Chapter 22 Terms

von Hardenburg

1750-1822. Prussia's foreign minister during the Napoleonic Wars and later its representative to the Congress of Vienna.

Ferdinand I of Naples and Sicily

1751-1825. Italian ******* king who was oppressive and absolutist and stabbed people in the back over and over. Another liberal revolt in Naples in 1820 forced him to grant the Neapolitans a constitution, but in 1821 he traveled to Laibach where the members of the Quadruple Alliance were meeting to discuss European security matters, and there he convinced them to help him crush the Neapolitans. An Austrian force was subsequently dispatched there, crushed the revolutionaries and cleared the way for him to rule Naples once again as an absolutist monarch.

Talleyrand

1754-1838. a noted French statesman and France's representative at the Congress of Vienna. At the Congress of Vienna he helped to rehabilitate France's international reputation and status among the nations of Europe.

Charles Grey

1764-1845. An English aristocrat, statesman, member of Parliament and Prime Minister (1830-1834), as well as an ardent campaigner for social and political reforms in the early 19th century. A founder of the reform organization called the Society of Friends of the People, he obtained King William IV's support for the Reform Bill of 1832 and helped to usher it through Parliament. He also played a major role in the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833.

Robert Stewart Lord Castlereagh

1769-1822. a noted statesman, Britain's foreign minister and its representative to the Congress of Vienna.

Klemens von Metternich

1773-1859. Austrian foreign minister from 1809 to 1848, Austria's chancellor from 1821 to 1848 and its representative to the Congress of Vienna, which he was instrumental in organizing. He played a key role in the formation of the Concert of Europe and in the suppression of liberalism and nationalism across the European continent between 1815 and 1848. Revolutionary violence in Austria in 1830 weakened his position, but he survived the crisis. A more serious outbreak occurred in 1848, when revolutionaries demanded and brought about his resignation. They resented his attempts to suppress the spread of revolutionary ideas, especially through government-controlled censorship. He fled to England but returned to Austria in 1851 as a private citizen, never again holding political office.

Tsar Alexander I

1777-1825. the Tsar of Russia from 1801 to 1825, was the grandson of Catherine the Great. In the early years of his reign he seemed inclined to pursue liberal reforms in Russia, but the French Revolution and career of Napoleon changed his thinking. He joined an international coalition against Napoleon in 1805 but following several military defeats made peace with him in the Peace of Tilsit (1807). His failure to support the Continental System, however, led to Napoleon's unsuccessful invasion of Russia in 1812. After Napoleon's fall from power, he participated in the Congress of Vienna, where he schemed to gain control of former Polish territory. In the latter days of his reign he was conservative and suspicious of liberal ideas. He died in 1825 under somewhat mysterious circumstances, which led to a succession crisis and to the outbreak of the Decembrist Revolt of that year. The revolt was brutally suppressed by his brother.

Alfred zu Windischgratz

1787-1862. An Austrian prince and general of the 19th century. As commander of Austrian forces in Bohemia in the 1840's, he distinguished himself by bombarding Prague and defeating the revolutionaries there in 1848. He then performed the same feat in Vienna. He was also instrumental in making Francis Joseph the emperor of the Austrian Empire in 1848. Notoriously conservative, he defended divine right monarchy within the Austrian Empire, "if not by the Grace of God, then by the grace of cannon." He was removed from command in 1849 following his defeat by a Hungarian force.

Francois Guizot

1787-1874. Chief Minister for Louis Philippe. He remained, however, highly skeptical about giving the power of the vote to common, poorly educated men. His resistance to extending suffrage to all males led the French lower classes to despise him. When the poor demanded the vote, he responded by advising them to get rich so they could pass the property qualifications for voting. During the disturbances of 1848, his enemies within the lower classes demanded and received his resignation. He fled to Belgium and England,but in 1849 he returned as a private citizen to France, where he quietly lived the remainder of his life.

Robert Peel

1788-1850. The son of a rich English industrialist, was Prime Minister from 1834 to 1835 and again from 1841 to 1846. During his public career he was responsible for a number of important reforms, among them the creation of London's Metropolitan Police Force (1829). London policemen are still called "bobbies" in his honor. Also, despite the fact that he was a Tory, he helped to clear the way for Catholics to become ministers of Parliament, supported labor reforms in factories and mines, and assisted in the repeal of the Corn Laws. His controversial role in overturning the Corn Laws led to a split in Tory ranks and to his own resignation as Prime Minister.

