*The Origins of the Revolution*
- The Enlightenment provided the ideology for the Revolution. For decades the philosophs questioned accepted political and religious beliefs and advocated for freedom, liberty and reason. Although they neither predicted nor pushed for a revolution, the philosophes wished to make people aware that the traditional ways were not always best.
- Also, prior to the Revolution, several sensational lawsuits about the scandalous doings of high aristocrats occurred, and when the information about the trials got out to the reading public, it made the aristocracy and the monarchy appear to be ridiculous despots.
- The French government was undoubtedly corrupt and ineffective. Louis XVI was not suited to be an absolute monarch (he was stupid) and his queen, Marie Antoinette, was hated through the land for her lack of sympathy with the people.
- Although this did not directly lead to Revolution, the most French people were unhappy and oppressed, and did not get enough to eat. This was not directly attributed to the system of government, and the peasants weren’t really involved with the Revolution, but the popular discontent did contribute to sparking the flames of Revolution among those who noted the injustice in French society.
- Long-term economic difficulties made it necessary for the king to try to tax the nobility, an act that pretty much set in motion the entire deal.
*The Prelude to the Revolution (1774 – 1789)*
- So, when Louis XVI took the throne in 1774, the monarchy was in a pretty bad shape economically. - Turgot (finance minister) tried to make reforms to fix the situation (like removing government restrictions on commerce, cutting down court expenses, and replacing the obligation of peasants to work on royal roads with a small tax on all landholders) but this made him unpopular with the nobles.
- So dumb Louis kicked Turgot out and replaced him with Necker who avoided new taxes, which made him popular, but took out huge loans instead, which was bad for the economy. After a while things were so screwed up that the new finance guy, Calonne, rightly stated that the monarchy was on the verge of bankruptcy. Calonne came up w/new taxes and proposed to convene provincial assemblies. To support his plan, he called an Assembly of Notables but they didn’t end up supporting him! Instead (gasp) they denounced the court spending and wanted to audit the accounts.
- Naturally Louis got rid of Calonne and appointed Archbishop Brienne (one of the notables) in his place. Brienne submitted Calonne’s ideas to the Parlements, but they rejected them. Then they demanded that Louis convene the Estates General. Louis responded by attempting to send the Parlement into exile, but was forced to back down.
- So, Louis recalled the Parlements and Necker and agreed to convene the EG in 1789…
*The Estates General Meet*
- As the word spread that the EG were going to meet, the liberal ideology began to take shape. People against tradition (they didn’t needed to be lower class, necessarily) came to be known as patriots.
- The first big issue was the method of voting for the EG. The Third Estate, representing 95% of population, asked to be doubled in size – the king said OK. But as the old method of voting (by order) made the upper chambers outweigh the Third Estate regardless of numbers, the Third Estate felt ripped off (how stupid do you think we are?) and asked for the voting to be conducted by head.
- Before the EG, the king invited the citizens to elect delegates to assemblies. All male taxpayers could vote for electors, who, in turn, chose reps for the Third Estate of the EG. Also, he asked citizens to write grievance petitions – cahiers. Most cahiers dealt with local issues, and gave no hint of the Revolution to come. Only some, from Paris, talked about natural rights and all that stuff. Still, the cahiers and local elections helped make citizens aware of politics.
*The National Assembly (1789 – 1791)*
- May 5th, 1789 à the EG finally met, for the first time since 1614. But the king only spoke generally and didn’t clear up the voting mess.
- June 17th, 1789 à the Third Estate had enough and proclaimed itself the National Assembly. A few days later, most of the clergy joined. The king decided to support the dumb nobles and locked the Third Estate out of its meeting hall.
- Tennis Court Oath à on June 20th, the Revolutionaries went to a tennis court and swore that they wouldn’t separate until they had given France a constitution.
- The king responded by promising equality in taxation, civil liberties, and regular meetings of the EG but voting would be by order. Then, he ordered the estates to go to their individual meeting halls, but the TE didn’t go. Finally, he recognized the NA and (trying to act like it was all his idea) told all the estates to join it. But, he secretly was ordering 20,000 royal troops to the Paris region.
- At the same time as this political stuff, the ordinary citizens were getting mad over food shortages. When they heard rumors of the royal troops, they feared an aristocratic plot to overthrow the NA. And, when the king got rid of Necker (who was popular) on July 11 it was the last straw.
- July 14th, 1789 à fearing counter-revolution Parisian crowds attacked the Bastille, the 20,000 troops joined (on Rev side), and the Revolutionaries won. At the same time, royal officials in Paris were ousted and were replaced w/a Revolutionary municipality, and a citizens’ militia was formed.
- The NA was saved, but the hungry peasants were still hungry and consequently still angry. Starvation and rumors (that nobles were going to destroy the harvest) caused The Great Fear in which the peasants attacked nobles and revolted.
- August 4th, 1789 à in response, the deputies of the clergy and nobility gave up their ancient privileges. In one night, feudalism and seigneurialism were abolished for good!
- August 26th, 1789 à NA writes The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen as the constitution will take a long time to finish. The Declaration established natural rights like freedom of expression, religion, etc. It all comes from Locke and from Rousseau (a little).
- Civil Constitution of the Clergy à #1 mistake for Revolutionaries. In 1790, they passed this law that forced clergy to become state employees and take oaths of loyalty to state. 50% clergy obeyed, other 50% didn’t, and the pope condemned the action, so many religious people were alienated.
- Constitution of 1791 à finally, in 1791, the constitution was finished. It established a limited monarchy w/a clear separation of powers. There was a unicameral legislature elected by indirect voting. Every adult male w/minimal taxpaying requirements could vote, w/a higher qualification needed to serve public office.
*The Legislative Assembly (1791 – 1792)*
- After the constitution was finished, the NA gave way to the Legislative Assembly. B/c of the Self Denying Ordinance, no NA members could be in the LA.
- Just as the first LA is about to go into effect, the king escapes! In his unsuccessful Flight to Varennes he tries to escape, but is captured. LA decides to keep him anyway, and they go on as if nothing had happened even though everything is messed up.
- Then, the LA makes the dumb decision to go to war w/Austria and Prussia b/c of the Declaration of Pillnitz (which wasn’t intended as serious anyway). The Girondins feel this will somehow unite the nation, the Royalists hope that they lose (king goes back), and Jacobins want to lose then win.
- August 10th, 1792 à then, b/c of the Brunswick Manifesto the Parisian militants decided to storm the royal palace at the Tulieries. They drove the king from the throne, the LA declared him suspended, and then half the LA escaped as well. Now, without the king, the LA was also illegitimate.
*The Radical Phase (1792 – 1794)*
- So, a new government had to be established, as the constitutional monarchy, w/out a monarch, had lost its legitimacy. Temporarily, a Paris Commune or city government was created. But this was not enough to maintain order, and in September, hysteria spread by the radical journalists resulted in the September Massacres, in which popular tribunals summarily executed thousands of prisoners, who were feared to be counter-revolutionaries.
- The hysteria began to fade when the French won at the Battle of Valmy on September 20th. Then, France was declared a Republic, and a National Convention met for the first time.
- January 21st, 1793 à Louis XVI was guillotined after lengthy deliberations.
- Now, the Convention was being threatened from many different sides (see debate) – including internal rebellions, foreign invasions, economic crisis, factionalism, popular pressure, etc. So, they decided to purge the Girondins and establish a program for public safety.
- Constitution of 1793 à although this constitution was never put into effect because of the military crisis, in addition to confirming the individual rights laid out in the last constitution (plus the rights of public assistance, education, and even of rebellion to resist oppression), it provided for a legislature elected by the people (men only though) that would also elect the executive.
- The Jacobins swept aside the new constitution, declaring the government “revolutionary until the peace” and instituting the Reign of Terror. A twelve-man committee, the Committee for Public Safety, was in charge, and the main leaders of the Committee were Robespierre, Danton, and the ultra radical Hébert.
- During the ROT, the French were fighting the foreign wars, and, soon enough, with the strict discipline of the ROT, they began to win.
- But, finally, the ROT culminated in the execution of its own leaders – Danton and Robespierre executed Hébert, Robespierre executed Danton, and then Robespierre himself was overthrown.
*The Thermidorian Reaction (1794 – 1795) and The Directory (1795 – 1799)*
- After the fall of Robespierre, the revolutionary committees that had led the ROT were destroyed, the Paris Jacobin Club was closed, and the Convention offered an amnesty to the remaining Girondins. The term Thermidorian Reaction refers to the return of conservatism after the ultra-radical phase in the FR and is now applied to any such pattern in other revolutions.
- The anti-Jacobin sentiment grew so strong, in fact, that a White Terror erupted against anyone connected with the Jacobins. The social austerity of the old calendar was back, the fancy titles, and all that stuff made their return.
- The last revolutionary uprising occurred in 1795, when the sans-culottes launched a poorly organized revolt (calling for “bread and the constitution of 1793”) and, after two days of street fighting, were overwhelmed by the government.
- In 1795, a new constitution was drafted. It proclaimed a general amnesty and set up a five man executive committee known as the Directory. It also had a two-house legislature. The Directory attempted to stay on the moderate side of everything, and it became incredibly corrupt! It had to overthrow itself after the first general election because a royalist majority won, and things only got worse. By 1799 any semblance of legitimacy was gone, making way for Napoleon…
*The Definition of Romanticism*
- Romanticism was a major movement in the early nineteenth century. Although it was more an attitude towards life than it was a philosophy, it did have some defining characteristics.
- Romanticism was almost a counterpoint to the ideals of the Enlightenment, which were then associated with liberalism and the middle class.
- Romanticism could coexist w/other political philosophies, for example nationalism or socialism.
- Actually, conservatives and radicals both drew on romantic philosophy, for conservatives claimed that stability was only possible through tradition and respect of customs while radicals claimed that a new era required the shattering of old institutions just as artistic change required new creativity.
- Romanticism was also an artistic movement.
*Romanticism (Rousseau and French Revolution) vs. Liberalism (Enlightenment)*
- Romanticism was a movement that idealized the countryside, liberalism thrived in the cities.
- Romanticism emphasized emotion, the heart, and poetry (often illogical and emotional) while liberalism emphasized reason, the mind, and prose (logical and unemotional).
- Romanticism stressed intuition, and the concept of genius (often misunderstood) while liberalism stressed reason and scholarship (you must study and work to improve yourself).
- Romanticism viewed nature as untamable, irrational, and out of control. They felt that nature controlled humans, not visa versa. Liberalism felt nature could be controlled, and, most importantly, understood through mathematical laws – it stressed progress.
- Romanticism stressed the uniqueness of the individual (sometime nations nationalists) while liberalism stressed the fact that humans control own destiny, that perfection can be reached through education, progress and science and that there are universal human laws.
- Romanticism idealized the Middle Ages (knights in shining armor) while liberalism despised it.
*Romantic Philosophy and Literature*
- Although romantic thought flourished with the revival of religion, the increased interest in history and rising nationalism, it was mainly philosophical.
- Romantic thinkers wrote about metaphysics, aesthetics, the philosophy of nature, and even (in Germany and Scandinavia) a romantic philosophy of science.
- Romantics tended to express themselves through poetry, aphorisms, and autobiographical accounts.
- Friedrich Schiegel à was a very influential romantic thinker from Germany.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge à was an English romantic poet who wrote the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a tale of guilt, redemption, and the supernatural.
- William Wordsworth à another romantic poet whose poems contrasted the beauty of nature with urban corruption and denounced the materialism of his age.
- In general, novelists and dramatists began to set their tales in the past, favor vivid description and attempt to describe the larger picture of human existence (like Shakespeare and Cervantes).
*Romantic Art and Music*
- In art, the romantic painters began to emphasize color over line, scenes of nature (especially wild nature), exotic scenes, movement, action, dark backgrounds, turmoil, and an appeal to emotion.
- The romantic style was almost the opposite of the last great style, neoclassicism.
- Romantic portraits (which were out anyhow) were blurry and tried to show inner personality.
