First read ch. 22 in Making of the West and watch the video The Paris Commune ( The Paris Commune – Video – Films On Demand (oclc.org) ). Next read Bismarck’s account of the impact of
First read ch. 22 in Making of the West and watch the video The Paris Commune ( The Paris Commune – Video – Films On Demand (oclc.org) ). Next read Bismarck's account of the impact of the Ems Telegram (below). Then answer the questions at the bottom. 270 words minimum
All considerations, conscious and unconscious, strengthened my opinion that war could only be avoided at the cost of the honor of Prussia and of the national confidence in her. Under this conviction I made use of the royal authorization communicated to me through Abeken to publish the contents of the telegram; and in the presence of my two guests [General Moltke and General Roon]. I reduced the telegram by striking out words, but without adding or altering anything, to the following form: "After the news of the renunciation of the hereditary prince of Hohenzollern had been officially communicated to the imperial government of France by the royal government of Spain, the French ambassador at Ems made the further demand of his Majesty the king that he should authorize him to telegraph to Paris that his Majesty the king bound himself for all future time never again to give his consent if the Hohenzollerns should renew their candidature. His Majesty the king thereupon decided not to receive the French ambassador again, and sent to tell him, through the aid-de-camp on duty, that his Majesty had nothing further to communicate to the ambassador." The difference in the effect of the abbreviated text of the Ems telegram as compared with that produced by the original was not the result of stronger words, but of the form, which made this announcement appear decisive, while Abeken's version would only have been regarded as a fragment of a negotiation still pending and to be continued at Berlin. After I had read out the concentrated edition to my two guests, Moltke remarked: "Now it has a different ring; in its original form it sounded like a parley; now it is like a flourish of trumpets in answer to a challenge." I went on to explain: If, in execution of his Majesty's order, I at once communicate this text, which contains no alteration in or addition to the telegram, not only to the newspapers, but also by telegraph to all our embassies, it will be known in Paris before midnight, and not only on account of its contents, but also on account of the manner of its distribution, will have the effect of a red rag upon the Gallic bull. Fight we must if we do not want to act the part of the vanquished without a battle. Success, however, depends essentially upon the impression which the origination of the war makes upon us and others; it is important that we should be the ones attacked, and the Gallic insolence and touchiness will bring about this result if we announce in the face of Europe, so far as we can without the speaking tube of the Reichstag, that we fearlessly meet the public threats of France. This explanation brought about in the two generals a reversion to a more joyous mood, the liveliness of which surprised me. They had suddenly recovered their pleasure in eating and drinking and spoke in a more cheerful vein. Roon said, "Our God of old still lives, and will not let us perish in disgrace." Moltke so far relinquished his passive equanimity that, glancing up joyously toward the ceiling and abandoning his usual punctiliousness of speech, he smote his hand upon his breast and said, "If I may but live to lead our armies in such a war, then the devil may come directly afterwards and fetch away the old carcass."
Questions:
(1) Why did Bismarck want to start a war between Prussia and France?
(2) Why, according to Bismarck, was it necessary that the French declare war on Prussia?
(3) How do the two Prussian generals respond to Bismarck's manipulation, and why?
(4) What benefits did victory in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) have for Bismarck's Prussia?
(5) What was the Paris Commune, and how did its existence reveal the deep divisions in French society?
The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures Sixth Edition
CHAPTER 22
Politics and Culture of the Nation-State
1850–1870
Hunt • Martin • Rosenwein • Smith
Copyright © 2019 by Bedford/St. Martin’s
Distributed by Bedford/St. Martin’s/Macmillan Learning strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
1
Politics and Culture of the Nation-State 1850–1870
Chapter Twenty-Two
I. The End of the Concert of Europe
A. Napoleon III and the Quest for French Glory
French grandeur and imperial style
Economic change in the empire
French foreign policy
I. The End of the Concert of Europe
A. Napoleon III and the Quest for French Glory
1. In France, Louis-Napoleon encouraged French grandeur and the cult of his famous uncle as part of nation building.
2. As emperor, Napoleon III combined economic liberalism with authoritarian rule, maintaining a lavish court and cultivating a masculine image by wearing military uniforms and openly displaying mistresses while his wife, the Empress Eugénie, fulfilled the role of devoted mother and philanthropist.
