Chapter 23 Ideologies

and Upheavals, 1815–1850

The old dynastic state was a patchwork of nationalities. Note the widely scattered pockets of Germans and Hungarians.

Peoples of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1815

As popular upheaval in France spread to central Europe in March 1848, Germans from the solid middle classes came together in Frankfurt to draft a constitution for a new united Germany. This woodcut commemorates the solemn procession of delegates entering Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Frankfurt, where the delegates would have their deliberations. Festivals, celebrations, and parades helped create a feeling of belonging to a large unseen community, a nation binding millions of strangers together.

Building German Nationalism

akg-images

This collective portrait of the first parliament elected after the Reform Bill of 1832 was painted over several years. The arrangement of the members reflects Britain’s historic two-party system, with the majority on one side and the “loyal opposition” on the other. Most European countries developed multiparty systems and coalition politics, with competing groups seated in a large half circle.

Hayter: The House of Commons, 1833

Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, London

France assembled more than six hundred ships for its attack on the Ottoman dependency of Algeria, and this contemporary engraving depicts the ferocious naval bombardment that destroyed the capital’s last remaining fortifications. However, after the surrender French soldiers rampaged through the city, and news of this brutal behavior encouraged Muslims in the interior to revolt and fight on until 1847.

The Fall of Algiers, July 1830

Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France/Lauros/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library

Jules Michelet, in a portrait by Joseph Court.

Jules Michelet,

Photo12.com

Workers and students could tear up the cobblestones, barricade a street, and make it into a fortress. But urban revolutionaries were untrained and poorly armed. They were no match for professional soldiers led by tough officers who were sent against them after frightened rulers had recovered their nerve.

Street Fighting in Frankfurt, 1848

The Granger Collection, New York

Frantisek Palacky, in a frontispiece portrait accompanying his most important work on Czech history.

Frantisek Palacky,

Visual Connection Archive