- Big guys were Delacroix (French painter who did Greece Expiring and Liberty Leading the People), Goya (Spanish painter) and Turner (English painter who did The Slave Ship).
- At the same time a competing school of painting, realism, emphasized ordinary, common people and scenes from everyday life.
- Neoclassicism was not completely gone either, for Delacroix’s artistic enemy was Ingres (a student of david who emphasized detail, crisp focus and blended neoclassicism with romantic influence).
- In music romantic composers appealed directly to the heart, stressing melodies and using freer harmonies. Big romantic composers were Schubert and Schumann.
*Political Ideologies*
- Almost all the “isms” of the nineteenth century (Romanticism, Liberalism, Nationalism, Socialism, Conservatism, and Radicalism) came from either the Enlightenment or the French Revolution (or as a reaction to the French Revolutions).
- Conservatism à conservatives tended to justify the status quo, defend tradition and hierarchy, and stress the limitations of human understanding. Conservatism arose mainly from Edmund Burke, and Englishman who stated that society exists through a continuity of the traditions that have developed over the years. Although Burke allowed for gradual change in theory, he mainly supported established institutions. Other conservatives, Joseph de Maistre and Louis de Bonald stated that society, in order to preserve itself, had to keep close control on dangerous ideas of reform.
- Liberalism à political liberalism, which originated with Locke and Enlightenment, was associated with ideas of social progress, economic development and the middle class. Liberals hoped to achieve a free society governed by a constitution that valued individual rights. John Stuart Mill was the most important liberal spokesman of the nineteenth century – he supported freedom of thought, universal suffrage and collective action by workers.
- Economic Liberalism à although many liberals were also economic liberals, the two groups were not necessarily equivalent. Economic liberals always supported laissez-faire. David Ricardo, an Englishman who wrote the Principle of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), extended Smith’s ideology. He stated that a product’s value results from the labor required to make it, and emphasized labor saving as the source of profit. Also, he said that economic laws governed prices, such as the iron law of wages (which applied the law of supply and demand to labor).
- Utilitarianism à the call for social reform led to utilitarianism, which stressed the role of the state in society. One influential utilitarian was Jeremy Benthan, and Englishman who dismissed the doctrine of natural rights as a meaningless abstraction and, instead, proposed that utility should guide public policy. With good being that which give the most people pleasure and the bad being than which gives the most people pain, Benthan stated that self-interest could also guide public policy.
- Socialism à socialist despised the competitive spirit of capitalism and advocated a society in which people could live harmoniously and could be truly free. The early socialists – Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Owen – were late called utopian socialists by Marx b/c they attempted to found ideal communities in which everyone cooperated for the public benefit.
*The Structure of Society*
- By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the original social pyramid structure of society was being transformed into different, more fluid, classes – and social relationships were becoming matters of contact between individuals. The classes were as follows:
1. Aristocracy à although the aristocrats did lost much of their influence, they remained a potent force throughout Europe. The aristocracy continued to control most of the wealth of the country and still dominated the administration and the military. The aristocrats held on to more power in the south and east, though, for, there, they in effect had control over the peasant masses.
- During this time, the population also increased (due to fewer diseases, increased food supply and a lower of the age at which people married) and cities grew greatly.
- This in turn led to terrible conditions in the cities, and efforts to improve them through charities and government laws concerning public welfare.
- Charity was mainly conducted by the middle class and the very religious, and mostly by women.
Although the charities helped a few, they were not sufficient, and government intervention was required to fix the situation. By mid-century, housing and sanitary codes regulated most cities.
- Later, governments also began to regulate child labor and stop vagrancy. Education became a matter of national policy as well, and most countries established compulsory public schooling.
*The Spread of Liberal Government*
- As liberal social programs spread throughout Europe, England became the model for many aspiring liberal nations. But England itself had passed through a time of reform and change.
- Between 1688 and 1832 there was no reform at all in England b/c the English were afraid reform might open the gates for a revolution like in France.
- By the late eighteenth century England desperately needed reform, but would-be reformers like Tom
Paine, John Wilkes, Price and Priestly were not permitted to reform.
- England had an archaic system of government: only 500 people were elected to the House of Commons through the Burrows (which were totally corrupt – “pocket burrows”), there was total misrepresentation (new cities like Manchester had no reps) and it was all in all really unfair.
- Finally, in 1832 the Reform Bill was passed, which extended the franchise from 500,000 to 800,000 votes (which allowed upper MC to vote), and redistricted (more proportional representation). This was a big deal b/c it signaled the beginning of the end for the gentry 97 now the middle class was taking over and gaining control of the government.
- After 1832 new reforms such as the Factory Act (limiting hours of child labor) and the Poor Law were passed, and finally a law granting all resident taxpayers the right to vote in municipal elections.
- Still, more reforms were pushed for by the masses. One big issue was the Corn Laws (tariff on agricultural goods), which the landowners liked (can raise prices, more $) but middle class and working class despised (food prices up). So middle and working classes joined against gentry. In 1846 the laws were repealed (a final proof of the switch in power to the middle class). The Test Act was also repealed around this time.
- The radicals in England, known as the Charterists, wanted universal male suffrage, annual elections, secret ballots, and salaries for parliament members. But this movement, unlike the one against the Corn Laws, ended up in failure.
*The Revolutions of 1830*
- In 1830, revolution swept across Europe, beginning with the abdication of Charles X in France, which sparked off minor revolts in central Italy, Spain, Portugal, some German states, and Poland. But Austria and Russia once again crushed most of the revolutions.
- France à of course it started with France. First, Charles X didn’t like the elections, so he passed the July Ordinances (which cancelled elections, upped censorship, and called for new elections), which resulted in the people taking to the streets in revolution, Charles running away, and Lafayette bringing Louis Philippe from Orleans as the new king. The new reign, known as the July Monarchy, emphasized moderation – the regime began w/a new constitution presented as a contract that guaranteed individual rights, etc. The July Monarchy attempted to identify w/the middle class, and Louis called himself the citizen king. But the monarchy didn’t please anyone b/c it attempted to please everyone, so, naturally, nobody was satisfied. Anyhow, during this time Guizot (a moderate liberal who spoke of liberty and progress but did nothing) skillfully dominated the government.
- Belgium à the Belgians (Catholics) followed the French revolted against the Dutch Protestants. They established a liberal constitutional monarchy and became a prosperous small country.
- Spain à in Spain, the monarchy supported the liberals. In 1833, however, the monarchy was threatened by a conservative uprising (the Carlists). So, to win support more support from the liberals, the monarchy granted a constitution in 1834.
*The Revolutions of 1848*
- In 1848, liberal revolutions broke out throughout Europe. Although, at first, they appeared to be spectacularly successful, in the end, all the revolutions failed.
- In general, revolutions occurred where governments were distrusted and where the fear and resentment fed by rising food prices and unemployment found focus in political demands.
- In the end, the revolutions failed b/c the revolutionaries found themselves divided, and also, as Seaman states, because the original governments still had the power and will to survive.
- Sometimes 1848 is referred to as “the turning point at which modern history failed to turn” because it seemed as though the revolutionaries were only so close to success.
*Revolution in France*
- Naturally, it all started in France (where else?) b/c of a small issue about suffrage. When the government refused to widen suffrage, the parliamentary opposition launched a protest movement that staged large banquets across the country.
- The government (aware of its own unpopularity b/c by trying to be in the center, they didn’t please anybody) banned the banquet scheduled for Paris in late February 1848, but some deputies said they would attend anyway, sparking a popular rebellion – barricades formed, the whole deal.
- Louis Philippe responded by reviewing his National Guard, they refused to cheer him, LP realized he had no support and abdicated in favor of his grandson and left for England.
- Instead of listing to LP, of course, two rival newspapers chose a provisional government of men, who appeared a the Hotel de Ville and declared France a republic. Led by Alphonse de Lamartine, an admired romantic poet, the new government was dominated by moderates who at first cooperated with the more radical members. They agreed on universal male suffrage, and on the citizen’s right to work, and they established a commission to hold public hearings on labor problems.
- But the new regime didn’t want to go overboard – it rejected intervention on behalf of other revolutions, didn’t use the red flag, and added new taxes. Relations w/the church were great, nearly 85% of the people voted, moderate republicans won, and all seemed well…
- The workers, however, were not satisfied and agitated for a social program and pinned their hopes on the program of national workshops that had been established (although they were imaged as cooperatives, they were really temporary relief programs). But the program seemed stupid to the moderates, who disbanded the workshops in June (bad move).
- Now the workers were really ticked off, and they responded by building barricades. For three days they fought viciously against the republic’s troops (led by General Cavaignac) but were crushed in the bloody time known as the June Days. Now, with almost dictatorial powers, Cavaignac restricted the press, suppressed the radicals, and instituted severe discipline on the workers. Although Cavaignac remained a republican and the assembly still wrote its constitution, something was definitely off.
- The June Days represented the fatal split between the two revolutionary groups:
1. Middle class à wanted moderate goals, like equality of taxation, careers open to talent, representative government (but only w/middle class voting b/c voters had to have stake in society and education), freedom of speech, press – goals of Enlightenment.
2. Working class à wanted radical goals, socialism, total equality – new type of revolution no longer based on Enlightenment but based on socialism and working class.
- So, in December, there was an election and Louis Napoleon Bonaparte won w/70% of the votes b/c of his name, which meant glory and stability. Bonaparte later changed the government to an empire w/himself as emperor just like his uncle, the original Napoleon. So, all in all, the revolution failed!
*Revolution in Austria*
- In the Austrian Empire, the Hungarians had by mid-March established a free press and a national guard and had abolished feudal obligations and special privileges. Vienna then reluctantly allowed Hungary to levy its own taxes and direct its own army.
- This Hungarian example caused students in Vienna to demand representative government for Austria as well – crowds rose up, Metternich resigned, censorship was abolished, a constitution was promised, and universal male suffrage was given.
- But, of course, Hungarian autonomy caused similar demands from the Czechs in Bohemia, the Croatians in Croatia, and the Romanians in Transylvania.
- The original revolutionaries, however, had no tolerance for other smaller revolutions against the Germans, and it supported the repressors of those small revolutions.
- As the smaller revolutions gained power, so did the Hapsburgs (who asked for the support of the smaller revolutions against the first revolutions).
- The Hapsburgs then used their powerful armies to force all the revolutionaries into submission.
*Revolution in Prussia*
- In the meantime, Frederick William IV of Prussia, upon hearing about the uprising in Vienna, granted some concessions, relaxed censorship and called the Landtag (parliament). Fighting broke out anyway. But when FW agreed to remove his troops from Berlin and elected a constitutional assembly through indirect male suffrage (Berlin), it stopped and it seemed that the revolution had won out.
- Frankfurt Convention à in May, 830 delegates met at Frankfurt to discuss German issues. Most favored a monarchial German state w/a semi-democratic constitution, but there was a split between the Little Germans (wanted Prussia to lead) and Big Germans (wanted Austria to lead).
- Finally, the Little Germans won out, and in March 1849 the Prussian king was elected to become the German emperor. But (gasp!) he refused – which was actually not surprising since the Prussians were never liberal, cared nothing for Germany, and FW didn’t want his power limited – so the constitution was never put into effect. Note that by this time the Landtag in Prussia had already been dissolved.
- Also by this time the MC had been spooked by the strength of the working class rebellions, so they asked for help from the Prussian king, he sees they are powerless: that’s all for that revolution!
*Revolution in Italy*
- A similar pattern occurred in Italy. At first, the revolutions were successful, and all the states got constitutions (Napes, Tuscany, Piedmont, even Papal States).
- Lombardy and Venetia had been part of the Hapsburg Empire, but after the revolution in Vienna, a revolt broke out in Milan against the Austrian forces there. In the Five Glorious Days of Milan the Austrians were forced to retreat. The Venetian republic was reestablished, and Piedmont joined the war against Austria as well. In fact, when it then turned out that the pope was not an Italian nationalist (surprise, surprise) and he escaped, Rome was even left to be run by a representative assembly.
