Modern Europe Midterm

Events

Enlightenment's Big Shift

Shifted political legitimacy from divine right ("God chose the King") to the consent of the governed ("The people grant power").

Key Enlightenment Thinkers

Locke (natural rights), Rousseau (General Will), Voltaire (free speech/tolerance), and Spinoza (absolute equality).

Limits of Revolutionary Rights

Excluded women, delayed abolishing colonial slavery until the Haitian revolt, and violently targeted traditional Catholicism.

4 Phases of the French Revolution

1. Moderate (Constitutional Monarchy) -> 2. Radical (Reign of Terror) -> 3. Thermidorian Reaction (Corrupt Republic) -> 4. Napoleonic Era (Authoritarianism).

19th-Century Liberalism

Championed by the middle class (bourgeoisie); favored constitutions and free markets, but restricted voting to wealthy, educated men to avoid "mob rule."

19th-Century Conservatism

Led by Metternich (Congress of Vienna); aimed to restore traditional monarchies, protect social hierarchy, and suppress revolutions across Europe.

Bismarck & Realpolitik

Pragmatic German Chancellor who used practical statecraft over ideology. Co-opted universal male suffrage and created the first welfare state to weaken socialists.

The Dreyfus Affair

Scandal involving false treason charges against a Jewish officer. Divided France into Dreyfusards (secular democracy/rights) and Anti-Dreyfusards (military/nationalism).

Legacy of the Dreyfus Affair

Dreyfus's exoneration solidified secular republican control in France and led directly to the official 1905 law separating church and state.

Big Picture: 1789 vs. 1848

1789 created the vocabulary of human rights and liberty; 1848 tested whether liberalism and nationalism could successfully defeat conservative monarchies across Europe.