Summer of Nations (2.0)

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  • Summer of Nations
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    Great men of history: The validity of historical narratives in modern socioeconomic research (Lumos Syndicate, 2018)


    When discussing the history of Europe and the world at large, you find that at certain points it all comes to revolve around a single man and his decisions which regardless of his knowledge will come to shape the world at large. The first one of these is Napoleon, who brought france from a nation in dissaray to an empire spanning across europe, doubtlessly inspiring Jaques Doriot, who would attempt to do the same more than a hundred years later. Between them stands Rugerro Settimo, a Sicilan petty noble who, knowingly or not, would transform the face of Europe and the world forever.​
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    Map of Europe in 1849

    Hello everyone! Regardless if you're coming over from the old thread or are a complete newcomer, I welcome you to Summer of Nations, a timeline where the Revolutions of 1848 are much more successful than OTL.​
     
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    The Spark: Italy 1848
  • The Spark
    Italy in 1848

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    “Noi fummo da secoli


    calpesti, derisi,

    perché non siam popolo,

    perché siam divisi.

    Raccolgaci un'unica

    bandiera, una speme:

    di fonderci insieme

    già l'ora suonò.”


    "A comprehensive history of Italy" by Ashley Williams (2011, Repubblica Publishing)


    At 9 o’clock in the afternoon on the 5th of January 1848, Joseph Radetzky von Radetz retired to bed in his Vienna winter house. He would not wake up the next morning. Sometime later, his position as field marshal in Italy would be replaced by a younger, but much less experienced relative of the Habsburg monarchy.

    On the 12th of January, 1848 a minor Sicilian noble by the name of Ruggero Settimo would declare the formation of the Kingdom of Sicily as the population rose up in revolt, thus setting Europe ablaze. After about a week of fighting the revolutionaries found themselves in control of the entire island of Sicily and most crucially, the fortified city of Messina. Inspired by this and the perceived liberalism of Pope Pius IX in Rome, the rest of Italy was soon up in arms as well, forcing many monarchs to flee from their seats of power and others to rescind almost all of their powers by accepting new liberal constitutions. In the north, the Austrian forces were caught almost entirely unprepared and were soon engaged in an unorganized retreat back into Austrian lands. The Italian tricolour soon flew over every fort south of the Alps and the revolutionaries got to work forming a real government. But as once famously uttered by President Mao Zedong, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” and the revolutionaries would not retain their achievements for long if they did not defend it with force of arms. Most of the revolutionaries were either educated student and bankers or common peasantry, none of which had the military cunning that could match that of the trained officers of the reactionary militaries. None that is, save for one Giuseppe Garibaldi.

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    Giuseppe Garibaldi, first president of Italy
    Born on 4 July 1807 in Nice, Garibaldi had spent most of his life fighting overseas and now saw that the time had come to return to his native Italy to free his countrymen. Taking up leadership of the diverse collection of forces in northern Italy, Garibaldi quickly trounced the Austrian forces that had been reassembled to put down the rebellion and subsequently turned northern Italy into the lock that would prevent the reactionary Austrian from ever threatening the Republic. The greatest threat and prize on the entire peninsula laid to the south, however: the Papal States. Taking a force that was mostly comprised of students and peasants, Garibaldi embarked on a campaign southward that drove the armies of the minor states before it, smashing into the forces of the Papal States at Lake Bracciano, defeating them after several hours of battle between the professional Papal soldiers and Garibaldis hardened volunteers. As the news of this defeat reached the city of Rome itself, Italians marched in the streets and stormed the gates of the Papal residence, declaring the overthrow of the Monarchy and the formation of the Roman Republic. The tricolour was placed in the hands of the city of Markus Aurelius as Garibaldis forces marched into the city to meet the cheering population. On the 13th of August, 1848 Garibaldi would shake hands with Rugerro Settimo in Palermo. The birthplace of the revolution had been freed at last and now the flag of the Italian Republic waved all over the peninsula, soon to be accompanied by many others.

    As the smoke settled, the first thing on the agenda for the young nation was to form a unified government. Meeting in the holy city of Rome itself, the various heads of state united to lay the groundwork for what this new nation would look like. After almost two weeks of intense negotiations, the first pan-Italian constitution was put into effect. Those monarchs that had voluntarily agreed to give their power to an elected assembly during the revolution were allowed to stay in power, with the provision that a referendum would be held on the status of the monarchy following the demise or resignation of the then currently reigning ruler, whilst the offices of the rest were formally dissolved and their assets seized. A nominal land reform was implemented, a confederal parliament established and the Pope guaranteed political immunity in his role as the head of the Catholic faith. Following the conclusion of the conference and the first subsequent elections across Italy, Garibaldi was elected first president of the Italian Republic. No longer would Italy or Europe be ruled by the whims of petty tyrants, but by the will and consent of the people.
     
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    The kingdom without a King: Hungary in 1848
  • The Kingdom without a King
    Hungary in 1848

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    "The Great European Revolution" by Rosella Evans (2001, Oxford Publishing)

    As the fires of revolution slowly grew across the Italian peninsula, other regions of Europe began taking notice. Whilst enjoying a comparatively large degree of autonomy amongst the Austrian realms, the people of Hungary clamored for something more than feudal servitude. The Hungarian diet had not been called since 1811 and worse still, it was a body that represented little more than the interests of the rich and aristocratic. As the news of republican uprisings as far away as Paris arrived, liberal forces in Hungary seized the moment to strike. Rallying the common people to their cause, they forced the imperial government to accept the restructuring of the diet into a genuine representative and democratic parliamentary body, as well as the subsequent appointment of a responsible government and the adoption of the so-called “ten points” into genuine law. The ten points were:

    (1) Responsible ministries, (All ministries and the government must be elected by the parliament)

    (2) Freedom of the Press (The abolition of censure and the censor's offices)

    (3) Popular representation (by democratic parliamentary elections, the abolition of the old feudal parliament which based on the feudal estates)

    (4) The reincorporation of Transylvania,

    (5) Right of public meeting, (Freedom of assembly and freedom of association)

    (6) Absolute religious liberty, the abolition of the (Catholic) State Religion,

    (7) Universal equality before the law (The abolition of separate laws for the common people and nobility, the abolition of the legal privileges of nobility)

    (8) Universal and equal taxation, (abolition of the tax exemption of the aristocracy)

    (9) The abolition of the Aviticum, (Aviticium was an old feudal origin obsolete and anomalous land-tenure, it declared that only the nobility could own agricultural lands)

    (10) The abolition of serfdom and bondservices, with state financed compensation to the landlords.

