The Concert of Europe 1815-1914 Quiz

Answer: Talleyrand

Talleyrand, an excellent diplomat, secured excellent terms for the new France of Louis XVIII. Of course, Europe had learned its lesson: in order to keep Bonapartists and war-hawks out of power in France they understood concessions would have to be made to the defeated state.

However, they didn't take any chances: France's borders were restored to pre-Revolutionary status; the Netherlands were greatly strengthened and Prussia was awarded Westphalia so both could act as a defensive block against eastward French expansion.

Answer: Austria

Napoleon had destroyed the Holy Roman Empire and had set up a Confederation of the Rhine made up of his allies in its stead. His aim was to decrease the influence of Prussia, and especially Austria, in German affairs. At the Congress of Vienna, Austria was awarded nominal overlordship of the new German Confederation. Prussia was the only German power strong enough to contend for its leadership, which they successfully achieved in 1866.

Answer: Austria

For a short period the South Slavs had their first semblance of a state: the Illyrian Provinces. It was ruled by Marmont, Marshal of France, and it was regarded as a nationalist/cultural renaissance for the people of the area. Austria absorbed Dubrovik into its Dalmatian province (crownland) in 1815.

The British Ionian Islands (officially known as the United States of the Ionian Islands) comprised Corfu and the surrounding islands, were further south than Dubrovnik (which was NOT an island) and off the coast of Western Greece (and not surprisingly situated in the Ionian Sea).

Answer: Conservatism

Nationalism, though later a vehicle for rightists, was initially the die-hard opponent of the status quo. Imagine how multi-national Austria, Russia and Prussia felt about movements determined to win national autonomy! Napoleon had, out of a desire to foster the ideals of the French Revolution and to destabilise his foes, supported nationalist movements throughout Europe: i.e. the Warsovian Grand Duchy, the Italian republics etc.

Liberalism favoured political reform to allow the new class, the bourgeoisie, a significant role in the running of the State. Liberal movements were often allied with, or served the same function as, nationalist movements (the link between them being a desire to change the status quo). Both were considered equally dangerous by the conservative victors at the various European Congresses.

Self-determination was the idea of American President Woodrow Wilson. It was designed to destroy the great "autocratic" empires of Europe: Austro-Hungary, Germany and Russia by dividing up their empires piecemeal into polities more-or-less defined by ethnicity (sometimes nationality was ignored and "race" considered: i.e. the South Slav Kingdom of Yugoslavia).

Answer: France

Charles X of France, the last legitimist or Bourbon monarch, was overthrown after he tried to pass amendments to the Constitution to increase his regal authority. In three days of barricade action the King was deposed. In his place the revolutionaries wisely chose not a President but another king, Louis-Phillipe, from the Orleanist branch of the Royal Family. To mark the advent of his reign and a new era, L.P. called himself not King of France, but King of the French (i.e. in hommage to the national identity of the state).

He also dropped the Bourbon colours in favour of the revolutionary standard, the Tricolor. Europe was wary but did nothing. Relations between England and France deteriorated and France recommenced building an overseas empire (beginning with Algiers 1830).

Answer: Metternich

Metternich, a far-sighted fellow, was opposed to any nationalist endeavour. Austria, he felt, would have egg on its face for supporting the Greeks against the Turks in the name of national autonomy while busily repressing the Galician Poles, the Hungarians, Croatians, Slovenes, Serbs etc.
In the end, pressure from France and England led to a war with Turkey which ended in the great Allied(British, French and Russian) naval victory of Navarino. Austria chose to stay at home.

Answer: The overthrow of the French King

Somewhat comparable to shockwaves, the news of the overthrow of Louis-Phillipe caused revolutions in almost every European state (save Russia and England). And they say that globalisation is a new phenomenon! The barricades were permanently successful only in France.

Answer: Custozza

Initially, when the revolutionaires proclaimed a provisional republic Radetsky was forced to retreat from Venice into the surrounding hills. There news reached him that Piedmont had declared war in favour of the new Venetian Republic. Realising how critical the situation back in Austria was, Radetsky decided to risk bold action and trounced the Italians at Custozza. Northern-eastern Italy would remain Austrian until the aftermath of the 1866 Seven Weeks' War.

Answer: Croatian

Croatia, like Slovakia, had been subject to Magyar domination and so, when push came to shove, this Croatian general opted to oppose the Hungarians and proclaim loyalty to the Habsburgs. He marched directly on Buda and Pest, but was defeated at Pakozd. Then he turned back and helped the Imperial forces liberate Vienna from the revolutionaires there.
All the Hungarian national minorities (Serbs, Bosnians, Croats, Slovenes, Slavonians) were denied rights by the new Republican Diet of Hungary - which effectively forced these groups to side with their Austrian Emperor.

