Monday, Dec 22, 2014
- The Congress System
- England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia formed a Quadruple Alliance committing them to preserve the conservative order.
- The great powers also agreed to hold periodic meetings or congresses to prevent crises from escalating into wider wars.
- The effort to achieve consensus on foreign policy issues was known as the Concert of Europe. It marks the first significant experiment in collective security.
- Revolt and Repression
- The Congress of Vienna disappointed liberals and nationalists across Europe. Discontentment led to revolts that tested Metternich and the Concert of Europe.
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Uprisings in Spain and Italy
- The repressive policies of the restored Spanish Bourbon King Ferdinand VII provoked demands for a more representative government. Acting with the consent of the other great powers, the French forces intervened, enabling Ferdinand to regain absolute power.
- Repressive monarchs in Naples and Sardinia-Piedmont also sparked rebellions. Metternich promptly responded by sending in Austrian forces who defeated the rebels.
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Repression in Germany
- Young Germans continued to hope for liberal reforms and a united Germany. Disillusioned by the Congress of Vienna, they formed student associations to discuss their concerns.
- Alarmed by these student activists, Metternich persuaded the major German states to issue the Carlsbad Decrees. The decrees dissolved the student associations, censored books and newspapers, and used secret police to harass dissidents.
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The Decembrist Revolt in Russia
- When Tsar Alexander I died in December 1825, a group of army officers rebelled, called for constitutional reform.
- Alexander’s successor, Nicholas I (r. 1825-1855) ruthlessly suppressed the Decembrists.
- Under Nicholas I’s oppressive regime, Russia became Europe’s most powerful reactionary stronghold.
- Romanticism and Nationalism
- As romantic writers studied the past, they helped make people aware of their common heritage. The resurgence of national feeling sparked nationalist movements across Europe. The first stirring was felt in Greece.
- Greek Independence
- The Greek revolt against the Ottoman Empire began in 1821.
- While the revolutions in Spain and Italy failed because of great power intervention, the Greek revolt succeeded because of the support of Great Britain, France, and Russia. These nations all wanted to expand their influence in the Balkans. They were also influenced by public support for Greece because of its historic importance as the birthplace of Western civilization.