REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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Major steps of the European History since 1815

1815 : The congress of Vienna - a new organization of Europe.

The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by

Klemens Wenzel von Metternich. Metternich firmly believed that liberalism and nationalism

were dangerous and that led to the Congress of Vienna which restored monarchy in every

states won by France during the French Revolutionary Wars or the Napoleonic Wars.

The following topics were dealt with by the Congress : the restauration and the come back of

the political situation of 1789; legitimity (Bourbon’s claims) and solidarity of legitimate

princes facing revolutionary uprisings.

The ‘Four Great Powers’ were :

Austria, represented by Prince Metternich, the United Kingdom, represented by Viscount

Castlereagh, Russia's official delegation was led by the foreign minister, Count Karl Robert

Nesselrode, Prussia represented by Prince Karl August von Hardenberg, the Chancellor, and

the diplomat and scholar Wilhelm von Humboldt, France, the "fifth" power, represented by

her foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord.

The Final Act of the Treaty of Vienna, embodying a balance between the ‘Four Great

Powers’, was signed on June 1815.

The Congress reduced France to its 1791 borders and the country was surrounded by a belt of

small States (the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and Piedmont-Sardinia enlarged of

Savoy).

Hanover and the United Kingdom had the same sovereign. The United Kingdom was

confirmed in control of Malta, Ceylon and the Cape Colony in Southern Africa. They are the

real winners of the negociations.

Russia was given most of the Duchy of Warsaw (Poland) with its own institutions.

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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Austria gave up the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) but received Lombardy-Venetia in Italy

and Dubrovnik in Dalmatia. Austria tried to extend its political power on Italy. Former

Austrian territory in Southwest Germany remained under the control of Württemberg and

Baden.

Prussia was given two fifths of Saxony, parts of the Duchy of Warsaw (the Grand Duchy of

Posen), Danzig, and the Rhineland/Westphalia. Prussia was split up into two parts - socially,

economically and religiously different. Its role was to protect the Rhin river and also gained

territory inside Germany.

The neutrality of Switzerland was guaranteed.

1830 : national and liberal uprisings in Europe.

Some political movements from the French Revolution such as liberalism and nationalism

were getting more and more popular.

The July Revolution saw the hegemony of the bourgeoisie in constitutional monarchies in

Western Europe.

In Central and Southern Europe, some national and liberal movements knew a rapid

development.

The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution, saw the overthrow of

King Charles X of France, who departed for Great Britain after barricades had been erected

throughout the city of Paris. In his place Louis Philippe of the House of Orléans was placed

on the throne and he agreed to rule as a constitutional monarch.

In Belgium, riots erupted in Brussels. The town of Antwerp was bombarded. The Provisional

Government and a National Congress recognized Belgian independence.

Greece also became independent.

In Italy, riots burst in Modena, Parma and Romagna in 1831, but the French army did not

show up. The national revolution intensified and finally ended with the idea of a unification.

In Poland, in 1830-1831, the uprising began in Warsaw. Large segments of Polish society

revolted against the Russian Army. In 1832, Poland became a russian territory.

In Austria and Hungary, both a national and social revolution was born, abolishing the

seigneurial system.

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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European Revolutions of 1848 also known in some countries as the ‘Spring of Nations’, a

series of political upheavals throughout Europe and collapse of traditional authority

(Metternich).

In 1848, it was the first (and only) Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a

year reactionary forces had won out and the revolutions collapsed. These revolutions led to

new revolutions and to the end of the unity of a country. In Germany for example, the

revolution failed in 1849 but will lead to the unification in 1871.

In Italy, the major outbreaks came in Palerma, Naples and Toscany, in the Papal States and

also in Milan.

Many political leaders proposed constitutions. Thanks to french and austrian inerventions,

peace is maintained almost everywhere. This is the beginning of the unification of the country

through the Kingdom of Piedmont- Sardinia.

In France, on the 23, 24 and 25 February, the citizens of Paris turned their back on Louis-

Philippe. During the "June Days", the petite bourgeoisie repressed the new social measures.

The government was then headed by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. Because of the French coup

d'état in 1851, staged by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, the Second Republic was transformed

into the Second Empire and monarchy was definitively abolished.

In Austria, street demonstrations broke out in Vienna on March. Bohemia was besieged in

June and the capital in October. After the Austrian revolution in Vienna was beaten down,

Ferdinand was forced to abdicate in favour of his nephew Franz Joseph. Austria being

diminished, this encouraged Hungary and Germany to launch a revolution.

The Hungarian Diet (English: Parliament) abolished serfdom. The independence was

proclaimed on April 1849, but Austria and Russia crushed the revolution.

