Italy in 1848: Revolutions and Nationalist Movements

1. AP European History Test Review #4

2. Italy in 1848 • Italy was divided into several small states, most of whom were occupied by foreign powers. • Italian nationalists wanted unification and formed secret societies such as the carbonari and Mazzini’s Young Italy. • The “risorgimento” (revival of nationalist pride ) drove the revolution of 1848.

3. Italy in 1848 • Spring 1848: revolts broke out in the Papal states, Sardinia. These rulers granted liberal constitutions. • Lombardy-Venetia revolted against Austria and Naples, Sardinia, and the Pope sent troops to help them.

4. The Roman Republic • When it appeared that Austria was going to defeat any chance at Italian unification and independence, radical revolution broke out in Rome & Sardinia. • Garibaldi & Mazzini ousted the Pope & proclaimed a democratic republic in Rome. In Sardinia, the king was forced to continue fighting the Austrians. • The Austrians defeated Sardinia, and Napoleon III sent troops to reinstate the Pope.

5. Austria in 1848 • Prince Metternich dominated politics throughout Austria and Germany. To maintain conservative power Metternich issued the Carlsbad Decrees. These censored the press and universities. Secret police were used to enforce laws. • The Austrian empire included a large number of ethnic minorities within its borders. Their individual nationality was suppressed by the empire. • In the “March Days,” revolts occurred in Italy, Hungary, Bohemia, & Austria itself.

6. Austria in 1848 • The revolutions were led by a minority of intellectuals, students, and labor leaders and were not widely supported by the majority of the people. • The only lasting result was the abdication of Metternich.

7. Hungary • In Hungary, Louis Kossuth led a revolt in the Hungarian Diet for Magyar nationalism. He promoted the Magyars but suppressed the other Slavic minorities. • The revolt made Hungary autonomous while accepting the Austrian emperor as the king of Hungary. He outlawed serfdom, forced the nobility to pay taxes, and required public officials to speak Hungarian. • Russia helped Austria put down the Hungarian revolt.

8. Why Did the Revolutions Fail? • They lacked a cohesive vision and institutional forces- like an army. • Conservatives successfully exploited the middle-class fears of a radical revolution, like those that had taken place in France. • Rulers pitted ethnic minorities against one another, which split the power of the revolutionaries.

9. Romanticism • Romanticism was a literary, musical, and artistic movement dominating European culture in the first half of the 19th century. • Romantics reacted against the Industrial Revolution and Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason and science instead stressing emotions, nature, nationalism, religion, and the unique individual (rather than what was universal for all people) • Literature- Frankenstein by Mary Shelly and poems by Lord Byron • Art- Turner • Music- Beethoven

10. The -ISMs • The period of 1815-1859 can be termed the Age of Ideologies. In response to the French and Industrial Revolutions, many Europeans lived according to a set of ideas that provided a view of human affairs (and human character) as well as a blue print for changing the world. Such ideologies or “isms” influenced how people viewed the world and motivated them to take action.

11. Conservatism • Should not be equated with complete rejection of change (such adherents are known as reactionaries). • Defying the optimistic view that human nature was a tabala rasa, Conservatives believed that human nature was driven by passions. • Edmund Burke is the father of conservatism. He believed in change through adaption, not revolution. Humans were capable of reason, but often employ it as an excuse for self-interest. He was originally a liberal, but his experiences in the French Revolution changed him. • Joseph de Maistre- believed in divine right. He demonstrated how once the French Revolution lost its ties to the church, monarchy, and nobility it became violent. • Conservative philosophies supported the restoration of governments to the pre-1815 order.

12. Economists • Jeremy Bentham: Utilitarianism: • Believed in laissez-faire economics but wanted policies which would effect the “greatest good for the greatest number.” • Believed that if an individual harmed the common good by acting in his own self-interest, then the government should step in. • Argued to end slavery, separation of church and state, and women’s rights

13. Liberalism • John Stuart Mill: On Liberty (1859) • Father of Liberalism • Advocated a limited government to guarantee individual rights • Based on utilitarianism • Mill’s Principle: Persons should have complete freedom of action, speech, etc. as long as their actions do not harm others. If they cause harm, then the gov’t should stop them. • Concerned about the “tyranny of the majority” that could harm individual rights

14. Mill, continued • Mill served in Parliament for a time and championed the following causes: • women’s suffrage (collaborated with wife Harriet Taylor) • the right of workers to organize into unions • labor legislation to improve working conditions • universal suffrage (for all men & women over 21) • universal education • equal political/economic rights for women • proportional representation.

