Kenneth's Ch 27 Outline, Pt 1

Kenneth Li Euro Hist. 6th Period 2-1-08 Ch. 27, pg. 749-761 I. Political Consolidation in Europe and North America 1) In Europe, defeat of revolutions in 1848 resulted in entrenchment of conservative, authoritarian regimes except in Great Britain. i) Habsburg emperor had accepted constitutional government. ii) In Russia, serfs had been emancipated. iii) France was again a republic. iv) Great Britain adopted second Reform Bill moving it toward democracy under leadership of Tory Party. 2) Same quarter century witnessed similar political consolidation and centralization in North America. i) United States erupted in major civil war, which transformed character of American union. ii) During same decade Canada made peaceful transition to selfgovernment and westward movement continued. 3) Various nations of North Atlantic region became most powerful political units in the world. i) Foreign policies would lead them to undertake new imperialism whereby they came to dominate economically and militarily much of rest of world. II. The Crimean War (1854-1856) 1) War made change possible. i) Conflict disrupted international balance that had prevailed since 1815. ii) Quickly unleashed forces that upset political situation in several involved states. 2) The Crimean War originated from long-standing rivalry between Russia and Ottoman Empire. i) In 1853 Russia went to war against Ottomans on pretext that Empire had given Roman Catholic France, instead of Orthodox Russia, the right to protect Christians and Christian shrines in Holy Land. ii) France and Great Britain supported Ottoman Empire to protect interests in eastern Mediterranean. 3) Crimean War made Russia look not invincible anymore. i) Shattered power of Concert of Europe to deal with international relations on the Continent. 4) Major European powers were no longer willing to cooperate to maintain existing borders between themselves. i) Next 25 years, instability prevailed in European affairs. III. Italian Unification 1) Italian nationalists long wanted to unite small absolutist principalities of peninsula in single state.

i) Romantic republicans sought to drive out Austrians by military force. ii) Some were Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini. iii) Failed in it, and scared some moderate Italians. 2) Piedmont was most independent state on peninsula. i) Unsuccessfully fought against Austria in 1848 and 1849. ii) New monarch chose Cavour as prime minister in 1852. 3) Cavour believed that if Italians proved themselves to be efficient and economically progressive, the great powers might decide that Italy could govern itself. i) Worked for free trade, railway construction, credit expansion, agricultural improvement, fostered Nationalist Society. 4) Cavour joined French and British side in Crimean War to be able to raise question of Italian unification at peace conference. i) Achieved sympathy of Napoleon III of France. 5) In late April war erupted. i) Austrians were defeated at Magenta, and at Solferino. ii) Napoleon III concluded a separate peace on July 11 at Villafranca. iii) Most of Austria was driven from northern Italy. 6) In May 1860, Garibaldi landed on Sicily with more than a thousand troops. i) By September the city and kingdom of Naples lay under his control. ii) Cavour’s troops conquered Papal States except for area around Rome. 7) Garibaldi’s nationalism won out over his republicanism, and he unhappily accepted Piedmontese domination. 8) March 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of Italy. i) 3 months later, Cavour died. ii) Italy gained Veneto in 1866 as result of war between Austria and Prussia, and Rome in 1870 as a result of Franco-Prussian War. 9) New united Italian state confronted numerous difficulties. i) North was economically advanced, whereas south remained overwhelmingly rural and poor. ii) New state had an ongoing conflict with Roman Catholic church, whose leader now regarded himself as prisoner in Vatican. IV. German Unification 1) United German nation was single most important political development in Europe between 1848 and 1914. i) Was united by conservative army and monarchy of Prussia and by Prussia’s conservative prime minister, who sought to outflank Prussian liberals. 2) William I regarded Prussian army as first concern. i) Prussian Parliament refused to approve the necessary taxes. ii) Deadlock continued for two years between monarch and Parliament dominated by liberals. A. Bismarck 1) September 1862, William I turned for help to person who shaped next thirty years of European history. i) That person was Otto van Bismarck.

