18th-20th Century History PDF

**1688: Glorious Revolution** **For Scotland and Ireland:** the revolution represented and new level of bloody oppression and the imposition of an even more alien authority than that of Westminster. **The main reason** that led to the revolution was due to the protestant establishment's fear of ca...

**1688: Glorious Revolution** **For Scotland and Ireland:** the revolution represented and new level of bloody oppression and the imposition of an even more alien authority than that of Westminster. **The main reason** that led to the revolution was due to the protestant establishment's fear of catholic France + the mistakes of the final Stuart Kings (Anne Suart being the last one -- who became Queen of Great Britain and Ireland) **1707:** The **Acts of Union**, passed by the English and Scottish Parliaments (England and Scotland became one country), led to the **creation of a United Kingdom to be called "Great Britain"** on 1 May of that year. The UK Parliament met for the 1^st^ time in October 1700 = Political Union of England, Scotland and Ireland. **Jacobite Cause** **Jacobites:** counter-revolutionary. They sought to reverse the political changes that they saw as being forced upon Britain, that is, the so-called Glorious Revolution in which William of Orange had swept to power on a 'protestant wind'. They sought to reverse the changes mentioned above related to the Glorious Revolution by restoring previous order in their King James II and VII or in Latin **Jacobus (thus Jacobite).** How did England got involved? How bad things were for the establishment to invite a European ruler to invade the country? - England was on the brick of a civil war - Ireland was in open revolt - Scotland: the age of the forays (saques) meant the central highlands were in chaos 1. **The Stuarts (the wars of the 3 kingdoms, 1600-1685)** **Stewart:** comes from 'steward', a position that the dynasty occupied in its 1^st^ years. **Stuart Kings:** had ruled Scotland from 14^th^ century to 17^th^. The continental influence altered the family name for the French style "Stuart". **Religion** **Mid-16^th^ century:** paradigm shift = protestant reformation in Europe: Christian Church divided into catholic tradition and the new established protestant faith. **Reasons for the reform:** a. Invention of the printing press b. Martin Luther challenging the catholic tradition of indulgencies- pay to get into Heaven **Protestant belief:** austerity + piety + hard work brought one closer to God. Whether one was protestant or catholic it wasn't just about religion but politics, especially the rules of the Church state and Monarch in Christian Society. In Scotland these questions created divisions (Scottish royal family, the stewards, soon to be kings of Britain). Question of sovereignty would embroil the British wars in a century on endless wars and political contrivance that ultimately left the constituent nations welded together in under parliamentary and a monarchy. **James VI of Scotland (from 1567) later I of England and Ireland (from 1603):** - He was a protestant and wanted full political union of Scotland and England; - Wrote 2 Treatises on the role and status of the King, claiming the Monarch was bestowed with holy authority and thus answerable only to God himself. So, he declared that it was only natural that the law, parliament and population were subordinate to the crown, since they were mere mortals = principle named the **Divine Right of Kings;** - **The Union of Crowns, 1603:** James VI oversaw the binding of England, Scotland and Ireland together into a single throne, but each nation kept its own Parliament **Establishment of the Irish plantation under the rule of James I:** James wanted to annex Ulster in the North of Ireland, as an English protestant allotment (plantation of Ulster, 1609) forcing catholic gales from their lands and giving them to English and Scottish protestant landowners, known as settlers + anti-Catholic sentiment (term 'plantation': colonialist connotation; the ulster plantation was a result of the same idea = British racial and religious supremacy). The local inhabitants were forced into Indentured servitude (poor catholic families). **Rebellions occurred in Ireland:** Brutal campaigns of Oliver Cromwell decimated Gaelic Catholics and imbued the Irish population with a deep-rooted hatred of English authority. **1648:** Cromwell let his parliamentary army back to London; the quarrel was with the King of England = **Charles I,** (James's son), his insecurity drove him to call in Catholic French and Irish troops against his own people in a battle over the primacy of king or legislature -- he didn't win = imprisoned by the new model army + tried and executed for treason (**1^st^ known regicide** **of a sitting British monarch**). **Charles II:** was made King of Scotland in **1649**; joined his brother in exile in France. **Cromwell's Crew goal:** reforge England and by extension, Ireland and Scotland as a Republic with no king and ruled by the people. England under a republic with an extremist religiosity (puritanism). **1651:** **Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan** (concepts: social contract: those without power submit to the laws of the state in return for the state's protection; the war of all against all; natural rights of man in opposition to divine rights = the Stuarts are against Hobbes' ideas). **1658:** Cromwell's death -- the republican government of this British Commonwealth doesn't last long after; collapsed after a couple of years. Opportunity for the Cavaliers dream = the return of the king. Charles II was invited to take the throne, returning from exile = **Restoration.** He found a chasm of **sectarianism**: - **Catholicism:** belief in a divinely ordained authoritarian regime - **Protestantism:** more democratic system The majority of the population in Britain had long chosen the latter. Public opinion feared the return to a Catholic rule which led to open prejudice. British society was consumed with anti-Catholic hatred. **Royal Declaration of Indulgence, 1672** (by Carles II): The population could choose their faith with persecution. **1685:** death of Charles II. He is succeeded by his brother, James II of England and VII of Scotland, but he had converted to Catholicism, yet ruled a Protestant kingdom. This created the excluded crisis. During the last years of Charles' reign, the establishment tried to prevent that James took the throne and this argument birthed the 1^st^ modern political parties: 1. **The Wigs:** opposed James 2. **The Tories:** didn't like him but at least acknowledge his legal claim to the throne 2. **The Glorious Revolution (1685-89)** The establishment only accepted James's coronation because his protestant daughter Mary was next in line (he was very extreme against protestants). However, James Francis Stuart was born and replaced Mary as an heir and was baptized catholic. For the public and the establishment, the heir represented their fears = his father James was trying to make Britain Catholic again and subjugate England to its nemesis, France. How to remove a sitting monarch without civil war, bloodshed or violence? The other great power in Europe this time, was the Dutch-led union protestant and catholic nations opposed to France and its despotic monarch, Louis XIV. It was to the leader of this alliance, the Dutch state holder and prince of orange that the English establishment turn to sort out their problems. William Henrique (of Orange) was part Stuart but also James's II son in law having married his protestant daughter (he was too) -- queen Mary provided the legitimacy of a Stuart monarch. A group of noblemen that came to be known as "the immortal seven" conceived a proposal whereby William would be 'invited to invade' and the British army would pretend not to notice (without consultation of Ireland and Scotland). William, as most European leaders of the time, was primarily concerned with establishing a viable defense against a totalitarian might of catholic France -- keeping France at bay would require enormous armies. William accepted the invitation and assembled an enormous invasion fleet, the largest ever seen, to invade England. His landing was on **11^th^ 1688** and faced no resisting forming a 'popular uprising'; many officers had no problem with letting a foreigner usurper the throne if he rid them of their despised catholic monarch. James left London with the intent of leading his forces to meet the invading army to the north east -- this was not the case, including his key officers abandoned him and defected to William. James made plans to leave the country and his cousin Louis XIV of France offered safe harbor for a deposed catholic monarch but before he attempted to escape, he was captured and placed under arrest. However, his situation was very different from his father, he was basically allowed to escape captivity twice, William wanted him to leave the country and, given what happed last time, no one wanted his persecution or captivity = there was no public trial or execution unlike his father. James successfully fled to France, holding exile there. William was crown William III (his wife, Mary II) = **new protestant monarchy**. There was no resistance from the population because they'd rather have a protestant Dutch than the catholic French. Foreign Dinasty from now on holding the British Thrones, leaving the Scottish Royal Family in exile. Covenanters (puritanical extremists) intended on removing any catholic influence on Scottish society and the Wigs (the main British political party at the time) allied with him since their values aligned = reinforcement of protestant values along the British Isles. The Scottish allies of the Wigs were the **Campbells**. - **Williamites:** enablers of the Glorious Revolution - **Jacobites:** wanted King William gone and James Restored (some Tories were against William) By now the sectarianism was even more complicated by subdividing into **Presbyterian** and **Episcopalian** worship -- versions of Protestantism and Catholicism that diverge on whether the church should be quasi-democratic or rules by bishops. 3. **The Jacobites (1689-90)** **March 1689:** James II landed on Ireland with French troops to take command of Irish Jacobite army, taking Dublin, with the intent to fight his way to the north coast and from there invade Scotland. Many clans still perceived William as illegitimate. The Jacobites didn't face a military leader they could rally, until John Graham, Lord of ClaverHouse (informally Dundee) -- cast aside by the new regime. The Scottish establishment feared his arrival because he was a man many highlanders would listen and take inspiration from. Him + 50 Jacobites declared themselves in solidarity with the Jacobite Cause **= 1^st^ public demonstration of resistance to William.** **1689: The 1^st^ Jacobite Rising:** Scottish Jacobites intent -- prepare Scotland for James invasion from Ireland by weakening the government forces. Graham assembled a fighting force from very different highlands (Jacobites of the '89 + Irish troops). The government sent troops to quell this rebellion leading to a battle in Scotland between the 2 sides. The 1^st^ battle for the Jacobite cause was won, Dundee was dead, though. It seemed irrelevant but the Jacobite cause was never the same without his leadership. The Jacobites eventually dispersed to the glens. In Scotland the 1^st^ round of the Jacobites Rising was now over. James Irish Campaign saw him establish control of the majority of the country, calling a new Parliament and providing a brief period of happiness for the Irish Catholic population. However, his plan to continue north to Scotland had hit an obstacle -- Ulster. The descendants of the protestant settlers introduced to the area by James I put up such fierce resistance that his grandson couldn't capture it. He was then forced into a defensive war to hold Ireland. Meanwhile, William needed the Jacobites in Ireland to be dealt with as soon as possible so he could fight the French without distraction. **14^th^ July, 1690:** William landed in Carrick Fergus fighting is way South to meet James's forces = **Battle of the Boyne.** William won. Defeated, it meant the Irish Jacobites only option was to retreat to Limerick where they were besieged by William Forces and finally worn down. This forced the rebels to sign the **Treaty of Limerick = ended the Irish Jacobite Threat.