19th Century Perspectives and Political Developments

Contextualizing 19th-century Perspectives and Developments

  • European states struggled to maintain international stability during an era defined by nationalism and revolutions.
  • The decline of the Concert of Europe facilitated national unification movements in Italy and Germany, as well as liberal reforms across Europe.
  • A combination of motivations and strategies led to increased European global control and heightened tensions among European powers.
  • The Industrial Revolution significantly aided European control over global empires.
  • European thought and culture reflected a conflict between objectivity and scientific realism versus subjectivity and individual expression.
  • Following the revolutions of 1848, Europe shifted towards a more realist and materialist perspective.

Nationalism

  • National Aggrandizement: Nations promoted themselves to appear powerful.
  • JG Fichte: A German nationalist who believed Germans possessed unique qualities that obligated them to lead others.
  • Chauvinism: An excessive and aggressive belief in national superiority.
  • Racialism: The idea that some races are superior to others, often used to promote the interests of a specific race.
  • Pan-Slavism: A movement among Slavic peoples in Eastern and Central Europe to advance Slavic nationalism and political autonomy.
    • It was particularly popular in Russia during the mid-1800s.
    • Aimed to liberate Slavic populations within the Ottoman and Austrian territories.

Anti-Semitism

  • Racial beliefs and actions targeting Jewish populations.
  • Jewish populations in Western Europe had largely assimilated into societies and were granted full citizenship rights and religious protection during the Enlightenment.
  • Anti-Semitism intensified with nationalism in the late 1800s.
  • Zionism: Jewish nationalism, with the goal of establishing a Jewish state and returning to the Holy Land.
  • Theodor Herzl: A Zionist leader who wrote The Jewish State and sought funding for Jewish Europeans to establish settlements in Palestine (then under Ottoman control). A small number of Jews returned.

Anti-Semitic Groups

  • German Christian Social Party: Anti-Semitic, nationalistic, and conservative, appealing to the working classes.
  • Austrian Christian Social Party: Founded by Karl Lueger, Mayor of Vienna, who blamed Jews for the corruption of German culture and influenced Hitler's radicalization.
  • Pogroms: Organized massacres of Russian and Eastern European Jews, leading to emigration to North America and Palestine.
  • The Dreyfus Affair: A controversial event in France in 1894 involving Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish military captain.
    • Dreyfus was convicted of selling military secrets to Germany, despite evidence pointing to his innocence and a Catholic officer's guilt.
    • Though eventually pardoned, the affair fueled calls for a Jewish state, particularly from figures like Herzl.
    • Radical Republicans in France responded by removing Catholics from government and military positions in the Third Republic.

Popular Nationalism

  • France: Napoleon III promoted liberal reforms to modernize France and foster national loyalty, but he maintained mostly absolutist control.
  • Giuseppe Mazzini: Advocated for a unified Italian Peninsula.
    • Founded the Young Italy movement.
    • Led several small uprisings as part of the Italian Nationalist movement (Risorgimento).
    • His main contribution was inspiring future Italian nationalists.
  • Camillo di Cavour: A key figure in Piedmont-Sardinia.
  • Otto von Bismarck: Prussian/German Nationalist.
    • Realpolitik: Focused on realism and practical politics rather than theory.
    • Bismarck was both an opportunist and a conservative.
    • He used war to stimulate nationalist sentiments.
    • His goal was a unified Germany excluding Austria.

Dual Monarchy in Austria-Hungary

  • Ausgleich of 1867: Created the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary to appease Hungarian Nationalism.
    • Each region had its own political system, overseen by a single monarch.
    • Other minorities within the empire did not receive autonomy.

The Crimean War

  • Causes:
    • France sought to protect Christian interests in the Ottoman Empire, while Russia aimed to replace them.
    • Russia, and France under Napoleon III, aimed to expand their power in Eastern Europe.
    • Great Britain opposed Russian expansion to protect its naval power in the Mediterranean.
    • Piedmont-Sardinia looked to gain support for Italian unification.
    • The Ottoman Empire refused to cede territory to Russia.
  • The Ottomans declared war against Russia in 1853, with Great Britain and France joining on the Ottoman side.
  • Austria remained neutral.
  • Poorly planned and executed, Britain and France besieged the Russian-held Crimean Peninsula for two years.
  • The war resulted in 1 million casualties.
  • Tsar Nicholas I died during the war, leading Alexander II to recognize Russian weaknesses and sue for peace.
  • Treaty of Paris 1856:
    • Russia was forced to acknowledge neutrality in the Black Sea and relinquish claims on the Danube River.
    • Moldavia and Wallachia were placed under the protection of European powers.