Nineteenth-Century Europe: Exam #1

Causes of the French Revolution

severe economic distress; financial bankruptcy from costly wars; unfair social structure; spread of Enlightenment ideas

The Great Fear

August 4, 1789; general panic that took place at the start of the French Revolution; peasants and townspeople armed themselves and attacked manor houses after rumors of an aristocratic “famine plot” to starve or burn out the population; cumulated in the abolition of seigneurialism in France

Seigneurialism

dominant economic, social, and land-tenure system in medieval Europe; the rural economy centered around self-sufficient landed estates owned by nobles, the church, or the king; these manors held judicial and economic power, with peasants and serfs working their agricultural fields

Declaration of Rights of Man & Citizen

human and civil rights document penned by the National Constituent Assembly during the French Revolution; became the basis for a nation of free individuals protected equally by the law

Abbe Sieyes

French priest and political theorist whose 1789 pamphlet What Is the Third Estate? provided the key ideological spark for the French Revolution; survived the Terror and conspired with Napoleon to overthrow the Directory

Tennis Court Oath

King Louis XVI called the Estates-General to address national bankruptcy, but the Third Estate was outvoted by the First and Second Estates; the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly and arrived to the Estates-General to find the meeting hall locked; the 576 representatives gathered in the nearby indoor tennis court and vowed “not to separate and to reassembly wherever necessary until the constitution of the kingdom is established;” foundational moment of the French Revolution

Civil Constitution of the Clergy

law passed by France’s National Constituent Convention on July 12, 1790, to place the Roman Catholic Church under the strict control of the state

The Terror

period during the French Revolution where a series of massacres and public executions took place under the Committee of Public Safety; driven by existential military threats (coalition of foreign monarchies), internal counter-revolutions, economic crisis, and radical ideological perspectives

Committee of Public Safety

created on April 6, 1793 by the National Convention, and charged with protecting the new republic against its foreign and domestic enemies; these men, led by Robespierre, were all middle-class intellectuals, with several being trained as lawyers—no representation for the peasants or working class; the members were radicalized by the ideals of the Enlightenment and the harsh political and economic climate of France before and during the Revolution

Edmund Burke

British writer, philosopher, and politician who is considered the founder of conservatism; strongly opposed the French Revolution, believing its reliance on abstract, universal “rights of man” were too simple/broad and would only lead to tyranny; argued that destroying traditional institutions—like the church and the nobility—strips away necessary moral restraint and results in anarchy

Napoleon’s military career before 1799

went to military school; fought during the French Revolution, and defended the National Convention against a royalist insurrection using his “grapeshot” technique, which launched him into prominence and led to his appointment as commander of the army in Italy, where he saw massive success; forced Austria to sign a treaty, which earned France massive territorial gains; ventured into Egypt, but abandoned his army to return to an politically unstable France

1799 coup

overthrew the ineffective French Directory and thrust Napoleon into the position of First Consul, ending the French Revolution; orchestrated by Abbe Sieyes, who was a member of the Directory at the time; granted Napoleon dictatorial powers

Concordat of 1801

agreement signed on July 15, 1801 between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII to reestablish the Roman Catholic Church in France; Napoleon recognized that religion was a powerful tool for social order, and sought to negotiate with the Pope so he could bring the Church under state supervision while also pleasing the general public; clergy had to swear an oath of loyalty to the state, the Church abandoned all claims to the property confiscated during the Revolution, and Protestant and Jewish communities were granted legal recognition

Napoleonic Code

French civil code enacted on March 21, 1804; replaced the fragmented, feudal, and regional laws of pre-revolutionary France with a single, unified national system; established equality and legal rights for adult men; women and children’s rights were severely restricted, though the system of primogeniture (the oldest son inherits everything) was abolished, and it was decreed that property should be divided equally among legitimate children

Confederation of the Rhine

Napoleon’s attempt to organize Central European German-speaking states after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire; primarily a military alliance and French satellite zone; lasted from 1806-1813

German Confederation

1815-1866; established by the Congress of Vienna following Napoleon’s final defeat; a loose security and diplomatic association designed to prevent future French expansion or internal revolution, it was the second attempt to organize the German-speaking states of Central Europe