** The Jacobites in the Scottish Highland were the only ones remaining -- not a threat like the one of the Irish rebels so William leaves to the Government while he focused his attention back to France. This gave way too much power to the Government and William would rely on what his Scottish advisers told him was happening there. **Video 2: The Act of Union** The Union of the Crowns lasted until William's invasion. Scots wished for the dissolution of this union and joined English Rebels. William and his Wigs acolytes searched to defend the British Isles from another Stuart Restoration and he wanted a Union even closer **Jacobite Risings: 1708, 1715, 1719** 1. **War without end -- Europe** a. **The Sun King** End of the 17^th^ century: the conflict was between catholic France and allied European power of the league of Augsburg (Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Britain and Spain) against the expansionism of Louis XIV (Borbon dynasty). Reason for war: clashing political philosophies. In France there were 2 rival dynasties the Borbon and the Habsburgs. France was such a powerful nation under the control of Louis XIV because he transformed into a military industrial superpower through its enormous army (had the most population in Europe) + wealth of the Borbon dynasty (Catholic reign of Louis and like James I, he was a proponent of the divine right of kings). It was his form of government that the Jacobite sought to restore to Britain. The increasing rise of Parliament was seen as a threat to this ideology of a divinely chosen monarch. By 1678, he was the most powerful monarch in Europe. French expansionism (annexations through violence) was a threat to all nations but particularly to the countries of the protestant reformation. The Habsburgs didn't tolerate Louis catholic dictatorship coming to rule all of Europe -- it endangered the freedom constructed under Protestantism in other countries. France was the only mean the Jacobites could threaten William's reign. Without the French army, there weren't enough in England to fight against the British army. Through the old alliance between Scotland and France the door lay ajar for James II to return in a Jacobite Uprising backed by Louis army. Louis had provided him asylum because the aims of the Jacobite Cause aligned with his (=removal of William of Orange). **The Grand Alliance** In response to renewed French aggression, William sought an alliance between the Dutch Republic, England and the Habsburgs monarchies (league of Augsburg), then joined by Savoy and Catholic (Habsburg) Spain. The reason why William accepted the invitation of the immortal seven was because he wanted to control the British army and tax its population to fund this war. By 1697 his taxes on the 3 Kingdoms were paying 45% of William's multinational Army and he increased the size of Briain's standing armies. He transformed the British military in less than 20 years, which led to the emergence of Britain's power in European Wars. 2. **The nine years war/War of the Grand Alliance/of the League of Augsburg (1688-97)** **September 1688:** Louis set his sights on more territories along the Holy Roman Empires (Germany). Without declaring war, he crossed the river Ry and marched into territory known as Palatinate. The emperor Leopold joined the Dutch Republic declaring war on France = the Nine Years War began. **1694:** Mary II died which meant William had lost his claim on the English and Scottish thrones. This led to Mary's sister, Anne, the last protestant Stuart heir to the throne according to the **1689 Bill of Rights** (she had only one son who was sick, William, Duke of Gloucester, and if he died there were no more Protestant Stuarts in line). **1697: Peace of Ryswick --** collective name for Treaties ending the 9 years' war, this restored a great deal of territory gained by France in 1688 and demanded that Louis recognized William and not the exiled James as the rightful ruler of the British Kingdoms (which he did, at least for a while). It was a victory for the Grand Alliance. Another problem that arose for William and the Habsburgs: After Carlos II of Spain death, in line with his wishes, Louis Grandson, Philip of Anuj was to inherit the Spanish throne as Philip V breaking the Habsburg encirclement of France and expanding Louis catholic dominion with the military of the Spanish Empire. Determined to maintain a Habsburg grip on the Spanish Peninsula, Leopold insisted that his son and not Philip should be on the Spanish Throne and William sought a peaceful agreement to restore the Spanish Crown to the Habsburgs. Louis alliance with Catholic Spain was a threat to Protestant nations. The Jacobites in England and Scotland were other problem because they didn't recognize him as legitimate and made plans to facilitate James' invasion and to assassinate William. 1. **James and the Jacobites** Jacobites procure a **2^nd^ Stuart Restoration** which became a way for nationalist goals in each of the Three Kingdoms. In London there were Protestants, Jacobites and Catholics that refused to pay alliance to William as soon as James and his son lived. The Jacobites did well in the Scottish elections and had more members in the Parliament. The exile of James was so expensive that resentment was start to be felt among the French. James was oblivious to this and was determined to reestablish Catholicism as the Church of the Three Kingdoms of the British Isles. Most English Jacobites advocating pardon for those who had aided William on the reasoning that Neutrals (those that didn't oppose the Glorious Revolution) would be less inclined to support a 2^nd^ restoration if it meant they might be executed. **Compounders**: Jacobites than had this moderate approach (less extremists). **Non-Compounders:** Those who favored a campaign of conversion to Catholicism and bloody retribution against all those perceived to be **Williamites**. **1691:** Louis decided to invade Britain as he controlled the English Chanel. James made plans for his return marching to England with the Jacobites. James knew William was losing popularity in Britain due to his high taxes. There was a murder plot to assassinate William, but it was discovered. The Jacobite Cause endured though. 2. **No Return (Darien)** 3. **Ill Years** Darien, place in Panama where it was New Calonia, Scotland's own plantation. While a Free Trade Arrangement had at first existed between Scotland and England, in reality, commerce with England was anything but free. The Restoration of the Stuarts in 1660 had seen Scotland regain its political independence but little in the way of financial security (ex: Navigation Acts). Jacobites considered what they called **King William's ill years** (poor harvest, famine and disease) as punishment for God for the Glorious Revolution. The Dutchman's coup and the Declaration of war on France in 1688 had had the effect of disrupting traditional Scottish commerce with continental Europe -- it was restricted to France and England. The systematic economic repression was a result of the English Merchant Class reluctance to seed their rapidly growing economic agency, especially not to the Scots -- a descriptor the English establishment used pejoratively in the same way that they did Irish. The gales of Irish and Scotland were considered lesser, subhuman people, there to be civilized by English Dominion -- a racist and colonialist way of thought shared in the new political class in London and Edinburgh. In Ireland, Gales were subject to increasingly discriminatory laws. William's reign had given the Scottish more freedom and independence from the crown, the Scottish Parliament in 1693 passed an act to encourage foreign trade. **Cavaliers:** Jacobites that gained greater representation in Parliament. **The Whig majority:** was paralyzed by feuding factionalism. To combat the Cavaliers, William installed the Duke of Queensbury to ascending roles culmination in Lord High Commissionaire, but he wasn't able to quell the Jacobites. **7 ill years of famine (1691-98):** 2 failed harvests + poor yields = bad situation in Scotland, poorest population in Europe \*\*\* **1701-1714: The War of the Spanish Succession** Conflict arising from the disputed succession to the throne of Spain after the death of the childless Charlos II. When Philip took the Spanish throne as Philip V, his grandfather [Louis XIV](https://www.britannica.com/summary/Louis-XIV-king-of-France) invaded the Spanish Netherlands. The former anti-French alliance from the War of the [Grand Alliance](https://www.britannica.com/summary/War-of-the-Grand-Alliance) was revived in 1701 by Britain, the Dutch Republic, and the Holy Roman emperor, who had been promised parts of the Spanish empire by earlier treaties of partition (1698, 1699). The English forces won a series of victories over France (1704--09), including the **Battle of Blenheim**, a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession, a combined Dutch and English army defeats France in Bavaria and which forced the French out of the Low Countries and Italy. **1708:** The **Planned French Invasion of Britain**, took place in March during the [War of the Spanish Succession](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Spanish_Succession). Hoping to divert [British](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Great_Britain) resources from [Flanders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanders). Once landed on Scotland, they would help local [Jacobites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobitism) restore [James Francis Edward Stuart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart) to the throne of Great Britain. In **1711** conflicts within the alliance led to its collapse, and peace negotiations began in **1712**. The war concluded with the **Peace of Utrecht (1713)**, which **marked the rise of the power of Britain at the expense of both France and Spain**. **1714:** **beginning of Georgian Era**; Hanoverian succession -- Queen Anne dies. George I of Hanover succeeds her (a ruler that doesn't speak English) which gave the pro-Hanoverian [Whigs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whigs_(British_political_party)) control of government for the next 30 years. The new king dismissed the Tory ministers, some of whom had plotted with James III (1688--1766), the Old Pretender, and threw in his fate with the Whigs, who quickly began to drift back to their old policies by trying to revive the Grand Alliance with Vienna and The Hague and thus jeopardized the Utrecht compromise. **1715: 2^nd^ Jacobite Rising** = the attempt by [James Edward Stuart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart) (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of [England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_England), [Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Ireland) and [Scotland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Scotland) for the exiled [Stuarts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Stuart). The Jacobite rising of 1715--1716 further exacerbated relations with France. If the instability of both the British and French regimes threatened to cause them to drift apart in 1715, it ultimately also stopped them from coming to blows and from destroying the Utrecht system. In the end, the Utrecht compromise propped up both the Hanover Succession and the position of the Regent in France. It stipulated French support for the Protestant Succession and the exclusion of the Catholic Stuarts from the line of succession. **1717:** The Triple Alliance was a [defense pact](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_pact) signed on in [The Hague](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hague) between the [Dutch Republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Republic), [France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_France) and [Great Britain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Great_Britain), against [Bourbon Spain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_Spain) in an attempt to maintain the agreements of the 1713--15 [Peace of Utrecht](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Utrecht). The three states were concerned about Spain becoming a [superpower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpower) in Europe. As a result, [militarization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militarisation) took place and caused great havoc to civilians. That enraged Spain and other states and led to [brinkmanship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinkmanship). The alliance became the [Quadruple Alliance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadruple_Alliance_(1718)) the next year, after the accession of [Holy Roman Emperor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Emperor) [Charles