Transcript Europe in the 19 Century th The Beginnings of Modern Europe

Europe in the
th
19
Century
The Beginnings of Modern Europe
Europe in 1814
Napoleon had been exiled to Elba.
 Delegates met in Vienna to restore order
and stability to Europe after 25 years of
war. This meeting was called the
Congress of Vienna.
 The main countries were Austria, England,
Russia, and France.

Goals of the Congress of Vienna

Redrawing the Map of Europe.
 France
returned the lands it had captured
under Napoleon.
 Payment of indemnities to other countries.
 The establishment of “buffer states” around
France to control future expansion. These
states would be neutral.
 Dividing Prussia up between Russia and
Prussia.
Map of Europe - 1815
Delegates
Many of the delegates to the congress
were reactionaries. They want to return
Europe to the way it was in 1789.
 The group that opposed them were the
liberals. They wanted the spread of
enlightened thought and reform to
continue.
 The reactionaries resisted the nationalists
that wanted self rule.

Alliances
Countries that wanted to stop the spread
of nationalism formed alliances.
 They believed that nationalism would lead
to revolution.
 The countries of Great Britain, Austria,
Prussia, and Russia form the Quadruple
Alliance to enforce the directives of the
Congress of Vienna.

Concert of Europe
For the next 30 years,
Austrian, Count
Metternich used the
alliance to further his
own political goals.
 Many times, alliance
soldiers were used to
put down nationalist
movements in
Europe.

Unification of Italy
In 1815, there were many small kingdoms
on the Italian Peninsula. The desire for
independence and economic freedom lead
to a nationalist movement.
 The earliest movement was Risorgimento,
meaning resurgence or revival.

Italy (Con’t)
The most effective
speaker was
Guisseppe Mazzini.
He believed in the
idea of a nation-state.
 In January 1848,
Mazzini inspired
nationalists claimed
the island of Sicily.

Revolutions of 1848
In 1848, there were revolutions in France
and Austria. This caused the Italian
nationalists to rise up and claim Northern
Italy.
 The support of Mazzini nationalist
movement in the north was affected by
the withdrawal of the Pope’s armies.
 The nationalists then caused the Pope to
flee Rome.

1848
The nationalists declared Rome a republic
and summoned Mazzini to head the new
government.
 The Catholic countries of Austria, France,
and Spain then sent troops into Rome to
restore the Pope.
 This caused many Italians to abandon the
revolutionary ways of Mazzini.

Count Cavour and Northern Italy
In 1849, Victor
Emmanuel II became
king of Sardinia.
 In the next few years,
he tried to keep
popular support for
Italian unity alive.
 He enlisted the
support of Count
Cavour

War with Austria
Cavour was convinced that Sardinia would need
foreign help to rid Northern Italy from Austria.
 Sardinia allied itself with Great Britain and
France against the Russians during the Crimean
War.
 After the war, Cavour met with the leader of
France for help in ridding Northern Italy of
Austria.
 By April 1860, the King of Sardinia was in
control.

Garibaldi and Southern Italy
Southern Italy was isolated from the
nationalist movement in the north.
 The death of Ferdinand II changed that.
The Young Italy movement was ready for
revolution.
 Their commander was an adventurer
named Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Young Italy
As a young man,
Garibaldi was forced
into exile in south
America.
 It was here that he
learned guerilla
tactics.
 He put these tactics
to good use once he
returned to Italy in
1860.

Italy in 1858
Unification - 1871
By October 1860, Garibaldi and Cavour’s
forced met and Garibaldi gave up his lands
to Victor Emmanuel.
 Italy had become an independent nation
but there were some problems:

 Where
to locate the capital?
 Sardinia’s customs and laws?
 Threat of civil war?
The Unification of Germany
Germany was the last European nation to
become unified.
 The Congress of Vienna created the
German Confederation to act as a buffer
nation to protect Europe against future
threats from France.
 The most powerful of these German states
was Prussia.

German Confederation
Prussia
Prussia had a well organized government
and strong economy.
 Political power was in the hands of a
powerful aristocratic group called the

Junkers.

There was a small but increasingly vocal
middle class that wanted to participate in
the government.
Trade Agreement of 1834 &
Revolutions of 1848
In 1834, the German states eliminated
trade barriers and established a trade
union called Zollverein.
 The trade union strengthened the power
of Prussia.
 In 1848, revolutions swept across Europe.
The Prussian military stepped in and
seized power and put down street riots.