Prussia’s economic reforms in the early 1800s

Prussia enacted sweeping economic and social reforms as a defensive modernization strategy to recover from a catastrophic military and financial defeat against Napoleon; in order to pay off crippling debts and rebuild national power, leaders realized they had to overhaul their entire economic and administrative system; changes included the abolition of serfdom, agrarian restructuring, freedom of trade and industry, tax and financial modernization, educational investments, and changes to the military

Key climate/agricultural events in Europe, 1815-1820s

massive eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia released ash into the air, which blocked sunlight and led to “the year without a summer,” which was marked by freezing temperatures, rain, and dark skies; widespread harvest and crop failures also resulted, causing prices for food to skyrocket and starving people to riot in the streets

Social conditions in Europe, 1815-1820s

post-Napoleon Europe was besieged by economic devastation (mass unemployment), environmental catastrophes (failed harvests), continual class separation (serfdom), and the suppression of popular discontent (thanks to the Congress of Vienna)

Congress of Vienna: key countries and their objectives

Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, and Russia sought to restore traditional monarchies, reestablish a continental balance of power, and suppress the spread of liberalism and nationalism in Europe after the Napoleonic Wars, along with securing territorial gains; France was included in the proceedings for a time, though this was halted by Napoleon’s escape from exile

Metternich

conservative Austrian foreign minister and chancellor who aimed to establish long-term stability and monarchical order in Europe after the chaos of the French Revolution and Napoelonic Wars; sought to crush revolutionary ideas and individual rights, return hereditary royal families to the thrones they held before the Revolution, and prevent any one European nation (especially France or Russia) from dominating the continent; organized and hosted the Congress of Vienna

Major geographic outcomes of the Congress of Vienna

France reduced back to its pre-revolutionary borders and stripped of all Napoleon’s territorial conquests; Russia acquired the Duchy of Warsaw (Poland) and retained Finland; Prussia gained the northern Rhineland, Swedish Pomerania, and a chunk of Saxony; Austria lost Belgium, but was compensated with territories in northern Italy (Lombardy and Venetia), along with Salzburg; German Confederation replaced the Holy Roman Empire and Napoleon’s Confederation of the Rhine; merged the former Dutch Republic and the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) to form the United Kingdom of the Netherlands as a buffer against France; Italy was divided into seven distinct region with Piedmont absorbing Genoa; Switzerland formally recognized and guaranteed as a permanently neutral country; Great Britain secured strategic overseas colonies and naval bases like Malta and Cape Colony

Holy Alliance

between Austria, Prussia, and Russia; spearheaded by Tsar Alexander I of Russia; meant to uphold Christian principles of charity, peace, and justice in European political life, while suppressing liberalism, democracy, and revolutionary movements; framed as a brotherhood of monarchs ruling by divine right

Quadruple Alliance

between Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain; designed to prevent future French aggression, suppress revolutionary movements, and uphold the peace established by the Congress of Vienna; each power made a military commitment by contributing troops to maintain collective security in Europe

Louis XVIII

ruled 1814-1824; younger brother of Louis XVI; flexible and moderate, he accepted many changes of the French Revolution and Napoleonic era

Charles X

ruled 1824-1830; younger brother of Louis XVI and XVIII; reactionary who sought to undo revolutionary gains, restore the ancient regime, and empower the Catholic Church; sparked the July Revolution of 1830, which led to his abdication and exile

July Revolution of 1830

Charles X signed the July Ordinances in 1830 after liberal opponents achieved a massive election victory, which suspended freedom of the press, dissolved the newly elected Chamber of Deputies, and restricted voting rights to the wealthiest citizens; French citizens, including workers and Napoleonic veterans, rose up and built barricades on the streets of Paris, which demoralized royal troops and allowed them to capture the Louvre and Tuileries Palace; Charles X abdicated and fled, ending the Bourbon Restoration; liberals placed Louis-Philippe d’Orleans on the throne as a “Citizen King” and established a constitutional monarchy, sparking a wave of liberal and nationalist revolutions across Europe

