Chapter 21 Focus Questions
1. What were the goals of the Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe, and how successful
were they in achieving those goals?
The goals of the Congress of Vienna were to restore order to Europe and contain revolutionary forces.
In order to achieve this, the architect of the Congress of Vienna, Klemens von Metternich, was guided by
three principles: legitimacy, containment and balance of power. He sought to restore the legitimate
rulers of countries such as Spain who had been removed from power by Napoleon. He also sought to
weaken France and strengthen surrounding countries so that France would not again be in a position to
threaten Europe. This goal was called containment and could be achieved through the third goal,
balance of power in which some countries were strengthened in order to act as a balance to others. In
this way, stronger countries would not be tempted to bully others. Metternich’s ideology was
conservative and he was as much concerned to maintain monarchy as to keep peace in Europe. In some
ways the Congress of Vienna was very successful in that there were no major European wars until the
late 19th century. However, there were a number of revolutions, and while many were ultimately
unsuccessful, over time conservatives lost power and European monarchs either lost their thrones or
considerable amounts of power.
2. What were the main tenets of conservatism, liberalism, nationalism, and utopian socialism, and
what role did each ideology play in Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century?
Conservatism: favors little change and is against revolutionary change. Favors monarchy, obedience to
political and religious authority. Favors community over the individual. Conservatism was the guiding
principle behind the Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe and was in opposition to both
liberalism and nationalism.
Liberalism: Guiding belief is individual freedom
Economic liberalism: aka laissez-faire economics applies individualism to economics. In other
words, argues that the government should leave the economy alone and let economic forces take over
and determine prices, wages etc because ultimately when everyone acts in their own self-interest, the
economy is most efficient
Political liberalism: Ideals are the protection of civil liberties, equality before the law, freedom
of speech, press etc. Political liberalism was a guiding principal (though often secondary to nationalism)
behind many revolutions in which the primary aim was political freedom.
Nationalism: the idea that the “nation” (the community that is bound by a common culture, language,
religion, history etc) should be the primary focus of loyalty. For instance, a nationalist fights for his
nation (France, Germany etc) as opposed to his king. Nationalists sought to have their political
boundaries match their national boundaries. In other words, Serbians should have their own country
rather than be part of a larger Austria-Hungary in which their rulers are a different culture and religion
and speak a different language. Nationalism was the guiding principle behind most of the revolutions of
the 19th century.
Utopian socialism: Ideas formed in response to the social conditions produced by the Industrial
Revolution. Utopian socialists wanted to created societies in which the principle was cooperation rather
than competition. While there were a number of attempts to put these ideas into practice, none were
enduring.
3. What forces for change were present in France and Great Britain between 1830 and 1848, and
how did each nation respond? What were the causes of the revolutions of 1848, and why did
the revolutions fail?
In France the struggle between the liberals and the conservatives led to upheaval. King Charles X issued
the July Ordinances imposing censorship and dissolving the legislature. In response, the French people
rebelled and put a liberal constitutional monarchy in place with Louis-Philippe as king (Charles X fled).
Louis-Philippe favored the upper-middle class liberals and made liberal changes as lowering financial
qualifications for voting (in other words, still excluding the lower classes). These changes didn’t satisfy
the lower-middle and working classes who were still excluded from voting and were frustrating with
conditions brought about by the Industrial Revolution.
In Britain, they witnessed the upheaval in France and decided that making concessions to the lower and
lower-middle classes was preferable to revolution. The Reform Act of 1832 gave the new industrial
cities more power in government, the property qualification for voting was lowered (though still
excluding most people). This primarily benefitted the upper-middle class. The Poor Law of 1834 created
workhouses in which the unemployed were forced to live and work in horrible conditions. The belief
was that this would encourage people to be industrious whereas relief for the poor encouraged laziness.
In addition, repeal of the Corn Laws lowered bread prices. These moderate liberal changes prevented
there from being a revolution in 1848.
Causes of the revolutions of 1848 included liberalism, nationalism. There was a depression in France
which led to high levels of unemployment and food shortages.
The Revolutions of 1848 failed for two primary reasons. First of all, once the revolutions occurred, class
divisions led to problems. The liberal middle class did not want to give the vote to the working classes.
As the lower classes pushed for universal male suffrage, liberals aligned themselves with the upper class
for fear of radical revolution taking away their property and position.
4. How did Europe respond to the need for order in society in the first half of the nineteenth
century?
Revolution and increases in crime associated with urbanization led many of the upper and middleclasses to look for ways to increase safety and order. One way they sought to do this was by creating
formal police forces. Another way was by creating poor laws in which unemployed people were forced
into crowded, unpleasant workhouses to encourage them to find work on their own. Others believed
that if crime was associated with poverty, the answer was training which would lead to technical skills
and therefore higher wages. Prison reformers sought ways to not only incarcerate and isolate criminals,
but to reform them as well.
5.
What were the characteristics of Romanticism, and how were they reflected in literature, art
and music?
The characteristics of Romantic literature included an emphasis on emotion, sentiment and inner
feelings; individualism; heroism. Ex: Goethe’s Sorrows of the Young Werther and the fairy tales of Hans
Christian Anderson, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Romantic poetry also included an emphasis on love of nature, in some cases embracing pantheism and
tending to be critical of science. Ex: Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound and Lord Byron’s Childe
Harold’s Pilgrimage
Romantic artists deliberately rejected classicism’s order and restraint in favor of an emphasis on the
artists inner feelings. Ex: Caspar David Friedrich, Joseph M. W. Turner, Eugene Delacroix
Be sure to also be familiar with characteristics of realism and neoclassicism as well as the works we
looked at in class.