AP World History

1750 – 1914 Political Revolutions

New Political Ideas & Movements

• 1750 – Only England & Netherlands had constitutional monarchies.

– Other European kingdoms, Muslim Empires, and China all practiced absolutism

• 1450 – 1750 – Consolidation of absolute authority.

• 1750 – 1914 – absolutism declines; rule of law becomes much more important.

– The “nation-state” – union based on:

• Common language

• Shared historical experiences

• Similar cultural traditions

• Loyalty to the “nation”, not to a particular king or noble.

Forces For Political Change • Influence of the Enlightenment:

– Questioned the assumption that absolutism was natural.

– Starting in Europe, it invited people to use “reason” to approach every aspect of their lives.

• People can figure things out, and come up with better governments &societies

– Locke’s ‘Social Contract’

• Government’s power comes from the consent of the governed

• People have a right to throw out bad government

– Voltaire (freedom of expression) & Montesquieu (separation of powers) also highly influential

• New wealth of the Bourgeoisie:

– Middle class grew in size & wealth, but not in power or political influence.

– Questioned the idea that aristocrats & nobles held all political power.

– Educated, most adopted ideas of the Enlightenment & questioned absolute rule.

– Goal was for political power to match economic power they had recently gained.

American Revolution • Inspired by new political thoughts that originated in England and France.

• Colonists resist attempts by British Crown to:

– impose higher taxes (“No taxation w/o representation”)

– Restrict westward expansion

• Declaration of Independence drafted July, 1776:

– Heavy on Enlightenment ideas (equality, life, liberty, etc)

• War ends in 1783 with colonies victoriously establishing the “United States of America.”

– Constitution is written following victory:

• Heavy on Enlightenment ideas:

– Separation of powers

– Individual freedoms

– Equality, life, liberty, etc

French Revolution

• Civil war against the ‘Ancien Regime’ (old system)

– King had absolute power

– Clergy & nobility enjoyed many privileges

– Three Estates:

• 1st: Clergy

• 2nd: Nobility

• 3rd: Everyone else (including the Bourgeoisie)

King Louis XVI The ‘Ancien Regime’

French Revolution (cont.) • Bourgeoisie resented their status:

– No political privileges

– Inspired by Enlightenment Philosophes

– Inspired by American Revolution

– Resented paying most (if not all) taxes

– Saw the old order as being out of date

– Saw the nobles as vain, and undeserving of their privileges

• Convergence of problems lead to revolution:

– Nobles’ refusal to pay taxes

– Bourgeoisie resentment of political & social order

– Louis XVI’s incompetence

– Several bad harvests leading to a shortage of food.

French Revolution (cont.) • Economic debts following Seven Years’ War &

American Revolution threaten stability:

– King calls for a meeting of the Estates General

– Calls for nobles to pay taxes after centuries of not doing

so

– Bourgeoisie (representing the 3rd Estate) seize control of

the proceedings and create the “National Assembly”

• Pen the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the

Citizen”

– Modeled after the American Declaration of Independence

– Based on Enlightenment ideas

• Set about to create a constitution for France

French Revolution (cont.) • Revolution turns violent:

– Storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789)

– King Louis XVI tried, convicted of treason, executed by guillotine

– Queen Marie Antoinette executed as well

• Jacobins take over

– Debating society that comes to rule France during the Revolution

– Reign of Terror (1793 – 1794) • Committee of Public safety (collective dictatorship led by M.

Robespierre) seeks to ‘save’ the revolution by terrorizing its ‘enemies’.

• Jacobin leaders (Robespierre, Danton, etc) eventually guillotined as well

• Ensuing chaos would lead to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Conservative Reaction to Revolution

• Napoleon seized control of French Government

– Promised stability at home, and conquest abroad

– By 1812, French Empire dominated Europe to the border of Russia – 1805 – Battle of Trafalgar ends French hopes of conquering England.

• 1812 – Attempted invasion of Russia proves disastrous; beginning of the end.

• Napoleon is eventually driven from power and exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.