- Still, military force was the decisive factor, and Austria came back and beat Piedmont and its allies, leaving Austria back in firm control. Louis Napoleon then restored the pope, Sicily fell to the kingdom of Naples in May 1849, and, finally, Venetia was defeated in August 1849 by Austria.
*The Effects of Revolution*
- Although none of the revolutions succeeded, they had a lasting impact on Europe.
- The widespread revolutions measured the failures of restoration, once again demonstrated the power of political ideas, and uncovered the effects of a generation of social change.
- Several gains, in fact, did endure: peasants in Prussia and Austria were emancipated, Piedmont and Prussia kept their new constitutions, and monarchs learned they needed to watch public opinion.
- Liberals learned that they couldn’t depend on the masses to follow them w/out making demands, they reevaluated their own goals – perhaps the old order was better than anarchy, they thought. The, on the other hand, saw they couldn’t trust the liberals to help them (they were ripped off).
- Everyone realized that revolutions needed power and armies to back them up but that, nevertheless, nationalism was a powerful new force in politics.
*Nationalism*
- Nationalism’s roots stem from a shared sense of regional and cultural identity, but the French Revolution and the effects of Napoleon’s conquests really caused it to emerge as a force in Europe.
- Nationalism was also a movement towards modernization, as countries attempted to industrialize in order to compete with other nations and tried to modernize their political systems.
- As an intellectual movement, nationalism also emphasized the importance of culture and cultural uniqueness. It rejected the universality of the Enlightenment and stated that each country had its own unique values and was suited to its own system of government. Many thinkers (like German nationalists Herder and Gottlieb) urged their countrymen to celebrate their cultural values.
- So, nationalism led to a fascination with folk culture and national history.
- As a political movement, the goal of nationalism was independence: both actual and economic.
- Note that there were two different types of nationalism:
1. Liberal à combined w/ideas of the French Revolution, the liberal nationalists stated that no country is better than another, but that each country has its own unique qualities. All nations deserve to be unified and led by people of their own nationality who can provide the nation with a constitution that is rational, reasonable and just, they said.
2. Militaristic à associated w/ideas of social Darwinism and Realpolitik, the claim of militaristic nationalism is that one’s nation is better, not just different. Machiavellian politicians who are out for personal power can exploit this form of nationalism.
*The Crimean War*
- Nationalist tensions led to the Crimean War, which originated over competing claims by Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox monks to be the guardians of Jerusalem’s holy places.
- France (supporting the Catholics) pressured the Ottoman sultan into giving the Catholics special privileges, which caused the Russians (supporting the Greek Orthodox) to demand a protectorate over Orthodox churches w/in the Ottoman Empire. Then the Russians occupied Wallachia and Moldavia, Danubian lands that were under the Ottomans.
- Concerned by the Russian expansion, the English urged the sultan to resist the Russian demands. When negotiations broke down, Britain and France sent their fleets to the Aegean Sea, and in October 1853 the sultan declared war on Russia. When his butt got kicked, Britain and France joined him to preserve the balance of power.
- In the end, England (BOP), France (defend Catholics), Piedmont (to go to peace conference) and Turkey fight Russia in the Crimean area. This war exposed the weakness of Austria and Russia, and showed how antiquated their systems were.
- Congress of Paris à finally, the Turkish side won and the powers met at the Congress of Paris, a congress that was preoccupied with issues of nationalism. Russia was forced to cede some territory, surrender its claims in Turkey and accept a ban on warships in the Black Sea. The big issue at the conference had to do w/national claims (who should get the Danubian principalities?), an issue which was postponed b/c the Austrians didn’t want the obvious solution (an autonomous state) to be put into effect as they felt threatened by nationalist interests.
*Italian Unification*
- Giuseppe Mazzini à known as “the spirit” of Italian Unification, Mazzini was one of the first Italian nationalists. His form of nationalism was very romantic and emphasized Italy’s uniqueness and special role in Europe. In nationalism, Mazzini saw the expression of natural communities, the basis for popular democracy and international brotherhood. Although Mazzini made many attempts to unify Italy through movements like Young Italy and conspiracies and propaganda (etc.), he never succeeded. His big chance came in 1848, but, when Austria regained control, Mazzini left.
- Consequently, the task of unification, surprisingly, came to the small state of Piedmont, which had fought Austria and emerged with a constitutional monarchy led by Victor Emmanuel II.
- Cavour à was Prime Minister, a liberal who believed in progress, tolerance, limited suffrage, and who saw nationalism as an avenue to modernization. Although Piedmont’s internal strength was his first concern, he also wished to make Piedmont the center of Italy’s resurgence, the Risorgimento.
- Plombieres Agreement à made by Cavour w/Louis Napoleon, the Plombieres Agreement stated that if Piedmont were at war w/Austria then France would back them up. If Piedmont won, then there would be land gains for both countries. Cavour wanted Venetia and Lombardy out of the deal (but he never intended to fully unify Italy), and Napoleon wanted to weaken Austria, get Nice and Savoy, and get back at the Austrians (for Congress of Vienna).
- They were just looking for a way to start the war when Austria did some stupid things: it imposed military conscription on Venetia and Lombardy (super unpopular), and it sent a declaration of total disarmament or war to Piedmont – geez, talk about playing right into their hands.
- So after two battles at Magenta and Solferino, things are going well when Napoleon III quits b/c he realizes he is falling into a trap (worried about Piedmont getting too strong)!
- Treaty of Villafranca à is where Napoleon III pulls out and the Austrian-Sardinian war ends.
- But now, it is time for Garibaldi who is the ultimate romantic. He recruits a thousands volunteers, sails down to Sicily and attacks the Kingdom of Two Sicily. As he wins battles, his army grows, and he is soon ready to take on Papal States (also France then) and Cavour (b/c Garibaldi is a republican and Cavour has a monarch). So, in 1860 he marches to meet the North and, in order to prevent a civil war, he gives ALL his conquests to Cavour and goes home to grow corn!
- So now Northern Italy (w/exeception of Venetia and Rome) joins Southern Italy.
- In 1866, through the Austro-Prussian war, Italy gets Venetia, and then, in 1870, through the Franco-Prussian war, Italy sneaks in and takes Rome. Now Italy is totally unified.
*German Unification*
- The process of German Unification began as early as 1834, when the Zollverein (Prussian led economic union) was formed. Then in 1848 the Frankfurt Assembly reinforced the concept of a united Germany. In 1861, Willhelm I mounted the Prussian throne, and in 1862 Bismarck was appointed PM.
- Similarities to Italian Unification à events not planned in advance (contrary to leader’s claims later on), industrialized north and rural south, done piece by piece, done using Realpolitik, at first leaders didn’t want/expect full unification, and big obstacle in both cases = Austria.
- When Willhelm I came to power in 1861, there was a big issue on military spending: Willhelm wants $, Parliament doesn’t want more taxes. So Willhelm appoints Bismarck, who collects taxes regardless (reminiscent of England w/Charles I). But this time, b/c of the tradition of absolutism, the monarch won out and, although Parliament was mad, it couldn’t do anything about it.
- Then, in 1864 there is The Danish War in which Austria & Prussia fight the Danish. This war originates when Danish want traditional German provinces of Schleswig and Holstein. Naturally the Austrians and Prussians win, and Austria gets Holstein while Prussia gets Schleswig at the Gastein Convention. It has been debated whether or not this was a deliberate plan by Bismarck to start war later – but no, b/c in, Austria made some exorbitant demands, but Bismarck still didn’t go to war…
- Then in 1866 the Austro-Prussian (Seven Weeks) War starts. Bismarck instigates this war by causing trouble in Holstein, the Prussians kick Austrian butts b/c Austrians have out of date military technology and have to cope with all these nationalist issues.
- Next in 1870 the Crisis of the Spanish Succession occurs. The question is the next Spanish emperor (not this again). Bismarck proposes Leopold of Hohenzollern (Will’s cousin), the Cortes like it, but France sure doesn’t. Willhelm backs down at Ems, but he won’t promise to never do it again when Napoleon III asks him to. Concerned, Will sends the Ems Telegram home to Bismarck saying what happened, Bismarck changes a few choice words, releases it to the press and voila – you have a war!
- So the Franco-Prussian War is on. France is favored, but, once again, Prussia totally wipes the floor with the French. Not only does Prussia win, but the Prussians even force the French into unconditional surrender via the Siege of Paris (not very pretty, people were eating their dogs and cats). Then, to add insult to injury, the French pay a huge indemnity, have to give up Alsace-Lorraine, and must watch Willhelm get crowned Emperor of Germany at Versailles! What could be worse?
*Popular Culture*
- The thirty years before 1914 have now become known as the Belle Époque. In this era, many Europeans came to share an urban life with plenty of opportunities for entertainment.
- As new attractions such as music halls became available to more and more people, traditional games and festivals gradually became less important. In sports, many traditional games faded away as cricket, soccer and rugby became more popular. Sports games became important parts of mass culture.
- People had more time for leisure due to the adoption of the English week (Sundays and half of Saturdays off), and women also gained more opportunities to attend the theater, etc.
- Since people had more time to read, newspapers increased in circulation, now giving more space to sensationalistic human-interest stories and less attention to dry analysis of the news.
- There were also more popular novels, and in wealthy nations, over 50% of the pop. could read/write. But mass schooling was still limited to a few years in basic subjects, and few poor could afford more.
*Women’s Movements*
- From the 1860s onwards, women had begun to organize in behalf of their interests. Several types of women’s movements existed, including:
1. Led by middle class women, most women’s movements were centered in charitable work and education. Cautious in outlook, they spoke out against the social injustices that caused millions of women to be subjected to terrible poverty.
2. By the 1880s, the first type of movement had led to a more politically radical one that was less geared towards protecting women and was more concerned with equality.
3. Another movement, led by the women’s trade unions, was mainly concerned about the problems of pay and working conditions in the factories.
- Now, most women in industrial countries were engaged in work for pay, although jobs were still tied to gender. Women were paid less and were mainly forced to do dull tasks or service work.
- Over time, some new jobs spread to women – such as the jobs of secretaries, office clerks, bookkeepers, and saleswomen in department stores.
- The triumph of women in science, etc. was causing some change in the attitudes towards women, although women still faced opposition from many people who felt their place was in the home. By 1910, some progress had been made and most nations had passed laws protecting women workers and increasing women’s rights: they could control property, make decisions, and participate in civic life.
*The Arts*
- In this time, there was a new variety of artistic styles.
- Naturalists à this school believed that the artist had to show life exactly as it was w/careful detail and research. This applied especially to the novel – Emile Zola was the master of the school.
- A common theme for this time was determinism, the belief that behavior was predetermined through social circumstance and blood inheritance (influence of Darwin).
- Impressionism à during this time the big new style was impressionism. Instead of attempting to capture reality, impressionists showed “what the eye first sees” by using color, light, and flattening the canvas. The big guys were Manet (the Manet Revolution, he was really the first impressionist), Monet (yeah, the one who did the paintings of the same pond 100 times), Renoir (focused on people scenes) and Degas (also focused on people in their private moments). The impressionists were into art for arts sake and made no political points in their work (unlike romantics).
- Post Impressionism à took the next step and was even less realistic, didn’t even try to show reality at all. The big people included Van Gogh (Starry Night, etc.), Paul Gaugin (beginning of surrealism), and the Pointillists (one dot at a time, led by Seurat).
- Abstract Impressionism à really an early 20th century movement, it was just pretty things, w/no correlation to reality – “rhythmical arrangement of line and color” (Henry Matisse).
*Attacks on Liberal Civilization*
- It seems that now, finally, liberalism has won out, but it was still being attacked from many directions during this era, especially during the fin de siecle (1870 – 1914).
