Challenges
to the
“Concert” System:
Conservative Order
/Reform &
Revolution
1815-1848
The Conservative Order & the Economic Advance
Objective: Students are to analyze the prevailing political and economic
philosophies that propelled the historical events of the first half of the 19th
century.
1. Analyze the political and economic theories prevalent in
conservatism, liberalism, radicalism (socialism/communism).
2. Analyze the social effects among the nobility, bourgeoisie,
proletariat and the peasantry.
3. Analyze the goals of the “Concert of Europe” and how liberalism and
nationalism challenged these goals.
4. Analyze the how romanticism fueled nationalism.
5. Compare and contrast the American Revolution with the Revolutions
in Latin America.
6. Analyze how reforms, revolts and revolutions in Europe challenged
the conservative order.
7. Analyze the emergence of new social classes and how this new
working class became politically active.
8. Analyze the family structures among the working class and women.
9. Compare and contrast the philosophies of classical economics with
early forms of socialism.
10. Analyze the causes of the Revolutions of 1848.
Led to
Challenges to the
Conservative
Order
Nationalism & Liberalism
The Conservative
Order & the
Economic
Advance
Was
challenged by
Industrial
Society
Was challenged by
Pol/Econ
Philosophies &
Revolutions
Philosophies
-Nationalism
-Classical Economics
-Threatened to breakup
-Adam Smith
-Population/Migration
empires (Aus,Rus,Ottoman)
-Laissez-faire
-Improvements in transp
-Threatened to unify others
-Thomas Malthus
-Railways,steamships,canals
(Germany, Italy)
-Population theory
-New Labor Force
-Liberalism
-David Ricardo
-Working Class
-Elected parliaments
-Iron Law of Wages
-Wage labor
-Free trade
-Early Socialism
-chartism
-Laissez-faire
-Utopian Socialism
-Family Structures
- Conservativism
-St.
-Role of Women
-Austria- Metternich
Simon/Owen/Fourier
-Child labor- Factory Act 1833
suppress lib & nat
-Anarchism
-Prison Reform
-German States- Carlsbad
-Blanqui
-Police Force (bobbies)
Decrees
-Proudhon
-Penal Colonies (Aus/NZ)
-Russia- Decembrists
-Marxism
-Auburn & Philadelphia System
-Britain- Peterloo/Six Acts
-Communist
-France- The Charter/July
Manifesto/Kapital
Revolution
-Revolutions of 1848
- Spanish Revolution (1820)
-Liberals & Nationalists
-Concert of Europe
rise up against European
-Latin American Revolutions
conservative order
Geography
Europe 1815
Following the Napoleonic
Napoleonic Wars,
nationalism threatened to
Fin
breakup the empires of Austria
Austria,
Russia,
Ottoman Empire
Empire.
Russia and the Ottoman
Nor
Scot
However, nationalism was also
Est
Confederation
stirring in the Italian and
ENGLAND
William
and Mary replace James II
of the Rhine
German states that could
Lat
London
(German States)
Great
Glorious unify
Revolution
in 1688.
Denmark
Amsterdam in the
potentially
these peoples
Ire
Lith
nation-states
NETHERLANDS
into
nation-states.
Nether
They
make the English Bill of
Britain lands
Liberalism also threatened to
in 1689.
Russia toppleRights
existing regimes
regimes or force
Paris
Prussia
EUROPE
Ukr representative governments with
Pol
FRANCE
autocratic
constitutions upon the autocratic
Bel
Revolution
monarchies of Europe.
Czech
Pol
ends Slov
The Revolutions of 1830 and
France
monarchy.
1848 will dramatically illustrate
Ger Austria
that point.
French
Swiss go
Kingdom of
Sweden
.
It
from
Rep of Venice
Portugal
monarchy
to
Basque
Italian
democracy
States
Spain
to
monarchy.
Papal
SardiniaStates
PiedmontSea
Mediterranean
Spanish Naples
AFRICA
Hun
Serb/
Croat
Rom
Serb
Bul
Mace
Ottoman
Alb
Greek
Empire
The Conservative Order
and the
Challenges of Reform
-
The Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
-met in 1814 and 1815 to
redraw the map of
Europe after the
Napoleonic era
-attempted to provide some
way of preserving the
future peace of
Europe.
