AP European History
Chapter 20: The Conservative Order and the Challenges of Reform Outline
• The Congress of Vienna—which effectively ended the Napoleonic Era—was followed by a decade in which conservative political forces controlled virtually all of Europe.
• Goal of the new system of balance of power was to maintain peace and prevent war
• Major powers in Europe sought to maintain the authority of monarchies and aristocracies after the turmoil of the French Revolution and Napoleon
• Differing views on the demarcation of national borders
o Nationalists wanted borders drawn according to boundaries of ethnicity or nationalities.
o Liberals sought moderate political reform and freer economic markets
▪ French Revolution in 1830 and a sweeping reform bill passed through Parliament were victories for European liberals
o Conservatives wanted to preserve the traditional order and dominated much of the first half of the nineteenth century.
▪ Russia and eastern Europe continued to resist political and social change
Section One: The Challenges of Nationalism and Liberalism
• Section Overview
o Historians often refer to the nineteenth century as the great age of “…isms” that includes nationalism, liberalism, republicanism, socialism, and communism.
• The Emergence of Nationalism
▪ Definition—as a political outlook, nationalism is the relatively modern concept that a nation is composed of people who are joined together by the bonds of a common language, as well as common customs, culture, and history, and who, because of these bonds, should be administered by the same government.
• Ethnic and political boundaries should coincide.
o Opposition to the Vienna Settlement
▪ Vienna contended that legitimate monarchies and dynasties, rather than ethnicity, provide the basis for political unity which...