Discuss the system of alliances that emerged during and after the Congress of Vienna. What were the goals of the Congress of Vienna and was the Congress successful in implementing these goals? Did the system of alliances remain intact a century later?
The congress of Vienna was convened by the four powers that had contributed the most to conquer napoleon. These four powers included Russia, Austria, Britain and Prussia. This congress was convened in an attempt to make stable the map of Europe following the mayhem caused by war that had lasted for more than twenty years. This congress was convened in the year eighteen fourteen to eighteen fifteen and resulted into a lot of entertainment and fascinating festivity in Vienna. “Behind all this festivity there was a lot of hard work in diplomacy that was going on”.
Through out this congress the four nations had the intentions of making the decisions by them selves but there is a fifth party, “Talleyrand, who was representing the freshly reinstated Louis XVIII and makes sure that France gets an equal opportunity in the decision making process”. Her involvement in any established balance of power is very important at the time. All parties in this congress were aware that collapse in the negotiation process could easily lead to the rekindling of war. They were also interested in ensuring that none of the nations becomes strong than the other.
During the congress of Vienna there was a renewal of the Quadruple Alliance. The Quadruple alliance had first begun in the year eighteen fourteen during the treaty of Chaumont among the four enemies of Napoleon. These are Russia, Britain, Austria and Prussia. They had made an agreement not to be reconciled with France individually. In the congress of Vienna this alliance is restores differently when the same powers agreed to convene regularly so as to protect the freshly re-instated peace in Europe. “This system of congress lasted for four international assemblies from the year eighteen eighteen (Aachen) to the year eighteen twenty two” (Verona).
At the same time there was another assembly owning up to the same purpose. This was an initiative of the Russian emperor Alexander 1. His inspiration, which he believed was a mission from God, came from the sufferings that Russia went through in the hands of Napoleon. In the year eighteen fifteen he persuades Austria and Prussia to join him in what is known as the Holy Alliance for a second attempt in negotiating a peace agreement with France. The Holy alliance is focused on promoting a peaceful society of Christian nations. All European powers were supposed to join this Alliance but Britain, Rome and Ottoman were absent. “Internal differences in the alliances lead to the withdrawal of nations from the two alliances and this bring an end to the congress system”.
The purpose of the congress of Vienna was to come up with a plan that would change Europe in terms of territories and politics so as to avoid the expansion of any single great nation like what Napoleon had done. The goals of the congress were to “create equality in the sharing of power among the European powerful nations, restraining France, re-establishing powerful regimes and getting to and agreement to collaborate with each other”. This is was what rendered the representatives of the nations unselfish as they all wanted to prevent future spread of conflict.
Even though the ultimate settlements at the congress divided the territory conquered by Napoleon among the nations in a manner to prevent any single of them from becoming too powerful, the rewards were also distributed so as to create a defense against France. According to the terms of settlement, the Netherlands kingdom was formed, Switzerland recovered their independence and neutrality rights, Prussia got part of Rhineland and Austria conquered the northern part of Italy. This left France surrounded and incapable of asserting its self. “Prince Talleyrand had a lot of influence and is what saved France from any punishment apart from severe containment”. This also helped France from becoming too weak hence maintaining the balance of power.
The final settlement of the Vienna Congress demonstrated unselfish designs for Europe and the concert of Europe was organized. The Vienna congress was the first ever international team to attempt dealing with the Affairs of Europe in order to maintain balance of power and defend the convectional governments from being conquered.
The objective of the Vienna congress to prevent universal war led to the suggestions of developing a balance of power, ascertaining better convectional governments, restraining France and creating cooperation between the European nations. This clearly demonstrates the welfare of the entire Europe was significant concern. A lot of deliberations were conducted and the representatives were successful in creating a settlement which altered the selfish ambitions of the nations to expand their territories. “All these aspects of the settlement including the restraining of France ensured that there was a balance of power and that the good of Europe was achieved”.
