Revolution and Reaction in 19th-Century Europe (AP Euro Unit 5)

Congress of Vienna (1814–1815)

Post-Napoleonic diplomatic negotiations among Europe’s great powers to create a durable political order that would stabilize Europe and contain future revolution, not just a single peace treaty.

Klemens von Metternich

Austrian statesman and leading architect/symbol of post-1815 conservatism; promoted diplomacy, censorship, and repression to block liberal and nationalist movements.

Conservative restoration

Post-1815 effort to restore monarchical/aristocratic political control and traditional authority after the French Revolution and Napoleon (without fully erasing all Napoleonic reforms).

Collective security

A system in which major powers cooperate to manage threats and maintain stability, reducing the chance that one crisis triggers continent-wide war.

Balance of power

Vienna principle of arranging borders and alliances so no single state can dominate Europe; used to contain France by creating counterweights.

Legitimacy (Vienna principle)

Conservative belief in restoring traditional dynasties and established monarchical authority (e.g., the Bourbons), emphasizing rightful rule more than recreating exact pre-1789 borders.

Compensation (Vienna principle)

Idea that states that lost territory or bore heavy war costs should be “repaid” with territory elsewhere to make settlements acceptable.

Kingdom of the Netherlands (post-1815)

State strengthened by uniting Dutch and Belgian territories initially, intended as a buffer barrier against renewed French aggression.

German Confederation

Loose association of German states created after 1815 to replace the old Holy Roman structure; preserved Austrian influence and limited prospects for German unification.

Concert of Europe

Informal great-power cooperation after 1815, using consultation and periodic congresses (and sometimes intervention) to uphold the Vienna settlement.

Quadruple Alliance

Alliance of Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia formed to uphold the Vienna settlement and maintain post-1815 stability.

Holy Alliance

Russia-, Austria-, and Prussia-associated agreement framing conservative cooperation against revolution in religious/moral language.

Carlsbad Decrees (1819)

Repressive measures in the German Confederation targeting universities and the press to suppress liberal and nationalist agitation through censorship and surveillance.

Conservatism (19th-century political meaning)

Belief that stability comes from tradition—monarchy, established religion, and social hierarchy—favoring gradual change and opposing mass revolutionary politics.

Liberalism (early 19th century)

Ideology favoring constitutional government, rule of law, civil liberties (speech/press), and expanded (often property-limited) political participation rather than full democracy.

Nationalism

Belief that a people with shared culture/language/history should have political sovereignty, either through unification (e.g., Germans/Italians) or separation (e.g., Hungarians/Poles).

July Revolution (1830)

French revolution that overthrew Charles X and replaced him with Louis-Philippe, shifting power toward constitutional, middle-class liberal interests.

Louis-Philippe

French “bourgeois king” installed after the July Revolution (1830), associated with a regime aligned with middle-class liberal priorities.

Belgian independence (1830)

Successful nationalist separation of Belgium from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, accepted by major powers partly because it could serve as a neutral buffer.

Revolutions of 1848 (“Springtime of Peoples”)

Widespread European uprisings combining liberal constitutional demands with nationalist aims, intensified by economic crisis; most failed short-term but reshaped politics long-term.

Second Republic (France)

French republic established after the 1848 revolution toppled Louis-Philippe; soon marked by tensions between middle-class republicans and urban workers.

Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte

Napoleon’s nephew who rose to power after 1848 in France and later became Emperor Napoleon III (1852), illustrating how revolutions can yield authoritarian outcomes.

Frankfurt Parliament

1848–49 assembly in the German states attempting to create a unified, constitutional Germany; failed due to lack of military power and conservative/monarchical resistance.

Grossdeutsch vs. Kleindeutsch

Competing Frankfurt Parliament visions of German unification: Grossdeutsch included Austria (“greater Germany”), while Kleindeutsch excluded Austria under Prussian leadership (“lesser Germany”).

Romanticism

Early 19th-century cultural movement emphasizing emotion, imagination, the individual, nature, and historical/cultural uniqueness; reacted against Enlightenment rationalism and could support both nationalism/liberalism and conservative tradition.