3. Napoleon III also supported modernization, sponsoring the rebuilding of Paris and artistic exhibitions, while promoting free trade with Britain, economic growth, railroad construction, and innovative investment banking.
4. Following an economic downturn in the late 1850s, Napoleon III sought broader support by allowing working-class organizations and some democratic reforms.
5. Napoleon III broke the Congress of Vienna’s containment of France by realigning foreign powers and engaging Russia, Austria, and Prussia in a series of wars.
6. Outside Europe he enforced French rule in Algeria and southeast Asia and attempted to install Habsburg Maximilian as ruler of Mexico, a plan that ended in rebellion and Maximilian’s execution in 1867. He also encouraged such projects as the Suez Canal, which connected the Mediterranean and Red Seas.
7. Overall, Napoleon III’s foreign policy broke down the international system of peaceful diplomacy established by the Congress of Vienna.
4
I. The End of the Concert of Europe —cont’d
B. The Crimean War, 1853—1856: Turning Point in European Affairs
Russian expansion and war with the Ottoman Empire
Anglo-French intervention
Peace of Paris
Public scrutiny
Consequences and effects
I. The End of the Concert of Europe—cont’d
B. The Crimean War, 1853—1856: Turning Point in European Affairs
1. Russian tsar Nicholas I had wanted to absorb as much of the ailing Ottoman Empire as possible, and Napoleon III encouraged his aggressiveness.
2. The conflict between Russia and the Ottoman Empire that broke out in 1853 upset the European balance of power that had been set by the Congress of Vienna.
3. The Austrians, who still harbored resentment over Russia helping to put down a Hungarian revolt in 1849, remained neutral — again with encouragement from Napoleon III — ending the Russian-Austrian alliance that had checked French power.
4. The Russians dominated the Ottomans militarily, but since the British were concerned by the Russian threat to Britain’s Mediterranean links with Asia, they allied with their former enemy France to declare war on Russia in 1854.
5. The British and French besieged the Russian naval base at Sevastopol in the Crimea on the Black Sea for a year; both sides suffered high casualties.
6. Lacking adequate sanitation and medical care, and led by incompetent generals on both sides, a million men died, more than two-thirds of them from disease and starvation.
7. Upon his father’s death, Alexander II (r. 1855–1881) became tsar and asked for peace.
8. The 1856 Peace of Paris deprived Russia of its naval bases in the Dardanelles Straits and the Black Sea.
9. Moldavia and Walachia (which soon merged to form Romania) became autonomous Turkish provinces, reducing Russian influence.
10. The Crimean War introduced new technologies into war such as the railroad, the shell-firing cannon, the breech-loading rifle, the telegraph, and the steam-powered ship.
11. It was also the first war to be subjected to extensive public scrutiny, as increased press coverage, the use of the telegraph, and the advent of photography brought the war home to Europeans in a way never before possible. Many were outraged by the way the war was conducted.
12. Florence Nightingale of Britain went to the front lines and organized a group of nurses, pioneering professional nursing and promoting sanitation.
13. The war accomplished Napoleon III’s goal of severing the conservative alliance of Austria and Russia. This opened up space for liberalism and nationalism in Europe.
6
I. The End of the Concert of Europe —cont’d
C. Reform in Russia
Emancipation of the serfs
Reforms and rebellion
Russification
Unchanged factors
I. The End of the Concert of Europe—cont’d
C. Reform in Russia
1. In the decade preceding the Crimean War, peasant insurrection was common in Russia.
2. Writers such as Ivan Turgenev denounced serfdom. Defeat in the war confronted the educated public with the poor performance of serf conscripted armies and the intolerable liability of serf labor.
