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The European Social and Political Order in 1815

Rapid social and political change over a single lifetime:

Population:

167 million to 266 million, 1800-1850.

1800, 22 towns with population of more than 100,000. In 1850

there were 47. 27 of these in Britain

Largest city London 960,000 to 2 million in this period. Paris 550,

to 1 million

Social Structure:

Majority lived in countryside. Landed wealth important.

Ultimately over the century urban growth shaped European social

life.

Important developments in transport and communications.

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Period saw development of a more mobile and educated workforce.

Main political development

partial adoption of representative forms ofgovernment.

By the end of the century the political and social dominance of the

landed aristocracy had come to an end in many parts of Europe.

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The Vienna Settlement

Congress Meeting

Alexander I Russia (1812)

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Gathering of all major states.

They reconstructed the frontiers of states in central and eastern Europe.

Restored some monarchsthis set in motion the political conflict over what sort of

governments Europe should have.

Main aim to establish a balance of power.

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Liberalism and Nationalism

Liberalism:

Political structures that limited the central power of the state/monarch

This achieved through a constitution

Central ideastate legitimacy comes from the consent of the governed.

The more widely the consent is required the more democratic a state is.

Note liberals not necessarily supporters of democracy.

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Nationalism:

Before 1789the nation the ruling class. Your allegiance with your rulerirrespective of race/religion/language.

In 19thC. the concept of the nation was developed.

National identitythis taken to refer to cultural attributesproblems occurred

when cultural/ethnic groups sought to create nation-states.

This created problems because politically/geographically Europe not organised in

this way

By 20th C. Most people saw themselves as citizens not subjects

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Why were the concepts of liberalism and nationalism

so revolutionary?

Nationalism threatened the territorial settlement made at Vienna

Liberalism was a threat to the absolute power of monarchs.

Revolutionary outbreaks (1820-21, 1830-31 & 1848)all sought to impose

constitutions and/or redraw the map of Europe.

Nationalism and liberalismlinked.

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Creating Nations

Industrial Societies:

Silesian weavers (1844) rioted and attacked the houses of manufacturersdemanding better pay. The army was brought in and 11 people were killed

by troops.

The event became a symbol for some in Prussian society of the dangers

they faced in a changing economy.

Worker uprisings and general violence also occurred in France and Britain in

the first half of the nineteenth century.

Motivations could vary:

o Protests against wage rates.

o Threats to old ways of working by new industrial machinery.o Periods of unemployment due to economic downturns.

All of these factors helped fuel political demandssuch as the call for

universal suffrage and union rights.

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The majority of people employed in agriculture in the first half of the

nineteenth century.

The figures vary from country to country (the different dates reflect the

earliest available censuses):

- France54% in 1856.

- Britain41% in 1841.

- Austria68% in 1869- Germany47% in 1882

- Russia82% in 1926

- The Netherlands - 53% in 1849.

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Industrialisation: What is This? Involves major shift in the distribution of labour from the agricultural (the

primary) sector to the manufacturing (the secondary) sector of an economy.

It defines a significant increase in technological innovation and the

displacement of manual skills by machine operations.

Industrialisation process slower in some countries than others but even in

Britain where it started change took a couple of generations:

Some countries benefited from natural resources such as water and coal.

Industry was often rural to begin with but in the second wave of

industrialisation industrial towns grew rapidly.

People in these fast growing cities had to be fed - successful industrialisation

required an efficient agricultural system:

Biggest contrast was between countries that had free labour and those were

peasants were tied to the land as serfs.

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The Concept of Class:

Growth of class identity was linked with changing economic processes:

Was a growing awareness of the working class as social group by the beginning

of the 19thC.

The growing middle class (bourgeoisie) often ranged itself against the working

class.

The concept of class differs from how society was understood in the 18thC.

The concept of class became linked to the idea of revolutionKarl Marx.

The propertied classes feared attacks on property. Could make common cause

with the nobility to protect property.

A peasant class remained important : could rebel against the nobility, could

also support the old order.

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The Rise of Nation States

A number of new countries came into being in the 19thC:

Greece (1830).

Belgium (1830-31).

Italy (1861).

Germany (1871).

Period also saw the decline of multinational states like the Habsburg and

Ottoman Empires and the consolidation of national identity in countries likeFrance and England.

In the late 18thC. most people were subjects under the command of

monarchs/princes and a hereditary monarchy.

By the 20

th

C. most people saw themselves as citizens of nation states.

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Why, did these important changes occur?

When considering this a number of key points should be kept inmind:

The influence of the French Revolution.

Economic and social changes.

The actions of political elites

The role played by liberal nationalists.

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How were new Nations Formed?

Historians have disagreed over the process by which nation states came into

being. Three processes can be identified:

Unification of existing smaller states.

Succession where new nation states were formed by breaking away from

existing larger states.

Consolidation where existing states became increasingly homogenous

through erosion of regional identities.