John Stuart Mill

in his 1859 essay On Liberty, Mill defines liberty as the protection of individual independence, thought, expression, and action from both political tyranny and the social pressure of the majority; established the Harm Principle, which states that people should only be stopped or restrained from acting when their conduct may harm another individual

The Revolutions of 1848

series of political upheavals across more than 50 countries in Europe, remaining the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history; sparked by the rising middle class embracing liberalism and nationalism, socioeconomic distress (severe crop failures, industrialization’s poor working conditions), and political inflexibility (conservative regimes refused to grant political representation); goals included: replacing absolute monarchies with constitutional systems that guaranteed civil liberties and representative assemblies, national unification or autonomy (for Germany and Italian states, as well as Hungarians, Czechs, and other ethnic groups within the Austrian Empire), universal male suffrage, and social & economic relief; the revolutions rapid spread can be attributed to France providing the blueprint, the technological revolution which made it easier to share information between nations, and shared grievances among Europe

Springtime of the Peoples

panic-stricken European monarchs were forced to offer major conditional, legal, and social concessions to prevent total overthrow; Prussia abolished press censorship and promised a national German assembly, Austria dismissed Metternich and abolished serfdom, Italian states limited royal power and created liberal constitutions, and Denmark transitioned into a conditional monarchy

Key divisions by summer 1848

moderate liberal bourgeoisie vs. radical working-class socialists

1848 in France

February through June; deep economic depression, crop failures, high unemployment, and a government ban on “reform banquets” prompted protests and barricades throughout Paris; King Louis Philippe I abdicated and a provisional republic was declared, which established National Workshops to provide state-subsidized jobs for the unemployed; by spring, divisions between middle-class liberals and working-class socialists were growing; in June, the government shut down the National Workshops and Parisian workers responded by revolting; the military crushed the revolt, deeply fracturing the French Republic and crushing radical working-class power

1848: monarchs reclaiming power

within a year of the Spring Revolutions, the vast majority of traditional monarchies successfully reclaimed their power through a swift and brutal counter-revolution; monarchs exploited the fractured alliances of their opponents, maintained the totality of their standing armies, and formed strategic military coalitions with other rulers; while the physical thrones were preserved, the way these monarchs ruled changed forever, from absolute rulers to centralized administrators

Communist Manifesto

human history is driven by an ongoing class struggle between the bourgeoisie (capitalist ruling class who own the means of production) and the proletariat (industrial working class who only own their labor), and capitalism will eventually be overthrown by the working class and replaced with a classless, communist society

Steam technology

perfected by James Watt, the steam engine paved the way for future innovations and proved that engineers and inventors could profit off of their creations; allowed for the transition from an organic economy (animal products and labor, environmental tools, human labor) to an industrial economy, which used tools like fossil fuels to power important machinery

Industrial Revolution: Britain’s advantages

science and empiricism were deeply respected, with prestigious universities allowing for intellectuals and inventors to build their products; well-developed market institutions and ownership of intellectual property in the form of patent rights had long existed; abundant natural resources, especially coal, which also had a booming industry; Britain was part of a global trading system backed by multinational companies that could transport commodities—i.e., Watt had an enormous potential market

Features of textile mechanization

cotton is the primary catalyst of the British Industrial Revolution; the initial wave of textile mechanization relied on technologically simple devices, which required little scientific knowledge and were fairly cheap, making it easy for entrepreneurs to set up mechanized cotton mills; low production costs and large demand created immense profit, allowing factory owners to continually expand their businesses by buying more machines, though they were heavily dependent on foreign imports of cotton; weaving and spinning became mechanized; centralized labor into urban factories, dismantling the traditional system where artisans and craftsmen spun and wove in their own homes; workers protested and rioted in order to protect their livelihoods and gain better wages

Major contributors to air pollution in 19th century Britain

rapid industrialization and heavy reliance on coal; factories, textile mills, and other industrial works burned massive amounts of coal to power steam engines and furnaces, releasing smoke into the air at an alarming rate; domestic coal heating and cooking released further soot and sulfur into the air; railways and steamships pumped out dense plumes of black smoke, and chemical and metal smelting works produced toxic byproducts; smog became commonplace

