Remember--Going into the 18th century, England is the exception in terms of
developing a limited constitutional monarchy against a backdrop of absolutism
Remember: the Dutch Republic was an exception in the 16th and 17th centuries
--a model of a prosperous economy, toleration, commerce, art, science, learning
THE ENLIGHTENMENT
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Enlightenment Ideas
progress, science, optimism
2 figures:
Sir Isaac Newton--nature can be studies using scientific laws
--inspires: John Locke (who knew Newton)
--”the Big 5”=Locke, Rousseau, Smith, Montesquieu, Voltaire (also--Diderot, Beccaria,
Wollstonecraft)
2 Social Contract thinkers
Locke--scientific laws can be discovered to govern society
--surrender some freedoms in a social contract
--big on property rights
--inspires Montesquieu (3 branch government)
vs. Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan
people surrender freedoms to an all powerful government
Voltaire--religious freedom
Rousseau--”general will”--power exists in the governed
also protects the right to revolt
Adam Smith--father of capitalism, free trade, laissez faire, competition
opposed mercantilism
Enlightened monarchs, aka“enlightened despots”
pass some enlightened policies
 Joseph II--Austria--frees serfs (later reversed)
religious toleration
 Catherine the Great--organize legal system--Russia
support the work of the philosophes--patronage
support the arts
 Frederick the Great --Prussia
ON TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION!!!
1st segment--Liberal-middle class
2nd segment--Radical phase--now the lower classes are engaged
3rd segment--Reaction
Why?
debt, nobles not getting taxed, no govt. revenue, + new ideas --Enlightenment, famine
Louis XVI--ineffective king. Louis marginalizes nobles rather than working with them.
fiscal crisis--Estates General called by Louis XVI (believes they’ll vote his way!)
voting--by estate (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) BUT…
3rd Estate--creates the National Assembly--Tennis Court Oath--demand for a Constitution
--Storming of the Bastille-carried out by ordinary people
--National Assembly dominated by bourgeoisie --they want, therefore, LIBERAL change vs.
(radicals, peasants, etc.)--point--this is a middle class revolution
--write the Declaration of the Rights of Man
--begin to talk of economic reform
--demand loyalty oath--Civil Constitution of the Clergy--this fires up more controversy
(meanwhile--famine gets worse)
March on Versailles-by French women
Louis XVI--tries to flee to Austria --which angers the people
AT THIS POINT, THE RADICALS START TO RUN THE SHOW (1792-1794)
Louis XVI is captured and executed
National Convention formed--ruled by the Committee of Public Safety (kind of like the
executive branch)--went after enemies of the Revolution--they dechristianize France,
introduce calendar, the Cult of the Supreme Being
--Robespierre is inspired by Rousseau’s idea of the General Will
--Robespierre misreads the masses, who want more stability and order
--Robespierre is executed
NAPOLEON
MEANWHILE--Austria has declared war on the French--the French Revolution alarms
monarchs
these wars instill nationalism: among the French
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the Directory--corrupt, ineffective
replaced in 1799 by Napoleon--1st Consul, then Emperor
Napoleon’s achievements: was he an enlightened despot? opinions vary.
 Napoleonic Civil Code (some liberal--which appeals to middle class)
 banking system--stabilizing the economy
 rebuilds Paris--puts people to work
 advent of public education in France--the Lycees
 Concordat of 1801
MEANWHILE--neoclassical art, Jacques Louis David’s giant murals, somewhat
propagandistic
Napoleon’s Wars
--successful early on-spreads himself too thin
invades Russia
defeated, returns, defeated again, and then exiled
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Economics
Agricultural Revolution--late 1600s
 Enclosure movement--more efficient, leads to crop rotation, better fertilizer, more
food--so food prices go down
THEN
cottage industry--putting out system--first division of labor BUT its still inefficient
SO--this leads to the factory
key innovation: steam engine
Industrial revolution
textiles first (soft goods)
division of labor in factory
cheap wages
thinkers who argue for cheaper wages for factory workers:
David Ricardo--Iron Law of Wages
Malthus--population growth
emergence of consumer revolution--fueled by cheaper products + the Atlantic
System: as people have more money the demand growth
responses to new problems: hours, wages, conditions, poverty
Government reforms--women, children--hours, working conditions
Great Reform Bill of 1832--widens vote--this expands--wider circle of voting power--more
from the lower classes, who will ultimately demand more from government
Comparing the regions
France and the Continent industrialize later, only after the chaos of revolution and war
key feature:
England--entreprenurial capitalists
Continent--government support, investment (which means continental countries can
industrialize rapidly)
Rise of Isms: ideology
socialism--protests working conditions
romanticism--responds against destruction of nature
early socialists--”utopian socialists” --like a commune--Blanc, Fourier, Owen--disagreed too
much to unify and organize (later socialists will organize much more effectively)
socialists will later mobilize the working classes--growth of modern political parties, mass
culture, mass politics
CLASH OF THE ISMS!!!!