    Only the fourth point was never truly fulfilled as Transylvania would be de facto incorporated into the Kingdom of Romania, but as the rest were gradually implemented they would culminate in the formation of a Hungarian nation that was in all respects an independent nation save for the Habsburg Emperor’s role as palatine. Even so, royalist Austrian forces under the command of Alfred I marched towards the Hungarian lands intent on restoring absolute rule. The Honvédség (mostly made up of enthusiastic patriots with no prior military training) achieved incredible successes against better-trained and -equipped Austrian forces, despite the obvious advantage in numbers on the Austrian side[1]. The Winter Campaign of Józef Bem and the Spring Campaign of Artúr Görgey would go on to be particularly famous and by 1849 the Habsburg forces had been soundly beaten and driven back across the Hungarian border in disarray. But it was not only the Austrian forces that threatened Hungary, but also the Kingdom of Illyria in the south and the Russians in the north.

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    It is at this point that another of the key players of the Hungarian revolution really comes into the fore; Lajos Kossuth. Following the flat Austrian refusal of overtures by the Hungarian moderates for any sort of settlement other than total subjugation, many decided to step down from politics, clearing the floor for Kossuth and his more radical cabinet. Whilst successes against the Austrian reactionaries emboldened the radicals, Kossuth concluded that the monarchist elements in the Hungarian revolutionary army were too dangerous to alienate and thus maintained the status of Governor-president rather than attempting any form of abolishment of the monarchy as a whole. He was also the first to approach the Illyrian kingdom to the south to formally recognize their independence from Hungary. This alienated him from a great deal of his parliament, but when the dying Austrian monarchy later that year attempted to coax the Russian monarchy into intervening in Hungary, the Tsar hesitated and then decided against intervention, fearing both the capability of the Hungarian armies and their commanders as well as the possibility of causing an irreparable rift with the Russia-friendly Slavic lands now united under the Illyrian king Josip Jelačić. In addition, a large number of the Slavs and other minorities living in Hungary enjoyed the protection of the first laws of ethnic and minority protection in Europe and where thus more sympathetic to the Hungarian cause than against it.

    Yet still, the troubles were not quite over. Even as the Hungarian flag was adorned with the coat of arms of the province Transylvania remained in Romanian hands and what’s worse, the throne remained vacant with no Habsburg willing to assume it, but both the military and other powerful factions in Hungary unwilling to implement any form of Republic. Here, Kossuth executed one of his most brilliant geopolitical moves in his entire career; doing nothing. By leaving the issues of Transylvania and the Monarchy unresolved, Kossuth could instead focus on his economic project of protectionism and more importantly industrialization of the Hungarian nation. The conservative elements recognized that unseating Kossuth for his economic reforms would only lead to a more radical Republican assuming power and the restive (primarily agrarian) Hungarian minority in Romania could be used as a perfect bargaining chip in any future engagements between the states. Thus Hungary stepped into the new European era: diminished, but not conquered. A kingdom without a king.


    [1] This is taken straight from OTL.
     
    The Monarchist Republic: France in 1848
  • The Monarchist Republic
    France in 1848

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    “A comprehensive history of Revolutions” by Janette Dubois (2005, Paris Cooperative Publishing)


    France, like many other nations at the eve of the Great European Revolution, was a state very much under the boot of the aristocracy. By 1848 only about one percent of the population held the franchise. Even though France had a free press and trial by jury, only landholders were permitted to vote, which alienated the petty bourgeoisie and even the industrial bourgeoisie from the government. Louis Philippe was viewed as generally indifferent to the needs of society, especially to those members of the middle class who were excluded from the political arena. A Reform Movement developed in France which urged the government to expand the electoral franchise, just as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had done in 1832. The more radical democrats of the Reform Movement coalesced around the newspaper, La Réforme; the more moderate republicans and the liberal opposition rallied around the Le National newspaper.

    Starting in July 1847 the Reformists of all shades began to hold "banquets" at which toasts were drunk to "République française", "Liberté, égalité, fraternité", etc. Louis Philippe turned a deaf ear to the Reform Movement, and discontent among wide sections of the French people continued to grow. On 14 February 1848 the conservative Guizot's government decided to put an end to the banquets, on the grounds of constituting illegal political assembly. On 22 February, striking workers and republican students took to the streets, demanding an end to Guizot's government, and erected barricades. Odilon Barrot called a motion of no confidence in Guizot, hoping that this might satisfy the rioters, but the Chamber of Deputies sided with the premier. The government called a state of emergency, thinking it could rely on the troops of the National Guard, but instead on the morning of 23 February the Guardsmen sided with the revolutionaries, protecting them from the regular soldiers who by now had been called in.

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    The turmoil culminated in a march by the protestors and National Guard towards Paris and the reigning Orleanist King Louis-Philippe was forced to abdicate and a republican provisional government assumed power under the presidency of Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure. However, a rival government of more radical republicans and socialists in the Parisian Hôtel de Ville. After a tense confrontation it was agreed that the two governments would merge into one representative body which to a large degree was dominated by the moderates, but with notable concessions granted to the radicals. Among the reforms implemented were universal male suffrage and the establishment of a new constitution with wide-ranging powers for the executive presidential position. The radical republicans attempted to institute economic reforms such as the implementation of “national workshops” and even the abolishment of private property, all of which were blocked by the moderates. This further alienated the radical left and did little to improve the ailing economic situation. Even so, the Republican government moved onwards, organizing the first elections since 1792 with universal male suffrage and receiving by far the largest share of the vote.

