Conservative Governments: The Domestic Political Order

1. Kagan, Ch. 20, pp. 622-628 Conservative Governments: The Domestic Political Order

2. Conservatism • General beliefs • Obedience to political authority (legitimate monarchy) • Organized religion was crucial to social order (established churches) • Landed aristocracies • Hated revolutionary upheavals • Unwilling to accept civil liberties, representative governments (constitutions), or nationalistic aspirations • State> individual – must be ordered and organized (tradition = best organizer)

3. The Conservatives • Specifically • France: Louis XVIII: keep the throne • England: Tory conservatives (pro Church and king) – preserve Old England • Metternich: leading Germany, Austria, Italy, Central Europe: Habsburg supremacy*** • Russia: Alexander I --- too liberal for Met. – can he be converted?

4. Maintaining Habsburg Dominance • Secure dominance in • Austrian Empire • Italy • German Confederation (now 39 states) • Why must these minorities not be allowed to develop constitutions?

5. Prussian Reform Defeated • Frederick William III, Prussia • 1817 promised constitution BUT…created Council of State INSTEAD • 1819 ultra-conservatives put in charge of military • 1823 est. 8 provincial diets • dominated by Junkers • acted in advisory role only • Monarchy, army and Junkers revive old alliances to stave off nationalists as well as liberals

6. Burschenschaften and the Carlsbad Decrees

7. Repression in Great Britain • Conservative control (Tories) in Great Britain under Lord Liverpool • Post war economic depression – wages fall • Corn Laws (1815) • Prohibited importation of foreign grain unless domestic price rose above a certain levels – why is this problematic? • 1816 income tax replaced with sales tax • Increased movement to suspend Poor Laws • Citizens call for Parliamentary reform (Cobbett, Cartwright, Hunt) • 1817 Coercion Acts suspend habeas corpus, cracked down of “seditious gatherings” • 1819 “Peterloo Massacre” St. Peter’s Field – 80,000 Manchester • Pro universal suffrage, vs. Corn Laws – Soldiers fire! – 11 die • (typical of conservative Lord Liverpool) • 1819 Six Acts = repressive measures vs. radicals • 1819, Cato Street Conspiracy

8. Bourbon Restoration (Repression) • Louis XVIII, 1814-1824 • accepted Napoleonic Code; didn’t revoke property • The Charter = • bicameral legislature: Chamber of Peers (appointed) & Chamber of Deputies (elected) • White Terror • 1820 nephew (Duke de Berri) assassinated • Charles X (aka Count of Artois), 1824-1830 • total absolutist, although promises 1827 to uphold the principle of ministerial responsibility

9. Conservative Outcomes

10. Congress of Vienna, 1814-1815

11. Congress of Vienna • Quadruple and then Quintuple Alliances • maintain peace and balance of power in Europe • How would this be done? • Principle of Legitimacy • Principle of Intervention • Holy Alliance? – not so much BUT • Big Five would “interfere” in international disputes prior to Revolutions of 1848

12. Congress of Vienna – Congress System • After Vienna, no one acts without consent • Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) • Allies withdraw from France • France enters “concert of Europe” • Congress of Troppau (1820) • Collective security vs. revolution • Action vs. Spain / Naples (Eng vs. b/c of colonies!!!) • Upholds Principles of Legitimacy & Intervention

13. Congress of Vienna – Congress System • Congress of Laibach (1821) • Austria authorized to intervene in Naples then Piedmont • Congress of Verona (1822) • French army vs. Spanish revolutionaries • Greece – national uprising vs. Turks