VI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VI,_Holy_Roman_Emperor). Through the alliance, Britain and France, who had led the opposing coalitions during the War of the Spanish Succession The alliance treaty marked the beginning of a cooperation between the 2 leading powers of Europe to uphold the system of Utrecht which would last for almost a quarter-century. At the same time, it formed one of the earliest instances of great powers assuming the role of guarantors of the balance of power and peace of Europe. **1719: The Last Jacobite Rising of 1719** was a failed attempt to restore the exiled [James Francis Edward Stuart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart) to the throne of [Great Britain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Great_Britain). Part of a series of [Jacobite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobitism) risings between 1689 and 1745, it was supported by [Spain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlightenment_in_Spain), then at war with Britain during the [War of the Quadruple Alliance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Quadruple_Alliance). Jacobite leaders felt the failed revolt had so undermined the [Stuart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Stuart) cause that it had ended any real prospects for their restoration. **1721**: Robert Walpole becomes first Prime Minister. **1727:** George I dies and is succeeded by George II. **1733**: 10 Downing Street is first occupied by the prime minister. **1739**: Britain declares war on Spain in the 'War of Jenkins' Ear'. A British captain, named Jenkins, had his ear cut off by Spanish sailors -- Britain declared war in retaliation. **1756-63:** British and French Seven Years War begins, also called the French and Indian Wars (the 1^st^ truly global war). Some of the British were American and both the British and the French were supported by American Indians -- the British were fighting the Austrians and the French the Prussians. Why the war? Land -- British colonists wanted to expand land west of the original 13 colonies, a land that was held by the French. But the war wasn't really about the land, but an old friend trade. The British wanted to expand into the American interior to allow for more colonists because the British benefited from both the export of raw materials from the Americas and the importer of British consumer goods to the Americas (so: more colonists = more trade = more wealth). The French realized that this maritime trade was making Britain so rich that the British might come might come for France's actually valuable colonies which were not in the continental US but those slave-based sugar plantations in the Caribbean. The fighting began here and while the British didn't send over actual British troops, much of the early fighting was done by colonial militias. In the Caribbean, there was a lot of fighting between the French and the British over sugar colonies. The nawab signed a treaty with the East India Company -- thereafter, the British had effective control over trade in Bengal and the French were excluded from it which the British a decisive advantage over the French and eventually allowed them to control all of India. Since the French kept losing battles, they eventually lost the war. Important to mention, native Americans liked the French much better for several reasons, mainly because they supported the rebels in the 13 North-American colonies, France had stood up for liberty, democracy and fraternity (even though in remained an absolute monarchy). **Peace Treaty, 1763:** signed in Paris, limited the presence of the French in the Caribbean, in India and North America = France was weakened. The French were bankrupt because of the war. However, the aristocrats grew even wealthier while the poor and middle-class paid all the tax collected to support the wars. Meaning that in 1789, France was in crisis. **1789: French Revolution** **Context:** in the 18^th^, this was the revolution that changed the face of modern politics across Europe and the World. It overturned the longstanding French system of monarchical government and introduced the ideas of liberty, fraternity and human civil rights to modern political practice. Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI wife, was the daughter of Maria Theresa of the Habsburg Empire and sister of its current ruler = powerful marriage that technically should secure stability to the country. But she was a big spender who had trouble relating to the poor. France was indeed broke and its reform-minded ministers tried to revise the tax system so that the church and the aristocracy could have to pay at least some taxes. There was a group of judges, the Parlement, refused to register this. Meanwhile, the backs refused to provide the Crown with additional loans = **financial crisis**. In response to this crisis, Louis VI was forced to summon the Estates-General (group of representatives of the clergy -- 1^st^ state + aristocracy + 2^nd^ estate + ordinary people -- 3^rd^ estate). Members of the 3^rd^ estate protested that their one vote as a group would always be beaten by the two votes of the 1^st^ two states -- they protested on a nearby tennis court, declaring themselves the National Assembly and claiming to represent all French people better than the Estates General did = the **Tennis-Court Oath (20^th^ June)**, where the representatives swore that they would not disband until that had constructed a nation of individual citizens. **14 July:** **Storming of the Bastille** -- the beginning of the revolution. When the people of Paris captured a 14^th^ century gothic prison known as the Bastille. **Summer of 89:** Paris was in turmoil. The people had been suffering from food shortages (bad harvests = many families couldn't afford to eat) and from the weight of taxes used to pay King Louis XVI's vast debts. So, they found themselves in the midst of unprecedented political turmoil caused by the opening of the state's general, France's Parliament, for the 1^st^ time in more than 100 years. But what really stirred them was the fact that, since the beginning of June 89, Louis the 16^th^ had concentrated troops around Paris. The sense of menace that the militarization of the city caused a march to the 'Hotel des Invalides', where Parisians looted firearms and canons. However, the weapons required gunpowder and this was stored in the Bastille (also a symbol of the monarchy's ability to imprison anyone arbitrarily). So, the marches went to the prison to grab the gunpowder. In the countryside, peasants took over chateaux and destroyed aristocratic titles to land. After arriving at the prison and negotiating with its governor, Parisians burst into an outer courtyard and a pitch battle erupted. By the time it was over the people of Paris had freed prisoners held in the Bastille and taken the governor captive. However, 100 citizens and 8 prison guards were killed. Soon too, the governor and 3 of his officers would not only be killed but beheaded by the crowd (and their heads were then paraded through the streets!) = **Bastille Day** A necessary moment for the unfolding of the French Revolution, the spark that forced the king to begin concessions and emboldened the people´s movement to overthrown him. The events of July 14^th^ are the most dominant symbol of the people bringing down a despotic government. In 1789, the Bastille was not only a prison but also an archive holding the documents of the Parlement of Paris, of the King's household and of the Parisian police. Scattered after the fall of the fortress, large parts of the archive were recovered. Realizing the importance of the Bastille archives, the Paris Commune appealed to the citizens to return any papers they might have in order to help document the future trial of royal despotism. The citizens of Paris answered promptly and 600.000 pieces were returned. So, in 14^th^ July 89, the people of Paris seized not only a prison, but also control over their own historical memory. **7 August 89:** Terrified aristocrats met and surrendered their privileges as feudal lords. The National assembly then elaborated a series of decreets declaring feudal society had come to an end. **26 August 89:** the Assembly passed the **Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen**, a document that protected property, ensured trial by jury and guaranteed free speech which also included freedom of religion. It also stated that the power of the monarch flowed not from some divinity, but from the nation, and to that end, the Assembly proceeded to draw up a constitution, making the monarchy a constitutional one. **5 October 89:** market women from Paris marched to **Versailles** in the so-called **Women's March** to bring the King and the royal family to Paris where they could be monitored by the people. The royal family was unharmed but some members of the royal circle were violated, mutilated and murdered. Aristocrats began to flee the country. **1791:** The Royal Family tried to flee the country, but they were caught. Meanwhile, the war broke between the revolutionary France and Austria and Prussia who were intent on crushing the revolution and putting the royals back in full control (their relatives were on the French throne, but also because monarchs like monarchy). As the **republic** began to take shape, so did political parties, they arranged themselves in the assembly hall so that republicans, who wanted to do away with the monarchs entirely sat on the **left** and the **monarchists** sat on the **right**, rest of the parties in the **center** (how politics from today come from). - **Jacobin Club:** the most influential political party during the French Revolution, that was to the left, but it some broke into several factions that were on the center, left and radical left. The **Society of the Friends of the Constitution**, renamed the **Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality** after 1792, known as the **Jacobin Club** or **Jacobins**. The period of its political ascendancy includes the [Reign of Terror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror), during which well over 10,000 people were put on trial and executed in France, many for political crimes. Initially founded in 89 by [anti-royalist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_monarchy) deputies from [Brittany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Brittany), the club grew into a nationwide [republican](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republicanism) movement. Amid this changes, women were claiming their rightful place as citizens to match the official expressions of equality and rights for all. In **1791**, **Olympe the Gouges** publish the **Declaration the Rights of Women**, stating explicitly women's equality with man. Women participated in political clubs and successfully pushed for laws that ended men's power over the family. As war advanced women also lobbied for the right to serve in the army. **1792:** The Parisens masses, threated by the approach of foreign royal armies took extreme action = they invaded the Parisian palace where the royal family lived and forced new elections for a National Convention. **Fall of 92**, further violence produced the abolition of the French Monarchy. **January 1793:** Once the convention had declared France a republic, **Louis XVI was executed** after a narrow vote. A new instrument of execution called **guillotine** carried out a 'bloodbath' against many supposed enemies of the people. **Maximilien Robespierre:** with the king dead and the church abandoned, the Jacobins under Robespierre leadership, committed the nation to a so-called **Reign of Virtue** and complete obedience to Rousseau's idea of the general will of the people, despite all those ideas agreed upon in the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Meanwhile, the **Committee of Public Safety** presided over the **'Terror'** in which people from all classes were executed in the name of supporting the nation through **purges** of enemies of the general will -- The **Reign of Terror** was a period of the [French Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution) when, following the creation of the [First Republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Republic), a series of [massacres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre) and numerous public [executions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment) took place in response to revolutionary fervor, [anticlerical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-clericalism) sentiment, and accusations of [treason](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason) by