Revolutions in
Europe
1815-1848 European people revolt
against leaders who want to maintain
absolute power
3 Groups in Europe
O Conservatives- usually wealthy property
owners and nobility who wanted to keep
traditional monarchies
O Liberals- mostly middle class- wanted to give
more power to parliaments where educated
people would vote
O Radicals- wanted everyone to vote
(democracy)
Stop and Check!
Which person would identify with which
political group?
a. A wealthy business man who wants to give
his country’s parliament more power
b. A poor student who has read extensively
about democracy
c. A nobleman who is related to his country’s
king
d. A prosperous land owner
Idea of the Nation-State
O Nationalism- belief that loyalty should be to
your ethnic group and not a king or empire
O Nation-state- a nation with its own
government
Nationalism in the Balkans
O Ottoman Empire
controlled the
Balkans
O Greeks were first
people to get
independence in
1830 (many people,
incl. poets like Lord
Byron helped the
revolution)
Revolutions Everywhere…. But
most Fail…
O Belgians get independence from Dutch in
1830
O Failed revolutions follow by Italians (against
Austria), Poles (against Russia), Czechs
(against Austria)
O Revolutionaries fail in the end because they
can’t unite
O So by 1849 Conservative Europe back in
charge
What About France?
O In 1848 there were a series of liberal rulers
(who tried to return power back to the
people) but they ultimately fail because they
split into factions (groups)
O Louis-Napoleon (Napoleon’s nephew)
becomes Napoleon III and helps economy
(builds railroads, encourages
industrialization) and country is getting
stronger
Change in Russia
O Serfdom very popular but by 1820s most
Russians disagreed with it but Czar not
willing to change it
Crimean War in 1856
O Team1: Russia vs
Team 2: Ottoman
Empire, France,
Britain, Sardinia
O Russia loses
because it is too far
behind economically
Loss in War Forces Change
O Alexander II abolishes
Serfdom in 1861
O But serfs still had to
pay “redemption
payments” so they
were free but in debt
to the government
O But nationalism will
start pulling Russia
apart because Russia
is a multi-ethnic
empire