Europe Since 1815
The Restoration: Unite, Forget, Forgive
--English constitutional monarchy with limited ruler had been successfully in place for over a
hundred years by 1815; many princes had come to see benefits of more participatory system for
themselves and their state
--Louis XVIII retained many advisors from pre-restoration period; angered nobles for agreeing to
compromise and adopt many revolutionary demands; establishments (churches and other
conservative groups) favored punitive policies against those with revolutionary upheaval
--wanted to ensure that no grudges were held for crimes and actions that were committed under
the revolutionary period; instituted in constitutional charter under declaration that opinions of
citizens would not be held against them
Vienna Congress/Concert of Europe
--put in place by victorious allies over Napoleon; period was not so much a turn back, but a time
where many elements of pre-revolutionary order compromise with practices that emerged from
Napoleonic period
--despite admiration for old regime system, many saw problems and believed that revolutionary
upheaval did result from genuine problems that needed to be fixed; could not return to square
one where forces of upheaval would become active again
--aim was to restore peace and stability; Concert of Europe system existed where main powers
agreed to come together and form alliance where balance of power would try to be maintained
through constant watching over state of Europe in periodic congresses
--trouble spots emerging would be handled through working together; quasi-collective security
system emerged in effort to maintain status quo
--ousted dynasties were restored in France, Spain, and Italy; French boarders were redrawn
among the provinces; partial return to the church of authority
--some states vanished forever; Republic of Genoa was absorbed into the Kingdom of Piedmont
and Sardinia; some of the oldest states in Europe were not given lease on life; republics were
more suspect to not being restored
Bourbon Restoration: What was restored?
--Louis XVIII was returned to the throne and the flag of Napoleon was removed in place of the
Bourbon flag; Louis XVIII came to power as Louis XVII had died in prison
--Catholic Church had been disestablished during period of Napoleon, but was reinstituted as the
official church of France
--return of noble families occurred with new state; senate became overwhelmingly occupied with
those who had enjoyed noble status under the old state
,What did Bourbons Not Restore?
--rural seigneurialism was exchanged for peasants without lords; villages were against lordly
rights and control, but peasant households still did not maintain full control over land
--society of estates was gone; system of political equality existed for the most part with
Napoleonic Civil Code
--multiform French state was exchanged for a uniform and centralized state; provincial
boundaries of different sizes were broken up into roughly equal territories with same policies
--confiscated land had been taken by revolutionaries, but none of the land was given back to
former owners; political resistance from restorative effort would have unleashed criticism
--religious inequality between Protestants, Jews, and Catholics had existed; introduction of
thoroughgoing religious equality existed for the first time; Protestants and Jews could engage in
public worship and publish religious materials
--Catholic Church retained several independent sources of power; landholdings remained under
their control and involvement in educational institutions partially returned; universities fell under
church supervision to an extent along with primary and secondary education
--economic restrictions were removed for laissez-faire policies; trade guilds did not exist,
although communal property relations did exist in villages; peasants increasingly divided
common land amongst themselves, but not everywhere
--pre politicalism; only public sphere had been king and cabinet, but political parties and
representative government took hold; Louis XVIII returned to liberal and open system of two
houses that rule with monarch; hoped to gain approval and support of the people; freedom of
speech and freedom of the press improved over past
Germany: Before and After
--Holy Roman Empire could be defined as German state; was weakly centralized state under
emperor who ruled in decentralized manner with Reichstag and Supreme Court; emperor wielded
little effective power from the center
--states within Holy Roman Empire tended to be split up in nonconsolidated states; larger states
tended to be consolidated while smaller states tended to be broken up into pieces; was highly
untypical for medieval period
--city states existed; ecclesiastical states under church bodies (bishops and monasteries) also
existed against typical belief that clergy should not be in charge of government; large states of
Prussia and the Palatinate went against the trend
--large states tended to be under the authority of noble families; states could even fall under the
authority of different rulers; one ruler could have authority over certain aspects where one ruler
could have authority over other aspects
,--component states of empire were somewhat sovereign under system of particularism; had
degree of control over domestic policy while offering support to emperor; ending of empire in
1806 meant that German states became fully sovereign and independent for first time in centuries
on both the domestic and international scene; institutions became homogenized to form uniform
