European History
Chapter 22: Ideologies and Upheavals

Introduction:

            Following the Industrial and French Revolutions, economic, political and social changes began to take place. A spirit of new ideas and revolution spread across Europe. The Congress of Vienna worked to establish a balance of power between the countries in Europe. The radical ideas of liberalism, nationalism and socialism created further conflict, and the Romantic Movement grew. Revolution of 1830 occurred in France, followed by Revolution in Prussia, France and the Austrian Empire in 1848.

            Objective: To understand the transformations that were occurring in Europe as a result of the dual revolution and emerging radical ideas.

Essential Question: How did Metternich’s conservatism differ from the radical ideas that were beginning to spread across Europe?

            Answer: Metternich was against the progressive movements that were occurring in the nineteenth century. As a conservative he wanted things to remain as they had been. He was a strong supporter of the nobility, he put stress on tradition, he had a pessimistic view of human nature, and he believed that a strong government was necessary. In opposition with Metternich’s views, the radical ideas of liberalism, nationalism and socialism were optimistic about human nature. Each idea had a different plan and thought about society, but they all urged progress and change.

Important People:

                                       

Karl Marx

Significance: Karl Marx developed his own socialist ideas, which came to be known as Marxian Socialism. Together with Friedrich Engels, he published The Communist Manifesto in 1848. Marx viewed society as a struggle between economic classes where the bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat. He created a theory of historical revolution that was modeled after Georg Hegel’s, and he predicted that in the future, a violent revolution would allow the workers to overthrow the capitalists.

Louis Philippe

Significance: Louis Philippe was the last king to ever rule France. After the Revolution of 1830, Philippe, duke of Orleans, was placed on the throne. He agreed to the Constitutional Charter of 1814 and called himself the “king of the French people”. France remained mainly unchanged during his rule as he protected the rich upper middle class. It was his refusal to bring about electoral reform that began the revolt in Paris in 1848. He abdicated on Feb. 24, 1848.

William Wordsworth 

Significance: Wordsworth was English romantic who wrote Lyrical Ballads using ordinary speech and wrote the poem “Daffodils”. He launched the English literature movement and stressed the ideas of simplicity and love of nature. Wordsworth also protested conditions of urban poor. Wordsworth was one of many individuals actively involved in the Romantic Movement. Formed in reaction to the use of logic and reason during the Enlightenment, romanticism pushed a belief in emotional exuberance, unrestrained imagination, and spontaneity.

U.S. Events:

The American Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution was a change from making things by hand in the home to making products in factories. Samuel Slater brought the first factories from Europe to the United States. America’s population of workers and ample natural resources allowed industries to thrive. Railroads and new inventions made their way throughout the states. This Revolution resulted in an increased number of wealthy individuals and allowed the country to be less dependent on others.

Connection across Continents: The Industrial Revolution first appeared in Britain. This is where the first great advancements took place that allowed the Revolution to even spread to the United States. Secondly, the Irish Potato Famine occurred in Ireland in the 1840s. When disease attacked the crop, around one million people made their way from Ireland to America. Although there were certainly negatives from the new influx of people, the mass of Irish workers willing to do jobs for long hours and little pay allowed the US to become and industrial leader.

Panic of 1819: The Panic was the first major financial crisis in the United States. This occurred during the Era of Good Feelings, and it caused a significant increase in unemployment, mortgages were foreclosed, banks failed, and agriculture prices dropped. A result of the panic was the new demand for the democratization of state constitutions. A second consequence of the panic was the halt in expansion that remained until 1823.

Connection across Continents: One of the causes of the Panic of 1819 was due to the decrease in demand for American goods and agricultural products in Europe. In Europe, agriculture was on the rise as it recovered from the Napoleonic Wars. Once they could supply their own food, European countries were much less dependent on the US for their crops.

“Listening to the Past”:

In the years of 1845, 1846, 1848 and 1851, the potato crop in Ireland failed. The potato had been the main staple of the Irish diet. A single acre of the crop could feed an Irish family of six for a year. The families would live off of the potato. When blight attacked the plant, widespread starvation and mass fever epidemics resulted. Irish population growth ended as 1 million emigrants fled and at least 1.5 million died as a consequence of what would become known as the Great Famine. The Famine would also create anti-British feelings and further Irish nationalism. The first excerpt is from the October 18, 1845 publication of the Illustrated London News, which was the first illustrated weekly newspaper. The article describes situation and the initial reactions when crop began to fail. The excerpt discusses the need for government intervention, but the British laissez-faire government was slow to act.

 “THE POTATO DISEASE…. Accounts received from different parts of Ireland show that the disease in the potato crop is extending far and wide, and causing great alarm amongst the peasantry. Letters from resident landlords feelingly describe the misery and . . . urge the . . . necessity of speedy intervention on the part of the Government. . . . Mr. John Chester, . . . in a letter to the Dublin Evening Post, states that he has a field of twenty acres of potatoes, which . . . had been perfectly dry and sound, when they were attacked by the blight, and three-fourths of them are so diseased and rotten that pigs decline to eat them.”

This second article was from The Cork Examiner, an Irish newspaper that later changed its name to The Irish Examiner and is still in existence today, on February 1, 1847. The excerpt provides a glimpse at the effects of the Great Famine. This story of one family’s situation closely parallels many other tragic accounts of Irish life during this unfortunate event.

“SERGEANT GEALE…. related a very distressing case of destitution. On last evening, a poor man was passing down Clarence Street with two children on his back; and from their colour and appearance it seemed that they were in a dying condition. . . . One of them, a little girl of three years old, appeared to be just dead, and . . . has since died; and the other, a boy of six years old, was conveyed to the infirmary. . . 

The medical gentleman who had visited them gave it as his unqualified opinion that the younger child's death had resulted from starvation, and that the other would in all probability die from the same cause.”

Response- The Great Famine really stuck out to me during this unit. In American History we studied the impact the Great Famine had on the U.S. due to immigration, but we did not go into detail about the famine itself. The primary sources that we read in class were touching as they provided vivid descriptions of life in Ireland. The conditions were horrible, and death was all too common. It is hard to imagine living were these occurrences existed and in a time of such tragedy.

Summary:

3 Things I Learned-

1.      The Holy Alliance was formed as a way to resist liberal and revolutionary movements in Europe.

2.      Louis Philippe was the last king to ever rule France, and his reign ended when he abdicated on February 24, 1848.

3.      Individuals like Charles Fourier pictured a socialist utopia. In his vision, self-sufficient communities of 1,620 people would exist and there would be free unions based only on love.

2 Things That Interested Me-

1.      Victor Hugo, the author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the Grimm brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm, were all authors of the Romantic Movement, and Beethoven was a romantic composer.

2.      In the 1848 revolts in Paris, students and workers built barricades in the streets to demand a new government.

1 Question I Still Have-

            Why did the Great Powers intervene in the conflict between the Greeks and the Ottoman Turks?