EUROPE IN UPHEAVAL, 1850-1914

EUROPE IN UPHEAVAL, 1850-1914 Scott Masters Crestwood College

after the rev. changes/idealism of the early 19th c., Europe began to follow a more pragmatic course, determined by more practical politicians and reformers • to varying degrees, they would play a key role in one of the period’s more sig. developments: the Rise of the Nation-State • the force behind this was nationalism, esp. as it was harnessed by individual philosophers and politicians • “new” nations would be created, and eventually the forces that would lead to WW I would be unleashed • the nat’lism of this period would inc. not only territory, pop., and mil. capacity; it would also inc. an eco. dimension (brought on by the IR) – this created a contest of imperialism

FRANCE • no longer a monarchy, but a republic – but Louis-Napoleon (Bonaparte) was an autocratic figure whose use of nat’lism threatened this balance • Louis-Napoleon had emerged as a compromise figure in the ongoing dispute b/n the monarchists and the republicans • he served as pres. (in the Second Republic) and later took the title of emperor, ruling as Napoleon III over the Second Empire

As pres. of the 2nd Repub., L-N had to contend w/ being limited to one 4 yr. term…he and the monarchists wanted to extend his rule, leading to a coup • the Ass’y was dissolved, universal male suffrage was intro’d (w/ a property qualification), leading radicals were arrested, and the army occupied Paris, killing 200 rioters in the process… • Louis then proclaimed himself emperor and promised to restore dem. rights, inc. a series of plebiscites where the people supported him

He was able to do this as the eco. was prosperous, w/ … • railroad construction • high employment • available credit • gov’t assistance/planning (seen in the re-design of Paris by Haussman) • By the 1860s, discontent was on the rise, b/c of pol. scandals; Napoleon III responded w/ dem. reforms (resp. gov’t, free speech, unions…) that kept his popularity high

Nap. III did have mil. ambitions: in 1854, he sought to protect Christians in the Ottoman Empire, challenging Russia in the process… • the main thing the Crimean War did was to presage what ind. war would become • it also showed the influence of war correspondents and the need for better medicine (Florence Nightingale); and since Russia fared poorly, Fr. was able to re-est. itself as the center of Euro. dip.

ITALY • one of the “new” nations united in this period – it combined idealistic nat’lism, pop. uprising, realpolitik and took place in spite of opposition from the pope and Austria • this mvmt., known as the Risorgimento, had been around since the early 19th c. and had been kept alive by secret societies known as carbonari

their early uprisings failed, leading to the rise of Giuseppe Mazzini – he founded a Young Italy society and dreamed of a unified Italy based on nat’lism and liberalism • after a series of uprisings, Mazzini est. himself as pres. of a republic in Rome: when Austrian and Fr. troops tried to intervene to restore the pope, Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Red Shirts tried to defend the city (they had to surrender in 1849)

the more seasoned politician Camillo Cavour stepped forward, using realpolitik to secure It. unity – he cheated in elecs., made and unmade foreign alliances, and put It. unification on the agenda of the 1856 Paris Peace Conf. (he was partially successful) • at this pt., Garibaldi and his remaining 1000 Red Shirts (i mille) captured Sicily and s. Italy, meeting w/ Cavour in 1861 to secure the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor-Emmanuel II (con. monarchy) in 1866 Venice was added (It. supported Pr. in its war w/ Aus.) and in 1870 Rome was added when Nap. III removed Fr. troops to fight Pr….Rome then became the capital

GERMANY Romanticism + Realpolitik Liberal nat’lists had worked for a unified Ger. since 1815 The n. states under Pr. created an eco. union in 1834 – the Zollverein(customs union) – led to eco., ind., and railroad expansion; the belief that a unified state was needed began to be recognized

The debate was b/n the “Greater Germans” (who wanted Austria inc.) and the “Lesser Germans” (who were pro-Pr.) - ? • at this point, Count Otto von Bismarck est. himself as the leading Pr. politician – known for his use of realpolitik in achieving his pol. goals (“blood and iron”)

All Bismarck needed was an excuse: Denmark gave him one when it put a claim on the regions of Schleswig and Holstein – both Aus. and Pr. quickly defeated them (and the Pr. army, armed by Krupp, est. its reputation) • He then proposed the re-org. of the German Confed. based on universal suffrage; he knew this would be rejected in Austria and that it would probably lead to war b/n Pr. and Aus.

