Reaction, Romanticism, and Revolution, c. 1815–1848
This domain covers the Vienna settlement and conservative order, romanticism and liberal/nationalist unrest, and the 1848 revolutions.
The conservative order
- The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) restored dynasties, redrew borders, created buffer states, and sought a balance of power. The Concert of Europe coordinated great-power intervention.
- Metternich's Austria promoted monarchy, religion, and stability. The Carlsbad Decrees (1819) suppressed liberal and nationalist agitation in the German states.
- Liberalism demanded constitutions, civil liberties, and limited representative government. Nationalism demanded cultural and political unity or independence. Both were suppressed but not eliminated.
Unrest and romanticism
- Greek independence (1821–1830) attracted philhellenic support. The July Revolution (1830) in Paris overthrew Charles X and encouraged Belgian independence (1830) and Polish revolt (1830–1831).
- Britain's Reform Act (1832) broadened the franchise and redistributed seats, but did not democratize politics.
- Romanticism emphasized emotion, nature, history, and folk culture. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Goethe, Schiller, Beethoven, and Delacroix represented diverse political positions, from radical to conservative.
1848: the revolutions that failed
- Revolution began in Paris in February 1848, then spread to Vienna, Berlin, Milan, Budapest, and elsewhere. The Frankfurt Parliament (1848–1849) tried to create a liberal German nation-state.
- Divisions among liberals, radicals, workers, and nationalities weakened the revolutions. Rulers retained armies, and Austria and Prussia recovered. The French June Days revealed class conflict within the revolutionary camp.
Worked example
Question: Why did the 1848 revolutions fail? Reasoning: the initial coalition fragmented over social questions such as workers' rights and over national borders, as Germans, Hungarians, Italians, and Slavs claimed overlapping territory. Rulers kept military power and used it once crowds dispersed. The Frankfurt Parliament lacked executive authority and was rejected by Prussia and Austria. Britain and Russia were not destabilized. Failure was therefore political and organizational, not simply a matter of bad luck.
Traps that cost marks
- 1848 was not one coordinated revolution; it varied by city and state.
- Romanticism was not uniformly reactionary; many romantics supported liberal and national causes.
- The Reform Act of 1832 did not introduce democracy or universal male suffrage.