Revolutions in 19^th Europe – The Political and Economic Climate

The guiding principles used to determine the changes in Europe during the 19^th century would create many problems and conflicts for Europeans in general. Social, economic and political upheaval resulted.

Examples include:

1. the revival of decadent monarchs such as Austria and Russia would result in the destabilization of these countries
2. most European believed that liberalism and republicanism were not the evil some claimed; conservative monarchies were no longer progressive for the 19^th century
3. countries such as Austria, Prussia and Russia controlled a variety of people with very different ethnic and religious backgrounds
4. Central and Eastern Europe was not economically progressive compared to western Europe (Britain and Holland)
5. Liberal economic reforms allowed Western Europe to move ahead of Eastern Europe in the game of colonial expansion and global market economy
6. landlocked countries such as Austria and Prussia demanded greater access to the sea and were prepared to use force to get it
7. social uprisings between 1820 – 1850 were brutally crushed by their governments in Austria, Russia and Prussia
8. with changes in Europe’s economy a new wealthy middle class, known as the bourgeoisie, would gradually become more important to the success of progressive governments like Britain and Holland
9. Europe would experience a competition between ideologies:
1. Conservativism
2. Liberalism
3. Socialism
4. Marxism
5. Communism

10. revolutions during the 19^th century were caused by many things:

a. people demanded their personal rights and freedoms

b. people believed they had a right to their own government and therefore abolished the monarchy

c. people desired a better standard of living and a higher quality of life, peace, order and security must be maintained