3. To avoid revolution, Tsar Alexander II launched a series of Great Reforms, beginning with the emancipation of nearly fifty million serfs.
4. The former serfs were given land, but not as private landowners.
5. Rather, they and the land they farmed were organized into a community (mir) controlled by male village elders.
6. Although no individual peasants actually owned land, all were required to repay the original landowners via payments to the government.
7. Emancipated but chained to enormous debts and particular plots of land, the serfs still could not form the pool of free labor Russia needed.
8. The state also reformed local administration, setting up zemstvos, regional councils dominated by the nobility, and the judiciary by giving all Russians access to modern civil courts.
9. Travel restrictions were lifted, allowing Russians to see how the rest of Europe was governed.
10. Military reform followed in 1874 when the government replaced the twenty-five-year period of conscription with a six-year term.
11. It was believed that attention to education, efficiency, and humane treatment of recruits would create a Russian army more competitive with other European forces.
12. Reaction to the reforms often differed along generational lines. Older aristocrats resented the weakening of their personal authority. Younger aristocrats emphasized the importance of practical activity over leisure and identified with workers and peasants, and younger aristocratic women sought greater independence.
13. Traditionalists pessimistically labeled these radical young people “nihilists,” implying a lack of belief in any values.
14. The reforms also sparked resistance in Russian-dominated nations, including Poland, which sought full independence in 1863. Polish peasants were promised reforms in return for helping the Russians.
15. As in the past, the Russian government responded to unrest in Poland and elsewhere with military force, but also with a policy of Russification — an intense campaign to force minorities to adopt Russian language and culture.
16. Despite the Great Reforms, Alexander II only partially developed the institutions that buttressed other nation-states.
17. The reins of government were still tightly held by the tsar and his inner circle.
18. The persistence of autocracy and the abuse of large population groups suffocated the shared national identity felt so strongly elsewhere.
8
II. War and Nation Building
A. Cavour, Garibaldi, and the Process of Italian Unification
Cavour
Garibaldi
II. War and Nation Building
A. Cavour, Garibaldi, and the Process of Italian Unification
1. Despite failed revolutions in 1848, the idea of political unification had not disappeared in Italy.
2. The obvious leader for this Risorgimento (“rebirth”) was Piedmont-Sardinia, the most economically and militarily advanced of the Italian states, with a liberal political climate.
3. Its prime minister, Camillo di Cavour (1810–1861) attempted to liberate Austrian-held regions by encouraging economic development and allying with Napoleon III.
4. In exchange for military aid, France was promised the city of Nice and the province of Savoy.
5. Cavour provoked the Austrians to invade northern Italy in April 1859, which united nationalist Italians in support of Piedmont.
6. With the help of the French and the newly built Piedmontese railroad, the forces of Piedmont-Sardinia won stunning victories over Austria.
7. To Cavour’s dismay, Napoleon III then signed a treaty granting Lombardy to Piedmont-Sardinia, but leaving Venetia in Austrian hands.
8. Nevertheless, the Piedmontese victories had created a groundswell of nationalism, and other northern Italian states (except Rome, which was occupied by French troops) elected to join Piedmont-Sardinia.
9. In May 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882), a committed republican and inspired guerrilla fighter, raised a volunteer army (the Red Shirts), liberated Sicily from overbearing landlords and a corrupt government, and then crossed to the mainland and headed north.
10. Cavour sent his troops south, and when the two armies met in Naples in the autumn of 1860, Garibaldi threw his support to the Piedmontese monarchy, and in 1861, the kingdom of Italy was proclaimed, with former Piedmont-Sardinian king Victor Emmanuel at its head.
11. Cavour died shortly thereafter, and divisions among successive political leaders and differences between the wealthy commercial north and the impoverished agricultural south kept Italy relatively weak. Venice and Rome remained outside the new Italian state’s control.
12. The legend of the daring Garibaldi became more important to evolving Italian national pride than the economic and military Realpolitik of Cavour.