15. Early Socialists • Socialism can be defined as an economic system in which the means of production, exchange, and distribution are owned by the state rather than private individuals. • Designed to abolish the abuses of capitalism by promoting social and economic planning through collectivization. • Socialism ranged from strictly economic reform in the context of a democratic government to the extreme of Marxism.

16. Utopian Socialists • Utopian socialists offered no practical plan for achieving the ideal societies they envisioned and thought industrialists would support their ideas as soon as they saw their merit. • It provided little practical success so it paved the way for more militant Marxism • Robert Owen: (1771-1858): successful English industrialist • Believed that environmental factors influenced people and thought factories and communities needed to be clean, and provide decent wages. • Wanted to outlaw child labor & provide mandatory education. • Created a model cotton mill in Scotland, but failed in his attempts in Indiana • Did a lot to popularize the need for social reform in England. • Other examples include: Henris de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier of France.

17. Practical Socialists • Louis Blanc: French: (1811 - 1882) organized a socialist political party to achieve socialist measures in France. • Believed that governments have the duty of providing workers with farms and shops to replace privately owned ones. He called these national workshops. • These would be run by the workers for their own good. • Wanted democratic government. • Undermined by the provisional gov’t in 1848.

18. Marxism • Founded by Marx & Engels, it was a militant form of socialism which is often called Communism. • Marx and Engels asserted their ideas in The Communist Manifesto (1848) • Differed from other forms of socialism because it called for a revolutionary overthrow of the existing system.

19. Marxist Ideas • History must be interpreted economically. • Economic factors shape the institutions of civilization, such as religion & politics. • Surplus Value: the value of all commodities is a result of the labor put into them. • If a worker gets paid less than the labor he put into a product, he is being exploited. • “History is a constant series of class struggles” between the exploited (the working proletariat) & the exploiters (the middle class bourgeoisie).

20. More Marxist Ideas • Capitalism is a necessary step in the eventual development of Communism. • Marx envisioned a situation in which workers all over the world would eventually overthrow their existing conditions and create Communist societies. • Revolution in which the proletariat overthrows the bourgeoisie is inevitable but must be led by Marxist intellectuals. • A temporary “dictatorship of the proletariat” must be established after the revolution to reorder society. • When this had occurred, he believed there would be no need for governments and predicted the “withering of the state.”

21. More Marxist Ideas • Atheist: • Believed in no God or divine presence and believed that all things happened mechanically with no divine guiding principle. • Believed in the principle “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. • Believed in equality of women and racial equality. • Wanted an end to slavery and imperialism

22. 19th Century British Political and Economic Problems • The Landed Aristocracy still monopolized political power due to voting restrictions (10% of adult males could vote in England in 1848). • Rotten Boroughs kept industrial centers from being fairly represented (Manchester had no representatives at all in 1800) • No secret ballot

23. More Problems • Property & religious qualifications restricted the right to hold political office. • No salaries for the members of the House of Commons • The House of Lords could block all legislation passed by the House of Commons except for revenue bills.

24. More Problems • Landed interests passed the Corn Laws, protecting British grain from competition but at the same time harming consumers with higher prices. • Democratic movements pushed for reform. One such peaceful gathering in 1819 in Manchester was met with armed forces, killing 11 and wounding hundreds. This event became known as the Peterloo Massacred. The British recognized the need for liberal reforms in order to avoid revolution. There willingness to do so kept England from experiencing the revolutions on the continent.

25. The Reform Bill of 1832 • It did the following: • Extended suffrage to most of the middle class and small land owners, but still denied it to most urban workers & peasants by a property requirement. • Provided for redistricting to eliminate rotten boroughs • 1820’s: Combination Acts (that suppressed unions) was repealed • 1833: Slavery abolished in the British Empire Poor Law of 1834- the law actually punished the poor by making relief in government workhouses more unpleasant than any job 1846- Corn Laws were repealed

26. More Reforms • 1832 the Sadler Commission investigated child labor in mines and factories. The appalling testimony of workers convinced Parliament to pass the Factory Act of 1833, which limited working hours and child education. • Edwin Chadwick’s publication The Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population (1842) highlighted the need for sewage and sanitary conditions. Soon after, Parliament passed the Public Health Act of 1848, to develop sanitary systems. This was also impacted by Cholera outbreaks.