conservatism: Congress of Vienna in 1815--monarchs of Europe achieve some degree of
consensus about ruling in Europe --the “Concert of Europe”
(remember--a lot of people welcomed this because it promised some stability and order)
BUT
multiple revolts and revolutions take place--liberal and nationalistic
Belgium--okay--monarch is on board
Greece--weakens the Ottomans + hey, it’s classical Greece
1820s: several uprising
ie, German student movement which is liberal and nationalistic is
2 French Revolutions--liberal
France 1830
Louis XVIII--Constitutional Monarch, then Charles X--who want no constitution-liberal revolt in 1830--replaced with Louis Philippe--a favorite of wealthy businessmen
1840s:
the Hungry Forties--series of bad harvests, famine
1848: revolution in France, Provisional Government --National Workshops (very popular)-they are popular AND expensive--the govt. shuts them down--so, another REVOLT-and then, Napoleon III comes into power
In central Europe, the 1848 revolutions are nationalistic and they all fail.
RISE OF THE NATION-STATE: mid to late 19th
century
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the push toward order
responsive national states, governments
avoid revolution through reform and public policies
**CHANGE FROM ABOVE, which allows for greater control
Examples
RUSSIA
 Alexander II--frees serfs, starts to talk of reform, but assassinated by radicals-the
People’s Will “Bread and Land”
 Alexander III--reactionary--expels radicals, oppressive policies, BUT he does rapidly
industrialize Russia--rail, factories (Russia plays catch-up)
ITALY
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Count Cavour (Piedmont and Sardinia) --unifies Italy from North (Garibaldi from the
South)
opposed the Pope, France, and Austria!
GERMANY
 German unification--Zollverein already
 failed unification in 1848 “Crown from the Gutter”
 Bismarck--Prussia “Blood and Iron”
 fights 3 wars to unify Germany: Denmark, Austria, France (1871)
 Franco Prussian War 1871--Alsace and Lorraine
 Napoleon III-in exile, and will die in England
Bismarck
--social welfare
--opposed Social Democrats (socialists)
--prevents revolution
--controversy--tries to oppress Catholic church--Kulturkampf
Bismarck--realpolitik, cautious diplomacy, careful about alliance
AFTER Bismarck--German foreign policy is more reckless--helps to lead to WWI
FRANCE
Napoleon III
rebuilt Paris, sewer system, Haussmanization!, widens streets, helps to industrialize France
Positivism: order and stability will bring out positive improvement for France
will declare himself Emperor
gets entangled in foreign affairs
ENGLAND:
 18th century--series of weak German-born/related kings
 increasing power of Parliament
 increasing power of Prime Minister
Reforms:
Government adapts with continual reforms, expansion of the vote
1867--AUSTRIA HUNGARY
creation of the Dual Monarchy
by this time Europe is saturated--therefore need to expand empire
MEANWHILE: ART!!
from Romanticism to Realism (paint ordinary life as it is), Gustave Flaubert--then moves on
to impressionism, post impressionism, expressionism
THE NEW IMPERIALISM
make colonies a political part of your empire
NEW IMPERIALISM Motives
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God: White Man’s Burden--paternalism
Glory--balance of power
Gold--expand markets
key events
India--taken over by British by the 1850’s
Africa
Scramble for Africa
Bismarck 1884--Berlin Conference to set the game rules to avoid war
Suez Canal--makes north Africa really important--site of competition
Belgian Congo
King Leopold--human rights abuses
--rubber industry
REMEMBER: THE CRIMEAN WAR?
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it embarrassed every European power involved
everybody realized they needed to modernize their military (remember that the second industrial revolution
emphasized iron, steel, heavy industry
therefore, they try out these weapons on native resistance
the Boer War will notably feature the use of the machine gun (also--first concentration camp)
World War I
the MAIN causes
 militarism, alliances--get tangled, imperialism, nationalism--the assassination of
Franz Ferdinand
 Serbia--hope for a greater Serbian state
 Austria annexes Bosnia
 series of Bosnian War
June 1914 Franz Ferdinand assassinated--the alliance system
 Austria--declares war on Serbia
 Germany provides support
 Russia mobilizes against Germany and Austria
 Germany declares war on Russia
 France drawn in
 Belgium invaded, and puts up resistance--brings in England
 trench warfare
The war
 Kaiser abdicates
 Weimar Government formed