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    Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure
    This alarmed the radical elements primarily situated in the industrialized Paris, who saw this as the waning of the revolution and its ideals. Therefore on 15 May 1848, Parisian workmen, feeling their democratic and social republic was slipping away, invaded the Assembly en masse and proclaimed a new Provisional Government. This attempted revolution on the part of the working classes was quickly suppressed by the National Guard. The leaders of this revolt, Louis Auguste Blanqui, Armand Barbès, François Vincent Raspail and others were arrested. Despite this tumultuous political landscape, the presidential election was still given the go-ahead. In a surprising electoral result, almost 77% of the vote went to the unexpectedly popular Napoleon III. This result can be mainly attributed to the fact that the majority of the conservative rural voters were for the most part unaffiliated with any political parties or movements and thus Napoleon was simply the only one with the name recognition to actually cultivate a base of support among them. This election prompted a second and larger uprising in Paris, which was brutally crushed by the national army units that had now been stationed in the city following the attempted coup. Thus as the year of 1848 drew to an end, France once more found itself with a monarch at the helm, albeit one from a different dynasty.

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    Napoleon III
     
    The Four Williams: The Atlantic Archipelago in 1848
  • The Four Williams
    The Atlantic Archipelago in 1848

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    "A modern political history of the Isles" by Thomas Scott (2010, London Publishing)

    The winds of change that swept Britain in 1848 were not altogether as unfamiliar to the kingdom compared to its contemporaries. Ever since the 1832 reform act, the vast majority of the working population felt they like many across Europe had been betrayed by the rich and aristocratic establishment. In addition, the deprivation of outdoor relief to poor people and the subsequent forced implementation of workhouses that amongst other things separated families and put those most in need of help deliberately into some of the worst conditions possible. This only fuelled the growth of the populist Chartist movement, which sought to bring about genuine popular representation for the British people in their government. The first official organizations were primarily composed of artisans and skilled craftsmen, but with the forming of a commission of MPs and members of the London workmen’s association in 1837 and the subsequent formation of the people’s charter gave the movement a number of clear demands and goals. The points of the people’s charter were:

    1. A vote for every man twenty-one years of age, of sound mind, and not undergoing punishment for a crime.

    2. The secret ballot to protect the elector in the exercise of his vote.

    3. No property qualification for Members of Parliament in order to allow the constituencies to return the man of their choice.

    4. Payment of Members, enabling tradesmen, working men, or other persons of modest means to leave or interrupt their livelihood to attend to the interests of the nation.

    5. Equal constituencies, securing the same amount of representation for the same number of electors, instead of allowing less populous constituencies to have as much or more weight than larger ones.

    6. Annual Parliamentary elections, thus presenting the most effectual check to bribery and intimidation, since no purse could buy a constituency under a system of universal manhood suffrage in each twelve-month period.

    Following a series of violent confrontations and clashes in England and wales, most famously the Newport rising, the movement organized a nonviolent march to present a petition signed by six million citizens to parliament under the ostensible leadership of Feargus Edward O'Connor. Despite the nonviolent nature of the march, the government met them with large police prescience as a show of force and in the end only a small group of leading members were allowed to present the petition, which was then practically dismissed by the government. This effectively killed a large amount of the moderate and reformist sentiment in the movement and culminated that June, when there was widespread drilling and arming in the West Riding and the devising of plots in London. The banning of public meetings, and new legislation on sedition and treason (rushed through Parliament immediately after 10 April), drove a significant number of Chartists (including the black Londoner William Cuffay) into the planning of insurrection and despite the attempts of the authorities, this insurrection came to ahead on the 10th of July. Strikes and protests erupted all across London and a large force of armed militia under Feargus and Cuffay overran parliament. At the time the royal family was still in their estate on the Isle of Man and were thus out of the Chartist’s hands at the time. As the capital erupted into revolution, similar events occurred all over England, with groups of chartists seizing towns, factories and roads. By the end of the week, similar risings had occurred in wales supported by the English chartists and England itself was rather firmly under chartist control save for some of the rural areas that still sympathized with the crown. The success of a radical republican movement in supplanting the monarchy only fuelled Irish separatism and by year’s end the golden harp flew under the whole island with a cabinet led by the radical William Smith O'Brien in charge.

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    Whilst not the same hotbed of radicalism as their neighbours, the Scottish thought discretion the better part of valour and once more hoisted the saltire high over the provisional parliament building in Edinburgh. Whilst the Scottish were not going to hand over the royal family to the Chartists, they were not keen on angering their radical neighbours and thus the family and all those scots who wished to follow her were allowed to board the ships before setting sail to loyalist Canada. As the old government left the islands, those that now ruled it convened to construct a new one. Constitutions were drafted in the English and Welsh parliaments with the six principles at their core, whilst the more moderate Scotland elected to change the old royal constitution to fit the new republic. Ireland formed a government with much of the same radical principles as the chartists, but at the insistence of O’Brien and others the Irish language was now also to be promoted across the island in an official capacity.

    This sparked a brief rebellion in Ulster, which the new Irish republican army crushed with little mercy. The irony of Irish soldiers cracking down on protestant dissenters was surely not lost on the new government, but there are no records as to what their actual opinion on the whole ordeal really was. In England, O’Connor retired to his native Ireland out of health concerns and following the first ever general elections by the end of the year, the somewhat less radical William Lovett was elected first president of the Chartist Republic of England and William Price his Welsh counterpart. Scotland was once more the least radical of the nations, quietly extending the franchise to most of the population in an attempt to prevent a similar upheaval in their own nation and the implementation of elections every four years. In turn the Scottish people elected moderate William Gladstone, who would go on to be seen as one of the founders of the modern Scottish Republic. All the while this unfolded; several leading chartists were still exiled to Australia, having no idea of the events that had transpired. As the news reached Australia however, so did the winds of change…​

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    William Lovett Young

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    William Price

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    William Ewert Gladstone
     
    Germania Ascendant: Germany in 1848
  • Germania Ascendant
    Germany in 1848

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    The March air was cool and full of voices. Calling the kings name, they demanded freedom, unity and representation. Frederick was startled, but after a moment of deliberation he decided he was not going to be swayed by whatever the commoners were whining about this time. He had the finest army in Germany, hundreds of years of tradition and the God-given right to rule at his side and no crowd in the world could take that from him. Stepping out on the balcony, he met the angry crowd with a stern look and raised his voice to speak.