ii) Outlook was informed by most traditional Prussian values. iii) During 1840s he was elected to local provincial diet. iv) In 1848 he was reactionary as to disturb even the king and leading state ministers. 2) After appointed minister president and foreign minister in 1862, he immediately moved against liberal Parliament. i) Contended that Prussian constitution permitted government to function on basis of previously granted taxes. ii) Tactic amounted to diverting public attention from domestic matters to foreign affairs. 3) Bismarck pursued kleindeutsch solution to unification. i) To achieve that end, Bismarck undertook 2 brief wars. 4) In 1864, he went to war with Denmark over question of duchies of Schleswig and Holstien. i) 7 Weeks War led to decisive defeat of Austria at Koniggratz. ii) Prussian victory and consequent Treaty of Prague excluded Habsburgs from German affairs. 5) In 1867 Hanover, Hesse, Nassau, and city of Frankfurt were annexed by Prussia. i) Constitution of confederation possessed appearance but not substance of liberalism. ii) Riechstag had little real power; its members knew that army would always support the king and ministers. iii) Germany was military monarch dominated by Prussia. B. The French-Prussian War and the German Empire (1870-1871) 1) Bismarck awaited opportunity to complete unification by bringing the states of southern Germany into confederation. i) France was opposed to idea of second state on borders ruled by Hohenzollern. ii) Bismarck personally edited press dispatch surrounding these negotiations to make appear that William I had insulted French ambassador. 2) French government quickly fell for Bismarck’s bait and on July 19th declared war. i) Once war began, states of southern Germany supported Prussia. ii) By late September, Paris was besieged. iii) Capitulated on January 28, 1871. 10 days earlier, German Empire had been proclaimed. 3) Unification of Germany established strong, coherent state in middle of Europe. i) Forged by Prussian army and would dominate by Prussian institutions. ii) Possessed enormous economic resources and nationalistic ambitions. V. France: From Liberal Empire to the Third Republic 1) Reign of Napoleon III is traditionally divided into years of authoritarian empire and those of liberal empire.

i) His support came from property owners, French Catholic church, and businessmen. 2) From late 1850s onward Napoleon III became less authoritarian, but all of his liberal concessions were attempts to compensate for unsuccessful foreign policy. i) First he lost control of diplomacy of Italian unification. ii) Then between 1861-1867 he supported military expedition against Mexico. iii) War of 1870 against Germany was simply Napoleon III’s last and most disastrous attempt to shore up French foreign policy. A. Paris Commune 1) Division between provinces and Paris deepened after fighting stopped. i) Monarchists dominated new National Assembly, which met at Versailles. 2) Paris resented this settlement. i) On March 26, 1871, Parisians elected new municipal government, called Paris Commune. ii) Political radicals of all stripes participated in Paris Commune. iii) By early April its army had besieged Paris and broke through city’s defenses on May 21. B. The Third Republic 1) National Assembly had put down Paris Commune. i) Monarchist majority was divided between adherents of House of Bourbon and House of Orleans. ii) In 1875, unable to agree on candidate for throne, National Assembly adopted law that provided chamber for deputies elected by universal manhood suffrage. C. The Dreyfus Affair 1) December 22, 1894, French military court found Captain Alfred Dreyfus guilty of spying for German army. i) Flimsy evidence supporting his guilt was later revealed to be forged. ii) In 1896 new head of French counterintelligence reexamined Dreyfus file and found evidence on forgery. iii) Officer who discovered forgeries was moved to another distant post. 2) By then matter had provoked widespread and sometimes near historical debate. i) The army, French Catholic church, political conservatives, and vehemently anti-Semitic newspapers repeatedly contended that Dreyfus was guilty. ii) Zola was convicted of libel and received one-year prison sentence. 3) Numerous liberals, radicals, and socialists demanded new trial for Dreyfus. i) Portrayed conservative institutions of nation as having denied Dreyfus rights belonging to any citizens on republic. ii) Officer responsible for those forgeries committed suicide in jail. iii) Dreyfus was again found guilty by officers who refused to admit original mistakes.