and absolutist states where most authority is under the prince in centralized manner
--French armies under Napoleon swept through the eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire;
proposed to German princes that lost territory be given up in exchange for aiding princes to
consolidate control over what remained; smaller states would be swept away and not return as
they are incorporated under the authority of the princes
--states expanded dramatically; state of Bodden came to increase in size several times and
emerge as strong power; process repeated with other states until number of states went from
numbering in the hundreds to numbering around thirty
--Napoleon believed that smaller Holy Roman Empire was not appropriately serving his needs;
brought princes to agree for dissolution of empire and form German Confederation of the Rhine
in 1806; members of confederation offered mutual support to one another
--confederation bore superficial resemblance to former territories of Holy Roman Empire; key
changes took place with reorganization of political nature of the states that came to be members
of the confederation
--Napoleon allowed for ruling houses to elevate their status; dukes became grand dukes and
grand dukes became kings; status did not change in restoration as princes switched over to
victorious allies before defeat of Napoleon; did not mean that removal of Napoleon was
favorable outcome to them; only wanted to preserve sovereignty
--Prussia encountered downfall with loss of territorial size and population numbers; number of
people under state decreased by half; great reforms took place in response with revolution from
the top to the bottom; desire existed to preserve Prussia as major and dominant European power
--reform included serf emancipation from lands of the king and then being extended to the lands
of nobles; terms of emancipation were not as beneficial to Prussian serfs as those in France; half
of estate that went to peasants fell under hefty compensation payments
--partial emancipation occurred for Jews in being given almost full civil equality with Christians;
could not be appointed to offices of the state under desire to maintain state as one that could be
fully defined as Christian; officer corp was opened to Jews
--laws abolished economic regulations and almost immediately created a libertarian economic
order; communal property was wiped out in favor of private property holders; trade guilds
became illegal from pint onward
--Prussia did not become more politically liberal or democratic, but became one of most
economically free and liberal state in Germany and Europe; direct result of great reforms and
helped Prussia leap to industrial and urban forefront of German states; complete freedom existed
to choose profession and live where desired; permission had been required in past
, --France had been able to better harness important resource of public enthusiasm during
revolutionary period; Prussian king wanted to harness same forces while retaining status of state
as absolutist monarchy; wanted active and proud citizens who still had little power
Post-Napoleonic Europe: Revolution v Reaction
Conservatism v Liberalism: Ideas
--differences for the most part focused on extent to which people would fall under representative
institutions and have freedoms
--conservatism v liberalism emerged out the Enlightenment period of the eighteenth century;
debate centered on religious toleration, free press, and economic liberty
--liberals supported representative institutions where conservatives supported absolutist
institutions; conservatives believed freedom of the press was responsible for many of the modern
ills where liberals believed that free speech would protect people from tyranny of rulers
Conservatism v Liberalism: Actions
--liberal activism was usually inspired and cultivated by secret societies; secret societies were
instrumental in sparking revolutionary action that broke out in Europe; international relationships
did exist and have impact
--college students began to have larger role in radical politics; radical students emerge for first
time on political stage; nationalistic and liberal student fraternities had goal of overthrowing
petty despots throughout Germany in effort of unification; participated in military uprisings and
assassination attempts
Early 1820s Revolutions
--revolutionary uprising in Spain produced a new constitution in 1812 and provided the spark for
revolutions elsewhere; military uprisings took place in Greece, Portugal, Naples, Piedmont, and
Russia; revolution was crushed in Russia
--most of the revolutions had several commonalities; military officers that had served in pre
restoration armies developed resentment through ending of promotions once new rulers took
power; 1825 military uprising in Russia was spearheaded by officers that had served with
occupation forces in France and experienced revolutionary liberal ideas
--most of the revolutions had several commonalities; secret societies were effective fomenters of
revolution and often worked hand in hand with military uprising; two forces worked together to
bring about new orders throughout Europe
--revolutions breaking out confirmed worst fears of conservatives; Metternich saw conspiracy
breaking out to undermine all of the European monarchies; spearheaded effort of conservative
alliance to crush revolution wherever it existed and push back freedoms that existed wherever it
had been instituted during restoration phase; went from status quo to reactionary agenda