27. Chartism • Organized in the 1830’s by city workers to achieve political reforms and improve their living conditions. • The charter demanded: • Universal manhood suffrage • Salaries for Parliament • Although Parliament refused to give in to Chartist demands (as a whole package), most of their demands were met through reform legislation, and the movement died out because it became associated with violence.

28. More Reforms • Reform Bill of 1884: universal suffrage • Sponsored by the Liberal Leader, Gladstone. • Purpose was to gain support for both the Whig and Tory parties, but backfired when workers created their own Labour Party. Reform Bill of 1918: Extended Suffrage to British women over 30 years of age.

29. Socialist Parties Pre-WWI • German Social Democratic Party: advocated many Marxist ideas & gained a large number of seats in the Reichstag. • Fabian Society: Britain: formed to spread socialist ideas. Its members later formed the modern Labor party.

30. The Irish Problem • The Irish people were bitter toward the British for the following reasons: • English absentee landlords controlled most Irish land and charged high rents. They evicted peasants who couldn’t pay. • The English did little to relieve the misery created by the crop failures of the 1840’s (Irish potato famine) • The Irish wanted home rule but didn’t get it in the 19th century.

31. Realism • Failure of the 1848 revolutions put Europe into a new era. Intellectually, the Romantic temperament no longer held sway, as artists, scientists, and politicians adopted a hard-headed mindset of realism. Military power, industry, and organization- products of modern life replaced the imaginary, spiritual, emotional, and idealistic. • The realists focused their attention on the world as it really was. They focused on the lives of people who were directly impacted by the industrial world. • Literature- Charles Dickens and his stories of corrupt business practices and cruel city life. Wrote Hard Times. • Art- Gustave Courbet, whose Stonebreakers depicts two manual laborers.

32. Crimean War (1853-1856) • The Revolutions of 1848 undermined the Concert of Europe- the agreement of the great powers to work together collectively. • Cause: The Ottoman Empire had slowly receded in power and was continuously prone to Russian attack since they wanted a warm-weather sea port. • Fearing Russian expansion, the British and French went to war over a petty issue regarding concessions from the Ottoman sultan in protecting Christian minorities in the region. • British and French and Italians vs. Russia. Austria chose not to help Russia, although it had just been aided in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

33. Results of the Crimean War • Russia is defeated. Nicholas I (reactionary) dies. The new tsar Alexander II realized Russia’s technological and economic backwardness. He will work to reform Russia. • Austria and Russia are now enemies, competing for control over the Baltic Peninsula. Although in the Treaty of Paris (1856) Russia agreed to halt expansion in the Baltics. • The Concert of Europe is destroyed. Now states are encouraged to pursue national interests with little regard for international order.

34. Russia in the 19th Century • Russian society remained semi-feudal and backward, with much popular discontent. • Russia remained isolated from Western culture and did not modernize. • Oppression & censorship increased and the government was inefficient. • Czars were anti-liberal • Russia was weak internationally & began to lose foreign wars (Crimean, Russo-Japanese)

35. Nicholas I (1825-55) • Dictatorial ruler who stood for reactionism, strong nationalism, autocracy, and religious orthodoxy. • He did the following: • Enforced strict censorship with secret police • Lost the Crimean War • Put down a Polish revolt

36. Alexander II (1855-81) • A conservative reformer, who abolished serfdom in 1861. • Peasants continued to live in villages until they paid for the land they received (which was of the poorest quality). Russians continued to suffer from land shortages and rural overpopulation. • Zemstvo Laws: created local assemblies to solve local problems in 1864. They were dominated by the nobility. • As reform led to radical demands, many groups began to plot and carry out terrorist acts. • 1881: Alexander was assassinated on the same day he was going to create a constitutional monarchy for Russia

37. France • 1852: Napoleon III declares the establishment of the 2nd French Empire. He had been elected as president, but had declared himself emperor after a coup. • His domestic policies included: • Vast public works projects (canals, roads, RR) • Rebuilt the city of Paris- tore down old city walls, constructed a modern sanitary system, built boulevards and shopping centers. He said “I found Paris stinking, and left it smelling sweet.” • Removed legal barriers to trade unions • Encouraged industrialization and promoted economic prosperity, gaining the support of the middle class.