    “God has given me the right to rule, and only by his hand will I relinquish that right.”

    “God is dead, long live Germany!”

    A shot rang out in the crowd and Frederick watched as he stumbled over the railing, falling forwards and down into the crowd. For a few brief moments, he could see clearly the faces of the people that were before so obscure from his balcony. Perhaps they were all just people after all and all the uniforms and gold and silver was just a way to hide from the suffering. Then the King didn’t have any more time to think.

    The crowd screamed as Fredericks body landed on the cobbled ground with a thud.

    “Rise of the Young Eagle” by Eric G. Iverson (1986, Tower Publications)

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    "The Great European Revolution" by Rosella Evans (2001, Oxford Publishing)

    The Great European revolutions were not only massively influential because they ushered in a new era of democracy and liberalism in Europe, but also because they gave rise to two new European powers that would go on to be hugely influential in European and indeed world politics; Germany and Italy. These were formerly lands split apart under petty feudal estates, but would unite in the fires of pan-national revolution. The revolution began in the streets of Vienna and the city would go on to be a vital part of the revolution, but the true turning point was the assassination of the Prussian King Frederick William IV following his denouncing of the revolutionary cause. This set the previously vacillating Rhineland ablaze with republican sentiment, with large-scale strikes and armed action bringing a large amount of the industrial areas under the control of the so-called “Assembly of the German Republic”, commonly called the Rhenish Parliament for the sake of avoiding confusion. In most other parts of Germany, the revolution was led by the smaller and more educated middle class, whilst the Rhenish uprising was almost purely led and supported by the lower classes. Therefore, when the liberal Frankfurt Parliament finally assembled in May that same year, they found that what they had presumed to be Rhenish delegated were in actuality representatives of the Rhenish parliament and were therefore put in a politically unenviable position. They could either reject the authority of this Rhenish parliament and lose control over one of the most vital areas of Germany, or agree to merge the two bodies and therefore effectively giving up the option of negotiating with the reactionary monarchies. The parliament chose the latter with a vote of 240-160, prompting the walkout of “Vincke’s 40”, the most staunchly conservative group.

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    Georg von Vincke

    The Frankfurt parliament had now effectively embraced republicanism and therefore the concern of the parliament was first and foremost the defence of the revolution. To that end a temporary “committee for the defence of revolution” which primarily included all those with any form of military experience, but also political figures such as Heinrich von Gagern (Centre) and Lorenzo Brentano (Radical Republican). The parliamentarian forces were like most other contemporary revolutionaries composed of mostly students and other radicals, but they also possessed the industrial capacity of the Rhineland and got the support of foreign volunteer units from neighbouring nations such as the Netherlands and Switzerland. By early July, the parliament’s forces had established effective control of much of northwest Germany and were commanding forces to assist the smaller rebellions that had erupted across many of the southern German states. In a bold gambit, the parliament offered amnesty to those royals who would voluntarily abdicate. Whilst the assembly would have been thrown into chaos should the radical factions have actually planned to execute any of the nobility involved, the move was nonetheless interpreted as a veiled threat by many in territory outside parliamentary control and a number of minor nobles voluntarily surrendered their power to the parliament, the grand price of which was the kingdom of Bavaria. Whilst this was in reality also caused by a crisis unrelated to the revolutions (the controversial relationships between the king of Bavaria and his mistress), this effectively cut the reactionary forces in half, with Prussian forces still withdrawn east of berlin. The subsequent collection of tiny standing armies (known in German as the “Prinzenbrigad”) gave the parliamentary forces a much-needed injection of professional military power, bolstered further by the many Austrian deserters that joined the republican ranks after their destruction at the hands of the Austrians.

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    By far the bloodiest campaign of the revolution would be that of the Prussian campaign however. By early march the next year, almost all of Germany save the autonomous bohemian province and Prussia was under the official grasp of the Frankfurt Parliament or “German Realm”. It was in the outskirts of the town of Schwedt that the first battle of the so-called “Brothers war” was held, which would conclude in a bloody draw. This set the tone for the rest of the campaign and the Pomeranian fields would host bloodbath after bloodbath as the elite Prussian soldiery went head-to-head with the hardened republican militias full of revolutionary zeal. It was only at the fateful battle of Stettin in August that the tide turned firmly to the republicans and that in itself was in large part because of the skill displayed by the now-famous Sergeant Engels in withstanding Von Moltke’s cavalry charge. After this, the war shifted into a simple battle of attrition and by November 20th, King Wilhelm V formally surrenders to the parliament’s forces. Following this, the bohemian provinces were formally annexed and the new German constitution was officially put into law. Taking inspiration from many nations such as Switzerland, the United States and Britain, the German Realm would become a confederation of German states with a common army, currency, national symbols and parliament, but with autonomous states (Länder) and the right of constituent regions of said states to create new states (a right that would not be properly exercised until the 1925 constitutional revision). Germany was standing tall in the centre of the continent as a beacon of liberty and revolution, but she was drenched in the blood of those who fought both to oppose and support her.

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    Long Live the Revolution.
     
