History 121D5

Mazziniwe must not abolish property, we must allow many to

acquire it
Most early European revolutions met with failure
In 1829, the Greek Revolution succeeds in repelling the Turks and

many of the old regime stands with the revolutionaries

The Greek success gave hope to other revolutionaries in Europe
In the 1830s, revolution erupts in France, the then-center of

European society and politics

Revolution erupts when Charles revokes the publics right to vote

and their freedom of press

Well-to-do bourgeoisie takes hold of the revolution and Louis

Philippe takes over

Louis Philippe remembers who gave him the thronethe public
Parisian workers felt betrayed by the outcome of the revolution,

as they favored another republic

Belgium won its independence from Holland in the 1830s
Revolts in the Northern Italian states controlled by the Austrian

Empire and in Prussia were put down

Only Britain was spared from outright revolution in these years
But Britain is in a revolutionary situation in the 1830s brought on
by liberal demands for political reform, culminating in the Reform

Act of 1832extends suffrage to middle class

The bills passage was assisted by riots and that Britain faced the

revolutionary situation
The British Chartist movement agitates for universal suffrage,

secret ballots, and for property qualifications for representation

Modern conservatism begins as a defense against the claims of
the Enlightenment and to put them into practice

The French Revolution, with the Enlightenment in the

background, is the catalyst for modern conservative thought

Absolute monarchs, leaders of the nobilities, clergy, and their
allies support early conservatism as a buttress against liberalism

and the Enlightenment

These thinkers are threatened by the French Revolution
Peasants are not thinking about these Enlightenment ideals
Revolution is mainly a bourgeois ideal
Parisian workers and other early workers are paying attention to
politics and demanding the same rights that the bourgeoisie are

demanding
In the Middle Class revolutions, what you want are political rights
ASAP and then you want to stop the spread of rights to the lower

classes
The challenges of the Enlightenment bring these groups together

where they may have traditionally been at odds

They defeated the military threat of Napoleon
The changes that were made in the revolutionary era could not
be undone by simply restoring a monarch or giving the nobles

back their titles

Positive political doctrines seemed necessary to protect the

revolution
1815-1830the era of the origin of modern political thought
Modern political thought is dominated by two main themes

history (tradition) and patriarchies

In both of these, there are strong oppositions to Enlightenment

ideals
The social changes brought on by the revolution are great
Edmund Burkethe first to articulate the conservative response

1774Burke wrote a defense of the principles of representative

government
In the March of October and the arrest of the king, Burke starts to

take a conservative stance

In 1790, Burkes conservative response becomes an instant bestseller and he becomes the intellectual father of modern

conservatism
Burke critiques the French Revolution and in doing so the entire

Enlightenment
1790Reflections on the Revolution in France by Burke perfectly

encapsulates the ideals of early and modern conservatism

Burkes eloquence in articulating conservative ideals has never

been surpassed
Burke:
Most conservatives could quote Burke on any of their concerns
The Enlightenment is abstract reason to Burke
History seems to be of utmost importance to Burke and other
conservatives because they assert that the state has to be a

living organism
They were the product of long, historical tradition and

development
In that history, traditions and institutions were created that

become part of daily affairs

A declaration of the rights of man or a new code of law are not

possible from the perspective that the state is a living organism

To impose rationalist documents distorts the organic course of

human development
This is Burkes fundamental reaction to the French Revolution
Burke sees the Enlightenment as trying to restructure France
based on abstract principle against their organic nature

Burke is saying that it is authority itself that is usurping the

organic nature of France

The reverence for history at the core of modern conservative

thought is really a reverence for the Middle Ages of history

They generally ignore the 17th and 18th centuries which frame the

Enlightenment and the French Revolution

They believe that only the type of order in the Middle Ages could

ensure peace and stability in society

Patriarchies are at the core of modern conservatism
Conservatives looked on the relationship of state and society as

a familya father was to his children as a king is to his subjects

The family was seen to be the only true social unit
The emphasis was on paternalism and its principles
There was seen to be a constant need for control in society which
historically and organically developed, so therefore must be the

best
The argument of paternalism could be used to challenge state

bureaucracies
The argument provided a gender-based club to pummel their

opponents
If all men were equal, as the Enlightenment provides, this implies
that women should also receive the same equality and right to

vote
No one was willing to concede that the liberal view logically led

to womens equality
In response to demands for political reform in Prussia, Wilhelm IV
said that no piece of paper would come before him and his
people