the [Committee of Public Safety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_of_Public_Safety). Among this were, in the **fall of 1793**, **Marie Antoinette**, Olympe de Gouges and other well-known women. Spies and traitors were seen to be lurking everywhere, especially in women's political clubs and anywhere women congregated. Women seen in public were said to be threats to the revolution. But as French soldiers begin to win their wars abroad, people tired of revolutionary bloodshed and mounted an effective opposition. **Counterrevolutionary uprisings** and activism by moderates led to the overthrown and the execution of Robespierre and closest allies. **1795:** new factions headed by a conservative Government called **the Directory** (a 5-member committee) -- it inspired the French army to spread revolution to other parts of Europe. The army was enthusiastic for a good reason: the revolution's anti-aristocratic spirit allowed for ordinary soldiers to become officers (before only allowed to noblemen). One such commoner was named **Napolean Bonapart**, and with other newcomers, he took revolution across even the low countries, German States and even into Italy. But even without French armies advancing it, the revolution was erupting. But **Enlightenment** ideas of freedom continued to spread. The French Revolution is so important because it consolidated the idea that the nation is composed of citizens (mainly men) -- a fraternity that replaced a kingdom where the monarch ruled his subjects = huge change for Europe and eventually the world, it helped usher the idea of nation-states and that within those states, the most important people are the citizens. In this context, enthusiasts of freedom flocked to France from Europe, like **William Wordsworth**. On the contrary, the British statesman and thinker **Edmund Burke** lamented the rapid change and attacks of traditional institutions and the abandonment of accumulated wisdom from past ages. His theories launched conservative political ideology in the revolution's aftermath. The revolution was in fact extremely violent and in many cases replaced poverty with poverty. But for the moment, Revolutionary ferment remained alive, exemplified by the writings of the English journalist **Mary Wollstonecraft** who witnessed the revolution first-hand by going to Paris and she defended the quote "rights of man" in a 1791 book and in **1792** published **"A Vindication of the Rights of Women"**. The work compared the women of her day to the aristocracy (little educated, ignorant). Lacking any rational skills, in Wollstonecraft's formulation women were like aristocrats, conniving and manipulative instead of being skilled and open like Emile, in the Rousseau novel. To end this lower condition, women needed education and legal protection of their person and their property = legal equality. **Outcome of the revolution =** set of values including the rule of law, the right of free speech and the ownership of property rather than the nation's foundation being a king or a religion. However, in the end, an absolutism government was replaced by an absolutist government. **The French Revolutionary Wars** **1792-1802:** A series of military conflicts resulting from the [French Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution). [France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Republic) against [Great Britain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Great_Britain), [Austria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburg_monarchy), [Prussia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Prussia), [Russia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire), and several other countries. The wars, initially confined to Europe, gradually assumed a global dimension, and are divided into **two periods:** **1^st^: The [War of the First Coalition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_First_Coalition)** (1792--1797): The key figure in initial foreign reaction to the [French Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution) was Holy Roman Emperor [Leopold II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor), brother of Queen [Marie Antoinette](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette) of France. On **27 August 1791**, Leopold and the King [of Prussia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_William_II_of_Prussia) issued the [**Declaration of Pillnitz**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Pillnitz), which declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe in the well-being of King [Louis XVI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XVI) of France and his family, and threatened consequences if anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw the Pillnitz Declaration as a non-committal gesture to placate the sentiments of French monarchists and nobles, it was seen in France as a serious threat and was denounced by the revolutionary leaders. **1793:** Spain and Portugal entered the anti-French coalition in January. Britain began military preparations in late 1792 and declared that war was inevitable unless France gave up its conquests, notwithstanding French assurances they would not attack Holland or annex the Low Countries. Britain expelled the French ambassador following the [execution of Louis XVI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Louis_XVI) and on 1^th^ February, France responded by declaring war on Great Britain and the [Dutch Republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Republic). **2^nd^:** **The [War of the Second Coalition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Second_Coalition)** (1798--1802) **1798-1800: The Quasi-War** -- at the time was also known as \"The Undeclared War with France,\" was an undeclared naval war between the United States and France; limited naval war against French privateers who were seizing U.S. shipping in the Caribbean. The Quasi-War is significant as the first seaborne conflict for the newly established U.S. Navy. **Nov 9, 1799 -- Jun 28, 1815 Napoleonic era** Napolean, although growing up poor, managed to have a scholarship to a military academy. Since he grew up in Corsica, as a kid he only spoke Corsican and Italian, and only started learning French later (he was bullied over his accent and 'tininess'). Entered the army as a 2^nd^ lieutenant in 1785 and began to rise through the ranks during the years of the revolution. By 1793, he was a brigadier general working under the Committee for Public Safety. In 1798, he crossed into Egypt with an entire army at his command, aiming to disrupt Britain's access to India. In 1799, he had to returned to France as his army and navy were defeated by the British and the Egyptians. Napolean helped to overthrow the **Directorate** in **1799** and quickly became the **First Consul,** and took as 1^st^ task, mending fences with the catholic church. **Brumaire** was the 2^nd^ month in the [French Republican calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar) (created during the revolution and implemented by the French Government from 1793 to 1805). The month was named after the French *brume* \'fog\', which occurs frequently in France at that time of the year. It started between 22 October and 24 October, ending between 20 November and 22 November. In political usage, it refers to the [coup of 18 Brumaire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_of_18_Brumaire) in the year VIII (9 November 1799), by which General [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France) overthrew the government of the [Directory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Directory) to replace it with the [Consulate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Consulate). He agreed to the **Concordat of 1801,** which reorganized Catholicism as the primary French religion, which secured him the support of one France's most important institutions. In **1802\***, he had himself declared **'Consul for life'** and in **1804, Emperor** (=dictator). During the French Revolution, leaders promoted the ancient roman idea of 'virtu' (=the sacrifice of personal interest for the republic) -- Napolean continued that Republic imagery but switched it from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. The **Napoleonic laws/code** restricted women's rights. He also created a police state with strict censorship and restored monarchical system of aristocratic titles (he was returning to Louis XIV's absolutism). His plans were not only for France, he wanted to conquer and colonize all Europe and British Isles -- **1803-1815, Napoleonic Wars + Napolean's plans to invade Britain**. He fought alongside the large army. He conquered German and Austrian territory. By **1806**, he had ended the Holy Roman Empire after defeating Austria in several battles, most thoroughly at the **Battle of Austerlitz in 1805**. He went on to defeat Prussia in 1806 and Russia in 1807 after they declared war on France in succession. He applied the Napoleonic codes in all the territories he conquered since he wanted a unified Europe. Napolean's European ambitions inspired a lot of nationalism among his new subjects, who mostly opposed his dictatorial regimes. Napolean's goal was to colonize the entire continent, and he had mostly succeeded, but Spain was still unconquered and preventing his continental system when in 1807, he struck with a huge army and Spanish and Portuguese royals both left their capitals. Napolean installed yet another brother as king and resistance swelled with help from the British and **Arthur Wellesley**, who would later become the **Duke of Wellington**. June 1812: beginning of the invasion of Russia. The European forces took noticed of the fragilized Emperor forces and formed a coalition (Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden), and in **1813**, their armies, backed by British financing, defeated French forces at Leipzig. This battle continued because Napolean refused to accept the allies' terms, which would initially allow him to continue to rule France. Instead... **1814:** Earlier that year, he abdicated and headed for **exile on Elba = 1^st^ Abdication of Napolean**. A year later (1815) he escaped, returned to France, gathered an army and confronted the powers once more, finally **surrendering on 15^th^ July 1815 after being defeated at Waterloo = Battle of Waterloo** (Wellington defeats Napolean) + **2^nd^ abdication** (lived in exile thereafter). The creation of a truly citizens army endured and the Napoleonic codes were imitated worldwide. \*March 27, **1802:** **Treaty of Amiens (Peace of Amiens):** Peace between Britain and France are -- doesn't last long; an agreement signed at [Amiens](https://www.britannica.com/place/Amiens), by [Britain](https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Kingdom), [France](https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-France), [Spain](https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Spain), and the [Batavian Republic](https://www.britannica.com/place/Batavian-Republic) (the Netherlands), that temporarily ended hostilities and achieved a peace in Europe for 14 months during the [Napoleonic Wars](https://www.britannica.com/event/Napoleonic-Wars), at the end of the [War of the Second Coalition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Second_Coalition). It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars. Under the treaty, Britain recognized the French Republic. The consequent peace lasted only one year (18 May 1803). The treaty, beyond confirming \"peace, friendship, and good understanding\", called for example Britain to give up most of its recent conquests, because, by the terms of the treaty, Britain surrendered almost all the territories she had acquired during the war; France was to evacuate [Naples](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Naples) and [Egypt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt_Eyalet). France also didn't want to accept the economical clauses of England. **1803: End of the Peace of Amiens and renewal of war with France** -- Britain ended the uneasy truce created by the Treaty of Amiens when it **declared war on France in May 1803**. The British were increasingly angered by Napoleon\'s re-ordering of the international system in Western Europe. Britons felt insulted when Napoleon stated that their country deserved no voice in European affairs, even though King [George III](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_III) was an [elector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince-elector) of the [Holy Roman Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire). Britain