Lakhasly

The Industrial Revolution: The Great Transformation ?A "green revolution" of new crops ? New ways of utilizing land and labor o Better nutrition meant better health, stronger and taller Europeans ? Agricultural Revolution o Capitalist agriculture, born in England, spread to other areas o Powerful forces brought farmers to the marketplace ? Process of enclosure (claiming previously common land as private) was frequent o Dispossessed farmers had to supplement income with weaving, spinning, cottage labor o Agricultural revolution of 1700 meant changes in landholding, husbandry o By mid-nineteenth century, application of technology to farming increased efficiency ? Britain First o Why did Britain industrialize first? Advantages were not immediately apparent: ? Netherlands and France were just as wealthy ? Both had active scientific and intellectual life o But there were challenges in both countries: ? French people had economic obstacles that hampered industrialization ? French Revolution ironically perpetuated some traditional agricultural/commercial practices ? Netherlands had sufficient wealth but lacked natural resources (especially coal) o Moreover, Britain had several advantages to make it the workshop of the world ? Labor pool of skilled farmers who could no longer live on the land ? Large supplies of coal and iron ? Private capital resources and individual entrepreneurs ? British state was stable and fostered economic expansion ? British culture encouraged consumption and permitted social mobility

? Debt carried little social stigma compared to other societies o In England, a fortune accumulated by hard work allowed one to climb the social ladder ? Technological Advance o Cotton Textiles ? Cotton production was first industry to grow at amazing rate (tenfold in the period from 1760 to 1785) ? John Kay's flying shuttle in 1733 allowed weavers to double their output ? Hargreaves's spinning jenny (1768) let one work several spindles at once with human energy ? Richard Arkwright's spinning machine was powered by water or animals ? In 1787, Edmund Cartwright developed a power loom ? Such inventions drastically altered social conditions of the workplace ? Instead of working at home, workers were moved to factories near waterpower ? Soon thereafter, steam meant factories could be built anywhere ? Role emerged for the engineer to build machines and use new power sources o Steam Power ? Roughly the same process took place in steam ? James Watt's engine dated from 1760s but was expensive (people were cheaper) ? Costs of fuel went down thereafter, and steam revolutionized work ? Weaker, younger, and less-skilled workers could perform the basic tasks ? Engines replaced people, and workers became "hands" to work machines o The New Iron Age ?Let us take the hammer to the theories, the poetics, and the systems" o Romantics explored the inner life of the mind, the unconscious, and even its dark side ? Nature, God, History o Philosophes had viewed nature as a machine operating in perfect precision

o Romantics rejected this impersonal mechanical model, seeking mystical union with living nature ? Nature stimulated creative energies of the imagination ? English romantics decried the "dark satanic mills" that bled joy from life o Many romantics viewed God as an enriching spiritual force, drawn to Christianity ?Philosophes would have seen romantics as regressing to superstition/myth o Glorification of myth and folk community is a link between romanticism and the extreme nationalism that culminated in the twentieth-century world wars o German Idealism ?Minimal sanitation ?Miners ????????..??

The Industrial Revolution: The
Great Transformation
 Origins of the Industrial Age
o Why did industrialization begin in Western Europe? Why not elsewhere?
o Western Europe accumulated wealth from fifteenth through eighteenth century
 This wealth was spread across more classes of people
o States that had centralized power in hands of strong monarch also contributed
 Engaged in military and commercial rivalry
 Actively promoted industry to manufacture weaponry, ships, etc.
 Also encouraged commerce for sake of tax revenues
 Europe’s Population Explosion
o Several factors led to industrialization, each linked to increase in labor supply
 eighteenth-century rural population grew enormously
 Traditional farming system broke up
o Population explosion did not bring famine, disease, and misery
 It provided both laborers and consumers of products of economic development
o By 1914, Europe had 460 million and 200 million others settled throughout world
o Two major changes in agriculture occurred simultaneously
 A “green revolution” of new crops
 New ways of utilizing land and labor
o Better nutrition meant better health, stronger and taller Europeans
 Agricultural Revolution
o Capitalist agriculture, born in England, spread to other areas
o Powerful forces brought farmers to the marketplace
 Process of enclosure (claiming previously common land as private) was frequent
o Dispossessed farmers had to supplement income with weaving, spinning, cottage
labor
o Agricultural revolution of 1700 meant changes in landholding, husbandry
o By mid-nineteenth century, application of technology to farming increased
efficiency
 Britain First
o Why did Britain industrialize first? Advantages were not immediately apparent:
 Netherlands and France were just as wealthy
 Both had active scientific and intellectual life
o But there were challenges in both countries:
 French people had economic obstacles that hampered industrialization
 French Revolution ironically perpetuated some traditional agricultural/commercial
practices
 Netherlands had sufficient wealth but lacked natural resources (especially coal)
o Moreover, Britain had several advantages to make it the workshop of the world
 Labor pool of skilled farmers who could no longer live on the land
 Large supplies of coal and iron
 Private capital resources and individual entrepreneurs
 British state was stable and fostered economic expansion
 British culture encouraged consumption and permitted social mobility

