Revolutions In The 19th Century

Reform in Europe was nonexistent before the changes during the nineteenth century. Europe was a system of monarchies and two empires – each ruled with an iron fist and no regulation. Monarchs had final say in everything from political matters to who would grow a certain type of crop. Across Europe, there was a struggling peasant society that was being forcefully crushed and constantly dominated by the uncontrollable nobility. But, that soon changed with the introduction of the Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment undermined the authority of the monarchy and the church while promoting individual freedoms and the power of reason. This led people to question certain norms, such as why the king was the king and no one else. The Age of Enlightenment gave birth to the ideology of liberalism, and it is liberalism that shaped the nineteenth century and formed the world we are accustomed to today. Liberalism was grounded in the ideas of the Enlightenment, namely: personal freedoms and the right to overthrow an oppressive government. This idea spawns from John Locke, who is often considered to be the founder of Liberalism with his …show more content…
The future revolutions in Europe, namely the revolutions of 1848, all look back on the French Revolution as their ideal mode of change, even The Great Terror and subsequent consequences. On a global scale, the revolution gave rise to republics and democracies – even if only the idea of the institutions. The French Revolution gave hope to some countries while The Great Terror petrified others. It was the starting point for the widespread outbreak of liberalist movements. The effects of the revolution were also subtle, though. This unstable environment left behind by the revolution and the faint hints of agitation for more freedom is what laid the foundation for the success of Napoleon Bonaparte who “offered stability and order in place of the chaos of post-revolutionary