Essay for Exam
The success of liberalism is resulted from many different factors. A vast part of Europe overcame revolutions and rebellions in 1848-1849. These actions were swiftly suppressed by the own regular army as in France or with the help of invited Russian army as in the Habsburg’s Empire. The suppression caused dissatisfaction among the population. It was clear that the new legislative measures are needed to hold people and centralize the states. Besides, the system grounded on the aristocratic privileges could not exist anymore. The economic and industrial progress as well as urbanization and capitalism development also played a great part in the liberalization of the society. The liberal movements were successful in many countries including France, Britain, Germany and Austria. The liberalism in the British Empire is related to the names of Gladstone and Queen Victoria. Gladstone served as a prime minister and issued a Reform Act of 1884, which allowed the right to vote to six millions Britons. The Queen was the first ruling person who accepted her representing role to create a constitutional monarchy. Napoleon III was the one who protected liberal theories in France. Though he converted the state into monarchy from the republic his views and laws were rather liberal. Initially, Prussia was conservative and radical to the liberalism but Bismarck’s efforts resulted in great changes in the history of the empire and its liberalization.
The national unification is another important issue within 1850-1890s. The need for nation-states became crucial as many peoples recognized themselves as nations and were ready to defend their rights. There were three main Empires in Europe in that period: the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Empire. The Russian Empire was not succeeded in liberalization and all the attempts of rebels were cruelly suppressed. The Ottoman empire started the Crimean war to strengthen their positions. Despite it won the war, the dependence on the Western countries became clear. Further, the Ottoman Empire would lose the territories of Greece and partly Balkans. The Austrian Empire chose the way of reforms. It resulted in losing most of its territories. First of all, they provided Magyar with autonomy transforming the entire Empire into the Austro-Hungarian. Other provinces demanded more and more liberties. This issue was beneficial for Bismarck and Cavour who put their efforts in the unification of Germany and Italy correspondingly. It is obvious that the unification process created tensions in the whole Europe because the whole map was changed.
