ITALY

1. ITALY • Portion of northern Italy placed under Austrian control in 1815 • Most ordinary Italians didn’t care • But small elite liked earlier reforms of the French and did not like the return of monarchies • Had also started to hope for a closer union of all Italians • Which Metternich said would never happen None of these states possessed constitutions or representative assemblies

2. KINGDOM OF TWO SICILIES • Serious revolt erupted in Kingdom of Two Sicilies in 1820 • Directed against King Ferdinand I • Had promised a constitution and to keep French reforms when he was restored to his throne in 1815 • by 1820 it was clear he no intention of keeping these promises • Also regarded as Austrian puppet • Opposition centered among army officers and members of the middle class • Had support of Carbonari • Nationalist secret societies • Temporarily forced king to flee • But then squandered valuable time arguing about what to do next Carbonari

3. CONGRESS OF TROPPAU • Metternich arranges for meeting of rulers of Austrian Empire, Russia, and Prussia to discuss question of military intervention in Kingdom of Two Sicilies • Congress of Troppau (1820) • Result was Troppau Protocol • Reaffirmed right of European powers to intervene in states that had undergone revolutions • Austrian army invades Kingdom of Two Sicilies in January 1821 • Smashes revolt • Restored Ferdinand I

4. 1830 IN ITALY • 1820-1830 • Little open resistance to established authority although Carbonari continued to operate underground • Minor revolts erupted in Modena, Parma, and the Papal States when news of the July Revolution of 1830 in France hit • Italian revolutionaries counted on support of Louis Philippe • Never materialized • Metternich therefore had a free hand to put down all the revolts Secret Carbonari meeting

5. Most of middle class was German Growth of nationalism divided Austrian Germans Strong nationalists prepared to sacrifice the Austrian Empire in order to join unified German nation Moderates hoped to see the states of Germany merge with Austria Slavs 50% of population Divided into various subgroups and had little national consciousness before the 19th century Poles and Czechs were most important subgroups Magyars Lived in eastern territories of Hungary, Transylvania, and Croatia Had their own Diet and local administration Growing movement for greater autonomy within the Empire Germans 25% of population Concentrated in western part of the Empire in and around Vienna Also lived in Bohemia and in major cities Austrian Empire in 1815 was not a national state but was merely a collection of peoples and territories united only by their common allegiance to the Habsburg ruler Also included Italians in Lombardy and Venetia And Romanians

6. METTERNICH’S DILEMMA • Metternich tried to avoid problems of emerging nationalism among these groups into the 1830s • After 1830, he resorted to a number of expedients to neutralize nationalist sentiments and tried to play one national group off against the other • Problem was that he served under two emperors who neither had the will nor capacity to support any program of constructive reform • Francis I and Ferdinand I Ferdinand I

7. RUSSIA • During his youth, tsar Alexander I had proclaimed liberal principles and promised to abolish serfdom, modernized the army and economy, and even produce a constitution • But once he inherited the throne and having to confront the hard reality of governing, he backed away from liberal ideals • Had also inherited a powerful autocratic tradition • He therefore followed the path of least resistance and made few liberal changes to Russia Alexander I

8. REPRESSION INCREASES • After 1820 he even stopped talking about liberal reforms and increased repressive character of Russian state • Educational system put under control of religious bigots • Strict controls on curriculum • Expelled students and fired teachers on slightest pretext • Prohibited study at foreign universities • Censorship strengthened • Military colonies • Purpose was to reduce cost of maintaining army by setting up self-supporting units of soldiers and their families on pieces of land • Peasants forced into program and subjected to severe military discipline

9. THE INTELLIGENTSIA • Some portions of the nobility and Russia’s tiny middle class • Influenced by ideas of the French Revolution and impressed by constitutional monarchy • Wanted their country to enjoy same benefits of liberal, constitutional government • Began to form secret societies to discuss liberal ideas • Some began talking about doing away with tsarism altogether through revolutionary activity • Believed that meaningful change was impossible as long as the tsar was around Young university student and typical member of the intelligentsia

10. THE DECEMBRISTS I • Society of the North • Young army officers stationed in St. Petersburg • Led by Nicholai Muraviev • Wanted constitutional monarchy, abolition of serfdom, equality before the law, and civil liberties • Conservative on social issues • Society of the South • Young army officers stationed in the Ukraine • Led by Pavel Pestel • Admired Robespierre • Abolition of serfdom, confiscation and redistribution of noble estates, establish a republic governed by an elected assembly • Grant Poland independence Pavel Pestel

11. THE DECEMBRISTS II • Were a large underground group by 1825 • Many were officers and aristocrats • Willing to give up their status in the name of justice • Weakness? • Made no real attempt to establish contact with masses • Wanted to bring about revolution through military coup d’état • Due to tradition and their own relative isolation