- Radicalismà there were several different types of working class/radical movements, most of which were socialist, during this time. The different ones included:
1. Marxism à the most common type, as most socialist parties in Europe were at least formally Marxist. In 1864, a group of English labor leaders called an international conference in London, and Marx decided to attend. Known as the First International, the meeting was dominated by Marx (who kicked out people he didn’t agree with – for example, the Blanquists). Marx had a big issue w/the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, who supported nationalism (Marx hated it) and thought Marx was too authoritarian. Although the First International died after 1872 (when Bakunin was expelled), it helped build a workers movement by spreading Marxism. After this, most Marxist parties combined moderate policies w/exciting slogans – they formed the Second International in 1889.
2. Revisionist Socialism à similar to Marxism except in the fact that they believed that, instead of a revolution, the proletariat should take over through the democratization of the government, the revisionist socialists gained power in politics.
3. Trade Unions à trade unions, sometimes known as Syndicalist Movements, also gained an avid following. Skilled artisans often led these movements, but the greatest threat was posed by the concept of the General Strike by the factory workers. The concept of the general strike was proposed by Georges Sorel (who wrote Reflections on Violence in 1908 and rejected bourgeois rationalism in favor of violence to create political movements).
4. Anarchism à there were also anarchist groups, which were illegal and underground parties specializing in random acts of violence – terrorism. Although not all anarchists were bomb throwers (Prince Peter Kropotkin, for example, was gentle and compassionate, but his idea of anarcho-communism didn’t catch on) all anarchists hated established authorities.
- Conservatism à rightist movements revived during this time, gaining support among the aristocrats, rural people, and member of the lower-middle class. They defended voting by class, limited suffrage, and attacked the shallowness of middle class culture and capitalism. Sometimes the right used nationalism and patriotism to gain support.
- The Church à the Christian religion greatly attacked the materialism and selfishness of modern society. Both Protestants and Catholics often denounced the injustices of society, but the Catholic Church was especially hostile towards liberalism. In 1864, Pope Pius IX issued a declaration that described the evils of modern society (it denounced total faith in reason, state control, and stated that the pope would not reconcile himself with liberalism) and in 1869 the Vatican Council declared that the pope was infallible when speaking ex cathedra. The battle between church and state was still going on during this era, but, as time passed, the conflict became outmoded and both sides became more cooperative as states turned their attention to the left instead. The church also encouraged charity work – for example, in 1891 Pope Leo XIII spoke out against social injustice and pushed for change.
- Philosophy à some philosophers of the time began to look beyond reason. They stated that humanity was essentially irrational. For example, Henri Bergson believed that human understanding arose from intuition, not reason, and felt that spontaneity and creativity was key. Friedrich Nietzsche attacked everything about his society: equality, democracy, nationalism, militarism, etc. and felt that society’s only hope lay in being led by a few ubermench (supermen).
- Charles Darwin à Darwin’s discoveries, which made people appear to be more like animals and showed that humans were irrational creatures controlled by nature, also undermined faith in liberalism, a philosophy that was based on a belief in human rationality.
*Common Domestic Problems*
- So, although liberalism was under attack in a big way, it still survived, but not without its share of issues and domestic problems, which were dealt w/differently in each country.
- One issue was suffrage – although the trend had become to increase suffrage, there was a big debate over women’s suffrage. Also, each system had found its own way to constrain democracy.
- Another was the exact role of the state in areas such as social welfare (education, housing, public health) and the economy. Special interest groups often lobbied for gov’t support, and conflicts often arose when the gov’t was faced w/competing interests – does this sound familiar? Hmm…
- So, as governments gained responsibilities in social welfare, transportation, etc. their bureaucracies (surprise, surprise) grew in size. Businesses also became more bureaucratic, as did workers unions, political parties, and professional associations. Though the large-scale organizations also had a stabilizing influence, they made all the conflicts and social divisions larger scale too.
- Another issue was national identity: should certain groups be included in a nation’s identity? This often led to major problems in which nations were split apart.
*France’s Domestic Policies*
- During Franco-Prussian war, in the four-month Siege of Paris, a split broke out between the right (which wanted to quit) and the left (wanted to fight like in 1792). The left won out, and established a radical Paris Commune, which took over the city in 1871. They held out as out as long as they could (they ate their dogs and cats), but the Germans still won.
- So, France’s newly elected assembly went to meet at Versailles and agreed to peace on German terms. Since the assembly couldn’t agree on a form of government (I sense a pattern here), it compromised by making Adolphe Thiers chief of the “Executive Power”.
- Now, the Paris Commune people thought they were the people running the country – and (you guessed it) a civil war breaks out. It is the republic national government (led by Thiers) vs. the Paris Commune (led by Charles de la Cruz – a Robespierre wannabe who is also known as the Incorruptible and also wants the Republic of Virtue – what a copycat).
- The Germans are happy to sit back and watch the French kill e/o – haha, they say.
- May 1871 à the “bloody week”. 25,000 people were killed in street fighting. Finally, the insurrection was put down and the French Third Republic was born (1871 – 1940). Although the people who wanted the republic were a minority, since the others are so divided, they won!
- The Paris Commune became this big Marxist legend of the Socialist Revolution.
- The new Third Republic had a Chamber of Deputies (elected by direct universal male suffrage) a Senate (elected by indirect suffrage through local officials) and a president (which was weak). It was a regime of compromise. From 1879 to 1899, it was lead by moderate republicans.
- There were still plenty of problems: in 1889 General Georges Boulanger actually became more popular than the politicians using nat’lism, and the leaders fear a coup, but nothing happened. And in 1894, the whole Dreyfus Affair occurred (bad for military, monarchists, and Church).
- Still, things pulled together, and from 1900 to WWI the gov’t was in the hands of firm republicans who purged the army of their opponents, attacked the church (separated church and state in 1905) but still stayed pretty much moderate. The prime minter from 1906 to 1909 was Georges Clemenceau.
*Germany’s Domestic Policies*
- Until 1890, Bismarck totally dominated German politics. But then young William II, eager to run the country and exasperated w/Bismarck’s complex policies, forced his resignation.
- Bismarck’s policies had allowed the court, army, bureaucracy and the big businesses to accumulate tremendous amounts of power. His successors were faced w/the challenge of holding the system together w/the demands of the public and parliament. No easy job. They tried to mimic his foreign policy successes (big mistake) and copied him in building up the army. There were big issues over enlarging the army in 1887, 1893, 1898 and 1911 – 1913: each time the army got bigger, the government relied more on nationalism, and society got more divided.
- The government also attempted to appeal to the public by propaganda in the 1890s. The Prussian Junkers and industrialists ran these campaigns that supported high tariffs, imperialism and the military and attacked socialists, Jews and foreigners. They won victories, such as the Naval Bill of 1898.
- The government also extended many social welfare programs: social security, labor arbitration, regulation of working hours, safety standards, etc. and built railroads and stuff.
- Still, the Social Democrats (socialist party) gained a lot throughout the 1890s and dominated Germany’s labor unions. The SD’s remained firm revolutionaries (no revisionism for them) choosing strict Marxism. The lines for battle, so to speak, were clearly drawn in German politics.
- In 1909, the last peacetime chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, took office. He tried to placate both the conservative court and the more radical parliament. His programs for reform failed.
*Italy’s Domestic Policies*
- Italy’s liberal monarchy wanted to modernize while balancing the budget. But, since the gov’t was totally corrupt and had very limited suffrage, it couldn’t win much popular support.
- In the 1880s and 1890s, the prime minister Francesco Crispi tried to win popular supported by policies like anticlericalism, a trade war w/France and imperialism – but, instead, he angered people and had to resort to martial law to end a protest movement among Sicilian peasants.
- Unrest increased until riots reached revolutionary scale in Milan in 1898. The gov’t restored order, but it took bloodshed and repression. Conservatives argued for more oppression, but the Chamber of Deputies refused. Under Giovanni Giolitti (prime minister from 1903 to 1914) the gov’t got more popular support through acknowledging the right to strike, nationalizing railroads and life insurance, sponsoring public health and supporting universal male suffrage.
- Although there were still conflicts, Italy was industrializing at a rapid rate, the war against Turkey in 1912 helped gain public support, and Italy was pretty much set on a liberal track.
*Russia’s Domestic Policies*
- Russia had blocked reform for a generation, and it had become a totally backwards country. When Alexander III came into power, he tried to achieve stability through the Orthodox Church and police control of ideology. He game nobles a greater role n local councils (the zemstvos) and gave governors permission to use martial law to restrict non-Russian religions and languages and persecute Jews.
- Then, when Russia suffered a humiliating defeat at Japanese hands in the Russo-Japanese war in 1904, the pressure for reform grew tremendously. The Social Revolutionaries and the Marxist Social Democrats were both gaining strength, and the liberal members of the zemstvos decided to hold an illegal meeting in which they argued for civil liberties.
- In 1905 striking workers marched on the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to petition for a constitution and labor unions. They were shot down by the army on “Bloody Sunday” – which led to agitation so wide that in March the tsar promised to call an assembly of notables and announced reforms of religious toleration, reduced restrictions on non-Russians and Jews, and fewer payments for peasants.
- This was not enough. Urban strikes, peasant riots, etc. showed the country demanded a constitution, and in August the tsar said he would consult the Imperial Duma.
- The public wanted even more, and responded w/a wave of strikes so effective it forced the tsar to issue the October Manifesto, which granted a constitution.
- The people who supported the constitution became known as Octoberists, more liberal leaders became known as the Cadets (short for Constitutional Democrats), and, further to the left, some socialists refused to compromise and called for another general strike, which was only partially successful and whose leaders were soon arrested.
- The Fundamental Laws announced in May 1906 defined the new gov’t: the tsar could still veto, name his ministers, command the executive, the judiciary, and the army, and the nat’l legislature would have an upper house (half of whose members were appointed by the tsar) and the Duma.
- Since elections under this system brought the Cadets into power, Nicholas disbanded the legislature and held new elections, which turned out more radical. So, he passed a law favoring the upper classes.
- Although the new system was somewhat corrupt, it was still workable and allowed Russia to industrialize. The prime minister from 1906 – 1911, Peter Stolypin, reformed education and administration and created full private ownership of land and social insurance.
*Austria-Hungary’s Domestic Policies*
- In Austria-Hungary, politics had reached a stalemate, as the creation of the autonomous regime in Hungary had touched off conflicts w/the rest of the empire. Only the conservative instincts of the court, aristocracy, and the bureaucracy stopped reform, and stopped the country from disintegrating through the ABC Paradox (nationalist rebellions).
- From 1879 – 1893 Count Eduard von Taffe held office. Although Czechs and Poles supported Taffe, he was forced to stick to inaction for fear of alienating his other supporters. In response to worker’s agitation, Taffe proposed welfare measures but repressed the socialists (making the left and the right mad). After his fall, the gov’t relied more on support from the top, since universal male suffrage (introduced in 1907) put the Christian Socialist and Social Democrats in the lead.
- In Hungary, the Magyars kept control through oppression and corruption of the bureaucracy. They weakened the empire w/their independent policies. But, for mutual survival, the leaders of both Austria and Hungary stayed away from change and relied on imperial foreign policy to distract.
*Spain’s Domestic Policies*
- From 1854 – 1863, a liberal coalition held power in Spain, and Spain experienced economic growth and the beginning of industrialization. But this growth soon brought new demands, and in 1868, the unpopular Queen Isabella II fled and revolution ensued.
- The revolution was led by political moderates who agreed on a constitution monarchy w/universal male suffrage, trial by jury and freedom of religion and the press. But, they couldn’t find a king, and finally had to settle for an Italian prince who gave up after three years. The republic only lasted two more years until Isabella’s son was reinstalled as Alfonso XII. Little change occurred during his reign, and a parliamentary system based on limited suffrage did little to reform the country.
- Industrialization made everything worse, and, in Cuba, the gov’t was soon faced w/guerilla war and was forced to withdraw. This led to more thought, but not enough, for in 1909 the tensions resulted in a week of violence in Barcelona. This was put down, and the moderate regime came back.
