In 1815, the powers that beat Napoleon met at Vienna to put Europe back together.
This article covers that settlement, the conservative order it built, and the revolts of 1830 and 1848 that shook it.
🏛️ Must Know
The Congress of Vienna, 1815
- The DelegatesBritain, Russia, Prussia and Austria met at Vienna in 1815, hosted by Austrian Chancellor Metternich.
- Undoing NapoleonThe Treaty of Vienna aimed to reverse most changes brought by the Napoleonic wars and restore the old monarchies.
- Bourbons ReturnFrance’s Bourbon dynasty, deposed during the Revolution, was restored to power. France lost its Napoleonic-era territories.
- Buffer StatesNew states ringed France to block future expansion: the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the north, and Genoa added to Piedmont in the south.
- Territorial SwapsPrussia gained western territories and part of Saxony; Austria got control of northern Italy; Russia got part of Poland.
A New Conservatism After 1815
- Preserving the OldConservatives wanted to preserve traditional institutions: the monarchy, the Church, social hierarchies, property and the family.
- Modernising to SurviveMost conservatives did not want pre-revolutionary society back. They saw that modernisation could make monarchies stronger, not weaker.
- The ToolsA modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, and a dynamic economy could all strengthen autocratic rule.
- Abolishing SerfdomEven feudalism and serfdom were abolished under this logic, since it made the state’s economy stronger.
Censorship and the Secret Societies
- Gagging the PressConservative regimes imposed censorship laws on newspapers, books, plays and songs to control liberal and nationalist ideas.
- Going UndergroundFear of repression drove liberal-nationalists underground. Secret societies trained revolutionaries and spread nationalist ideas across Europe.
- Mazzini’s PathGiuseppe Mazzini, born in Genoa in 1807, joined the secret society of the Carbonari and was exiled in 1831 at age 24.
- Young Italy, Young EuropeIn exile, Mazzini founded Young Italy in Marseilles, then Young Europe in Berne, with members from Poland, France, Italy and the German states.
- Metternich’s VerdictMetternich called Mazzini “the most dangerous enemy of our social order.”
The Greek War of Independence
- Under the OttomansGreece had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century. Its struggle for independence began in 1821.
- A Sympathetic CauseGreek nationalists got support from exiled Greeks and West Europeans who admired ancient Greek culture as Europe’s cradle.
- Lord ByronThe English poet Lord Byron organised funds for the Greek cause, then went to fight and died of fever in 1824.
- Independence, 1832The Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 finally recognised Greece as an independent nation.
The July Revolution of 1830
- Bourbons Fall AgainIn July 1830, liberal revolutionaries overthrew France’s restored Bourbon kings and installed Louis Philippe as a constitutional monarch.
- Metternich’s LineMetternich remarked that when France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold.
- Belgium Breaks AwayThe July Revolution sparked an uprising in Brussels, and Belgium broke away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
1848: Hunger and the Liberal Revolts
- Economic HardshipThe 1830s and 1840s saw population growth, unemployment, and stiff competition from cheap English machine-made goods.
- Silesian Weavers, 1845Weavers in Silesia revolted against contractors who cut their payments. Eleven weavers were shot when the army was called in.
- Paris, February 1848Food shortages and unemployment forced Louis Philippe to flee. A republic was proclaimed with universal male suffrage.
- National WorkshopsThe new French republic guaranteed the right to work and set up national workshops to provide employment.
- A Parallel RevoltAlongside these hunger revolts, a separate revolution led by the educated middle classes was also under way in 1848.
📘 Good to Know
The Frankfurt Parliament
- 831 DeputiesOn 18 May 1848, 831 elected representatives marched to the Church of St Paul in Frankfurt to convene a National Assembly.
- A Constitution DraftedThey drafted a constitution for a united German nation, headed by a monarchy that answered to parliament.
- The Crown RefusedThe deputies offered the crown to Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. He rejected it and sided with other monarchs instead.
- Forced to DisbandAs aristocratic and military opposition grew, the middle-class parliament lost the support of workers and artisans. Troops forced it to disband.
Women and the Question of Suffrage
- Active but ExcludedWomen had formed political associations and founded newspapers, yet they were denied suffrage rights in the 1848 elections.
- Gallery OnlyWhen the Frankfurt parliament convened, women were admitted only as observers in the visitors’ gallery.
- Welcker’s ViewLiberal deputy Carl Welcker argued a woman’s sphere was the home, and equality would “destroy the dignity of the family.”
- Louise Otto-PetersThis feminist activist founded a women’s journal in 1849, arguing that liberty divided by sex was not liberty at all.
Concessions After 1848
- Order Restored, Not FullyConservative forces suppressed the 1848 revolts, but they could not fully restore the pre-1848 order.
- Reading the CycleMonarchs realised that repeated cycles of revolution and repression could only end through real concessions.
- Serfdom AbolishedSerfdom and bonded labour were abolished in both the Habsburg dominions and Russia after 1848.
- Hungarian AutonomyThe Habsburg rulers granted greater autonomy to the Hungarians in 1867.
🌟 Great to Know
Mazzini’s Vision of the Nation
- A Divine PlanMazzini believed God had intended nations to be the natural units of mankind.
- One ItalyHe argued Italy could not stay a patchwork of small states, but had to be forged into a single unified republic.
- A Wider AllianceFor Mazzini, this republic had to sit within a wider alliance of free nations, not stand alone.
- Spreading the ModelFollowing his model, secret societies inspired by Mazzini were also set up in Germany, France, Switzerland and Poland.
The Aristocracy and the New Middle Class
- A Small EliteA landed aristocracy, numerically small but socially dominant, owned estates and town-houses and spoke French in high society.
- A Rising ClassIndustrialisation, which began in England, created new working-class and middle-class populations of industrialists, businessmen and professionals.
- Nationalism’s BaseIt was among these educated, liberal middle classes that ideas of national unity gained the most popularity.
What Liberal Nationalism Stood For
- Freedom and EqualityLiberalism, from the Latin liber (“free”), stood for individual freedom and equality of all before the law.
- Not Universal SuffrageEquality before the law did not mean everyone could vote. Even in revolutionary France, only property-owning men could vote or be elected.
- Women ExcludedThe Napoleonic Code had reduced women to the legal status of a minor, subject to the authority of fathers and husbands.
- Free MarketsEconomically, liberalism meant free markets and an end to state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.
Exam Point of View
Exam Wisdom: Mazzini Beyond Italy
- UPSC CSP 2018Asked: “He wrote biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Shivaji and Shrikrishna; stayed in America for some time; and was also elected to the Central Assembly. He was…” The answer is Lala Lajpat Rai. See Q11 on the full UPSC CSP 2018 paper →
- Cross-Chapter TrapThis shows exams sometimes test European revolutionaries through an unexpected Indian-history angle, not a direct European-history question.
- Related ArticlesFor the unification wars themselves, see this site’s WorldHist0006 (Italy) and WorldHist0027 (Germany), which cover Cavour, Garibaldi and Bismarck in full.
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