Chapter 21 - Outline

I. An Age of Ideologies

A. Preserving the Old order

1. Conservatives dominated the congress of Vienna, and included monarchs and members of their government, noble landowners, and church leaders.

2. Conservatives believed that talk about natural rights and constitutional government could lead only to chaos, and their ideals appealed to those who wanted to restore the old order.

3. Conservatives equated their own interests with peace and stability for all people, although less freedoms.

B. The Liberal Challenge

1. Liberals challenged the conservatives at every turn, embraced enlightenment ideals, and spoke out against divine right monarchy, the old aristocracy, and established churches.

2. They defended the natural rights of individuals to liberty, equality, and property, which appealed to mostly the middle class.

3. Liberals in the late 1800s supported the idea of universal manhood suffrage, or giving all adult men the right to vote, and social reforms.

C. Nationalist Stirrings

1. Unifying and gaining independence for people with a common national heritage became a major goal of nationalists in the 1800s.

2. The Balkans were home to many ethnic groups, and in the early 1800s, several Balkan peoples rebelled against the Ottomans who had ruled them for more than 300 years, and started the first nationalist revolt in Europe.

3. Revolts began to occur in the 1820s in Spain, Portugal, and Italian states, where rebels demanded constitutional governments.

2. To the Barricades!

A. France After the Restoration

1. When the Congress of Vienna restored Louis XVIII to the French throne, he issued a constitution and created a two house legislature that allowed limited freedom of the press.

2.  When Charles X inherited the throne, he suspended the legislature, limited the right to vote, and restricted the press, which met with revolts across the country, and in Paris, rebels fought soldiers and controlled the capital.

3. Louis Philippe became king and after the revolution and was popular with the middle class and became known as the “citizen king”

B. The French Revolution of 1848

1. Turmoil in Paris erupted in February, 1848, and Louis Philippe abdicated and a group of liberal, radical, and socialist leaders proclaimed the Second Republic.

2. A new revolt broke out in Paris, but this time violence occurred, and at least 1,500 people were killed when the government fought the rebels.

3. The National Assembly issued a constitution for the Second Republic, which created a strong president and a one house legislature, and extended suffrage to all adult men, and Louis Napoleon, or Napoleon III, was elected and later became emperor.

C. “Europe Catches Cold”

1. After the Congress of Vienna, Belgium was placed under the Kingdom of Holland, and many Belgians resented the rule.

2. Revolts occurred in Brussels, similar to in France, and in 1831 Belgium became and independent state with a liberal constitution.

3. Nationalists in Poland also staged revolts, but their revolts were crushed by the strong Russian government and many fled to Western Europe and America, where Polish nationalism still remained strong.

D. The Springtime of the Peoples

1. Metternich, the Austrian king, tried to suppress revolts, but after failing to do so, resigned and fled in disguise.

2. Uprisings erupted in Italian states, and they set up independent republics that were shortly seized by Austrian troops.

3. In 1848, delegates from many German states met at the Frankfurt Assembly to create a constitution and install a new German state, although it was dissolved and many were killed when conservative forces rallied.

E. Looking Ahead

1. By 1850, the flickering light of rebellion had faded and the age of liberal revolution had ended.

2. Metternich’s conservative system remained in force in Europe.

3. Liberalism, nationalism, and socialism would win future successes through not revolution, but political activity.

III. Latin American Wars of Independence

A. Climate of Discontent

1. By the late 1700s, the revolutionary fever that gripped Western Europe had spread to Latin America.

2.  Discontent in these colonies were the result of social, racial, and political discrimination against natives by the ruling Europeans.

3. In 1808, when Napoleon ousted the Spanish king and placed his brother on the throne, Latin American leaders saw the opportunity to reject foreign domination while Spain was vulnerable.

B. Haiti’s Struggle

1. In the 1700s, Hispaniola was France’s most valued possession, as it had many sugar plantations.

2. French planters owned great sugar plantations worked by nearly a half million enslaved Africans, who were poorly treated and lived under horrendous conditions.

3. In 1791, a slave revolt exploded in northern Haiti, and under the leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture, Haitians fought for their freedoms against the French.

C. Toussaint L’Ouverture

1. When a slave revolt broke out in 1791, Toussaint was nearly 50 years old, but his intelligence and military skills earned him a position as a leader.

2. By 1798, Toussaint had freed the Haitians from slavery, and although Haiti was still a French colony, he set out to improve agriculture, expand trade, and give Haiti a constitution.

3. Despite Toussaint being betrayed and imprisoned for the remainder of his life, Haiti finally gained its independence in 1820.

D. A Call to Freedom in Mexico

1. On September 16, 1810, Father Hidalgo made a speech to his poor parish calling for the people of Mexico to fight for “independence and liberty,” and began a revolution in Mexico.

2. After Hidalgo was captured and executed, a new leader named Jose Morelos picked up the banner of revolution and for four years led rebel forces until he, too, was captured and executed.

3. Agustin de Iturbide feared that the new Spanish government might impose liberal reforms on Mexico, and he overthrew the Spanish viceroy and installed himself and Emperor of Mexico, until being over run by rebels, who installed the Republic of Mexico.

E. New Republics in Central America

1. Spanish ruled lands in Central America declared independence in the early 1820s.

2. Iturbide added these lands to his Mexican empire, but after his overthrow, local leaders set up the United Provinces of Central America.

3. The United Provinces of Central America was later disbanded and formed separate independent republics.

F. Revolutions in South America

1. Native Americans had rebelled against Spanish rule as early as the 1700s, although they had little effect until the 1800s, when discontent among the creoles sparked a widespread drive for independence.

2. Simon Bolivar was an educated creole who, after Napoleon conquered Spain, saw the opportunity to lead South America into rebellion against Spain; he joined forces with San Martin to eventually liberate all of South America.

3. Power struggles among rival leaders triggered violent civil wars, and his the united lands Bolivar liberated broke apart.

G. Independence for Brazil

1. When Napoleon’s armies conquered Portugal, the Portuguese royal family fled to Brazil, and while there the Portuguese king introduced many reforms.

2. When the king returned to Portugal, he left his son Dom Pedro to rule Brazil, and he declared it independent and crowned himself King.

3. Dom Pedro created a constitution that provided for freedom of the press and religion, as well as an elected legislature.