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    "Ysbryd rhydd": The story of William Price
  • "Ysbryd rhydd"
    The story of William Price

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    William Price was born in a cottage at the farm Ty'n-y-coedcae ("The House in the Wooded Field") near Rudry near Caerphilly in Glamorganshire on 4 March 1800. His father, also named William Price, was an ordained priest of the Church of England who had studied at Jesus College, Oxford. His mother, Mary Edmunds, was an uneducated Welshwoman who had been a maidservant prior to her marriage. Their marital union was controversial because Mary was of a lower social standing than William, something which was socially taboo in late 18th century British society. The couple had three surviving children, Elisabeth, Mary and Ann, prior to William's birth.

    The elder Price suffered from an undiagnosed mental illness, acting erratically and experiencing fits of violent rage. He bathed either fully clothed or naked in local ponds, and collected snakes in his pockets for days at a time. Carrying a saw around, he removed bark from trees, then burning it while muttering certain words, also spitting onto stones, believing that it improved their value. His actions led to him becoming a threat to the local community, in one instance firing a gun at a woman whom he claimed was taking sticks from his hedgerow, and in another hurling a sharp implement at another man.

    At home, Welsh was William's primary language, but he learned to speak English at school, which was located two miles from his home, in Machen. Although only staying at school for three years, between the ages of 10 and 13, he passed most exams and proved himself a successful student. After spending six months living at home, he decided to become a doctor despite his father's insistence that he become a solicitor. Moving to Caerphilly, in 1814 he became apprenticed to successful surgeon Evan Edwards, and paid for his tuition with money supplied by various family members. Spending time in Treforest, "a revolutionary town", he came under the increasing influence of left-wing political ideas. Being a proud Welsh nationalist, Price found likeminded friends in another wealthy family, the Guests, and gave a speech on Welsh history and literature at their Royal Eisteddfod in 1834, which Lady Charlotte Guest felt to be "one of the most beautiful and eloquent speeches that was ever heard". On the basis of it, he was invited to take up the job of judging the eisteddfod's bardic competition, with the prize being awarded to Taliesin, the son of the famous Welsh nationalist and Druid, Iolo Morganwg.

    Price became increasingly interested in Welsh cultural activities, which included those that had been influenced by the Neo-Druidic movement. He joined the Society of the Rocking Stone, a Neo-Druidic group that met at the Y Maen Chwyf stone circle in Pontypridd, and by 1837 had become one of its leading members. To encourage the revival of Welsh culture, he gave lessons every Sunday in the Welsh language, which he feared was dying out with the spread of English. In 1838 he also called for the Society to raise funds to build a Druidical Museum in the town, the receipts from which would be used to run a free school for the poor. He was supported in this venture by Francis Crawshay, a member of the Crawshay family, but did not gain enough sponsors to allow the project to go ahead. In anger, he issued a statement in a local newspaper, telling the people that they were ignoring "your immortal progenitors, to whom you owe your very existence as a civilised people."

    Meanwhile, Price's social conscience had led him to become a significant figure in the local Chartist movement, which was then spreading about the country, supporting the idea that all men should have the right to vote, irrespective of their wealth or social standing. Many of the Chartists in the industrial areas of southern Wales took up arms in order to ready themselves for revolution against the government, and Price himself aided them in gaining such weaponry. According to government reports, by 1839 he had acquired seven pieces of field artillery. That same year, the Newport Rising took place, when many of the Chartists and their working class supporters rose up against the authorities, only to be quashed by soldiers, who killed a number of the revolutionaries. Price himself had recognised that this would happen, and he and his supporters had not joined in with the rebellion on that day. Nonetheless, he also realised that the government would begin a crackdown of those involved in the Chartist movement in retaliation for the uprising, and so he fled to France, disguised as a woman.

    It was while in temporary exile as a political dissident in Paris, France that Price visited the Louvre museum, where he experienced what has been described as "a turning-point in his religious life." He became highly interested in a stone with a Greek inscription that he erroneously felt depicted an ancient Celtic bard addressing the moon. He subsequently interpreted the inscription as a prophecy given by an ancient Welsh prince named Alun, declaring that a man would come in the future to reveal the true secrets of the Welsh language and to liberate the Welsh people: as historian Ronald Hutton later remarked however, "nobody else had heard of this person, or made (anything like) the same interpretation of the inscription". Nonetheless, Price felt that this prophecy applied to him, and that he must return to Wales to free his people from the English-dominated authorities.

    Soon returning to Wales, Price set himself up as a Druid, founding a religious Druidic group that attracted a number of followers. Little is known of the specific doctrines which he preached, but his followers walked around carrying staffs engraved with figures and letters. Declaring that marriage was wrong as it enslaved women, he began having a relationship with a woman named Ann Morgan, whom he moved in with, and in 1842 she bore him a daughter. He baptised this child himself at the Rocking Stone in Pontypridd, naming her Gwenhiolan Iarlles Morganwg (meaning 'Gwenhiolan, Countess of Glamorgan'). He began developing an appearance that was unconventional at the time, for instance wearing a fox fur hat and emerald green clothing, as well as growing his beard long and not cutting his hair. He also began attempting to hold Druidic events, organising an eisteddfod at Pontypridd in 1844, but nobody turned up, and so, solitarily, he initiated his daughter as a bard at the event.

    He was somewhat taken by surprise at the advent of the Welsh Chartist uprising in 1848, but upon learning of it he began travelling across wales on horseback, holding captivating speeches and rallies to collect supplies, money and recruits for the chartist revolutionaries all whilst dressed in his highly unconventional druidic clothing. By the end of the rising, he found himself in Cardiff, the political centre of the Welsh chartist movement. The chartist “revolutionary government” had taken great note of his acclaimed oratory skills and Welsh nationalist agenda, but his highly eccentric nature was a substantial cause for concern. Nevertheless, he managed to sway a majority of the young radicals with a number of fiery and eccentric speeches during the several meetings held to decide a chartist candidate to stand in the upcoming free Welsh elections, promising both common-sense political proposals like property redistribution along with odd rhetoric such as “restoring the magic power of the Welsh language” and “re-establishing our long lost links to Annwn”. Despite his victory by popular vote, he was nonetheless forced into an agreement by prominent party leaders to prioritize his chartist political goals over neo-druidic mysticism along with the promise that his “private mode of living” would not be disturbed

    By all accounts, his first term was a success: he presided over the reconstruction of a functioning civil service, the implementation of some of the most progressive social legislation at that time, such as a worker’s compensation and a basic social safety net. This resulted in his first annual re-election, with many more to follow. Under his long career as Welsh president, he created a state-funded school system for universal education exclusively in Welsh, promoting the creation of art expressing culture in both welsh as well as neighbouring languages like Irish and Cornish. Over time however, his personal life began tarnishing his political reputation, especially such events as when he in 1855 he then led a parade of the Ivorites, a friendly society that held to a philosophy of Welsh nationalism, through the streets of Merthyr Tydfil, accompanied by a half-naked man calling himself Myrddin (the Welsh name for Merlin) and a goat.