12. IMPERIAL CONFUSION • Alexander I died unexpectedly in 1825 • Heir to throne, Constantine, had secretly renounced his claim four years earlier to marry a Polish commoner • No one but Constantine and Alexander knew about this • So both Russian people and next-in-line-to-throne Nicholas thought Constantine would be new tsar • Constantine did not claim throne but did not publicly renounce it either • Nicholas finally informed of situation and he publicly claimed the throne • Looked to many as though he was stealing throne from Constantine Constantine

13. FIASCO IN THE SENATE SQUARE • Decembrists believe that Constantine was more liberal than Nicholas and was being prevented from claiming his rightful inheritance • Decided to put Constantine on throne and provide Russia with a ruler who would initiate enlightened reforms • Plan was to order troops in St. Petersburg to refuse to take oath of loyalty to Nicholas • 3000 soldiers did go to Senate Square but just shouted slogans and milled around • Still loyal troops attacked them later in the day • Southern society launched an uprising against Nicholas in the Ukraine • Also easily crushed

14. THE END • Most of the leaders were arrested • Five were executed • Others were imprisoned or exiled to Siberia • Rank and file soldiers were flogged • Nicholas personally interviewed some of the leaders • Wanted to find out how their minds worked so he would be better prepared in future to deal with attempts to change Russia

15. NICHOLAS I • One of the most rigid, inflexible, and uncompromising rulers to ever sit on a throne • Saw it as his God-given duty to preserve absolutism and autocracy • And to teach his subjects “good principles” • Absolute loyalty and obedience to the status quo • Did not believe Russia was ready for ideas of the French Revolution

16. REPRESSION • Nicholas abandoned all attempt at reform • Convinced that any change to status quo would destabilize the country • Created Third Section of His Majesty’s Chancery • Secret police organization • Attempted to spy on every level of society • Also censored all published material • Minister of Education S.S. Uvarov decreed that only good patriotic and religious principles be taught in schools • Autocracy, Nationalism, and Orthodoxy • Tried to restrict admission to only nobility • Excluded all subjects which he and the tsar considered politically and socially dangerous from curricula S. S. Uvarov

17. WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY • Nicholas’ government was too corrupt and incompetent to destroy intellectual and cultural activity • Renown poets Mikhail Lermontov and Alexander Pushkin had works published intact • New ideas still managed to find expression • University students founded “circles” to read and discuss Western ideas • Most famous was Stankeivitch Circle which included Vissarion Belinsky and Mikhail Bakunin

18. SLAVOPHILS I • Looked back with nostalgia to Russia before it was exposed to the West by Peter the Great • Russia had a “special national type” based on simple and unadulterated faith • Western Europe was divided and self-destructive because it was based on rationalism, individualism and utilitarianism • These ideas had now entered Russia and would cause same sort of damage • In order to survive, Russia had to reject all Western influences and return to its roots • Russian Orthodox Church and faith in the tsar Peter the Great

19. SLAVOPHILS II • Although conservative, Nicholas still saw them as a serious threat • Because they idealized the Russian peasant as the only social group in country not infected with Western ideas • Also argued that peasants had practiced a form of agricultural collectivism • Villages as whole owned and worked land in common • Slavophils wanted to bring back this type of collective ownership • Smacked of socialism

20. WESTERNIZERS • Argued that Russia had to follow the example of the countries of Western Europe • Especially the parliamentary democracies • Abandon Russian Orthodox Church for Roman Catholicism • Some drawn to socialism • Petrachevsky Circle • 1845-1849 • Promoted hybrid ideology of extreme individualism and utopian socialism • Fedor Dostoevsky was member • Infiltrated by secret police and members arrested in 1849 Petrachevsky Circle

21. SUMMARY • Harsh measures taken against Petrachevsky Circle showed that Russia was not completely impervious to “dangerous ideas” • But a true revolutionary movement did not yet exist • Russia not affected by revolutions of 1848 at all • Until Crimean War, Russia appeared to be a threatening colossus, an insurmountable barrier to liberal and democratic ideals

22. UNREST IN ENGLAND • Popular protests swept many parts of England between 1815-1819 • Food riots • “Luddism” • Peterloo Massacre • Mass meeting held in St. Peter’s Field in August 1819 • Demonstration for right to form political organizations and assemble freely • When demonstrators resisted arrest, soldiers fired into crowd • Killing 11 and wounding hundreds • Parliament passes “Six Acts” in response • Banned demonstrations and put restrictions on press Peterloo

23. MORE UNREST • Late 1820s • Bleak years • Increased militancy and class solidarity among artisans and skilled workers in the north • Demanded higher wages • 1830 • Food riots and machine breaking • Captain Swing riots • Massive uprising of agricultural workers in protest of declining wages and loss of work due to the introduction of agricultural machinery