The Pr. army, w/ its ind. weaponry and led by Gen. Helmuth von Moltke, won the Aust-Pr. War in 7 wks….Bis. negotiated a lenient peace and created a n. Ger. Confed. under Pr. leadership (Pr. Kaiser Wilhelm I acted as king) • Other s. Ger. states, such as Bavaria, signed a mil. alliance w/ Prussia and went on to develop closer eco. and pol. relations (Aus. was pushed out) • The main threat to emerging Ger. unity was France, where Nap. III had won a key plebiscite in 1870

this would lead to the Franco-Prussian War • it began as a diplomatic dispute over succession to the Sp. Throne (Pr. and Sp. still had family connections)…the Fr. feared being surrounded and newspapers in both Pr. and Fr. inflamed nat’list emotions • Pr. did remove their candidate to the Sp. throne, but the Fr. made add. demands (that Pr. wouldn’t try this again), which Bis. edited and released to the press…w/ Fr. “honour” sullied, Nap. III declared war in 1870

Pr. won w/in months…1/2 million troops were moved to the front by train and at Sedan they captured 100 000 Fr. troops and Nap. III…this, combined w/ the brutal siege of Paris, led to the collapse of the 2nd Empire • In the 1871 Treaty of Frankfurt, Fr. ceded Alsace-Lorraine, paid reparations, and dealt w/ Pr. occupation for 3 yrs.

LATE VICTORIAN BRITAIN, 1867-1914: DISRAELI AND GLADSTONE • dem. had been entrenched by this time, and the extension of the franchise was an accepted part of the process • in 1867, the 2nd Reform Bill was passed by the gov’t of the Conservative (Tory) Benjamin Disraeli • w/ this working class male householders were given suffrage • in 1884, a 3rd Reform Bill went through under the Liberal William Gladstone, extending the franchise to male rural householders

late 19th c. G.B. still saw the same ongoing conflict though: reform v. tradition • Disraeli tried to profit from this by creating a new conservatism that appealed to est. landowners and the working class • emphasized tradition, patriotism, and reform, working w/ Queen Victoria, who emerged as key symbol of his vision • Disraeli also emerged as a leading imperialist: he made Victoria the Empress of India and bought shares in the Suez Canal, and fought colonial wars in Asia and Africa • At home, his social reforms recognized unions, public housing, consumer protection, workplacesafety…

Gladstone and the Liberals followed “Peace, Retrenchment, and Reform”, favouring free trade and fewer colonial wars/adventures • They also favoured a laissez faire approach and the eradication of outdated laws • In this respect, they reformed the army, civil service, and educational institutions, doing away w/ patronage • after ongoing Balkan conflict saw the slaughter of 1000s of Christians by the Ottomans (and Disraeli backed the Ottomans b/c of his concerns over Russia), Gladstone was back in office

Gladstone was not successful in his own foreign policy initiatives – conflict w/ the Boers and the Irish showed that peace was elusive; w/ his intro of the Irish Home Rule Bill he split his own party • w/ these devels. and those in other Euro. nations, a new type of rivalry had emerged, based on ind., imperialism and eco. competition • nat’lism in the Balkans was esp. complex b/c of the number of ethno-cultural groups in close proximity; they were stuck in the collapsing Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, and the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 only inflamed emotions

the “spark” would thus occur in this region, creating the total war that would transform the 20th c. • Germany and G.B. emerged as the key powers in this period often called “The Road to War” – both identified their dominance as a natural outcome of earlier history: the difference was that in Ger. the old aristocracy retained its influence w/o much trouble, while in G.B. the dispute b/n the landed interests and the people led to constitutional crises and reforms

SOCIALISM • soc. had appeal for the growing trade union mvmt. as well as those who gravitated to Marx • several attempts at real soc. organization had been made and had not succeeded • subsequent attempts took a diff. approach: gradualism replaced rev. for many socialists • this approach came to be known as revisionism, and it divided the soc. World • even so, Social Democratic parties did begin to appear and had success in Ger. and Fr. • in GB the Labour Party arose during this period to rep. the working class • from its inception, the Labour Party was divided b/n the trade unionists and intellectuals (assoc. w/ the Fabians)

the entrenchment of soc. ideals had created a sense of crisis in Europe – it was more pronounced in the repressive conditions of E. Europe • Russia in 1905 saw the beginning of profound change as revolution began to grip the country (during the time of Czar Nicholas II, 1894-1917) • Russia was in the midst of an identity crisis: czarist repression + industrialization (much of which was financed by foreign capital; it created the Russian working class and the demand for rev. change)

The principal Marxist Party, the Social Democratic Party, had been exiled to Switz. – they were caught in the revisionist debate along w/ other Euro. Socialists • Vladimir Lenin authored What Is to Be Done?, defending the Marxist concept of rev. and advancing the ideal of a vanguard • the majority agreed w/ him = Bolsheviks (while the minority were called the Mensheviks)

as events in Russia deteriorated (eco. slump, defeat in the 1904-5 Russo-Japanese War), a real rev. unfolded • the spark was Bloody Sunday, when the czar’s troops opened fire on peaceful demonstrators - this led to crises across Russia, leading Nicholas II to create the Duma in an effort to reach a settlement • the Duma’s powers were limited and the radicals and conservatives were at odds over the pace and direction of reform: Nicholas continued as an autocrat

EUROPE IN UPHEAVAL, 1850-1914