was laboring under a sense of loss of control, as well as loss of markets, and was worried by Napoleon\'s possible threat to its overseas colonies. **Economic reason:** Napolean never stopped having agreements with Britain. The treaty had economical rules and there is something that Napolean rejects -- no attack but an economic treaty he didn't want to sign it -- leads to the breakdown of the peace of Amiens -- rejects the commercial clauses. **Episodes that test this peace:** British general that publishes an essay by this time when Napolean had recuperated Egypt -- essay: What would we do if we want to take Egypt again? -- giving evidence of military force, of how easy it would be -- Putting pressure to sign the economical part + Malta is going to be the final drop -- they both reclaim Malta (Britain took advantage of the Malta issue by refusing to follow the terms of the Treaty of Amiens that required its evacuation of the island). During all this period we have the countries that always rejected revolutionary France that ally each other (**allies: the ones that reject the French revolution**). Napolean is going to fight them off in the mainland but also colonies. Eventually under the notion of spreading the French revolution 3 values, defends the notion that they should take over. **1805:** besides the Batlle of Austerlitz, there was also the **Battle of Trafalgar** -- was a [naval engagement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_engagement) between the [British Royal Navy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Royal_Navy) and the combined fleets of the [French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Navy) and [Spanish Navies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Navy) during the [War of the Third Coalition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Third_Coalition) (August--December 1805) of the [Napoleonic Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars). As part of [Napoleon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon)\'s plans to invade the [UK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland), the French and Spanish fleets combined to take control of the [English Channel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Channel) and provide the [Grande Armée](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arm%C3%A9e) safe passage. They encountered the British fleet under [Lord Nelson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Nelson). Lord Nelson\'s fleet defeated the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar, but Nelson is killed. **1807: The Treaty of Fontainebleau** was a secret agreement between Spain and France for the partition of Portugal. In that Treaty, Spanish King Charles IV and Napoleon I outlined a proposed partition of Portugal as part of Napoleon\'s ongoing attempt to isolate England. **Background:** After his attempt to invade Great Britain in 1806 failed, Napoleon decreed a [Continental Blockade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_System), which prohibited trade of British products throughout the European continent. Portugal, a traditional ally of England, refused to obey him. In order to invade Portugal, Napoleon required a route for his ground troops through Spain, necessitating a treaty with that country. During this year, there was also the **Abolition of Slade Trade** -- it was only after many failed attempts that the slave trade in the British Empire was abolished. However, slaves in the colonies (excluding areas ruled by the East India Company) were not freed until 1838 -- and only after slave-owners, rather than the slaves themselves, received compensation. **1807-14: Peninsular War** -- was the [military conflict](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War) fought in the [Iberian Peninsula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberian_Peninsula) by [Portugal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Portugal), [Spain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain) and the UK against the invading and occupying forces of the [1^st^ French Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Empire) during the [Napoleonic Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars). Aided by their Spanish and Portuguese allies, the British held off superior French numbers before winning a series of victories and driving them out. The [war](https://www.britannica.com/topic/war) in the Peninsula did interest the British, because their army made no other important contribution to the war on the continent between 1793 and 1814; the war, too, made the fortunes of the British commander [Arthur Wellesley](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arthur-Wellesley-1st-Duke-of-Wellington), afterward duke of Wellington. **War of 1812 between the US and the UK:** conflict fought between the US and Great Britain over British violations of U.S. maritime rights. The commercial restrictions that [Britain's war with France](https://www.britannica.com/event/Napoleonic-Wars) imposed on the U.S. exacerbated the U.S.'s relations with both powers. Although neither Britain nor France initially accepted the U.S.'s neutral rights to trade with the other---and punished U.S. ships for trying to do so. The ascendance of certain pro-French politicians in the U.S. and the conviction held by some Americans that the British were stirring up unrest among Native Americans on the frontier, set the stage for a U.S.-British war. The U.S. Congress declared war in 1812. It ended with the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty of Ghent. **September 1814 -- June 15:** **Congress of Vienna** -- a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon). Participants were representatives of all European powers. The objective of the Congress was to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe. Securing a balance of power in Europe was the UK\'s main objective at the Congress of Vienna. Hence her support for Talleyrand and France. This balance lasted until WWI when Austria Hungary imploded. **1815:** The **Treaty of Paris** of 1815, also known as the **Second Treaty of Paris**, was signed on 20 November 1815, after the defeat and the [2^nd^ abdication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdication_of_Napoleon_(1815)) of [Napoleon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon) Bonaparte. In February, Napoleon had escaped from his exile on [Elba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elba), entered Paris on 20 March and began the [Hundred Days](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days) of his restored rule. After [France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Empire)\'s defeat at the hands of the Seventh Coalition at the **[Battle of Waterloo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo):** 18 June 1815, near [Waterloo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo,_Belgium), marking the end of the [Napoleonic Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars). A French army under the command of [Napoleon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon) was defeated by 2 armies of the [Seventh Coalition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Coalition). One of these was a British-led force with units from the [UK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland), the Netherlands, [Hanover](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Hanover) and others under the command of [Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_1st_Duke_of_Wellington). It was also the second bloodiest single day battle of the Napoleonic Wars. [Napoleon abdicated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdication_of_Napoleon,_1815) four days later, and coalition forces entered Paris on 7 July. The defeat at Waterloo marked the end of Napoleon\'s Hundred Days return from exile. It precipitated Napoleon\'s 2^nd^ and definitive abdication as [Emperor of the French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_of_the_French), and ended the [1^st^ French Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_French_Empire). It set a historical milestone between serial European wars and decades of [relative peace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_relations_of_the_Great_Powers_(1814%E2%80%931919)), often referred to as the **[*Pax Britannica*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Britannica)\* -**  (Latin for \"British Peace\", modelled after [*Pax Romana*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Romana)) refers to the relative peace between the [great powers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_powers) in the [time period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_relations_(1814%E2%80%931919)) roughly bounded by the [Napoleonic Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars) and [World War I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I) (1815-1914). During this time, the [British Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire) became the global [hegemonic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony) power, a period referred to as **Britain\'s \"imperial century\"**. **Post Napoleonic Depression** After the end of the [Napoleonic Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars) in 1815, there was an [economic depression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_slump) in Europe and the US , accompanied by chronic [unemployment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment) and harvest failure due to the [Year Without a Summer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer), and worsened by the [Corn Laws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Laws), passed due to the agricultural depression in England and Wales and which kept the price of bread high. After 1815, a brief boom in [textile manufacture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacture_during_the_Industrial_Revolution) in England was followed by periods of chronic industrial economic depression, particularly among textile weavers and spinners (the textile trade was concentrated in [Lancashire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire)). At the same time, the Corn Laws (the 1^st^ of which was passed in 1815) exacerbated the situation. They imposed a [tariff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariff) on foreign grain in an effort to [protect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectionism) English grain producers (agricultural landowners). The cost of food for working people rose as people were forced to buy the more expensive and lower quality British grain, and periods of famine and chronic unemployment ensued, increasing the desire for political reform both in Lancashire and in the country at large. At that time, only around 11% of adult males [had the right to vote](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffrage), very few of them in the industrial north of England. [Radicals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radicals_(UK)) identified parliamentary reform as the solution, and a mass campaign to petition parliament for [manhood suffrage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhood_suffrage) gained ¾ of a million signatures in 1817 but was rejected by the [House of Commons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Commons_of_the_United_Kingdom). When a 2^nd^ slump occurred in early 1819, Radicals sought to mobilize huge crowds to force the government to back down. The movement was particularly strong in the north-west, where the Manchester Patriotic Union organized a mass rally in August 1819, addressed by well-known Radical orator [Henry Hunt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hunt_(politician)). **16 August 1819:** **Peterloo Massacre** -- took place at [St Peter\'s Field](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Peter%27s_Square,_Manchester), Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. "The bloodiest political event of the 19th century in English soil": despite its peaceful start, 18 people died and 400--700 were injured when [cavalry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry) charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who had gathered to demand the **[reform](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Acts) of [parliamentary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_system) representation, right to vote, freedom from oppression and justice**. James Wroe, editor of the Manchester Observer, was the first to describe the incident as the \"Peterloo Massacre\", coining his headline by creating the ironic