Restoration and Liberalism in Europe (1815-1848)
The System of Restoration: The Congress of Vienna
The great powers met under the sponsorship of the Austrian Chancellor Metternich at the Congress of Vienna. The great principles inspiring the Restoration were:
- The fundamental objective was to return to the situation prior to the French Revolution.
- Ending the principles of national sovereignty.
- A return to absolutism.
The basis was the hereditary right of monarchs deposed by Napoleon to have their thrones. In some countries, given the impossibility of totally returning to absolutism, concessions had to be made to attract the favor of the bourgeoisie with certain reforms. Thus, in France, Louis XVIII promulgated a Granted Charter, which recognized some rights and the functioning of two political chambers with limited attributions. In the Austrian Empire, Russia, and Spain, the full restoration involved the re-establishment of the Old Regime, while Britain maintained its parliamentary system.
Reordering the European Map
At the Congress of Vienna, Europe was remodeled. New borders were drawn according to the interests of the victorious powers without taking into account the national aspirations of the peoples. The great beneficiaries were the Austrian and Russian empires and the kingdom of Prussia. Great Britain maintained its maritime hegemony, and France returned to its borders settled before 1789.
Two principles were to govern international politics:
- The conclusion of congresses to arbitrate solutions for possible territorial alterations.
- The right of intervention in countries threatened by a liberal revolution, pursued by the army of the Holy Alliance, formed by Prussia, Russia, and Austria.
Liberalism
The set of ideological and political transformations that occurred in Europe and America, between the last third of the 18th century and the end of the Napoleonic Empire (1815), formed a current of ideological and political-economic doctrine known as liberalism. Its main statement of reference was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789). The term “liberalism” serves to identify a set of ideas that were the basis of the political systems created by the bourgeois revolutions of the 19th century and that are based on some great principles:
- Liberalism establishes that society is formed by individuals and advocates for the right of humans to individual liberty.
- Freedom is applied in all areas of human activity: economic, political, etc., and respect for the freedom of others.
- Politically, liberals are opponents of absolute power and supporters of the parliamentary system, the separation of powers, and national sovereignty, represented by courts or parliaments.
- The constitution is the fundamental standard and defines the basic principles of the relationship between individuals, society, and the state.
Revolutions of 1820 and 1830
During the Restoration, liberals went underground and organized into secret societies. The Masons were the most important group, although there were others, such as the Italian Carbonari or the Russian Decembrists. These societies, formed by merchants, students, intellectuals, and liberal professionals, considered themselves heirs of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution and advocated insurrection against absolutism. They fundamentally relied on the cities, and that the people would join the revolutionary wave once initiated.
A first wave of uprisings occurred between 1820 and 1824, which caused a temporary breakdown of the Restoration system. In Spain, Portugal, Naples, and Piedmont, a short liberal period was opened that was suppressed by absolutist forces. In the case of Spain and the Italian states, there was direct intervention by the Holy Alliance. The repression was very hard: many liberals were arrested or executed, others went into exile.
A second revolutionary wave occurred between 1829 and 1839. The revolution began in France in 1830 and signified the overthrow of the Bourbons and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy with Louis Philippe of Orleans. Its influence expanded beyond France’s borders and brought about the independence of Belgium, altering for the first time the map established in 1815. By the end of the 1830s, absolutism had disappeared in Western Europe, and moderate liberalism, with the 1791 French Constitution as a reference, was imposed.