10
II. War and Nation Building—cont’d
B. Bismarck and the Realpolitik of German Unification
Bismarck’s rise to power
Bismarck’s political maneuvering
Wars of unification
Birth of the German empire
II. War and Nation Building—cont’d
B. Bismarck and the Realpolitik of German Unification
1. The creation of a united Germany in 1871 was the most momentous act of nation building for the future of Europe and the world.
2. The architect of a united Germany was Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898). Appointed by William I of Prussia (r. 1861–1888) to the position of prime minister in 1862, Bismarck overrode liberals in parliament and rammed through programs to build up the army.
3. He then embarked on a series of wars: with Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866, and France in 1870.
4. In the course of these wars, Bismarck united the smaller German states behind Prussia rather than Austria, thus excluding that great power from German unification.
5. In the Danish war of 1864, Prussia and Austria together won the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, which had a heavy German population, from Denmark.
6. An overconfident Austria, laden with debt and plagued by its restless national minorities, was provoked by Bismarck into declaring war on Prussia over the administration of the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein.
7. Within seven weeks, the modernized and mobile Prussian military won a decisive victory. Prussia created a North German Confederation, excluding Austria.
8. To bring in the remaining German holdouts, Bismarck goaded France into declaring war over the choice of a new king for Spain, in part by provoking French public opinion.
9. France quickly fell to the Prussian forces, ending Napoleon III’s Second Empire, on September 4, 1870.
10. As the crowning blow, the Germans crowned King William of Prussia kaiser of the new German Reich (“empire”) at the Palace of Versailles in January 1871.
11. France had to give Alsace and Lorraine to Germany and pay an indemnity.
12. The kaiser retained his title as the king of Prussia, and henceforth Prussia became a state of the new empire.
13. The kaiser controlled the military and appointed Bismarck chancellor of the empire.
14. The adult male population of all the states elected representatives to a new assembly, the Reichstag, which ratified budgets but had little power to initiate legislation.
15. To maintain the social hierarchy, votes from the upper classes counted more than those from the lower classes.
16. The liberals, giddy with military success, supported Bismarck’s blend of economic progress, constitutionalism, and militaristic nationalism.
13
II. War and Nation Building—cont’d
C. Francis Joseph and the Creation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
Reforms and authoritarianism
Francis Joseph and obstacles
Weaknesses of the dual monarchy
II. War and Nation Building—cont’d
C. Francis Joseph and the Creation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
1. Confrontations with Cavour and Bismarck confronted Austria with the need to make some changes.
2. Hardworking Emperor Francis Joseph (r. 1848–1916) attempted to enhance his authority through elaborate and formal court ceremony, but he resisted change.
3. Nonetheless, in the 1850s and 1860s, standards of honesty and efficiency improved within the government, and the state promoted local education and respected the rights of minorities to be educated, and to communicate with officials, in their native language.
4. Most internal customs barriers were abolished, and there was a boom in private railway construction and foreign investment.
5. Eventually, Vienna underwent extensive renovation, and more jobs opened up as industrialization progressed.
6. Francis Joseph was forced to modify his absolutism as German liberals imposed financial constraints on the military and blocked other measures that would strengthen the government.
7. In 1866, the Hungarian agrarian elites requested Magyar home rule, which was granted, creating a “dual monarchy.”
8. Although Francis Joseph was crowned king of Hungary and was in charge of coordinating Austro-Hungarian foreign policy, Hungary largely ruled itself after 1867 through the restored Hungarian parliament.
9. Following the establishment of this dual monarchy, other ethnic groups within the empire increased their demands for self-rule.
10. Some turned to Russia, hoping to form a Pan-Slavism movement (a transnational alliance of all Slavic peoples) that would allow them to break away from Austria’s influence.
11. Loyalty to the Habsburgs remained, but imperial subjects had increasing difficulty relating to one another as members of a single nation.