 Debt carried little social stigma compared to other societies
o In England, a fortune accumulated by hard work allowed one to climb the social
ladder
 Technological Advance
o Cotton Textiles
 Cotton production was first industry to grow at amazing rate (tenfold in the period
from 1760 to 1785)
 John Kay’s flying shuttle in 1733 allowed weavers to double their output
 Hargreaves’s spinning jenny (1768) let one work several spindles at once with
human energy
 Richard Arkwright’s spinning machine was powered by water or animals
 In 1787, Edmund Cartwright developed a power loom
 Such inventions drastically altered social conditions of the workplace
 Instead of working at home, workers were moved to factories near waterpower
 Soon thereafter, steam meant factories could be built anywhere
 Role emerged for the engineer to build machines and use new power sources
o Steam Power
 Roughly the same process took place in steam
 James Watt’s engine dated from 1760s but was expensive (people were cheaper)
 Costs of fuel went down thereafter, and steam revolutionized work
 Weaker, younger, and less-skilled workers could perform the basic tasks
 Engines replaced people, and workers became “hands” to work machines
o The New Iron Age
 Search for better iron showed how one industry prompted change in related ones
 Until eighteenth century, making iron hadn’t changed much since medieval times
 Producing iron with steam power required coal
 Coal mining increased fivefold between 1814 and 1856
 Steam engines pumped water and hauled miners in carts to the surface
 Application of steam technology to mining stoked early industrialization
o Transportation and Communication
 Major road building took place in the eighteenth century, especially in England and
France
 Canals were quickly outmoded by railroads, especially steam engines
 Communication changed as spectacularly as transportation
 Britain inaugurated penny post in 1840 (though .5 cent cost was very high)
 First telegraphic message sent from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. in 1844
 By 1866, transatlantic cable was operating
 Systems of roads, canals, rail, and steamships rooted in massive private capital
 Flow of finance across borders and oceans was matched by flow of labor
o The Power of Finance
 After early stages, growth of industrialization required enormous capital
 In the beginning, family firms dominated industry
 But outside investment grew steadily from 1860 to World War I (1914)
 British became international investors who furnished capital for other nations’
industrialization
 Yet banking families (Barings, Rothschilds) combined finance and blood ties
 People of same religion/region would often band together for shared capital
 Banking was risky business, and many nineteenth-century banks failed
 Financing industry was difficult until there was a safety-net
 England permitted incorporation in 1844, which protected investors

 Solving financial acquisition and management was a matter of trial and error,
crucial inventions of mind and culture that were as central to industrialization as new
technologies
 Society Transformed
 Urbanization
o In nineteenth century, cities grew as centers of manufacturing and industry
 Most of the shift from rural to urban living occurred in twentieth century
 However, the process was under way earlier
o So much growth with so little planning led to urban problems
 Minimal sanitation
 No street lighting
 Wretched housing
 Poor transportation
 Scant security
 Rich and poor alike suffered in filthy, dangerous environment (worse for poor)
o By the mid-nineteenth century, wealthiest inhabitants were moving to suburbs with
gardens
o Writers criticized industrial cities (Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool)
 Described stench, filth, inhuman crowding, poverty, immorality
 Charles Dickens, George Sand, and Émile Zola depicted industrial urban horror
o In England, parliamentary reports and press finally forced some regulation
 Continental states were less committed and slower to control urban conditions
 Changes in Social Structure
o Industrial Revolution destroyed old division of clergy, nobility, and commoners
 New industry/commerce created bourgeoisie of traders, capitalists, etc.
 Stressed the virtues of work, thrift, ambition, and caution
o By the end of the nineteenth century, bourgeois politicians held highest offices in
western Europe
o Wealthy bourgeoisie emulated the aristocracy, buying estates, arranging marriages
o Industrialization sharpened the distinction between middle and laboring classes
 Laborers encompassed different economic levels
 Rural laborers (farmers, cottage workers)
 Miners
 City workers, etc.
 Rural workers responded violently to harsh conditions by destroying machinery
 In England, “Luddites” raided farms to break machinery
 In France, workers dropped wooden shoes (sabots) into equipment (sabotage)
o Three distinctions among city workers
 Artisans (largest group until 1850s)
 Factory workers (newest, most rapidly growing group)
 Servants (numerous in the capitals)
 Workers in middle- or upper-class homes were at employers’ mercy
 Working-Class Life
o Life was difficult for nineteenth-century workers
 Many men moved to cities without their families until they could support them
 Others were single men or women who could not find work in villages
o In the mines, men, women, and children hacked out the coal
 Faced cave-ins, explosions, and deadly fumes
o Factory workers were little better off

