Congress of Vienna: The Big Picture

• How did it change Europe?– How on earth did France avoid getting split

up?– Who is everyone threatened by?– What happens Napoleon’s Empire?

Looking to the past: Conservatism

• 1. Keep the status quo; “conserve” things.• 2. National, historic and religious traditions

are essential. (monarchs, nobles, and the church loved it.) Divine Right of kings, absolutism favored.

• 3. Change should be slow and gradual (eg Burke)

• 4. Appealing to all who feared the chaos brought on by the French Rev.

Congress of Vienna (1814-1815)

• 1. Hosted by Austria, led by Foreign Minister Klemens von Metternich, on behalf of Emperor Francis I.

• 2. Metternich feared liberalism and nationalism.

• 3. Valued the principle of legitimacy, balance of power and the principle of intervention

Metternich’s Plan for Stabilizing Europe

• Principle of Legitimacy– Political power in France and its conquered lands

should be returned to those who ruled prior to Napoleon

– But had to contend with new Nationalism • Balance of Power

– No country should ever dominate Europe– Sanctioned long-term alliances to “balance”

What did it achieve?

• Increased the power and size of Great Britain and Prussia– Set up formation of Germany

• Europe went nearly 100 years until its next massive war– Where do those armies go?– Colonies and empire

• With political stability assured, facilitates:– Economic growth (Industrialization)– Political expansion (Imperialism)

Concert of Europe--Principle of Intervention

• 1.., Prussia, Austria and Russia (note--not GB) commit to preserve order.

• 2. Early security pact--promise to fight against revolts, etc.

Balance of Power• 1. Goal: Weaken, but

don’t punish, France; also prevent one country from becoming all-powerful.

• 2. France returned to 1790 borders, pay 700 million Franc indemnity (payment for damages).

• 3. France kept army, colonies, independence--not bad.

• 4. Austrian Netherlands + Dutch Netherlands= stronger Netherlands

• 5. German states (39) loosely united under the German Confederation; led by Austria.

• 6. Switzerland’s independence was recognized.

• 7. Kingdom of Sardinia gets Piedmont and Savoy.

More Territorial changes (same map)• 1. Russia has practical

control over Poland and Finland.

• 2. Sweden keeps Norway.• 3. Prussia gets part of

Saxony and land across the Rhine from France.

• 4. Austria gets Lombardy and Venetian and Adriatic states.

• 5. GB gets Malta, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago.

Concert in Action: Repressing Revolts• 1. Ferdinand VII--faced a

liberal revolt for a Const. Monarchy in Spain--France intervened and preserved order.

• 2. Austrian troops quelled revolts in Naples and Sardinia

• 3. 1819 Karlsbad Decrees outlawed student organizations, meetings, etc in the German Confederation. Closed the Burschenschaften

• 4. Decembrist Revolt (12/1825) was crushed in Russia by Nicholas I.

• 5. The British Navy prevented continental leaders from preventing independence movements in Latin America.

• 6. Great powers (France, GB and Russia) used intervention to support the Greek revolt against Ottoman rule between 1827-1830

Conservative Order and the Liberal Threat (Europe from

1815-1830)

Conservatism• An ideology based on tradition and

social stability – Established social institutions of the time

(monarchy, religions)– Resistance to change,

especially abrupt change.

– Seem to be reaffirmed by Radical FR

Liberalism

• People should be as free from restraint as possible. – Economic: Adam Smith/government should not

interfere in the workings of the economy.– Political: restraints on gov. exercise of power – Allows people to enjoy basic civil rights in a

constitutional state with a representative assembly.

Looking to the Future: Liberalism• 1. Natural rights must be protected by governments

(Lockean origins, even Hobbes)• 2. Civil liberties (freedom of speech, press,

religion,etc) valued.• 3. Representative government (but not full

democracy) admired (Britain’s Const. Monarchy, por ejemplo) Government does three things. What are they?

• 4. Origins in the Enlightenment (Locke, Hobbes, et al.) Also, the French Rev. and the Napoleonic Code

Industrialization and “Class Consciousness”

• 1. Creates new classes: middle and working.

• 2. They both want more rights, representation in government, but they don’t really agree on what that should be.

• 5. Economic liberalism--laissez-faire--Adam Smith and the Physiocrats were predecessors.

• 6. Thomas Malthus’s Essay on the Principles of Population

• And David Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy (1817) argued against government interference. It’s all about the law of nature and the “iron law of wages.”

• Discuss with partner—How can Malthus and Ricardo be considered liberals?

• 7. John Stuart Mill (On Liberty) argued forcefully for individual freedom.

• “Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.”

• Utilitarianism--a theory proposed by Jeremy Bentham in the 1700s that government actions are useful only if they promote the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

• Liberty isn’t a natural right, rather something that leads to the betterment of society.

• Wrote On the Subjection of Women with his wife.

What would feel worse?

• A) Mr. Chin telling you the final was not being curved

• B) Mr. Chin saying the final would be curved, and then not curving it

Nationalism• 1. A feeling of unity based

on a common language, culture, religion, history and traditions.

• 2. Ideally each nation would be sovereign (rule itself).

• 3. Loyalty is to the nation-state, not the King, etc.

• 4. Inspired by the French Revolution and Napoleon.

– British Normandy would be weird

Socialism• 1. A philosophy/ world

view that values cooperative/public ownership of property and cooperative management of production. Property, etc. is distributed equally.

• 2. Comte Henri de Saint-Simon first coined the word socialisme.

Utopian Socialists• 1. Charles Fourier--

advocated the development of phalansteries (small, cooperative communities)

• 2. Robert Owen--British industrialist who set up cooperative communities in Scotland and the US

• 3. Louis Blanc--denounced competition; called for state-funded workshops