Nationalism and Romanticism: Post-Napoleonic Europe

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the political and cultural developments in Europe following the Napoleonic Wars, focusing on the rise of nationalism, the Congress of Vienna, and mid-19th-century French revolutions.

Nationalism

The political expression of romanticism that draws upon feeling, sentiment, and the untouchable rather than logical argument.

Congress of Vienna

A meeting of major countries represented after Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo to resolve the "Napoleonic mess" and prevent future revolutions.

Balance of Power

A principle used by the Congress of Vienna to create a Europe filled with large nations that would oppose each other so that no one nation should be overpowerful.

Cultural Nationalism

The idea that sharing a language, culture, values, and native spirit unites people of the same nation.

Brothers Grimm

Linguists who collected folk tales because they believed fairy tales preserved the "true spirit of the people" among the peasants after German culture was colonized by the French.

Political Nationalism

The inherently revolutionary idea that a nation can only truly develop if it has its own state.

Leopold von Ranke

A German historian and father of modernist history who argued that Europe's greatness was due to the coexistence, interplay, and competition of several distinct nations.

Fichte

An intellectual who gave a famous speech in 1806 attacking the Napoleonic ideology and arguing that individual genius can only emerge in a nation.

Mazzini

An Italian revolutionary who used secret societies to promote the idea of creating a single Italian nation.

Metternich

The prime minister of the Austrian Hungarian Empire who sought to maintain the status quo through censorship and repression, famously calling Italy a "geographic entity."

Protocol of Troppau

An agreement asserting that a revolution anywhere in Europe was the responsibility of all European leaders to put down through collective international action.

Louis XVIII

A relative of the French king brought back to the throne as a constitutionalist after Napoleon was deposed.

Charles X

The successor to Louis XVIII in 1824 who attempted to restore the old regime, reimburse aristocrats for confiscated land, and mandate that only priests serve as teachers.

July Revolution (1830)

A Parisian rebellion fueled by the use of barricades in medieval streets that led to the abdication of Charles X.

Louis Philippe

A moderate French king introduced by Marquis de Lafayette after the 1830 revolution who ruled for 18 years and slightly increased the voting population from 100,000 to 200,000.