-Europe was spared a general
war throughout the remainder
of the 19th century
-Failure of statesmen who shaped
the future of Europe in 18141815
*Didn’t recognize the
factors unleashed by the
French Revolution:
-Nationalism and liberalism
Attempted to maintain the status quo
The “Big Four”
The Vienna Settlement
•was the work of the
representatives of the four
nations that had done the most
to defeat Napoleon.
Prince Klemens Von Metternich
(Austria)
•Epitomized conservative reactionism.
Lord Castlereagh (England)
•balance of power on the
continent and surround France
with larger stronger states.
Karl Von Hardenberg Karl Von
Hardenberg (Prussia)
Goal was to recover Prussian territory
lost to Napoleon & gain additional
territory in northern Germany (Saxony).
Czar Alexander I (Russia)
–
Advocated an independent
Poland under Russian control
Talleyrand
Periogord TalleyrandFrench Foreign Minister
–
not initially included in the
early deliberations
–
Mediator where the
interests of Prussia and
Russia clashed with those
of England and Austria.
Talleyrand brought
France into the ranks of
the principal powers.
“The Dancing Congress”
•
European gathering was
held amid much
pageantry.
–Parties, balls, and
banquets reminded the
delegates what life had
been like before 1789.
–Intended to
generate favorable
“public opinion” and
occupy the delegates
since they had little to
do of any serious
nature.
Principles of Settlement
The three main principles
discussed at the
Congress of Vienna
were:
Legitimacy
Returning to power the ruling
families deposed
Dynasties restored in
Holland, Sardinia, Tuscany
and Modena
Compensation
Territorially rewarding
those states which had
made considerable
sacrifices to defeat
Napoleon.
Balance of Power
Meant arranging the map of
Europe so that never again
could one state upset the
international order and
cause a general war.
Various adjustments
were made in the countries of
Europe in order to surround
France.
Enforcement of the Status Quo
Arrangements to guarantee the
enforcement of the status
quo as defined by the
Vienna settlement now
included tow provisions:
The “Holy Alliance”
An unpractical attempt to
unify Europe, only taken
seriously by Alexander I of
Russia.
The “Quadruple Alliance”
Russia, Prussia, England and
Austria provided for
concerted action to arrest
any threat to the peace or
balance of power.
England and Austria differed
on their definition of concerted
action.
The Congress System
From 1815 to 1822, European
international relations were
controlled by the series of
meetings held by the Great
Powers to monitor and defined
the status quo:
The Congress
(1816)
The Congress
The Congress
The Congress
of Aix-la-Chapelle
of Troppau (1820)
of Laibach (1821)
of Verona (1822)
–The principle of collective security
required unanimity among members
of the Quadruple Alliance.
-Failure occurred because of the
conflicting interests of the Great
Powers
Evaluation
•
The Congress of Vienna has been criticized for
ignoring the liberal and nationalist aspirations of
so many peoples.
-Hindsight suggests the statesmen at Vienna may have been more
successful in stabilizing the international system than we have been
able to do in the 20th century.
–Not until the unification of Germany in 1870-71, was the
balance of power upset.
–Not until World War I in 1914, did Europe have another
general war.
-Hindsight tells us however that the leading statesmen at Vienna
underestimated the new nationalism and liberalism generated by the
French Revolution.
Conservatism,
Nationalism,
& Liberalism
Conservatism
•
Conservatism
Reaction to liberalism
–became a popular
alternative for those
frightened by the violence
of the French Revolution.
Early Conservatism
allied to the restored monarchial
governments of Austria, Russia,
France, and England.
Support for conservatism:
–came from the traditional ruling
classes.
–Also supported by the peasants
-A majority of the population
Supported by Romantic writers
–conservatives believed in
order, society and the state,
Edmund Burke- Father of Conservative Thought
Characteristics of
Conservatism
Conservatives viewed history as a
continuum (Traditions)
Conservative Beliefs:
–The basis of society is organic,
not contractual
–Stability and longevity, not
progress and change, mark a
good society.
–The only legitimate sources of
political authority were God and
history.
•Rejected the “social contract”
theory
•Conservatives believed selfinterests do not lead to social
harmony, but to social conflict.
Denounced individualism and
natural rights.
