At the end of last week's lecture we discussed the issues following the collapse of Napoleon. During this time ideologies sprung up in the mid-nineteenth century. Arguably one of the more important of these ideologies was Liberalism. As we saw last week, Liberalism was a product of the Enlightenment Era. Liberals were educated members of the bourgeoise and believed in constitutions and representative government that protected human rights. These thinkers were not democrats and generally did not support the masses. Change might be appealing, but the liberals preferred that change was not radical and should come through reform and legislation. Following the Enlightenment thought, the liberals believed in human improvement and progress. They trusted science and education, and that which was modern and enlightened.
Economically speaking the Liberals were grounded to Capitalism and Laissez-Faire Policy. Most Liberals were from the industrious middle class, who elevated their status through hard work and ethics. Classical economists, however, such as Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) and David Ricardo (1772-1823) provided that capitalism possessed unfortunate dismal qualities. By showing the imminent issues regarding the rise in population Malthus and Ricardo launched a bleak depiction of society following the Age of Revolutions. According to Malthus, if population was not controlled, then eventually we would outstrip the food supply. In his essay on the Principles of Population, he suggested that by having fewer children, families could live a more luxurious life. Ricardo, on the other hand, related his theory of population control through wages. Ricardo believed that there is an "iron law of wages" which states there is a direct parallel between wages and the number of children in a family. By raising and lowering wages, Ricardo points out that we could maintain the population because these wages would also tend towards the minimum and therefore prevent population from getting too out of control.
Cultural ideology was also a reaction to the changes in Europe in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment provided a belief in natural law, science, and the power of the human mind. For models, the rationalist thinkers turned to the patterns of ancient Greece and Rome, and continually "Dared to Know." By the end of eighteenth century, a rebellion broke out against these ideas, which is mostly seen as a reaction to the Industrial and French Revolutions. These rebellious thinkers, who spurned the Age of Reason, created Romanticism. In short, the Romantics aimed to elevate nature and the mystery of life. More importantly, they were against the mechanization and rapid development of the world. William Wordsworth, one of the forefathers of this movement and wrote about this process, and how he longed to rekindle a connection with nature. In his famous poem "The World Is Too Much With Us" he bemoans about this state of change:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. --Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Socialism was another type of ideology to arise in the early nineteenth century. Socialism was economically driven, but ultimately affected the social and political realm. There were different types of socialists, but there were some common beliefs among them. In general, socialists disapproved of current economic systems which were grounded in Capitalism. They thought it wrong for owners of production to possess so much power and wealth. As a result, they questioned both private enterprise and private ownership of the means of production, and wished for a fairer distribution of income among the working class. Ultimately competition and the concept of laissez-faire economics met disapproval among these socialist groups.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was one of the most popular socialists in the nineteenth century. Marx was influenced by the Enlightenment as well as the philosophy of Hegel and the dialectic method. In the 1840s, Marx went to Paris for a job and there met a well-to-do German industrialist named Friedrich Engels. Engels and Marx agreed that the owners of production seized most profits, and furthermore cared little about the poor urban working class. By the Spring of 1848, Marx and Engels were commissioned to write a program for the Communist League in Europe. Also known as the League of Justice, the Communists wished to establish a system of beliefs, which became better known as the Communist Manifesto. According to Marx and Engels, the history of the world was one rife in class antagonisms and conflict, ultimately leading to disappearance of class. When this final war would culminate, we would see the abolition of private property and classes. Although Marx was writing this credo at the height of the impressive 1848 Revolutions, his theory never truly actualized for a host of reasons.
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. --Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Socialism was another type of ideology to arise in the early nineteenth century. Socialism was economically driven, but ultimately affected the social and political realm. There were different types of socialists, but there were some common beliefs among them. In general, socialists disapproved of current economic systems which were grounded in Capitalism. They thought it wrong for owners of production to possess so much power and wealth. As a result, they questioned both private enterprise and private ownership of the means of production, and wished for a fairer distribution of income among the working class. Ultimately competition and the concept of laissez-faire economics met disapproval among these socialist groups.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was one of the most popular socialists in the nineteenth century. Marx was influenced by the Enlightenment as well as the philosophy of Hegel and the dialectic method. In the 1840s, Marx went to Paris for a job and there met a well-to-do German industrialist named Friedrich Engels. Engels and Marx agreed that the owners of production seized most profits, and furthermore cared little about the poor urban working class. By the Spring of 1848, Marx and Engels were commissioned to write a program for the Communist League in Europe. Also known as the League of Justice, the Communists wished to establish a system of beliefs, which became better known as the Communist Manifesto. According to Marx and Engels, the history of the world was one rife in class antagonisms and conflict, ultimately leading to disappearance of class. When this final war would culminate, we would see the abolition of private property and classes. Although Marx was writing this credo at the height of the impressive 1848 Revolutions, his theory never truly actualized for a host of reasons.