*England’s Domestic Policies*
- In England, the domestic issues were resolved through a two-party system. William Gladstone transformed the Whigs into the Liberal Party, and Benjamin Disraeli turned the Tories into the Conservative Party. Gladstone supported increased suffrage and reform, and even sympathized with radicals. Disraeli supported a simper suffrage reform bill, which was passed in 1867.
- The larger electorate provided for in 1867 allowed the Liberals to dominate for six years. The Liberals reformed education, the army, disestablished the Anglican Church of Ireland and restricted the abuses of absentee landlords. When the Conservatives returned in 1874, they expanded the authority of the state and added social welfare bills. The Liberals then continued their support of universal male suffrage, which was passed in 1885.
- But, when Gladstone agreed to Irish home rule in 1886, his party split and some Liberals (led by Joseph Chamberlain) allied w/the Conservatives, who took over using imperialism.
- While the Conservatives promoted British power abroad, they restructured local government by making country councils elective and therefore more democratic (1888, 1894) and extended the reforms of the civil service (in 1902 they got a national education system w/secondary schools).
- But the working class was still dissatisfied, and, in 1900, union representative and intellectuals combined to for the Labour party, which was basically a democratic socialist party. The Liberal and the Labour parties campaigned for social programs that the Conservatives were against.
- In 1906, the Liberals won again, and they established programs of workers’ compensation, old-age pensions and urban planning. This (and the arms race) led David Lloyd George to propose the “people’s budget” in 1909, which was rejected by the House of Lords. But the king, who threatened to appointed more peers, forced the upper house to consent to the budget and a change in the constitution, which prohibited the Lords from vetoing money bills or anything that passed three times.
- The conflict led to an increase in social tension: there were more strikes and violence, and there was a possibility of the dreaded general strike. And, when in 1914 the Commons gave the Irish home rule, the Protestants of N. Ireland threatened civil war.
- But, the outbreak of WWI generated a wave of national unity, though the peace and prosperity of the Edwardian era (1901 – 1910) was sacrificed in exchange.
*Foreign Policy From 1870 to 1890*
- By 1870, all the major powers that would participate in WWI were in place. Their foreign policies from 1870 to 1890 (end of Bismarck’s rule) would in many ways set the stage for WWI.
- England à the #1 power in Europe, by a lot. England had been the first to industrialize and it was still well ahead (steel production, paper use, etc.) until 1890, when Germany began to surpass it. England was the biggest imperial power, with India, Canada, and its plans for the Cape à Cairo railroad. It had the Suez Canal (which was its “lifeline” and it would protect at all costs) as well. The English navy was also bigger than all the others in the world combined! England’s only concern with Europe was for the balance of power and nothing more – no peacetime alliances.
- France à the #3 power in Europe. After the horrible mess of the Paris Commune and the Dreyfus affair, the French Third Republic seemed solidly established. The main goal for France was to regain control of Alsace-Lorraine (the “lost provinces”). Consequently, they had a vendetta against Germany. In imperialism they were the second place power with many African States and influence in China and Southeast Asia. Also industrialized.
- Russia à also the #3 power in Europe. A totally backwards country that only freed its serfs in 1861, was not industrialized at all (b/c needed middle class and trade, which it didn’t have). Russia’s goal was, as ever, the WWP (warm water port), which it would need for trade. It wanted to get it on the Mediterranean, from Turkey, which would be easily done if not for England, which wanted to maintain peace near its lifeline, and kept stopping them. They could also get the WWP by encouraging Pan-Slavism and, therefore, causing the disintegration of Austria-Hungary, but this obviously causes serious issues with Austria-Hungary (yea, they had issues).
- Austria-Hungary à the #5 power in Europe. They are really, really scared of one thing: Slavic nationalism, which is being encouraged by Russia (who they hate, surprisingly enough). The deal between Austria and Hungary, incidentally, is that the Magyar Hungarians and the Austrians are presenting an allied front against Slavic nationalism.
- Germany à the #2 power in Europe at the middle of the entire mess. Controlled by Bismarck, Germany developed a huge (and confusing) system of peacetime alliances, all based on their fear of a two front war – or that France, who hates them, might find an ally.
*Bismarck’s Alliance System*
- So it all began with Germany’s well-justified fear of a two front war – France and somebody else ganged up against Germany. But who could the someone else be?
- So, to prevent the dreaded two front war, Bismarck had to befriend BOTH A-H and Russia. There was one slight problem: due to the Pan-Slavism issue, A-H and Russia hated e/o!
- In 1874, Bismarck formed the Three Emperors League, an understanding between A-H and Russia.
- Then another problem began to develop. The Ottoman Empire (now the sick man of Europe) is in bad shape, and as Turkey controls the Balkans, which Russia wants but A-H and England would defend, a war seems eminent.
- War would be very bad for Bismarck, as it would bring the British onto the continent to defend their lifeline, it would cause a war between A-H and Russia, and it would ally France w/England.
- Russo-Turkish War à the only war where the winner is placed first! From 1876 to 1878, Russia wipes the floor with Turkey – Turkey is collapsing, everyone is mobilizing (oh crap). So Bismarck takes the initiative and quickly calls…
- The Congress of Berlin à in 1878, Bismarck presented himself as the honest broker (yea right) and pretty much ran the session. He forced Russia to give back practically all its winnings – or else it would have to fight with Germany – and sided w/A-H, but now Russia feels betrayed and angry, and could possibly join France in a two front war! Also, all the little Balkan states were made here.
- So, in 1879, Bismarck makes the Dual Alliance w/A-H, which becomes the Triple Alliance in 1881 with the addition of Italy. Now his friendship w/A-H is totally confirmed.
- Then he goes to Russia and asks if Russia wants to bring back the good old Three Emperors League, and Russia (who doesn’t know what to make of it all) says sure, and it is recreated in 1881.
- In 1887 the TEL falls apart b/c Russia and A-H hate e/o too much, but Bismarck quickly makes the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia (non-aggression pact) to prevent two front war.
- So it’s all good when Willhelm I has to go and die, bringing impatient and power-hungry Willhelm II to the throne. Will II wants navy, colonies, and “Germany’s day in the sun” and doesn’t want the complex alliance system. So in 1890, he fires Bismarck (he never liked the old guy anyway)!
*Events Leading Up to WWI*
- Franco-Russian Alliance à when the Reinsurance Treaty came up for renewal in 1890, Will II showed no desire to renew it, so Russia knew that the Germans had chosen Austria over them. Consequently, they formed an alliance w/France in 1894.
- Entente Cordiale à then in 1904, England (gasp) actually made an understanding w/France, their longtime enemies, b/c Germany was beginning to threaten them – it was building a navy, competing for colonies, and being arrogant and obnoxious (Kruger Telegram).
- Moroccan Crisis #1 à in 1905, the Germans decided to test the French/English understanding, and hopefully mess it up, over an issue w/Morocco. France wanted special status there, and announced it as their protectorate – Germany gets angry, sends ship, and calls a congress. But at the congress, everyone but A-H sides w/France, and the F/E alliance only gets stronger – so dumb move for G.
- Triple Entente à which leads to, in 1907, the Triple Entente, an informal coalition of France, England and Russia. This comes about b/c after the Russo-Japanese war in 1907, England no longer feels threatened by Russia b/c Russia has no more navy. Now, they can all be friends.
- Balkan Crisis #1 à a.k.a. the Bosnian Annexation Crisis, this one was a biggie. Back in 1878 in the Berlin Congress, A-H, which was getting nervous about the Balkan states, was allowed to occupy Bosnia. Now, it suddenly decides it wants to keep Bosnia, but it knows it must strike a bargain with Russia, which wants its WWP. So in 1908 Russia and A-H agree: Russia gets a WWP, and A-H can annex Bosnia w/o Russian intervention. So A-H goes ahead and annexes Bosnia while Russia (to the surprise of the Serbs) does nothing. Then Russia calls its congress on the WWP, all agree except England and Germany, so A-H (figuring it won’t get it anyway if England and Germany are against it) says nothing. Russia feels totally ripped off, and is out to get Austria too.
- Moroccan Crisis #2 à now, France wants to annex Morocco. Talks seemed to be going well when the Germans sent the gunboat Panther to a Moroccan port in 1911 and then asked for all of the French Congo in exchange. Although there was an eventual compromise, it heightened tensions.
- Tripolitan War à in 1911, Italy declared war on Turkey to get Tripoli, which it got easily.
- Balkan War #1 à seeing Italy’s easy victory, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece declared war on Turkey in 1912 and kicked the Turks butts.
- Balkan War #2 à in 1913 (now it is a war per year), Serbia, Greece, Romania and Turkey went to war against Bulgaria b/c Bulgaria gained too much land in the last war.
- Which leads us to…
*The July Crisis of 1914*
- On June 28th, 1914 (another of those landmark dates), the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary’s throne, was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist from the Black Hand. A-H was outraged, and convinced a strong response was necessary as they believed that the terrorists were affiliated w/the Serbian gov’t (think Taliban and Al Queda).
- So Austria-Hungary asked Germany what they should do, and on July 5th Germany responded by saying A-H has Germany’s full support regardless – the “blank check” – essentially saying to go ahead and kick the Serbians’ butts.
- On July 23rd, A-H gave Serbia an incredibly harsh ultimatum obviously designed to be rejected and start a war and gives Serbia 48 hours to respond favorably to all the demands. On July 25th, Serbia responded by accepting all but 2 of the demands and asking for international mediation.
- On July 28th, A-H refused meditation and declared war on Serbia claiming demands weren’t met.
- On July 30th, Tsar Nicholas II ordered a full mobilization against A-H and Germany, so, on August 1st, Germany responded by declaring war on Russia and warning France to declare its intentions in 48 hours or else. By August 3rd, France’s hours had expired and Germany declared war on it.
- On August 4th, the Germans asked the Belgians for permission to use their country to get to France, Belgium refused, and Germany invaded, leading to the British declaration of war on Germany the next day b/c of its violation of Belgium’s neutrality.
- So that is why they call it “stumbling into war” – was it stupidity or what?
*The Causes of WWI*
- There have been several different interpretation of what caused the war, beginning w/the Treaty of Versailles, which blamed it all on Germany.
- Then, in 1924, Sidney Bradshaw Fay and Henry Elmer Barnes challenged that view and stated that war became inevitable and that the blame rested on all the nations equally. Anyhow, they said, it was more A-H than Germany, as Germany had tried to hold A-H back but it became too late. Britain should have declared its intentions earlier, Serbian nat’lism started it, Russia was the key country to mobilize and Germany was the last to mobilize – so, they said, it wasn’t all Germany! The long-term causes (according to them) were: the alliance system, the arms race, economic rivalry, imperialism and NATIONALISM. This view was so convincing it became classic and led to the Treaty of Versailles not being enforced – as they had said it was too harsh.
- In 1961, the German historian Franz Fischer actually reopened the question and refuted the now classic view using German secret documents as evidence. “Germany willed and coveted the Austro Serbian war,” Fischer said. Germany’s motive was: worried about Russia (which was gaining power by the second) so knew it had to hit now before it became too late, its ambitions for colonies and more territory in Europe, and to distract the socialist menace at home.
*The Course of the War*
- Okay, pretty much, we don’t need to know this stuff, but there are a few noteworthy battles. We won’t be asked about the other ones so who the heck cares!
- Generally what happened was that the Germans got close to Paris, where they were stopped at the Battle of the Marne. There, both sides built miles of parallel trenches – and from then on, it was just stalemate as in battle after battle each side attempted to break through the enemies’ lines. At the Battle of Verdun, where the Germans again tried to break through, it became a total war of attrition, as no strategy seemed to work. The Battle of the Somme was the allied counterattack, to no avail.
- The Eastern front followed a similar pattern of stalemate – i.e. nothing happened except they kept fighting and people kept killing e/o – please, what was the point?
- The main naval battle, the Battle of Jutland, was when the Germans tried to break out of the British naval blockade, but they failed, and had to resort to submarine warfare, which drew in the US.