The Restoration: Unite, Forget, Forgive
--English constitutional monarchy with limited ruler had been successfully in place for over a
hundred years by 1815; many princes had come to see benefits of more participatory system for
themselves and their state
--Louis XVIII retained many advisors from pre-restoration period; angered nobles for agreeing to
compromise and adopt many revolutionary demands; establishments (churches and other
conservative groups) favored punitive policies against those with revolutionary upheaval
--wanted to ensure that no grudges were held for crimes and actions that were committed under
the revolutionary period; instituted in constitutional charter under declaration that opinions of
citizens would not be held against them
Vienna Congress/Concert of Europe
--put in place by victorious allies over Napoleon; period was not so much a turn back, but a time
where many elements of pre-revolutionary order compromise with practices that emerged from
Napoleonic period
--despite admiration for old regime system, many saw problems and believed that revolutionary
upheaval did result from genuine problems that needed to be fixed; could not return to square
one where forces of upheaval would become active again
--aim was to restore peace and stability; Concert of Europe system existed where main powers
agreed to come together and form alliance where balance of power would try to be maintained
through constant watching over state of Europe in periodic congresses
--trouble spots emerging would be handled through working together; quasi-collective security
system emerged in effort to maintain status quo
--ousted dynasties were restored in France, Spain, and Italy; French boarders were redrawn
among the provinces; partial return to the church of authority
--some states vanished forever; Republic of Genoa was absorbed into the Kingdom of Piedmont
and Sardinia; some of the oldest states in Europe were not given lease on life; republics were
more suspect to not being restored
Bourbon Restoration: What was restored?
--Louis XVIII was returned to the throne and the flag of Napoleon was removed in place of the
Bourbon flag; Louis XVIII came to power as Louis XVII had died in prison
--Catholic Church had been disestablished during period of Napoleon, but was reinstituted as the
official church of France
--return of noble families occurred with new state; senate became overwhelmingly occupied with
those who had enjoyed noble status under the old state
,What did Bourbons Not Restore?
--rural seigneurialism was exchanged for peasants without lords; villages were against lordly
rights and control, but peasant households still did not maintain full control over land
--society of estates was gone; system of political equality existed for the most part with
Napoleonic Civil Code
--multiform French state was exchanged for a uniform and centralized state; provincial
boundaries of different sizes were broken up into roughly equal territories with same policies
--confiscated land had been taken by revolutionaries, but none of the land was given back to
former owners; political resistance from restorative effort would have unleashed criticism
--religious inequality between Protestants, Jews, and Catholics had existed; introduction of
thoroughgoing religious equality existed for the first time; Protestants and Jews could engage in
public worship and publish religious materials
--Catholic Church retained several independent sources of power; landholdings remained under
their control and involvement in educational institutions partially returned; universities fell under
church supervision to an extent along with primary and secondary education
--economic restrictions were removed for laissez-faire policies; trade guilds did not exist,
although communal property relations did exist in villages; peasants increasingly divided
common land amongst themselves, but not everywhere
--pre politicalism; only public sphere had been king and cabinet, but political parties and
representative government took hold; Louis XVIII returned to liberal and open system of two
houses that rule with monarch; hoped to gain approval and support of the people; freedom of
speech and freedom of the press improved over past
Germany: Before and After
--Holy Roman Empire could be defined as German state; was weakly centralized state under
emperor who ruled in decentralized manner with Reichstag and Supreme Court; emperor wielded
little effective power from the center
--states within Holy Roman Empire tended to be split up in nonconsolidated states; larger states
tended to be consolidated while smaller states tended to be broken up into pieces; was highly
untypical for medieval period
--city states existed; ecclesiastical states under church bodies (bishops and monasteries) also
existed against typical belief that clergy should not be in charge of government; large states of
Prussia and the Palatinate went against the trend
--large states tended to be under the authority of noble families; states could even fall under the
authority of different rulers; one ruler could have authority over certain aspects where one ruler
could have authority over other aspects
,--component states of empire were somewhat sovereign under system of particularism; had
degree of control over domestic policy while offering support to emperor; ending of empire in
1806 meant that German states became fully sovereign and independent for first time in centuries
on both the domestic and international scene; institutions became homogenized to form uniform
