ITALY

1
ITALY

• Portion of northern Italy placed under Austrian
  control in 1815
• Most ordinary Italians didnt care
• But small elite liked earlier reforms of the
  French and did not like the return of monarchies
• Had also started to hope for a closer union of
  all Italians
• Which Metternich said would never happen

None of these states possessed constitutions or
representative assemblies
2
KINGDOM OF TWO SICILIES

• Serious revolt erupted in Kingdom of Two Sicilies
  in 1820
• Directed against King Ferdinand I
• Had promised a constitution and to keep French
  reforms when he was restored to his throne in
  1815
• by 1820 it was clear he no intention of keeping
  these promises
• Also regarded as Austrian puppet
• Opposition centered among army officers and
  members of the middle class
• Had support of Carbonari
• Nationalist secret societies
• Temporarily forced king to flee
• But then squandered valuable time arguing about
  what to do next

Carbonari
3
CONGRESS OF TROPPAU

• Metternich arranges for meeting of rulers of
  Austrian Empire, Russia, and Prussia to discuss
  question of military intervention in Kingdom of
  Two Sicilies
• Congress of Troppau (1820)
• Result was Troppau Protocol
• Reaffirmed right of European powers to intervene
  in states that had undergone revolutions
• Austrian army invades Kingdom of Two Sicilies in
  January 1821
• Smashes revolt
• Restored Ferdinand I

4
1830 IN ITALY

• 1820-1830
• Little open resistance to established authority
  although Carbonari continued to operate
  underground
• Minor revolts erupted in Modena, Parma, and the
  Papal States when news of the July Revolution of
  1830 in France hit
• Italian revolutionaries counted on support of
  Louis Philippe
• Never materialized
• Metternich therefore had a free hand to put down
  all the revolts

Secret Carbonari meeting
5
Most of middle class was German Growth of
nationalism divided Austrian Germans Strong
nationalists prepared to sacrifice the Austrian
Empire in order to join unified German
nation Moderates hoped to see the states of
Germany merge with Austria
Slavs 50 of population Divided into various
subgroups and had little national consciousness
before the 19th century Poles and Czechs were
most important subgroups
Magyars Lived in eastern territories of Hungary,
Transylvania, and Croatia Had their own Diet and
local administration Growing movement for greater
autonomy within the Empire
Germans 25 of population Concentrated in
western part of the Empire in and around Vienna
Also lived in Bohemia and in major cities
Austrian Empire in 1815 was not a national state
but was merely a collection of peoples and
territories united only by their common
allegiance to the Habsburg ruler
Also included Italians in Lombardy and
Venetia And Romanians
6
METTERNICHS DILEMMA

• Metternich tried to avoid problems of emerging
  nationalism among these groups into the 1830s
• After 1830, he resorted to a number of expedients
  to neutralize nationalist sentiments and tried to
  play one national group off against the other
• Problem was that he served under two emperors who
  neither had the will nor capacity to support any
  program of constructive reform
• Francis I and Ferdinand I

Ferdinand I
7
RUSSIA

• During his youth, tsar Alexander I had proclaimed
  liberal principles and promised to abolish
  serfdom, modernized the army and economy, and
  even produce a constitution
• But once he inherited the throne and having to
  confront the hard reality of governing, he backed
  away from liberal ideals
• Had also inherited a powerful autocratic
  tradition
• He therefore followed the path of least
  resistance and made few liberal changes to Russia

Alexander I
8
REPRESSION INCREASES

• After 1820 he even stopped talking about liberal
  reforms and increased repressive character of
  Russian state
• Educational system put under control of religious
  bigots
• Strict controls on curriculum
• Expelled students and fired teachers on slightest
  pretext
• Prohibited study at foreign universities
• Censorship strengthened
• Military colonies
• Purpose was to reduce cost of maintaining army by
  setting up self-supporting units of soldiers and
  their families on pieces of land
• Peasants forced into program and subjected to
  severe military discipline