Rise of Bismarck
In 1861, William I
became ruler of
Prussia. He wanted
to build the military
but was opposed by
the Prussian
assembly.
 William appointed
Otto von Bismarck as
Prime Minister

Realpolitik and “Blood and Iron”
Bismarck was a member of the Junkers
and believed that a nation had the right to
do anything for it’s advantage.
 In September 1861, Bismarck stated that
“the great issues of the time would not be
decided by speeches and majority
decisions, but by blood and iron.”
 He then began to tax the population to
strengthen the military.

Three Wars
Bismarck once said, “Show me an
objective worthy of war and I’ll go along
with you.”
 To unite all the German speaking peoples,
Prussia went to war three times in the
period 1863-1870.

 War
with Denmark for Schleswig and Holstein.
 Seven Weeks’ War against Austria.
 Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
In 1870, Bismarck moved to add the
southern German states of Bavaria and
Württemberg.
 France was a major obstacle to German
unification.
 The question of Spanish succession of
1868 gave Bismarck the opportunity to
act.

Spanish Succession
William I offered a member of his family
(Hohenzollern) as monarch of Spain.
France objected.
 France demanded that a Hohenzollern sit
on the Spanish throne.
 The French ruler, Napoleon III feared a
Prussian-Spanish alliance.

Ems Telegram
In July 1870, William sent a telegram to
Bismarck. The telegram told Bismarck of
William’s conversation with the French
ambassador.
 Bismarck rewrote the telegram and deliberately
insulting the French.
 The telegram was released to the press.
 The French were outraged and declared war on
Prussia. The French were quickly defeated.

Franco-Prussian War
Bismarck’s military had built a secret
weapon that enabled the armies to move
across the country quickly.
 As a result of the French defeat, they lost
the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.
These areas were rich in both iron ore and
coal deposits.

German Unification - 1871
German Unification
In January 1871, William assumed the title
of Kaiser or emperor of a united Germany.
 Bismarck took the title of Chancellor.
 Although Germany was united, there were
economic, cultural, and social problems.
 Germany began to rapidly industrialize.
 One of the greatest challenges to
Bismarck was from the Catholic Church.

Kulturkampf
The struggle between the Protestants and
Catholics.
 Bismarck believed the Catholics were antinationalists and supported the Protestants.
 The Pope, Pius IX, battled Bismarck’s attempts
to limit the power of the Church.
 In 1872, the government passed the May Laws,
that severely limited the power of the Catholic
Church.

Bismarck and the Socialists
As Germany began to rapidly industrialize, the
workers carried the wealthy middle and upper
classes.
 As more machines were introduced, worker pay
and benefits decreased.
 German workers turned towards a new, more
democratic, government that would address
their concerns. They began to support a
socialist named Ferdinand Lassalle.

Bismarck and Socialism
Lasalle did not advocate revolution but
political action to address the injustices of
capitalism.
 Bismarck believed that the socialists were
a threat to German unity. He attempted
to show the workers that the government,
not the socialists had their best interests
at heart.

Bismarck’s Reforms
Bismarck acted to blunt the socialists’
claims that the government was only
concerned with money.
 He directed several laws through the
legislature that provided the workers with
some comfort and security.

 Sickness
Insurance Law (1883)
 Old Age Insurance Law (1889)
Bismarck’s Fall from Power
In 1888, William died and was succeeded
by his son, Frederick.
 Frederick was more liberal-minded than
his father and had opposed much of what
Bismarck had done to unite Germany.
 However, Frederick died 100 days after
becoming Kaiser and power passed to his
son, William II.

William II and Bismarck
William II was militaristic and supported a
powerful military.
 He believed that the Kaiser was the absolute
authority in Germany. This brought him into
immediate conflict with Bismarck.
 One of Bismarck’s favorite tactics was to
threaten to resign as Chancellor. When William
and Bismarck began to disagree, he offered his
resignation and it was accepted by William.
 Bismarck’s power had ended.

Germany
Under Bismarck, Germany had become a
major power in Europe.
 However, his strict rule kept Germany from
developing a democratic government.
 After Bismarck, Germany continued to
become one of the world’s industrial and
military powers.