and absolutist states where most authority is under the prince in centralized manner
--French armies under Napoleon swept through the eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire;
proposed to German princes that lost territory be given up in exchange for aiding princes to
consolidate control over what remained; smaller states would be swept away and not return as
they are incorporated under the authority of the princes
--states expanded dramatically; state of Bodden came to increase in size several times and
emerge as strong power; process repeated with other states until number of states went from
numbering in the hundreds to numbering around thirty
--Napoleon believed that smaller Holy Roman Empire was not appropriately serving his needs;
brought princes to agree for dissolution of empire and form German Confederation of the Rhine
in 1806; members of confederation offered mutual support to one another
--confederation bore superficial resemblance to former territories of Holy Roman Empire; key
changes took place with reorganization of political nature of the states that came to be members
of the confederation
--Napoleon allowed for ruling houses to elevate their status; dukes became grand dukes and
grand dukes became kings; status did not change in restoration as princes switched over to
victorious allies before defeat of Napoleon; did not mean that removal of Napoleon was
favorable outcome to them; only wanted to preserve sovereignty
--Prussia encountered downfall with loss of territorial size and population numbers; number of
people under state decreased by half; great reforms took place in response with revolution from
the top to the bottom; desire existed to preserve Prussia as major and dominant European power
--reform included serf emancipation from lands of the king and then being extended to the lands
of nobles; terms of emancipation were not as beneficial to Prussian serfs as those in France; half
of estate that went to peasants fell under hefty compensation payments
--partial emancipation occurred for Jews in being given almost full civil equality with Christians;
could not be appointed to offices of the state under desire to maintain state as one that could be
fully defined as Christian; officer corp was opened to Jews
--laws abolished economic regulations and almost immediately created a libertarian economic
order; communal property was wiped out in favor of private property holders; trade guilds
became illegal from pint onward
--Prussia did not become more politically liberal or democratic, but became one of most
economically free and liberal state in Germany and Europe; direct result of great reforms and
helped Prussia leap to industrial and urban forefront of German states; complete freedom existed
to choose profession and live where desired; permission had been required in past
, --France had been able to better harness important resource of public enthusiasm during
revolutionary period; Prussian king wanted to harness same forces while retaining status of state
as absolutist monarchy; wanted active and proud citizens who still had little power
Post-Napoleonic Europe: Revolution v Reaction
Conservatism v Liberalism: Ideas
--differences for the most part focused on extent to which people would fall under representative
institutions and have freedoms
--conservatism v liberalism emerged out the Enlightenment period of the eighteenth century;
debate centered on religious toleration, free press, and economic liberty
--liberals supported representative institutions where conservatives supported absolutist
institutions; conservatives believed freedom of the press was responsible for many of the modern
ills where liberals believed that free speech would protect people from tyranny of rulers
Conservatism v Liberalism: Actions
--liberal activism was usually inspired and cultivated by secret societies; secret societies were
instrumental in sparking revolutionary action that broke out in Europe; international relationships
did exist and have impact
--college students began to have larger role in radical politics; radical students emerge for first
time on political stage; nationalistic and liberal student fraternities had goal of overthrowing
petty despots throughout Germany in effort of unification; participated in military uprisings and
assassination attempts
Early 1820s Revolutions
--revolutionary uprising in Spain produced a new constitution in 1812 and provided the spark for
revolutions elsewhere; military uprisings took place in Greece, Portugal, Naples, Piedmont, and
Russia; revolution was crushed in Russia
--most of the revolutions had several commonalities; military officers that had served in pre
restoration armies developed resentment through ending of promotions once new rulers took
power; 1825 military uprising in Russia was spearheaded by officers that had served with
occupation forces in France and experienced revolutionary liberal ideas
--most of the revolutions had several commonalities; secret societies were effective fomenters of
revolution and often worked hand in hand with military uprising; two forces worked together to
bring about new orders throughout Europe
--revolutions breaking out confirmed worst fears of conservatives; Metternich saw conspiracy
breaking out to undermine all of the European monarchies; spearheaded effort of conservative
alliance to crush revolution wherever it existed and push back freedoms that existed wherever it
had been instituted during restoration phase; went from status quo to reactionary agenda