 Factories were dirty, hot, unventilated, and often dangerous
 Housing was overcrowded, dirty, and badly built
 They had few links to their surroundings, no social connections
 However, they could make lives for themselves and marry and have families
o Many workers developed a life around the pub or café; rarely traditional church
 On Sundays, workers drank and danced, took off “Holy Monday” to recover
 Gin drinking was denounced on all sides
 In England, workers attended revivals and churches with a message for them
o Industrial workers rarely protested conditions with violence
 Lacked political/economic rights, yet rarely broke machines like rural laborers
 Workers’ political agitation made slight progress in first half of nineteenth century
 Mutual aid societies and cooperatives were formed to help each other
 Self-help organizations often developed into unions
 In England, unions were legalized in 1825 but could not strike
 In the 1850s, highly skilled workers joined in a single craft union
 However, most workers not organized during much of nineteenth century
 Relief and Reform
 Relief and Reform
o Why were there so many poor people in so much misery with all the new wealth?
 Gap between rich and poor seemed greater than ever before
o Britain was the first nation to face the worsening condition of the poor
 Parliamentary investigations documented the suffering for all to see
 Socialists, utilitarians, and practical reformers called for change
o A series of acts and regulations emerged, though change was slow
 English Factory Acts (1802) limited hours of labor
 By 1833, children under thirteen could not work more than 9 hours a day
 Acts also required children to attend school for 2 hours a day
 However, the state did not provide funding for those schools
 At first, workers resented the regulations because family income needed children’s
wages
 Ten-hour day for adult workers was not enacted until 1874
 In 1834, reform of Poor Law (from Elizabeth’s reign) tried to differentiate between
“deserving” and “undeserving” poor
 Prevailing idea that poverty was the fault/responsibility of the poor
 Established a prisonlike workhouse for those who were truly desperate
 Families were separated by age and sex, hardly fed, and farmed out as labor for a
pittance
 Yet need was so great that in the 1840s, there were not enough workhouses
available
 Continental states more quickly accepted idea of state intervention
o Historians argue that standards of living actually improved during eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries
 Higher wages, greater opportunities, and more choices available
 However, rapidity of change caused great hardship in terrible conditions
 Machines destroyed crafts and displaced the craftsmen
 1,000,000 Irish farm laborers starved during famine of 1840s
 Émigré workers faced brutal conditions in other countries, such as the U.S.
o Such conditions continued later in the century and globally in the twentieth century
o Industrialism in Perspective

 Industrialism in Perspective
o Like the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution modernized Europe
 Industrialization brought new groups to the forefront
 Cities/factories eclipsed agriculture villages and handicraft manufacturing
 Geography of the world changed with dams, canals, roads, railroads, etc.
 Aristocratic power and values declined as bourgeoisie rose
 People were judged more frequently by talent or income rather than by birth
o Ultimately, industrialization became a force for democracy as vote was extended
 Industrialization also hastened secularization of European life
 Separated from traditional communal ties, workers drifted away from religion
o Historians see several phases of Industrial Revolution
 One from 1750–1850 in western Europe
 One from mid-nineteenth century including the United States
 One in the early twentieth century
 Another within the last 50 years
o Industrialization made possible the highest standard of living in human history
o Western states were able to extend their power and influence globally
 In the twenty-first century, the world is still engaged in the process of
industrialization

Chapter 5: Thought and Culture in the Early Nineteenth Century

 Romanticism: A New Cultural Orientation
o The Romantic Movement dominated European cultural life in early nineteenth
century
o However, the movement was so complex that it is difficult to define romanticism
o Most of Europe’s leading cultural figures were influenced by it
o Proponents included Shelley, Wordsworth, Schiller, Beethoven, and Wagner
 Exalting Imagination, Intuition, and Feelings
o Central message of Romantics was that individual imagination should determine
form and content of an artistic creation
 This approach ran counter to the rationalism of the Enlightenment
 Romantics thought philosophes had turned human beings into thinking machines
 Wished to emancipate humanity from tyranny of excessive intellectualizing
o Romantics emphasized autonomy, individualism, human emotions
 Avenue to truth was for them human emotion rather than the intellect
 Romantics wanted people to feel and to experience
o Consequently, they insisted that imaginative poets were more insightful than
philosophers
 Romantic poets, artists, and musicians broke with traditional styles and standards
 Blake said, “We do not want either Greek or Roman Models, but … [should be]
just & true to our own Imaginations”
 Victor Hugo urged “Freedom in art. Let us take the hammer to the theories, the
poetics, and the systems”
o Romantics explored the inner life of the mind, the unconscious, and even its dark
side
 Nature, God, History
o Philosophes had viewed nature as a machine operating in perfect precision

