APEH UNIT 11: Reaction, Revolution, and Romanticism

Congress of Vienna:

The Rest of the powers of Europe want to clean up the mess he made in the continent of Europe through the Congress of Vienna

He had disrupted the balance of power. At 1814, the Quadruple Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain) became the Congress of Vienna. 1815 is a turning point in Europe because of the establishment and the impact of the Congress.

Monarchies in the alliance wanted conservatism or the reliance of tradition. Wanted to temper the liberal reforms and return to aristocratic, church, and monarchical institutions because of the stability it provided. The principle driving them was the reestablishment of the balance of power. They invited France. They knew Europe benefited from a powerful France that could balance with the other powers.

Belgium and Holland united under the Dutch monarchy and together they were able to oppose French aggression. Prussia received territory in France’s eastern border. Austrian foreign minister: Klemens von Metternich, the Congress rolls back France’s borders about 20 years as it was in 1792. This was less territory under Napoleon, but more than they had during the French Revolution so yay

Conservatism: political belief that argues governments are most stable when they uphold traditional and established norms and cultural institutions.

They believed that humans are inherently flawed and cannot rule themselves, which is why it is better to stick to institutions that have been handed down, such as monarchy, aristocracy, and religion. With this ideology, powers met at the Congress of Vienna in order to restore Europe to its inherited structures.

Allowed for a period of 50 years in which Europe existed in the image of these conservative rulers and there was peace until the Revolutions of 1848/ World War I, Crimean War ruined it. Age of Metternich: central government would bring peace and had 3 goals:

1. Aimed to restore the balance of power by installing legitimate rulers on the various thrones of Europe

Legitimate = old school conservative rulers

2. Made sure that European states upheld the rights and prerogatives of the landed aristocracy

3. Argued for the need for organized religion as the bulwark of stable states

Edmund Burke: argues that hierarchy is part of natural order, Burke didn’t think people could rule themselves

Joseph de Maistre: of France, began as a supporter of revolution, but was horrified by the violence and secularism, believes that political authority must be rooted in religious and moral principles. advocated for the return of monarchy after the revolution

Conservatives crush liberal reforms.

In 1829, Austria enacted the Carlsbad Decrees which repressed liberal and national movements in the German States.

In Russia, tsars ruled with divine Right, use of secret police, and used conservatism to uphold the practice of serfdom.

AGE OF METTERNICH:

Revolutions rise up to rebel against Conservatism in Europe.

Early Revolutions in the 19th century (1800s)

Greek War of Independence (1821): Greece was ruled by the Ottomans and Greek nationalists wanted to fight for independence against the conservative Ottoman power for 11 years. Eventually, Britain, France, and Russia ally with the Greeks and help them win their war against the Ottomans. They ally because they saw an opportunity to weaken their shared enemy. Greece wins their independence in 1832. First rumble that foreshadowed the storm of 1848.

Decemberist Revolt in Russia (1825): Tsar Nicholas I rose to power and had inherited the throne from his brother Alexander I who was conservative. A group of Russian officers, the Decembrists, influenced by liberal ideals, tried to overthrow him. Nicholas crushes their revolt. In response, he increases his use of the secret police.

July Revolution in France(1830): Charles X was a conservative monarch who wanted France to return back to pre-revolution structure. Took voting rights from the middle class and tried censoring the press. In response, the middle class liberals and working class revolt outside the capitol. Charles X leaves his throne and flees.

Louis Philippe takes the throne and restores some liberal reforms that were taken away from Charles. However, he was just as conservative as him.

Disruption in Europe was caused by the shift of power and social structures that came along with the Industrial Revolution, the blowout of the status quo in the French Revolution, and the suppression of nationalist revolts during the Conservative Age of Metternich.

Liberalism: wants a limited government and enlightened self-interest

Jeremy Bentham: british philosopher, utilitarianism which says actions should be judged on whether they increase the happiness of those affected by the action

Challenged the Christian morality which said that actions are right or wrong based on the bible.