In Germany, street demonstrations broke out in Berlin. The Frankfurt National Assembly

proposed a constitution with Friedrich Wilhelhm of Prussia as monarch and facing Austria’s

pressure, the previous situation came back on November 1850.

1870-1871 : The Franco-Prussian War, the complete Prussian and German victory over

France and the annexion of the territory of Alsace-Lorraine.

Causes : France feared the hegemonic power of Germany. Bismarck wanted to reinforce the

cohesion with the states of south Germany in a war and in a context of victory, four years

after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. The unification of Germany had to be led through and

around Prussia for the ‘Little Germany’ partisans without Austria.

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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Pretext : The conflict was a culmination of years of tension between the two nations (Prussia

and France), which finally came to a head over the issue of a Hohenzollern candidate for the

vacant Spanish throne. The public release of the Ems Dispatch, which played up alleged

insults between the Prussian king and the French ambassador, inflamed public opinion on

both sides. France mobilized, and on 19 July 1870 declared war to Prussia. Bismarck was

assured of Great Britain’s neutrality.

The Prussian General Staff developed by Helmuth von Moltke proved to be extremely

effective. The armies of France which avoided to be trapped in Metz rushed to the North.

On 1 September 1870, during the Battle of Sedan, MacMahon capitulated and Napoleon III

surrendered and was taken prisoner.

On 4 September 1870, headed by Gambetta, the republic was proclaimed led by a

Government of National Defence.

In September, the Germans began to besiege Paris. Léon Gambetta organized new French

armies - the so-called Francs-tireurs - in the countryside after escaping from besieged Paris in

a balloon. Gambetta turned to General Faidherbe's Army of the North and Chanzy of the

West, and both failed.

Paris surrendered on January 1871.

On February 1871, in national elections, Adolphe Thiers was elected ‘head of the executive

power of the Republic’ and a preliminary treaty of Versailles was signed on 26 February

1871.

The Treaty of Frankfurt was signed on 10 Mayand gave Germany the possession of Alsace

and the northern portion of Lorraine (Moselle), both of which contained 80% of French iron

ore and machine shops.

France agreed to pay five-billion francs in war indemnity and areas were occupied (6

departments of the North East and Belfort) for 3 years until the war repartitions were paid.

1904-1905 : Russo-Japanese War and Russia’s come back to a European politic.

The Russians sought a warm water port on the Pacific Ocean, for their navy as well as for

maritime trade.

The Japanese military attained victory over the Russian forces.

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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At the military level, this conflict prefigured of the wars in the 20th century by its length (one

year in a half), by the use of infantry in offensive campaigns, by the number of casualties, and

by the modern military technology used.

This war grew out of two rival imperial ambitions.

1912 : The First Balkan War pitted the Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and

Bulgaria) against the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman offensive plan failed completely and was forced to abandon Kirk Kilisse, Lüle

Burgas and Adrianople (besieged by the Bulgarian Second Army), in Kumanovo (victory of

Serbia).

The international context : Serbia, encouraged by Russia, struggled for an exit from the

Adriatic. Italy protested. Italy wanted the annexion of Albania and the gathering of the Great

Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy). Greece protested againt Italy’s occupation of

the Dodecanese Islands (1912).

Austria-Hungary didn’t want Serbia or Italy to get more power and thus backed-up Bulgaria.

Russia felt theatened by Bulgaria’s pressure upon Serbia and Turkey tended to protect its last

friend state in the Balkan and follow its plan in the straits. Germany and Great Britain tried to

work together so as to get an official consensus in London.

The Treaty of London ended the First Balkan War on May 1913. All Ottoman territory west

of the Enez-Kıyıköy line and all its islands in the Aegean sea were ceded to the Balkan

League.

Despite its success and its military strenght, Bulgaria attaked Serbia.

1914 : Beginning of the first World War. Opposition of two alliances: the Allies (centred

around the Triple Entente – France, Great Britain and Russia) and the Central Powers

(originally centred around the Triple Alliance - Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy).

The First World War began as a clash of 20-century technology and countries modernised

their weapons. The conflict followed these steps :

Assassination on 28 June 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne

of Austria-Hungary, and his wife by a Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip, following the

orders of a secret army society named the ‘Black Hand’.

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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6 July: After Austria-Hungary received German support, an ultimatum against the Kingdom

of Serbia was launched on 23 July.

20-23 July : Russia received French support.

28 July : the conflict opened with the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia.

30 July : the Russian Empire ordered a partial mobilisation.

31 July : Austria-Hungary ordered mobilisation.

1 August : German mobilisation and Germany declared war on Russia.

3 August : Germany declared war on France.

The Ottoman Empire joined Germany in the war, the secret Ottoman-German Alliance having

been signed on August 1914. It threatened Russia. Italy joined the Triple Entente.