o Romantics rejected this impersonal mechanical model, seeking mystical union with
living nature
 Nature stimulated creative energies of the imagination
 English romantics decried the “dark satanic mills” that bled joy from life
o Many romantics viewed God as an enriching spiritual force, drawn to Christianity
 Thus they condemned the philosophes for weakening Christianity via reason
o The Middle Ages appeared very different to the romantics
 To the philosophes, medieval era was darkness, superstition, and fanaticism
 In contrast, romantics revered the Middle Ages and sought security by looking
back
 To the romantics, religious Middle Ages seemed to nurture social harmony
o They also diverged in their conception of history and literature
 For the romantics, a historical period was a unique entity with its own soul
 Their appreciation of cultural uniqueness and diversity laid groundwork for
modern historical scholarship
 Romantics also saw folk stories and songs as a creative wellspring of cultural
identity, examining them with awe and reverence
 The Impact of the Romantic Movement
o The romantic revolt against the Enlightenment had an enduring impact on Europe
 By focusing on the creative capacities in the emotions, romantics shed light on a
side of human nature that was overlooked or undervalued by the philosophes.
 Modern art rooted in this emphasis on human feeling, dreams, and fantasies
o Sometimes Romanticism found expression in humanitarian movements
o Yet there was a potentially dangerous side as well
 Romanticism served as background to extreme twentieth-century nationalism
 By attacking reason, romantics undermined Enlightenment rationalism
 Particularly in Germany, romanticism fused with political nationalism
 Philosophes would have seen romantics as regressing to superstition/myth
o Glorification of myth and folk community is a link between romanticism and the
extreme nationalism that culminated in the twentieth-century world wars
o German Idealism
 The Challenge Posed by Hume’s Empiricism
o Enlightenment thinkers thought physics and astronomy provided certainty
o But David Hume cast doubt on the view that scientific certainty was possible
 He demolished idea of religious miracles, but also concept of scientific law
 Hume argued that science cannot prove a necessary connection in cause/effect
 Assumption of cause and effect is unwarranted
o According to Hume, sense perception is the only legitimate source of knowledge
o Radical empiricism undermined foundation of science revered by progressive
thinkers
 Immanuel Kant
o In the Critique of Pure Reason (1781), Immanuel Kant (Newtonian) tried to rescue
reason and science from Hume’s empiricism
 Kant argued that mind is not a blank slate but an active instrument
 Because of the way the human mind is constituted, we presuppose cause/effect
relationships
 In other words, cause and effect exist as an a priori component of human
consciousness
 The mind imposes structure and order based on sense experience

o Thus Kant rescued science from Hume’s assault
o However, in the process he made scientific law dependent on the mind
 By holding that objects must confirm to the rules of the human mind, Kant gave
primacy to the knower rather than to the objects of knowledge
 This revolutionary turn gave unprecedented weight to the individual mind
o Kant claimed that we cannot know ultimate reality, only the natural/material world
o Thus he revalidated scientific law but also limited the range of science and reason
 G. W. F. Hegel
o Kant insisted that knowledge of the ultimate is denied to human beings
 G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831) disagreed
 He constructed an all-embracing metaphysics to explain all reality and nature
 In doing so, he synthesized rationalism, romanticism, and Kantian philosophy
o Hegel emphasized the importance of the thinking subject in the quest for truth
 Kant had said we can know only how a thing appears, not the thing-in-itself
 In contrast, Hegel maintained that human minds can grasp ultimate reality
o Hegel took a giant step beyond Kant’s emphasis on the knowing subject and
posited the existence of a universal Mind that differentiates itself in the minds of
thinking individuals
 Mind, Absolute Spirit, was for him evolving and developing
 For Hegel, history was the development of spirit in time
 Like the Romantics, he thought each period had distinctive character
 Art, science, philosophy, religion, politics, etc. are interconnected to create organic
whole
 Hegel believed that world history revealed a rational and progressive process
o For Hegel, the purpose and end of history is the unfolding of Absolute Spirit
 History, for Hegel, is humanity’s progress from lesser to greater freedom
 Absolute spirit manifests itself in history through dialectical conflict between
opposing forces
 Struggle between one force (thesis) and its adversary (antithesis) appears in all
spheres of human activity
 It is finally resolved in a new and higher stage (synthesis)
 Synthesis soon becomes another thesis to meet antithesis, and so on
 Yet Hegel also maintained that social and political institutions should be rational
 Like Rousseau, he sought to align individual free choice with society
 Hegel favored a constitutional monarchy
 Oddly, he thought his own country (autocratic Prussia) was a fine example of
Universal Reason
o German conservatives used Hegel’s idea of rational legitimacy of existing
institutions
 If existing reality is the actualization of Absolute Spirit, it should not be altered
 Radical “Young Hegelians” argued that Germany was not rationally organized
 One of these was Karl Marx
 Marx retained Hegel’s principle of the logical, dialectical struggle of history
 Conservatism: The Value of Tradition
 Hostility to the French Revolution
o Conservatives thought revolutionaries were reckless and wicked
o Saw the Revolution as a natural outgrowth of Enlightenment arrogance and
abstraction
 Conservatives thought people were wicked by nature, not good