Pope Pius IX

1792-1878. He reigned as Roman Catholic Pope from 1846 to 1878. At first it appeared that he would be an advocate of liberalism, for he granted a representative government to the Papal States, pardoned prisoners, allowed the laity to participate in the government of the Papal States and promised to adopt a constitution, but in 1848 revolutionaries drove him from Rome and established the revolutionary Roman Republic there. Although the French subsequently helped to defeat the rebels, and he returned to Rome in 1850, he was a notorious conservative afterward.

Feargus O'Connor

1796-1855. An Irish minister of Parliament from 1832 to 1835. Following his defeat in the polls he joined the Chartist movement and by 1841 had emerged as its leader. He also published a newspaper called the Northern Star.

Francis Palacky

1798-1876. A Czech historian and political activist, chiefly remembered as an early advocate of Czech independence. His dream, however, was not realized until after World War I, when the independent nation of Czechoslovakia was created as part of the settlement of that war. Today, the former Czechoslovakia has been divided into two nations—the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

William Lovett

1800-1877. A moderate leader of the Chartist movement, founder of the London Working Men's Association (1836) and principal author of The People's Charter of 1838.

Louis Kossuth

1802-1894. A nationalist leader of Magyar Hungary who led an unsuccessful rebellion against the Austrian Empire in 1848. He had been an activist for governmental reform since 1825 and an advocate of Magyar independence, but he was not ready to grant independence to other ethnic minorities within the Magyar-dominated part of the Austrian Empire. These minorities joined Austria and Russia in defeating his rebellion in 1848. He then fled into exile in Turkey, and following a brief imprisonment there, traveled to the United States, where he was hailed as the "Hungarian George Washington."

Richard Cobden

1804-1865. A Manchester industrialist, economist, member of the Manchester School and chief leader of the Anti-Corn Law League.

James Bronterre O'Brien

1805-1864. A London journalist, a prominent Chartist leader noted for his outspoken views and publisher of a newspaper entitled The Poor Man's Guardian (1831-1835).

Ferdinand II of Naples and Sicily

1810-1859. He ruled Naples and Sicily from 1830 to 1859. He was well educated in military matters but in little else. He nonetheless proved to be a hard-working and capable administrator, but his conservatism disappointed bourgeois businessmen and intellectuals. A political uprising in Naples in 1848 forced him to grant a liberal constitution, but later in the year he suspended it and then abolished it altogether. By early 1849, he had regained control of his kingdom, but his troops had shelled so many Sicilian cities in their attempt to regain political control that he acquired the nickname "King Bomba." The repressive measures which he enacted following the rebellions of 1848 were extreme, and as a result, when he died in 1859 the pent up emotions of his citizens burst forth, destroying both his armed forces and the Kingdom of the Naples and Sicily itself.

Louis Blanc

1811-1882. A French socialist, political theorist, politician and writer of the 19th century. Born in Spain to a father who was an official in Napoleon's government, he came to Paris following the fall of Charles X in 1830 and became a republican journalist there. His most famous work, The Organization of Labor, first appeared in a Paris journal which he published himself. In this work he proposed the formation of cooperatives, which he hoped in time would replace free enterprise.

John Bright

1811-1889. A Lancashire industrialist, minister of Parliament, advocate of free trade and chief associate of Richard Cobden in the Anti-Corn Law League.

The Congress of Vienna

1814-1815. An international conference of Europe's principal leaders, held from late 1814 through early 1815 in the Austrian capital. It was convened by Klemens von Metternich, the foreign minister of Austria, to solve a variety of international problems caused by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.

Louis XVIII

1814-1824 reigned in France. Restored Bourbon Monarch by the Congress of Vienna. Following his death he was succeeded by his brother.

