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Nationalism, liberalism, republicanism, socialism, communism, and conservatism are ideologies basic to an understanding of the 19th century in the West. The restored order brought on by the Vienna settlement at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars was intended to bring stability to the European state system. Yet each country was faced with political groups converted to the liberal faith and anxious for change. Confronted with demands for social and political reform after 1815, most leaders attempted to reinstitute conservative or traditional means of governmental control. The approach was different in each country, but the goal of order and stability remained the same. Even before 1820 there were a number of serious instances of liberal fervor, and the responses of the governments throughout the continent provide examples of several historical forces at work. University students increasingly were supportive of liberal and nationalist goals. While Austria would continue to dominate the peoples of central Europe, several nationalist problems smoldered beneath the surface. Austria’s Metternich skillfully handled these forces until near the mid-century point and thereby gave the conservative order the false appearance of stability. Popular unrest even broke out in orderly Britain as radical leaders stirred the discontented. The "Peterloo" affair, or massacre, is a symptom of the trouble there. At the same time, ultra-royalism prevailed in France during the early decades of the post-Napoleonic era. In Latin America, led by Creole elites, whole sections of the former Spanish and Portuguese empires moved toward independence in a manner not unlike the former British thirteen colonies in the previous century. In eastern Europe, nationalist movements in Greece and Serbia during this era should also be noted. In Russia, the Decembrist revolt of 1825 was commonly viewed as a radical failure, ruthlessly crushed by Czar Nicholas I. The establishment of the independence of Greece and Belgium were examples, though minor ones, of successful liberal and nationalist revolts which survived because of increasing competition among the great powers. The Revolution of 1830 in France, although moderately liberal in tone, did not truly satisfy the demands of most reformers. In Britain, parliamentary compromise and political accommodation in regard to Catholic emancipation temporarily resolved the Irish Question, but passage of the Great Reform Bill of 1832 only whetted the liberal appetite for further reforms. As the mid-century approached, liberals looked to the future for increased support from within the growing middle classes and toward corresponding political, social, and economic gains. After reading this chapter you should understand:
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