The Age of Progress?
For each century we’ve talked about in this course, I’ve chosen a
particular theme to emphasize. I presented the 17th century to
you as an age of particularly rapid and troubling changes. The
18th century I described (as do most textbooks) as the “Age of Reason”
or the “Age of Enlightenment.” For the next century we deal
with, the 19th century, it’s pretty easy to come up with a general
theme. The 19th century is almost always labeled “The Age of
Progress.”
In some ways, this is an excellent name for the 19th century.
Certainly in science and technology it was in fact an age of
progress. This was the age of....
Bessemer (steel)
Roentgen (x-rays)
Baeklund (plastics)
Eastman (the camera)
Edison (all sorts of electrical things)
Dunlop (pneumatic tires)
Diesel (the diesel engine)
Bell (the telephone)
Marconi (wireless communication)
Pasteur (progress against germ-born illness)
Lister (antiseptic surgery)
Clearly, the 19th century was an age of progress in science and
technology. It seemed also like European society was making
progress of a different sort as well. The 19th century was an age
of relative peace and prosperity for most of the countries of Europe.
Now how did this happen? How did European society make so much
progress in the 19th century? It seems to me that this progress
came about, in part at least, as a result of a combination of liberal
and conservative ideas.
During the first part of the 19th century (well, at least after the
Napoleonic wars were over in 1815), conservative ideas had the upper
hand in Europe. Particularly important were the conservative
principles enunciated at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
The Congress of Vienna was a series of meetings held to decide what
would be done to tidy up after the Napoleonic wars. It involved
representatives of the Quadruple Alliance nations (Britain, Prussia,
Russia, and Austria), the countries that had combined to defeat
Napoleon.
The task facing these representatives was enormous. Napoleon had
totally redrawn the map of Europe, and he had introduced radical
changes wherever his troops had had control. How would the
Congress of Vienna restore order?
Well, before getting down to the details of the solution, they agreed
to certain general principles, conservative principles designed to
create lasting peace in Europe.
These principles included:
1. The return to legitimate authority
2. The balance of power
3. The concert of Europe
Who would rule the various areas of Europe? As much as possible,
the Congress of Vienna returned control to the traditional ruling
houses of Europe (the Bourbons, the Habsburgs, etc.).
Also, in order to prevent any single country from attempting to
dominate all of Europe (as France had done under Napoleon), the
Congress of Vienna insisted on a balance of power. The settlement
was designed to insure that there would be a number of strong
countries, with no one country so strong that it could dominate.
On the continent, Russia, Austria, and Prussia would all have
considerable strength. But to ensure balance, even defeated
France was left with a considerable amount of power: necessary, so the
Congress thought, to the balance of power.
Finally, the representatives of the Congress of Vienna agreed that they
would not act unilaterally in addressing European problems.
Instead, they would consult with one another, agree on a solution, and
act “in concert” to resolve the situation.
[In class I read some selections
from Klemens von Metternich, an Austrian representative to the
Congress of Vienna, and a great example of the conservative point of
view.]
Now, although these were good principles, by themselves they could not
have ensured peace in Europe. What made these principles work is
that they had the support of the strongest power in continental Europe,
Russia.
The Russian Czar, Alexander I, gave his full support to the Congress of
Vienna settlement. Further, Alexander proposed that the nations of
Europe adopt a set of higher principles in their relationships to one
another. Alexander proposed what he called The Holy Alliance, an
agreement of the major leaders of Europe to abide by Christian
principles in their dealings with one another.
Many European rulers refused to have anything to do with the
alliance. However, Austria, Prussia, and (of course)
Alexander’s own Russia signed on.
Did this Holy Alliance make any difference? It’s hard to say: but
it is certain that Alexander’s commitment to use his military forces
for the general good of Europe rather than for Russian conquest was a
key factor in European stability.
Alexander’s successor and brother, Nicholas I (1825-1855) was even more
willing to use Russian troops to maintain the status quo in
Europe. Whenever the “legitimate authorities” of Europe were
challenged, Nicholas could be counted on to send in Russian troops to
make sure no revolution was successful.