16
II. War and Nation Building—cont’d
D. Political Stability through Gradual Reform in Great Britain
Victorian governance
Parliamentary and social reform
Overseas empire and Ireland
II. War and Nation Building—cont’d
D. Political Stability through Gradual Reform in Great Britain
1. In contrast to the upheaval in continental Europe, Great Britain, ruled by Queen Victoria (r. 1837–1901) with the aid of her husband Prince Albert, basked in domestic tranquility, morality, and middle-class virtues.
2. Parliament, dominated by the Conservatives (formerly the Tory party) and the Liberals (formerly the Whigs), enjoyed smooth decision making and liberal progress.
3. In 1867, the Conservative party, led by Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), passed the Second Reform Bill, which enfranchised a million new male voters.
4. Interest groups pressured both parties to support reform.
5. Under pressure from women’s groups, the government addressed family and marital issues, passing the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857, which facilitated divorce, and the Married Women’s Property Act of 1870, which allowed married women to own property and keep the wages they earned. Mass demonstrations led to passage of the Second Reform Bill.
6. Plush royal ceremonies united supporters and opponents of the government, as well as members of all social classes. The monarchy promoted respectability and the family. The term “Victorian” came to refer to anything from manners to political institutions during Victoria’s reign.
7. All was not peaceful, however. Britain’s politicians were as devoted to Realpolitik as Bismarck and used violence to expand their overseas empire and to control Ireland, where little reform occurred. Since the violence was far removed from the sights and minds of most British citizens, they saw their nation as peaceful, advanced, and united.
19
II. War and Nation Building—cont’d
E. Nation Building in North America
Westward expansion
The Civil War and its aftermath
Canada
II. War and Nation Building—cont’d
E. Nation Building in North America
1. The United States had a more democratic political culture, including near-universal male suffrage, an independent press, and combative mass political parties that believed that sovereignty derived from the people.
2. The United States continued to expand westward, and an 1848 victory over Mexico brought in California, Texas, and large portions of the Southwest.
3. Although politicians and citizens agreed that native Americans should be banned from these lands, they disagreed over whether slavery should be allowed. A new party, the Republican Party, opposed slavery and ran on a platform of “free soil, free labor, free men.”
4. As the issue came to polarize the country, the 1860 election of the Republican Abraham Lincoln led most of the slaveholding states to secede to form the Confederate States of America.
5. Although he initially fought to maintain the Union, in January 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in the Confederacy, as a wartime measure.
6. By April 1865, despite the assassination of Lincoln, the North, stronger economically and militarily, had prevailed.
7. Slavery was abolished, but the constitutional guarantee of full political rights to African American men was effectively nullified once southern whites regained control of state politics after 1877.
8. The Union’s victory opened the way to a stronger national government and economic advance not tied to the slave economy.
9. In retribution for Great Britain’s partiality to the Confederacy, the United States threatened the annexation of Canada.
10. To avoid this, Great Britain granted Canada the status of self-governing dominion.
21
III. Nation Building through Social Order
A. Bringing Order to the Cities
Displays of state power
Renovated cities
Sanitation and public health
Discoveries and improvements in sanitation
III. Nation Building through Social Order
A. Bringing Order to the Cities
1. European cities became the backdrop for displays of state power and national solidarity; thus efforts to improve sanitation and beautify cities revitalized the state’s credit.
2. In 1857, Austrian emperor Francis Joseph ordered the destruction of Vienna’s medieval city walls and replaced them with boulevards lined with public buildings such as the opera house and government buildings.
3. Other cities built broad boulevards that enabled crowds to observe royal pageantry and allowed troops faster access to the city and its inhabitants.
4. These renovated cities highlighted class differences: poor neighborhoods were razed, and boulevards separated the rich from the poor.
5. In London, renovation replaced slums and lower-class neighborhoods with large commercial streets, all designed to foster civic pride and stabilize the state.
6. Despite such renovation, disease still remained a problem. Poor sanitation contributed to epidemic diseases such as cholera and typhoid along with disorder, and improving sanitation became a government priority.