6 September 1916: Bulgaria signed the Treaty for friendship and alliance with Germany.

27 August 1916 : the Romanian Army launched an attack against Austria-Hungary.

27 June 1917 : Greece joined the Allies in the war.

The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919 and ended the state of war between

Germany and the Allied Powers.

Negotiations between the Allied powers started on 18 at the French Foreign Ministry, on the

Quai d'Orsay in Paris.

Initially, 70 delegates of 27 nations participated in the negotiations under the presidence of the

French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. Having been defeated, some nations were

excluded from the negotiations.

During the negociations, which comprised the “Big Four” (Wilson, Lloyd George,

Clémenceau, Orlando), it was difficult to decide on a common position about the Fourteen

Points of the treaty issued by Wilson because their aims conflicted with one another.

7 May 1919 : the German delegation is presented the peace treaty text.

16 June 1919 : Ultimatum : the Allied Powers demanded the Treaty to be signed with almost

no modifications.

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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28 June 1919 : The Treaty was signed.

Content (440 articles):

Part I of the treaty was the Covenant of the League of Nations which provided for the

creation of the League of Nations, an organization intended to arbitrate international disputes

and thereby avoid future wars.

Part II and III : Germany would lose a number of European territories (1/7 of its territory).

Alsace and much of Lorraine were part of France. Most of the Prussian provinces were ceded

to Poland. Memel became a free city.

The strategically important port of Danzig was separated from Germanyas the Freie Stadt

Danzig (Free City of Danzig).

The area of Eupen-Malmedy was given to Belgium and the eastern part of Upper Silesia was

assigned to Poland with ba plebiscite.

Austria was forbidden from merging with Germany.

Part IV and V : German colonies were divided with the determination not to see any of them

returned to Germany.

Part VI to VII : decisions were taken about prisoners of war.

Part VIII : set out the reparations that Germany would pay to the Allies (132 billion

Reichsmarks).

Part IX to XIV : deals with financial content.

1919 - 1923 : Europe and the Peace Treaties.

The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, was signed on 10 September 1919 by the new

Republic of Austria, which recognized the independence of Hungary, Czechoslovakia,

Poland, and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Austria was reduced by the cession of the

Southern half of the County of Tyrol, Trieste, Istria and several Dalmatian islands to Italy.

The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine, dealing with Bulgaria was signed on 27 November 1919.

The treaty required Bulgaria to cede Western Thrace to Greece.

The Treaty of Trianon was signed of 4 June 1919 with Hungary. The treaty greatly

redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. The principal beneficiaries of territorial adjustment

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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were Romania (part of Transylvania came under the control of Romania), Czechoslovakia

(Slovakia became part of Czechoslovakia), and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

10 August 1920 : Treaty of Sèvres with Turkey.

The turkish parliament refused to ratify the Treaty.

The Treaty thus led to the internationalization of the waters. Moreover, Greece received

Thrace (with Gallipoli), Aegean Sea Islands and Smyma, Syria and Cilicia were declared a

zone of French influence, and Palestine and Irak officially fell under the Bristish Mandate.

The Kingdom of Hejaz was granted international recognition. Italy was confirmed in the

possession of the Dodecanese Islands, Rhodes and the Tripolitan. Armenia became

independent.

Extermination of approximately six million European Jews during World War II and

hundreds of thousands of civilans deported by the Nazis.

Deportation and repression casulaties :

For the large majority of European countries under the German annexion or occupation, the

estimated death toll, which does not count the number of deported civilians being part of the

‘Final Solution’, vary greatly. Estimates range from 550 000 à 650 000. In France, in the

fifties or sixties, the survey related to deportation conducted by the Committee for the History

of the Second World War established a number of 66 000 deported civilians, among these

only one-third survived the deportation. In 2004, the Memorial-Book, edited by the

Foundation for the memory of the Deportation (FMD), established the number of “people

deported as an effect of the nazi repression” at 86 000 (political resistants, hostages, Spanish

Republicans), among these, 40% of them died in prison or in Nazi camps.

Among the deported :

-7 000 Republican Spaniards sought refuge in France and were sent to the Nazis by the Vichy

regime and 5 000 resistants were deported after that the decree ‘Night and Fog’ was

promulgated.

Estimates for Holocaust deaths is about 5 100 0000 :

- dead of ‘ghettoisation’ and starvation : 800 000.

- dead of public executions, shot by Einsatzgruppen : 1 300 000.

- dead in the camps : 3 000 000 (about 1 000 000 in Auschwitz).

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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Geographical repartition of casualties :

- Eastern Europe : more than 3 400 000 (3 000 000 in Poland).