But why would anyone want a revolution? Hadn’t Europe learned
anything from the French Revolution? Well, maybe. But there
were still many people in Europe who wanted to see major political
changes. In particular, what is called liberalism was an
important force for change.
Now liberals in the 19th century were very different from the people we
call liberals in American politics today. They were nothing like
Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, or Barack Obama.
Probably the easiest way to understand 19th century liberalis is to
associate them with liberty. Basically, what 19th century liberals
wanted was, not more government (which is what today's so-called
liberals generally want), but more freedom.
19th century liberals wanted, first of all, political freedom.
They wanted to see established representative governments, governments
like that of Great Britain. In addition, 19th century
Liberals believed that political freedom would increase with the
victory of what they called nationalism.
Nationalism is an important movement, not just in the 19th century, but
in the 20th century as well. Essentially, nationalists believe that
people with a common culture (especially, people who share a common
language) belong together in the same country. On the one hand,
Nationalists wanted to see some of the smaller European political units
united. They wanted a unified Italy and a unified Germany.
On the other hand, Nationalists wanted to see the great multi-ethnic
empires broken up into separate nations. This obviously meant
challenging the Congress of Vienna settlement. But no matter:
representative government wasn’t thought possible without the
relative homogeneity of the nation-state.
In addition to political freedom, the liberals of the 19th century
wanted personal freedom. They wanted guarantees of freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, etc.
Finally, 19th century liberals wanted economic freedom. They were
great champions of what they called laissez-faire
economics. They wanted government to quit interfering with
business. In particular, they called for the elimination of
tariffs and other restrictions on trade.
In many respects, 19th century liberals are far closer to today’s
conservatives than they are to the people we call liberals in American
politics today. This makes things confusing for students, so be
careful as you study this material!
In any case, the liberals were not going to get their way on any of
these issues in the first part of the 19th century. In 1830 and
again in 1848, liberals in many places rose up in attempts to
create nations and to establish representative governments. But
these revolutions (the Revolutions of 1830 and the Revolutions of 1848)
failed everywhere except in France. The key factor: Russian
troops, sent in to quell the revolutions and to keep the “legitimate
authorities” in place. And as long as Russia was willing to play
policeman of Europe, it didn’t seem likely liberals or mationalists
would get very far.
But Russia stopped playing policeman as a result of the Crimean War.
The Crimean War (1854-1856) came about as a result of Russian attempts
to police the southeastern corner of Europe, an area dominated by the
Ottoman Turkish Empire. The Turks had held this region for four
centuries, and, at one time, their empire had been one of the strongest
around. By the 19th century, however, the Turkish empire was
showing signs of real instability. It was called (often enough)
“the sick man of Europe.” The empire was sick: and eventually it
was going to die. And what would happen then? Well, the
Russian were afraid that this would be a disaster for the thousands of
Orthodox Christians living within the empire. Consider past Moslem
conduct toward the Christians, genocide was a very real
possibility. And so in 1854, the Russians began to move into the
Black Sea region, preparing (if necessary) to take over themselves if
that was the only way to protect their Orthodox Christian brothers and
sisters.
Russia’s move into the area alarmed the British and the French,
however. They were afraid Russian expansion into Turkish
territory would upset the balance of power. So they moved into
the Black Sea themselves, trying to prevent any Russian annexation of
territory. The result was the first major European war in forty
years: The Crimean War.
There are lots of fascinating stories connected to this war.
Tennyson’s famous “Charge of the
Light Brigade” is based on a Crimean War incident. Also, this
is the war that inspired Florence Nightingale to put together her team
of nurses [Another fascinating story I don't
have time to tell in class. See this short biography
of Florence Nighingale. Yet another mathematician!]
. But for this course, the main thing to remember is that Russia
lost, and that, as a result, the Russian attitude changed.
Russia was, of course, angry with France and Britain. But they
were also angry with their “friends,” people Russia had helped again
and again, but who refused to lift a finger to help the Russians.