- In the end, it was US involvement that decided the fate of the war, as things had just become dependent on who could be drawn in to provide fresh supplies and men.
*The Effects of the War*
- The war strained the resources of each country to the max. It created national unity, for a time, but it also caused great hardship. Supplies were lacking, women went to work in the factories, there was disruption and dislocation, and Europeans grew thinner and less fashionable (as the textbook says).
- The war contributed greatly to the increased involvement of the government in society, led to increased propaganda, and also to women’s liberation.
- Many social customs faded out, and society became more open (at least for a time).
- There was also a rapid development of new technology. Overall, however, the economy was greatly hurt by the war, as world trade had been totally disrupted.
- And then, of course, practically a whole generation of young men in every country had disappeared.
*The Peace Treaties*
- Fourteen Points à the list of US war aims, the Fourteen Points was a very idealistic treaty that wanted to “make the world safe for democracy” – it supported nationalism, democracy, etc. Wilson felt that oppression led to war, and that if oppression was stopped, war would be stopped as well. Wilson supported the idea of colonies eventually reaching independence, state lines being drawn by nationalism, and so on.
- Paris Peace Conference à in 1919, all the winners met in Paris (where else?) to determine what the new Europe would be like. Among the main players were:
- Treaty of Versailles à surprisingly enough, they actually came up with a treaty! The Rhineland was occupied for 15 years (or until the $ was paid) and permanently demilitarized, France got Alsace-Lorraine (not even a point of contention), Germany lost all its colonies, they added the Polish corridor, Germany had to pay billions of $ in reparations, and there was, to add insult to injury, the war guilt clause, which said it was all Germany’s fault. At first, Germany refused to sign, but they did after all. Also, the TOV established the mandate system.
*Influences on Twentieth Century Culture*
- In the twentieth century, small movements in new directions from prior decades became dominant in many fields. Psychology, literature and art probed the irrational and surreal.
- Sigmund Freud’s discoveries had huge influence and implications. Freud stated that the mind was divided into the unconscious, the subconscious, and the conscious, and that people were driven by the id (instinctual urges residing in the unconscious), which is controlled by the ego, which is told to do so by the superego (conscience imposed by society). He also found that all memories were kept, in some from, and that repression of memories from the conscious mind led to neuroses. Freud invented psychoanalysis to cure patients of their neuroses.
- From Freud’s discoveries, many inferred that greater candor in society would lead to a happier population (although Freud himself did not think so). Carl G. Jung broke from Freud and developed a theory of the collective unconscious (a common bond between whole peoples expressed in rituals).
*Movements in Literature*
- Surrealism à the surrealists applied Freudian ideas directly and believed art had to penetrate the subconscious. Both an artistic and literary movement, surrealism explored inner thoughts and dreams.
- Other writers, though not necessarily surrealists, explored human irrationality. For example: Marcel Proust (who wrote Remembrance of Things Past and focused on interior monologue and the expression of the narrator’s feelings), Franz Kafka (who wrote descriptions of twisted fantasies), James Joyce (who wrote Ulysses, which told a day in the life of the average Dubliner on epic proportions) and Virginia Woolf (who was a political activist and feminist w/A Room of One’s Own).
- In general, novelists turned away from the clear, chronological narratives of the past and focused more on controversial issues and the exploration of dreams and fantasies.
*Movements in Art*
- In all the arts, the new thing was to shock the audience by presenting absurd things, etc. The Dadaists were excellent and this, and used their bizarre routines to infuriate the proper Paris bourgeoisie. The Futurists in Italy were obsessed with speed, and the Fauvres in France and the Expressionists in Germany aimed to wildly break conventions.
- In painting, the Cubists and Expressionists confused people with their strange designs, often incorporating violence and amorality. This scared most people.
*Movements in Philosophy*
- The big philosophical work of this time was by Oswald Spengler and was called the Decline of the West. He treated civilizations as living organisms and stated that WWI was the beginning of the end for Western Civilization. Jose Ortega y Gasset was just as pessimistic in The Revolt of the Masses, for he stated that the masses would use their rising power to destroy civilization’s achievements.
- In Principia Mathematica, Bertrand Russell and Alfred Whitehead stated that philosophers should only worry about things that were precise and empirically demonstrable. Ludwig Wittgenstein agreed in his related system of local positivism, and, in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus he tried to limit though by insisting on symbolic logic. These new analytic philosophers emulated science, and tried to get rid of any statements that did not have a precise meaning. Philosophy became more specialized.
*Advances in Science*
- By this time, science had become incomprehensible to the average person. It became increasingly specialized, and even though people generally knew the implications of the theories, they did not really understand them. Many laws were overturned during this time, as well.
- Albert Michelson and Edward Morley in 1887 started one line of new thinking by challenging the theory that the universe was filled w/a substance called ether. Albert Einstein followed up on this (and then some) in his Theory of Relativity, which stated that space and time were not absolute.
- Physicists were also finding a new understanding of matter. In 1895, Willhelm Roentgen discovered x-rays, and two years later J.J. Thomson proved that the electron existed. Researchers like Pierre and Marie Curie explored radioactivity and further proved the divisibility of the atom. Ernest Rutherford followed up on this by associating radioactivity w/the breakdown of big atoms.
- This led to quantum physics, or the attempt to explain why Newton’s laws didn’t work for subatomic particles. Max Planck challenged Newton in 1902 by showing energy was emitted in quanta and had many properties of matter, and in 1919 Rutherford changed an atom by bombarding it w/subatomic particles. But they could find no unified theory to explain the subatomic world.
- Werner Heisenberg then came up with the Uncertainty Principle, which stated they really couldn’t know anything for sure. By this time Newtonian physics (in some cases) and the old conception of the atom had been thrown out the window Science became ultra-complicated, and now there were no more popularizers like Voltaire to make it understandable to everyday people.
- In biology, advances were made in the study of heredity and in the isolation of viruses (which led to new drugs like penicillin). In sociology, the big guys were Emile Durkheim (who used statistics to analyze customs) and Max Weber (the “ideal type”). They both were concerned w/the customs that held society together and were concerned about what happened when group norms broke down.
*Popular Culture*
- There were many new technologies (such as cars, radios, planes, etc.) and lots of excitement in the 1920s. New and daring styles of architecture became popular, as did advertising.
- The big new thing was the movies. Movies took full advantage of the trend towards distortion sin time and perspective. They also became super popular as well as very profitable. All sorts of people, from the rich to the poor, attended the movies, although movies became more specialized to each country with the introduction of sound in 1929. Politics was sometimes there, too.
*The Initial Revolution*
- After 1905, Russia was a constitutional monarchy. But, because only the upper classes were allowed to vote, the conservatives pretty much dominated the Duma and blocked reforms. When the war broke out in 1914, the Duma was suspended and Tsar Nicholas II went to command the army. He left his wife (who was controlled by insane Rasputin) to run the country.
- Throughout 1916, discontent mounted to an almost intolerable level. Transportation was poor, production low, war refugees were everywhere, there were terrible food shortages – and, to make it worse, the peasants (who wanted land) and the workers were already raging mad.
- So, in March 1917 (called either the March Revolution or the February Revolution), strikers filled the streets of Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and, led by the Soviet of Workers (a groups of workers) they joined with the Duma committee and formed a provisional government. Nicholas II, who couldn’t count on the army’s support, was forced to abdicate.
- The provisional government was mainly moderate bourgeoisie (it was led by Milyukov and the only socialist was Kerensky, who was a social revolutionary and part of the Petrograd soviet) and it quickly established civil liberties, gave political prisoners amnesty, and stopped religious persecution. But, besides supporting the 8-hour-workday and ordering the abolition of class privileges, it left the other social issues to the constituent assembly it promised to call soon.
- The revolutionaries were actually highly divided, for Russia had many revolutionary parties, such as:
1. Cadets à short for constitutional democrats, they were the most moderate of the revolutionaries and aimed for a liberal democracy.
2. Social Revolutionaries à the SRs were mainly concerned with the peasants.
3. Social Democrats à were the Marxists, but they were also divided between the Bolsheviks (Lenin’s group) and the Mensheviks.
- The Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) wanted a hard-core, ultra-organized revolutionary group to be the vanguard of the revolution and they did not want to cooperate w/the Cadets. The Mensheviks wanted a larger party of part time revolutionaries and wanted to cooperate w/the Cadets.
*The November Revolution*
- While the first revolution occurred in Russia, Lenin, in exile in Switzerland, was organizing his party and formulating a new version of Marxism. Lenin stated that there was not going to be a spontaneous awakening of class consciousness (instead, the only result would be “trade union consciousness” and becoming middle class wannabes) and that an energetic party of revolutionaries was needed to divert the proletariat and take them towards the real revolution.
- In April 1917, however, the Germans (who hoped, since Lenin thought that WWI was an irrelevant civil war between the capitalists, that Lenin would disrupt the war effort) let Lenin back into Russia though a closed railroad car. He issued the April Theses (a masterpiece of propaganda), which supported “Peace, Land, and Bread” and “All Power to the Soviets”.
- Meanwhile, the provisional government was collapsing. There were disagreements over war policy and strikes. Kerensky became the leader, but his gov’t was attacked from left (the Bolsheviks and their failed revolution in the July Days) and right (the Kornilov Coup). Kerensky still focused on the war, and in his attempt to get just one more great offensive (it never worked) he lost much public support.
- Because of the Kornilov Coup, Kerensky asked the left to help defend the gov’t, so all the Bolsheviks were let out of prison. They won control of the Moscow and Petrograd soviets, and Trotsky was elected president of the Petrograd soviet.
- On November 6th, Lenin seized power in Petrograd and Moscow, and announced to the Congress that the Bolsheviks held power and were taking control of the armies. Although Kerensky tried to gain support, the armies were not interested in fighting for him.
- Congress approved a one-party cabinet: the Congress of Soviets replaced the parliament; they elected a Central Executive committee, which advised the cabinet. There was no real elected body – though elections were held for the constituent assembly (otherwise it would appear that the Bolsheviks were afraid of the results), it was dismissed after one day.
*Communist Russia*
- First, the Communists declared that land, livestock, and farm equipment belonged to the state but could be temporarily held by peasants. They also stated that no peasant was to work for hire, and that committees of the poor would supervise the allocation of land. There would be worker’s committees controlling the factories, and all ranks were abolished. People’s tribunals were established as well.
- In the next few months, everything was nationalized: railroads, banks, foreign trade, etc. A new secret police, the Cheka was established as well.
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk à in February 1918 Russia just stopped fighting, and in March Russia surrendered to the harsh Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which forced Russia to surrender more than one million square miles of territory to Germany. The communists tolerated the harsh terms because they felt that a revolution would soon occur in Germany as well.
- In July, Russia was declared a federation and political power was given to the local soviets, organized by occupation and elected by universal suffrage. The soviets elected delegates, who elected more delegates, up until the all-Russia Congress. The Communist party was not mentioned, but it really ran the show, for its Central Committee elected the Politburo, which shared power with the Council of People’s Commissars (but in reality it was all the Politburo).
- Red/White Civil War à then, from 1918 to 1921, there was a brutal civil war of Communists vs. Everyone Else. Since the troops weren’t committed to fighting the Bolsheviks, the Red Army won out, but at enormous cost (the policy of War Communism, which was stealing food from the peasants to feed the cities, caused agriculture to drop to 1/5th of its former level). After the civil war, there was the Communist-run Red Terror.
- Then, rising discontent caused Lenin to introduce the NEP (New Economic Policy), which is Bukharin’s pet project. The NEP is basically a retreat back to capitalism (private enterprise was encouraged, only enterprises with 60+ people were state-run, peasants allowed to grow and sell their own grain). IT WORKS!
*Stalin’s Rise to Power*
- So all is going well until Lenin gets a stroke in 1923. Now there is a power vacuum in the party, and all five other members of the Politburo wonder who will fill it. The candidates are:
- They see the parallels to the FR, and they are all wondering who Napoleon will be. Everyone thinks it will be Trotsky who they dislike as he joined the party late and is not trusted.
