Ch 22. Ideologies and Upheavals
The Aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars
·
The eventual triumph of revolutionary economic and
political forces was not certain as Napoleonic era ended
·
Conservative, aristocratic monarchies of Russia,
Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain – known as the Quadruple Alliance defeated
France and reaffirmed their determination to hold France in line
·
Many other international questions were outstanding,
and the allies agreed to meet at Congress of Vienna to fashion a general peace
settlement
·
Most ppl felt a profound longing for peace
·
Challenge for political leaders in 1814: Construct a
settlement that would last and snot sow seeds of another war
·
Efforts were largely successful and contributed to a
century w/o destructive generalized war
The European Balance of Power
·
Allied powers were concerned with defeated enemy,
France
·
Agreed to restore Bourbon dynasty
·
Lenient toward France after NAP’s abdication
o
First Peace of Paris gave France the boundaries it
had in 1792, larger than those of 1789
o
France did not have to pay any war reparations
·
Victorious
powers did not foment a spirit of injustice and revenge
·
When Quadruple Alliance, a representative of restored
French monarchy, and delegates from small European states met together at
Congress of Vienna, they agreed to raise a number of barriers against renewed
French aggression
o
Low Counties – Belgium and Holland were united under
an enlarged Dutch monarchy capable of opposing France more effectively
o
Prussia received more territory on France’s eastern
border to stand as the “sentinel on the Rhine” against France
·
Combined
leniency toward France with strong defensive measures
·
In moderation toward France, allies were motivated by
self-interest and traditional ideas about balance of power
o
Klemens
von Metternich and Robert
Castlereagh and Charles Talleyrand:
Foreign ministers of Austria and Brit and France
§ Thought
balance of power meant international equilibrium of political and military
forces that would discourage aggression by any combination of states, or
domination of Europe by a single state
·
Great Powers:
Austria, Brit, Prussia, Russia, and France used balance of power to
settle dangerous disputes at Congress of Vienna
o
General agreement among victors that each of them
should receive compensation in form of territory for successful struggle
against French
§ Brit
already won colonies and outposts
§ Austria
gave up territories in Belgium and southern Germany, but expanded greatly
elsewhere, taking Venetia and Lombardy in n. Italy and former Polish possessions
and new land on east of Adriatic
§ More
contentious (argument inducing) was the push fo greater territory by Russia and
Prussia
§ When
France, Austria, and Brit allied against these powers, Russia accepted a small
Polish kingdom and Prussia took a part of Saxony
§ Compromise
was within the framework of balance of power ideology
·
Unfortunately for France, NAP suddenly escaped from
island Elba and ignited his wars of expansion for a brief time
·
2nd Peace of Paris concluded after NAP’s
final defeat at Waterloo was relatively moderate toward France
o
Louis
XVIII was restored to throne for 2nd time
o
France lost only a little territory
o
France had to pay an indemnity of 700 mill francs
o
France had to support a large army of occupation for
five years
o
Rest of settlement already concluded at Congress of
Vienna was left intact
·
Members of Quadruple Alliance did agree to meet
periodically to discuss their common interests and to consider appropriate
measures for the maintenance of peace in Europe
·
Agreement marked beginning of European “congress
system” which lasted long into the 10th c and settled many
international crises through international conferences and balance of power
diplomacy
Repressing the Revolutionary Spirit
·
There was a domestic political side to
reestablishment of peace
·
Within their own countries, the leaders of victorious
states were much less flexible
·
1815: under Metternich’s leadership, Austria Prussia,
and Russia embarked on a crusade against the ideas and politics of the dual
revolution: Economic and political changes that tended to fuse and reinforce
each other after 1815
o
Crusade lasted until 1848
o
First step was Holy Alliance
§ Formed by
Austria, Prussia, and Russia in September 1815
§ First
proposed by Russia’s Alexander I,
the alliance soon became a symbol of the repression of liberal and
revolutionary movements all over Europe
·
1820: Revolutionaries succeeded in forcing the
monarchs of Spain and southern Italian kingdom of the Two Sicilies to grant
liberal constitutions against their wills
o
Metternich was horrified: revolution was rising once
again
o
Calling a conference at Troppau in Austria under
provisions of Quadruple Alliance, he and Alexander I proclaimed the principle
of active intervention to maintain all autocratic regimes whenever they were
threatened
o
Austrian forces marched into Naples in 1821 and
restored Ferdinand to the throne of
the Two Sicilies, while French armiesin 1823 restored the Spanish regime
·
In following years, Metternich continued to battle
against liberal political change
·
Sometimes he could do little to repress liberal
political change
o
New Latin Am republics that broke away from Spain
o
He couldn’t undo dynastic change of 1830 in France or
Belgium’s achieving independence from Netherlands in 1831
·
Nonetheless, until 1848, Metternich’s system proved
quite effective in central Europe, where his power was the greatest
·
Metternich’s policies dominated not only Austria and
Italian peninsula but also the entire German Confederation, which the peace
settlement of Vienna had called into being
o
German Confed: 38 independent German states,
including Prussia and Austria
o
Met in complicated assemblies dominated by Austria,
with Prussia a willing junior partner in the execution of repressive measures
·
Through German Confed, Metternich had infamous Carlsbad
Decrees: Decrees designed to uphold Metternich’s conservatism, requiring German
states to root out subversive ideas and squelch any liberal organizations,
issued in 1819
o
Required 38 German member states to root out
subversive ideas in their universities and newspapers
o
Established a permanent committee with spies and
informers to investigate and punish any liberal or radical organizations
Metternich and Conservatism
·
Metternich’s determined defense of status quo made
him a villain in eyes of most progressive, optimistic historians of 19th
c
·
We should look at his background before repudiating
his ways of general conservatism
·
Prince
Klemens von Metternich
o
Born into middle ranks of landed nobility of
Rhineland
o
Internationally oriented aristocrat who made a brilliant
diplomatic career in Austria
o
Austrian foreign minister from 1809-1848
o
Cosmopolitan and conservative
o
Pessimistic view of human nature, which he believed
was ever prone to error, excess, and self serving behavior
o
Concluded that strong gov’s were necessary as a
bulwark to protect society from the baser elements of human behavior
o
Defended his class and its rights and privileges with
a clear conscience
§ Nobility
was one of Europe’s most ancient institutions, and conservatives regarded
tradition as the basic source of human institutions
o
Firmly believed that liberalism, as embodied in
revolutionary America and France, had been responsible for a generation of war