One Austrian ambassador commented on his nation’s refusal to aid
Russia, “The world will be astonished at our ingratitude.” And,
truly, the ingratitude of Russian friends was astonishing.
In any case, Russian attitude now changed, and instead of playing
policeman of Europe, the Russians determined to let their so-called
friends fend for themselves.
This gave the Liberals and the Nationalists their chance: the dominance
of conservative ideas was, temporarily at least, over. The
Conservatives had brought some measure of progress to Europe: forty
years with no major wars is quite an achievement in Europe!
Peace, stability, and prosperity were not quite enough, however, and
now it was time for progress of a different sort.
Now, actually, Liberals and Nationalists had won a few victories even
in the first half of the 19th century. Greece, for instance, had
broken away from Turkey and become an independent nation in the 1820's.
In France, also, liberals had made some progress. In 1830, for
instance, the French replaced their Bourbon monarch (Charles X) with
the far more liberal Louis Philippe. Louis Philippe is often
called the “citizen king” or “the bourgeoise monarch,” both very
appropriate names. LP worked with an elected legislature.
He supported basic rights (freedom of speech, etc.). Best of
all, he moved to laissez-faire economics.
For a while, LP’s policies seemed successful. But an economic
downturn (and LP’s backing away from his commitment to free speech)
created problems, and, in 1848, the French held another revolution,
deposing LP. In place of the monarchy, the French established
another republic: “The Second Republic,” as the French call it.
The president of this new republic: Louis Napoleon, a
relative of the great Napoleon Bonaparte.
The new republic got off to a good start. Louis Napoleon made
reforms in the education system and in the French
bureaucracy. He became a very popular figure in France. And
then he had a brilliant idea. “Yes, I have done much for you,” he
told the French people, “but I can do still more. Give me more
power, and I’ll make France truly great once again.” In 1852,
Louis Napoleon proposed making France an empire once again. And
the French people overwhelmingly supported him! The Second
Republic came to an end, and France now embarked on its Second Empire.
But notice. During the great French Revolution (1789-1815), the
French have moved from rule by a Bourbon monarch to more limited
monarchy to a republic and then to an empire. The result had been
a disaster: the reign of terror, civil war, thousands of deaths.
Between 1830 and 1852, the French make similar transitions. They
again move from rule by a Bourbon monarch to more limited monarchy to a
republic and then to an empire. But this time, there is very
little bloodshed. Certainly, the fact that even the French could make
relatively peaceful political transitions is evidence of a certain kind
of progress in the 19th century!
Other countries in Europe also saw what might be considered
progress. One example is Italy.
For much of European history, Italy had been the political, cultural,
economic, and spiritual leader of Europe. However, by 1600,
Italian greatness was a thing of the past, and Italy was playing a
rather insignificant role in European affairs. Many Italians
believed that the key to restoring Italian greatness was simply unity:
the creation of an Italian nation.
It bothered Nationalists that Italy was not a nation like Britain or
France, that, instead, Bourbons ruled southern Italy, Hapsburgs much of
northern Italy, and the Pope controlled a good chunk of central
Italy. In 1848, they tried to create an Italian
nation: but the attempt failed. At last, however, the work of two
great Italian patriots, Cavour and Garibaldi, led to an Italian nation.
Cavour was the prime minister for Victor Emmanuel, the King of
Piedmont-Sardania, an independent monarchy in NW Italy.
Cavour’s plan was to create a nation in north Italy by driving the
Hapsburgs out and expanding Victor Emmanuel’s dominions. To do
this, he figured he would need French and British help.
Consequently, he persuaded Victor Emmanuel to send Piedmont troops to
aid the French and the British in the Crimean War!
The strategy paid off. In the 1850's, Cavour was able to secure
French help in driving the Hapsburgs out of Lombardy and Venetia.
And then an amazing thing happened. All over northern Italy, the
Italians rose up in support of Victor Emmanuel, and soon Cavour had
managed to engineer the creation of a north Italian nation with Victor
Emmanuel as its king.
