Conservative Governments: The Domestic Political Order

Kagan, Ch. 20, pp. 622-628

ConservatismGeneral beliefs

Obedience to political authority (legitimate monarchy)

Organized religion was crucial to social order (established churches)

Landed aristocracies Hated revolutionary upheavals Unwilling to accept civil liberties, representative

governments (constitutions), or nationalistic aspirations

State> individual – must be ordered and organized (tradition = best organizer)

The Conservatives Specifically

France: Louis XVIII: keep the throne

England: Tory conservatives (pro Church and king) – preserve Old England

Metternich: leading Germany, Austria, Italy, Central Europe: Habsburg supremacy***

Russia: Alexander I --- too liberal for Met. – can he be converted?

Maintaining Habsburg Dominance Secure dominance in

Austrian Empire Italy German Confederation (now 39 states)

Why must these minorities not be allowed to develop constitutions?

Prussian Reform Defeated Frederick William III, Prussia

1817 promised constitution BUT…created Council of State INSTEAD

1819 ultra-conservatives put in charge of military

1823 est. 8 provincial diets▪ dominated by Junkers▪ acted in advisory role only

Monarchy, army and Junkers revive old alliances to stave off nationalists as well as liberals

Burschenschaften and the Carlsbad Decrees

Repression in Great Britain Conservative control (Tories) in Great Britain under Lord

Liverpool Post war economic depression – wages fall Corn Laws (1815)▪ Prohibited importation of foreign grain unless domestic price

rose above a certain levels – why is this problematic? 1816 income tax replaced with sales tax Increased movement to suspend Poor Laws

Citizens call for Parliamentary reform (Cobbett, Cartwright, Hunt) 1817 Coercion Acts suspend habeas corpus, cracked down

of “seditious gatherings” 1819 “Peterloo Massacre” St. Peter’s Field – 80,000

Manchester▪ Pro universal suffrage, vs. Corn Laws – Soldiers fire! – 11 die ▪ (typical of conservative Lord Liverpool)

1819 Six Acts = repressive measures vs. radicals 1819, Cato Street Conspiracy

Bourbon Restoration (Repression) Louis XVIII, 1814-1824

accepted Napoleonic Code; didn’t revoke property

The Charter = bicameral legislature: Chamber of Peers

(appointed) & Chamber of Deputies (elected) White Terror 1820 nephew (Duke de Berri)

assassinated Charles X (aka Count of Artois), 1824-

1830 total absolutist, although promises 1827

to uphold the principle of ministerial responsibility

Conservative Outcomes

Austria

• ___________

• ___________

• ___________

France

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• ___________

• ___________

England

• ___________

• ___________

• ___________

Congress of Vienna, 1814-1815

Congress of Vienna

Quadruple and then Quintuple Alliances maintain peace and balance of power in

Europe How would this be done?

Principle of Legitimacy Principle of Intervention Holy Alliance? – not so much BUT

Big Five would “interfere” in international disputes prior to Revolutions of 1848

Congress of Vienna – Congress System

After Vienna, no one acts without consent Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818)

Allies withdraw from FranceFrance enters “concert of Europe”

Congress of Troppau (1820)Collective security vs. revolutionAction vs. Spain / Naples (Eng vs. b/c of colonies!!!)

Upholds Principles of Legitimacy & Intervention

Congress of Vienna – Congress System

Congress of Laibach (1821)Austria authorized to intervene in Naples then Piedmont

Congress of Verona (1822)French army vs. Spanish revolutionaries

Greece – national uprising vs. Turks