portmanteau from St Peter\'s Field and the Battle of Waterloo that had taken place four years earlier (The \'Peter\' part of the name came from the location of the event in St Peters Fields, and the \'loo\' part coming from the Battle of Waterloo, fought against France in 1815). The London and national papers shared the horror felt in the Manchester region, but Peterloo\'s immediate effect was to cause the Tory government under [Lord Liverpool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jenkinson,_2nd_Earl_of_Liverpool) to pass the [Six Acts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Acts), which were aimed at suppressing any meetings for the purpose of [radical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radicalism_(historical)) reform. For some time, Peterloo was commemorated only by a [blue plaque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_plaque), criticized as being inadequate and referring only to the \"dispersal by the military\" of an assembly. In 2007, the city council replaced the blue plaque with a red plaque referring to \"a peaceful rally\" being \"attacked by armed cavalry\" and mentioning \"15 deaths and over 600 injuries\". In 2019, on the 200th anniversary of the massacre, Manchester City Council inaugurated a new [Peterloo Memorial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterloo_Memorial), featuring 11 concentric circles of local stone engraved with the names of the dead and the places from which the victims came. **Englishness and the Role of the colonizer in Britain: the Easter Rising** **Reform in Britain (1815-1848)** After the reformation, many people believed that religious unity under the church of England was essential to maintain peace. Parliament only gradually removed restrictions on worship outside the Church of England, as well as the role of non-Anglicans in political life. Roman Catholics were subject to the greatest suspicions. The Act of Union (The Acts of Union 1800 were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) brought Irish MPs to Westminster, but despite the fact that Catholics formed the majority of the Irish population, they could not become MPs. Nationalist leader and lawyer **Daniel O'Connell** formed the **Catholic Association** to campaign for greater political rights. In 1828, County Clare by-election, he won a large majority, forcing the Government to pass the **Catholic Emancipation Act/ Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829**, which allowed Catholics to sit as MPs and take public office and removed the [sacramental tests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_test) that barred [Roman Catholics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholics) in the UK from [Parliament](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom), but reduced the number of Irish peasants entitled to vote. In 1858, Jews were allowed to sit in Parliament, and in 1888, following a campaign by atheist Charles Bradlaugh, those of any religion or even Atheists could too. Convinced that the measure was essential to maintain order in Catholic-majority Ireland, [the Duke of Wellington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_1st_Duke_of_Wellington) helped overcome the opposition of the [King, George IV](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_IV_of_the_United_Kingdom), and of the [House of Lords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords), by threatening to step aside as [Prime Minister](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom) and retire his [Tory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tory) government in favor of a new, likely-reform-minded [Whig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whigs_(British_political_party)), ministry. **Circumstances that led to The Reform Act of 1832** **Parliament = House of Lords** (hereditary nobility and church leaders) **+ House of Commons** (it was elected, but there was very limited suffrage -- there were property requirements not only to vote but also to hold office). So, the House of Commons was dominated by **landowners**. **Question of representation:** the thing complicating it were the 'rotten boroughs' (parliamentary district; unit of representation). With the Industrial Revolution the population shifted (rural shift) and basically Britain during this time did not 'recount' the population there, so these rotten boroughs were areas with almost no population due to these shifts, but that weren't counted as so, they still had a MP, while big/industrial cities like Manchester, that had received more citizens, had the same representation that they had before the industrial revolution = UNFAIR -- Rural areas being more represented than urban areas. **Political parties that sprouted up at this time:** **Tories** -- become the **Conservatives**, that represented the landed gentry (rural districts) + **Whigs** -- evolved into the **Liberals** (liberalism: more about adopting free trade, which does not enrich the land), represented the emergent class of businessman. So, the 'rotten boroughs' allowed the Tories to control Parliament, so they got to pass laws like the **Corn Laws** (1815, a conservative effort; protective tariff on foreign wheat/corn to protect the prices of it in England = to make sure the landowners would make money -- they are rich people with big farms). Therefore, **these laws were enriching rich people and expensing everyone else.** **Before 1832:** Only 1 in 12 males could vote nor even a wealthy factory owner could (they had to have a certain amount of land in order to vote). The 1^st^ people to agitate for the vote are not the working class but the class of people that owns the factories -- Whigs trying to cut down the rotten borough system VS the Tories, trying to hold it up. The landed class is trying to defend this while the industrial class is trying to cut it down. **1831**: The **1^st^ Reform Bill** was authored by then prime minister Charles Grey (a liberal himself), 2^nd^ Earl Grey, and was introduced into the House of Commons in March by John Russell; it passed by 1 vote but did not pass in the House of Lords. An **amended Reform Bill** passed the Commons without difficulty the following October but again failed to pass the House of Lords, creating a public outcry in favor of the bill, followed by riots, agitation and serious disturbances in London, Birmingham, etc. **Ex:** Petition from South Shields, County Durham, 31 August 1830 -- they held a meeting in their town hall with the purpose of discussing to petitioning Parliament about reform. The town wanted to be able to elect their own MPs. They debated the wording of a petition and made it available in the town hall and in shops so that all classes of people could sign it. When a Reform Bill passed the Commons but was thrown out in the Lords on an amendment, Grey in desperation proposed in May 1832 that King William IV grant him authority for the creation of 50 or more Liberal peers---enough to carry the bill in the still-obstinate House of Lords. William refused, and when Grey threatened to resign as prime minister, the king called in the duke of Wellington to try to form a new government. When Wellington tried and failed, the king yielded to Grey and pledged the authority for the creation of new peers. The threat was enough. The **Bill passed in the House of Lords** and it became law 4 June 32. **Reform Act of 1832 is passed:** redistricting to reflect the population shifts and the rotten boroughs no longer exist + suffrage for urban middle class, it lowers the property requirements, so they don't longer have to own land and be quite as rich. Instead of 1 in 12, 1 in 6 adult males can vote = twice as many people eligible to vote = change in the voting system. However, there are still a lot of people who are disenfranchised and there is no suffrage for the working class. **1833: Act for the Emancipation of Slaves --** The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was an [Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Parliament) of the [Parliament of the UK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom) which provided for the gradual abolition of [slavery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery) in most parts of the [British Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire). Passed by [Earl Grey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grey,_2nd_Earl_Grey)\'s reforming administration, it expanded the jurisdiction of the [**Slave Trade Act 1807**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_1807) and made the purchase or ownership of slaves illegal within the British Empire, with the exception of the Territories in the Possession of the [East India Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company). **Factory Act for child workers:** In 1833 the determination within Parliament to regulate factory conditions had strengthened. To a large extent it was driven by the battle for political reform (which resulted in the famous 1832 Reform Act), and by the anti-slavery campaign. Campaigners did not hesitate to compare the treatment of mill-workers, including children, with that of slaves. The Government passed this Act to improve conditions for children working in factories. Young children were working very long hours in workplaces where conditions were often terrible. However, the passing of this act did not mean that the mistreatment of children stopped overnight.  **1834: Poor Law Act** -- a new Poor Law was introduced. Some people welcomed it because they believed it would: - reduce the cost of looking after the poor - take beggars off the streets - encourage poor people to work hard to support themselves The new Poor Law ensured that the poor were housed in workhouses, clothed and fed. Children who entered the workhouse would receive some schooling. In return for this care, all in the workhouses would have to work for several hours each day. However, not all Victorians shared this point of view. Some people spoke out against the new Poor Law, calling the workhouses 'Prisons for the Poor'. The poor themselves hated and feared the threat of the workhouse so much that there were riots in northern towns. **1837: Accession of Queen Victoria** **1838-1849: Chartist Movement -- The Chartists** While the Reform Act in 32 expanded suffrage, it didn't create democracy -- not really a goal back then. Both conservatives and liberals are concerned with the protection of property and the Act of 32, the requirements of property were lowered -- still no suffrage for the working class -- as citizens too, they felt they should be able to vote too. One of the most vote working class movements in the early 19^th^ in England was the **movement of the Chartists** and conservative leaders resisted working class agitation -- the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 (named after the battle of Waterloo; a working-class protest -- the government get rid of it by calling the cavalry, who charged into the protest). At 1^st^ the government is very hostile to this movements. **1830s: The People's Charter** = make the government more accountable to the common people of Britain. The Chartists were operating mainly between 1838-50, and were working class activists and agitators who supported the People's Charter. **Chartism** was defined by 6 points: 1. **Universal Male Suffrage** 2. Equal-sized electoral districts 3. Voting by **secret-ballot** 4. No property qualifications for MPs (everybody should be eligible to run for Parliament) 5. Pay for MPs (before this Parliament wasn't paid so one had to be wealthy to serve in Parliament, besides those property requirements) 6. Annual elections of Parliament = direct democracy What they wanted: Democratic Reform = more democracy (both 'parties' are scared of democracy because the working class is not concerned with the protection of property). This People's Charter is a huge petition movement and in 39 got 1.3 million signatures but the House of Commons did not accept the petition. Therefore, from 1838 to 1848 these charters start to do demonstrations, that sometimes turned violent -- riots, blows with the police, clash between chartists and military. **1843:** Disruption of the Church of Scotland/Great Disruption **10^th^ April 1848: Chartist Rising/Great Chartist Meeting** (large peaceful demonstration) -- the advertisement of the meeting actually asked for 'peace and order is our motto' showing the chartists learnt their lesson, but also demanding protection to their labor. The attendance was very large. The first 5 points on the Charter happened, but the 6^th^ didn't. In the short term, the demands of the Chartists