with untold bloodshed and suffering
o
Blamed liberal middle class revolutionaries for
stirring up lower classes, which he believed desired nothing more than peace
and quiet
o
Threat of liberalism was doubly dangerous because it
generally went with national aspirations
§ Liberals
believed that each people, each national group, had a right to establish its
own independent government and seek to fulfill its own destiny
o
Idea of self determination was repellent because it
threatened to destroy Austrian Empire and revolutionize central Europe
·
Vast Austrian Empire of Habsburgs was a great
dynastic state
o
Formed over centuries by war, marriage, and luck, was
made up of many peoples
o
Quite multiethnic
§ Germans
long dominated empire, yet they accounted for only ¼ of population
§ Magyars
(Hungarians) were a substantially smaller group, dominated kingdom of Hungary
though they did not account for a majority of population in that part of
Austrian Empire
§ Czechs
were concentrated in Bohemia and Moravia
§ Large
numbers of Italians, Poles, and Ukrainians as well as smaller groups of
Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and Romanians
§ Various Slavic
peoples, together with Italians and Romanians represented a widely scattered
and completely divided majority in an empire politically dominated by Germans
and Hungarians
§ Diff
ethnic groups often lived in the same provinces and even in same villages
§ Different
parts and provinces of empire differed in languages, customs, and institutions
·
Multiethnic state Metternich served was strong and
weak at same time
o
Strong: Large population and vast territories
o
Weak: Many and potentially dissatisfied nationalities
·
Metternich virtually had to oppose liberalism and
nationalism, for Austria was simply unable to accommodate these ideologies of
the dual revolution
·
In his efforts to hold back liberalism and
nationalism, Metternich was supported by Russia and, to a lesser extent, the
Ottoman Empire
o
Bitter enemies, these far flung empires were both
absolutist states with powerful armies and long traditions of expansion and
conquest
o
Both were multinational empires made up of many
peoples, languages, and religions, but in each case most of the ruling elite
came from the dominant ethnic group – the Orthodox Christian Russians centered
in central and northern Russia, and the Muslim Ottoman Turks of Anatolia
o
After 1815, both of these multinational absolutist
states worked to preserve their respective traditional conservative orders
o
Only after 1850 did each in turn experience a
profound crisis and embark on a program of fundamental reform and modernization
The Spread of Radical Ideas
·
In years following peace settlement of 1815 intellectuals
and social observers sought to understand the revolutionary changes that had
occurred and were still taking place
·
Almost all of these basic ideas were radical
·
New ideas rejected conservatism, with its stress on
tradition, a hereditary monarchy, a strong and privileged landowning
aristocracy, and an official church
·
Radical thinkers developed and refined alternative
visions/ideologies and tried to convince society to act on them
·
In contrast to Metternich and conservatism, these new
philosophies of liberalism, nationalism, and socialism started with an
optimistic premise about human nature
·
Although they reached very diff conclusions about how
best to achieve progress, of how far progress should extend, with time, each of
the movements was very successful
Liberalism and the Middle Class
·
Liberalism first realized in American Rev and then
achieved in part in French Rev
·
Liberalism
o
Principle ideas of liberalism: Liberty and Equality
were not defeated in 1815
o
Liberalism demanded representative gov as opposed to
autocratic monarchy, and equality before the law as opposed to legally separate
classes
o
Idea of liberty meant specific individual freedoms:
press, speech, assembly, arbitrary arrest
·
In Europe, only France with Louis XVIII’s
Constitutional Charter and Great Brit with its PLMT and historic rights of
Englishmen and women had realized much of liberal program in 1815
o
Even in those countries, liberalism had not fully
succeeded
·
Liberalism retained its cutting edge, but was seen by
many as being somewhat duller than it had been
o
Liberalism faced more radical ideological competitors
in the early 19th c
o
Opponents of liberalism especially criticized its
economic principles, which called for unrestricted private enterprise and no
gov interference in economy
§ Philosophy
known as laissez faire
§ Classic
liberalism vs. modern American liberalism w/ more gov programs
·
Early 19th c liberal political ideals
became more closely associated with narrow class interests
o
Early 10th c liberals favored
representative govs, but generally wanted property qualifications attached to
the right to vote
o
This meant limiting the vote to the well to do
o
Workers and peasants, as well as lower middle class
of shopkeepers, clerks, and artisans, did not own the necessary property and
thus could not vote
·
As liberalism became increasingly identified with
middle class after 1815, some intellectuals and foes of conservatism felt that
liberalism did not go nearly far enough
o
Inspired by memories of French Rev and young Am
Repub, they called for universal voting rights, at least for males, and
democracy
o
Democrats and republicans were more radical that the
liberals, and were more willing than most liberals to endorse violent upheaval
to achieve goals
·
All of this meant that liberals that radical
democratic republicans could join forces against conservatives up to a point
The Growing Appeal of Nationalism
·
Nationalism was a second radical idea in the years
after 1815, an idea destined to have an enormous influence in the modern world
·
Nationalism: The idea that each people had its own
genius and its own specific unity, which manifested itself especially in common
language and history, and often led to the desire for an independent political
state
·
Origins in French Rev and NAP wars, and there were
already hints of its ability to spread and develop
·
Early advocates of the “national idea” or nationalism
were strongly influenced by Johann
Gottfried von Herder: 18th c philosopher and historian who
argued that each pl had its own genius and cultural unity
o
For nationalists coming after Herder, this cultural
unity was basically self evident, manifesting itself especially in a common
language, history, and territory
o
Actually, in early 19th c, cultural unity
was more a dream than a reality as far as most nationalities were concerned
§ Local
dialects abounded, and peasants from nearby villages often couldn’t understand
each other
§ Historic
memory divided inhabitants of diff German or Italian states as much as it
unified them
§ Variety of
ethnic groups shared the territory of most states
·
Despite basic realities, sooner or later European
nationalists usually sought to turn the cultural unity that they perceived into
political reality
·
Sought to make territory of each people coincide with
well defined boundaries in an indep nation states
·
This political goal made nationalism so explosive in
central and e. Europe after 1815, where there were either too few states
(Austria, Russia, and Ottoman Empire) or too many (Italian peninsula and German
Confed) and when diff peoples overlapped and intermingled
·
Why was nationalism that fit so poorly with existing
conditions and promised upheaval so successful?