Meanwhile, in southern Italy, Garibaldi had created a resistance
movement that was creating real problems for the Bourbon rulers.
His red-shirted patriots eventually succeeded in driving the Bourbons
out. Garibaldi then showed himself a true patriot. Although
he could easily have become king of southern Italy, Garibaldi believed
his people would be better off if there were one united Italian
nation. Consequently, he negotiated with Cavour to add southern
Italy to Victor Emmanuel’s expanding kingdom.
The Pope maintained his control of central Italy for a short time, but
caught between Cavour’s forces in the north and Garibaldi’s in the
south, he eventually had to cede secular power to Victor Emmanuel, and
by 1870, all of Italy was united. Further, Victor Emmanuel agreed
to work with an elected legislature and to guarantee his people
specific rights like freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
It looked in 1870 that Italy, too, was well along the path to real
progress: certainly the liberals would have thought so.
At roughly the same time as the Italian nation was born, Germany too
became a nation–and through a somewhat similar process. They key
figure here was Otto Von Bismarck, chancellor of Prussia.
Bismarck’s role was much like that of Cavour in Italy. But unlike
Cavour, Bismarck was no liberal. He had little use for elected
legislatures or guarantees of rights. Instead, Bismarck believed
progress would come through “blood and iron.”
Bismarck engineered wars with Denmark and Austria, wars which made
Prussia the dominant power in the German-speaking areas of
Europe. But Bismarck’s most important war was a war against
France. Realizing that France was a major obstacle to German
unity, Bismarck decided to provoke a war. He didn’t have to work
very hard: the French were eager for war.
When the war (the Franco-Prussian War) broke out in 1870, enthusiastic
Frenchmen rushed into the streets of Paris shouting “Viva la
guerre!”–“Long live the war!”
They weren’t shouting for long. Prussian artillery was much
superior both in accuracy and range to that of the French, and, in next
to no time, Prussian troops had pushed all the way to Paris.
Now Bismarck didn’t make much in the way of territorial demands.
It was enough to take the Alsace-Lorraine region. But what
happened is that, all of a sudden, the Prussians were exceedingly
popular in the German-speaking areas of Europe. Everyone loves a
winner, and the Prussians had now taken out the heavy-weight champions
of the world. So when Bismarck proposed the creation of a German
nation under Prussian leadership: well, everyone was ready to jump on
the bandwagon. And so Prussia’s king (William/Wilhelm) got a new
title: Kaiser of Germany.
And once Germany was united, it was time for the rest of the world to
look out. In short order, Germany became the world’s leader in
science and technology. They became leaders in...
Electrification
Chemistry
Vaccines
Anesthetics
The manufacture of arms
At the same time, they were rapidly catching Britain as a leading
industrial power. And for the average German, life was
good. Wages went up. Diet improved. Everything looked
good: real progress, so it seemed.
But there was one problem. While Bismarck gave Germany one
liberal dream, the dream of a German nation, Bismarck was no
liberal. Neither was he a conservative. Bismarck was a man
of no fixed principles, a master of what's called realpolitik--doing
whatever it takes to ensure success.
Here's realpolitik at work. Bismarck wanted support from the
liberals, but he didn't really want to give them what they most wanted:
guarantees of personal and political freedom. Instead, he tried
to get them on his side by attacking the people they didn't like.
And who didn't 19th century liberals like? Why, Catholics.
Bismarck started what he called the "Kulturkampf," the struggle for
culture, the Kulturkampf was an attempt to undermine the influence of
the Catholic church. Bismarck later decided he wanted Catholic
support and called off the Kulturkampf--but, not before a lot of damage
was done.
Bismarck simply didn't believe in the kind of personal freedoms
(e.g., freedom of religion), that we take for granted. Neither
did he have much faith in representive government. "The great
questions of the day will not be decided by speeeches and parliamentary
decisions, but by blood and iron." The Germany Bismarck
created had an elected legislature (the Landtag): but it had no real
power. Real power was in the hands of the Kaiser and his advisors.