were not acted upon but in the long term everything, including annual elections, took effect. There was no mass radical or revolutionary event following the failure of the 1848 petition. The Chartist movement faded away, and cautious craft unions came to dominate the workers' movement. There was never another Chartist petition and there was no working-class revolution in Britain. The reason there's not a big revolution in 1848 in England is because even though the Parliament didn't act in the Chartist's petition, they saw they had to do some things, so instead acting upon their petition, they passed 3 laws during time that were helpful in quelling the agitation. One of those was the **corn laws repealed in 1846**. - With the corn laws the prices went up, which enriched the landed gentry at the expense of everyone else in the country. At this time, liberalism was gaining steam and liberals believe not in protection but free trade, which is concerned not with the producer but with the consumer, because free trade makes sure the consumer will pay the lowest price. So, in the early 19^th^, there's the formation of the **Anti-Corn Law league** (alliance between liberals and radicals). Both wanted lower grain prices, the radical opposition to have cheaper food, and the liberal opposition (the factory owners) to pay workers less. **1845-49:** The last straw for the Corn laws will be the **Irish Potato Famine** (period of starvation and disease that constituted a historical [social crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_crisis)). In Ireland 30% of the population is gone, some to death, some to immigration to Britain and US. **Question:** how can Parliament keep the price of corn high when people are still starving -- getting rid of the Corn Laws wasn't going to do a lot to end this Famine. Sir Robert Peel (leader of a Tory conservative government) decided he wanted to repeal the corn laws -- he was using the Irish Potato famine as an argument to make people support him. The bill was passed over the opposition of his own party but he relied on the other parties (liberals and radicals). He knew that he wasn't going to be the prime minister after this and that happened -- few days later he had to resign. **Reform from above will reduce radical agitation.** With Statesmen like Peel, Britain is avoiding what happened all over the rest of Europe in 48 = **reform is better than revolution**. Basically, Parliament was willing to pass modest reforms which saved Britain from revolutionary upheavals. Peel and politicians like him wanted to at least acknowledged the existence of working people. Ultimately, workers just wanted more money and food, not a revolution. **Frederik Engles (German):** a Marxist that wrote ***The Condition of the working class in England*** (**1845**; he focused on both the workers\' wages and their [living conditions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_condition) and argued that the industrial workers had lower incomes than their pre-industrial peers -- this proved to be a very wide-ranging critique of [industrialization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrialization)) and the ***Communist Manifesto*** (**1847**; a political pamphlet that outlines the relationship between the means, mode and forces of production changes in society\'s economic [\"base\" affect changes in its \"superstructure\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_and_superstructure)) with Karl Marx are disappointed with this. They though England would be the place of a proletarian violent revolution instead it doesn't happen -- a violent revolution is not necessarily what the working class wants, they just want a government that doesn't ignore them. In the beginning of 19^th^ in Britain, reform is what is going to happen rather than radical agitation. **29^th^ July 1848: Irish/Famine Rebellion or Young Irelander Rebellion** -- failed Irish nationalist uprising led by the **Young Ireland Movement** part of the wider [Revolutions of 1848](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1848) that affected most of Europe. After being chased by a force of Young Irelanders and their supporters, a Royal [Irish Constabulary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Irish_Constabulary) unit (=RIC the police force in [Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland) from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the [UK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland), was under the authority of the [British administration in Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Castle_administration)) took refuge in a house and held those inside as [hostages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostage_crisis). A several-hour gunfight followed, but the rebels fled after a large group of police reinforcements arrived. **1854:** Charles Dickens, *Hard Times* **1857:** The Indian Mutiny **1859:** Darwin, *Origin of Species* **1867:** Karl Marx, *Das Kapital* **1869: Irish Church Act** -- an [act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Parliament_(UK)) of the [Parliament of the UK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom) which separated the [Church of Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Ireland) from the [Church of England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_England) and [disestablished](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disestablishment) (separation of church and state) the former, a body that commanded the adherence of a small minority of the population of [Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland) (especially outside of [Ulster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster)). The act meant the Church of Ireland was no longer entitled to [collect tithes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_for_Tithes_(Ireland)_Act_1823) from the people of Ireland. It also ceased to send [representative bishops](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Irish_representative_peers) as [Lords Spiritual](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_Spiritual) to the [House of Lords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords) in [Westminster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster).  **1870: First Irish Land Act** -- fixed tenure, fair rents, free trade; **Elementary Education Act** (for all) **+** The ***Home Government Association*** was formed, calling for an Irish parliament by [Isaac Butt](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Butt), a Protestant lawyer who popularized "Home Rule" as the movement's slogan. **1871: Trades Union Act** (legal status of unions regularized) an [act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Parliament_in_the_United_Kingdom) of the [Parliament of the UK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom) which legalized [trade unions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unions) for the 1^st^ time in the [UK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom). **1872: Ballot Act** -- an [act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Parliament_(UK)) of the [Parliament of the UK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom) that introduced the requirement for [parliamentary and local government elections](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_United_Kingdom) to be held by [secret ballot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot) (= secret voting). **1873: Irish Universities question** (debate over the establishment of a Catholic university in Ireland) -- Irish University Bill= all religious requirements for students in all colleges would be abolished. **+** the **Home Rule League** replaced the association and the leadership of Butt which considered moderated, being replaced for an aggressive one, leaded by **Charles Stewart Parnell.** **1879: Land War:** Onset of agricultural depression; the Irish National Land League formed The Irish Parliamentary Party leader Charles Stewart Parnell was elected president, with veteran Fenian Michael Davitt, appointed as honorary secretary. Their objectives were the reduction of rack-rents and to "facilitate the obtaining of the ownership of the soil by the occupiers." The entire Executive would be arrested and held in Kilmainham Jail in late 1881 where they issued the "No-Rent Manifesto", which launched a campaign of generally passive resistance in an effort to bring down the 1881 Land Act. This resulted in a certain degree of success in the form of the Kilmainham Treaty between Parnell and William Gladstone, the British Prime Minister in which the Land Act would be expanded to cover tenant farmers in arrears in exchange for the No Rent campaign to end. **The Home Rule movement **was a movement that campaigned for [self-government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devolution) (or \"home rule\") for Ireland within the [United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland). It was the dominant political movement of [Irish nationalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_nationalism) from 1870 to the end of [World War I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I). **1885:** the Prime Minister William Gladstone was converted to Home Rule, but it was rejected in Parliament in **1886;** **1893:** Gladstone introduces a **2^nd^ Home Rule Bill** rejected by the House of Lords **-- Lords Independent Labour party** founded; **Parnell:** born in 1846 right at the beginning of the Great famine in Ireland and was a landlord in a country of poor tenant farmers and was a protestant in a land where most people were Catholic but to these people, he was a hero, who called him **'the uncrowned King of Ireland'**. Despite coming from a privileged background, as a child he witnessed terrific scenes of people starving which influenced him. Despite being a landlord himself, he believed the relationship between landlords and tenants in Ireland was flawed and that tenants needed to be given security. He didn't like the attitude of England toward Ireland. In 1870, Sir Isaac Butt founded the **Home Rule Association**. Parnell was also aware of the Fenian activity and the anger that existed in the aftermath of the Great Famine. At 1877, he became **President of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain and Ireland**. Outside of Parliament, he joined forces with a political activist, Michael Davitt and in 79, they founded the **Land League** to fight for better rights for Irish tenant farmers and Davitt made him president of the League. By the early 1800s, a second potato famine caused fears, which fueled violent attacks on landlords and the Land League developed a policy of boycotting any farmer who evicted tenants. Parnell supported this and encouraged absolute isolation of landlords who evicted farmers unfairly. This activity inside and outside Ireland pressurized the British Prime Minister Gladstone into passing the **2^nd^ Land Act of 1881**, important to farmers but it didn't give them much advance. However, there was a serious advance on the **1^st^ Land Act of 1870** as it gave farmers the right to rent, to fix rents and to buy out their holdings. He was arrested in October 1881 in result of his speeches. In this year, there was the **"No-Rent Manifesto"**, a document issued in Ireland, by imprisoned leaders of the [Irish National Land League](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_National_Land_League) calling for a campaign of passive resistance by the entire population of small [tenant farmers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenant_farmer) (campaign of generally passive resistance to bring down the 1881 Land Act), by withholding rents to obtain large rent abatements under the [Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Law_(Ireland)_Act_1881). The intention being to \"put the Act to the test\" and prove its inadequacy to provide for the core demands of the tenants. In 1882, Parnell agreed a secret with Gladstone **(Kilmainham Treaty)** where Parnell agreed he would use his influence to quell the violence in the countryside and Gladstone promised to have the courts look into a rent reduction. However, the treaty almost collapsed a month later due to the **Fenians Park murders** and Parnell was largely blamed for these murders and for the inspiring rhetoric. He continued to build alliances with the Liberal Party in London and managed to have the **3^rd^ Land Act passed** in August **1882**. On this year, he also took over the leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party. This together with his role as President of the Land League made