- So Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev form a STOP TROTSKY movement. They also form a Lenin Cult (a Cult of Personality), which turns Lenin into a God of Communism. Trotsky hates this, since he knows Lenin wasn’t infallible. But Stalin and co. use the Lenin Cult to prove all the times that Trotsky was supposedly wrong (whenever he disagreed with Lenin).
- On his deathbed, Lenin realizes what Stalin is doing and writes in his will that Stalin should be expelled. But when they open the will, Kamenev and Zinoviev leap to Stalin’s defense and say (believe it or don’t) that this one time Lenin made a mistake, and vote to suppress the will and win.
- Meanwhile, several ideological debates continue:
- By 1925, Trotsky is forced to step down from the army (he could have pulled a coup d’etat, but he hated dictatorship, as it was against his principles) and is exiled by 1927.
*Russia Under Stalin*
- A new term, totalitarianism, was invented to describe Stalin’s control over Russia (and Hitler’s over Germany, etc.). Stalin controlled everything: education, propaganda…
- In the 1920s he made his enemies look bad in the history book, and then in the 1950s he wiped them out of the books altogether. He assassinated Trotsky in Mexico City to prevent him from telling the truth about the oppressive nature of his regime.
- After eliminating Trotsky Stalin moved against Kamenev and Zinoviev. He kicked them out of the party and replaced them with loyal supporters. In 1927, Stalin attacks Bukharin and proposes collectivization (as his own idea, of course). Bukharin (finally) gets the idea. Then in 1928, Stalin proclaims that he is “the Lenin of today” and turns himself into a living God of Communism. A new Cult of Personality is born.
- Collectivization à a.k.a. the First Five Year Plan (1928 to 1932). Peasants were forced off their land or whole villages were destroyed. Then, they were forced onto state run farms. Although it was absolutely brutal, it worked! Industry grew tremendously. Still, agriculture declined.
- Then, Stalin began a series of purges after the assassination of Serge Kirov (a popular Stalinist who was actually killed on Stalin’s orders as a pretext and also b/c he was becoming too popular). He used the NKVD – in a series of show trials he had all the old Bolsheviks (anyone who was around at the Revolution) “confess” to crimes against the state – Bukharin, Zinoviev, all the army officers, etc.
- The twentieth century gave rise to several new forms of government. While in Russia, people turned to Communism during and following World War I, in Italy and Germany, people turned to another form of government known as Fascism.
- Like the Communists, the Fascists were a misery party (popular during times of widespread suffering or economic depression that left the mainstream parties looking inadequate). Although the Communists and Fascists were sworn enemies, they were actually pretty similar. Or at least that is how it turned out when looking at the Soviet regime.
- Fascists had no exact ideology (there was no Fascist Karl Marx to write it out) and, unlike Communism, it was not an intellectual movement (in fact it was anti-intellectual). The Fascists just ripped off the ideas of other people, like Nietzsche or Sorel’s Reflections of Violence and used them for their own purposes.
- The Fascists tended to glorify violence, think of the welfare of the state, and ignore the rights of the individual. Fascists stressed nationalism and militarism, and the end goal of their regimes was to have a dictatorship that embodied the spirit of “the people”. Fervent love for the state and not thinking (let propaganda think for you) was encouraged in Fascist regimes as well.
*The Rise of Fascism in Italy*
- After WWI, Italy was definitely looking for a misery party: unemployment rates were high, there was a lot of inflation, and there was talk of revolution. Peasants were stealing land, and striking workers and angry industrialists were struggling for control. The upper classes feared a Communist rebellion, social issues had not been addressed, and the peace treaty had made people mad.
- During this time the first Fascist movement was born. Led by Benito Mussolini, the Fascists denounced liberalism using leftist rhetoric and denounced Marxism b/c of its lack of nationalistic sentiment. They effectively used propaganda and activists (black shirts) to spread their message.
- At first the Fascists were not very successful. In 1921, during the first elections with universal male suffrage, two new parties (the Catholic Popular, which demanded reforms but was based on peasants and conservatives and the Socialists, who split off from the Communists) rose to power. The Fascists won 35 seats, and were included in the prime minister Giolitti’s personal coalition.
- But instead of just operating by the rules, the Fascists used their black shirted activists to plant bombs, beat up other parties, disrupt meetings, and scare people.
- Then, when the left wing unions called a general strike in 1922, the Black Shirts started to take over town councils by force. In October, they staged a march on Rome. Parliamentary leaders woke up after a while, called for martial law, but the King (Victor Emmanuel III) refused. Mussolini reached Rome, where he was invited to form a cabinet by the King.
- So Mussolini became the prime minister, and his party won a huge victory in the elections of 1924 b/c of his techniques of intimidation and fraud. Then he began terrorizing the opposition and shooting their leaders. The opposition was unable to respond effectively b/c they were so divided.
*Italy Under Mussolini*
- By 1925 Mussolini had gotten rid of all his opponents and gained control of the press. He then moved to make his power official by passing a series of law that declared the Duce (leader) of Fascism the head of state w/the right to govern by decree. Opposition parties were outlawed, opponents arrested and the civil services and judiciary branches were purged of any people thought too independent.
- During this time, Mussolini’s immense propaganda machine created a Cult of Personality. Italians were told to obey the leader and to fight for their country, and were filled with nationalistic pride and confidence. The single-party government reached into every aspect of Italian life. Armed with a militant secret police, the Fascist party kept tight control on the country and soon won thousands of new supporters.
- The Fascists didn’t really have a consistent ideology or policy, but they did establish the Corporate State in Italy. In the Corporate State, each sector of production was supposed to be organized into a huge corporation. Each corporation was headed by a party member appointed by the government, and was to establish the policies for the industry and wage scales.
- By 1926, they were able to outlaw strikes and unions b/c of the corporate system. They fixed the number of corporations at 22, and the Duce was made president of each of them. He also appointed the Council of Delegates (who sat in the National Council of Corporations) for each corporation. Consequently, the corporations never achieved any real autonomy and had no power.
- Italy never became as orderly as Mussolini promised, but freedom and individual rights were destroyed. Although a quiet intellectual opposition was allowed, thousands of people were exiled or killed for opposing the government.
- In economics, the Fascists sought autarchy (a self-sufficient national economy) and were into industrialization and technology. The government didn’t mind big business but generally favored nationalization. In 1926, they began a big campaign to increase agricultural production, which led to a doubling in grain production.
- The government attempted to keep peasants on the land and increase the birthrate, but neither campaign was effective. They were, however, able to stop the Mafia in Sicily, drain the marshes near Rome, and build railroads and superhighways. They used these public works programs to combat unemployment, and this (and the benefits of the new things built) gave people a sense of security.
- Mussolini’s biggest achievement was his agreement with the Vatican, known as the Lateran Agreement (1929). In the agreement, Mussolini recognized Vatican City as an independent state, established religious teaching in public schools, guaranteed that marriage laws would conform to Catholic doctrine, promised to restrict the Protestants and promised to give the Church money to pay for the damage done during Italian unification. The agreement favorably disposed the Church (and many Italian Catholics) towards Mussolini.
*Germany after World War I*
- After World War I, Germany had a democracy known as the Weimar Republic. It was headed by a President (w/a 7 year term) who oversaw the country but didn’t make day-to-day decisions. The President could call new elections at any time. The Chancellor (elected from the majority party in the Reichstag) ran the country. The Reichstag (Parliament) was formed through direct elections where people voted for a party (not for people) and the % of votes a party received was the % of the seats the party got.
- Since the Chancellor came from the majority party, if there was no majority party, the President was allowed to appoint a Chancellor. There were three (really two) types of Chancellor:
1. Parliamentary Chancellor à the Parliamentary Chancellor could suggest laws, but the laws had to be passed by a majority vote of the Reichstag.
2. Presidential Chancellor à the Presidential Chancellor could declare laws by decree unless a majority of the Reichstag vetoed them. To stop a Presidential Chancellor, there would have to be a “negative majority” in the Reichstag.
3. Temporary Dictator à the Constitution also allowed for a “temporary dictator” in times of emergency if 2/3 of the Reichstag agreed.
- At first, the Weimar Republic had a really rough time. The Republic’s first act on November 11, 1918 was to agree to an armistice (which was really a surrender). This armistice was seen as the first failure of the Weimar Republic.
- After a war that had totally exhausted the country, it was really hard for Germany to bear defeat. The army consequently made up a myth about being “stabbed in the back” by people inside Germany. According to them, it was the left-wing politicians (also Jewish people) that caused their loss.
- During this time President Hindenburg and Chancellor Ebert ran the country. The democracy seemed on the right track, even though the SPD (Socialists) had made a horrid deal with the army, which led to the brutal murder of the Spartakus Band (ancestors of the KPD: Communists). After this, the KPD had no leaders (and was controlled by Moscow) and the left was forever divided.
- In 1920, there was the Kapp Putsch, in which the right-wing extremist army officers seized Berlin. Although the army would not fire on them, they were eventually forced to withdraw by the left-wing labor unions. This contributed to the instability of the time.
- Then in 1923 came horrible ultra-inflation! Caused by the French occupation of the Ruhr (industrial heartland) b/c when Germany fell behind in paying the reparations that French seized the German factories, the German workers went on strike, and then, when the gov’t decided to pay the French, money became worthless. This was horrible for people: all their savings disappeared – and was seen as the second failure of the Weimar Republic (it wasn’t their fault though).
- Then on November 8/9, 1923, the Beer Hall Putsch occurs, led by General Ludendorff and Hitler (unknown at the time). It fails miserably, but Hitler gets nat’l press coverage, gets out of jail after a really short time, and learns that legality is the way to go (working though the gov’t to destroy it).
- From 1925 to 1925, though, the Republic does really well! The economy is OK, led by Gustav Stresemann (foreign minister) Germany gets admitted into the League of Nations and is back in the international community. Moderate parties are doing well, not the Nazis.
- But then in 1929 w/the Great Depression everything collapses. Since Germany is dependent on US $, when the US economy crashes so does the German, only worse. Now the “misery parties” begin to come into their own…
*The Rise of Fascism in Germany*
- One party that made a spectacular rise with the onset of the depression (along with the KPD and SPD) was the Nazi party, led by Adolph Hitler (who took it over when he found it on a spy job and changed it from a pretty harmless “everyman” party to an insane militaristic one).
- The Nazis attacked democracy, advocated war against Germany’s enemies (Jews, Communists, other nations, etc.) and had the SA (a street army of brown-shirted storm troopers), the SS (an elite group in black uniforms who were bodyguards and special police), and propaganda to spread their message.
- With the depression and the failure of the Republic to solve the problems plaguing it (what could it do?) the Nazis, with their calls for rearmament and stopping the Communists, became more popular.
- Because of the depression, in 1930 the coalition government of Social Democrats resigned and the Center party (led by Bruning) took over. Hindenburg allowed the new government to enact measures by decree, but this didn’t help b/c there was a negative majority so nothing could get done.
- Since the 1930 election gave the Nazis more seats Hitler ran for president in 1932 (though he knew he would lose against Hindenburg). He lost, but he got lots of press coverage, etc. Hindenburg then picked a new chancellor Franz von Papen (the moron).
- Papen tried to gain Hitler’s support by (stupidly) lifting the bans on the SA and SS and tried to form a right-wing coalition. But it didn’t work, Hindenburg called another election, and the Nazis gained! But Hindenburg (who didn’t like Hitler) still didn’t name him chancellor, picking Von Schleicher.
- Now Papen (who wanted to get back into power) told Hindenburg to appoint Hitler the head of a coalition government (the only way to stop the negative majority). He did so on the terms that: there would be no other Nazis in the cabinet, and every time Hitler met w/him Papen would be there too.
- Papen thought he could use Hitler, but the joke was on him – it was the other way around. Again being underestimated is a big advantage (think Napoleon). Hitler takes the deal in 1933. Almost immediately, he called another election, and through cheating, the Nazis won an even bigger majority.
