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THE CONSERVATIVE
REFORM
PSIR205
The Challenges of Nationalism
• Most powerful European political ideology of the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
• Definition: “a nation is composed of people who are joined
together by the bonds of a common language, as well as
common customs, culture and history, and who, because
of these bonds, should be administered by the same
government” (not by monarchies and dynasties)
• Opposition to the Vienna Settlement:
• Nationalists reacted to the conclusion of the Congress of Vienna that
legitimate monarchies and dynasties, rather than ethnicity, provide the
basis for political unity.
• They protested multinational states (e.g. Russian and Austrian
empires) and the governance of the same ethnic group by many small
states, rather than a larger state that could unite all of those small
states (e.g. Italy and Germany)
• Key idea of nationalism popular sovereignty
• Creating nations:
• Historians chronicled a people’s past
• Writers and literary scholars established a national literature by
collecting and publishing earlier writings in the people’s language
• Effect: giving people a sense of their past and a literature of their
• Official language (uniformity in language) and history at schools
• Meaning of nationhood:
• Different arguments and metaphors:
• Unification of Italy and Germany: promote economic and administrative
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efficiency
Political liberalism: like individuals nations, too, must determine their own
destinies so as to exploit their own talents
Nations were distinct creations of God, like biological species
Each nation has a place in the divine order or things (Mazzini)
Polish nationalist saw Poland as the suffering Christ among nations
• Which ethnic groups to be considered nations with claims
to autonomy and territory?
• Large enough? Having a cultural history? Having a
cultural elite spreading the national language? Having
military capacity for defence purposes or for the aim of
conquering other countries?
• Regions of nationalistic pressure:
• Six major areas:
• England had brought Ireland under direct control in 1800. Irish nationalists
wanted independence or self-government
• German nationalists sought political unity for all German-speaking peoples,
challenging the multinational structure of the Austrian Empire. They tried to arose
hostilities against Prussia and Austria.
• Italian nationalists sought to unite all Italian-speaking peoples on the Italian
peninsula and drive out the Austrians. (How did they come there?)
• Poland nationalists targeted their Russian rulers in order to establish an
independent Poland state.
• Eastern European nations, including Hungarians, Czechs, Slovenes, sought
independence or recognition within the Austrian Empire
• In Balkan peninsula Serbs, Greeks, Albanians, Romanians, and Bulgarians,
sought independence from Ottoman and Russian control.
Early-Nineteenth-Century Political
Liberalism
• In nineteen century conservatives regarded as liberal
almost everything that challenged their own political,
social, or religious values.
• The contemporary meaning of liberal has nothing to do
with such usage.
• In the past conservatives depicted liberals more radical
than they were, whereas contemporary day scholars see
liberals more conservative than they were.
• Political goals:
• Ideas of liberals were derived from the writers of the Enlightenment
• A political framework of legal equality, religious toleration, and
freedom of the press
• A political structure that would limits the arbitrary power of
government against the persons and property of individual citizens
• Legitimacy of government emanated from the freely given consent
of the governed
• Political representation: elected representative or parliamentary
bodies
• Constitutionalism and constitutional governments
• Liberals were educated, relatively wealthy people, but
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excluded from the political structure
They were academics, or members of the learned
professions, and involved in the commercial and
manufacturing economy
Liberals wanted broader political participation but not
democracy, aimed at extending representation to
propertied class
Liberals could align with the lower and unpropertied
classes only to their hostility to the privileged aristocracies
Liberals separated themselves from both the rural
peasant and the urban working classes
• Economic goals:
• Abolish the economic restraints associated with mercantilism or the
regulated economies of enlightened absolutism (following Adam
Smith)
• Manufacturers of Great Britain; the landed and manufacturing middle
class of France; the commercial interests of Germany and Italy
• Manufacture and sell goods freely
• Removal of international tariffs and barriers to trade
• Opposed to old paternalistic legislation that established wages and
labour practices by government regulation and guild privileges
• Labour is a one more commodity to be bought and sold freely
• Great Britain: monarchy was already limited. Links between
land, commerce, and industry were in place
• France also had liberal structures
• Political structure of Germany different than those of Great
Britain and France:
• Monarchs and aristocrats resisted liberalism, thereby German liberals
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had less access to political influence
A sharp divide separated the aristocratic landowning classes (they
filled the bureaucracies and officer corps) from the small middle-class
commercial and industrial interests
Freedom in Germany meant conformity to a higher moral law rather
than participation in politics (e.g. Martin Luther, Kant, Hegel)
German liberals sought for unification; therefore, they were looking to
either Austria or Prussia
It may the case that because of these reasons listed above German
liberals were more in favour of a strong state and monarchical power
than their counterparts in Great Britain and France
• Relationship of nationalism to liberalism:
• There was no logical link.