7. Scientific research was increasingly conducted in government-financed universities and hospitals. French scientist Louis Pasteur discovered that bacteria and parasites were responsible for many illnesses, and he demonstrated that heating foods such as wine and milk — pasteurization — could kill these organisms.
8. English surgeon Joseph Lister applied Pasteur’s discovery to medical care and developed antiseptics for treating wounds.
9. At the same time, governments improved drainage and water supplies.
10. In Paris, urban prefect Georges-Eugene Haussmann devised a system to pipe in water from less-contaminated sources in the countryside, a system imitated throughout Europe.
11. On the lookout for disease and sanitary dangers, people became more aware of foul odors and air that had been an accepted part of life for thousands of years. Now aware of the importance of hygiene, the middle and lower classes began to bathe more often, a refinement in harmony with government concern for order.
23
III. Nation Building through Social Order—cont’d
B. Expanding Government Bureaucracy
New programs
Expanded government reach
Censuses and statistics
Regulating prostitution
III. Nation Building through Social Order—cont’d
B. Expanding Government Bureaucracy
1. Enacting new programs to build social order and safety and to enhance the nation expanded state bureaucracies.
2. Government authority reached further into the realm of everyday life, in part through regular census taking.
3. Details of people’s lives — their ages, occupations, and marital status, for example — could be used to set quotas for military conscription or to predict the need for new prisons.
4. Reformers such as Florence Nightingale believed that the gathering of quantitative information made government less susceptible to corruption and inefficiency. Decisions would be based on facts rather than influence-peddling or ill-informed guesses.
5. Another “intrusion” was the increase in government regulation of prostitution, designed to limit the spread of venereal disease.
6. As government increased such functions, new departments and agencies were established.
24
III. Nation Building through Social Order—cont’d
C. Schooling and Professionalizing Society
Rise of professionalization
Citizenship and education reform
Education and women
III. Nation Building through Social Order—cont’d
C. Schooling and Professionalizing Society
1. Increased requirements for empirical knowledge and objective standards of evaluation elevated and altered certain professions; doctors, lawyers, managers, professors, and journalists began to influence state policy and regulate admission to their fields.
2. The middle classes successfully lobbied to make civil service jobs merit-based rather than rewards for political loyalty or high birth.
3. Britain and other countries passed legislation requiring that these positions be earned through competitive examinations.
4. The professions sought to exclude persons who lacked credentials, such as midwives.
5. Nation building required major improvements in education.
6. Governments introduced compulsory schooling to inculcate nationalism, reduce illiteracy, and educate their growing electorates.
7. Traditionally, primary education had been religious, but after the 1850s, states increasingly introduced secular and scientific instruction.
8. The economic importance of children made it difficult to enforce school attendance, but over time, among the working poor and the middle classes, education became a shared value and made traveling lecturers, public forums, reading groups, and debating societies popular.
9. Secondary and university education remained elite luxuries, but now secondary education developed along different tracks. In authoritarian countries such as Russia, advanced studies were viewed with suspicion as they might encourage young people to think for themselves.
10. Reformers pushed for more advanced and complex courses for young women than they had been offered in the past. Colleges for women were founded at the British universities of Oxford and Cambridge and had the effect of raising standards at the men’s colleges as well.
11. Secondary and university-level courses for women, especially in Paris and Zurich, opened professional doors for them.
12. Some young women took advantage of new opportunities in medicine.
13. These women saw the need to protect the modesty of female patients and to bring feminine values to health care.
14. Women also entered teaching in large numbers, as primary education expanded.
15. Yet, because this work took them outside the domestic sphere, it raised a storm of controversy.
25
III. Nation Building through Social Order—cont’d
D. Spreading National Power and Order beyond the West
British rule in India
French imperialism
European inroads in China
Meiji Restoration in Japan
III. Nation Building through Social Order—cont’d
D. Spreading National Power and Order beyond the West
1. In an age of nation building and industrial development, colonies to
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