A Congress of Europe: Congress of Vienna 1814-1815

The Congress of Vienna took place after Napoleon's first downfall. The goal of it was to create a way for people in power remain in power when threatened, and what they should do if their power was threatened. It was held in Austria by Prince Klemens von Metternich. The goal was to create a balance of power. We read documents and watched videos about the Congress of Vienna in class.

Borders redrawn by the Congress of Vienna
(Found in public domain on wikimedia)

One concept created at the Congress of Vienna was the Principle of Intervention, which stated that the great powers of Europe had the right to send troops into a country to stop revolution and restore monarchs. This allowed monarchs to stay in power by having allies who could assist them if they were losing power because of a revolution. Great Britain did not agree to this however, and would not send in troops to help monarchies. The Congress of Vienna was a conservative ideology form of government. Power was restored to the monarchs and little to no power for the citizens. This would lead to revolutions which would test how effective the Congress of Vienna was.

The Congress of Vienna did not make the right choice in the end. Many rebellions would break out across Europe like a bad rash. The better solution was one that would allow people to have a say in power, like a constitutional monarchy that divided power well, not retaining to much, but not having little power.

Political Ideologies: Liberalism, Nationalism, and Conservative

Recently we learned about ideologies in 19th century Europe. In 19th century Europe, there were 3 major political ideologies, which were Liberalism, Nationalism, and Conservative. In class we looked at some articles to learn about each ideology. Then we split into 6 groups, with 2 groups being assigned the same ideology. We then used different video applications to show the other groups what we learned about our ideology.

Here is our YouTube video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpyw8AVGr6Y&list=UU2UjVlAbk83TSCHhVK-RmYw

The ideology we were assigned was liberalism. Liberalism helped to create governments that were based more on freedom, rights, and merits. People were allowed to climb the social and economic ladder. It was mainly for middle class people. In Italy, liberalism restricted the power of the clergy. This happened in other Roman Catholic Church countries, like Spain and France.

The other two ideologies were nationalism and conservative. Nationalism governments united smaller states into a whole country, like Italy. The states shared common bonds like beliefs, traditions, and languages. Many nationalist governments helped unite the states to fight a common enemy, such as a foreign ruler. Conservative governments believed that the government should be monarchy since it was tradition, and tradition worked best. Aristocracy, church power (Roman Catholic), and monarchies held the power.

Napoleon Bonaparte: How he impacted the social, economic, and political systems in Europe

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military/political leader. No, he wasn't Napoleon Dynamite and no, he did not wear a Vote for Pedro shirt. Napoleon was in power from 1804 until 1814, and briefly in 1815. He changed a lot in Europe, such as giving more people the rights to property and education. He also helped to balance the Bank of France. Nobility and serfdom were abolished, as well as Chirch privileges. He allowed the poor to climb the social ladder. Those that were close to him respected him and  helped lead his armies to victory. Others resented him and were exiled by him. Everyone thinks he was either a hero or a villain. I think he was a bit of both. He gave people new ideas, allowed America to expand by selling the U.S. the Louisiana territory, and gave people positions based on their merit (Meritocracy). However, he got rid of what everyone was used to for government and also stole a lot of money and precious artwork from Italy. 

Demonstrating types of governments with chocolate: Choconism

In class we recently did an experiment to demonstrate 3 different forms of government; Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism. Our teacher distributed Hershey Kisses to the class. Some students got 8, while most got 2. We then played rock, paper, scissors to gain more or lose more. This was our simulation of capitalism. Those with more to start with lasted longer. Some of those with more gave extra to those who had little or none to allow them to keep playing. We then had our teacher collect the Hershey Kisses, and they gave everyone two each, while they ate multiple Hershey Kisses out of the bag. This angered some and this simulated Socialism. Then the teacher put the bag away and stopped eating. This simulated Communism.

Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto, which stated that in Capitalism there is class struggle and workers will revolt. It states in Socialism that the aim is for a classless society. In true Communism there is a successful classless society. In Adam's Smith's Wealth of Nations, he states that the "invisible hand" will help the poor since it states competitors have to offer something better than the other to get business, generating revenue and allowing the poor to afford things.

I feel that neither Socialism or Communism will work. The "invisible hand" seems to work the best in helping the poor. However, a system that can help the poor but still have competition among business would work better as a third option. One that can still keep business going and help the poor would be best.

Great Britain V.S. Lowell: Industrial Revolution Factory Experiment

When the Industrial Revolution came to England and the U.S., mill working conditions was something that would change. In England, conditions were horrible. Disease was spreading and people were hungry. In addition, people were dying due to accidents. The workers in Lowell were better off. They got pay, somewhat less hazardous conditions, and an education. However, eventually, wage cuts and increased payments on board led to protests against the mill owners.