Traditional and patriarchal power were divinely blessed and could

not have succeeded without ties to organized religion

Conservatives wanted church control over the state
They viewed society as a church and that Christianity was the

best form of social cohesion

Journalists, Jews, scientists, revolutionaries, etc. were seen as

evil and opposing the good of society

If conservatives supported religion, churches returned the favor
The clergy advised the people to obey the restored Bourbon

monarchy in addition to their other religious duties

Otto von Bismarck begun his political career in 1848 as a

spokesman for the far-right in Prussian politics

Conservatives continue to call for agriculture to maintain a
prominent role in the economy, as it enforced the fact that you
needed land, which strengthened the nobles and the richest of

the bourgeoisie
Early liberals opposed any kind of assistance to the poor
Conservatives favored limited assistance to the poor
Conservatives opposed the social consequences of

industrialization
Railroad lines decrease as you move East into the old noble lands
Nobles were highly skeptical of railroads and were fearful of the

spread of radical revolutionary ideas

They fear the new effect of the railroads on society
European conservatives were entirely on the defensive in 1840s

France
After 1848 there is religious influence in the formation of political

ideologies
Socialism is gaining steam in the 1830s
Austrian Chancellor Metternich dominates European politics in
the 19th century

Autocracy was viewed as the only true form of political authority

There was a desire to restore traditional dynasties
From 1848, conservatives were forced to participate in the new

form of mass politics and even parliamentarianism

1848 served to politicize popular religion
Conservatives would do quite well in democratic politics
Conservatism did not offer a viable alternative political system
Conservatives favored a bygone old political order
By 1830, the hopes of the restoration of traditional political

systems are dashed

The only new thing new in 19th century Europe was modern

political thought
Liberalism and radicalism are direct descendants of the

Enlightenment
The only thing new in the 19th was conservative thought and the

reaction to modernity
Modern sociology emerges as the first of the modern social

sciences
Sociology at first seeks to study the impact of modernity on

society
The focus of early sociology is on the radical dislocations that

modernity is forcing on society

Most of the main articulators of conservatism were middle class
intellectuals who were uprooted from economic society and only

had their ideas left

They attach themselves intellectually to the group most

threatened by modernity, the nobles

Conservatives develop the dialectic; radical critiques of capitalist

society are indebted to the conservatives in this respect

They both share the opposition to the modern, capitalist world
around them

Both groups are violently opposed to the modern world

One wanted to transform it and one wanted to return it to what it

once was
Both reject the modern capitalist system for similar reasons
The empires of Prussia and Russia are based on loyalty to a
monarch, mandatory state service, and maintain respect for

feudal privilege
Many monarchies have a secret police force
Groups are often isolated and alienated from society
Liberalism and socialism penetrate the empires
They often take different forms though because of their limited

social support
Liberalism and socialism become much more radical as they

head east
Liberalism was transformed into socialism and radical

nationalism
The Western revolutions terrify the Eastern monarchs
The ideas of the French Revolution lived on
1815 Congress of Vienna gave Europe order that was threatened

by these revolutions
Liberalism was not to be tolerated, but nationalism was even

worse
Liberalism and nationalism went hand-in-hand until 1848
Nationalist movements trump liberalism in the East
In the Austrian Empire in particular, you have vast numbers of

Slavs caught up in nationalist fervor

Most of the Austrian Empire was not German or Hungarian
In the 1820s and 1830s, many literary languages are
established, museums are established, and struggling nationalist
movements are seeking cultural autonomy