French Revolution.
• It was embodied most by Klemens von Metternich of Austria and was supported by traditional ruling classes and peasants.
• The bourgeoisie constituted the biggest threat to the conservative status quo, it sought order in society and the state, faith and tradition.
• Edmund Burke: (1729-1797): Reflections on the Revolution in France Was one of the great intellectual defenses of European conservatism.
• He defended inherited privileges, especially those of the English monarchy and aristocracy, and predicted anarchy and dictatorship in France as a result of the French Revolution.
• He advised England to go slow in adapting its own liberties, denounced political philosophy based on abstract rights, and believed nations should be shaped by national circumstance, history, and character.
• Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821): His conservative views became a cornerstone of the Counter-Enlightenment, he believed in "divine right" of kings, Called for Bourbon dynasty restoration, believed the Pope should have worldly authority Rejection of Christianity by rationalist philosophy caused bloodshed.
• Austrian Metternich concerned about the Habsburg Empire’s multi-ethnic character, and nationalism in particular threatened to tear the empire apart.
• Repression by conservatives occurred between 1815 and 1849.
• Multi-ethnic composition of the Habsburg Empire made liberalism and nationalism more dangerous more dangerous
• Liberalism and nationalism often centered in universities during the first half of the 19th century.
• Carlsbad Diet in 1819 cracked down on liberalism in universities, driving it underground; materials advocating unification were censored.
• German Confederation (Bund) replaced the Holy Roman Empire, was to guarantee the independence of the 39 member states, it Preserved all German states domestic disorder, was Presided over by Austria, but Was ineffective throughout its existence.
• Prussia ruled by Hohenzollern dynasty, briefly after 1815, liberals saw Prussia as a leader of German liberalism, but the reforms improved efficiency of the gov't rather than promote liberalism Prussian gov't repressed liberal and nationalist movements.
• Conservative Tories controlled the British government. Corn Laws of 1815 halted cheaper foreign grains, they benefited landowners at the expense of population, and liberals were outraged and Parliament repealed habeas corpus and the press was brought under control .
• "Peterloo Massacre" of 1819 saw a pro-liberal crowd attacked by police, resulting in deaths and injuries.
• By 1820 England seemed to be moving becoming a repressive authoritarian state.
• France began as most liberal large state, Charter of 1814 established a constitutional monarchy under King Louis XVIII.
• “White Terror”: In 1815, royalist murdered Revolutionists, and in 1816 elections restored moderate royalists to power. Spanish Revolution was crushed in 1823, and in 1829 the heir to the throne was murdered and led to a crackdown on liberalism.
• King Louis XVIII shifted from moderate to conservative, and the Decembrist Uprising (1825) happened in Russia.
• Tsar Alexander I initially favored enlightened despotism, but after 1815 grew reactionary, and his death led to a power vacuum. Decembrists: (junior military officers): opposed autocracy supported popular grievances; led an upper-class against Russia's autocratic government, who sought to prevent Nicholas assumption of the throne, but Russia became a police state led Nicholas I and intellectual developed two camps: Slavophiles and Westernizers.

Liberalism

• Liberalism saw the individual as self-sufficient, and whose freedom and well-being were the sole reasons for society.
• Classical liberalism was reformist and political rather than revolutionary believed individuals were entitled to seek freedom in the face of tyranny, humans have "natural rights" that governments should protect, best guaranteed by a written constitution, and sought a republican form of gov't.
• Democrats were more radical than liberals, endorsing violence.
• Liberalism in Economics Included bleak future, and "dismal science."
• Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776) advocating economic individualism believed in Laissez-faire Argued economy worked more productively with individual rights was severely opposed to mercantilism.
• David Ricardo: "iron law of wages" plentiful supply of workers would keep wages low.
• Thomas Malthus: human population would outstrip food supply resulting in massive famines.
• Utilitarianism: founded by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832).
• Utility based on greatest happiness of greatest number Bentham promoted Poor Laws,
• John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859) Argued for "absolute freedom of opinion” to be protected from both gov't censorship and tyranny of the majoirty, and On the Subjection of Women (1867), advocated female rights.
• Liberalism inspired movements of the 19th century, revolutions in France and reforms in Britain.

Nationalism

• It sought to turn cultural unity into self-government, saw common language, history and traditions bring unity
• It was supported by liberals and democrats.
• Its immediate origins were in the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars.
• Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) believed in German nationalism, He saw every cultural group as unique possessing a distinct national character.
• He says no one culture is superior to another.
• His ideas led to the notion that every nation be sovereign and contain all nationality.
• Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814): as the “father” of German nationalism believed in German superiority and criticized Jews.
• National revolutionary movements; Spain (1820): A liberal revolution was crushed by French troops ,Naples (1820) was incited to revolution by secret liberal nationalist organizations and The Congress authorized Austrian troops.
• Piedmont Uprising was crushed by forces, Greece became concerned with the “Eastern Question": Which European countries would fill the void in the Balkans from the of the Ottoman Empire, where England, France and Russia accepted Greece's Christian appeal
• Treaty of Adrianople (1829): recognized Greek autonomy Signaling a shift from conservatism to nationalistic self-interest.
• Revolutions of 1830
  • Sparked by liberalism and nationalism against perceived conservative oppression.
  • France: July Revolution (1830), reactionaries sought absolutism, resulting in Louis Philippe (r. 1830-1848) and the “Bourgeoisie King."
  • Italy and Germany: outbreaks of liberal discontent, and temporary German state constitutions.

VII. Liberal Reform in England

• 1820-1830 saw reform-minded Tories such as George Canning and Robert Peel gain influence in the 1820s.
• allied with liberal Whig reformers.
• Britain abandoned Congres System in 1822 and reformed prisons, the criminal code civil rights to Catholics.
• Whigs Earl Grey formed new government in 1830, and reform occurred with the Reform Bill of 1832 and led to the supremacy of Commons.
• Labor Reform: Includes of Factory Act of 1833 with no child labor, The Poor Law, and "Poor Law"
• Chartists (radicals) in Britain demanded universal male suffrage People's Charter including also demanded secret balloting
• Corn Laws were repealed in 1846, and the Internal unrest was small compared to other countries, with Victoria peacefully.
• The Revolutions of 1848, was the most significant political event of the 19th century.
• Only and Russia avoided upheaval, liberals and conservatives could not gain the upper hand.

Revolutions of 1848

• It resulted in the end of serfdom Germany, parliaments established in German , and stimulated nationalism and They were the last of the revolts
• The "February Revolution", liberals were unhappy with government, and second French Republic arose with socialist with National workshops, and Abolished slavery but new elections created assembly.
• The election of 1848 saw Louis Napoleon became president of the Republic, and in 1852, he consolidated power became Emperor Napoleon III.
• Italy saw foreign domination end and Austrian rulers Lombardy and two Guiseppe Mazzini and forces.
• The Austrian Revolution was vulnerable to nationalism.
• There was to 1866 for autonomy, and restored absolutism.
• Germany also had French Revolution influence and a union . The selected Prussian King Frederick who rejected the that guaranteed of the gov't (which lasted 1918).
• He ended in failure the unifications, and the revolts lacked power as the revolts became .

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