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Congress of Vienna
Established conservative power force, the Concert of Europe, among the Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Rehabilitated France after defeating Napoleon. -
Karlsbad Decrees/Peterloo Massacre
Germany: censored free speech in Germany and put “supervisors” in universities. / England: suppressed calls for suffrage and liberalism. -
Early wave of liberal/nationalist revolts
Liberal revolt in Spain; nationalist revolts in Italy and Greece. -
Protocol of Troppau
Austria, Russia, Prussia, Britain, and France establishes that Concert countries can intervene in foreign revolutions. -
Decembrist Rev
Failed liberal rev. Nicholas won the throne and refused to abolish serfdom and institute a constitutional gov’t. -
Wave of Revolutions
France’s July Revolution against Charles X (though not overthrown until 1848) inspired a successful Dutch nationalist revolt and unsuccessful Italian and German ones. Reform in Britain. -
Reform Bill (Britain)
Expands suffrage to the middle class. -
Revolutions across Europe
Wave of failed republican revolutions in France, Germany, Italy, and Austria. -
The Communist Manifesto
Marx and Engels argue that a violent upheaval will come to end capitalism and usher the way to communism, where workers own the means of production. -
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The Crimean War
France, Britain, Ottomans vs Russia for access to Mediterranean. Britain and France won, and Russia implemented reforms to modernize. Weakness of Ottoman Empire led to breakdown of Concert of Europe and thus, Italian and German unification. -
Emancipation of Serfs
Russian tsar Alexander II abolished serfdom as part of modernization program after the Crimea humiliation. Lack of reform to help freed peasants leads to social and economic discomfort. -
Austro-Prussian War
Bismarck (Prussia) defeated Austria, advancing German unification and weakening the Austrian empire. -
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Franco-Prussian War
Gains French recognition of Germany as a country and heightened rivalry (France got reparations and Alsace-Lorraine back after WWI). -
Italian and German unification
Italian unification under Cavour. German unification under Bismarck. -
Failed invasion of Ethiopia
Amid the Scramble for Africa and imperialism, Italy lost its invasion of Ethiopia. The national shame helped Mussolini gain power in the 1930s. -
Balkans conflict
Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina, damaging relations with Russia and other Balkan countries. Laid groundwork for WWI. -
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WWI
Sparked by Austrian heir’s assassination by Serbian nationalist, pit the Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia) against Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, Italy). 1917 Rev in Russia. Total war casualties lead to disillusionment. Big map changes: independent Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia; independent Poland and Baltics; independent Turkey; Germany lost territory. -
Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles put guilt clause and reparations on Germany. Fueled anger for WWII. -
Five Year Plans
Stalin’s first Five Year Plan, meant to increase industrialization by collectivizing agriculture, led to famines. -
The Great Depression
Stock market crash in US triggers the Great Depression. European countries, many depending on the US’s credit for war debt, suffer. In Germany and Italy, fascists gain support. -
Rise of the Nazi Party
Hitler comes to power in Germany. Persecution of Jews ratchets up gradually, with Nuremberg Laws (1935) prohibiting Jew-Gentile marriage and citizenship and Kristallnacht business vandalism (1938). -
German aggression
Hitler reoccupies the Rhineland and makes Axis alliances (Rome-Berlin and Anti-Communist). Appeasement policy begins. Treaty of Versailles effectively scrapped. -
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WWII
Axis against Allies. Nazis lead the Holocaust of Jews and social undesirables. Total war and destructive technology, including firebombs and the atomic bomb, shatter any regained European optimism. With US help, the Allies end fascism in Germany, Italy, and Japan. -
NATO
Amid the heightening Cold War, the US and Western European countries form North Atlantic Treaty Organization to deter the USSR. Stalin blockades Berlin. -
Warsaw Pact
USSR formed the Warsaw Pact military alliance in response to NATO. -
Satellite state revolts
Revolt in Poland resolved by accession of prime minister initially too liberal for the USSR’s liking. Inspired Hungary anti-communist party, which was crushed. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis standoff. Khrushchev ultimately agreed to rescind missiles, leading to doubts about his leadership. -
Prague Spring
Peaceful Prague Spring crushed by USSR. Showed the USSR was intolerant of liberalism. Not until Gorbachev in 1985, with glasnost and perestroika and commitment to non-military intervention, did satellites have hope of independence. -
Fall of Berlin Wall and Czech communism
Fall of the Berlin Wall reunited Germany. Czechoslovakia overthrows communism. Represented the downfall of the USSR, which officially disbanded in 1991. -
Russian leadership
Putin comes to power in Russia after Yeltsin disbanded communism. He seeks to restore the "glory days" of the USSR and regain lost territory--Crimea and Ukraine, for example.