The Bourbon Restoration

1814. Monarchy was reestablished in France, and Louis XVI's younger brother assumed the throne as Louis XVIII.

The Corn Law

1815. British Law that set regulations governing the importation of wheat.

The Greek Revolution

1821-1829. In 1821, Greek freedom fighters rose up against their oppressors and succeeded in defeating them in the southern Peloponnese, in central Greece and on some of the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea. In 1825, another Ottoman state, Egypt, came to the Turks' assistance. Although they succeeded jointly in regaining some territory, they could not suppress the revolt. In 1827 France, Britain and Russia resolved to come to the Greeks' assistance.

The Monroe Doctrine

1823. American Foreign Policy doctrine. It essentially stated that no new European colonies could be founded in the Americas, and existing colonies could not expand their borders.

Charles X

1824-1830. He was ultra conservative. The July Ordinances he pushed eventually led to him abdicating his throne due to riots and revolution in the streets.

Repeal of the Combination Acts

1824. Barring the assembly of workers for the purpose of seeking higher wages and improved working conditions, were initially passed by Parliament in 1799 and 1800. Much resented by workers, they were repealed in 1824 and 1825, clearing the way for the formation of British trade unions, the first of which was organized in 1825.

The Decembrist Revolt

1825. The death of Tsar Alexander I in 1825 was accompanied by an uprising of liberal reformers drawn from a diverse body of young soldiers, disgruntled army officers, idealistic writers and poets, and young intellectuals. Many of them, influenced by contact with European revolutionaries and reformers during the Napoleonic Wars, had proposed liberal reforms in Russia, only to have their hopes dashed by Tsar Alexander and his conservative ministers. His death, therefore, signalled their opportunity to seize the moment and reform the Russian state along liberal lines.

Russo-Turkish War

1828-1829. In 1828 Russia declared war on the Ottoman Turks, who had been occupied since 1821 with a war against the Greeks. Unlike the British, who supported the Greeks in their war of independence out of idealistic and romantic sentiment, the Russians supported the Greeks because they sensed an opportunity to seize territory from the Ottomans and to expand their presence in the Balkans

Louis Philippe

1830-1848. He is often referred to as the "citizen king." He sympathized with at least some of the liberal ideas of the French Revolution and was a member of the French National Guard. Although his reign began well, he gradually fell out of favor with virtually every segment of the French populace. Legitimists, as they were called, opposed him because they remained loyal to Charles X, whom they deemed to be the legitimate ruler of France. French liberals also criticized his association with wealthy bourgeois businessmen and his adoption of their undemocratic policies. He was a political moderate, who in seeking to offend none, offended everyone. When revolutionary violence again erupted in Paris in 1848, he was compelled to abdicate and flee to England, where he lived until his death in 1850.

The July Revolution

1830. In 1830 Parisians rose in revolt, erected barricades in the streets, successfully defied the French army and in the end forced Charles' abdication.

Revolutions of 1830

1830. Revolutions across Europe that took heart of the July Revolution occurring in France.

Reform Bill of 1832

1832. was the first of several British electoral reform acts of the 19th century. It deprived the representatives from rotten boroughs of their seats in Parliament and gave their vacated seats to new representatives from growing factory towns like Manchester, some of which had never previously had parliamentary representation. The bill had originally been proposed by the Whigs in 1831, but the Tories had rejected it. It lowered property qualifications for voting and thereby doubled the size of the British electorate, although even after this reform only a minority of British males could vote. The new voters were drawn largely from the relatively prosperous middle class.

Zollverein

1833. the first phase of Prussia's strategy to unify all the German-speaking principalities under its control. In effect, it succeeded in unifying Germany economically in 1833. Political unification would take nearly another forty years. It may also been seen as the precursor of the modern European Community or Common Market.

The People's Charter

1838. A charter drafted by the Chartists that made 6 demands. It made six demands: (1) annual meetings of Parliament, (2) universal manhood suffrage, (3) equal electoral districts, (4) an end to property qualifications for candidates running for parliamentary seats, (5) voting by secret ballot and (6) payment for members of Parliament, so that those who were not independently wealthy could afford to leave their regular jobs and hold political office.

Irish Famine

1845-1851. From 1845 to 1848, however, a crop disease or blight killed most of the island's potatoes, and as a consequence, about 750,000 people either starved to death, or weakened by hunger, died of disease. Many others emigrated, a large proportion of them to the United States.