o
Development of complex industrial and urban society,
which required much better communication between individs and groups
§ Communication
needs promoted use of standardized national language within many countries,
created at least a superficial cultural unity as a standard tongue spread
through mass education
§ When a
minority population was large and concentrated, the nationalist campaign for
standardized language often led minority group to push for a separate nation
state
·
Many scholars argue that nations are recent
creations, the product of new, self conscious nationalist ideology
·
Thus nation states emerged in 19th c as
“imagined communities” that sought to binds millions of strangers together
around the abstract concept of an all embracing national identity
o
This meant bringing citizens together with
emotionally charged symbols and ceremonies, such as indep holidays and
patriotic parades
o
On these occasions the imagined nation of spiritual
equals might celebrate its most hallowed traditions, which were often recent
inventions
·
Historians stress dynamic, ever changing character of
nationalism
o
Industrialism and mass education played only a minor
role before 1850
·
In those years the faith in nationhood was fresh,
idealistic, and progressive
·
Between 1815 and 1850 most ppl who believed in
nationalism also believed in either liberalism or radical democratic
republicanism
·
A common faith in the creativity and nobility of the
ppl was perhaps the single most important reason for the linking of these two
concepts
o
Liberals and especially democrats saw the ppl as the
ultimate source of all gov
o
Yet liberals and nationalists agreed that the
benefits of self gov would be possible only if the ppl were united by common
traditions that transcended local interests and even class differences
·
Early nationalists believed that every nation, like every
citizen, had the right to exist in freedom and to develop its character and
spirit
·
They were confident that a “symphony of nations”
would promote that harmony and unity of all peoples
·
Jules
Michelet: Each citizen learns to recognize his country as a note in
the grand concert
·
Guiseppe
Mazzini: Italian patriot, laboring for principles of our country,
laboring for humanity
·
Liberty of individual and love of a free nation
overlapped greatly in early 19th c
·
Early nationalists stressed differences among peoples
o
Strong sense of “we” and “they”
o
Sense of national mission and sense of national
superiority
·
Michelet stressed “superiority of France”
·
Russian and German nationalists had very diff opinion
on France
o
Thought French were oppressive, and “they” were the enemy
French Utopian Socialism
·
Socialism: New radical doctrine after 1815, began in
France, even though France lagged behind Brit in developing modern industry
·
Early socialist thinkers were aware that the
political revolution in France, rise of laissez faire, and emergence of modern
industry in Brit were transforming society
·
Disturbed because they saw these developments as
fomenting selfish individualism and splitting community into isolated fragments
·
They believed there was a urgent need for a further
reorganization of society to establish cooperation and a new sense of community
·
Early Socialist beliefs
o
Economic planning
§ Inspired
by emergency measures of early France, they argued that gov should rationally
organize the economy and not depend on destructive competition to do the job
o
Believed in desire to help the poor
§ Preached
that the rich and poor should be more nearly equal economically
o
Believed private property should be strictly
regulated by the gov or that it should be abolished and replaced by state or
community ownership
·
Planning, greater economic equality, and state
regulation of property – key ideas of early French socialism and of all
socialism since
·
Count
Henri de Saint-Simon: One of most influential early socialist thinkers,
optimistically proclaimed the tremendous possibilities of industrial
development: “the age of gold is before us”
o
The key to progress was property social organization
that required the parasites (court, aristocracy, lawyers, churchmen) to give
way, to the “doers (scientists, engineers, industrialists)
o
Doers would plan economy and guide it forward by
undertaking public works projects and establishing investment banks
o
Saint Simon stressed highly moralistic terms that
every social institution ought to have its main goal improved conditions for
the poor
·
After 1830, socialist critique of capitalism became
sharper
·
Charles
Fourier: Lonely, saintly man, envisaged a socialist utopia of
mathematically precise, self sufficient communities, each made up of 1,620 ppl
o
Proponent of total emancipation of women
o
Young single women were shamelessly “sold” to their
future husbands for dowries and other financial considerations
o
Called for abolition of marriage, free unions based
only on love, and sexual freedom
o
Many middle class men and women found these ideas
shocking and immoral
·
Louis
Blanc: sharp eyed, intelligent journalist, focused on practical
improvements
o
Organization
of Work: urged workers to agitate for universal voting rights and
to take control of the state peacefully
o
Believed that the state should set up gov backed
workshops and factories to guarantee full employment
o
Right to work had become as sacred as any right
·
Pierre
Joseph Proudhon: self educated printer who wrote a pamphlet
o
Answer was that it was nothing but theft
o
Property was profit that was stolen from the worker,
who was the source of all wealth
·
Message of French utopian socialists interacted with
experiences of French urban workers
·
Workers cherished memory of the radical phase of the
French Rev and became violently opposed to laissez faire laws that denied
workers the right to organize in guilds and unions
·
Developing a sense of class in the process, workers
favored collective action and gov intervention in economic life
·
Aspirations of workers and utopian theorists
reinforced each other, and a genuine socialist movement emerged in Paris in
1830s and 1840s
·
To Karl Marx was left the task of establishing firm
foundations for modern socialism
The Birth of Marxian Socialism
·
1848: Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels published
The Communist Manifesto which became the bible of
socialism
·
Karl Marx
o
Son of a Jewish lawyer who had converted to
Christianity
o
Atheistic Marx studied philosophy at UBerlin before
turning to journalism and economics
o
Read in French socialist thought, and looked forward to
emancipation of women and abolition of the family
o
Was developing his own socialist ideas
·
Early French socialists often appealed to the middle
class and the state to help the poor
·
Marx ridiculed such appeals as naïve
o
Argued that interests of the middle class and those
of industrial working class were inevitably opposed to each other
o
One class always exploited the other and with the
advent of modern industry, society was split more clearly than ever before:
between middle class bourgeoisie and modern working class proletariat
·
Just as bourgeoisie had triumphed over feudal
aristocracy, Marx predicted that the proletariat would conquer the bourgeoisie
in a violent revolution
·
While a tiny minority owned the means of production
and grew richer, the ever poorer proletariat was constantly growing in size and
in class consciousness
·
In this process, the prol was aided by a portion of
the bourgeoisie who had gone over to the proles and who had raised themselves