To conservatives, society was
hierarchical.
Liberalism
Liberalism
-first major theory in the to teach
that the individual is a selfsufficient being, whose freedom is
the sole reasons for the existence
of society.
-Come from the middle classes and
favored increased liberty for their
class and indirectly, for the masses
of people, as long as the latter did
not in their turn ask for too much
freedom
•
Liberalism was reformist and
political not revolutionary in nature.
-Come from the middle
classes and favored increased
liberty for their class and
indirectly, for the masses of
people, as long as the latter
did not in their turn ask for too
much freedom
Characteristics of Liberalism
•Individuals are entitled to
seek their freedom in the
face of arbitrary or
tyrannical restrictions
imposed upon them.
•Utilitarianism
–Founded by Jeremy Bentham
–Supported the concept
of natural rights.
•Best guaranteed by
written constitutions.
•theory held the pleasurepain principle as its key idea.
equated pleasure with good
and pain with evil.
–Supported the concept
of “the greatest
happiness for the
greatest number.”
•
Liberals also
advocated the
“Balance of
Power” theory
and free trade.
Economic Liberalism
•Liberals advocated economic
individualism.
•Economic liberalism
–All Supported laissez faire economics
•“Wealth of Nations” by Adam
Smith 1776
–Free Trade
–Laissez-faire
•Thomas Malthus
•Essay on the Principle of Population
•population theory (Dismal Theory)
–Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy
–“Iron Law of Wages”
–Based on the realities of a
new industrial era.
Adam Smith- The Wealth of Nations
Thomas Malthus- “Dismal Theory”
•The Industrial Revolution is
beginning to take place
throughout Europe.
David Ricardo- “The Iron Law of Wages”
Early 19th Century Liberals
•England:
–Thomas Robington
Macaulay & John
Stuart Mill
•France:
–Benjamin Constant,
Victor cousin, Jean
Baptiste Say and
Alexis de Tocqueville
•Germany:
– Wilhelm von Humboldt,
Friedrich List, Karl von
Rotteck and Karl Theodor
Welcker
The Impact of Liberalism
•Liberalism
–involved in the various
revolutionary movements of
the early 19th century.
•Over ten constitutions
secured between 1815 and
1848 in states of the
German Confederation.
•Reform measures in Britain
-governments adopted
liberal reforms after
1832 and ruled for
decades
–be born with the
emergence of new
voters
-It affected German
student organizations
(Burschenchaften) and
permeated Prussian life.
Alexis
de
Tocqueville
•Tocqueville
–Liberal who warned
against the
“tyranny of the
majority
–Govt take away
freedom to create
equality (economic)
•These fears were not
without foundation.
In the 20th century, the
masses have sometimes shown
themselves willing to trade
freedom for authority, order,
economic security, and national
power.
•
Nazi Germany,
Fascist Italy,
Communist Russia
Nationalism
•Liberal thought in early 19th century Europe
was dramatically revealed through an explosive
force called nationalism.
–Liberal ideas raised
the nationalistic
consciousness of people
•a common language, soil,
traditions, history, culture
and shared human
experiences.
–
–These ideas
were needed to
promote political
unity
–these were also the
ideas that fostered the
identity nationhood or
nation-state
was aroused and
made militant during
the turbulent
French Revolutionary
era.
Characteristics of Nationalism
•Early nationalist sentiment was
romantic, exuberant and
cosmopolitan in nature.
•The breakdown of society’s
traditional loyalties to church,
dynastic state and region
began during the course of
the 18th century.
–Popular Sovereignty
•Impelled by the French
Revolution, new loyalties
were fashioned.
•
The concept of a nation of
people being united by a
common language, culture,
and history and governed for
the good of the whole.
Impact of Nationalism
•Nationalistic thinkers and writers
examined the language, literature,
and folkways of their people,
thereby stimulating nationalist
feelings.
•Emphasized the history and
culture of various European people
–tended to reinforce and glorify
national sentiment.
•Early 19th century nationalist
leaders adopted the ideas of the
German philosopher-historian Johann
Gottfried Herder (1744-1803)
–regarded as the “Father of
modern nationalism.”
–Taught that every people is
unique and possesses a distinct
national character, or
Volksgeist., which as evolved over
several centuries.