    He also frequently attended religious ceremonies amongst the many newly-restored ancient Celtic ritual sites across Wales and even attempted to create an official Druidic Church of Wales too little success. However, by 1859 he had left a great mark on Welsh society: religious freedom was enshrined in the constitution and Wales was also the first nation in the world to both let women vote in municipal councils, as well as being the first to formally separating marriage legally and religiously. This caused no small amount of uproar amongst many conservative elements of Welsh society, but was no actual ban on marriage. Rather, it would go on to the first implementation of the modern concept of “civil unions”, with any religious organization allowed to officiate said unions.

    Following his 1859 resignation from the Chartist Party, Price would turn his full attention to religious matters, creating “The Society for the Honouring of the Gods of old Cymru”, writing a copious amount of literature concerning both religion, the Welsh language and the subject of magic. He remained vigorously active despite his old age, but Price died at his home in Llantrisant on the night of 23 January 1893. His final words, when he knew that he was near death, were "Bring me a glass of Champagne". He drank the champagne and died shortly after. On 31 January 1893, William Price was cremated on a pyre of two tons of coal, in accordance with his will, on the same hillside overlooking Llantrisant. It was watched by 20,000 people, and overseen by his family, who were dressed in a mix of traditional Welsh and his own Druidic clothing.

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    Statue of William Price in the Bull Ring, Llantrisant
     
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    Empire in Exile: The British Empire in 1848
  • Empire in Exile
    The British Empire in 1848

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    A history of Governments in Exile by Henry Clifford (2018, Lumos Syndicate)

    Despite controlling an Empire vast enough to possess territory in all the ten continents of the world, the British monarchy wasn’t strong enough to withstand the tides of history and revolution. As the ruling Queen Victoria fled to the Isle of Man during the Chartist risings on the mainland, she was not present when the revolutionaries stormed Buckingham palace and was subsequently warned by escaping loyalist that their cause was lost. As most of Europe at the time was set ablaze in the fires of revolution just like her homeland, the Queen opted to instead flee to the loyalist bastion of British North America. Whilst a number of loyalist civilians joined her whilst at port in Scotland, the small fleet that set sail for America consisted mostly of the royal court, military personnel and a number of English, Welsh and (protestant) Irish aristocrats. Despite having received the news about a month before the Queen actually arrived, her arrival still sent a shock through North American society at large, if nothing else serving as a potent symbol of the radical change that had enveloped Europe. In the British provinces that had just been granted responsible government, the monarchy was greeted with a warm welcome by the largely loyalist population, who promised the queen that they would do anything in their power to return her to her rightful place on the imperial throne. Still, there were some that feared this more direct rule of the monarchy would threaten the regions recently acquired autonomy.

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    "The Queen arrives in America" (Thomas Picken - National Maritime Museum)

    In the United States, opinion was rather mixed, with the main issue being what government the US would agree was the legitimate ruler of the Atlantic Isles. Some saw the English Chartists as violent and dangerous radicals, whilst other saw them as heroic revolutionaries throwing off the royalist yoke just like the thirteen colonies had in the past. In the end, the official government stance was one of neutrality: it would not recognize any of the parties as the legitimate government de jure, but would de facto treat them both as legitimate governing entities in both ways. The Canadian question would be just one more dry stick on the bonfire that would eventually ignite the American Civil war. Perhaps unexpectedly, the largest support for the crown came from France and India. Whilst a long-time rival, the French monarchy was equally afraid of the threat the English radicals posed and thus chose to side with the exiled Elizabeth, with Napoleon III’s several visits improved ties between the Francophone and Anglophone population of the colony significantly. Another vital, if more unreliable pillar of support were the British-ruled areas of India. Whilst disdain for the ruling east India company and their British backers was widespread amongst the common populace of India, the countless ruling principalities and feudal realms that covered a large part of the British Raj were more than grateful for the military and economic support they enjoyed as puppets of the Empire, fearing they would swiftly lose their positions if the Empire were to lose control over the continent. This fear would not be entirely unfounded, as that same year the kingdom of Sri Lanka freed itself from company rule after a popular revolt put King Gongale goda Banda on the throne of the now united island. This however, was only the beginning of the Empires slow Austrianization, as even the might of Kings and Emperors cannot withstand the tides of history forever, a fact that would make itself known in a small Australian town named Eureka just a few years later…
     
    Sunset: Collapse of the British Empire
  • Sunset
    Collapse of the British Empire

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    "A history of Australasia" by Professor May Williams (2018, Perth Publishing)