- USSR : more than 700 000.

- Central Europe and the Balkan: about 730 000.

- Western Europe : about 210 000.

In France, 76 000 Jews total were deported to Nazi camps, therefore one quarter of the jewish

population living in France in 1940.

Even though sources differ on statistics, at the beginning of the Second World War, estimated

Jews living in France stand at approximately 330 000 and about half of them were foreigners.

Only 2 500 deported jews escaped the extermination.

With a total of about 3 000 Jews killed in the french internment camps and a thousand of Jews

executed or shot as hostage, the estimated death toll stands at 80 000 casualties.

Most estimates of Roma (Gypsies) victims is 250 000, hence 1/3 of the Romani population. In

France, 15 000 Gypsies were deported and only a very few survived.

About 162 000 total deported civilans of repression or persecution were sent from France to

concentration and extermination camps.

12 February 1946 - 29 August 1949 : Civil war in Greece.

Immediately after the end of the Second World War, civil war erupts in Greece and leads to

British troops being deployed on the streets of Athens.

The Civil war in Greece is the first (quite unknown) episode of the Cold war, in which more

than 100 000 people died between 1946 and 1949. This war thus marked the beginning of an

era of conflicts between the two blocs - the East and the West. The Greeks were profoundly

traumatised.

October-November 1956 : The Suez Crisis.

The United States refused to fund the building of the Aswan Dam. So as to finance the project

itself, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal in July 1956 and stockholders (mainly Bristish and

French) would be paid the price of their shares.

After the failure of 3 meetings in London between the users of the canal , India and the USSR

eventually approved the Egyptian mesure.

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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The American administration, which was outraged at the tripartite aggression (Israel, UK and

France), publicly condemned it and supported United Nations resolutions demanding

withdrawal in November. Forces had totally withdrawn from Egyptian territory under the

Soviet threat. UN forces were thus stationed around the canal zone.

Consequences : This is a big defeat for the Western world but the Soviet Union gained a real

prestige.

USSR played an active role in the Middle East thanks to its military and economic aid to

Egypt (the Aswan Dam).

The UK, France, and Israel colluded in a secret agreement (Protocol of Sèvres) to take over

the Suez Canal. The Europeans countries had several aims (political, economic and

commercial) of controlling the Canal zone and Israel needed attaining freedom of navigation.

1967-1974: "The Regime of the Colonels" in Greece.

It refers to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974.

Ruled by the Greek military, who pushed the King Constantine II to flee into exile, it started

in the morning of 21 April 1967 with a coup d'état led by a group of colonels, headed by

Papadopoulos, and ended in July 1974.

The physical collapse of the junta as a government was immediately caused by the Cyprus

debacle of 1974.

1969 : beginning of the Ostpolitik.

Neue Ostpolitik (German for "new eastern policy"), implemented with Willy Brandt, refers to

the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or West

Germany) and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East

Germany) beginning on 28 ocotober 1969. It led to give up the Hallstein Doctrine so as to to

undermine the communist regime or even lighten the situation of the Germans in the GDR..

Ostpolitik was influenced and implemented by Brandt's right hand Egon Bahr. Some members

of NATO feared that the Federal Republic of Germany would become too indulgent towards

the communist government and its allies of the Warshaw Pact. Ostpolitik highlighted the

easing of tensions between the East and the West. The Treaty of Moscow signed on 12

August 1970 and the Treaty of Warsaw signed on 17 May 1972 were considered as the first

steps of the Ostpolitik.

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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A seminal moment came in December 1970 with the famous Warschauer Kniefall in which

Brandt, apparently spontaneously, knelt down at the monument to victims of the Warsaw

Ghetto Uprising, guaranteeing German acceptance of the new borders of Poland (Oder-Neisse

line). The Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin signed on 3 September 1971 marked a

relaxation of tension in East-West relations. in particular since it guaranteed civil

communications between West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. Soviet Union

improved travel and communications between the two parts of the city. On 21 December

1972, in East Berlin, the two Germanys signed the Basic Treaty in which the two States

recognised one another and established normal political and trade relations. The diplomatic

status quo and the inviolability of the border dividing the two German States were recognised,

although reunification remained a long-term goal. This opened the way for recognition of the

GDR by the Western countries, and both Germanys were admitted to the United Nations (UN)

in September 1973. The same year, within the framework of the Ostpolitik, the Treaty of

Prague was signed by the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and Czechoslovakia,

REPERES – module 1-0 - explanatory notes – Major steps of the European History since 1815 – EN

Auteur & © : Nadège Mougel, CVCE, 2011

English translation: Julie Gratz, Centre européen Robert Schuman

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5.- TERMS OF USE:

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