Likewise, Bismarck had no use for liberal laissez faire
economic ideas. While not in ideology a socialist, he adopted many
socialist ideas to gain himself (and his Kaiser) support among the
working class. Bismarck's programs were the first major steps
toward the welfare-state and the welfare state mentality.
In view of Germany’s economic prosperity, this hardly seemed
important. But it turned out to be a very unfortunate thing that,
in the areas of personal, political, and economic freedom, the Germans
did not make as much progress as they might have in the 19th century.
Now the story of European progress would not be complete without
talking at least a little bit about what was going on in Britain during
the 19th century.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the British already had much of
what liberals in other countries could only dream of. They
already had an elected legislative body. They already had
guarantees of fundamental rights. In addition, Britain had the
strongest economy in the world. They were the first nation to go
through the “industrial revolution,” and, as a result, they had a huge
economic advantage over every other nation in the world. In
addition, Britain controlled the largest empire the world had ever
seen, an empire “on which the sun never set.”
What more could one want?
Plenty.
The industrial revolution had brought with it all sorts of problems:
–long hours, unsafe working conditions
–family break-up with women and children working long hours along with
the men
–crime and disease as a result of urbanization
–very high rates of prostitution and illegitimacy
–low wages (those who produced enormous wealth saw little of it
themselves)
British liberals had an answer to all these problems. The
solution? Laissez-faire economics!
Eliminate restrictions on trade. Cut back taxes (particularly
tariffs on imports and exports). And what will happen? The
economy will grow. The pie will be bigger, and everyone can get a
bigger piece.
Amazingly enough, this solution worked: or it seemed to. Britain
moved to a laissez-faire economy during the course of the 19th century,
and the pie did get bigger. Iron production tripled in one
thirty-year period. Exports increased 500 per cent as Britain
moved to laissez-faire policies. And, what’s more, even working
class people shared in the larger pie. Real wages for
working class people doubled!
And at the same time, factories became safer. The use of child labor
decreased. Slavery was eliminated in the empire. Crime
rates plummeted. Prostitution became rarer.
Illegitimacy rates plummeted.
All as a result of laissez-faire economics!
Well, not quite. Two other factors played an important role.
The 19th century was a time of religious revival in Britain. The
missionary movement got its start in the 19th century, as did the
Sunday school movement. John Henry Newman (the guy
Newman Centers are named for) helped bring revival among the
well-educated protestants with what was called the Oxford
movement. Then--after his conversion to Catholicism-- John
Henry Newman helped revive Roman Catholicism (see his Apologia
pro Vita Sua). At the same time, the Salvation Army
brought revival to the slums. All this was very likely key to the kinds
of progress made in England.
But there was another important factor–the leadership provided by Queen
Victoria. Victoria ruled from 1837 to 1901 (!), and these years
in English history are often referred to as the Victorian Era.
Unfortunately, students only hear the word “Victorian” as a derogatory
adjective, and rarely do they have any idea of how positive an
influence Victoria was on her country.
Now it is true that the Victorians did on occasion go a bit far.
Their laudable concern for modesty, for instance, was taken to a
ridiculous extreme. Not showing one’s legs in public might
be understandable, but to go beyond this and put skirts on pianos
so one wouldn’t see the piano’s legs–well, that’s going a bit far.
But there was another side to Victorian morality. “Victorian
morality” was concerned with a lot more than sex. It involved
treating others well, being concerned, especially, with those who could
not protect themselves. The Victorians aimed at creating a
society that would produce what the utilitarian philosophers called
“the greatest good for the greatest number,” and, in many ways, they
succeeded.
And Queen Victoria herself deserves a good deal of the credit.
Why? All sorts of reasons. Her personal life was exemplary,
and her own moral character and the sacrifices she was willing to make
gave her the moral authority to ask for similarly high standards from
her subjects. She was wise, competent, and moral, and she
surrounded herself with wise, competent, and moral advisors
and officials.
Well, that was the British recipe for progress. Laissez-faire
economics, religious revival, and superb moral leadership. It
worked in the 19th century. Who knows? It might work today
as well.