The Vienna Settlement and the Concert of

Europe

1814-1832

Europe, 1812Before the Congress of Vienna.

Europe, 1815Europe after the Congress.

CONGRESS OF VIENNA CONVENESSeptember 1814

Vienna, 1814Expected Time: 2 monthsActual Time: 9 months

Diplomats present: 700Dominant Figures: 5

Goals1. Restore Balance of Power2. Restore “legitimacy”3. Compensation

Austria

Metternich

Foreign minister of Austria

M.I.P Europe: 1814 to 1848

Reactionary, opponent of war

Francis I

Emperor of Austria

Timid soul

Only job is to restrain Metternich

Britain

Lord Castlereagh

British Foreign Minister, 1815-1822

Realistic, but has vision of peace

Wants peace through some type of organization

Posterity will ne'er survey A nobler grave than this: Here lie the bones of Castlereagh: Stop, traveller, and piss.

-Lord Byron

Russia

Czar Alexander I

Complex, unstable

Has vision of a “Holy Alliance”

Prussia

King Frederick William III & Karl von Hardenburg

Goals: Recover Prussian territory lost to Napoleon Gain additional territory in northern Germany (Saxony).

France

King Louis XVIII [Bourbon]

Talleyrand, foreign minister

THE SETTLEMENTCongress of Vienna, 1815

Balance of Power

• Territorial Adjustments:– Belgium (former Austrian Netherlands) to

Netherlands (House of Orange)– Austria receives parts of N. Italy (Lombardy &

Venetia)– Russia receives Finland & most of Poland– Norway goes to Sweden (from Denmark)– Sardinia receives Savoy

Balance of Power, cont.

• Britain GAINS– Islands in West Indies, land in S. America, Ceylon

in Indian Ocean, & S. Africa’s Cape Colony• Reorganization of German States

– German Confederation of 39 autonomous states– Francis I of Austria president of Confederacy

• France restored to 1792 borders

The Legacy of Napoleon?

“Napoleon ‘exported’ the Revolution to Europe.”

NATIONALISM & LIBERALISM

The Concert of Europe‘An Alliance System’

• Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1818• Acted as international government/ policeman• Greatest threats: nationalism and liberalism• Lasts as long as memories of Napoleonic Wars

last

The Age of Metternich

The Revolt against Revolt

Conservatism vs. Liberalism & Nationalism

19th Century Liberals

• Who were they?– Those excluded from the existing political process;

they were NOT democratic.– From the middle class --> bourgeois.

• Hostile to the privileged aristocracy.• They sought the removal of economic

restraints (laissez-faire economics).

19th Century Conservatives

• Who were they?– Traditional ruling classes– Peasants

• Skepticism regarding Enlightenment principles• Against the "excessive" belief in individual

rights• Church, State, and Family: the sources of

social order

The Revival of Religion

• Catholic countries restored power & status of the church

• Protestant countries witnessed religious revivalismThe Second “Great

Awakening” in America

Political Challenges to Conservative Rule

• Popular revolts for Constitutional rule:– Spain – Russia

• Nationalist movements:– Italy– Balkans and Greece

• Wars of Independence in Latin America

Nationalist Movements

Round One: Crisis in Germany

• Wartburg Festival• Carlsbad Decrees

– Attacked who?– Is censorship ever

effective?

• The Tzar is upset

Round Two: Spain & Italy

• The Congress at Troppau

• Revolution in Spain, 1820– Liberal revolt– Congress of Verona,

1822– Crushed by French

troops

• Revolutions in Italy– The Carbonari– Congress of Laibach,

1821– Results

“When a state, by revolutionizing itself,

leaves the alliance, the alliance has the right to

compel it to return.”

-Troppau protocol

Round Three: Russia

• Death of Tzar Alexandar I– Nicholas I appointed heir

to throne– Moscow regiment &

others wanted Constantine

• The Decembrists Revolt, 1825 – Moscow regiment refused

to take oath, Nicholas used force & crushed revolt.

The Decembrists

Nicholas I

“Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationalism”

Round Four: Greece

• Cry for Greek Independence

• Why are the Europeans sympathetic?

• Results– Treaty of

Adrianople, 1829

– Independent Greece

Overview of the Revolutions: 1820-1825

Revolutions Abroad

1804-1830

Revolutions in Latin America

The Haitian Revolution‘…the only successful slave revolt in history…’

• 1659-1804: Saint-Domingue was French territory

• Slavery was based on relentless terror• Toussaint L’Ouverture led successful

independence movement

Revolution of 1830’s

The Conservative Order is Shaken at Home

“When France has a cold, all Europe

sneezes.”

- Metternich

France in the 19th Century

A Crisis of Identity?

1814 to 1830

• Reign of Louis XVIII– Conservative, realistic &

agreed to a Charter– 1820, son murdered– Conservative Reactions

• Reign of Charles X– 1824– Reactionary– The Four Ordinances

The Four Ordinances

1. Dissolved the entire parliament2. Strict censorship imposed3. Limited franchise to wealthiest people4. Called for new elections

The July Revolution

Louis-PhilippeThe Citizen King (1830-

1848)

• Doubled right to vote (1/30)

• Catholicism: “religion of the majority”

• Censorship abolished • Industrial boom in

France + acquisition of Algiers

• One major flaw?

Louis-Philippe: The Citizen King?

• Socially, very conservative (no sympathy for working class)

• Worker revolts in Lyons, 1832 & 1834

• By 1848, Louis-Philippe will be forced to flee

A United Netherlands?: 1815-1830

North: Dutch, Protestant, seafarers and traders.

South: French, Catholic, farmers and individualworkers.

BELGIUM BECOMES INDEPENDENT (1830)

With the help of the Lord Palmerston & the British.

Revolutions of 1830

The British Response1789-1832

From Political Repression to the Great Reform Bill

The British Response?

• Reactionary, at first.– Edmund Burke’s Reflections

on the Revolution in France, 1790

• William Pitt the Younger– Led coalition against

Napoleon in Europe – Led a campaign against

radicals at home– Suspended Habeas Corpus,

etc.

The British Response?

• Lord Liverpool’s Ministry (Tory)– Corn Laws, 1815– Coercion Acts, 1817– “Peterloo” Massacre

• Six Acts of Parliament, 1819

The Six Acts of 1819

1. Forbade large unauthorized meetings2. Raised the fines for seditious libel3. Speeded up trials for political dissidents4. Increased newspaper taxes5. Prohibited the training of armed groups6. Allowed local officials to search homes

The British Response?

• By 1825, Younger Tories moderate the party– Produce liberal

foreign & economic policies

• Catholic Emancipation Act, 1829George Canning

The British Response, cont.

• William IV – 1830– Whigs called for

parliamentary reforms

• Earl Grey – (leader of the Whig

Party) asked by William IV to form a new government

The British Response, Cont.

• A reform bill increased the electorate by 50% and “Rotten Boroughs” were replaced

• Great Reform Bill did not resolve all political inequities

• BUT marked a new beginning in English government

The Conservative Order and the Challenges of Reform

(1815-1832)

Important Leaders

METTERNICH, AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

FREDERICK WILLIAM III OF PRUSSIA

ALEXANDER I OF RUSSIA

NICHOLAS I OF RUSSIA

TALLEYRAND, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER

LOUIS XVIII OF FRANCE

CHARLES X OF FRANCE

LOUIS PHILIPPE OF FRANCE

LORD CASTLEREAGH, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER

LORD LIVERPOOL, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER

WILLIAM IV OF BRITAIN