Mrs. Tucker
Victor Valley High School
AP European History
THE CONSERVATIVE ORDER AND
THE CHALLENGES OF REFORM
(1815 – 1832)
Main Objectives
 The challenge of nationalism and liberalism
to the conservative order.
 Domestic and international policies of the
conservative governments comprising the
Concert of Europe.
 The Latin American independence
movements. The revolutions of 1830 in
Europe.
 The passage of the Great Reform Bill of 1832
in Britain.
Challenges of Nationalism and Liberalism

 Secular ideologies including:
 nationalism,
 liberalism,
 republicanism,
 Socialism
 communism
The Challenges of Nationalism and
Liberalism
 In 19th century Europe all these "isms”
were adapted by particular people, with
particular needs and desires.
 in particular times and places; the words are
useful only if they do not conceal the great
variations among those who might be
labeled as believers.
The Challenges of Nationalism and
Liberalism
• Nationalism is the idea that people who
share a common language, customs, culture,
and history should also share the same
government; political and ethnic boundaries
should coincide.
The Challenges of Nationalism and
Liberalism
 Nationalists opposed multinational states that
were held together only by the legitimacy of
their rulers, as in the Austrian and Russian
empires.
The Challenges of Nationalism and
Liberalism
 The widespread existence of minority enclaves
– and even of members of the ethnic majority
group who happen not to share nationalist
aspirations – presented a practical problem for
19th century nationalists. (They continue to
present problems for nationalists today.)
The Challenges of Nationalism and
Liberalism
 Nations were often created in the 19th century
through the work of intellectual elites who
used the print culture and schools to
standardize a language and narrate a shared
history.
The Challenges of Nationalism and
Liberalism
 Nationalism was particularly fervent, and
often politically disruptive, in 19th century
Ireland, Germany, Italy, Poland, eastern
Europe, and the Balkans.
The Challenges of Nationalism and
Liberalism
 Liberalism in the 19th century sought a
political framework that institutionalized the
"principles of 1789," meaning that
government was based on the consent of the
governed as formalized in a written
constitution.
The Challenges of Nationalism and
Liberalism
 Liberals were generally well educated and
relatively wealthy; they did not trust the
working class, and did not want full
democracy.
 They believed that free trade would facilitate
material progress.
The Challenges of Nationalism and
Liberalism
 As a practical matter, nationalism and
liberalism were often linked in 19th century
Europe, though in some situations the goals of
nationalists and liberals were directly
contradictory.
Conservative Governments: The Domestic
Political Order
 Conservatism, organized around the principles
of legitimate monarchies, landed aristocracies,
and established churches, established itself as
a coherent political program in Europe in
response to nationalism and liberalism.
Conservative Governments: The Domestic
Political Order
 Burke and Hegel were the most important
conservative theorists, but conservatism was
very much a product of local conditions.
Conservative Governments: The Domestic
Political Order
 Throughout Europe, the peace after 1815
presented problems; each country dealt with
those problems differently. In Austria, prince
Metternich was the closest thing to the
Continent's mastermind of conservatism. As a
multi-national state, Austria found nationalism
and liberalism particularly threatening.
Conservative Governments: The Domestic
Political Order
 Metternich dominated the German
Confederation, in which he limited the spread
of constitutionalism.
Conservative Governments: The Domestic
Political Order
 Student movements were suppressed.
 In Great Britain, popular unrest was also
suppressed, lest it lead to Parliamentary
reform. liberal politicians.
Conservative Governments: The Domestic
Political Order
 The Bourbon king Louis XVIII ascended the
French throne.
 He was keenly aware of the balancing act that
his position required, as reflected in the
Charter.
 Louis XVIII's moderation came to an end in
1820, however, when an heir to the throne was
assassinated, and ultraroyalists persuaded the
king to break with liberal politicians.
The Conservative International Order
 The Concert of Europe was a device created at
the Congress of Vienna whereby the major
powers would meet from time to time to
attempt to maintain international peace.
 It was unprecedented, and it was surprisingly
successful, especially at first.
The Conservative International Order
 The Spanish revolution of 1820 was
consequential for Latin America, and, coupled
with revolts in Italy, led Metternich to lobby
the other powers for more active intervention
in troubled regions.
The Conservative International Order
 Greece and Serbia successfully revolted
against the Ottoman Empire in the first third
of the 19th century. Independence movements
throughout Latin America took various forms,
but had generally similar results, with a few
exceptions.
The Conservative International Order
 Between 1804 and 1824, Haiti won
independence from France, Portugal lost
control of Brazil, and Spain lost all of its
American empire except for Cuba and Puerto
Rico.
The Conservative International Order
 Creoles in the American colonies generally
retained their social and economic privileges.
 The wars of independence depleted the
colonial economies, and the states created in
the former Spanish Empire were weak.
 Overseas trade diminished. Britain took
advantage of the opportunities this presented.
The Conservative Order
Shaken in Europe
 Starting in the mid-1920s, political discontent
led to suppression in Russia, revolution in
France, independence in Belgium, and
accommodation in Britain.
The Conservative Order
Shaken in Europe
 The death of Tsar Alexander I in 1825 sparked
a succession crisis, which led in turn to the
Decembrist revolt of reform-minded army
officers.
The Conservative Order Shaken
in Europe
 The revolt was harshly suppressed; the
Decembrists came to be seen by later
reformers as political martyrs.
 Nicholas I, who became tsar in 1825, feared
reform at home and revolt abroad, so he
ruled autocratically.
The Conservative Order
Shaken in Europe
 In France, the Bourbon dynasty was
overthrown in July, 1830, after Charles X had
attempted to concentrate political power in the
monarchy. Louis Philippe's "July Monarchy"
was politically liberal and socially
conservative.
The Conservative Order
Shaken in Europe
 Belgium revolted against the Dutch in 1830,
and became a constitutional monarchy.
The Conservative Order Shaken in Europe
 In Britain, the Great Reform Bill, which
became law in 1832, widened the widened the
franchise and gave a broader section of
Britain's population a stake in the existing
political system.