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte

1848-1870. The son of Napoleon's brother, Louis Bonaparte, and nephew to Napoleon himself. He succeeded Louis Philippe in 1848, first as President of the Second French Republic and in 1852 as Emperor Napoleon III.

February Revolution

1848. In Paris, a French Revolution. beset by popular protests over voting restrictions, political corruption and economic troubles. Louis Philippe's government was run by a small group of wealthy bourgeois ministers who harbored deep suspicions about the lower classes and thus resisted expanding the franchise to ordinary Frenchmen. (Only about 3% of adult French males could vote by 1848.) Louis Phillippe abdicated and left the country.

Frankfurt Assembly

1848. It was an elected assembly formed during the rebellions of 1848 to create a liberal constitution for a unified Germany. It had representatives from most of Germany's principalities but proved to be a disunited and essentially powerless body.

Foundation of the 2nd French Republic

1848. It was directed by bourgeois ministers who found no easy solutions to the nation's many problems. Like the previous government's ministers, the new leaders were highly suspicious of the lower classes and particularly of their socialist tendencies. When they blocked passage of some popular socialist measures in June of 1848, the barricades went up yet again, and streetfighting resumed. The government violently put down this revolt, sometimes referred to as the June Days or the June Revolution, by firing on the protesters and killing almost 1500 of them—men, women and children. In December of 1848 Louis Napoleon, the nephew of Napoleon I, was elected President of the Second French Republic.

Year of Revolution

1848. Referred to as this by historians because revolution rapidly spread from France throughout Europe.

June Days

1848. When they blocked passage of some popular socialist measures in June of 1848, the barricades went up yet again, and streetfighting resumed.

Ultramontanism

A 19th century movement which originated in France to make the papacy once again supreme in religious matters, unfettered by national civil authorities. The term derives from Latin and means "beyond the mountains (Alps)."

Public Health Act

A British Act that established Local boards of public health were established across Britain, each directed by a competent medical officer, and taxes were assessed to pay for them. Possibly first of its kind.

Concert of Europe

A military alliance of Russia, Austria, Prussia and Britain. Formed at the Congress of Vienna, it bound its participant nations in principle to work toward a European balance of power, international peace and the suppression of revolutionary movements. The alliance partners further agreed to guarantee for twenty years (1815-1835) territorial settlements reached by the Congress of Vienna.

Chartism

A political movement of the British working class during the early 19th century. They agitated for universal manhood suffrage and for reform of the House of Commons, to allow working men to participate in the British political process and to make representation within that body more reflective of the British population. These working class activists wrote the People's Charter of 1838.

principle of legitimacy

A principle stating that Monarchs who had lost their thrones during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era were deemed the legitimate monarchs of their nations and restored to their thrones.

July Ordinances

A series of laws passed in France in 1830 by Charles X's ultraconservative ministers. They revoked freedom of the press, installed conservative ministers in sensitive governmental posts and imposed voting restrictions which reduced the number of eligible French voters from 100,000 to 25,000. The passage of them caused such public indignation that it sparked a violent urban uprising in Paris and forced Charles X's abdication.

vile mob

A term commonly used by the 19th century European bourgeoisie to refer to members of the lower class, whom they deemed volatile, dangerous and unfit to vote or hold public office.

reactionaries

Advocates of the political policies of the past, those who embrace old solutions to modern problems.

German Confederation

After the fall of Napoleon, it was up to the Congress of Vienna to dissolve the states created by Napoleon and to reorganize the German principalities once again. The new organization forged by the Congress consisted of 39 German states, two of which, Prussia and Austria, soon came to dominate the rest. It lasted until 1866.

Piedmont Sardinia

As enthusiasm mounted for Italian unification in the early 19th century, many looked to this region for leadership. In the late 19th century Italy finally achieved national unification, as expected around the nucleus of it, and the King, Victor Emmanuel II, became the first King of Italy.

cooperatives

Associations of producers and consumers to make better profits for producers and make goods cheaper for consumers. They eliminated the Middle Man.

Manchester School

British proponents of laissez-faire economics and free trade during the period between 1820 and 1850.

Rotten Boroughs

Depleted districts still electing members of Parliament, while burgeoning districts still had no parliamentary representation at all.