24. RELIGIOUS REFORM • Conservatives (Tories) dominated Parliament in the years after 1815 • Feared that electoral reform would be a dangerous precedent and perhaps open the floodgates of popular protest and revolution • But fear of civil war in Roman Catholic Ireland led some Tories to compromise in the area of religious reform • Repealed Test and Corporation Act in 1828 • Had formerly required everyone who held public office to take communion in the Anglican Church • Catholics still prohibited from running for Parliament and serving in army • Caused unrest in Ireland • Led to passage of Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829 • Removed all legal restrictions against Roman Catholics

25. ELECTORAL REFORM • Whigs were dominated by wealthy landed interests • But made electoral reform its main issue • Businessmen resented being under-represented in House of Commons • Industrial north sent few reps to Parliament because electoral districts had not changed since the 17th century • Manchester and Birmingham not represented at all • Sparsely populated rural districts still sent reps to Parliament • Rotten boroughs • Had originally had large populations when districts were originally created but had lost most people in years that followed • Most notorious were Dunwich and Old Sarum • Pocket boroughs • Completely dominated by a single landowner William Pitt the Elder William Pitt the Younger

26. WHIGS TAKE CONTROL • Whigs gain majority in Parliament in 1830 • Prime minister Earl Charles Grey became convinced that if electoral reform did not happen, revolution would result • Knew big obstacle was House of Lords • Would and did reject any electoral reform bill passed by House of Commons • Did this twice in 1831 Earl Charles Grey

27. REFORM ACT OF 1832 • Severe political crisis was taking shape • Even Duke of Wellington realized this • Leader of Tories • Finally realized that electoral reform was only way to head off catastrophe • Tories therefore did not oppose third Whig-sponsored reform bill • Grey convinced King William IV to threaten to flood House of Lords with new members if it resisted the Reform Bill • Passed what became known as The Reform Act of 1832 Duke of Wellington

28. IMPACT OF THE REFORM ACT • Turning point in history of modern Britain • Even though it left most men and all women disenfranchised • One out of five men gained right to vote • Still far from democracy • But Parliament now more accurately reflected the country’s economic and social evolution during the Industrial Revolution • 15% of representatives elected after 1832 were businessmen • 35% more had some connection with commerce and industry William IV

29. IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH • Whigs enlarged their majority in Parliament • Abolished slavery in British Empire in 1833 • In response to agitation from anti-slavery societies • Made up primarily of women • Prohibited all work by children under the age of 9, limited workday for children between 9-12 to 8 hours, and for 13-18 year olds to 12 hours a day • Municipal Corporations Act (1835) • Eliminated old and corrupt local governments with elected municipal councils

30. CORN LAWS • Imposed a sliding tariff on imported wheat • Designed to protect landowners but were detrimental to interests of businessmen who imported or sold imported grain and also hurt interests of consumers who were forced to pay higher prices for bread • Situation became acute in 1839-1841 when bad harvests drove bread prices to their highest levels in decades • Pressure to repeal Corn Laws began to escalate

31. ANTI-CORN LAW LEAGUE • Was a battle between exponents of laissez-faire economics (Whigs) against interests of large property owners (Tories) • Opponents formed Anti-Corn Law League in 1839 • United businessmen, economic liberals, Whig politicians, and even a few radicals

32. REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS • Tory prime minister Robert Peel believed in free trade • Was contemptuous of aristocrats • Irish famine of 1846 pushed him to dismantle Corn Laws • Was not supported by his own party but believed it was necessary to prevent outbreak of popular insurrection • Parliament repealed Corn Laws in 1846 • Reduced duties on imported grain • Peel dismissed from office by his own party Robert Peel

33. BIRTH OF CHARTISM • Began in 1836 when William Lovett founded the “London Workingmen’s Association for Benefiting Politically, Socially, and Morally the Useful Classes” • A cabinetmaker • Two years later, Lovett and Francis Place prepared a petition that would be signed by millions of people and presented to Parliament • Great Charter • Demanded universal manhood suffrage, annual elections to Parliament, equal electoral districts, the secret ballot, salaries for members of Parliament William Lovett

34. NATURE OF CHARTISM • Movement was peaceful • Members committed to acting according to what they called “moral force” • But in 1839 a small “physical force” group emerged • Threatened strikes and even insurrection of Parliament did not implement the demands of the Great Charter

35. REJECTION • Largest working class movement in the 19th century • Mobilized skilled craftsmen and unskilled workers • Presented Great Charter to Parliament in May 1839 • 1.3 million signatures • Parliament rejected it • Presented a new petition to Parliament in 1842 • 3.3 million signatures • Parliament rejected it again • Movement gradually dissipated thereafter

36. LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES • Led to rise in working-class consciousness • Realization that all workers had certain things in common regardless of their particular occupation • They all were excluded from meaningful political participation • Found ultimate expression in the founding of the Labour Party in the late 19th century • Many former Chartists also realized that they needed a stronger power base that would force ruling class to listen to them • Organized trade unions • Lessons learned from Chartist defeat would be employed to earn workers a place in society that they believed they deserved • Accomplished without violence Chartist membership card