9
THE INTELLIGENTSIA

• Some portions of the nobility and Russias tiny
  middle class
• Influenced by ideas of the French Revolution and
  impressed by constitutional monarchy
• Wanted their country to enjoy same benefits of
  liberal, constitutional government
• Began to form secret societies to discuss liberal
  ideas
• Some began talking about doing away with tsarism
  altogether through revolutionary activity
• Believed that meaningful change was impossible as
  long as the tsar was around

Young university student and typical member of
the intelligentsia
10
THE DECEMBRISTS I

• Society of the North
• Young army officers stationed in St. Petersburg
• Led by Nicholai Muraviev
• Wanted constitutional monarchy, abolition of
  serfdom, equality before the law, and civil
  liberties
• Conservative on social issues
• Society of the South
• Young army officers stationed in the Ukraine
• Led by Pavel Pestel
• Admired Robespierre
• Abolition of serfdom, confiscation and
  redistribution of noble estates, establish a
  republic governed by an elected assembly
• Grant Poland independence

Pavel Pestel
11
THE DECEMBRISTS II

• Were a large underground group by 1825
• Many were officers and aristocrats
• Willing to give up their status in the name of
  justice
• Weakness?
• Made no real attempt to establish contact with
  masses
• Wanted to bring about revolution through military
  coup détat
• Due to tradition and their own relative isolation

12
IMPERIAL CONFUSION

• Alexander I died unexpectedly in 1825
• Heir to throne, Constantine, had secretly
  renounced his claim four years earlier to marry a
  Polish commoner
• No one but Constantine and Alexander knew about
  this
• So both Russian people and next-in-line-to-throne
  Nicholas thought Constantine would be new tsar
• Constantine did not claim throne but did not
  publicly renounce it either
• Nicholas finally informed of situation and he
  publicly claimed the throne
• Looked to many as though he was stealing throne
  from Constantine

Constantine
13
FIASCO IN THE SENATE SQUARE
Decembrists believe that Constantine was more
liberal than Nicholas and was being prevented
from claiming his rightful inheritance Decided
to put Constantine on throne and provide Russia
with a ruler who would initiate enlightened
reforms Plan was to order troops in St.
Petersburg to refuse to take oath of loyalty to
Nicholas
3000 soldiers did go to Senate Square but just
shouted slogans and milled around Still loyal
troops attacked them later in the day Southern
society launched an uprising against Nicholas in
the Ukraine Also easily crushed
14
THE END

• Most of the leaders were arrested
• Five were executed
• Others were imprisoned or exiled to Siberia
• Rank and file soldiers were flogged
• Nicholas personally interviewed some of the
  leaders
• Wanted to find out how their minds worked so he
  would be better prepared in future to deal with
  attempts to change Russia

15
NICHOLAS I

• One of the most rigid, inflexible, and
  uncompromising rulers to ever sit on a throne
• Saw it as his God-given duty to preserve
  absolutism and autocracy
• And to teach his subjects good principles
• Absolute loyalty and obedience to the status quo
• Did not believe Russia was ready for ideas of the
  French Revolution

16
REPRESSION

• Nicholas abandoned all attempt at reform
• Convinced that any change to status quo would
  destabilize the country
• Created Third Section of His Majestys Chancery
• Secret police organization
• Attempted to spy on every level of society
• Also censored all published material
• Minister of Education S.S. Uvarov decreed that
  only good patriotic and religious principles be
  taught in schools
• Autocracy, Nationalism, and Orthodoxy
• Tried to restrict admission to only nobility
• Excluded all subjects which he and the tsar
  considered politically and socially dangerous
  from curricula

S. S. Uvarov
17
WHERE THERES A WILL, THERES A WAY

• Nicholas government was too corrupt and
  incompetent to destroy intellectual and cultural
  activity
• Renown poets Mikhail Lermontov and Alexander
  Pushkin had works published intact
• New ideas still managed to find expression
• University students founded circles to read and
  discuss Western ideas
• Most famous was Stankeivitch Circle which
  included Vissarion Belinsky and Mikhail Bakunin