United Kingdom

England and Wales were joined into one kingdom in 1301. Scotland was added in 1707 and Northern Ireland in 1801. The parliamentary act which joined Northern Ireland to England in 1801.

Ultras

Extreme right-wingers or conservatives in France between 1815 and 1830. Their leader was the Comte d'Artois, younger brother of Louis XVIII, who became Charles X of France upon the death of Louis in 1824. Louis hoped to avoid the fate of his father by not insisting too loudly upon royal privilege and prerogative. Charles, however, was not so prudent, and as a result his conservative policies led to his abdication and exile during the Revolution of 1830.

Congress of Troppau

Held in 1820 in Austrian territory, was the SECOND regular meeting of the Concert of Europe.

Congress of Laibach

Held in Austrian territory in 1821, was the THIRD regular meeting of the Concert of Europe.

Humiliation of Olmutz

In 1849 Frederick William IV attempted to reorganize the German principalities (excluding Austria) in a new federation led by Prussia. The next year, however, Austria threatened war over the issue and forced him to abandon the idea. His official renunciation of the plan at a meeting with Austrian officials on November 29, 1850.

Carlsbad Decrees

In September of 1819, following several violent incidents perpetrated by liberal university students, Austrian foreign minister Klemens von Metternich issued a series of ordinances. They were endorsed by a number of German princes, most notably by Frederick William III of Prussia. German and Austrian universities were put under governmental supervision, the German Burschenschaften were forced to disband, censorship of the press was tightened and a commission was empowered to investigate revolutionary activities within the German states.

Anti-Corn Law League

It was established by a group of Manchester businessmen and industrialists in September of 1838 to work toward the eventual abolition of Britain's Corn Laws. Its founders objected to them primarily because they violated the principle of free trade.

Holy Alliance

It was formed in November of 1815, consisted of Russia, Austria and Prussia. In 1818 France joined as well. These allies agreed to uphold Christian principles, promote peace and maintain order across the European continent. In actuality, however, its mission was less religious than political—to support monarchy, return Europe to the status quo ante and suppress revolutionary and nationalistic uprisings.

Law of Indemnity

It was passed by Charles X's ultraconservative ministers in 1825 to compensate French nobles for lands lost during the French Revolution. This measure satisfied aristocrats but enraged bourgeois businessmen, many of whom held bonds whose value was tied to confiscated properties. Such legislation did nothing to endear Charles to his ordinary subjects.

"When Paris sneezes, Europe catches cold"

Klons von Metternich said it. It means The French Revolution led directly to the foundation of revolutionary republics across Europe and to Napoleon Bonaparte, whose armies carried French revolutionary ideas as far as eastern Europe. Later, the July Revolution of 1830 which toppled Charles X inspired a flurry of liberal revolutions across Europe, as did the February Revolution of 1848. Metternich was simply acknowledging the obvious, that France was the source of much European liberalism and nationalism.

citizen king

Louis Philippe of France is often referred to as it primarily because he associated himself socially with bourgeois businessmen, acted like the head of a corporation and in general tried to be a prominent citizen among citizens rather than a traditional king.

Constitutional Charter of 1814

Made Louis XVIII a constitutional monarch. It was fairly conservative in character and granted him considerable authority. It called for an upper Chamber of Peers (nobles) to be filled with his personal appointees and for a lower Chamber of Deputies. Although members of the lower house were to be elected, only about 100,000 Frenchmen were granted the right to vote. Those who had participated in the French Revolution were pardoned, newly won civic rights were confirmed and property rights to confiscated lands were honored.

"Five Glorious Days"

One of the many unsuccessful revolts in 1848 against traditional authority occurred in Milan between March 18 and 22, when the Milanese attempted to oust the Austrians from their city.

Municipal Corporations Act

Passage of it led to the first modern reforms of British town and city government.

Kleindeutsch Plan

Plan to exclude Austria in the unification of Germany, supported by Prussia.

Grossdeutsch Plan

Plan to include Austria in the unification of Germany, supported by Austria.

