APEH – Unit 7 – Chapter 20 Reading Comprehension Guide
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The Conservative Order and the Challenges of Reform
(1815-1832)
The Western Heritage, since 1300.10th Ed. Kagan, Ozment, and Turner.
Name: _______________________________
Class: _________________
ATTENTION: Read the instructions carefully as you move through this study guide. Please refer to the
study guide from chapter 10 for more detailed information on ID TERMS and DEFINITION CARDS.
MAJOR THEMES / BIG QUESTIONS: (As you work through the chapter, bear these
questions in mind. As you complete the chapter, ask yourself if you can answer these questions.)
1. What were the challenges of nationalism and liberalism to the conservative order in the early
19th century?
2. How did the domestic and international politics and policies of the conservative order from the
Congress of Vienna impact Europe up through the 1820s?
3. What were the revolutions of 1830 on the European continent and to what extent were they
successful?
4. What was the Great Reform Bill and how did it change the British political climate?
Reading Comprehension Questions Start HERE!!!
History is like a pendulum – swinging to and fro – from liberalism to conservatism and back
again. Throw in a bit of nationalism, republicanism, and eventually socialism and communism,
and the stage is set for shifting loyalties, reaction, and, unfortunately, violence. The Congress of
Vienna managed to bring international peace to the Continent for almost forty years, but it was
unable to do this nationally allowing for many different civil wars across Europe.
.
Unit 7. Day 1: pp. 615-622: The Challenges of Nationalism and Liberalism
Write DEFINITION CARDS for the following terms for this section:
nationalism
liberal/liberalism
popular sovereignty
1. What “-ism” proved to be the single most powerful European political ideology of the 19th and early
20th centuries? Upon what concepts is it based?
2. How did the concept of “popular sovereignty” lead to confusion and/or conflict?
3. Who actually created nations and how did they do so? What role did language play in the creation of
these nations? Nationhood came to be associated with groups that were large enough to do what (4
items)?
4. What were the six areas or regions of nationalistic pressure?
5. How did the meaning of “liberal” change over time?
6. From where did 19th century liberals derive their political ideas? How did liberals seek to achieve
their goals? From what class(es) of people did liberals come? Did they advocate democracy? What
was their feeling toward the unpropertied lower classes? Privileged aristocrats?
7. What were liberals’ economic goals? How were Great Britain and France structured in order to
accommodate these goals? What did German liberals see as their primary goal?
8. What was the relationship between nationalism and liberalism? Be specific.
9. Read the primary document on pg. 621 and answer the bolded questions.
APEH – Unit 7 – Chapter 20 Reading Comprehension Guide
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Unit 7. Day 2: pp. 622-630: Conservative Governments: The Domestic Political Order
Write DEFINITION CARDS for the following terms for this section:
conservatism
Burschenschaften
habeus corpus
congress system
Concert of Europe
1. What were the three major pillars of 19th century conservatism? What was their main feeling about
written constitutions? What was the role of churches? What was the attitude of conservative
aristocrats? What did the absence of war mean for conservatives?
2. Who was the man who epitomized conservatism? In what country were the programs of liberalism
and nationalism potentially dangerous? Why? What happened to the 360 semi-independent German
“states” of the Holy Roman Empire?
3. How was Prussian reform defeated?
4. In what way did Burschenschaften support nationalism? What were the Carlsbad Decrees and the
Final Act?
5. Read and prepare the bolded questions for discussion on pp. 625-626.
6. What issues was Lord Liverpool unprepared to deal with? What actions did Parliament take to
maintain high prices for English grain? What significant changes were made to taxation and labor
laws at this time? How did these changes affect the lowest classes? What measures did the
government take to quell popular discontent?
7. What were the Peterloo Massacre and the Six Acts? What was the Cato Street Conspiracy?
8. In what way was Louis XVIII a political realist? What was the Charter? List 5 main provisions of
the Charter.
9. What was the French ultraroyalists’ reaction to their new king? How did the duke of Berri’s
assassination affect liberalist policies in France?
10. REVIEW: Who were the major powers involved in the Concert of Europe? What was its initial
goal/purpose? What became its long-term goal?
11. Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle: Why would Russia be interested in maintaining the current European
borders and why were the other countries not equally concerned about them?
12. What major changes did Ferdinand VII of Spain make to the Spanish government? What happened in
Naples? What was Metternich’s response? What was the main point of the Protocol of Troppau?
What happened at the Congress of Verona? What was (more than likely) George Canning’s opinion
on the U.S.’s Monroe Doctrine? Why?
13. Create a concise timeline of the developments of the Greek revolution of 1821-1827.
14. Create a concise timeline of the developments of Serbian Independence. What religious tensions
were prevalent (and still are in 2011)?
SKIP PAGES 630-636
Unit 7. Day 3: pp. 636-642 The Conservative Order Shaken in Europe
Write DEFINITION CARDS for the following terms for this section:
July Monarch
Great Reform Bill
1. How did Tsar Alexander I come to the Russian throne? Overall, what did he do to liberalism and
nationalism in Russia? Where did these ideas of liberalism come from?
2. Create a concise timeline of the Decembrist Revolt, 1825. What was especially significant about it?
3. What was Nicholas I afraid of? What is Official Nationality? What was the Russian Orthodox Church
supposed to do? Who was left alienated from the tsarist regime?
4. What was the Organic Statute?
APEH – Unit 7 – Chapter 20 Reading Comprehension Guide
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5. What led to the French Revolution of 1830? In what did Charles X believe? Briefly outline his
reactionary policies/actions. What was the July Revolution? What were the Four Ordinances?
6. Who was Louis Philippe? Why was he called the “king of the French”? What became of liberalism in
France? Conservatism?
7. Create a concise timeline of the independence of Belgium, 1830.
8. How did the forces of liberalism and conservatism accommodate each other in Great Britain? What was
the Catholic Emancipation Act? What did this mean for the Irish? What legislative changes did Britain’s
Whig ministry under Earl Grey present to the House of Commons?
9. What was the significance of the Great Reform Bill, 1832?