It´s All in the Blog, Congress of Vienna, Holy Alliance and Liberal Revolutions

The Restoration and Congress of Vienna

After 25 years of wars and revolutionary governments, the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte meant for the European aristocracy the possibility of regaining power and restoring absolutism. This group of former privileged people considered that the Revolution had been a temporary evil and that France would recover its traditional policy.

The restoration, as it is known to the period of European history that comprises between 1815 and 1830, was characterized precisely by those aristocratic desires to restore the old customs and political customs. The artifice and director of the project was the Austrian Prime Minister, Prince Klemens von Metternich, who was deeply convinced that the absolutist system was the only one capable of guaranteeing peace, harmony and the well-being of nations.

With this spirit the great powers convened a congress in Vienna attended by princes, aristocrats and the most influential politicians of the time, such as the Frenchman Talleyrand or Metternich himself. Convinced that the divine right legitimated the monarchy to govern, representatives of Russia, Austria, France and Great Britain made the following decisions:

1.     The redefinition of the European map, which the Napoleonic wars had modified with a criterion that favored the interests of the victors.

2.     The imposition of the principle of dynastic legitimacy, which recognizes the right of the royal families who governed before the Napoleonic invasions and by means of which the permanence of the monarchy was assured.

3.     The establishment of a system that would allow the balance between the powers and avoid possible clashes between them to obtain European hegemony.

However, the growth of the bourgeoisie and the effects of the Industrial Revolution had considerably changed social conditions in Western Europe. In this way, the period was characterized by the emergence of liberal movements, led mainly by the bourgeoisie and the incipient working class that defended the revolutionary ideals and that, in some cases, also had nationalist aspirations.

The holy alliance

In order to maintain the Europe that emanated from the Congress of Vienna, defend the religion and help each other to quell any liberal or revolutionary outbreak (in Europe or America), the powerful powers accepted a proposal by Tsar Alexander I of Russia to train what he called the Holy Alliance. According to the treaty of 1816, the alliance would be formed initially by Russia, Prussia and Austria, although a little later they would join Spain and France.

Thus, for example, in 1823 the French helped Fernando VII of Spain to crush a liberal uprising by Colonel Rafael de Riego. In a few years, all European movements similar to it were repressed, the Constitutions that they tried to implement were revoked and the old regime restored. The Holy Alliance achieved thirty years of apparent peace, pursuing the ideas of freedom, democracy, popular sovereignty and socialism that were dispersed throughout Europe. Many historians have called this period "the peace of exhausted effort", due to the weariness that radical social groups showed after the years of struggle in France, although they never gave up their liberal ideas as we shall see below. Upon the death of Tsar Alexander I, the Holy Alliance was dissolved.

The bourgeoisie and the liberal revolutions

During the 15th century, feudal power in Europe came to an end because the kings centralized political power; thus, Portugal, Spain, France and the United Kingdom, were built as monarchical nation-states under an absolutist regime, while in Italy the City-States were consolidated. At the same time, the bourgeoisie was strengthened by the discovery, conquest and colonization of America, Africa and Asia. The merchants achieved considerable economic gains by marketing various products of the new continent, including tobacco and silver; and also Asian items, such as spices and silk.

The period between the last quarter of the 17th century and the first half of the 19th century was the era of liberal revolutions in Europe and America, such as the English Revolution (1642-1689), the independence of the Thirteen Colonies (1776-1783), the French Revolution (1789-1804), the independence in Ibero-America (1810-1824) and the European revolutionary movements of the decades of 1820 and 1830, as well as those of 1848.

The revolutions reflected the interest of the bourgeoisie for a political transformation. This social class, which had been financially strengthened by commercial and financial activities, considered that it should have social recognition not only through the purchase of titles of nobility. In Europe, political institutions such as the British Parliament, the States-General in France and the Spanish Cortes limited political participation and the defense of their rights. In America, the political centralism of British and Spanish monarchs and politicians also failed to respond to the interests of regional bourgeoisies in their colonies. During the first lustrums of the 19th century, the French bourgeoisie took the model of the political transformations of its revolution to other European territories, and for that it used the Napoleonic wars. Subsequently, the oppositionists of liberalism, would react to these movements seeking to restore the old power of the monarchies.