4) Dreyfus case divided France as no issue had done since Paris Commune. i) They had allowed themselves to persecute innocent person and manufacture evidence against him to protect themselves from disclosure. VI. The Habsburg Empire: Formation of the Dual Monarchy 1) Response to revolts at end of 1840s had been reassertion of absolutism. i) During 1850s, Emperor Francis Joseph and his ministers attempted to impose centralized administration on multinational empire. ii) System amounted to a military and bureaucratic government dominated by German-speaking Austrians. 2) Defeats in 1859 and 1866 and exclusion of Austria from Italy and from German affairs compelled Francis Joseph to come to terms with Hungary. i) Compromise of 1867 transformed Habsburg Empire into dual monarchy ii) Francis Joseph was crowned king of Hungary in Budapest. 3) Many other national groups within empire opposed Compromise b/c it permitted German-speaking Austrians and Hungarian Magyars to dominate all other nationalities. i) Czechs of Bohemia were most vocal group. ii) For over 20 years they went conciliated by generous Austrian patronage iii) They and German-speaking groups in Austrian Reichsrat disrupted parliament rather than permit compromise on language issues. A. Unrest of Nationalities 1) Nationalist unrest within Habsburg empire not only caused internal political difficulties, but also constituted one major sources of political instability. i) Other national groups saw themselves as potentially linked to Russia. ii) Many of these nationalistic tensions emerged much of turmoil that would spark First World War. 2) Dominant German population of Austria proper was generally loyal to emperor. i) Nationalistic Germans in Austrian empire often hated non-German national groups. ii) Stirrings of nationalism affected fate of all 3 empires from 1860s through outbreak of WWI. VII. Russia: Emancipation and Revolutionary Stirrings A. Reforms of Alexander II 1) Defeat in Crimean War and humiliation of Treaty of Paris compelled Russian government to reconsider its domestic situation. i) Debacle of war had made reform both necessary and possible. 2) March 1856, at conclusion of Crimean War, Alexander II announced his intention to abolish Serfdom. i) Serfdom had become economically inefficient. ii) For more tan 5 years government commissions wrestled over how to implement tsar’s desires.

3) Procedures of emancipation were so complicated and immediate benefits so limited that many serfs believed real emancipation was still to come. i) Redemption payments led to endless difficulty and resentment. ii) Facing widespread unrest following defeat of Russia by Japan in 1905. 4) Abolition of serfdom required reorganization of both local government and judicial system. i) Nobles were authorized to form zemsivos, or councils, to oversee local matters. ii) Alexander II promulgated new statute on judiciary that for first time introduced principles of Western Europe. B. Revolutionaries 1) Tsarist regime had long had its critics. i) From London, he published newspaper called The Bell, which he set forth reformist positions. ii) Drawing on ideas of Herzen and other radicals, these students formed revolutionary movement known as Populism. iii) Early 1870s hundreds of young Russians took their revolutionary message into countryside. iv) Bewildered and distrustful peasants turned most of the youths over to the police. 2) In 1879, Land and Freedom split into 2 groups. i) One known as People’s Will dedicated to overthrow autocracy. ii) Tried assassinating the tsar, but killed four men and 2 women. iii) Emergence of such dedicated revolutionary opposition constituted as much part of reign of Alexander II as his reforms. 3) Alexander III whose reign further underscored that pessimistic conviction. i) Some attention was directed toward improving conditions in Russian factories, but Alexander III sought primarily to roll back his father’s reforms. ii) Strengthened secret police and increased press censorship. iii) His son, Nicholas II would discover that autocracy couldn’t survive the pressures of 20th century.