    Ever since the Chartist revolutions and the evacuation of the royal family, monarchist control over their overseas colonies had gradually slipped out of their hands. Somewhat paradoxically, it was in part the remoteness of the colonies that perpetuated monarchist control as long as it did, as some regions simply didn’t receive news about the revolution for a fair amount of time afterwards and therefore were caught completely unawares as to the radical changes that had utterly transformed their old homeland. This was certainly the cause for colonies in Africa and east Eurasia, but there was one that stood out as a point of unrest even before the news of the revolution arrived: Australia. Perhaps somewhat ironically home to a number of exiled chartists, the Australian population had always been some of the most radical when it came to political activism, advocating for universal male suffrage and an end to the centralization of wealth into the local British ruling class. This had been exacerbated by the gold rushes in the middle of the 19th century, causing the descendants of English colonists and newly arrived immigrants to intermingle for the first time, creating a unified front for the colonists to drive forward their demands. Despite open protests and appeals to the government in London, the continued indifference to the issues facing the miners and the businesses depending on the miners for their livelihood finally culminated in armed rebellion once the news of the success of the chartist movement reached Australian shores. The political organization called the Ballarat reform league met at Bakery hill, organizing for an armed rising almost identical in nature to that of the English chartist rising, using its position in an area full of radical miners as a base of support. by December, somewhat over 12,000 miners had gathered and armed themselves under the leadership of Peter Fintan Lalor, advocating for armed rebellion against the colonial government and the proclamation of an independent Australian nation. The miners planned to march on the colonial capital of Melbourne, but the colonial militia had been alerted and sent a force to disperse the rally before the march could be implemented. However, as the force of around 300 soldiers and police officers arrived, they found several thousands of miners waiting for them and after a minor skirmish; a bloody battle was fought on the Gravel Pits that finally routed the British forces. The miners rallied and as they drove the retreating British before them they also spread the news of their intention to implement reforms such as universal male suffrage. Therefore, when the force of miners arrived they were greeted by a city already boiling with rebellion. Marches for voting rights and even complete independence were regular occurrences and the populace gave the miners a considerably warm welcome. On January 7th, 1855 the Southern Cross flag was for the first time raised over Melbourne and the temporarily appointed president Peter Lalor was put in charge of creating a constitution for the new republic. This chain of events sent shockwaves across Oceania, but the Australian republic itself was surprised itself when, despite having formally invited the other colonies to a confederation, only Westralia, Tasmania and New Zealand (Recently rechristened the Waitangi Confederation) opted to go on their own. Though much work remained to be done, the light of Democracy was spreading all across the globe.

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    India

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    Chartism: The Revolution Abroad by Henry Price (2001, Cardiff Books)


    Perhaps the final nail in the coffin of the British Empire was the 1857 war of Indian Independence. Although still nominally loyal to Britain, in practice the Indian continent had largely been turned into a pseudo-corporate state under the EIC who now worked unsupervised and for anyone that would pay as it attempted to balance its ever more precarious financial stability following the revolutions. Whilst the EIC managed to maintain calm for a number of year with the implicit support of most princely states, the breaking point finally arrived in early May 1857. A growing number of Indians, particularly those in the northern areas of the continent, felt that the BEIC was increasingly overstepping its boundaries and intruding on the traditional way of life for those living in the area, regardless of if they were peasants dissatisfied with the tax system or a noble disinherited by the new inheritance laws enforced by the BEIC. Regardless, the revolt proper began in the ranks of the local Sepoy auxiliaries, who quickly overran the undermanned and underequipped BEIC forces in the area. As they marched north towards Delhi, the rebelling forces rallied around the nominal Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, crowning him “Emperor of Hindustan” and fortifying the new imperial capital to withstand the inevitable counterattack by EIC forces. As the fires of rebellion spread across India, neighbouring powers took notice. The Sikh Empire, having recently lost valuable territory in a conflict with the EIC that nearly brought it to its knees, now surged forward and tied up a large number of the loyalist troops stationed at the frontier. In the east, the Burmese monarchy also seized the opportunity to recover lost land, stretching the few loyalist forces the EIC had even thinner. As the rebellion in northern India grew, the gathered Sepoy forces managed to break the loyalist forces besieging the capital and subsequently shattering the centerpoint of the loyalist forces. This string of defeats caused the company’s finances to plummet, nearly killing both the war effort and the company itself in a single stroke. In an attempt to remain afloat, the company quickly recognized the legitimacy of the new “Indian Empire” and attempted to concentrate the majority of the remaining loyalist forces along the eastern coast, but it was too late. Seeking to avoid political and financial disaster themselves, many formerly loyalist princely states now withdrew from the conflict with a status quo ante bellum, severing most ties with the EIC and sending the company into complete bankruptcy. By the time loyalist forces actually arrived along the eastern coast and the EIC presidencies, they found that most of the EIC infrastructure was in disarray or gone entirely, with many higher-ups even fleeing overseas in an attempt to escape the rapidly deteriorating situation. Therefore, whilst in theory still belonging to the EIC, much of the east coast became known as the “bandit coast”, with governing returning to either the old royals previously driven from power by the EIC or petty dictatorship by former troops in the EIC’s employ. Further areas were simply left to fend for themselves, with bandits of all sorts roaming the roads and stealing whatever they could get their hands on. And so, the jewel of the Empire, once so mighty, turned to dust in the palm of its hand…

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    Flag of the Indian Empire
     
    Fires in the mountains: The Second American Revolution, Part 1
  • Fires in the mountains
    The Second American Revolution: Part 1

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    Portrait of John Brown by Ole Peter Hansen Balling, 1872

    “Friends, I find only one fitting word to describe the attitude of our southern brethren: Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy in the legislature and hypocrisy amongst the general populace.
    They say the actions of John Brown and his comrades are those of a terrorist, of a bandit or a marauder.
    But he is as much a bandit as George Washington was a terrorist in his time.
    Have we not seen how the peoples of Europe united in brotherhood to end the reigns of tyrannical kings that forced upon them serfdom and oppression?
    Did we not see that their protests went unheard, their petitions ignored?

    There was plenty of warning, friends.

    Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

    Like them, John Brown now leads the people in rebellion against the tyranny inside our very nation!

    Friends, Americans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I say this: No more sympathy, no more compromise and should it come to it, no surrender as long as there is a single man in chains in these United States!”