o Argued for value of traditional systems: monarchy, aristocracy, and the church
 Institutions that offered proper moral values, order, and prevention of mob rule
 Conservatives hated attempts to transform society on a theoretical model
 God and history were the only legitimate sources of political authority
 States should not be made but were an expression of the nation’s experience
o Conservatives viewed society not as a machine, but as a complex, delicate, living
organism; tamper with vital organs and it dies
 The Quest for Social Stability
o Conservatives emphasized community (not individual), rejected natural rights
 Equality deemed a pernicious abstraction contradicting all historical evidence
o Conservatives saw religion as the basis of civil society
 By pointing out complexity of human beings and relationships, conservatism
exposed a limitation of the Enlightenment
o Warned that revolutionary violence committed in the name of utopian principles
ends in terror and despotism
 This prediction was borne out in the twentieth century
 Liberalism: The Value of the Individual
 The Sources of Liberalism
o Liberalism is an extension and development of ancient Greek democratic practices
o Its immediate roots extended back to seventeenth-century England
o Glorious Revolution of 1688 set limits on power of English monarchy
o John Locke’s natural rights philosophy proclaimed individual freedom
o Expansion of a market economy showed virtues of individual initiative
o French philosophes also helped shape liberalism
 Montesquieu’s ideas of checks and balances
 Religious toleration and freedom of thought
o American and French Revolutions also crucial phases in history of liberalism
 Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights protected people/rights
 French National Assembly of 1789 implemented liberal ideals
o Both Revolutions called for protection of property rights, basic premise of
liberalism
 Individual Liberty
o Liberals’ primary concern was enhancement of individual liberty
o Rejected medieval classification of individual by birth status (common/elite)
 Called for end to all aristocratic privileges
 Attacked authorities that prevented individual free choice and expression
o To guard against absolute authority, liberals demanded constitutions guaranteeing:
 Freedom of speech and the press
 Freedom of religion
 Freedom from arbitrary arrest
 Protection of property rights
 Freely elected parliament
 Distribution of power among branches of government
o Liberals held that best government interferes little and is elected by the people
 Liberal Economic Theory
o Bourgeois liberals thought the economy, like the state, should proceed on natural
laws
o Based on Adam Smith, they argued for an unimpeded free economy
 They maintained that people worked hardest when acting from self-interest

 Believed that individuals are responsible for their own misfortunes
 As a consequence, they thought misery of poor was due to laziness, moral failure
o Liberals regarded social reforms and meddling with the natural law of
supply/demand
 Thomas R. Malthus (1766–1834) upheld this view
 Anglican cleric, professor of history and political economy
 Essay on the Principle of Population (1798/1803), he argued that population grows
much faster than food supply
 Distress of the poor due not to institutions or property relations but to number of
children
 Malthus argued that the state could not alleviate the poor’s misery
 Only solution was to lower birthrate through late marriage and chastity
 Yet Malthus believed they lacked the self-discipline
 Compassion for the poor was for Malthus a misplaced emotion
 He maintained that higher wages would only lead them to have more children
 Poverty, like disease, was for Malthus a natural phenomenon
o Early nineteenth-century liberals thus saw poverty and suffering as part of the
natural order; “suffering and evil are nature’s admonitions”
 For example, when the Irish were dying of starvation in 1845–1849, liberal British
leadership did little to lessen the suffering
 1.5 million people died, seen as nature’s way of dealing with excess population
o In the last part of the century, liberals modified this strict principle to aid the poor
 Liberalism and Democracy
o French Revolution presented a dilemma for liberals
o They supported reforms of moderate stage, but repudiated Jacobin radicalism
 They were frightened by its excesses and appeal to the “little people,” mob rule
 For bourgeois liberals, mass participation in politics was vulgar and ineffective
o Few thinkers in first half of nineteenth century understood significance of mass
participation
 Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) an exception
 French political theorist, statesman, aristocrat, liberal
 In his Democracy in America, he analyzed merits and weaknesses of American
democratic society
 De Tocqueville saw it as the political system of the future, but also as a potentially
dangerous one
 Danger is that people will surrender liberty to government in exchange for property
 He also argued that democracy spawns a selfish individualism
 Yet he did not seek to reverse its growth
o The task of a democratic society is to temper extreme individualism by fostering
public spirit
o Without direct participation by cooperating citizens, democracy’s future is bleak
o Although liberalism was philosophy of an undemocratic middle class, the ideals of
democracy flowed logically from liberalism
o The masses would press for social, political, and economic equality
o Thus, by early twentieth century, push toward suffrage and improved conditions
o But in the twentieth century, common participation has led to demagoguery
o Apparently, common people are willing to trade freedom for authority
o Liberal assumption that humans respond to rational argument may be too
optimistic

o Radicalism and Democracy: The Expansion of Liberalism
 Thomas Paine
o Thomas Paine (1737–1809) wrote The Rights of Man
o Denounced reverence for tradition and praised destruction of the Old Regime
o Staunchly supported the American and French Revolutions
 Paine denounced all hereditary monarchy and aristocracy as slave systems
o Paine fused English radical tradition with belief in reason and human goodness
o He also contributed belief that the goal of government was the greater happiness of
ordinary people and that excluding common people from political participation was
unjust
 Jeremy Bentham
o Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) offered principle of utility as a guide to reformers
 Central fact of human existence is human search for gratification
 Pleasure is good, pain is bad
o Thus every institution/law should be judged by the following criterion:
 Does it bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number?
 If not, it should be discarded
o Bentham and his followers (philosophical radicals) focused on necessity for
change
 Argued that the principle of utility permits reforming of society based on true
human nature and needs
 Maintained that utilitarianism is rooted in objectivity and experience, not religion
and philosophy
o Bentham thus supported extension of suffrage, secret ballot
o In contrast to laissez-faire liberals, Benthamites argued for legislation such as that
to help factory women/children, improve urban sanitation, and effect prison reform
o Early Socialism: New Possibilities for Society
 Saint-Simon: Technocratic Socialism
o Henri Comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825) renounced his title in French
Revolution
o Argued that scientific knowledge would bind and stabilize society
 His disciples championed big railway and canal systems
o Vision of a scientifically organized society led by trained experts still alive today
 Fourier: Psychological Socialism
o Charles Fourier (1773–1837) was another early French socialist
o He (like romantics) believed that society conflicted with natural needs of human
beings
o Fourier sought to create small communities focused on simple pleasures
 These communities (phalansteries) would be organized for benefit of members
 Each would work at tasks that interested them
 Money and goods would be used to reward special skills, but none dominant
 Men and women would enjoy sexuality, and all would care for children
o At least 25 communities founded in the United States in the 1840s (all ended
within 6 years)
 Owen: Industrial Socialism
o Robert Owen (1771–1858) became manager of cotton mills in Scotland
o Distressed by the workers’ plight, he resolved to improve lives and maintain
profits
o His program included:

