The Age of IdeologiesThe Age of Ideologies

Part I- An Overview Part I- An Overview

A theme to keep in mind for the rest of

our course…. Dual Revolutions

The Age of Ideologies

• 1815-1850

• Reactions to Post Industrial and Post French Revolutionary World (Dual Revolutions)

• Simmering Social Unrest – The Revolutions of 1830 and 1848

Why were the French Revolution and Industrial Revolution So Important to Intellectual Trends?

• French Revolution– Ideas of the Enlightenment were spread throughout Europe by

Napoleon’s armies– Even though these ideas were bottled up by the Congress of

Vienna, they were NOT destroyed • Industrial Revolution

– Society was dramatically, if unintentionally, changed– Power shifted increasingly from the aristocracy to the factory

owning (bourgeois) class – Proletariat concentrated (often unhappily) in the city

• (parallels the French Revolution) • Factory working conditions are, in many ways, degrading• Urban life is new and not carefully planned- crime, pollution,

debauchery, etc.

• What does it all mean? new intellectual themes

The Age of IdeologiesThe Age of Ideologies

Part II- Start at the Beginning- Part II- Start at the Beginning- The Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna(September 1, 1814 – June 9, 1815)The Congress of Vienna(September 1, 1814 – June 9, 1815)

•Meeting of Conservative Leaders after Waterloo

•Intend to Erase the French Revolution

Key Players at Vienna

Key Players at Vienna

The “Host”Prince Klemens von Metternich

(Aus.)

Foreign Minister, Viscount Castlereagh

(Br.)

Tsar Alexander I (Rus.)

King Frederick William III (Prus.)

Foreign Minister, Charles Maurice de Tallyrand (Fr.)

Congress of Vienna Represented Conservatism

• Tradition- ancien regime had been around for so long that it must be good and must match with God’s laws

• Religion is a bedrock of society

• Look what liberalism just caused! – Revolutions were just bourgeois

troublemakers inciting the good, peaceful, contented lower classes

Even Traditionally Liberal England Swung in a more Conservative

Direction After The French Revolution

• Is this logical?– Horrors of the French Revolution force the country to the

right• Corn Laws

– England cannot import wheat after the Napoleonic Wars• Designed to keep profit of aristocratic land owners high

• Peterloo Massacre – Poor are protesting laws like the Corn Law and demanding a

wider franchise to get laws more supportive of the people – St. Peter’s Field protestors are attacked by the British

regular army – Irony of naming after Waterloo?

Corn Laws Help to Explain the Rise of the Chartists

• The reason laws are only for the rich is that … – …only the rich can vote

• If workers can vote, politicians must court them

Key Principles Established at Vienna

Key Principles Established at Vienna

Balance of Power Ring France with Strong Countries

Legitimacy Return hereditary monarchs

Compensation France was occupied for 5 years

Paid reparations

Both of these punishments might have been avoided, but for the ______________________

Balance of Power Ring France with Strong Countries

Legitimacy Return hereditary monarchs

Compensation France was occupied for 5 years

Paid reparations

Both of these punishments might have been avoided, but for the ______________________

• Balance of Power– preserve peace in Europe

• Compensation– the demands of the victors

(especially the Prussians and the Russians) for compensation threatened the Balance of Power

– Arguments between Russia/Prussia and England/Austria almost resparked war

Key Tension at Vienna

Solution• Britain and Austria turned to France for support. • Prussia and Russia were forced to compromise • Why was this good for France?

– More lenient treatment

V

V France was deprived of all territory conquered by Napoléon.

V Bourbons restored to the French throneV Russia was given most of Duchy

of Warsaw (Poland). V Prussia was given half of Saxony, parts of

Poland, and other German territories. (‘sentinel on the Rhine’)

V A Germanic Confederation of 30+ states (including Prussia) was created from the previous 300, under Austrian rule.

V Austria was given back territory it had lost recently, plus more in Germany and Italy.

V The House of Orange was given the Dutch Republic and the Austrian Netherlands to rule. (why?)

V Why don’t I have England listed here?

Changes Made at Vienna (1)Changes Made at Vienna (1)

Europe After the Congress of ViennaEurope After the Congress of Vienna

Was the Congress of Vienna Successful?

• Yes…– Congress System (what

was this?)

– No general European war for 100 years

– Holy Alliance (what was it?)

• Carslbad Decrees (in Germany)

• United action to crush uprising in the ‘Two Sicilies’

• No…– Continuing struggle

between the forces of conservatism and liberalism/radicalism

• Revolutions in 1830 and 1848

– Some Liberal Movements were successful

• Latin America wins its independence

Why Such Fear of Liberalism? • The Usual

– stirred up the lower-classes and caused war and bloodshed– Threatened tradition/status quo/hierarchy/ Great Chain,

etc. • A New Concern

– Liberalism was increasingly connected to nationalism – nationalist aspirations in central Europe, which could lead

to war and the breakup of the Austrian and Russian Empires

– Austria, for examples was dominated by the minority Germans, contained many ethnic groups, including Hungarians/Czechs

– So what does nationalism mean for Metternich or the Tsar?