to the level of comprehending, thought Marx
·
The critical moment, Marx thought, was very near
·
Marx’s ideas united sociology, economics, and all
human history in a vast and imposing edifice
·
Synthesized in his socialism not only French utopian
schemes but also English classical economics and German philosophy
·
Following David
Ricardo, who thought labor was source of all value, Marx argue Proudhon’s
case that profits were really wages stolen from the workers
·
Marx incorporated Engels’s charge of terrible
oppression of the new class of factory workers in England
·
Marx’s doctrines seemed to be based on hard fact
·
Marx’s theory of historical evolution was built on
philosophy of German Georg hegel
o
Hegel believed each age is characterized by dominant
ideas that produce opposing ideas and eventually a new synthesis
o
The idea of being had been dominant initially, and it
had produced its antithesis, nonbeing
o
This idea turned into a synthesis of becoming
o
Thus history had pattern and purpose
·
Marx retained Hegel’s view of history as a dialectic
process of change but made economic relationships between classes the driving
force
o
This dialectic explained the decline of agrarian
feudalism and the rise of industrial capitalism
o
Marx stressed repeatedly that the “bourgeoisie,
historically, has played a most revolutionary part”, it has created more
massive and more colossal productive forces that have all preceding generations
together
·
Marx’s next idea, that it was now the bourgeoisie’s
turn to give way to the socialism of revolutionary workers appeared to many the
irrefutable capstone of a brilliant interpretation of humanity’s long
development
·
Marx pulled together powerful ideas and insights to
create one of the great secular religions out of the intellectual ferment of
the early 19th c
The Romantic Movement
·
Early 19th c was a time of change in
literature and other arts as well as politics
·
Known as romantic movement
·
Part of a revolt against emphasis on rationality,
order, and restraint that characterized the ENLT and controlled style of
classicism
·
Forerunners of RMT mvmt appeared from 1750 on
o
Rousseau: advocate of feeling, freedom, and natural
goodness, was most influential
·
Crystallized fully in 1790s, primarily in England and
Germany
·
FR kindled belief that radical reconstruction was
possible in cultural and artistic life
·
Romanticism gained strength until 1840s when it
gradually gave way to realism
Romanticism’s Tenets
·
Characterized by belief in emotional exuberance,
unrestrained imagination, and spontaneity in both art and personal life
·
In Germany early RMTCS of 1170-80s called themselves
Sturm and Drang (storm and stress) and many RMTC artists of early 19th
c lived lives of tremendous emotional intensity
·
Artists typically led bohemian lives, wearing hair
long and uncombed instead of wigs, and rejecting materialism of refined society
·
Great individualists, the romantics believed in full
development of one’s unique human potential to be the supreme purpose in life
·
Nowhere was the break with classicism more apparent
than in romanticism’s general conception of nature
o
Classicism was not particularly interested in nature
o
RMTCS were enchanted by nature
§ Was
awesome and tempestuous
§ Source of
spiritual inspiration
·
Great English landscape artist: John Constable declared “Nature is Spirit visible”
·
Most RMTCS saw growth of modern industry as an ugly,
brutal attack on their beloved nature and on human personality
·
Sought to escape in unspoiled Lake District of n.
England, in exotic N. Africa, in an imaginary idealized Middle Ages
·
Diverse, exciting, and important, study of history
became a romantic passion
o
Key to a universe that was now perceived as organic
and dynamic, not mechanical and static as ELNT thinkers thought it was
·
Was not restricted to biographies of great men or
work of divine providence
·
Jules
Michelet: Historian, focused on development of societies and human
institutions, promoted growth of national aspirations, fanning embers of memory
and encouraging peoples to seek in the past their special destinies
Literature
·
RMTCS found distinctive voice in poetry, as ENLT had
in prose
·
First great poets were Brit
o
Wordsworth,
Coleridge, and Scott followed
by Byron, Shelley, and Keats
·
Towering leader of English RMTCM William Wordsworth was deeply influenced by Rousseau and spirit of
early FR
o
Settled in rural Lake District of England with sister
Dorothy and Samuel Coleridge
o
Wordsworth and Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads which abandoned flowery classical conventions for language of
ordinary speech and endowed simple subjects with the loftiest majesty
o
Simplicity and love of nature in commonplace forms
that could be appreciated by everyone
o
Poetry is “spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling
recollected in tranquility”
·
Classicism remained strong in France under NAP and
inhibited growth of RMTCM
·
1813: Germaine
de Stael, a Franco Swiss writer living in exile, urged French to throw out
worn out classical models
o
Her study extolled spontaneity and enthusiasm of
German writers/thinkers and it had a powerful impact on post 1815 generation in
France
·
Between 1820 and 1850, RMTC impulse broke through in
poetry and prose of Lamartine, de Vigny,
Hugo, Dumas, and Sand
·
Victor
Hugo: most well known in poetry and prose
o
Son of Napoleonic general
o
Achieved amazing range of rhythm, language, and image
in his lyric poetry
o
Powerful novels exemplified RMTC fascination with
fantastic characters, exotic historical settings, and human emotions
o
Renounced early conservatism, equated freedom in
literature with liberty in politics and society
o
Hugo’s political evolution was opposite of
Wordsworth’s, in whom youthful radicalism gave way to middle aged caution
o
As contrast between two artists suggests, RMTCM was a
cultural movement compatible with many political beliefs
·
Amandine
Aurore Lucie Dupin or George
Sand: defied narrow conventions of her time in a n unending search for self
fulfillment
o
After 8 yrs of unhappy marriage, she abandoned her
husband and took her 2 children to Paris to pursue a career as a writer
o
Achieved fame and wealth, writing over 80 novels on a
variety of RMTC and social themes
o
Her individualism went far beyond her flamboyant
preference for men’s clothing and notorious affairs
o
Semi-autobiographical novel Leila was shockingly modern, delving deeply into her tortuous quest
for sexual and personal freedom
·
In central and eastern Europe, literary RMTCM often
reinforced each other
o
Seeking a unique greatness in every ppl, well
educated RMTCS plumed their own histories and cultures
o
Like modern anthropologists, they turned their
attention to peasant life and transcribed the folk songs, tales, and proverbs
that the cosmopolitan ELNT had disdained
·
Brothers Jacob
and Wilhelm Grimm were successful at rescuing German fairy tales from
oblivion
·
IN Slavic lands, RMTCS played a decisive role in
converting spoken peasant languages to modern written languages
·
Most influential of Russian poets, Aleksander Pushkin rejecting 18th
c attempts to force Russian poetry into a classical straitjacket, used his
lyrical genius to mold the modern literary language
Art and Music
·
One of greatest and most moving RMTC painters in
France was Eugene Delacroix, probs
illegit son of Talleyrand
o
Master of dramatic, colorful scenes that stirred
emotions
o
Fascinated with remote and exotic subjects
