01:510:102 Lecture 23: Chapter 23
12 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Chapter 23 - State Building and Social Change in Europe
1850-1871
Impact of the Revolutions of 1848
• Attempted revolution from lower classes failed
• Reaction of governments was to increase the centralization of power to
control the masses
The Crimean War
Fought over the “Eastern Question”: What would the great powers do in
response to the decline of the Ottoman Empire (6th power)
• England, France, Austria and Russia all had ambitions to increase their
sphere of influence in the region
• Russian ambitions sought to expand their sphere of influence
throughout the Balkans and the Black Sea
1. Sought control over the Bosporus Straight, the Sea
of Marmara and the Dardanelles Straight
Why?
• Needed a warm water port with access to the Med.
• Ottoman Empire in decline
• Traditional sphere of influence (Eastern Orthodox Christianity)
1852: France was granted rights over Roman Catholics in the Ottoman
Empire
1853: Russians claimed the right to rule over Eastern Orthodox
Christians in the Ottoman Empire and a rejection of the French
• Turks rejected the Russian claim
• Russians invaded the Danubian Principalities and sink the Turkish fleet
at the Battle of Sinope
• The Russians attempted to direct the terms of peace, Eng. / Fr.
Rejected the terms and declared war on Russia
• Why?
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1. GB wanted an independent and weak Turkey to protect their
interests in India
2. Fr. Wanted to increase their prestige in international relations and
to protect their regional interests
3. Piedmont-Sardinia entered the war to try to earn independence
and unification of Italy
• Sept. 9 1854, Eng. / Fr. Landed troops in Crimea
• 322 days of siege to take Sevastopol
• War ended with the Peace of Paris 1856
• Danube went back to the Turks
• Black Sea was to be neutral
• Western Allies gained prestige at a high cost
Cost of the War
• 750,000 dead, bulk of which were Russian
• Terrible medical conditions, Florence Nightengale introduced
sanitation
• Charge of the Light Brigade
Impacts:
• Further isolated Russia from European politics
• Helped Prussia expand into Central Europe
• Concert of Europe was definitively ended
• Piedmont-Sardinia realized that unification would only come by force
Italian Unification
Risorgimento: cultural / political movement to reunify Italy
• Met with failure throughout the first half of the 19th Century
Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810-1861): Driving force of Italian unification,
political realist who used diplomatic maneuvering and military success to unify
Italy
• Premier of Piedmont-Sardinia for King Carlo-Alfonso and King Victory
Emmanuel II
• Cavour secured a defensive alliance with France against Austria in
1858
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• Treaty of Plombieres
• 1859 Cavour provoked Austria to attack
• French troops promptly defeated the Austrians
• Piedmont-Sardinia claimed Lombardy and parts of northern Italy
• By 1860 Piedmont-Sardinia joined with the rest of northern Italy
• Garibaldi was leading an uprising starting in Sicily and moving north
into the kingdom of Naples
• “Red Shirts”
• Cavour, fearing a rival, pushed his troops into Naples from the north
• Garibaldi yielded to Cavour and Emmanuel II, remembered as a
great nationalistic patriot of Italy
1866: Prussia defeated Austria
• Italy claimed the Venetian provinces
1870: Prussians defeated the French
• Italy claimed the Papal States
KEY: Cavour used international events to prepare the way for unification
• Realists accept given conditions and make the best of them
• Opportunistic
German Unification
Otto Von Bismarck: Architect of German Unification
• Realpolitik: Politics of based on realism and practical nature of reality
• Ruthless pursuit of one’s rational interests by any means necessary
• Rose to power in the United Diet of Prussia as a reactionary
• Believe that the traditional elites must join with the nationalists to
survive
1. Used common ground of nationalism to manipulate and weaken
the liberals
1862:
Kaiser Wilhelm I attempted to reorganize the military
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Document Summary
Chapter 23 - state building and social change in europe. Impact of the revolutions of 1848: attempted revolution from lower classes failed, reaction of governments was to increase the centralization of power to control the masses. Why: needed a warm water port with access to the med, ottoman empire in decline, traditional sphere of influence (eastern orthodox christianity) 1852: france was granted rights over roman catholics in the ottoman. 1853: russians claimed the right to rule over eastern orthodox. Rejected the terms and declared war on russia: why, gb wanted an independent and weak turkey to protect their interests in india, fr. Wanted to increase their prestige in international relations and to protect their regional interests: piedmont-sardinia entered the war to try to earn independence and unification of italy, sept. 9 1854, eng. Cost of the war: 750,000 dead, bulk of which were russian, terrible medical conditions, florence nightengale introduced sanitation, charge of the light brigade.
