So, off we go – this is the first ‘blog’ post I have made that captures my research into the 99 ‘European’ years between 1815 and 1914. For the URLs etc. that I save – see the links alongside my various posts and pages.
It is my intention to informally log things here as blog posts, but to try and be more structured under the ‘chapters’ page.
I’m starting by making a note of where the continent was in 1815.
Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated for the second time on June 22nd 1815, just four days after his defeat at the battle of Waterloo. This put an end to the warfare that had affected most of Europe for almost twenty years and an end to my knowledge of European history. I’d read a few books about the French revolution and Napoleon himself when I was in my twenties, and had read Churchill’s ‘History of the English Speaking People‘ about the same time – but neither told me about those ‘missing’ 99 years.
France had staged its ‘French’ Revolution, the United Kingdom had been newly formed from Great Britain and (the whole of) Ireland and had been fighting not only in Europe, but in America too. The ‘industrial‘ revolution was well under-way too, especially in England:
Among the Western European countries, Britain was the ideal incubator for the Industrial Revolution because an "Agricultural Revolution" preceded it. After the 1688 "Glorious Revolution", the British kings lost power and the aristocratic landholders gained power. The landholders tried to rationalize their landholdings and started the Enclosure Movement to bring more and more of their own land under tighter control, a process that went on throughout the 1700s. This policy had two main effects: it increased the productivity of the land, and transformed the people who used to work land into an unemployed, labor class of poor in need of work. Thus, the first factories had a ready labor- supply in Britain that was not available in other nations.[From: http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/1848/section1.rhtml]
Monarchies would try to re-establish themselves following the years of turmoil. Some would succeed whilst others would in time become republics. There would be much social and political change during this period.
Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia (the four major nations in Europe) were particularly unhappy with the outcomes of the French Revolution and had opposed France, and Napoleon’s progress in one coalition or another for over twenty years. They would now come together for the Congress of Vienna, which would decide Europe’s immediate future:
(It)... would prevent imperialism within Europe, such as the Napoleonic empire, and maintain the peace between the great powers. The second goal was to prevent political revolutions, such as the French Revolution, and maintain the status quo.[From: http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/westn/congvienna.html]
The exact positions of Russia, Prussia and Austria need more thought and more research, so for now I’ll complete this very brief synopsis of where things in Europe stood mid-1815,
Ninety Nine Years 