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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
1815-1830
a. 1815-1830: conservative domination of Eurpe evident in Concert of Europe also apparent in domestic affairs as conservative governments throughout Europe worked to maintain old order
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Great Britain: Rule of the Tories
- i. 1815: Great Britain governed by aristocratic landowning classes that dominated both Parliament houses
- 1. Suffrage for elections to House of Commons, controlled by landed gentry, was restricted and unequal, especially due to changing distribution of British population due to Industrial Revolution
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Great Britain: Rule of the Tories: Large new industrial cities
- a. Large new industrial cities had no reps, while landowners used pocket and rotten boroughs to control seats in House of Commons
- b. Although monarchy not yet powerless, in practice the power of the crown was ruled by ruling party in Parliament
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Tories and Whigs
- i. Two political factions in Parliament: Tories and Whigs
- 1. Both still dominated by members of the landed classes, although Whigs beginning to receive support from new industrial middle class
- 2. Tory ministers dominated government until 1830 and had little desire to change existing political and electoral system
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Popular Discontent
- i. Popular discontent grew after 1815 because of severe economic difficulties
- 1. Tory government’s response to falling agricultural prices was Corn Law of 1815, a measure that imposed really high tariffs on foreign grain
- a. Though tariffs benefited landowners, the price of bread rose, making conditions for the working classes more difficult
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Protest meetings
- i. Protest meetingsà squadron of cavalry attacked 60,000 demonstrators at Saint Peter’s Fields in Manchester in 1819
- 1. Deaths of 11 people, called the Peterloo Massacre by government detractors, led Parliament to take even more repressive measures.
- a. Government restricted large public meetings and the dissemination of pamphlets among the poor
- b. By making minor reforms in 1820s, the Tories managed to avoid meeting the demands for electoral reforms until 1830
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Restoration in France
- i. 1814: Bourbon family restored to French throne through Louis XVIII
- 1. He understood need to accept some changes from revolutionary and Napoleonic eras
- 2. Accepted Napoleon’s Civil Code with its recognition of the principle of equality before the law
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Rights of Civil Code
- a. Property rights of those who purchased confiscated lands during Revolution were preserved
- b. Bicameral legislature established: Chamber of Peers (chosen by king) and Chamber of Deputies (chosen by electorate of 100,000 wealthy people)
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Moderation
- 1. His moderation was opposed by liberals eager to extend revolutionary reforms and by a group of ultraroyalists who criticized the king’s willingness to compromise and retain features of Napoleonic era
- a. Ultras hoped to return to monarchy run by landed aristocracy and to restore Catholic Church to former position of influence
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Initiative
- i. Initiative passed to ultraroyalists in 1824 when Louis XVIII died and was succeeded by brother, the count of Artois, who became Charles X
- 1. 1825: Charles granted an indemnity to aristocrats whose lands were confiscated during Revolution
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Religious Policy
- a. Moreover, the king pursued a religious policy that encouraged the Catholic Church to reestablish control over the French educational system
- i. Public outrage, fed by liberal newspapers, forced the king to compromise in 1827 and even to accept the principle of ministerial responsibility—that the ministers of the king were responsible to the legislature
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
1829: violation
1. 1829: He violated his commitmentà deputies protestedà king dissolved legislature in 1830 and called for new electionsà France on brink of another revolution
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Intervention in the Italian States and Spain
i. Congress of Vienna established nine states in Italy, including Piedmont ruled by house of Savoy; kingdom of Two Sicilies; Papal states; small duchies ruled by relatives of Austrian emperor; and the important northern provinces of Lombardy and Venetia, where were part of Austrian Empire
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Much of Italy under..
- 1. Much of Italy under Austrian domination, and all states extremely reactionary governments eager to smother liberal or nationalist sentiment
- a. Nevertheless, secret societies motivated by nationalistic dreams and known as Carbonari continued plans for revolution
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Spain
- i. In Spain, another Bourbon dynasty restored through Ferdinand VII in 1814
- 1. He agreed to observe liberal constitution of 1812, which allowed for functioning of an elected parliamentary assembly known as the Cortes
- a. But the king soon reneged on promises, tore up constitution, dissolved the Cortes, and persecuted its members, which led a combined group of army officers, upper middle class merchants, and liberal intellectuals to revoltà king capitulated and promised restoration of constitution and Cortes
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Metternich's policy of intervention
- i. Metternich’s policy of intervention came to save Ferdinand
- 1. April 1823: French army moved into Spain and forced revolutionary government to flee Madridà king restored to throne
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Repression in C. Europe
- a. Repression in Central Europe
- i. After 1815, the forces of reaction were successful in c. Europe
- ii. Habsburg empire and chief agent, Prince Klemens von Metternich played important role
- 1. His spies were everywhere, searching for evidence of liberal or nationalist plots
- 2. Although both liberalism and nationalism emerged in German states and Austrian Empire, they were weak as c. Europe tended to remain under domination of aristocratic landowning classes and autocratic, centralized monarchies
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Vienna Settlement
- i. Vienna settlement in 1815 had recognized the existence of 38 sovereign states in what was once the Holy Roman Empire
- 1. Austria and Prussia were two great powers; other sates varied in size
- a. Together, these states formed the Germanic Confederation, but the confederation had little power
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I. Conservative Domination: The European States
Germanic Confederation
- i. No real executive, and its only central organ was the federal diet, which needed the consent of all member states to take action, making it powerless
- 1. Still, it served as Metternich’s instrument to repress revolutionary movements within the German states
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