John Stuart Mill: happiness for the society as a whole

Liberalism was believed by the elite class because it kept government regulations out of their business. Some liberals argued that fundamental rights should be limited to those who owned land.

In response to this, a movement in England, called Chartism, demanded universal male suffrage and full citizenship even to people without wealth or property ownership.

Women were not seen as worthy to be apart of the liberal reforms, but John Stuart Mill’s the Subjection of Women bunks that idea by arguing that women should stand up on equal ground with men. They should have the right to vote, own property, and to able to have professional careers.

In France, Flora Tristen fought for the rights of workers and laid the foundations for extending suffrage to women as well.

Socialism: ideology that the society’s means of production should be owned by the community not private individuals. Is a call of the redistribution of the society’s wealth. Emerged out of the industrial revolution.

Utopian Socialism: Henri de Saint-Simon believed the society should be given to the workers and taken from the parasite (aristocracy and the church) because they don’t produce anything of value to the world. If the workers controlled the world, there would be developments of just societies, where there would no longer be poor people. Their beliefs were a little too utopian like and Simon never attempted to actually do it. His writings, however, were templates of later socialist movements.

Charles Fourier and Robert Owen did attempt and created intentional communities in Scotland. Prototype communities where its members enjoyed 8 hour work day, shared property, free education for the children, and other aspects of a utopian society were simulated, but never caught on outside of it.

Marxism..

Scientific Socialism: Karl Marx also hated the gap between the poor and the rich, however, he believes that the utopian socialists fail because they don’t understand capitalism works. He aimed to develop a socialism that was in the same rigor scientist used in their description of the natural world.

Marx and Friedrich Engels write the Communist Manifesto. According to these men, History obeys law the same way the physical world obeys the laws of physics. They argue that history moves through patterns and stages until the day it meets its ultimate goal. They claim the driving force of history is class struggle over economic wealth.

Bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat. Once they become conscious, they would rise up and rebel and overthrow them.

Equal rights for men and women. Many Marxist leaders.

Clara Zetkin: led the charge against the privileges of the Bourgeoisie in Germany, worked on reforms for women

Rosa Luxemburg: worked to secure rights for the working class in Poland, led a failed revolution in 1918

Anarchism: Believed that all forms of governmental authority was not needed and should be overthrown and replaced with a society based on voluntary cooperation.

In Russia, Mikhail Bakunin was a Russian revolutionary that argued secret societies lead revolutionary movements to destroy the state and replace it with self-governing workplaces

In France, Georges Sorel thought that once people overthrew the government, all property should be made into labor unions. Syndicalism

Romanticism: balance to reason by emphasizing other means of knowing like intuition and imagination. Individualism: Glory of the unique traits of each individual being

Rousseau: emphasized feelings and passion about reason, though God was benevolent, alienating the rational deists. Moral improvement of the self and society. seen as the forerunner of the Romantic movement

In the Arts:

Romantic writers produced works that emphasized nationalism, such as the Grimm Brothers. These stories helped Germans feel more German. This had an effect in politics.

AFTER the FRENCH revolution, it became clear to Europeans that revolution, war, and rebellion demonstrated the emotional power that comes when people are united by nationalism and engage in mass politics. Emotional charged tactics are used.

Poets emphasized the love of nature. William wordsworth believed human had a connection with nature. writing in ordinary language

Visual artists believed art manifests the artist’s inner feelings, and it must display emotion, warmth, and movement.

Musicians .. Ludwig van Beethoven made music that produced fear, pain, and longing for the audience.

Methodism: founded by John Wesley, who was Anglican priest. No matter how hard he tried to praise God, he could not escape guilt before God. As the minister read a passage from Luther, Wesley was warmed and convinced that God loved him.

Preached that people must have a real relationship with God through Christ. True Christian by conversion experience