AP EURO: LECTURE OUTLINE pp. 622-627
NATION BUILDING AND REFORM - THE NATIONAL STATE IN MID-CENTURY:
Political changes and reforms in the mid-century in 1. Austria
2. Britain
3. Russia
THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE - TOWARD A DUAL MONARCHY:
1851 centralized autocratic plan imposed on the empire by Alexander von Bach = unified system of
admin., law, and taxation
1. Effort by Austrian officials to control everything
2. Hungary placed under military rule
3. Catholicism declared to be the state church
4. Church given control over education
Economic troubles and failure in war lead to changes 1. The Italian War
2. The Austro-Prussian War
The Augsleich = the Compromise of 1867 1. Creates the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary
2. Each part of the empire has a separate constit., legislature, and capital
3. Both states have the same ruler = Emperor Francis Joseph
4. Both states share the same foreign policy, army, and finances
German speaking Austrians and Hungarian Magyar now control the empire - but there are still many other
ethnic/national minorities
Nationalism and national minorities will continue to be a problem all the way up to World War I in 1914
IMPERIAL RUSSIA:
Russian defeat in the Crimean War =
1. Russian is falling behind Western Europe
2. Russia needs to reform and modernize
Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881) 1. The great reforming tsar
2. Comes to power in the middle of the Crimean War
3. Attempts to overhaul the Russian system
4. Abolition of serfdom 1861
5. Zemstvos = elected local assemblies
6. Legal reforms - regular system of local and provincial courts
Reformers v. Conservatives = Westernizers v. Slavophiles
Reformers 1. Wanted more and faster change
2. Alexander Herzen = the peasant must be the chief instrument of reform = Populism
A. this was a type of socialism
B. the village peasant commune was a type of natural organic socialism
C. peasant commune should be basis for a new Russian society
D. failed
3. Some reformers turn to more radical and violent ideas = The People’s Will = terrorism
A. revolutionary group
B. assassinate Tsar Alexander II in 1881
Tsar Alexander III (1881-1894)
1. Comes to power when his father is assassinated
2. Turns against reform
3. Rules in a traditional autocratic repressive way = reactionary
GREAT BRITAIN - THE VICTORIAN AGE:
Britain has no revolution in 1848 - why?
1. The Reform Act of 1832 = first move to expand the franchise = expand voting rights
2. Effective parliament = responds to the people
3. Social and political reforms = stability and prosperity
4. Economic growth = rise in wages and standard of living
The Victorian Age 1. Mid century Britain
2. Named after Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
3. Period of strict morality, duty, family values, prim and proper
4. Lord Palmerston = prime minister 1855-1865 = not a reformer/opposed expanding voting rights
5. After Palmerston dies in 1865 = political changes
Tories = Conservative Party
Whigs = Liberal Party
Two political figures dominate British politics in the second half of the 19 th century 1. Benjamin Disraeli = leader of the Conservatives
2. William Gladstone = leaders of the Liberals
The Reform Act of !867 = extends voting rights to male urban workers
Greater political organization and competition between the two parties in this period - compete for votes by
expanding the franchise
Major reforms in this period 1. Opens civil service jobs via completive exams not connections and patronage
2. Secret ballot for voting
3. Abolish the purchasing of military commissions = becoming an officer in the military
4. The Education Act of 1870 = elementary education available for all children