Managing waste before industrialization

before industrialization, waste was viewed as a useful asset and was almost never destroyed—instead, waste was often used to fertilize agricultural fields, and discarded items were scavenged and repurposed into new products; the organic economy present before industrialization meant that most waste was either organic matter, animal excrement, wood ash, or food scraps, which caused awful smells but had short lifespans and low chemical toxicity (which later industrialization products would lack); if waste or pollution became too severe, it was pushed to the outskirts of towns or downstream along rivers; the industrial revolution created so much pollution at such a fast rate that these methods became obsolete

Measuring air pollution in the 19th century

observation was the key method—by tracking the visual density of coal smoke, the blackening of buildings, and frequency of smog, observers could document the proliferation and impact of pollution; observers also noted the decay of plants or corrosion of iron/stone; artists painted the bleak landscapes, serving as an accidental archive of the atmosphere; public health records tracked spikes in acute respiratory and infant mortality during heavy-smoke periods, using them as an indictor of the toxic air

Furniture emporia

these monumental hubs of mass production and consumerism sold just about anything—furniture (obviously), trinkets, household appliances, toiletries, mattresses, textiles, decorations, etc., with just about any pattern, design, or option under the sun; for a time, they also frequently offered undertaking services (coffins)

Arcades

usually covered, pedestrian-friendly passages or lanes lined with small shops on both sides; designed to protect middle-class shoppers from street weather, noise, and mud; served as the direct precursor to the modern shopping mall; in essence, covered streets

Bazaars

permanent, traditional open-air or roofed marketplaces featuring a dense network of independent stalls, workshops, and merchant shops; often organized by trade or commodity; haggling and direct social negotiations between buyer and seller rather than fixed-price transactions; cultural and social hub

Department stores

transformed shopping from a basic chore to a leisure-filled social experience; sold just about anything under the sun; grand buildings; set, standardized prices rather than bargaining or trading; window displays enticed customers

Key products from the empire

new materials for the decorating trade, including exotic timbers such as bamboo and rattan, and gutta-percha, a species of resin derived from latex that was used to create a variety of things, including ornamentation; cheaper items were used to imitate costly processes or materials as the furniture business continued to expand and consumer demand skyrocketed; novelty was huge, with trinkets, ornate furnitures, patterns, and decorations becoming exceedingly popular

Children’s labor in early industrialization

much more widespread, economically vital, and structurally entrenched than previously believed; during industrialization, children began working at younger ages and participated at higher rates than before (or after); children often entered the workforce to support their families, especially those living with single mothers or many siblings

Parish apprentices

local overseers had the power to bind poor, orphaned, or workhouse children as unpaid indentured servants; masters provided basic board and clothing in exchange for labor in husbandry, domestic service, and, most notably, early industrials mills like cotton and silk factories; work conditions were harsh and cruel

Combination Acts

passed by the British Parliament in 1799 and 1800, they made trade unions, collective bargaining, and worker strikes illegal; workers who combined to demand higher wages or shorter hours faced prison or hard labor

Children’s Labor Commission

investigated the brutal conditions of children working in mines, ironworks, and unregulated trades; to advise Parliament on new protective laws, sub-commissioners were dispatched to personally inspect hundreds of individual worksites and coal pits, where they conducted direct interviews with working children to determine their age, treatment, and working conditions; the findings were compiled in reports that shocked the nation

Supporters/opponents of regulating children’s labor

supporters of regulation were humanitarian politicians or radical labor activists who argued that child labor deprived children of basic literacy and moral development; they believe that the state had a duty to ensure children were allowed to learn, play, and grow, rather than work under brutal conditions; opponents were largely wealthy factory and mine owners, who depended upon the cheap, flexible labor of children

Women’s role in early industrialization

women were viewed as a submissive, low-cost labor force in textile mills, factories, and domestic or cottage industries; in the early days of industrialization, they made up the bulk of mill operatives and factory workers, as employers could get away with paying them pitiful wages and demanding more hours of work

Opposition to women’s industrial labor

male workers and labor groups pushed to exclude women in order to reduce competition for jobs and protect male “family wages;” many argued that women’s proper place was in the home as wives and caretakers rather than wage earners in crowded, exploitative factories