Nicholas I

Russian Tsar succeeded his brother Alexander I. Brutally crushed liberal uprisings. The Decembrist Revolt was instrumental in making him an authoritative and cautious ruler, ever wary of liberal reform and liberal activists. He introduced a number of repressive policies designed to maintain control over his subjects, including the establishment of the hated Third Section, a secret police agency for the suppression of revolutionary activities.

Eastern Orthodoxy

The Eastern European version of Christianity.

"Sick Man of Europe"

The Ottoman Empire of the late 19th and early 20th centuries because it was on the brink of death was known as this.

Chamber of Deputies

The chamber established by Louis XVIII to represent more of the bourgeoisie and middle class. However to be elected you had to pass stringent property requirements.

Chimney Sweep Act

The first British law to prohibit children from being employed as chimney sweeps.

Congress of Aix la Chapelle

The first of a series of regular meetings of the members of the Concert of Europe to assess the general European situation and to make substantive decisions regarding the maintenance of peace on the European continent.

Magyars

The native people of Hungary.

Banquet

The political opponents of Louis Philippe of France attempted to circumvent laws prohibiting assembly for political purposes by these. When they were also outlawed, the resulting violence drove Louis Philippe from power and set the stage for the foundation of the Second French Republic.

Suffrage

The right to vote.

Peers and the Peerage

The term for British aristocrats and the term for social hierarchy in Britain.

Workshops

They coordinated state projects for providing France's unemployed with work. They proved unpopular, however. The unemployed opposed them because they failed to provide meaningful work for all those who needed it, and the bourgeoisie opposed them because workers who could not be employed were being paid for doing no work at all. Deemed a failure, the system was abandoned after only a few months.

Balance of Power

a mechanism for maintaining peace have been prime goals of international diplomacy throughout the entire modern era. It has usually been the outcome whenever competing alliances have possessed military forces of roughly equivalent strength.

House of Rothschild

a prominent Jewish dynasty of European bankers from the late 18th to the 20th century. Its founder founded banks in England, France, Italy and Austria.

Third Section

a secret police organization established in 1826 by Tsar Nicholas I. Its official purpose was to provide national security, but its actual function was to spy upon revolutionaries and to suppress their activities. Ironically, it was abolished by the reform-minded Tsar Alexader II in 1880 shortly before he was assassinated by terrorists. His son and successor, Alexander III, quickly established a similar police organization called the Okhrana to take its place.

Russification

a state-directed effort to impose the Russian language and Russian culture upon ethnic minorities, both within Russia itself and in its dependencies.

Congress of Verona

held in Italy in 1822, was the last regular meeting of the Concert of Europe in which all major members were present.

Congress of St. Petersburg

held in Russia in 1825, was the last meeting of the Concert of Europe. Britain refused to attend. The so-called "Congress System" was on the brink of collapse by 1825 due to the participants' conflicting national agendas.

Slavs

inhabit eastern Europe, constitute the largest and most diverse ethnic group on the European continent.

Burschenschaften

liberal student organizations which arose within German universities, especially the University of Berlin, during the early 19th century. They opposed conservative policies, agitated for change and even resorted on occasion to violence.The Carlsbad Decrees were promulgated in 1819 to suppress these organizations.

Balkans

located in south-central Europe on the Mediterranean Sea. Nations considered part of it include Greece, Yugoslavia (Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro), Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Rumania. Turkey is also sometimes considered apart.

Frederick William III

r. 1797-1840. The son of Frederick William II, had the unhappy fate of being King of Prussia during the Napoleonic Wars and of witnessing his nation's humiliation by French armies. Military, governmental and societal reforms undertaken during his reign, however,allowed Prussia to participate in the defeat of Napoleon at Leipzig in 1813 and at Waterloo in 1815.

Victor Emmanuel I

r. 1802-1821. Before becoming King of Piedmont-Sardinia, he had led the Piedmontese army against the French revolutionary forces. In 1802 he succeeded his brother, Charles Emmanuel IV, only to lose all his possessions except for Sardinia to Napoleon's armies. Upon the fall of Napoleon, however, he was restored to his throne and ruled until 1821, when he abdicated in favor of his brother, Charles Felix.

