Professor Brophy
History 102

European Politics and Society, 1815-1848

Introduction
-the impact of modernization,
     1750-1815
-the dual revolution:
traditional authority and
 social structures under
 question
-the new map of Europe

The Conservative Era, 1815-1830
--the Congress of Vienna, 1814-15: a modified restoration
--reassertion of conservative principle: Clemens von Metternich’ ‘Concert of Europe’ and principle of intervention; Tsar Alexander I’s ‘Holy Alliance’
-forces of movement vs. forces of preservation

Ideologies and Doctrines
-liberalism (Condorcet, B. Constant, J.S. Mill)
-radicalism (T. Paine, J. Bentham, F. Hecker)
-conservatism (Metternich, E. Burke)
-utopian socialism (St. Simon, Fourier, R. Owen)
-doctrine: nationalism (J.G. Herder, Mazzini)
-cultural movement: romanticism
-resume: emergence of modern political landscape

Nationalism as Doctrine and Ideology
-nationalism as cultural impulse in 18th century; J. G. Herder
-political nationalism of French Rev. and Napoleonic Era
-nation as threat to old order
-liberal nation-building; the era of romantic and liberal nationalism, 1815-48; e.g. Young Italy, Poland, Germany.
-the evolution of nationalism: official conservative nationalism of 1850-70 era; imperial era, 1870-1914
-evolution from cosmopolitan humanism to aggressive exclusionism

Political Ascendancy of the Bourgeoisie, 1830-1848
-Milestones: Greek Revolt (1827-30); the July Revolution of 1830; Belgian independence (1830); the Polish Revolt in 1831; Customs Union in Germany, 1834;
-Whig Britain:  the Reform Act of 1832; Repeal of the Corn Laws, 1846
-ideals:  constitutional liberalism, nation-states, rule of propertied and educated classes
-bourgeois assumption of ‘universal ideals’ of freedom and progress
-bourgeois civil society: self-governing society of free autonomous individuals

The Revolutions of 1848/49
-social, economic, political crises of 1840s
-pan-European uprising for liberal constitutionalism and  united nation-state; democratic movements in France, Italy, and Germany
-sites : France, the Italian states, the German states, Austrian Empire, Hungary, Balkans, Poland
-reassertion of conservative power in Central Europe: cannons trump constitutions
-breakdown of revolutionary front; emergence of partisan and class political interests

Summary
-blend of new and old in European politics: kings and constitutions, capitalists and nobles
-reworking of the political establishment after 1848
-unanswered questions about role of popular sovereignty
-the assimilation of nationalism into conservative politics after 1850
-acknowledgment of class-specific party interests