o
Passionate spokesman for freedom
·
In England, the most notable RMTC painters were Joseph M. W. Turner and John Constable
o
Both were fascinated by nature, but their
interpretations of it contrasted sharply, symbolizing the tremendous emotional
range of the romantic mvmt
o
Turner depicted nature’s power and terror, wild
storms and sinking ships
o
Constable painted gentle landscapes in which humans
were at open with their environment, the comforting countryside of unspoiled
rural England
·
It was in music that RMTCM realized most fully and
permanently its goals of free expression and emotional intensity
o
Abandoning well defined structures, the great
romantic composers used a wide range of forms to create a thousand musical
landscapes and evoke a host of powerful emotions
o
Composers transformed small classical orchestra by
tripling it an adding wind, percussion, and more brass and strings
o
Crashing chords, bottomless despair
o
Modern orchestra’s musical paintings that plumbed
depths of human feeling
·
Range and intensity gave music and musicians much
greater prestige than in the past
·
Music no longer simply complemented church or helped
a nobleman digest, it became a sublime end in itself, most perfectly realizing
the endless yearning of the soul
·
Franz
Liszt: Became a hero, the greatest pianist of his age
·
Ludwig van
Beethoven: used contrasting themes and tones to produce dramatic
conflict and inspiring resolutions
o
Music sets in motion level of fear, awe, horror, and
suffering that awakens infinite longing which is essence of RMTCM
o
Beethoven’s range and output were tremendous
o
Began to lose hearing, considered suicide, overcame
despair
o
Continued to pour out music
Reforms and Revolutions before 1848
·
While RMTC mvmt was developing, liberal, national,
and socialist forces battered against the conservatism of 1815
·
In some countries, change occurred gradually and
peacefully, while elsewhere, pressure built up and caused an explosion in 1848
·
3 important countries: Greece, Brit, and France,
experienced variations on the basic theme between 1815 and 1848
National Liberation in Greece
·
Nationalism, liberal rev, frustrated in Italy and
Spain by conservative statesmen, succeeded first after 1815 in Greece
·
Since 15th c, the Greeks had been living
under domination of Ottoman Turks
·
In spite of centuries of foreign rule, Greek shad
survived as a ppl, united by language and Orthodox religion
·
Was natural that general growth of national
aspirations and a desire fo independence would inspire some Greeks in early 19th
c
·
Rising national mvmt led to formation of secret
societies and then to reolt in 1821 led by Alexander
Ypsilanti, a Greek patriot and general in Russian army
·
At first, Great powers, particularly Metternich, were
opposed to all revolution, even rev against Turks
·
Refused to back Ypsilanti and supported Ottoman
Empire
·
Yet for many Europeans, Greek cause became a holy one
o
Educated Am’s and Europeans were in love with culture
of classical Greece
o
Russians were stirred by piety of Orthodox brethren
o
Writers and artists were moved by the RMTC impulse
and responded enthusiastically to the Greek national struggle
o
Famous English RMTC Lord Byron joined Greeks to fight “that Greece may yet be free”
·
Greeks, though often quarreling among themselves,
battled on against Turks and hoped for eventual support of European gov’s
·
1827: Brit, France, Russia yielded to popular demands
at home and directed Turkey to accept an armistice
·
Turks refused, navies of these 3 powers trapped Turkish
fleet at Navarino and destroyed it
·
Russia declared another of its periodic wars of
expansion against Turks
·
Led to establishment of Russian protectorate over
much of present day Romania, which had also been under Turkish rule
·
Brit, France, Russia finally declared Greece indep in
1830 and installed German prince as king of new country in 1832
·
Greeks won: small nation gained indep in a heroic war
of liberation against a foreign empire
Liberal Reform in Brit
·
18th c Brit society had been flexible and
stable
o
Dominated by landowning aristocracy, but that class
was neither closed nor rigidly defined
o
Successful business and professional ppl could buy
land and become gentlefolk, while common ppl had more than the usual
opportunities of preindustry world
o
Basic civil rights for all were balanced by tradition
of deference to one’s social superiors
o
PLMT was manipulated by king and thoroughly
undemocratic, with only 8% of population allowed to vote for reps
·
By 1780s, there was a growing interest in some kind
of political reform
o
FR threw Brit aristocracy into a panic for a
generation, making it hostile to change of status quo
o
Conflicts between ruling class and laborers were sparked
in 1815 with revision of Corn laws
§ Brit
unable to import cheap grain from e. Europe during war years, leading to high
prices and large profits for landed aristocracy
§ With war
over, grain could be imported again, allowing price of wheat and bread to go
down and benefit everyone except aristocracy
o
Aristocracy changed corn laws through PLMT
§ New
regulation prohibited importation of foreign grain unless price at home rose to
improbable levels
§ Seldom has
a class legislated more selfishly for its own narrow economic advantage or done
more to promote a class based view of political action
o
Change in corn laws at a time of unemployment and
postwar economic distressed triggered protests and demonstrations by urban
laborers who were supported by radical intellectuals
·
1817: Tory gov, which was completely controlled by
landed aristocracy, responded by temporarily suspending traditional rights of
peaceable assembly and habeas corpus
·
2 yrs later PLMT passed Six Acts, which placed
controls on a heavily taxed press and practically eliminated all mass meetings
·
Acts followed an enormous but orderly protest at
Saint peter’s Fields in Manchester, that had been savagely broken up by armed
cavalry
·
Nicknamed Battle of Peterloo, in scornful reference
to the British victory at Waterloo
o
Showed gov’s determination to repress dissenters
·
Strengthened by ongoing industrial development, the
new manufacturing and commercial groups insisted on a place for their new
wealth alongside the landed wealth of the aristocracy in the framework of
political power and social prestige
·
Called for many kinds of liberal reform: reform of
town gov, organization of a new police force, more rights for Catholics and
dissenters, and reform of the Poor Laws that provided aid to some low paid
workers
·
1820s: less frightened Tory gov moved in direction of
better urban administration, greater economic liberalism, civil equality for
Catholics, and limited imports of foreign grain
·
Actions encouraged middle classes to press on for
reform of PLMT so they could have a larger say in gov
·
Whig Party, though led like Tories by great
aristocrats, had by tradition been more responsive to middle class commercial
and manufacturing interests
o
1830: Whig ministry introduced an “act to amend the
representation of the people of England and Wales”
o
After
series of setbacks, Whigs’ Reform Bill of 1832 was propelled into law by
mighty surge of popular support
o
Bill moved Brit politics in a democratic direction
and allowed House of Commons to emerge as all important legislative body
o
New industrial areas of country gained representation
in Commons and many old electoral districts that had very few votes and
aristocracy bought and sold were eliminated