 Raising wages
 Upgrading working conditions
 Refusing to employ children under age ten
 Providing workers with reasonably priced homes, food, and clothing
 Setting up schools for children and adults
o His factories were based on assumption that healthy, happy workers are most
productive
 Like philosophes, Owen believed that environment shaped character
o Owen established a model (but short-lived) community at New Harmony, Indiana
o Nationalism: The Sacredness of the Nation
 The Emergence of Modern Nationalism
o The essential components of nationalism emerged during the French Revolution
 Revolution asserted that sovereignty derived from the nation, from all the people
o Two ideas were crucial in new nationalist outlook
 Belief that the people possess unlimited sovereignty
 Belief that they are united in a nation
o Romantic Movement also awakened nationalist feelings
 Fascination emerged for Herder’s concept of the Volksgeist, or spirit of the people
 From cultural nationalism, it was a short step to political nationalism
o Most German romantics were hostile to liberal ideals of French Revolution
 Maintained the German folk spirit should not be tainted by foreign French ideas
 The philosophes’ concept of a state as a rational arrangement between individuals
seemed lifeless and artificial to the German romantics
 To them, it was holy, expressing divine spirit of German people
 State was a living organism that linked people to the past
o Building on the romantics’ views, radical German nationalists came to assert
dangerous idea that national identity was an inherited characteristic
 Birth was now key, rather than acculturation
 According to this point of view, some German nationalists argued that Jews could
never be truly German
 Nationalism and Liberalism
o In early 1800s, liberals were the principal leaders/supporters of nationalist
movements
 Liberals called for unification of Germany and Italy, rebirth of Poland, liberation
of Greece, etc.
o Few intellectuals realized until midcentury the dangers of nationalism or the
fundamental conflict between liberalism and nationalism
o Comparison of liberalism and nationalism:
 For liberals, idea of universal natural rights transcended national boundaries
 Nationalists were willing to subvert individual liberty for national grandeur
 Liberals sought to protect rights of all within the state
 Nationalists trampled on individual and minority rights
 Liberalism grew out of rational Western tradition
 Nationalism derived from the emotions
 Liberalism demanded objectivity in analyzing society and history
 Nationalism evoked a mythic, romantic, and distorted history
 Nationalists interpreted history to serve political ends
o In last part of nineteenth century, irrational and mythic nationalism intensified
o It shattered rational thinking and introduced fevered extremism

 Love of nation became an overriding passion, challenging reason, freedom, and
equality

Revolution and Counterrevolution, 1815–1848
 The Congress of Vienna, 1814–1815
o After defeat of Napoleon, European representatives met in Vienna for peace
 Prince Klemens von Metternich of Austria (1773–1859) was pivotal figure
 Metternich was of the old order and hated nationalism and liberalism
 Thought they led to despotism, terror, and chaos
 Austria was a multinational empire vulnerable to nationalistic unrest
 Metternich’s critics accused him of failing to harness and direct new forces
o He wanted to return power to the ruling families deposed by 20 years of revolution
 For Metternich, crucial to build a strong settlement (prevent future Napoleons)
o Other nations at the Congress included Britain, Russia, France, and Prussia
o Two interrelated issues threatened to disrupt the conference and start a new war
 First, Prussia’s intention to annex the German kingdom of Saxony
 Second, Russia’s demand for Polish territories
 Prince Talleyrand of France suggested alliance of Britain, Austria, and France
against Russia and Prussia
 Clever move: France was restored to political family, no longer hated ruler
o Threatened with war, Russia and Prussia moderated demands, and crisis passed
 The Settlement
o After months of quarreling, the Congress finished its work
 Allies did not punish France severely, fearing a humiliated France would retaliate
 Instead, it had to pay a large indemnity and submit to allied occupation
 Despite losing conquests, France was still larger than before the Revolution
o Prussia emerged significantly stronger and larger
o Legitimate rulers who had been displaced by Revolution and Napoleon were
restored
 Some have criticized Congress’s conservatism in dealing only with thrones
 Others, however, are impressed with their success in restoring a balance of power
o No one country was strong enough to dominate the Continent; none was so
unhappy that it would resort to war to undo the settlement
o Not until WWI in 1914 did Europe have another general war of the magnitude of
the Napoleonic wars
o Revolutions, 1820–1829
 Revolutions, 1820–1829
o Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Britain acted together to preserve balance of power
 After paying indemnity, France was admitted into this “Concert of Europe”
 Conservatives tried to censor books, imprison liberal activists, and suppress
nationalist uprisings
 But repression could not contain liberal and nationalist ideals unleashed by
Revolution
o First revolution after restoration of legitimate rulers was in Spain (1820)