• Nationalism was often against liberal ideas, such as ruling
minorities
• Political autonomy did not always bring liberal political institutions.
Conservative Governments: The
Domestic Political Order
• The major pillar of nineteenth-century conservatism:
• Legitimate monarchies
• Landed aristocracies
• Established churches
• The alliance of throne, land, and altar was new, as these
institutions had been competing for power in the eighteen
century.
• French revolution turned them into reluctant allies.
• Burke and Hegel
• Monarchs were scared of radical democrats
• Aristocrats thought that representative governments could not
protect their property and influence.
• All conservatives ruled out the idea of a written constitution.
• Churches did not trust popular movements and refuted the
ideas of the Enlightenment.
• The end of the era of war (1799-1815) brought with it the
problems of unemployment and other social and political
economic issues, because the soldiers returned home from the
battlefield and now searching for job and governments had to
deal with their peace-time demands.
Liberalism and Nationalism Resisted in
Austria and Germanies
• Austrian prince Metternich (1773-1859)
• Britain’s Viscount Castlereagh (1769-1822)
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• Dynastic Integrity of the Habsburg Empire:
• Habsburg domains contained Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Czechs,
Slovaks, Slovenes, Italians, Croats, and others.
• Nationalist and liberal ideas meant the dissolution of the Austrian
empire.
• The newly formed German Confederation in Congress of Vienna could
become a threat if any of the 39 member states would intend to
establish a national state.
• Defeat of Prussian Reform:
• Frederick William III (r. 1797-1840) managed to divert the demands
of liberals establishing a constitutional government.
• The role of the Junkers were reinforced; the old bonds linking
monarchy, army, and landholders in Prussia had been reestablished.
• Student Nationalism and the Carlsbad Decrees:
• Three Southern German states –Baden, Bavaria, and
Wurttemberg—had granted constitutions after 1815.
• These constitutions were not based on popular sovereignty.
• Students, who strived for a united Germany, formed student
associations called Burschenschaften. They were nationalist and
anti-semitic.
• Karl Sand affair and dissolution of Burchenschaften.
Postwar Repression in Great Britain
• Lord Liverpools’s Ministry and Popular Unrest: the
Coercion Acts of March 1817
• Peterloo and Six Acts: A radical reform campaign was
gathered at Saint Peter’s Fields on August 16, 1819.
Local militia supressed the event and several people dies.
• The government passed a series of law called Six Acts,
which restricted liberties and gave the government to
search homes
Bourbon Restoration in France
• The new King Lois XVIII, who held the power after
Napoleon lost at Waterloo, agreed to become a
constitutional monarch. He called the constitution the
Charter.
• The Charter provided a hereditary monarchy and a
bicameral legislature.
• It guaranteed most of the rights of the Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizen
• Religious toleration, though Roman Catholicism was to be
the official religion, was accepted
• The property of the current landowners were guaranteed
• Ultraroyalism:
• Some royalist supporters demanded revenge from the
revolutionaries
• The son of the king, Artois, was killed in 1820 and this led to
implementation of serious measures, which included assigning the
wealthy two votes and placing secondary education under the
control of the Roman Catholic bishops.