38. French Foreign Policy • Napoleon III followed these policies: • Stopped Russian aggression in the Crimean War. • Helped Piedmont gain independence from Austria, but stationed troops in Rome to protect the Pope. (This was to gain Catholic support) • Failed effort to create an empire in Mexico.

39. Problems in the French Empire • Catholics were mad because Napoleon had helped Piedmont • Republicans were mad that they didn’t have a democratic form of government. • Workers were striking due to poor wages & working conditions.

40. French Revolution of 1870 • 1870: Napoleon plunged France into war with Prussia in hopes of restoring the glory of France (remember the Ems Dispatch) • After the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian war, revolts broke out & Napoleon III abdicated. • Paris Commune refused to surrender. Eventually they were crushed and the Third Republic began, with universal male suffrage. Any hopes of a monarchy are now dead.

41. Dreyfus Affair • Dreyfus Affair: a Jewish Republican army captain was framed by monarchist army officers for treason. His unfair trial discredited the monarchist faction of the government. • Resulted in the formal separation of the government from the Catholic church. • An increase in anti-Semitism was seen.

42. Italian Unification • In the Renaissance, the Italian city-states lost their independence as a result of foreign invasion. • The policies of Napoleon (who had invaded Italy) revived the dreams of Italian nationalism. The Congress of Vienna’s restoration of traditional rule frustrated these aspirations. • After 1815, Italy was disunited and consisted of the following parts: • Kingdom of the 2 Sicily's (Naples) in Southern Italy • Papal States • Austrian-controlled regions in North-central Italy • The free Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in North Italy.

43. Italian Unification • Several methods to unite Italy existed: • Giuseppe Mazzini: Founder of “Young Italy” and called the “heart” of unification or “the pen” due to his nationalist writings. • Giuseppe Garibaldi: Red Shirts (known as the sword) • Cavour: Moderate Liberalism: wanted a constitutional monarchy under the king of Sardinia-Piedmont for which he was the prime minister (known as the “brain”)

44. The Process of Unification • Cavour was the mastermind of the successful unification of Italy. He believed in realpolitik • He did the following things: • Strengthened the army and economy of Sardinia-Piedmont (he was its Prime Minister) • Created an alliance with Napoleon III at the Plombiers conference to attack Austria. • Provoked war with Austria and forced Austria to ceded Lombardy to Sardinia-Piedmont.

45. More Steps in the Unification Process • The Duchies of Parma, Tuscany, and Modena successfully revolted against Austria and united with Sardinia-Piedmont in the Northern Italy. • Garibaldi did the following won many battles in S. Italy and then turned the region over to King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia-Piedmont to avoid further war and unite Italy. • Cavour invaded the Papal States, taking over everything except Rome. • Unification was complete by 1870

46. Italian Unification • Government consisted of a limited monarchy with a bicameral legislature consisting of a senate (appointed for life by the king) and a chamber of deputies (elected by the middle & upper classes). • The political system became very corrupt and involved bribing political opponents- known as trasformismo.

47. Problems in Italy • Italy was poor with a large illiterate population. • The Pope condemned the new gov’t and decreed that Catholics should not participate in it. • The north was more developed than the south and the 2 regions had little in common, economically and socially. • Since it unified late, Italy tried to compensate by aggressively acquiring colonies.

48. German Unification • Unification was supported by the growing middle class & city-workers. (Their influence was growing due to industrialization). • Competition between Austria & Prussia further complicated the unification process. • A turning point in Germany occurred when King William I became the king of Prussia in 1861.

49. Obstacles to German Unification • The Holy Roman Emperor never developed into an absolute monarch b/c he was elected by the German princes. • The religious wars with their formalized settlement in the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia further split German states. • In the 19th Century, the competition between Prussia and Austria kept either of them from consolidating with other smaller states. • Liberals in 1848, failed to act decisively, losing their opportunity of unification.

50. German Unification • William I inherited the Prussian throne. • William appointed Otto von Bismarck as chancellor in 1862. • Bismarck was a typical conservative junker who opposed liberalism • He raised money for the army by disregarding the constitution. • Believed in Realpolitik • Believed “blood and iron” could unify Germany, not liberalism