o
Number of voters increased by about 50%, giving about
12% of adult men in Brit and Ireland the right to vote
o
Comfortable middle class groups in the urban
population, as well as some substantial farmers who leased their land, received
the vote
o
Pressures building in Brit were successfully, though
temporarily released
o
Major reform had been achieved peacefully
o
Continued fundamental reform within the system
appeared difficult but not impossible
·
Principle radical program for continued reform was
embodied in “People’s Charter” of 1838
·
Partly inspired by economic distress of working class
in 1830s-40s
·
Chartists’ core demand was universal male (but not
female) suffrage
·
Saw complete political democracy and rule by the
common people (majority) as the means to a good and just society
·
Hundreds of thousands of ppl signed gigantic
petitions calling on PLMT to grant all men the right to vote in 1839, 1842, and
in 1848
·
PLMT rejected all 3 petitions
·
Working poor failed with their Chartist demands, but
learned a valuable lesson in mass politics
·
While calling for male suffrage, many working class
ppl joined with middle class manufacturers in Anti-Corn Law League
·
Mass participation made possible a popular crusade
led by fighting liberals, who argued that lower food prices and more jobs in
industry depended on repeal of Corn Laws
Much of working class agreed
Much of working class agreed
·
When Ireland’s potato crop failed in 1845 and famine
prices for food seemed likely in England, Tory prime minister Robert Peel joined with Whigs and a minority of his own
party to repeal Corn Laws and allow free imports of grain
·
England escaped famine
·
Thereafter the liberal doctrine of free trade became
almost sacred dogma in Brit
·
Following year, Tories passed a bill designed to help
working classes, but in a diff way
o
Ten Hours Act of 1847 limited workday for women and
young ppl in factories to 10 hrs
o
Tory aristocrats continued to champion legislation
regulating factory conditions
o
Were competing vigorously with middle class for
support of the working class
o
This healthy competition between a still vigorous
aristocracy and a strong middle class was a crucial factor in Brit’s peaceful
evolution
o
Working classes could make temporary alliances with
either competitor to better their own conditions
Ireland and the Great Famine
·
Ppl of Ireland did not benefit from political
competition in Brit
·
Great mass of population were Irish Catholics who
rented land from tiny minority of Church of England Protestants
o
These landlords were content to use their power to
grab as much as possible
·
Result was condition of Irish peasants around 1800
was abominable
o
Typical peasant lived in a wretched cottage and could
afford neither shoes nor stockings
o
Hundreds of shocking accounts describe hopeless
poverty
o
Novelist Sir
Walter Scott wrote about the poverty
o
French traveler wrote Ireland was “pure misery, naked
and hungry”
·
In spite of terrible conditions, population growth
sped onward
·
Ireland’s population explosion, part of Europe’s
population explosion, was caused in part by the extensive cultivation of potato
o
Single acre of land spaded and planted with potatoes
could feed an Irish family of 6 for a year, and potato could thrive on boggy
wastelands
o
Needing only a big potato patch to survive, Irish men
and women married early
o
Young couple was embracing life of extreme poverty
o
They would live on potatoes
·
Decision to marry early and have large families made sense
o
Landlords leased land for short periods only
o
Peasants had no incentive to make permanent
improvements because anything beyond what was needed for survival would quickly
be taken by higher rent
o
Rural poverty was inescapable and better shared with
a spouse, while a dutiful son/daughter was an old person’s best hope of
escaping destitution
·
As population and potato dependency grew, conditions
became more precarious
o
1820 onward, deficiencies and diseases in potato crop
became more common
o
Potato failed repeatedly 1845, 1846, 1848, 1851
o
Great Famine was result
§ Blight of
plants, and tubers rotted
§ Widespread
starvation
§ Mass fever
epidemics
·
Brit gov, committed to strict laissez faire, was slow
to act
o
When it did, it was tragically inadequate
o
Gov continued to collect taxes, landlords demanded
rents, and tenants who couldn’t pay were evicted and their homes destroyed
·
Ireland remained conquered jewel of foreign
landowners
·
Great Famine shattered pattern of Irish population
growth
o
1 mill fled
o
1.5 mill died or went unborn
o
Declining population in 2nd half of 19th
c
o
Land of continuous out migration, late marriage,
early death, and widespread celibacy
·
Great Famine intensified anti-Brit feeling and
promoted Irish nationalism
o
Bitter memory of starvation, exile, and Brit inaction
was burned deeply into popular consciousness
o
Patriots had campaigns for land reform, home rule,
and eventually Irish independence
The Revolution of 1830 in France
·
Louis XVIII’s Constitutional Charter of 1814 was not
a gift, but actually a response to political pressures, basically a liberal
constitution
·
Economic and social gains made by sections of middle
class and peasantry in FR were fully protected, great intellectual and artistic
freedom was permitted, and a PLMT with upper and lower house was created
·
Immediately after NAP’s 100 days, moderate, worldly
king refused to bow to wishes of die hard aristocrats who wanted to sweep away
all revolutionary changes
·
Instead,
Louis appointed as his ministers moderate royalists, who sought and
obtained the support of a majority of the representatives elected to the lower
Chamber of Deputies between 1816 and Louis’s death in 1824
·
Louis XVIII’s charter was anything but democratic
o
Only 100,000 out of 30 mill of wealthiest males could
vote for deputies who made laws of nation
o
“Notable ppl” who did vote cam from very diff
backgrounds
§ Wealthy
businessmen, war profiteers, successfully professionals, ex revolutionaries,
large landowners from the old aristocracy, and middle class, Bourbons, and
Bonapartists
o
The old aristocracy, with its pre 1789 mentality, was
a minority within the voting population
o
It was this solution that Charles X could not abide
·
Charles X was a true reactionary, wanted to
reestablish the old order in France
o
Increasingly blocked by opposition of deputies,
turned in 1830 to military adventure in an effort to rally French nationalism
and gain popular support
o
A long standing economic and diplomatic dispute with
Muslim Algeria, a vassal state of the Ottoman empire, provided the opportunity
·
June 1830, French force of 37,000 crossed
Mediterranean and landed to west of Algiers, and took capital city in 3 weeks
·
Victory seemed complete, but in 1831, the tribes in
interior revolted and waged a fearsome war until 1847, when French armies finally
subdued country
·
Bringing French, Spanish, and Italian settlers to
Algeria and leading to the expropriation of the large tracts of Muslim land,
the conquest of Algeria marked the rebirth of French colonial expansion
·
Emboldened by good news from Algeria, Charles
repudiated Constitutional Charter in an attempted coup in July 1830
o
Issued decrees stripping much of the wealthy middle
class of its voting rights, and censored the press
o
Immediate reaction, encouraged by
journalists/lawyers, was an insurrection in the capital by printers, other artisans,
and small traders
o
In “three glorious days”, the gov collapsed
o