Out of all revolts in the first half of the nineteenth century, the most effective were the ones that took place in the fateful year of 1848. Beginning in France and fanning out to nearly all of Europe, the 1848 Revolutions challenged the Conservative Order and once again established a people's voice in European politics. In France, the liberals ousted King Louis-Philip, who proved to be the conservative wolf cloaked in liberal sheep's clothes. The poet Alphonse de Lamartine quickly established the 2nd Republic and opened national workshops throughout France to counteract the staggering numbers of unemployment. Germany petitioned King Friedrich Wilhelm IV for a constitution and he established a consul to head the Frankfurt Parliament. The Habsburg Empire led the way with a total of 10 insurrections throughout the Spring of 1848, all of which saw promising concessions made by Emperor. Italy found strength in the Cabornari and by the end of 1848, they were able to establish the first Roman Republic of the modern age.
Despite this gusto of energy and revolutionary fervor, by 1852 all these revolutionary changes came crashing down and more importantly order fell back into the hands of the Conservative Regime. France elected the Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, the nephew of the great emperor, as President of the 2nd Republic in 1849, and by 1852 he destroyed the 2nd Republic, and like his uncle before him established the 2nd Empire in France. Louis-Napoleon also aided Pope Pius IX to restore conservative rule in Italy and destroy the Roman Republic. In December of 1848, the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand I abdicated the throne and his nephew Franz Joseph took over. Within six months Franz Joseph was able to secure help from Russia and put down every single revolt of the previous year. Finally, in Prussia, after committing to a constitutional monarch, the Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm IV declined the Frankfurt Parliament due to the sudden turn of events in Europe.
There are myriad reasons as to why these revolutions failed, but mostly the failures can be attributed to the internal divisions among the middle-class liberals, radical republicans, socialists, artisans, and workers. As a result of this political struggle the liberals and nationalists had a hard time maintaining control. To that end, people who ultimately were coping with this change were happy to return once again to a strong conservative government, which shattered the hopes and dreams of the idealists who forged the revolutions. For next week's class, pay attention to how nationalism and liberalism amalgamated with conservative leadership in order to build stronger Nation-States throughout Europe. In many ways, it was this age of revolutions that led to this growing competition among these European States. Finally pay attention to how the second half of the nineteenth century blends the competitive markets of economics with that of politics.
Despite this gusto of energy and revolutionary fervor, by 1852 all these revolutionary changes came crashing down and more importantly order fell back into the hands of the Conservative Regime. France elected the Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, the nephew of the great emperor, as President of the 2nd Republic in 1849, and by 1852 he destroyed the 2nd Republic, and like his uncle before him established the 2nd Empire in France. Louis-Napoleon also aided Pope Pius IX to restore conservative rule in Italy and destroy the Roman Republic. In December of 1848, the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand I abdicated the throne and his nephew Franz Joseph took over. Within six months Franz Joseph was able to secure help from Russia and put down every single revolt of the previous year. Finally, in Prussia, after committing to a constitutional monarch, the Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm IV declined the Frankfurt Parliament due to the sudden turn of events in Europe.
There are myriad reasons as to why these revolutions failed, but mostly the failures can be attributed to the internal divisions among the middle-class liberals, radical republicans, socialists, artisans, and workers. As a result of this political struggle the liberals and nationalists had a hard time maintaining control. To that end, people who ultimately were coping with this change were happy to return once again to a strong conservative government, which shattered the hopes and dreams of the idealists who forged the revolutions. For next week's class, pay attention to how nationalism and liberalism amalgamated with conservative leadership in order to build stronger Nation-States throughout Europe. In many ways, it was this age of revolutions that led to this growing competition among these European States. Finally pay attention to how the second half of the nineteenth century blends the competitive markets of economics with that of politics.
world-civilization-week-13.ppt |