Compare and contrast the French Revolution to the Russian Revolution. Explain the different phases each revolution underwent. What were the revolutionaries looking to accomplish? Did they succeed?
The French and the Russian Revolutions are similar in many ways; however, they are also dissimilar in many ways. Russians were ruled by a ruler who believed in totalitarianism which is similar to France before the revolution. The rulers of both nations wee not interested in representing the people and they were also not close to the people. “The middle class in both France and Russia wanted to be recognized and the royal families in both nations were executed”.
Both leaders, Louis XVI and Nicholas II, were absolute leaders and neither of them wanted to be king. Louis just wanted to live a quiet life, tucked in and enjoying his food. He was not interested in the problems that came up during his sovereignty. His indifference to the thrown also contributed to those problems. Nicholas II shared the same feelings and both leaders followed the rulings of their ancestors. Their ancestors had both ruled their nations with solid and totalitarian hand. Even though they were comparatively gentle and kind gentlemen, the people in their nations did not view it like that. People in both nations considered their leaders uncaring and wanted fresh leadership without a monarchy. “They all wanted a government that was fair and would care for its nationals”.
There were many problems that caused the Russian and the French Revolutions. Hunger and the bitter winter that had highly affected people was however, the main cause of both revolutions. In both cases there was a bread riot. During the French revolution the women protested to Versailles and pursued Marie Antoinette wanting to execute her. They also forced the royal family a palace in Paris to make sure they watched them carefully. However, in the Russian revolution the women were much calmer and just assembled on the streets on the International Women’s Day. They just wanted some bread to slake their hunger. Contrary to the French revolution, soldiers in Russia were ordered to shoot and kill the people in the assembly. “However they did not obey this order instead the turned against the commanders, shot them and joined the assembly”.
Another major cause of the revolutions in both nations was the middle class which had not existed in Russia until socialism was initiated. The middle class in the French revolution, also known as Bourgeoise was virtually disregarded by Louis XVI as he only recognized upper classes. Nicholas II also declined to recognize the middle class who were also known as the Duma. “The people in the upper classes enjoyed their status in the society and were not really concerned with the situation”.
The Duma were dismayed by the leadership of Nicholas II. Their dissatisfaction together with the poor individuals was one of the problems that caused the revolution in Russia. This was the same case in the Russian revolution. The middle class in France organized and prepared themselves well until they struck the monarch and set up their own regime. On the other hand the Duma set up a provisional government in the year nineteen seventeen instituted equality before the law. This provisional government did not last long as it was disposed by an extreme socialist known as Vladimir Lenin. “He later instituted a communist government and Russia governed as a soviet union until the year nineteen ninety one”.
The financial situation in both nations was calamitous before the revolutions. The World War 1 had caused Nicholas II to be in great debt as he had lost many people against Germany and was not able to supply those remaining with the correct fighting supplies. This was terrible for him and his family as people now ascertained that he was a fitting monarch. To them, THE Grand Duke Nicholaievitch was more suitable. Louis XVI was also in great debt as he was profligate in his courtyard as well as his wife. He had also taken over debts from his fore runners who were also very profligate in their courtyards. His failure in the war against England caused hi even more debt. He also made a bad decision to assist in the American Revolution so as to get revenge against England. “The debts incurred by this decision were tremendous”.
In both revolutions, the systems that had been held in the nations for many years were abolished. The middle class in France abolishes feudalism and it was a noble who suggested the abolishment to the shock of many people. With time all the noble were in agreement and feudalism was completely abolished. In Russia, the Bolsheviks, who had overthrown the provisional government and the provisional government decided to banish serfdom. “They wanted equality and this led to the fleeing of the nobles and upper class”.
