The Napoleonic Era

General Napoleon Bonaparte takes control of French government in 1799, declares himself emperor in 1804

Napoleon brings domestic order to France

• 1801: Makes peace with pope in the Concordat

• 1804:Napoleonic Code reforms, codifies French law; promotes traditional ideas about family and women

• Napoleon uses plebiscite (yes or no vote) to gain popular approval of himself and his policies

• Strengthens centralized administration, social hierarchy based on service to the state rather than noble birth

• Censorship, arrest for those who disagree

Europe in almost constant war during Napoleon’s reign

• Napoleon a genius at military organization, strategy

• 1805: British confirm naval superiority at Battle of Trafalgar

• 1805: France defeats Austria and Russia at Austerlitz

• 1806: Napoleon blockades British trade with rest of Europe

• 1806: Holy Roman Empire dissolves

• 1808: Spanish resist French invasion

• 1812: French invade Russia

• 1815: Coalition of Austrian, British, Prussian, and Russian forces defeat Napoleon at Waterloo

French army spreads ideas about democracy, stirs nationalism throughout Europe

1814–1815:Congress of Vienna establishes a conservative order in Europe

• Austrian chancellor Klemens von Metternich dominates meeting of major European powers

• Pre-Napoleon national boundaries restored

• Legitimate Bourbon monarchy restored to France

• England, Austria, Prussia, Russia, France form the Concert of Europe

• Agreement to maintain a balance of power under which no one nation can become too strong

• Agreement to squash revolutions, maintain order

 

Neoclassicism & Romanticism

Cultural trends of neoclassicism and romanticism emerge during French Revolution and Napoleonic era

Neoclassicism: Admiration for ancient Greek and Roman culture, architecture

• Painting: Geometric lines, large spaces, often portraying a moral theme

  • 1789:Jacques-Louis David’sLictors Bringing to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons illustrates republican virtue

• Music (c. 1750–1820): Court patronage, first public concerts; precise melodies, symmetrical, orderly but complex

  • 1786:Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Austrian, 1756–1791) composes The Marriage of Figaro

Romanticism: Belief that the artist creates art from within; not necessarily concerned with pursuing truth; characterized by admiration of Gothic architecture, questioning of value of reason, belief that world is mysterious

• Painting: Depicts power of nature, storms, internal turmoil

  • 1818–1819:Théodore Géricault (French, 1791–1824) portrays human tragedy in The Raft of the Medusa

  • John Constable (English, 1776–1837) paints clouds, landscapes, rural scenes, as in The Haywain

• Literature: Emphasis on imagination, interior character development, rebellion against Enlightenment thought

  • 1798:Samuel Taylor Coleridge (English, 1772–1834) and William Wordsworth (English, 1770–1850) explore the development of the poet in Lyrical Ballads

  • German Sturm und Drang (“storm and stress”) movement includes Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Sorrows of Young Werther, 1774; Faust Part I, 1808)

  • Lord Byron (English, 1788–1824) writes rebellious and revolutionary poetry

  • 1831:Stendhal (French, 1783–1842) depicts antihero’s journey through love, ambition in The Red and the Black

• Music: Belief that music should evoke an emotional response

  • Ludwig van Beethoven (German, 1770–1827) bridges classicism and romanticism

• 1738: English clergyman John Wesley founds Methodism, religious faith to come from within oneself, not from books, priests or tradition

• 1802:François-René de Chateaubriand (French, 1768–1848) encourages post-revolutionary return to Catholicism in Genius of Christianity

 

19th-Century Political Ideas

Conservatism: Belief that stability should be maintained through alliance of hereditary monarchy, landed aristocracy, established church

• 1790:Edmund Burke (English, 1729–1797) cautions against overthrowing national traditions in Reflections on the Revolution in France

• Joseph de Maistre (French, 1753–1821) believes social order stems from church; blames Voltaire for French Revolution

Nationalism: Belief that the political boundaries of countries should coincide with the ethnicity of their inhabitants (for instance, a single Italian state for all Italian people) so each nation has its own ethnic identity

• Nationalist ideal encourages some ethnic groups to try to create their own nations through revolution, unification

• Johann Herder (German, 1744–1803) encourages study of folk culture; believes each nation has its own spirit

• G. W. F. Hegel (German, 1770–1831) promotes idea of strong state leading its people; believes ideas evolve through conflict with each other

• Nationalism often becomes aggressive, militaristic

Liberalism: Belief in free press, expansion of electoral franchise, legal equality, religious toleration, unregulated economy

• Not necessarily democratic; liberals fear revolution by masses

• Associated with the middle class

• 1859:John Stuart Mill (English, 1806–1873) promotes freedom of conscience in On Liberty

Classical economics: Promotion of free enterprise and capitalism regulated by the market, not the government (laissez-faire); inspired by Enlightenment economist Adam Smith

• Jeremy Bentham (English, 1748–1832) promotes utilitarianism, belief that law and society should be organized to bring the most happiness to the greatest number of people

• 1798:Thomas Malthus (English, 1766–1834) predicts that population growth will outstrip agricultural production

• 1817:David Ricardo (English, 1772–1823) believes “iron law of wages” means wages will always stay low

Socialism: Desire for equal distribution of money, property

• Utopian socialists Henri de Saint-Simon (French, 1760–1825), Robert Owen (English, 1771–1858), Charles Fourier (French, 1772–1837) and Etienne Cabet (French, 1788–1856) advocate ideal communities based on equality, freedom

Marxism: Revolutionary branch of socialism; claims overthrow of capitalism inevitable; urges workers in all countries to unite

• 1848: German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto

Anarchism: Belief that society works best without government

• 1840:Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (French, 1809–1865) declares that all property is theft

• Russian activists Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876) and Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921) promote anarchism

• 1880s–1890s Some anarchists use violent terrorism to assassinate government leaders

 

The 19th-Century Middle Class

Increasing prominence of merchants, bankers, lawyers, doctors, clerks, shopkeepers, etc. known collectively as the middle class, or bourgeoisie

• Social mobility (moving up and down from one class to another) both an ambition and a source of anxiety

• Size and influence of bourgeoisie varies by country: larger and more powerful in Western Europe than in Eastern Europe and the Balkans; only 2% of population in Russia

• Earn money through work but not manual labor

• Not noble, but would like to have privileges and political power; often support liberalism

• Desire for comfort, consumer goods to be enjoyed in privacy

• Emphasis on family: education, religion, advantageous marriages for children

• Belief in appropriate roles, or spheres, for men and women

  • Men work, earn money, deal with the outside world, provide food and shelter for family; women raise children, maintain the home, and provide moral guidance for family

  • Poorer women, however, must work and earn wages to survive; often work as domestics for the middle class

• Long-reigning Queen Victoria (r. 1837–1901) embodies British middle-class values