A School History of the Great War | Page 2

President Jefferson that the latter said the United States
might be compelled to "marry themselves to the British fleet and
nation." But England's navy kept control of the seas; Napoleon's colony
in North America was never founded; and at last the peoples of Europe
rose against their conqueror, and in the battle of Waterloo, June 18,
1815, finally overthrew him.
EUROPE SINCE 1815.--After the downfall of Napoleon the rulers of
Europe met in conference at Vienna and sought to restore conditions as
they had been before the war. They were particularly anxious that the
great masses of the people in their several nations should continue to
respect what was termed "the divine right of kings to rule over their
subjects." They did not, except in Great Britain, believe in
representative governments. They feared free speech and independent
newspapers and liberal educational institutions. They hated all kinds of
popular movements by which the inhabitants of any country might
throw off the monarch's yoke and secure a share in their own
government. For over thirty years the "Holy Allies,"--the name applied
to the monarchs of Austria, Prussia, and Russia,--succeeded tolerably
well in keeping the peoples in subjection. But they had many
difficulties to face, and after 1848 their policy was largely given up.
DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENTS.--During the nineteenth century the
people of Europe were restive under the rule of kings, and gradually
governments controlled in greater or less degree by the people were
established. Almost every decade saw popular uprisings in some of the
European states. About 1820 insurrections occurred in Greece, in Spain,
and in southern Italy; and the Spanish American colonies revolted from
the mother country. In 1830 popular uprisings took place in France,
Belgium, Germany, Poland, and other places. In 1848 a far more

serious movement occurred, which overthrew the French monarchy and
established a republic. From France the flame of liberty lighted fires of
insurrection in Germany, Austria, Poland, and Italy. Similar attempts
were made at later times. As a result of these popular uprisings and of
the growing education of all classes of the people, manhood suffrage
and representative institutions were established in most of the European
states.
NATIONAL ASPIRATIONS.--The Holy Allies had refused to
recognize the right of nations to independent existence. They had
bartered peoples and provinces "as if they were chattels and pawns in a
game." But when the peoples tried to found democratic governments,
they often discovered that the quickest and surest way was to unite
under one government all who belonged to a given nationality. Thus
the last hundred years in Europe has witnessed the erection of a number
of new national states created by throwing off the yoke of some foreign
ruler. Among the new nations thus established were (1) Belgium, freed
from the kingdom of Holland; (2) Greece, Serbia, Roumania, Bulgaria,
and Albania, freed from Turkish rule; (3) Italy, united out of territories
controlled by petty sovereigns and Austrian rulers; (4) Norway,
separated from Sweden. The same period saw also the unification of a
number of German states into the German Empire. But during this time
several races were unsuccessful in obtaining independence, among
which we may note the Poles (in Russia, Prussia, and Austria), the
Czechs (checks), or Bohemians (in northern Austria), the Finns (in the
northwestern part of the Russian Empire), and the Slavic people in the
southern part of Austria-Hungary.
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.--The nineteenth century was not
only a period of political change in Europe. It was also a time of great
changes in the general welfare of the people. It witnessed a remarkable
alteration in everyday employments and habits. In 1800 a great part of
the population was engaged in agriculture. Manufacturing and
commerce were looked upon as of minor importance. The goods that
were produced were made by hand labor in the workman's own home.
Beginning first in England about 1750 and extending to the Continent
between 1820 and 1860, there came a great industrial change. The

steam engine was applied to spinning, weaving, and countless other
operations which previously had been performed by hand. Steam
engines could not of course be installed in every small cottage; hence a
number of machines were put in one factory to be run by one steam
engine. The workers left their small huts and gardens in the country and
came to live in towns and cities. After the steam engine came steam
transportation on land and water. Then followed an enormous demand
for coal, iron, steel, and other metals. More goods could be produced in
the factories than were needed for the people at home. Hence arose
more extended commerce and the search for foreign markets.
COLONIAL EXPANSION.--In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
Spain, Portugal, France, and England settled the American continents
and parts of Asia. By a series of wars in