18
SLAVOPHILS I

• Looked back with nostalgia to Russia before it
  was exposed to the West by Peter the Great
• Russia had a special national type based on
  simple and unadulterated faith
• Western Europe was divided and self-destructive
  because it was based on rationalism,
  individualism and utilitarianism
• These ideas had now entered Russia and would
  cause same sort of damage
• In order to survive, Russia had to reject all
  Western influences and return to its roots
• Russian Orthodox Church and faith in the tsar

Peter the Great
19
SLAVOPHILS II

• Although conservative, Nicholas still saw them as
  a serious threat
• Because they idealized the Russian peasant as the
  only social group in country not infected with
  Western ideas
• Also argued that peasants had practiced a form of
  agricultural collectivism
• Villages as whole owned and worked land in common
• Slavophils wanted to bring back this type of
  collective ownership
• Smacked of socialism

20
WESTERNIZERS

• Argued that Russia had to follow the example of
  the countries of Western Europe
• Especially the parliamentary democracies
• Abandon Russian Orthodox Church for Roman
  Catholicism
• Some drawn to socialism
• Petrachevsky Circle
• 1845-1849
• Promoted hybrid ideology of extreme individualism
  and utopian socialism
• Fedor Dostoevsky was member
• Infiltrated by secret police and members arrested
  in 1849

Petrachevsky Circle
21
SUMMARY

• Harsh measures taken against Petrachevsky Circle
  showed that Russia was not completely impervious
  to dangerous ideas
• But a true revolutionary movement did not yet
  exist
• Russia not affected by revolutions of 1848 at all
• Until Crimean War, Russia appeared to be a
  threatening colossus, an insurmountable barrier
  to liberal and democratic ideals

22
UNREST IN ENGLAND

• Popular protests swept many parts of England
  between 1815-1819
• Food riots
• Luddism
• Peterloo Massacre
• Mass meeting held in St. Peters Field in August
  1819
• Demonstration for right to form political
  organizations and assemble freely
• When demonstrators resisted arrest, soldiers
  fired into crowd
• Killing 11 and wounding hundreds
• Parliament passes Six Acts in response
• Banned demonstrations and put restrictions on
  press

Peterloo
23
MORE UNREST

• Late 1820s
• Bleak years
• Increased militancy and class solidarity among
  artisans and skilled workers in the north
• Demanded higher wages
• 1830
• Food riots and machine breaking
• Captain Swing riots
• Massive uprising of agricultural workers in
  protest of declining wages and loss of work due
  to the introduction of agricultural machinery

24
RELIGIOUS REFORM

• Conservatives (Tories) dominated Parliament in
  the years after 1815
• Feared that electoral reform would be a dangerous
  precedent and perhaps open the floodgates of
  popular protest and revolution
• But fear of civil war in Roman Catholic Ireland
  led some Tories to compromise in the area of
  religious reform
• Repealed Test and Corporation Act in 1828
• Had formerly required everyone who held public
  office to take communion in the Anglican Church
• Catholics still prohibited from running for
  Parliament and serving in army
• Caused unrest in Ireland
• Led to passage of Catholic Emancipation Act in
  1829
• Removed all legal restrictions against Roman
  Catholics

25
ELECTORAL REFORM

• Whigs were dominated by wealthy landed interests
• But made electoral reform its main issue
• Businessmen resented being under-represented in
  House of Commons
• Industrial north sent few reps to Parliament
  because electoral districts had not changed since
  the 17th century
• Manchester and Birmingham not represented at all
• Sparsely populated rural districts still sent
  reps to Parliament
• Rotten boroughs
• Had originally had large populations when
  districts were originally created but had lost
  most people in years that followed
• Most notorious were Dunwich and Old Sarum
• Pocket boroughs
• Completely dominated by a single landowner

William Pitt the Elder
William Pitt the Younger
26
WHIGS TAKE CONTROL

• Whigs gain majority in Parliament in 1830
• Prime minister Earl Charles Grey became convinced
  that if electoral reform did not happen,
  revolution would result
• Knew big obstacle was House of Lords
• Would and did reject any electoral reform bill
  passed by House of Commons
• Did this twice in 1831

