Download Ideological Conflict and National Unification, 1815-1871

Ideological Conflict and National
Unification, 1815-1871
The West
CHAPTER 21
Liberalism
• Promoted the foundation and protection of
individual rights, the extension of voting
rights to all male property owners, and free
trade
• Favored constitutional monarchy as the
ideal government
• Located its greatest support in the urban
middle class
Conservatism
• Sought to preserve monarchy and aristocracy
against liberal and national ideas
• Defended the established order, as the product of
gradual change
• Considered rights to be hereditary privileges and
Christianity to be the basis of society
• Concert of Europe - a conservative alliance
against liberal and revolutionary movements
Socialism
• Developed in reaction to industrial capitalism
• Promoted communal ownership of means of
production, social and economic equality, and
universal male suffrage
• Marx and Engels developed communism as a
revolutionary, socialist ideology, based upon a
material philosophy of history
Nationalism
• Promoted the idea that national and state
borders should correspond - that every
nation should have its own state
• The nation was a myth, and the idea of the
nation-state was virtually unrealizable
• Nationalist ideas could work in conjunction
with both liberalism and conservatism
Culture and Ideology
• Scientific rationalism proposed that society could
be improved by science and reason
• The values of science and progress appealed to
liberals and to Marxist communism
• Romanticism recognized the limits of human
reason and emphasized the emotional and spiritual
aspects of reality
• Romantic ideas appealed especially to nationalist
movements
Liberal and Nationalist
Revolts, 1820-1825
• Liberal revolts in Spain, Portugal and
Russia failed in the face of domestic and
international conservative opposition
• Nationalist revolt in Greece, against
Ottoman rule, succeeded with European
support
• The Concert of Europe opposed Spanish
liberalism, but supported Greek nationalism
Liberal and Nationalist
Revolts, 1830
• Liberal revolution, in France, instituted a
constitutional monarchy
• With international support, Belgium
achieved
independence
from
the
Netherlands
• Polish nationalist rebellion ended in failure
and the abolition of Poland’s autonomy
from Russia
Liberal Reforms in Britain,
1815-1848
• Liberals in Britain achieved great success, without
revolutionary action
• Parliament was reformed and the franchise
extended to all male property owners, 1832
• Legal discrimination against Catholics and
Protestant non-conformists was ended, 1829-1830
• Protectionist corn laws were repealed, 1845
• Socialists and radicals achieved comparatively
little success in Britain
The Revolutions of 1848
• Liberal and nationalist revolutions, in France,
Germany, the Habsburg Empire, and Italy, all
failed
• Conservative forces soon repealed the initial
liberal successes
• Divisions between liberal and popular visions of
reform, and between liberal and nationalist goals,
undermined all the revolutionary movements
Italian Unification: Building a
Fragile Nation-State
• The kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia provided
effective leadership for unification
• Achieved political unification through military
and diplomatic efforts - Camillo di Cavour and
Giuseppe Garibaldi
• Failed to create a strong, centralized, and
culturally uniform state
• Local loyalties, banditry and Mafia power
undermined the new state
German Unification
• Kingdom of Prussia provided leadership for
unification - Otto von Bismarck
• Achieved unification through military and
political power
• German unification was achieved through
Prussian supremacy over other states
• Created a highly centralized, autocratic
empire
Unification in the United
States
• In the early nineteenth century, the US became
more culturally diverse, inhibiting the growth of
nationalist sentiment
• Northern victory in the civil war preserved and
strengthened the union
• Growth of railroads fueled social and economic
unification
• Emergence of the concept that the US was a
“nation of nations”
Nationalism in Eastern Europe
• Nation-states did not emerge in Eastern Europe
• The large, multinational Habsburg and Russian
empires endured, by repressing nationalist
sentiments
• Establishment of the Dual Monarchy of AustriaHungary, 1867, gave concessions only to Magyar
and German national identities
Ideology, Empire and the
Balance of Power
• Monroe Doctrine, 1823, created the concept of
two separate and independent spheres - Europe
and America - and supported liberal and
nationalist ideologies
• Crimean War (1853-1856) (1870-1871) preserved
the balance of power in Europe and prompted
liberal reforms in Russia
• Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) led to the
establishment of the conservative Third French
Republic
The Ideological Transformation
of the West
• Ideological competition fueled significant changes
in political culture, as ideologies were adjusted
and redefined to meet political realities
• These nineteenth century Western ideologies
endured into the twentieth century, and
demonstrated an ability to shape and adapt to
diverse non-Western circumstances