France and England

1. France and England The Advance of Democracy

2. The Reform Bill of 1867 • Benjamin Disraeli-conservative Prime Minister • Some seats in House of Commons redistributed • Extended vote to most of Great Britain’s urban workers

3. William Gladstone’s Liberal “Great Ministry” 1868-1874 • British Parliament enacted extensive reform program • Civil service exams • Education Bill of 1870 provided $ to local school boards to operate non-sectarian schools • 1871 workers gained right to organize unions and strike • Gladstone maitained Laissez-Faire

4. Disraeli, again, 1874-1880 • “Tory democracy”- designed to benefit the working class and win further support for the conservative party • Conservatives were less committed to laissez-faire doctrine

6. Gladstone, again, 1881-1885 • The reform Bill of 1884 • Extended right to vote to most urban workers • The Irish question/Home Rule • Act of Union 1801-Ireland governed by British Parliament • Catholic emancipation Act-increased number of Irish in Parliament • Home rule: Irish would have own Parliament but would join with Britain’s foreign policy • Six Protestant counties in Northern Ireland opposed this

7. Home Rule defeats/Victory • Gladstone introduced home rule bills in 1886 and 1893-both defeated by conservatives • In 1914 Liberals pushed through Home rule • Could not be enforced because of opposition from Ulster (northern Ireland Protestants) • Both Protestants and Catholics formed militia’s-brink of civil war-WWI

8. Development of the Labor Party • In 1900 workers in labor unions formed the Labor Party • Labor Party ultimately replaced Liberal Party • In an effort to keep the Labor vote the Liberals enacted worker friendly legislation • 1906 aid to injured workers • Old age pensions act 1909

10. The “peoples budget” 1909 • Called for tax increases to pay for social programs and naval expansion (blame Kais. William II) • House of Lords refused to pass Bill • King George V threatened to increase # of liberals in Lords to pass • Lords passed it-weakened the power of the Lords • Further promoted full political democracy in England

11. France The end of the Second Empire and the Creation of the Third French Republic

13. The end of Napoleon III • The final crisis for the second Empire was the Franco-Prussian war • At Sedan the Prussians captured Napoleon III • In Paris, radicals proclaimed the creation of the third French Republic

14. Problems for the new Republic • Radicals dominated Paris and other major cities • Monarchist candidates won the majority of the seats in the new assembly • Radicals in Paris threatened the new Republic

15. The Paris Commune • Adolphe Thiers head of the government ordered the dissolution of the Paris National Guard • Parisian Radicals responded by creating the city gov’t the Paris Commune • Thiers decided to crush the commune • The Republic reasserted its control over the commune

16. 3rd Republic anticlericalism • Church had generally supported Monarchists • 1880’s republican gov’t sought to reduce the influence of the Church in national life • Jesuit order was expelled from France • The name of God was removed from oaths

17. Boulanger Affair • General Georges Boulanger- minister of war • In 1889, it appeared that Boulanger might attempt to carry out a coup against the government with monarchist and clerical support • He failed to do the coup • Discredited monarchists, strengthened Republic

18. Dreyfus Affair • 1894-Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus convicted of giving information to Germans • Actual criminal was major Esterhazy • Dreyfusards- supported Dreyfus innocence and the cause of the republic and anticlericalism • Anti-Dreyfusards-insisted on Dreyfus Guilt supported cause of Monarchists, army and the Church-openly anti-semitic

19. Emile Zola “J’Accuse” • Zola charged the army with forging the evidence that convicted Dreyfus • By 1906 Dreyfus is pardoned • Victory of the Dreyfusards was a defeat for the conservative elements of the army, the monarchists, and the Church as well.