Earl Charles Grey
27
REFORM ACT OF 1832

• Severe political crisis was taking shape
• Even Duke of Wellington realized this
• Leader of Tories
• Finally realized that electoral reform was only
  way to head off catastrophe
• Tories therefore did not oppose third
  Whig-sponsored reform bill
• Grey convinced King William IV to threaten to
  flood House of Lords with new members if it
  resisted the Reform Bill
• Passed what became known as The Reform Act of 1832

Duke of Wellington
28
IMPACT OF THE REFORM ACT

• Turning point in history of modern Britain
• Even though it left most men and all women
  disenfranchised
• One out of five men gained right to vote
• Still far from democracy
• But Parliament now more accurately reflected the
  countrys economic and social evolution during
  the Industrial Revolution
• 15 of representatives elected after 1832 were
  businessmen
• 35 more had some connection with commerce and
  industry

William IV
29
IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH

• Whigs enlarged their majority in Parliament
• Abolished slavery in British Empire in 1833
• In response to agitation from anti-slavery
  societies
• Made up primarily of women
• Prohibited all work by children under the age of
  9, limited workday for children between 9-12 to 8
  hours, and for 13-18 year olds to 12 hours a day
• Municipal Corporations Act (1835)
• Eliminated old and corrupt local governments with
  elected municipal councils

30
CORN LAWS

• Imposed a sliding tariff on imported wheat
• Designed to protect landowners but were
  detrimental to interests of businessmen who
  imported or sold imported grain and also hurt
  interests of consumers who were forced to pay
  higher prices for bread
• Situation became acute in 1839-1841 when bad
  harvests drove bread prices to their highest
  levels in decades
• Pressure to repeal Corn Laws began to escalate

31
ANTI-CORN LAW LEAGUE

• Was a battle between exponents of laissez-faire
  economics (Whigs) against interests of large
  property owners (Tories)
• Opponents formed Anti-Corn Law League in 1839
• United businessmen, economic liberals, Whig
  politicians, and even a few radicals

32
REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS

• Tory prime minister Robert Peel believed in free
  trade
• Was contemptuous of aristocrats
• Irish famine of 1846 pushed him to dismantle Corn
  Laws
• Was not supported by his own party but believed
  it was necessary to prevent outbreak of popular
  insurrection
• Parliament repealed Corn Laws in 1846
• Reduced duties on imported grain
• Peel dismissed from office by his own party

Robert Peel
33
BIRTH OF CHARTISM

• Began in 1836 when William Lovett founded the
  London Workingmens Association for Benefiting
  Politically, Socially, and Morally the Useful
  Classes
• A cabinetmaker
• Two years later, Lovett and Francis Place
  prepared a petition that would be signed by
  millions of people and presented to Parliament
• Great Charter
• Demanded universal manhood suffrage, annual
  elections to Parliament, equal electoral
  districts, the secret ballot, salaries for
  members of Parliament

William Lovett
34
NATURE OF CHARTISM

• Movement was peaceful
• Members committed to acting according to what
  they called moral force
• But in 1839 a small physical force group
  emerged
• Threatened strikes and even insurrection of
  Parliament did not implement the demands of the
  Great Charter

35
REJECTION

• Largest working class movement in the 19th
  century
• Mobilized skilled craftsmen and unskilled workers
• Presented Great Charter to Parliament in May 1839
• 1.3 million signatures
• Parliament rejected it
• Presented a new petition to Parliament in 1842
• 3.3 million signatures
• Parliament rejected it again
• Movement gradually dissipated thereafter

36
LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES

• Led to rise in working-class consciousness
• Realization that all workers had certain things
  in common regardless of their particular
  occupation
• They all were excluded from meaningful political
  participation
• Found ultimate expression in the founding of the
  Labour Party in the late 19th century
• Many former Chartists also realized that they
  needed a stronger power base that would force
  ruling class to listen to them
• Organized trade unions
• Lessons learned from Chartist defeat would be
  employed to earn workers a place in society that
  they believed they deserved
• Accomplished without violence

Chartist membership card