•
•
No one culture or people
is superior to any other.
All national groups are
parts of that great whole
Revolutionary Movements in the Early 19c
•The Conservative Order
•Spanish Revolution of 1820
(Ferdinand VII of Spain
Dissolves Cortes)
-Promised Constitution
but revoked promise
-Latin American colonies
& military rebels against
Ferdinand
-Congress of Troppau
Metternich at the
Congress of Laibach got
permission to invade
Naples after Revolution
broke out
-Greek Revolution in 1821
“The Eastern Question”
What to do about the
“sickman of Europe.”
-Decembrist Revolt (1825)
Military officers attempt to
takeover new Czar and get a constitution
19c Latin American Independence
Movements
Wallachia & Moldavia
Independence
Movements
in the Balkans
Greek Revolution - 1821
Greek Independence
4 The “Eastern Question”
4 Hetairia Philike  a secret
society that inspired an uprising
against the Turks in 1821.
4 Pan-Hellenism
4 1827  Battle of Navarino
 Br, Fr, Rus destroyed the
Ottoman-Egyptian fleet.
4 1828  Rus declared war
on the Otts.
Greece on the Ruins of
Missilonghi by Delacroix, 1827
4 1829  Treaty of Adrianople
4 1830  Greece declared an
independent nation [Treaty of
London].
Lord Byron – Martyr in Greece
The Decembrist Uprising - 1825
The Decembrist Revolt, 1825
4 Russian upper class had come into contact with
western liberal ideas during the Napoleonic Wars.
4 Late November, 1825  Czar Alexander I died
suddenly.
 He had no direct heir  dynastic crisis
•
•
Constantine  married a woman, not of royal blood.
•
Russian troops were to take an oath of allegiance to
Nicholas, who was less popular than Constantine [Nicholas
was seen as more reactionary].
Nicholas  named by Alexander I as his heir before his
death.
 December 26, 1825  a Moscow regiment marched
into the Senate Square in St. Petersburg and
refused to take the oath.
The Decembrist Revolt, 1825
4 They wanted Constantine.
4 Nicholas ordered the cavalry and artillery to attack
the insurgents.
 Over 60 were killed.
 5 plotters were executed.
 Over 100 insurgents were exiled to Siberia.
4 Results:
 The first rebellion in modern Russian history where the
rebels had specific political goals.
 In their martyrdom, the Decembrists came to
symbolize the dreams/ideals of all Russian liberals.
 Nicholas was determined that his power would never
again come into question  he was terrified of change!
The Decembrist Uprising - 1825
4Orthodoxy!
4Autocracy!
4Nationalism!
Nicholas I
The 1830 Revolutions
France: The “Restoration” Era
4 France emerged from the chaos
(1815-1830)
of its revolutionary period as
the most liberal large state in
Europe.
4 Louis XVIII governed France as
a Constitutional monarch.
 He agreed to observe the
1814 “Charter” or
Constitution of the
Restoration period.
•
•
•
•
Limited royal power.
Granted legislative power.
Protected civil rights.
Upheld the Napoleon Code.
Louis XVIII (r. 1814-1824)
Raft of the Medusa
•
•
Painting was a social commentary on French state
Becomes a metaphor for discontent among the masses
– French frigate crashes in Mediterranean
• Captain who crashed ship was a noble who received job based on birth rite rather than
merit found incompetent
• Starving people hanging onto a make-shift raft struggling to survive
– “All of France is on that raft”
– The incompetent Louis XVIII who received his job by birth not merit leads the country
aimlessly
The “Ultras”
4 France was divided by those
who had accepted the ideals of
the Fr. Revolution and those
who didn’t.
4 The Count of Artois was the
leader of the “Ultra-Royalists”
4 1815 “White Terror”
 Royalist mobs killed 1000s of
former revolutionaries.
4 1816 elections
The Count of Artois,
the future King Charles X
(r. 1824-1830)
 The Ultras were rejected in
the Chamber of Deputies
election in favor of a moderate
royalist majority dependent on
middle class support.
France: Conservative Backlash
4 1820the Duke of Berri, son of Artois, was
murdered.
4 Royalists blamed the left.
4 Louis XVIII moved the govt. more to the right
 Changes in electoral laws narrowed the eligible voters.
