4-2: Reaction & Revolution

Reaction and Revolution
• The Congress of Vienna (Sept 1814)
o Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia
o Met to restore order after Napoleon
Restoration of the monarchy
o Rearranged to keep the balance of power
Kept any one country from dominating Europe
o Led by Von Mitternich, the Austrian foreign minister
• The Conservative Order
o Leaders in the Congress were believers in conservatism
Based on tradition and stability
Organization is essential
Avoided resolution of problems
o Concert of Europe - meetings of the great powers to maintain power
o They adopted a principle of intervention
Any country could send armies into another country to stop rebellion & reinstate the monarch
Every country but agreed Britain
• Forces of Change
o Liberalism – a philosophy based on Enlightenment ideals
People should be free from restraints
Pushed for the protection of basic rights for all people, or civil liberties
• Freedom of speech, press, etc
• Equality under the law
• Rights should be outlined in a document like the Bill of Rights
• Wanted religious toleration
• Separation of church & state
Wanted constitutional monarchy
• King + legislature to make laws
Did not believe in democracy
• Gives power and votes to the middle class
o Nationalism – a movement based on the people’s awareness of being part of a community or nation
Bonded by commonalities
People are loyal to the nation, not a dynasty or other unit
Became popular after the French Revolution
Other countries found nationalism
• German states wanted to become unified
• Hungarians wanted their own rule
Became a threat to existing political order
• Conservatives worried
Became tied to liberalism and reached a wider audience
o Revolutionary outbursts began in 1830, influenced by liberalism and nationalism
Successful
• France: liberals kicked out Charles X and put a new king, Louis-Philippe, on the throne
• Belgium: rebelled and became an independent state
Not
Poland: tried to rebel, beaten by Russia
Italy: defeated by Austria
• The Revolutions of 1848 – liberal and national forces grew & clashed with conservative governments
o France – influenced other revolutions
Causes:
• 1) economic problems
• 2) middle class wanted the right to vote
• 3) government wouldn’t make changes
Govt was overthrown by republicans (people who wanted France to be a republic)
• Set up a provisional (temporary) gov’t
o Set up a group to write a new constitution
o Opened workshops to employ the jobless, which bankrupted the gov’t so they were shut down
o Workers got upset and rioted, were defeated & sent to prison
• Nov 4, 1848 – new constitution set up a republic
o Gov’t elected by universal male suffrage (all adult men can vote)
New president – Louis_Napoeeon
o Germany
German Confederation: 38 independent German states (including Austria & Prussia)
• To calm cries for change, rulers promised lots of things
• The Frankfurt Assembly, an all-German Parliament, was set up to write a constitution for a united Germany
o It failed because the Assembly couldn’t force rulers to accept it
o Central Europe
Austrian Empire was a multinational state
Revolutionary groups from several of the smaller countries inside it pushed for independence
• Hungary got its own legislature
• Bohemia pushed for its own gov’t
• Both areas were eventually subdued
o Italy
9 states set up in Italy – some of them were controlled by Austria
A revolt broke out in 1848 to try and make a unified liberal Italy
• Defeated by the Austrians