• Liberals were almost considered as illegal.
The Conservative International Order
• Concert of Europe was in action after the Congress of
Vienna.
• Its aims was to maintain balance of power against new
French aggression and against the military might of
Russia.
• The Congress System:
• The first congress: Aix-la-Chapelle in Germany in 1818.
• Tsar Alexander I wanted to keep the post-war borders, with France
withdrew to its pre-wars territories. In other words, Russia
suggested to keep ruling the control over Poland.
• Great Britain flatly rejected to this proposal.
• Spanish Revolution of 1820:
• Bourbon Ferdinand VII of Spain dissolved the Cortes (parliament) and
ruled the country alone.
• Consequently, armies rebelled and the revolution had succeeded as
Ferdinand agreed on to govern in accordance with the principles of the
constitution.
• In July 1820 revolution erupted in Naples, and the king of the Two
Sicilies quickly accepted a constitution.
• Meternich felt threatened by these events. Austria wanted to prevent
the spread of revolution; therefore, it proposed a joint action to Italy.
• The second Congress met at Troppau in 1820 to discuss this issue.
It was agreed that governments can intervene into those countries that
experience revolution.
• The final decision was reached at the Congress of Leibach in
January 1821.
• Austrian troops marched into Naples and were able to
restore the rule of the king of the Two Sicilies.
• The final meeting took place at Verona in October 1822.
The key issue of the meeting was Spain. Britain protested
joint action. Before the meeting, Castreleagh had
committed suicide. At Verona, Britain withdrew from
continental affairs.
• Austria, Prussia, and Russia agreed to support French
intervention in Spain. French armies supressed the
revolution and remained there until the new king,
Ferdinand took the throne.
• What did not happen in Spain? France did not take the
opportunity to advance its territories. This was true for all other
intervention being performed under the congress system.
• The aim was to restore the power of conservative regimes, not
to conquer territories.
• The new mode of international restraint prevented a major war
until 1914.
• The new British foreign minister, Canning, was interested in
commerce and trade. He sought for preventing European
support to Spain’s colonies which were the in revolt. He
intended to capitalize this situation, gaining control over Latin
American countries. Canning, to this, end, supported American
Monroe doctrine in 1823 (prohibiting further colonization and
intervention by European powers in the Americas. Britain
recognized the newly independent states.
Revolt Against Ottoman Rule
• Greek revolution started in 1821.
• Liberals supported this revolution, and philhellenic societies (‘pro-Greek)
were found almost in all Western country
• Liberals supported Greeks because the Greek revolution was against the
despotism of Ottoman Empire
• In nineteenth century the Ottoman empire was weak not stable, which
raised the question of ‘the Eastern Question’: “What should the European
powers do about the Ottoman inability to assure political administrative
stability in its possessions in and around the eastern Mediterranean?”
• Russia and Austria had interests in the Balkans.
• France and Britain were concerned with the empire’s commerce and with
control of key naval positions in the eastern Mediterranean.
• Another issue was the treatment of the Christian inhabitants of the
empire and access to the Christian shrines in the Holy Land.
• In 1827, Britain, France, and Russia signed the Treaty of
London, demanding Turkish recognition of Greek
independence
• In 1828 Russia sent troops to Romania (back then an
Ottoman land), which it occupied in 1829 with the Treaty
of Adrinapole.
• In 1830 the independence of Greece was recognizes with
the Treaty of London.
Serbian independence
• Serbia became independent in 1830 too.
• The status of Muslim minorities in Serbia was a problem.
• In the mid-1820s Russia became the formal protector of
Serbia, given that they were both Slavs and in Orthodox
religion.
• In 1856, Serbia came the under the collective protection
of the great powers.
