Weekly Summary One

I'm not really sure how this summary paragraph should work, but from the reading and everyone's blog posts I get the sense that the first half of the 19th century must have been an extremely chaotic time to live in. There were class revolts, government reforms, and cultural rebellions all over Europe. Almost everyone must have been aware of all the conflict that was occurring and all the changes that were taking place, and whether you were a baker, a bureaucrat, or some type of creative person whose profession begins with the letter “b” so that I might be able to have some alliteration in my sentence, at least one aspect of your life probably would have changed over a ten year period. Perhaps I am being hyperbolic. Most people’s lives will have changed at least a bit over ten years, but not necessarily so society. It’s interesting to see how much happened in that time despite the many attempts by conservatives to crush revolts and maintain order. Napoleon basically opened up the Pandora’s box, or genie’s bottle, of Liberalism and Nationalism, and no matter how many times these movements were prevented from succeeding in their goals, they still stayed around and stuck it out. In fact, Conservative retaliation only made some members of these movements more radical and more ardent about their cause. I did mention in an earlier post that Conservatism in Europe, or at least Conservatism based on the Congress of Vienna did not fall apart in one big piece, but it was still being chipped away at slowly. So, basically Europe went through a lot of awkward changes.

More Conservatism!!! (Coffin739-753)!!!

Though gains for Liberalism were slowly being made in Europe over the course of the 19th century, the Conservatism still remained a significant force in Europe both during and after the 1848 revolutions. Regardless of his own political beliefs, in the first few years after Louis Napoleon was elected president of France he restored and strengthened France’s ties with the Catholic church, cracked down on workers’ organizations, and became emperor of the Second French Empire, although he did this with the people’s support. After the revolution in Germany, Prussian ruler Frederick William IV refused to become king of the proposed nation of Germany because he thought its constitution was too liberal, and soon thereafter defeated the revolutionaries. In Hungary, the Russian army simply crushed the revolution led by Lajos Kossuth after Austria asked Tsar Nicholas I to do so. While opposition to Conservatism did increase in this time, the Conservative attempt at Restoration did not fall apart in one big piece.

Who needs the French Revolution?

This is in response to JED's post and DLemma's comment on the same post:

The French Revolution certainly spread the ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity across Europe, and it expedited the growth and development of the 19th-century ideologies supporting or reacting to those ideas. However, I think the right conditions for conservatism, liberalism, socialism, and nationalism were already in place in Europe before the French Revolution. In other words - you could consider this type of counterfactual - the French Revolution was not necessary for the creation of these ideologies to occur. The Enlightenment ideas had already been discussed throughout Europe for a century. The Industrial Revolution, and the social disparities that came along with it, had already begun in Britain before the French Revolution. If there were no French Revolution, the main difference between this hypothetical situation and the real subsequent history of Europe would be that the Conservative movement would have been considerably weaker.