- Then (lucky for Hitler) the Reichstag building was set on fire. Hitler blamed it on the Communists, declared a state of emergency (which allowed him to issue all these special laws that ended individual freedoms) and then after the election outlawed the KPD so he would get a majority!
- But he still didn’t have the 2/3 majority needed to become a dictator. So he sucked up to the Center party and made all these promises to them (yea right) and was then able to pass the Enabling Act, which gave him, as chancellor, the right to enact all laws w/o the Reichstag for four years.
*Germany Under Hitler*
- First Hitler moved to consolidate his power by sending all his opponents to concentration camps or putting them in exile, etc. By July he outlawed all other parties and destroyed the opposition, and by November he had restructured the government and purged the civil service and judiciary, outlawed strikes, and controlled the press (sound familiar – think Mussolini).
- Then in June 1934 he got rid of all the other leaders of the party and any opposition leaders who were left in the Night of the Long Knives (also done b/c of an agreement w/the army which stated that in return for never allowing the SA to take them over, the army would swear oaths of allegiance to him and allow him to become President too). When Hindenburg died in August, he declared himself Fuhrer (uniting the Presidency and Chancellorship) and supported the decision through a vote.
- Then, the federal states lost their autonomy (gleichschaltung – coordination) and all gov’t employees were made appointees of Hitler. New courts were established, strikes were outlawed (the National Labor Front directed all concerns) and the Gestapo (secret police) infiltrated all levels of society.
- In economics, they were very successful. Public works projects lowered unemployment to a tolerable level, and the gov’t used deficit spending to restore the economy. To pay for this, a system devised by the brilliant economist Hjalmar Schacht required that payments for foreign trade be made w/$ whose value changed according to the products and nations involved (pretty much barter). This increased Germany’s self-sufficiency, but in the end they paid by printing more $.
- During this time, propaganda advertised the benefits of the new government. Women were presented as subordinate members of the family (meant for breeding more Aryans). Also, Hitler sucked up to the army by pushing rearmament and gained more direct control of different branches of the government, such as the foreign services.
- To deal w/the church, Hitler made a concordat with the Vatican in 1933, which gave the state a voice in the appointment of bishops but assured the Church of its authority over Catholic orders and schools. Protestants were given the Evangelical Church under a bishop appointed by Hitler (although many left when the bishop said he would “Aryanize” the church and formed the Confessional Church). Most clergy cooperated w/the state, the ones who resisted were arrested.
- Then there was anti-Semitism. In 1935, the gov’t codified its anti-Semitic beliefs in the Nuremberg Laws and then added many other horrible laws to oppress the Jewish people. In 1938 Kristallnacht occurred after a Jewish boy murdered a German diplomat: Jews were beaten and murdered and their property was destroyed. Gypsies were also attacked.
*Authoritarian Regimes in Central Europe*
- By 1929, in Central Europe, authoritarian regimes had taken over Hungary, Spain, Albania, Portugal, Lithuania, and Yugoslavia, and by 1936 liberties had also been suppressed in Romania, Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Greece.
- For the most part, the new regimes were conservative, Christian and anti-communist, and are sometimes called semi-fascist. The only exception to the rule was Czechoslovakia, which was a democratic republic with free enterprise led by Thomas Masaryk (a brilliant statesman).
*1933-1935: The Nightmare Begins*
- Beginning in 1933, foreign policy leading up to the war was slowly approaching the inevitable. All the players could see it coming, but many still attempted to prevent it. Remember, just like the escalator descending into the mess below: you can’t turn around and you can’t run away.
- In 1933, Hitler comes to power. As he still has not secured his position in Germany his only move is to drop out a disarmament conference (not very nice).
- By 1934 Hitler has consolidated his position in Germany and is ready to begin his aggressive foreign policy. His first move is very strange and surprising: he forms a 10-year non-aggression pact with Poland (obviously no intention of living up to it, does it to give people a false sense of security).
- In 1934 his only foreign policy flop occurs: his attempt to create the anschluss (union of Germany and Austria) through a Nazi putsch in Austria fails. He was stopped b/c Mussolini (then allied w/Austria and not friends w/Germany) threatened to invade.
- Then came 1935, a big year. On March 9 (Saturday Night Special) Hitler announces he will build an air force. There are no protests. On March 16 (SNS) he announces that Germany will build a navy and a ½ million man army. France freaks, asks England what to do, English protest, so Hitler promises Germany will never have more than 35% of the English navy. The English agree in essence throwing out the Treaty of Versailles. Also in this year Italy invades Ethiopia and gets kicked out of the League of Nations. Hitler congratulates him (suck-up).
*1936-1937: Things Get Worse*
- In March 1936, Hitler tells his Generals that he wants to remilitarize the Rhineland (breaking the Versailles Treaty and Locarno Pact, which was signed freely and says if single German soldier there then it will be considered a Germany invasion). Even Generals think this is going too far (the French will lose it, they warn) but Hitler insists, though he says if single French soldier attacks they will turn around. France springs into action and asks England, who says let them have it (!) so in one fell swoop they gain back the entire Rhineland. How stupid could they be?
- Also in 1936, the Spanish Civil War breaks out. In it the Loyalists/Republicans (liberals, socialists, communists, etc.) fight the fascists (army and Franco). Hitler and Mussolini send equipment and troops to the fascists, France asks England what to do, England says stay out so they do. During this time, Hitler and Mussolini form the Axis Alliance (axis of evil). The only person, ironically enough, defending the Republicans was the USSR (Stalin) so the gov’t got labeled as Stalinist. In 1939, Franco won but refused to join the Axis in WWII although he hoped they would win.
- Nothing big happens in 1937, but Hitler does call a secret meeting of his advisers (known now through secret documents captured) and says he wants a war of conquest between 1938 and 1943. The advisers who objected were kicked out. The meeting was called the Hossbach Protocol. Also, during this time the English Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (a.k.a. the moron) introduced (though he had already been using it) his policy of appeasement – give them what they want anything is better than war – and he replaces people who don’t support the policy w/those who do.
*1938: A Horrible Year*
- Now the big issue (again) is the Anschluss but this time Mussolini is Hitler’s ally and will not support Austria. Hitler wants a full German nation (finish what Bismarck started). So he has Nazis go to Austria and has the SA start making trouble. When the SA riots are put down, Hitler says that the German people are being persecuted.
- Then in November the Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schussnig (“no Anschluss for Schussnig”) banned the SA/SS. Hitler freaked and threatened him, forcing him to lift the ban and put Nazis as heads of police and army. Now the Nazis can hold all their rallies and beat people up.
- As a last resort, Schussnig calls a plebiscite on the Anschluss but Germany mobilizes and at the last minute Schussnig calls off the vote and resigns. So in March the new Nazi “chancellor” (he appointed himself) invites the German army in to “put down disturbances” (which they caused) and Austria falls to Germany.
- Then, Hitler decides he wants the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. He uses the tactics he used w/Austria but in May the Czechs mobilize and he can’t respond, so it looks like he backed down (oh the humiliation). Hitler is so mad he declares: “If I don’t have Czechoslovakia by October 1, WAR!” at least to his generals.
- Remember, Czechoslovakia is the Versailles success story: the only democracy that works, w/a strong economy, great border defenses and a well-trained army. It is allied w/Yugoslavia, Romania, France, England, and the USSR. If Germany invaded it would lose.
- On September 15, Neville Chamberlain goes to Berlin and talks to Hitler, who says he wants the SDL (“last territorial demand”). NC goes home, tells Daladier (France) and the Czechs they should let him have it. A week later, NC goes back and finds out Hitler now wants ½ of Czechoslovakia by October 1. Everyone is preparing for war (remember how much easier it would be to defend Czechoslovakia than Poland) but then Mussolini chickens out and calls the…
- Munich Conference (9/29/38) à Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier and Mussolini (no Russia or Czechoslovakia) meet. Germany gets everything it wants: ½ of Czechoslovakia as protectorate, all fortifications and stuff there, etc. By 1939 he has taken all of Czechoslovakia.
*1939: War Begins*
- Now he wants Poland. Although he had a better claim to Poland, the West wakes up (it’s about time, folks) and realizes Hitler doesn’t just want to conquer German people – hey he wants to conquer all of us! So, they decide to back Poland.
- By August everyone knows war is coming, but Hitler has one last trick up his sleeve: a non-aggression pact w/Stalin! Of course he is only thinking for the short run to avoid the two front war. Stalin is thinking the West wants the USSR and Germany to mutually eliminate e/o by not supporting him against Hitler. He doesn’t want this to occur. Stalin and Hitler also make a deal to split Poland.
- On September 1, 1939 the war begins through a phony invasion of Germany by “Poland” (really the Germans in Polish army suits). Appeasement is finally over.
*The Course of the War*
- So on September 1, 1939 the war began over Poland. Britain and France gave Hitler 48 hours to evacuate Poland and on September 3 major war began. Poland was beaten in a really short time by the German tactic of Blitzkrieg.
- Then the so-called “Phony War” began. For six months neither side made any big moves on land b/c they didn’t want to waste troops and make the mistakes of WWI. This break was ended when the Germans attacked on the Western front on May 10, 1940.
- At the same time, Russia was fighting Finland b/c Stalin wanted Finnish territory for defensive purposes against his “ally” Hitler. Finland wasn’t too hot on the idea, Stalin wanted to rush in and kick their butts, but it proved to be harder than expected as the Finns held the Russians back for weeks. Finally the Russians won (they had more people). Hitler (and Stalin who then reorganized the army) realized the Russian army was in bad shape.
- Meanwhile the Germans were wiping out one country after another: France fell in six weeks, as did Belgium and the Netherlands. Italy joined the war on Germany’s side, so the British were the last ones left against Hitler. Their fate was decided by the Battle of Britain, which was an air battle in the summer of 1940. Luckily, the British won out using their radar technology and the Germans turned their sights to (just like Napoleon)…Russia!
- Hitler’s attack on Russia totally surprised Stalin, and the Germans were kicking the Red Army’s butt. Millions of Russian troops were killed or captured (sent to Germany to be slaves). But they still couldn’t capture Moscow or Leningrad. Then on December 6, the Russians suddenly counterattacked the Germans at Moscow (troops were in reserve for fighting the Japanese).
- Then on December 7, Pearl Harbor. The US declares war on Japan, and then Germany declares war on the US (really stupid move, they were just asking for it).
- The German army was barely surviving the Russian winter. Their plan was to capture the oil fields in the southern USSR. The crucial battle to get there was the battle of Stalingrad (if the Germans did not win there would always be the threat of a Russian attack). This is the decisive battle and both sides knew it.
- In November 1942, the Red Army was able to surround the Germans at Stalingrad and they are cut off. Hitler does not allow his troops to retreat, but by January 1943 remaining troops surrender. Now it is just a chase heading back to Germany with the Russians pushing the Germans out.
- Things go from bad to worse for the Germans and Germany surrenders unconditionally on May 8, 1945 (VE Day). Hitler had killed himself (4/30/45) to avoid being captured by the Russians.
- The other WWII fronts included:
- Then the war with Japan continued for a while until, after the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally on September 2, 1945 (VJ Day).
*The Aftermath of the War*
- After the war, all of Europe was in shambles. Major cities had been destroyed as a result of bombing, industry was really messed up, there were refugees everywhere, etc.
- There was no big peace conference after WWII, but along the course of the war several meetings of the allies had helped decide policy:
- Then there were a series of trial, the Nuremberg Trials, which tried the Nazi war criminals in 1945 and 1946. Several international agencies, including the United Nations, were created after WWII. Mainly, after WWII, there was an era of slow (but steady) recovery helped by the US. Of course, there was also the threat of the Cold War.
à The Thirty Years War and the Wars of Religion in France
à The Napoleonic Era and the Congress of Vienna
à Post WWII Europe: The Cold War and European Recovery
I got too lazy! My apologies. Also, sorry for any typos, etc.
© 2001