Francis I

r. 1804-1835. Simultaneously ruled as the Holy Roman Emperor. He was the last Holy Roman Emperor, since the Empire itself was dissolved by Napoleon in 1806. He was one of Napoleon's staunchest opponents, even though he was defeated consistently by him. He received significant territorial concessions at the Congress of Vienna and subsequently participated in the Concert of Europe and the Holy Alliance. Ironically, given the ferocity of his opposition to Napoleon, his daughter Marie-Louise became Napoleon's second wife and the mother of his only son.

George IV

r. 1820-1830. The son of George III. He ruled as king during his father's final years, which were marked by illness and insanity, and became king in his own right upon George III's death in 1820. Little is memorable about his reign, which was particularly scandal-ridden. He lived an extravagant, dissipated lifestyle and in his latter years gained considerable weight, inducing his political opponents to parody his former title, Prince of Wales, as Prince of Whales.

Charles Felix

r. 1821-1831. He ruled Sardinia during much of Victor Emmanuel's reign and succeeded him in 1821 following a brief liberal uprising. The candidate preferred by Piedmont's liberals was Prince Charles Albert, descended from a collateral branch of the Savoy dynasty, whose liberal inclinations were well known. He wrested control from him, had him arrested and exiled him to Florence. He was the last direct descendant of the Savoy dynasty established by Victor Amadeus II in 1720.

William IV

r. 1830-1837. The son of George III and the younger brother of George IV. Sympathetic to the plight of his less fortunate subjects, he supported and coerced passage of the Reform Bill of 1832. He had ten illegitimate children by the actress Dorothea Jordan and two legitimate daughters by his German-born wife, Adelaide. Both of his daughters, however, died in infancy, so upon his death, the English throne passed to his niece, Victoria.

Charles Albert

r. 1831-1849. He suppressed all forms of liberal agitation but relented somewhat concerning freedom of the press and the right of public assembly. When liberal agitators demanded a constitution in March of 1848, he agreed. Later that same month when the Milanese begged for his help in gaining their independence from Austria, he showed his support by declaring war on the Austrians. The Austrian counterattack in 1849, however, led to the defeat of his army and forced his retreat. He abdicated on March 23, 1849, went into exile and was succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel II.

Ferdinand I

r. 1835-1848. The son of Francis I, was a weak ruler whose government was dominated by his influential foreign minister, Klemens von Metternich. Following von Metternich's resignation during the revolutionary disturbances of 1848, he abdicated in favor of his nephew, Francis Joseph.

Victoria I

r. 1837-1901. She ruled the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901, one of the longest reigns in European history and the longest reign in British history. She gave her name to the 19th century, when Britain reached the height of its international power and prestige. She was the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III. King William IV of England was her uncle.

Frederick William IV

r. 1840-1861. The son of Frederick William III, was more liberal than his father, but he remained convinced throughout his life that he had been called by God to rule Prussia and that representative government was inferior to monarchy. He was the Prussian King that turned down the crown offered to him to unite Germany. He attempted to unite Germany without Austria as well. Allowed a Constitution in 1848, but he quickly went back on it.

Francis Joseph

r. 1848-1916. He ruled the Austrian Empire for 68 years, one of the longest reigns in European history, spanning the time from the Revolutions of 1848 to the middle of World War I. Although his reign was prosperous and popular, Austria suffered militarily during his administration. The province of Lombardy in northern Italy was lost in 1859, the Prussians defeated Austria in the Seven Weeks' War in 1866, and Austria's role in World War I led to the destruction of the Austrian Empire in 1918. His liberal policies gave the Hungarians a taste of political independence and precipitated the formation of the so-called Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. This settlement gave him the additional title of King of Hungary. His only son Rudolf committed suicide in 1889, his wife Elizabeth was killed by an Italian anarchist, and his nephew and heir Francis Ferdinand was shot by a Bosnian terrorist, the atrocity which led directly to the outbreak of World War I. In 1916, he was succeeded by another nephew who briefly reigned as Emperor Charles I.

Victor Emmanuel II

r. 1849-1861. The son of Charles Albert. When the Kingdom of Italy was founded in 1861, he became the first modern King of Italy.

South Slavs

the Slavic inhabitants of the Balkans and include Croats, Serbians, Bosnians, Montenegrins and Macedonians. Their intense ethnic conflicts played an important role both in the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and in the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990's.