In 1830, the French bourgeoisie sought greater political participation and achievement to establish a liberal monarchy. In contrast, in Belgium, Poland, Italy and Germany, the bourgeoisie had nationalist demands, struggled for its independence against foreign occupation and for establishing liberal governments. Belgium achieved its independence.

In 1848, the ideas of universal suffrage and rights for all clashed with absolutism and moderate liberals. In the movements against the regime the bourgeoisie and the workers were allied, and the latter claimed, for example, their right to strike and the reduction of the working hours in a day. The revolutionary movements took place in France, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy and the German confederation, where the unification of the German nation was sought.

Parallel to the political revolutions, economic transformation was promoted through liberalism and industrialization. The bourgeoisie resumed the economic thought of Adam Smith (1723-1790), who claimed that the development of the economy should be based on supply and demand; In addition, he suggested opening the borders for the free exchange of goods. The industrialization that was derived from the First Industrial Revolution (1780-1840) was financed with the profits obtained from the commercialization of sugar produced in America and sold in Europe, implied the transformation of society. In short, between 1776 1848 the bourgeoisie promoted political and economic revolutions that affected the European and American countries, which led to the beginning of the Contemporary Age.

All these changes reflected the demands of political and economic freedom of the bourgeoisie, the social group most strengthened by the transformations, since other groups, such as the nobility and the guilds, lost most of their privileges.

Liberal revolutions of 1830 and 1848

Shortly after the conclusion of the Congress of Vienna, the model he intended to establish showed its weaknesses. The liberal ideas of the French Revolution had penetrated the population and the bourgeoisie was not content with the new state of affairs. On the other hand, the new European borders did not satisfy the nationalist interests that had appeared in different regions, as a result of the Napoleonic invasions.

Thus, the ideals of democracy and nationalism gave rise to various revolutionary movements that occurred in three waves: in 1820 (as the uprising of Colonel De Riego in Spain), in 1830 and 1848. The most significant were these, originated in France but that spread across much of the European continent.

In 1830 the cycle of revolutions began which represented another liberal attempt to transform the political regimes of the Restoration. Unlike the revolutions of 1820, which had been Mediterranean, now the scene went to the countries of the center and part of northern Europe.

The first great uprising of the revolutionary wave known as that of the bourgeois or romantic revolutions took place in France. Charles X, successor of Louis XVIII, intended to maintain absolutist practices: demanded that the lands of the aristocrats who had lost them in the revolution of 1789 or that compensation be paid be returned; It strengthened the Catholic Church and eliminated freedom of the press. Before its policies, the National Guard, a military group composed of the petty bourgeoisie, rose up against the king in July 1830. The financial bourgeoisie, followed by students and workers joined the revolt, the rebels built barricades to slow down and cut the advance of the royal soldiers. This movement, known as the July Revolution, succeeded in getting the Liberals and the Republicans to force the king into exile in England.

Louis Philippe Duke of Orleans, was appointed as successor to the deposed monarch, is known as the king of the bourgeoisie, because he reinstated the constitution, extended the right to vote (although always limited to landowners), and promoted the process of industrialization. Only the upper bourgeoisie, the big landowners and the bureaucracy were the beneficiaries of these measures, while the workers who had participated in the revolution were excluded, which would result in another revolution in France in 1848. Shortly after the July Revolution, in Belgium, Poland and the Italian states also recorded outbreaks of violence.

The Liberal revolutions of 1830, left Europe divided in two big regions: west from the Rhin river modern liberalism triumphed, like in France, Belgium and Great Britain. And at the east all the revolutions were crushed by the absolutist governments and their conservative ideologies. Everything in Europe began to get worst once the nationalist movement emerging in the continent started to be suppressed.

Just eighteen years after Louis Phillippe was crowned king of France, the country would face yet another violent confrontation between the bourgeois and the working class against the monarchy and its rule. King Louis Phillippe policies benefited mostly the rich and powerful as we discussed above and left out of the picture the social groups that had actually taken him to power in the first place. In February 1848 the king restricted liberty of press, reunion and many other rights the people had, that deeply angered them and a new revolution began. Ultimately the king would be kicked out of the throne, ending the third French Revolution. These revolutions would have a deep effect in European societies, even though most of the movements were totally crushed by conservative governments, liberalism would gain power and become the predominant political ideology.