 Censorship was imposed.
4 Liberals were driven out of legal political life and
into illegal activities.
4 1823 triumph of reactionary forces!

Fr troops were authorized by the Concert of Europe to
crush the Spanish Revolution and restore another
Bourbon ruler, Ferdinand VII, to the throne there.
King Charles X of France (r. 1824-1830)
4 His Goals:
 Lessen the influence of the middle
class.
 Limit the right to vote.
 Put the clergy back in charge
of education.
 Public money used to pay nobles
for the loss of their lands during
the Fr Revolution.
4 His Program:
 Attack the 1814 Charter.
 Control the press.
 Dismiss the Chamber of Deputies when it turned against him.
 Appointed an ultra-reactionary as his first minister.
King Charles X of France (r. 1824-1830)
41830 Election brought in another liberal
majority.
4July Ordinances
 He dissolved the entire parliament.
 Strict censorship imposed.
 Changed the voting laws so that the
government in the future could be assured of a
conservative victory.
To the Barracades  Revolution, Again!!
Workers, students and some of the middle class call for a Republic!
Louis Philippe  The “Citizen King”
4 The Duke of Orleans.
4 Relative of the Bourbons, but
had stayed clear of the Ultras.
4 Lead a thoroughly bourgeois life.
4 His Program:
 Property qualifications reduced
enough to double eligible voters.
 Press censorship abolished.
 The King ruled by the will of the
people, not by the will of God.
 The Fr Revolution’s tricolor
replaced the Bourbon flag.
4 The government was now under the
control of the wealthy middle class.
(r. 1830-1848)
Louis Philippe  The “Citizen King”
4 His government ignored the
needs and demands of the
workers in the cities.
 They were seen as another
nuisance and source of possible
disorder.
4 July, 1832  an uprising in Paris
was put down by force and 800
were killed or wounded.
4 1834  Silk workers strike in
Lyon was crushed.
 Seething underclass.
A caricature of
Louis Philippe
 Was seen as a violation of the
status quo set down at the
Congress of Vienna.
Belgian Independence, 1830
4 The first to follow the lead of France.
4 Its union with Holland after the Congress of Vienna had not
proved successful.
4 There had been
very little popular
agitation for Belgian
nationalism before
1830  seldom had
nationalism arisen so
suddenly.
4 Wide cultural
differences:
 North  Dutch  Protestant  seafarers and traders.
 South  French  Catholic  farmers and individual workers.
Belgian Revolution - 1830
A Stirring of Polish Nationalism - 1830
A Stirring of Polish Nationalism - 1830
4 The bloodiest struggle of the 1830 revolutions.
4 The Poles in and around Warsaw gain a special status by the
Congress of Vienna within the Russian Empire.
 Their own constitution.
 Local autonomy granted in 1818.
4 After Tsar Alexander I dies, the Poles became restless
under the tyrannical rule of Tsar Nicholas I.
4 Polish intellectuals were deeply influenced by Romanticism.
4 Rumors reached Poland that Nicholas I was planning to use
Polish troops to put down the revolutions in France and
Belgium.
4 Several Polish secret societies rebelled.
A Stirring of Polish Nationalism - 1830
4 Had the Poles been united, this
revolt might have been successful.
 But, the revolutionaries
were split into moderates
and radicals.
4 The Poles had hoped that Fr &
Eng would come to their aid,
but they didn’t.
4 Even so, it took the Russian army
a year to suppress this rebellion.
4 The irony  by drawing the Russian army to Warsaw for
almost a year, the Poles may well have kept Nicholas I
from answering Holland’s call for help in suppressing the
Belgian Revolt.
Europe in 1830
The Results of the 1820s-1830 Revolutions?
1. The Concert of Europe provided for a recovery of Europe
after the long years of Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.
2. The conservatives did NOT reverse ALL of the reforms
put in place by the French Revolution.
3. Liberalism would challenge the conservative plan for
European peace and law and order.
4. These revolutions were successful only in W. Europe:
 Their success was in their popular support.
 Middle class lead, aided by the urban lower classes.
5. The successful revolutions had benefited the middle
class  the workers, who had done so much of the rioting
and fighting, were left with empty hands!
6. Therefore, these revolutions left much unfinished & a
seething, unsatisfied working class.