POWER POLITICS IN THE WESTERN WORLD, 18151861

1
CHAPTER 21

• POWER POLITICS IN THE WESTERN WORLD, 1815-1861

2
Success and Criticism

• Despite the success of their peacemaking, the
  statesmen who produced the Vienna settlement of
  1815 have received a lot of criticism for
  allegedly being out of step with two rising
  forces
• liberalism.
• nationalism.

3
Suppressed Revolutions

• During the early 1820s, Austria and France
  suppressed revolutions in Italy and Spain
  respectively.
• Objecting to this action, Britain backed out of
  the Congress System, an ambitious experiment in
  collective security.

4
Conservative Reaction

• Conservative leaders on the Continent
  subsequently yielded to some demands for change,
  such as the Belgian aspirations for independence.
• But conservatism showed impressive persistence.

5
Conservative Prevalence

• Even after the massive revolutionary upheavals of
  1848, conservative and autocratic regimes tended
  to prevail.
• For those who wanted liberal and democratic
  constitutions or who favored the development of
  social welfare legislation, the revolutions were
  turning points that didnt turn.

6
Watershed

• In other respects, however, the middle years of
  the century were a watershed.
• Prince von Metternich, a symbol of conservatism
  after 1815, was forced out of office.
• New leaders came to power who personified a
  desire to change the Vienna system.

7
New Leaders

• These men helped precipitate wars that
  substantially altered the map of Europe.
• Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
• Count Camillo di Cavour
• Otto von Bismarck.

8
Russia and Britain

• For contrasting reasons, Russia and Britain
  remained relatively unaffected by the revolutions
  of 1848.

9
Russia

• The most backward of the major European powers.
• Russia took effective steps to abolish serfdom
  only after the necessity of modernization had
  been dramatized by defeat in the Crimean War.

10
Britain

• Britain escaped a revolutionary upheaval.
• Probably because its political system was already
  relatively liberal by the standards of the day
  and its political elite displayed much
  flexibility in yielding to pressures for reform
  during the 1820s, '30s, and '40s.

11
The United States

• Gained extensive territory.
• Grew in population.
• Became relatively democratic.

12
The U.S. Strategy

• Took advantage of its geographical separation.
• Generally pursued a policy of noninvolvement in
  European affairs.
• Sought to expand its involvement in Asia as a
  means of expanding trade.

13
Isolation

• The policy of isolation from Europe did not, of
  course, insulate the United States from important
  European influences or prevent parallel
  developments.
• Consider the movements on both sides of the
  Atlantic to abolish slavery.

14
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The impact of revolutions of 1820-21, 1830,
  and 1848.
• The rise and fall of Napoleon III of France.
• The national unification of Italy.
• The influence of nationalist forces in the
  Habsburg empire and the measures that defeated
  them.

15
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The relative backwardness of Russia and the tardy
  but significant reforms instituted by Alexander
  II.
• Gradual reform in Britain
• The territorial expansion of the United States
  and that republic's relatively advanced democracy.

16
Germany Unified

• During the period covered by this chapter,
  Prussia waged several wars that culminated in a
  unified Germany.

17
Modern Nations

• Germany
• Britain
• France
• Three countries became distinctly more modern
  than the other great European powers.
• Democracy and working-class organizations grew
  stronger.

18
Autocratic Germany

• Germany's constitution retained strong autocratic
  elements.
• Chancellor was responsible to the kaiser rather
  than to the Reichstag.

19
Progressive Germany

• Progressive in surprising ways.
• Pioneered sickness, accident, and old age
  insurance as early as the 1880s.

20
Britain and the U.S.

• Britain followed suit before the outbreak of
  World War I.
• The United States did not enact comparable
  programs until the 1930s.

21
Russia

• The Russian autocracy struggled intermittently to
  modernize.
• Its tsarist government proved unable to transcend
  its autocratic nature.

22
Italy and Austria-Hungary

• The lesser great powers also lagged behind
  Britain, France, and Germany in their development.

23
Developments in the British Dominions

• Gained rights of self-government without breaking
  all governmental links to the mother country.

24
Developments in the U.S.

• The United States survived a bloody civil war
  that settled two crucial questions
• whether a federal union with a strong central
  government would prevail over the claims of
  member states.
• whether slavery would be abolished throughout the
  country.

25
American Racism

• The Civil War did not abolish the inhuman
  treatment of African Americans.
• By the end of the nineteenth century, national
  reconciliation between northern and southern
  whites was promoted at the expense of justice for
  African Americans.

26
Racism during the Progressive Era

• Racism prevailed in the period covered by this
  chaptereven in the multifaceted Progressive
  reform movement, which extolled ideals of social
  and economic justice.

27
Modernism in the Arts

• The development of modernism in the arts widened
  the gulf between elite and popular culture.
• Throughout western civilization.

28
Ironic Gulf

• The gulf between modern artists and the public
  seems at first glance to be ironic.
• It seems to run counter to the strong democratic
  trends of the nineteenth century, which generally
  fostered opportunities for greater participation
  by the masses.

29
Public Preferences

• Actually, the opportunities for participation did
  expand, but the general public showed a strong
  preference for going to music halls rather than
  concert halls or reading tabloids rather than
  serious literature.

30
Public Entertainment

• There was a growing market for entertainment.
• Spectator sports and the sensational innovation
  of moving picture theaters arose in response.

31
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The unification of Germany.
• The increasing power of major European states.
• Major political developments in the German Second
  Reich and the French Third Republic up to 1914.

32
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The main problems in Italy and Austria during the
  half-century before World War I.
• Russian revolutionaries and the reactions of
  tsarist governments.
• Britain's trend toward democracy and the
  enactment of social legislation.

33
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• Developments in the British Dominions and the
  United States.
• The nature and development of modernism in the
  arts
• The emergence of mass popular culture.