Chapter 21 Flashcards
Congress of Vienna
a meeting of the Quadruple Alliance – Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain – restoration France, and smaller European states to fashion a general peace settlement that began after the defeat of Napoleon’s France in 1814
Holy Alliance
an alliance formed by the conservative rulers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia in September 1815 that became a symbol of the repression of liberal and revolutionary movements all over Europe
Karlsbad Decrees
issued in 1819, these decrees were designed to uphold Metternich’s conservatism, requiring the German states to root out subversive ideas and squelch any liberal organizations
liberalism
the principal ideas of this movement were equality and liberty; liberal demanded representative government and equality before the law as well as individual freedoms such as freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of worship, and freedom from arbitrary arrest.
laissez faire
a doctrine of economic liberalism that calls for unrestricted private enterprise and no government interference in the economy
nationalism
the idea that each people had its own genius and specific identity that manifested itself especially in a common language and history, and often led to a desire for an independent political state.
socialism
a backlash against the emergence of individualism and the fragmentation of industrial society, and a move toward cooperation and a sense of community; the key ideas were economic planning, greater social equality, and state regulation of property.
Marxism
an influential political program based on the socialist ideas of German radical Karl Marx, which called for a working-class revolution to overthrow capitalist society and establish a Communist state
bourgeoisie
the middle class minority who owned the means of production and, according to Marx, exploited the working-class proletariat
proletariat
the industrial working class who, according to Marx, were unfairly exploited by the profit-seeking bourgeoisie
romanticism
an artistic movement at is height from about 1790 to the 1840s that was in part a revolt against classicism and the Enlightenment, characterized by a belief in emotional exuberance, unrestrained imagination, and spontaneity in both art and personal life
Corn Laws
British laws governing the import and export of grain, which were revised in 1815 to prohibit the importation of foreign grain unless the price at home rose to improbable levels, thus benefiting the aristocracy but making food prices high for working people
Battle of Peterloo
the army’s violent suppression of protest that took place at Saint Peter’s Fields in Manchester in reaction to the revision of the Corn Laws
Reform Bill of 1832
a major British political reform that increased the number of male voters by about 50% and gave political representation to new industrial areas
Great Famine
the result of four years of potato crop failure in the late 1840s in Ireland, a country that had grown dependent on potatoes as a dietary staple