Paris boiled w/ rev excitement, Charles fled
o
Upper middle class, who’d fomented the rev,
skillfully seated Charles’s cousin, Louis
Philippe, duke of Orleans on the vacant throne
·
Louis Philippe accepted Constitutional Charter of
1814, adopted the red/white/blue flag of FR and admitted that he was merely the
“king of the French ppl”
o
In spite of such symbolic actions, the situation in
France remained fundamentally unchanged
o
Vote was extended only from 100,000 to170,000
citizens
o
For upper middle class, there had been a change in dynasty in order
to protect the status quo and the narrowly liberal institutions of 1815
o
Republicans, democrats, social reformers, and the
poor of Paris were bitterly disappointed
o
Had made a revolution, but it seemed for naught
The Revolutions of 1848
·
The late 1840s in Europe were hard economically and
tense politically
·
Potato famine had many echoes on continent
·
Bad harvests jacked up food prices and caused misery
and unemployment in the cities and countryside
·
Profound economic crisis, caused in final analysis by
a combination of rapid population growth and industrialization efforts that
were only beginning to provide more jobs and income, gripped continental Europe
·
Political and social response to economic crisis was
unrest and protest
o
Pre-rev outbreaks occurred all across Europe
§ Northern
part of Austria,
§ Civil war
in Switzerland
§ Uprising
in Naples
·
Only most advanced and most backward major countries:
Brit, Russia escaped untouched
·
Gov’s toppled, monarchs and ministers bowed or fled
·
National independence, liberal democratic
constitutions, and social reform: the lofty aspirations of a generation seemed
at hand
·
In the end, the revs failed
A Democratic Republic in France
·
By late 184s, rev in Europe was almost universally
expected, but it took rev in Paris to turn expectations into realities
·
For 18 years Louis Philippe’s “bourgeois monarchy”
had been characterized by stubborn inaction and complacency
·
There was a glaring lack of social legislation, and
politics was dominated by corruption and selfish interests
·
With only the rich voting for deputies, many of the
deputies were docile gov bureaucrats
·
Gov’s refusal to consider electoral reform heightened
a sense of class injustice among middle class shopkeepers, skilled artisans,
and unskilled working ppl, and eventually touched off a popular revolt in Paris
o
Workers joined by students tore up cobblestones and
built barricades in narrow streets
o
Armed w/ guns
o
Workers and students demanded a new gov
o
National guard broke ranks and joined revolutionaries
o
Louis Philippe refused to order full scale attack by
regular army
o
Abdicated in favor of his grandson
o
Common ppl in arms would tolerate no more monarchy
o
Refusal led to proclamation of a provisional
republic, headed by a ten man executive committee and certified by cries of
approval from rev crowd
·
Revolutionaries immediately set about drafting a
constitution for France’s 2nd Republic
o
Wanted a truly popular and democratic republic so the
common ppl (peasants, artisans, unskilled workers) could participate in
reforming society
o
Building such a repub meant giving right to vote to
every adult male, and this was
quickly done
o
Rev compassion and sympathy for freedom were
expressed in freeing all slaves in French colonies, abolition of death penalty,
and establishment of 10 hour weekday in Paris
·
Profound differences within rev coalition in Paris
o
There were moderate liberal repubs of middle class
o
Viewed universal male suffrage as ultimate concession
to be made to popular forces, and they strongly opposed any further radical
social measures
o
On the other hand, there were radical repubs and hard
pressed artisans
o
Influenced by a generation of utopian socialists and
appalled by poverty and misery of urban poor, the radical republicans were
committed to some kind of socialism
o
So were many artisans, who hated the unrestrained a
combination of strong craft unions and worker owned businesses
·
Worsening depression and rising unemployment brought
these conflicting goals to the fore in 1848
·
Louis Blanc with a worker named Albert represented
the repub socialists in the provisional gov, pressed for recognition of a
socialist right to work
·
Blanc asserted that permanent gov sponsored
cooperative workshops should be established for workers
·
Such workshops would be an alternative to capitalist
employment and a decisive step toward a new, noncompetitive social order
·
The moderate repubs wanted no such thing
o
Were willing to provide only temporary relief
o
Resulting compromise set up national workshops – soon
to become little more than a vast program of pick and shovel public works and
established a special commission under Blanc to “study the question”
o
This satisfied no one
o
National workshops were better than nothing
o
Army of desperate poor from French provinces and from
foreign countries streamed into Paris to sign up
o
As economic crisis worsened, the number enrolled in
workshops increased 10,000 to 120,000 and 80,000 were trying unsuccessfully to
get in
·
While workshops in Paris grew, French masses went to
election polls in late April
o
Voting in most cases for the first time, ppl of
France elected to new Constituent Assembly about 500 moderate repubs, 300
monarchists, and 100 radicals who professed various brands of socialism
o
One of the moderate repubs was the author Alexis de Tocqueville who predicted the
overthrow of Louis Philippe’s gov
·
Tocqueville observed that the socialist movement in
Paris aroused fierce hostility of France’s peasants as well as the middle and
upper classes
·
The French peasants owned land, and according to
Tocqueville, “private property had become with all those who owned it a sort of
bond fraternity”
·
Returning from Normandy to take his new seat in new
Constituent Assembly
·
Tocqueville saw that a majority of the members were
firmly committed to the repub and strongly opposed to the socialists and their
artisan allies, and he shared their sentiments
·
This clash of ideologies (liberal capitalism and
socialism) became a clash of classes and arms after the electrons
·
New gov’s executive committee dropped Blanc and
included no representative of Parisian working class after
·
Fearing their socialist hopes were about to be
dashed, artisans and unskilled workers invaded Constituent Assembly on May 15
and tried to proclaim a new revolutionary state
·
Gov was ready and used the middle class National
Guard to squelch uprising
·
As workshops continued to fill and grow more radical,
the fearful but powerful propertied classes in the Assembly took the offensive
o
June 22, gov dissolved national workshops in Paris,
giving workers choice of joining army or going to workshops in provinces
·
Result was spontaneous and violent uprising
o
Frustrated in attempts to create a socialist society,
masses of desperate ppl were not losing even their life sustaining relief
o
Famous astronomer
Francois Arago counseled patience
o
Barricades sprung up in narrow streets of Paris, and
a terrible class war began
o
Working ppl fought w courage of desperation, but this
time the gov had the army and support of peasant France
o
After 3 “June Days” of street fighting and death/injury
of more than 10,000 ppl, the republican army under General Louis Cavaignac stood triumphant w/ deaths of working class
·
Revolution in France ended in spectacular failure
o
February coalition of middle/working class had in 4
short months become locked in mortal combat