The Conservative Order Shaken in
Europe
• Russia: suppression
• Britain: accommodation
• Belgium: a newly independent state
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Russia: The Decembrist Revolt of 1825
• Unrest in the army:
• Soldiers were influenced by the ideas of the revolution. They
formed secret societies.
• (Southern Society) The offer Pestel favoured representative
government, the abolition of serfdom, independence for Poland,
and democracy.
• (Northern Society): It was more moderate. It wanted constitutional
monarchy, the abolition of serfdom, but sought for protecting the
interests of aristocracy.
• In 1826 both societies launched a coup d’etat.
• Dynastic Crisis
• Alexander I died in 1825, and this event caused two crises:
• First, dynastic crisis: Nicolas was named by Alexander heir to his
throne.
• The second crises was more complicated: Junior officers rebelled
for reform. Moscow regiment did not swear allegiance to Nicolas
and called for a constitution.
• Decembrist Revolt, despite it had failed, was first in the history of
Russia of the revolutions that had a specific political goal
• The Autocracy of Nicholas I:
• He symbolized the most extreme form of autocracy in nineteencentury.
• Although he was aware that serfdom must be abolished, he was
afraid in that case the aristocracy would withdraw their support.
• Official Nationality:
• The slogan of the campaign was ‘ Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and
Nationalism’.
• Orthodoxy: The church would provide the basis of morality,
education, and intellectual life.
• Autocracy: Unrestrained power of the tsar. Russia could have
progressed because of the autocratic ruling of Peter the Great,
Catherine the Great, and Alexander I.
• Nationalism: Western culture was corrupt.
• Revolt and Repression in Poland:
• Poland was under the domination of Russia after the Congress of
Vienna, but was granted a constitutional government with
parliament (called diet)
• On December, 183o Polish diet declared a revolution, but the Tsar
repressed the revolution
Revolution in France (1830)
• The Reactionary Policies of Charles X:
• Restoration of monarchy and the rule of the divine right
• Aristocracy was rejuvenated
• The July Revolution:
• Algiers was captured in 1830
• Charles issued the Four Ordinances, which restricted the freedom
of press, dissolved the Chamber of Deputies, limited the franchise
to the wealthiest
• French citizens in Paris rebelled in 1830, and Charles had to leave
the country as a consequence
• Liberals were afraid of a sans-culotte republic; therefore, the
constitution was moderate
• Monarchy under Louis Phillippe
• The new regime, called July Monarchy, was liberal.
• The king was defined as ‘the king of French’, but not the king of
France
• Tricolor of the revolution would soon replace the white flag of
Bourbons.
• Catholicism became the religion of majority, not the official religion
• The new government was strongly anti-clerical
• Socially, the government was conservative. The influence of the
landed aristocracy continued
• Working class was not content with the policies of the king.
• The government completed the invasion on Algeria, and Algeria
was seen not as a colony but an integral part of France. This would
cause a serious problem after Second World War.
The Great Reform Bill in Britain (1832)
• Political and Economic Reform
• Accommodation of liberalism and conservatism
• Catholic Emancipation Act:
• It intended to maintain Britain’s ties with Ireland. England’s relationship
to Ireland was similar that of Russia to Poland.
• Before 1820s, only Protestant Irishmen could be elected as
representatives
• Irish organized the Catholic Association to agitate for Catholic
emancipation.
• In 1829 Catholic emancipation act enabled Catholics to become
representatives.
Belgium Becomes Independent (1830)
• The former Austrian Netherlands, Belgium had been
merged with the kingdom of Holland in 1815.
• Belgians defeated the Dutch on November 10, 1830.
• Great Powers did not intervene to Belgium.
• Russia was preoccupied with the Polish revolt.
• Prussia and German states were dealing rebellions in their own
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countries.
The Austrians had to deal with disturbances in Italy.
France hoped to dominate an independent Belgium
Britain could tolerate an independent Belgium as long as it was free
from domination of another country.
Diplomatic crises concerning Belgium and Serbia, the two countries
that gained independence in 1830, would trigger World War I.