In both revolutions, the reluctant royals were put to death. Louis and the royal family tried to escape to Austria fleeing from the mob of Paris but were caught as they neared Austria. This family was not executed harshly. The son of Louis was taken away from the family and there is a possibility that he was tortured to death. Louis was beheaded and Marie Antoinette was put in prison and later beheaded. The Romanov family did not want any trouble. Nicholas II had stepped down from power in a peaceful manner and only wanted the best for his nation. He was arrested together with his family and put in prison their palace by General Kornilov but later was take to Tobolsk in Siberia. When Lenin came to power, his government ordered the execution of the Romanov family. Though the Russian and the French revolutions had many similarities they were also different. “Both leaders did not want to be kings and ended up paying for this with their lives in humiliating circumstances”.
Trace the history of women's struggle to gain equal opportunities and rights in the fields of education, employment and politics (especially the right to vote). Start with the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment period and discuss the challenges that women faced up through to the modern era.
Women have had to fight for equal opportunities for a long period of time. They have been limited for a very long time. Since the beginning of history women have always been viewed as the weaker sex. In ancient times women were only responsible for taking care of children and homes and men were responsible for everything else. For instance, in ancient Egypt, women had no any authority or power and had to always respect and obey instructions from men who were viewed as the superior sex. Women in these times were viewed as property and were not allowed to own any properties or hold authoritative positions. They were not at any time allowed to voice their concerns or opinions. “Their views did not count and no one listened to what they had to say”.
Women were practically slaves to their husbands and other men. They were their husbands’ properties whose purpose was to bear and raise children. They were not viewed or treated like individuals. The husbands were the masters and in many cases mistreated women. There were no rights for women in this era and they had to do whatever the men wanted and disobeying men was punishable. “During the art renaissance period the women got some freedom and were allowed to air their opinion about social issues and arts”. However, they were not allowed to air out very radical opinions. They were also considered objects in the arts; they were only objects and not the creators of the objects. They could only be expressed and not express their views.
Women were viewed as slaves and properties up until the seventeenth century. This century marked the first ever growth of real women’s movement. Women began to speak of the injustices they faced just before the French revolution started. In the year seventeen ninety two the Vindication of Rights for Women demanded the extension of the liberty principle to women and also urged women be given equal rights in public education. “The list of the rights that were not available for women was the first trial at creating a legislation incorporated women in the laws”.
The scientific revolution saw men from all over the world discover many things but women could not make such discoveries and their form of education was different from that of men. Tristan Flora was one of the female role models who encouraged women to try harder to fit in the society as individuals and not just slaves to men. “They had to fight harder to become educated individuals. During this period women began making their own decisions”.
During the industrial revolution women started getting jobs in the factories but they were far from gaining equality with men. They were very few job opportunities for women and men were given priority. They received lesser payment as they were still viewed as lesser beings. In this period most women still stayed at home. Socialism changed things a bit and women got some respect from men. Socialism stipulated that everyone in the society was equal. As the fight for equality continued women were allowed to live freely in the United States of America. They were allowed to own properties and get involved in the government. As the nineteenth century came to an end, women started getting formal education even though men still dominated the education systems. “Women were able to prove that they were able to learn and perform well academically”.
The World War 1 led to the death of many men and left few men working in the factories. This gave women an opportunity to prove that they could work just as well as them did. They finally got respect for the work they did. “They could finally get employed even though there was still a lot of discrimination”.
The constitution did not allow women to vote and a lot of pain was incurred in the fight to get women to vote. In the nineteenth century women started expressing their discontent in the lack of right to vote. The idea of the right to vote spread in many countries and women started campaigns to air their opinions and demand for the right to vote. New Zealand was the first country to ever give women the right to vote. Before this many petitions were written to the government. “Many women were also jailed and harassed in their quest to help other women get the right to vote. After New Zealand gave women the right to vote, other countries followed suit”.
Until in recent years women have always been discriminated against since from the beginning they were viewed as a weaker sex. They have undergone many struggles to prove to the male species that they are just as strong and intelligent as men. “Fight for quality has continued for a very long time with women having to work extra hard to ensure that they get the same opportunities in education , government, work places and other areas in the society”. Women have proved that they are capable of performing even better than the men. They have been given opportunities to lead countries and performed very well thanks to the few women who lost their lives in this struggle.
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