• Escapes, returns to France, and rules for another 100 days

• 1815 – Battle of Waterloo

– Napoleon’s final defeat at the hands of European allied forces.

– Exiled…again! But this time to island of St. Helena…

Napoleon

French Empire in 1810

Congress of Vienna (1815)

• European nations appalled at events in France.

• Conservative Europe wanted to contain the ideas

of the French Revolution

• Meeting of victorious powers in Vienna :

–Led by Prince Klemens Von Metternich (AUS)

–Balance of Power

• No one country should dominate others.

• Power should be ‘balanced’ among major

countries

Metternich

Europe

after the

Congress

of Vienna

Revolutions in Latin America • Haiti:

– Slave-led revolt capitalizing on unrest in France following French Revolution

– Toussaint-L’ouverture (dies in prison) leads the revolt

– Haiti proclaimed an independent nation in 1804

• Mexico:

– Led by father Miguel Hidalgo (executed) who argued against treatment of natives by the Spanish.

– Initial push for independence from Spain led by the ‘criollos’ (creoles).

– Following independence, Mexico goes through a civil war between elite and peasants:

• Leaders included Pancho Villa & Emiliano Zapata (both executed)

Miguel Hidalgo Pancho Villa

Emiliano

Zapata

Revolutions in Latin America (cont.)

• Creole-led movements also took hold in South

America:

– Simón Bolívar & Jose de San Martín led the way for

most countries’ independence

– Most were bloody, violent insurrections against

Spanish rule.

• Brazil:

– Exception to the rule

– Much less violent as compared to all other Latin

American revolts

Simón Bolívar

Jose de San Martín

Comparison of Revolutions COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL EXPERIMENTS: NORTH AMERICA

AND SOUTH AMERICA

NORTH AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA

Mother country had parliamentary

government, so colonial governments had

a constitutional model

Mother country governed by absolute monarch;

colonial governments had authoritarian model

Colonies had previous experience with

popular politics; had their own

governments that often operated

independently from British control

Colonies had no experience with popular politics;

colonial governments led by authoritarian Creoles

Military leaders were popular and

sometimes became Presidents

(Washington, ), but they did not try to

take over the government as military

leaders; constitutional principle that

military would be subordinate to the

government

Had difficulty subduing the power of military

leaders; set in place the tradition of military juntas

taking over governments

American Revolution occurred in the

1770s; vulnerable new nation emerged at

an economically advantageous time,

when the world economy was expanding

Latin American Revolutions occurred during the

early 1800s, a time when the world economy was

contracting, a less advantageous time for new nations

Ideological Consequences of Revolution

• Revolutions resulted in lasting changes in Western

political ideologies:

– Some reacted against the chaos they brought

–Others were inspired by democracy, liberty,

equality, justice, etc.

• Contrasting ideologies emerged by the early 1800s.

Ideological Consequences of Revolution (cont.)

• Conservatism:

– Supporters at first advocated a return to Absolutism, but eventually accepted constitutional monarchy by mid 1800s

– Generally disapproved of revolutionary movements.

• Liberalism:

– Supported democracy, elected legislature

– Emphasize liberty and freedom from oppression rather than equality

• Radicalism:

– Advocated drastic changes in government.

– Emphasized equality more than liberty

– Most concerned with narrowing the gap between elites and the general population

Reform & Conservative Reaction

• Reforms:

– Women’s rights

– Abolition movement

• Reaction:

– Scientific Racism:

• Used scientific reasoning to prove that blacks were physiologically and mentally inferior to whites.

• Justified inferior positions that blacks had in society and the economy.

– Social Darwinism:

• Focused not on race, but on status

• Built on theory of Natural Selection to explain gap between rich and poor.

• The strong, intelligent, and motivated will naturally defeat the weak, less intelligence, and the lazy.

• Whether at the top or bottom, you deserve to be there.

– Marxism / Socialism:

• Capitalism (controlled by the Bourgeoisie) exploits the working class (Proletariat) which will eventually revolt and create a system based on need, not greed.