 The Concert of Europe empowered France to intervene
 In 1823, 100,000 French troops crushed Spanish revolution
o In 1821, Concert authorized Austria to put down liberal uprising in Sicilian
kingdom
 Britain strongly opposed both of these actions
 The three eastern powers wanted to smother all subversive movements
 Britain, however, viewed the alliance only as guarding against French aggression
 Did not see intervention in other countries’ domestic affairs as in its own interest
o A revolution also failed in Russia
 Russian officers were introduced to French ideas during Napoleonic wars
 As in the West, they organized secret societies and spread liberal ideas
 Uprising in December 1825 was smashed by tsar, and leaders were punished
 To prevent further spread of Western ideas, tsar imposed censorship and secret
police force
o While revolutions in Spain, Italy, and Russia failed, Metternich system also
suffered setbacks
 In 1821, Greeks revolted against Turkish rulers
 Britain couldn’t let Russia alone help and gain influence, so it joined too
 In 1829, Greece gained its independence
 Despite Metternich’s efforts, the bar against liberal revolution was breached
 Revolutions, 1830–1832
 Revolutions, 1830–1832
o After Napoleon’s defeat, Bourbon Louis XVIII (1814–1824) ascended French
throne
 Louis pursued a moderate course, not attempting to return to the Old Order
o But he was succeeded by his diehard aristocratic brother, Charles X (1824–1830)
 New government aroused hostility of the bourgeoisie
 In 1830 election, liberal opposition won a decisive victory
 Charles responded in autocratic style with the July Ordinances, which dissolved
the newly elected Chamber of Duties
 Bourgeoisie, students, and workers rebelled
 They offered the throne to the duc d’Orléans, Louis Philippe (1830–1848)
o New king Louis Philippe never forgot he owed his throne to upper bourgeoisie
 Thus the Parisian workers who fought for reformed republic felt betrayed
 The still-disenfranchised petty bourgeoisie were also alienated
o Revolution of 1830 in France set off shock waves across Europe
 Catholic Belgian patriots proclaimed independence from Protestant Holland
(Congress of Vienna had assigned Belgium to Holland)
 Polish students, intellectuals, army officers took up arms vs. Russian overlords
o Warsaw fell in 1831, however, and revolutionaries there and in Italy were quashed
o The Rise of Reform in Britain
 The Rise of Reform in Britain
o Britain was the freest state in early-nineteenth-century Europe, but hardly
democratic
 Dominated by landed aristocrats and most people could not vote
 Social separation was not as rigid as on the Continent but was still aristocratic
o Some members of Parliament urged reforms
 In 1828, Parliament repealed seventeenth-century act barring non-Anglicans from
government and universities
 In 1833, slavery was abolished within the British Empire

o Reform increasingly centered on extending suffrage and enfranchising industrial
towns
o Bitterness erupted over Reform Bill of 1832
 House of Commons passed the bill to extend suffrage to 200,000 more men
 But House of Lords refused to pass the bill
 Riots and strikes occurred in many cities
 King William IV feared revolutionary potential
 To defuse the situation, he threatened to make new peers in House of Lords
 The reluctant peers backed down, and the bill was passed
o In the 1830s and 1840s, reformers called Chartists called for democratic measures
 Universal manhood suffrage, secret ballot, no property restrictions for membership
in Parliament, etc.
 Unlike Continental states, England avoided revolution
 British politicians claimed reforms in the 1830s and 1840s were the reason
 British parliamentary government became a model of liberal, progressive politics
 But not on the Continent. . .
 Revolutions of 1848: France
 The February Revolution
o An uprising in Paris set into motion the revolutionary tidal wave of 1848
 Revolution of 1830 had broken the ultras—no return to the Old Regime
 Government of Louis Philippe run by wealthy bourgeoisie and aristocratic elite
 “Get rich, then you can vote”—an entrenched, unresponsive oligarchy
o Radical republicans, or democrats, wanted to abolish monarchy, grant all men the
vote
 Patriots and romantics missed glory days of Napoleon, hated Louis Philippe
 Strongest rumblings of discontent came from the laboring poor
 Some factory workers and artisans were attracted to socialist thinkers
o Poor harvest in 1846 and international financial crisis in 1847 aggravated their
plight
 Prevented from striking, unable to vote, and unemployed, they needed relief
 Yet government refused to pass reforms
o In February 1848, tensions erupted and soldiers killed over 50 protestors
o Louis Philippe abdicated, and France became a republic; Parisians rejoiced
 The June Days: Revolution of the Oppressed
o Leadership of the provisional government was primarily bourgeois
 Most ministers unsympathetic to the poor, more concerned about property
o Meanwhile, workers labored (when they could) under brutalizing conditions
 Urban poor were desperate for jobs and bread
 Socialists such as Louis Blanc called for major reforms
 National workshops provided some benefits for the unemployed, but a faint effort
 For all their support against Louis Philippe, the workers obtained meager benefits
 When the government closed the workshops (fearing revolutionary tendencies),
working-class hostility turned to open rebellion.
o The June Revolution in Paris was different from previous uprisings
 It was a revolt against poverty and a call for the redistribution of property
 It foreshadowed the great social revolutions of the twentieth century
 Yet to the rest of the nation, they seemed barbarians attacking civilized society
 Women and children fought next to men behind barricades in the streets
o After three days of vicious fighting, the revolt was crushed (1,500 had been killed)
 The June Days left deep scars on French society