Answer: Windischgrätz

Windischgratz first restored order in Prague then sped to the defence of his homeland. He joined up with Jelacic to crush the rebels in Vienna and then captured Buda and won the battle of Kapolna. His successes were short-lived and a massive amount of Russian help was necessary to finally pacify the gallant Magyars.

Radetsky was the hero of the war in Italy and Rudiger was one of the Generals the Russian Tsar sent into Hungary to help the Habsburgs prevail.

Answer: Kossuth

Kossuth later fled to England were he was celebrated as a nationalist hero (much like the way Garibaldi was acclaimed there).
Gorgey was the brilliant Hungarian general who recaptured most Hungarian land after the devastating Windischgrätz offensive. He was the one who was left to surrender after Kossuth's flight. He was executed along with many of the best Hungarian officers.
Paskevitch was another Russian general involved in the anti-Hungarian campaign, while Debrecen was a victory won by his counterpart, Rudiger.

Answer: Franz Josef

Poor Franz Josef took the throne during the second greatest crisis the Habsburgs ever faced, and lived long enough to see the coming of the worst crisis, dying in 1916. His successor, Charles-Albert, was Emperor for barely two years (1916-18) before the Allies destroyed the dynasty.

Answer: Louis-Napoleon

Note: Louis Napoleon and Napoleon III are one and the same. But Louis Napoleon is the more correct answer because he was proclaimed Emperor awhile after he seized power. At the time of the coup he was an ordinary citizen with an impressive uncle in the family tree (old Boney himself).

Answer: Austria

Russia was furious at this blatant violation of the Holy Alliance, especially seeing as Hungary was only restored to the Habsburgs in 1848 with massive amounts of Russian troops. The temporary links that had grown up between Austria and Russia due to the Napoleonic Wars were severed permanently.

When Prussia was ready to challenge Austria in 1866, the Habsburgs had no one in her corner (France and England had liberal/pro-nationalist governments at the time).

Answer: San Stefano

After anti-Ottoman uprisings spread through the Balkans, Russian troops swept through Romania and into Ottoman-held Thrace/Macedonia. The Russian victories of Pleven and Nikopol threw the Ottomans back: soon the Russians had captured almost all of European Turkey and were just outside Constantinople at Yesilkoy (San Stefano) when they signed a treaty with Turkey there. Greece, Serbia and Romania did not like the enormous size of Bulgaria (enormous in the Balkan context) and England and Austria didn't like the fact that it would be a Russian puppet-state. To avert the outbreak of a war Bismarck called a European Congress and the issue was hammered out peacefully: a smaller, more autonomous Bulgaria was created.

Answer: Konniggrätz/Sadowa

Austria was utterly defeated: Prussian speed and the capability of Prussian firepower overwhelmed the Austrians, who had treble the amount of men plus the support of many German states (i.e. Bavaria, which had a large army).

Answer: Proclamation of a Republic under a radical Commune

The Paris Commune (though guilty of many murders) successfully defended itself and the beseiged capital, by means of a National Guard, for quite awhile. The attacking Prussians soon tired and offered Royalist/Imperialist Frenchmen in their POW camps the chance to have a go.

The French counter-revolutionaires fought their way into the city and surrounded the last of the Communards at Pere Lachaise Cemetery (the one now defaced by the millions of Doors fans who visit Morrison's grave there) and shot at least a thousand of them against the back inner wall of the cemetery.

Answer: Bulgaria

The first Balkan war (1912) saw Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia fight and rout the Ottomans. However, Bulgaria felt cheated during the division of the territorial spoils in the aftermath and launched a surprise attack against Serbia and Greece in Macedonia. Immediately Bulgaria found herself at war with Greece, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey.

She was defeated quickly and her borders shrank.

Answer: Nagodba

Both words mean Compromise, the one in German, the other one in Magyar. Both nationalities were assured more cultural/national autonomy. In truth the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a cosmopolitan state that had become quite liberal.
Another reviled, supposedly oppressive state, Germany, was actually the first modern welfare state and was a democracy.
The history books I grew up reading never mentioned that!

Answer: Russia

Though many dispute Germany's intentions, some theorise that she was wary of a war but figured that seeing as a war seemed inevitable, now was as good a time as any to fight the Entente. So they decided to back Austria in her struggle with Serbia. When Germany discovered that Russia had mobilised (a process that they knew antiquated Russia would take weeks to complete) they quickly marched through Belgium in an attempt to knock out Russia's ally France before the Russians were in the field, thus avoiding a two-front war.

The Schlieffen Plan succeeded admirably for a while before failing at the battle of the Marne, 1914. (The French used Parisian taxis to get their troops to the front and called the victory a miracle).