o
In place of generous democratic republic, the
Constituent Assembly completed a constitution featuring a strong executive
o
Allowed Louis
Napoleon, nephew of NAP to win a landslide victory in December 1848
election
o
Appeal of his great name and desire of propertied
class for order had produced a semi authoritarian regime
The Austrian Empire in 1848
·
Throughout c. Europe, the first news of the upheaval
in France evoked feverish excitement and eventually revolution
·
Liberals demanded written constitutions, rep govs,
and greater civil liberties from authoritarian regimes
·
When gov’s hesitated, popular revolts followed
·
Urban workers and students served as shock troops,
but were allied w/ middle class liberals and peasants
·
In the face of this united front, monarchs collapsed
and granted almost everything
·
The popular revolutionary coalition, having secured
great and easy victories, then broke down as it had in France
·
The traditional forces, monarchy, aristocracy,
regular army, recovered their nerve, reasserted their authority, and took back
many, though not all, concessions
·
Reaction was everywhere victorious
·
Rev in Austrian Empire began in Hungary 1848, where
nationalistic Hungarians demanded national autonomy, full civil liberties, and universal
suffrage
o
Monarchy in Vienna hesitated
o
Viennese students and workers took to the streets and
raised barricades in defiance of gov, while peasant disorders broke out in part
of empire
o
Habsburg emperor Ferdinand
I capitulated and promised reforms and a liberal constitution
o
Metternich fled to London
o
Old absolutist order seemed to be collapsing with unbelievable
rapidity
·
Coalition of revs was not stable
o
When monarchy abolished serfdom, wits its degrading
forced labor and feudal services, newly free peasants lost interest in
political and social questions agitating the cities
o
Meanwhile, coalition of urban revs also broke down
along class lines over the issue of socialist workshops and universal voting
rights for men
·
Rev coalition was also weakened, and ultimately
destroyed by conflicting national aspirations
o
March: Hungarian rev leaders pushed through extremely
liberal, almost democratic constitution
o
Hungarian revs sought to transform mosaic of
provinces and peoples that was the kingdom of Hungary into a unified,
centralized Hungarian nation
o
To the minority groups that formed ½ of the
population (Croats, Serbs, Romanians) such unifications was completely
unacceptable
o
Each felt entitled to political autonomy and cultural
indep
o
In a somewhat similar way, Czech nationalists based
in Bohemia and city of Prague came into conflict w/ German nationalists
o
Conflicting national aspirations within the Austrian
Empire enabled the monarchy to play off one ethnic group against the other
·
Conservative aristocratic forces regained nerve under
rallying call of Sophia, a Bavarian
princess married to the emperor’s brother
o
Deeply ashamed of the emperor’s collapse before a “mess
of students”, she insisted that Ferdinand abdicate in favor of her son, Francis Joseph
o
Powerful nobles organized around Sophia in a secret
conspiracy to reverse and crush the revolution
·
The first breakthrough came when the army bombarded
Prague and savagely crushed a working class revolt on June 17
Other Austrian officials and nobles began to lead the minority nationalities of Hungary against the rev gov
Other Austrian officials and nobles began to lead the minority nationalities of Hungary against the rev gov
o
At end of Oct, well equipped, mostly peasant troops
of regular Austrian army used heavy cannon to attack student and working class
radicals in barricades of Vienna and retook city at cost of more than 4,000
casualties
o
Determination of Austrian aristocracy and loyalty of
its army were the final ingredients in triumph of reaction and defeat of
revolution
·
When Francis Joseph was crowned emperor at 18 y/o of
Austria, only Hungary had yet to be brought under control
·
Nicholas I, another
determined conservative, obligingly lent his iron hand
o
June 6, 1849, 130,000 Russian troops poured into
Hungary and subdued the country after bitter fighting
o
For a number of years, Habsburgs ruled Hungary as a
conquered territory
Prussia and the Frankfurt Assembly
·
After Austria, Prussia was the largest and most
influential German Kingdom
·
Prior to 1848, the goal of middle class Prussian
liberal had been to transform absolutist Prussia into a liberal constitutional
monarchy, which would lead the 38 states of German Confed into liberal, unified
nation desired by liberals throughout the German states
·
Agitation following fall of Louis Philippe encouraged
Prussian liberals to press their demands
·
When artisans and factory workers in Berlin exploded
in March 1848 and joined temporarily w/ middle class liberals in struggle
against monarchy, autocratic yet compassionate Frederick William IV vacillated and caved in
o
March 21, promised to grant Prussia a liberal
constitution and to merge Prussia into a new national German state that was to
be created
·
But urban workers wanted much more and Prussian
aristocracy wanted much less than the moderate constitutional liberalism the
kind conceded
·
Workers issued a series of democratic and vaguely
socialist demands that troubled their middle class allies and the conservative
clique gathered around the king to urge counter revolution
·
As an elected Prussian Constituent Assembly met in
Berlin to write a constitution or the Prussian state, a self appointed
committee of liberals from various German states began organizing for the
creation of a unified German state
o
Met in Frankfurt in May
o
National Assembly composed of lawyers, professors,
doctors, officials, and businessmen convened to write a German federal
constitution
o
Instead attention drifted to deciding how to respond
to Denmark’s claims on the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, which were
inhabited primarily by Germans
o
Debating ponderously, the National Assembly at
Frankfurt finally called on Prussian army to oppose Denmark in the name of the
German nation
o
Prussia responded and began war w/ Denmark
o
As Schleswig-Holstein issue demonstrated, the
national ideal was a crucial factor motivating the German middle classes in
1848
·
March 1849, National Assembly finally completed its
drafting of a liberal constitution and elected King Frederick William of Prussia emperor of new German national
state (minus Austria and Schleswig-Holstein)
·
By early 1840, reaction had been successful almost
everywhere
·
Frederick William had reasserted royal authority,
disbanded Prussian Constituent Assembly, and granted his subjects a limited,
essentially conservative constitution
Reasserting that he ruled by divine right, Fred Will contemptuously refused to “accept the crown from the gutter”
Reasserting that he ruled by divine right, Fred Will contemptuously refused to “accept the crown from the gutter”
·
Bogged down by preoccupation w/ nationalist issues, the
reluctant revs in Frankfurt had waited too long and acted too timidly
·
When Fred Will who really wanted to be emperor but
only under his own authoritarian terms, tried to get the small monarchs of
Germany to elect him emperor, Austria balked
·
Supported by Russia, Austria forced Prussia to
renounce all its schemes of unification in late 1850
·
German Confed was reestablished Attempts to unite the
Germans – first in liberal national state and then in conservative Prussian
empire – had failed completely