 Workers’ would remember that the rest of France turned against them
 The rest of France would remember working-class radicalism
o In December 1848, French overwhelmed Louis Napoleon (Bonaparte’s nephew) as
president of the Second Republic
 Overwhelming majority of the vote shows social conservatism of most Frenchmen
and their deep suspicion of socialism and the poor
 Revolutions of 1848: Germany, Austria, and Italy
 The German States: Liberalism Defeated
o After the Congress of Vienna, Germany was confederation of 39 independent
states
 Ruling princes detested liberal and nationalist ideals
 German nationalism after Napoleonic period was inspired by Romantics
o Revolt against Louis Philippe and financial crisis produced uprisings in German
states in March 1848
 The poor joined the liberal struggle, calling for constitutions and freedom
 In spring of 1848, downtrodden artisans served as revolutionary shock troops
 Having lost hope that the princes would aid them, they supported bourgeois
liberals
 Princes made concessions to liberals (whom they had previously jailed/exiled)
o In March and April 1848, traditional rulers met with reactionary ministers
 In Prussia, tensions exploded into violence
 Insurgents won the first round, and the Prussian king (like the princes) had to make
concessions
 But liberal triumph was not secure
 Moreover, alliance between bourgeois and artisans was tenuous
o Liberals seized the moment to create a national assembly
 Frankfurt Assembly approved a federation of German states with Parliament
 The federation was to be headed by the Prussian king, and Austria was excluded
 Most delegates were moderate liberals fearing universal suffrage/no monarchy
 Meanwhile, ruling princes (witnessing June Days) sent armies to crush liberals
 Prussian forces helped the princes smash rebels; the liberal governments all fell
o German liberalism had failed to unite Germany or create a constitutional
government
 Thus many Germans associated liberalism with failure, turned to Prussia instead
 The fact that authoritarians hostile to parliamentary government finally unified
Germany had major implications for future German and European history
 Austria: Hapsburg Dominance
o Hapsburg Empire had no common nationality or language
 Metternich understood that new forces of nationalism and liberalism could dissolve
empire
 Thus he imposed censorship, spied on professors, expelled students for reading
banned books, and created a police network to enforce policies
o In 1848, revolutions spread throughout the empire, beginning in Vienna
 Viennese liberals denounced Hapsburg absolutism and demanded constitution
 Authorities responded forcefully but also ineffectively
 Had to temporarily grant some concessions
o But the Hapsburg government soon recovered its balance
 Crushed the Czechs in Bohemia
 Bombarded Vienna
 Took advantage of ethnic animosities to crush Hungarian liberals

o Through division and alliance, Hapsburgs prevented disintegration of the empire
 Italy: Continued Fragmentation
o Italian nationalists also rose in rebellion in 1848
 Revolution broke out in Sicily, and king granted a liberal constitution
 Then the revolution spread to the Hapsburg lands in the north
o After a short period of successful insurrection, reactionary forces recovered
 Austrians defeated the Sardinians
 Ferdinand II crushed the revolutionaries in the north
o Reactionary princes still ruled in Italy, and Hapsburgs occupied north
 Italy was still fragmented
 Revolutions of 1848: An Assessment
 Revolutions of 1848: An Assessment
o The revolutions of 1848 in central Europe and Italy began well but ended grimly
 “We stood on the threshold of paradise—but the gates slammed in our faces!”
 Initial success due less to strength and more to government hesitation to use force
 Once their reluctance was overcome, they moved decisively to smash revolution
 Thousands were killed and imprisoned, and many fled
 Class divisions weakened the revolutionaries in central Europe
 Nationalist animosities helped to destroy revolutions against absolutism
o Revolutions in central Europe showed nationalism and liberalism were not natural
allies
 John Stuart Mill lamented that “the sentiment of nationality so far outweighs the
love of liberty that the people are willing to abet their rulers in crushing the liberty
and independence of any people not of their race or language”
o There were some liberal gains as a result of the 1848 revolutions:
 All French men obtained right to vote
 Serfdom was abolished in Austria
 Parliaments were established in Prussia and other German states
o Yet 1848 was a crucial defeat for German liberalism
 Post-revolutionary governments used police state methods to persecute liberals
 Failure of revolution thwarted democratic growth in Germany
 German middle class became apolitical or leaned toward united Germany
 Nationalism superseded liberalism as their major concern
 Failure of liberalism to take root in Germany would have