him the leader of Irish nationalist. In the following years, he united the Party into a powerful force in Westminster and created an alliance with the Liberal Party in England. The Irish party won 85 seats in the 1885 election which balanced the power in Westminster. Parnell used this to force the Liberal Party to introduce the 1^st^Home Rule of 1886. A major advance in Irish politics, a recognition that Ireland was a separate state. In the immediate term, the bill was defeated by a combination of conservatives and unionist liberals. In **1890**, Captain William O Shea, a fellow MP filed for divorce and named Parnell as his wife's lover. The affair caused the British Prime Minister Gladstone and the Catholic Church in Ireland to turn against Parnell (sexual scandal) and his opponents used the affair to undermine the nationalist cause. In this year, he lost a vote of confidence in his own Party which caused him to lose the leadership of the party. He formed another party, the Irish National Federation, but was never able to match his own party. He is one of the most inspiring figures of Ireland but at the same time a tragic figure both because he died at the age of 45 in 1891, and he didn't live to see the developments his efforts would provoke in the nationalist cause. **1901:** Death of Queen Victoria **1912:** **3^rd^ Irish Home Rule Bill** passed by the Commons -- its introduction in 1912 inflamed the militant opposition of both Unionists and Republicans in Ireland; **1913:** **Irish Home Rule Bill passed** by the Commons and twice rejected by the Lords; Threat of civil war in Ireland. **1914: The Ulster Crisis**; Passing of the Irish Home Rule, the bill became law Sept. 18 (suspended for the duration of WW1). The **Home Rule Crisis** was a political and military crisis in the [United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland) that followed the introduction of the [Third Home Rule Bill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Ireland_Act_1914) in the [House of Commons of the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Commons_of_the_United_Kingdom) in 1912. Ulster was the center of opposition to Home Rule where [Unionists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unionism_in_Ireland), determined to prevent any measure of [Home Rule for Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Home_Rule_Movement), formed a paramilitary force, the [Ulster Volunteers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Volunteers), which threatened to resist by force of arms the implementation of the Act and the authority of any Dublin Parliament. [Irish nationalists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_nationalism) responded by setting up the [Irish Volunteers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Volunteers) \"to secure the rights and liberties common to all the people of Ireland\". From 1912 to 1914 a variety of events strengthened Unionists' Ulster resistance. On 28^th^ September 1912, 500.000 people signed the Ulster Covenant and Woman's Declaration to resist the implementation of Home Rule Parliament in Ireland. **1916:** **Easter Rising/Easter Rebellion --** an armed [insurrection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection)/uprising (the 1^st^ armed conflict of the [Irish revolutionary period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_revolutionary_period)) in [Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland) during [Easter Week](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Week) in April 1916. The Rising was launched by a coalition of [Irish republicans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_republicans) against [British rule in Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_rule_in_Ireland) with the aim of establishing an independent [Irish Republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Republic) while the United Kingdom was fighting the [First World War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World_War). They seized the opportunity to establish an Irish Republic while Westminster was preoccupied with the war overseas. Organized by a seven-man Military Council of **the [Irish Republican Brotherhood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Republican_Brotherhood)**, the Rising began on [**Easter Monday**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Monday), 24 April 1916 and lasted for six days. Members of the [**Irish Volunteers**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Volunteers), led by schoolmaster and Irish language activist **[Patrick Pearse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Pearse),** joined by the smaller [Irish Citizen Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Citizen_Army) of [James **Connolly**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Connolly) and 200 women of **[Cumann na mBan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumann_na_mBan) **seized strategically important buildings in [Dublin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin) and [proclaimed the Irish Republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_the_Irish_Republic). Irish tricolor hoisted outside captured General Post Office in Dublin. Patrick Pearse, the Volunteers\' Director of Organization, reads the Proclamation aloud from the GPO steps. Smaller actions take place in Galway, Meath, and Wexford. The week-long battle engulfs Dublin city and some of its most famous buildings The predominantly Dublin-based battle saw over 400 die, most of whom were civilians. On 29 April, under heavy bombardment from British artillery, the rebels flee the GPO. Realizing the hopelessness of their situation, the rebel commanders surrender on 30 April. When the rebels surrendered, its leaders were executed. The executions had a profound impact of the mythology of republicanism and helped reinvigorate a radical Nationalist challenge to the Irish Parliamentary Party, contributed to an increase in popular support for Irish independence. **1919-21 Irish War of Independence/Anglo Irish-War**, between IRA\* and the British Army, part of the [Irish revolutionary period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_revolutionary_period). In April 1916, [Irish republicans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_republicanism) launched the [Easter Rising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising) against [British rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_rule_in_Ireland) and [proclaimed an Irish Republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_the_Irish_Republic). Although it was defeated after a week of fighting, the Rising and the British response led to greater popular support for Irish independence. In the [December 1918 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_Irish_general_election), republican party [Sinn Féin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinn_F%C3%A9in) won a landslide victory in Ireland. On 21 January 1919 they formed [a breakaway government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_D%C3%A1il) ([Dáil Éireann](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A1il_%C3%89ireann_(Irish_Republic))) and [declared Irish independence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Independence_(Ireland)). That day, two RIC officers were killed in an [ambush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soloheadbeg_ambush) by IRA volunteers acting on their own initiative. The conflict developed gradually.  **1920:** After years of conflict, the **Government of Ireland Act/Fourth Home Rule Bill** was passed on 23^th^ December and partitioned Ireland, with the 6 counties of Ulster (which had a Protestant majority) becoming Northen Ireland and the remaining 26 counties becoming Southern Ireland (basically a system akin to Home Rule was established in the six counties of Ulster). The act addressed several issues: the establishment of 2 parliaments (north and south), the Council of Ireland, power to establish a single parliament for the island of Ireland and Section 5 of the act prohibited the introduction of any laws that give a preference or disadvantage on account of religious belief. **1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty** -- With the Ulster Question seemingly resolved through the creation of the Northen Ireland Parliament, the British Government turned its attention to securing a peaceful settlement in the South. Both sides agreed to seize fire in July 1921. Irish representatives in London for the signing included Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith. The end of the Irish War of Independence and the beginning of the Irish Free State. It provided for the establishment of the [Irish Free State](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Free_State) within a year as a self-governing [dominion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion) within the \"community of nations known as the [British Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire). It also provided [Northern Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland) an option to opt out of the Irish Free State, which was exercised by the [Parliament of Northern Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Northern_Ireland). **1922-1923: Irish Civil War,** a conflict that followed the [Irish War of Independence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_War_of_Independence) and accompanied the establishment of the [Irish Free State](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Free_State) between the Provisional Government of Ireland and the Irish Republican Army which opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty. This Treaty caused a spilt in the Republican movement, leading to a civil war, between pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty forces. Collins led the pro-Treaty government forces against De Valera's anti-Treatyites for almost a year with up to 927 people losing their lives. The uneasy coalition of interests, which had continued the republican movement and Sinn Féin at the time was fractured. The Provisional Government (that became the Free State in December 1922) supported the terms of the treaty, while the [anti-Treaty opposition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish_Treaty#D%C3%A1il_debates) saw it as a betrayal of the [Irish Republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Republic) proclaimed during the [Easter Rising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising) of 1916. The Civil War was won by the pro-treaty [National Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Army_(Ireland)), who first [secured Dublin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dublin) by early July. The conflict left Irish society divided and embittered for generations. Today, the three largest [political parties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland) in [Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ireland) are direct descendants of the opposing sides in the war: [Fine Gael](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_Gael), from the supporters of the pro-Treaty side; [Fianna Fáil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fianna_F%C3%A1il), the party formed from the bulk of the anti-Treaty republicans by [Éamon de Valera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89amon_de_Valera); and [Sinn Féin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinn_F%C3%A9in), comprising the minority of anti-Treaty republicans who refused to join any partitionist party. **Concepts:** **1. Fenian**, member of an Irish nationalist [secret society](https://www.britannica.com/topic/secret-society) active chiefly in [Ireland](https://www.britannica.com/place/Ireland), the US and Britain, especially during the 1860s. The name [derives](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/derives) from the Fianna Eireann, the legendary band of Irish warriors led by the fictional [Finn MacCumhaill](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Finn-Irish-legendary-figure). The society was founded in the US by [John O'Mahony](https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-OMahony) and in Ireland by [James Stephens](https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Stephens-Irish-writer) (1858). **Plans for a rising against British rule** in Ireland miscarried, but the American Fenians staged abortive raids across the border into British Canada in **1866, 1870, and 1871** and were a cause of friction between the US and British governments.The Irish wing of the society was sometimes called the **Irish Republican Brotherhood**, a name tha