    - “Springfield Address” by Abraham Lincoln, 1858

    "Second American Revolution" by Caprice Burns (1990, University of Philadelphia Books)

    Like in Europe, the revolution that swept the united states can in some way be said to have been sparked by a single man; John Brown. An ardent abolitionist, he spent his entire life fighting for the rights of America's enslaved people (sometimes quite literally, as he killed several proponents for slavery during the Bloody Kansas years). But ten years after the great revolutions in Europe, he would go on to spark the incident that would go on to spark the second American Revolution. He planned to start an armed slave revolt in the southern slave state, gathering money and support from both abolitionists in the US and the anti-slavery monarchist Canada for his cause. There he was introduced to Harriet Tubman, who provided him with invaluable contacts and a support network for his upcoming action. After managing to gather a surprising number of almost 1000 Canadian volunteer’s (many fugitive slaves) to his cause, he travelled south to finalize his plans. Training his volunteers with the help of veteran drill instructor Hugh Forbes and joined by the previously hesitant Frederick Douglass who had himself gathered almost a hundred volunteers, the group organized itself into a proper force in time for the planned attack in May. Although the initial plan had to adjust to account for the significantly smaller amount of men than originally expected, the operation commenced for fear that the sheer size of the group would make it impossible to hide any longer. That may, Douglass and his troops struck Harpers Ferry, seizing a large amount of weapons. Thankfully, the local militia was slow to react and news did not reach out in time to prevent a number of weapons from being smuggled out and given to a fair number of slaves in the area.

    Escaping in the nick of time from encirclement by the local military, the army of “ragshirts” as they came to be known retreated into the Appalachians, establishing a “provisional government” to represent the enslaved peoples of the United States until the time that it was federally abolished. Perhaps, this could and maybe even should, by the usual view of history, have ended. John Brown had successfully escaped into the mountains, but there were few if any slaves in the area and every excursion into the lowland plantations was a risk. White abolitionist and even black ones like Frederick Douglass had advocated for peaceful reform. Perhaps, the rebellion like so many others throughout history should have petered out, quickly run out of time and resources before being crushed by the south. But events in Europe posed a question for the Americans, perhaps most pointedly the chartists in Britain: there the chartists had presented themselves in a massive rally, peacefully petitioning the parliament for reform, only to be utterly rejected and resorting to revolution. The sitting president was sympathetic to the south, so any pleas to give in to or even pardon John Brown would be fruitless. Perhaps, the time for negotiation with tyrants and slaveholders alike was done. Perhaps, like their fathers before them, it was time for the people of America to take up arms against tyranny, regardless of colour. Perhaps, like ten years ago in Europe, it was time for revolution.

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    The World in 1860
     
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    Hooker and Baltimore: The Second American Revolution, Part 2
  • Hooker and Baltimore
    The Second American Revolution: Part 2

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    “These damn bandits couldn’t hit a man if he was tied up in front of them”

    -Last words of General Robert E Lee



    "Second American Revolution" by Caprice Burns (1990, University of Philadelphia Books)
    The mood of the first months of the second American civil war was one of hesitation. Whilst several northern states had raised volunteer units and sent them across state borders to aid the Ragshirts, the realization that the country was effectively split in two had yet to set in. This changed when a delegation of republican and abolitionist senators and other politically prominent figures arrived in Philadelphia, proclaiming the “free American congress” in response to the harsh measures taken by President Breckinridge against those harbouring “radical sentiments threatening American laws”. By now, the lines were well and truly being drawn. In the north, a New York convention of secession agreed to the creation of the state of Niagara, a state de-jure consisting of everything north of long island but which in reality only controlled the northern parts of the state, whilst Illinois divided into north and south, both proclaiming themselves the real government of the state. The first major battle of the war finally came on 10th of August, 1859 when general Joseph Hooker commanding the first Free Army of the Republic met the forces of James Longstreet’s army of Northern Virginia, whom he had received command of following the assassination of Robert E Lee by a Ragshirt sharpshooter. The battle was exceptionally bloody as both forces clashed several times throughout the day with little success, but in the end the battered federal forces made a tactical retreat, allowing Hooker to encircle Baltimore. By now the navy had also chosen sides, with most simply picking that of their ships home port. At this point however, the two claimant governments had hit upon a major issue; whilst none of them wanted to eschew the traditional iconography of the United States for the sake of legitimacy, it quickly became apparent that there was a dire need for battlefield identification. The first to adopt a new symbol was the north, who was more receptive to replacing federalist “slaver” imagery with new, more abolitionist symbols. Thus the liberty bell flag was born first hoisted on top of the Free States ships sailing to surround Baltimore from the sea. On land the Free State forces made frequent use of the revolutionary-era Gadsden flag, whilst the pine tree flag was equally popular in the New England theatre.

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    The "Liberty Bell" Free State Flag

    By this time, foreign powers began to truly take notice of what was unfolding in America. The Republics of the Atlantic isles eagerly sided with the Free States, recognizing them as the legitimate government of the United States and allowing the formation of several volunteer units that would go on to serve with distinction in the conflict. Mainland Europe was less keen on choosing sides and most simply recognized both as combatants, not wishing to incur the ire of the winning side regardless of which one it would be. Perhaps somewhat paradoxically, the British government-in-exile was one of the most fervent supporters of the US as a traditional bastion of abolitionism. Several units of escaped slaves living in Canada entered the service of the Free states and with promises of concessions Canada eventually joined fully on the side of the Free States alongside Mexico. Perhaps the only major power that would have a vested interest in supporting the Federalists was France, but it was already occupied by foreign adventures in South America and was more than happy to let America fight itself. So by the arrival of winter 1859, the sheer scale of the events unfolding in America became clear to everyone with even a cursory interest in the conflict. Northern industry was kicking into gear as the Free States maintained their tenuous connection with New England. Men streamed into the federalist ranks as they prepared for the first general offensive of the war, sporting new blue uniforms in contrast to the buff colour adopted by the Free states. Once the snows thawed, the war would truly begin. And it would be long, gruelling and bloody.

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    Canadian Volunteers in old Federalist Uniforms
     
    Burning Sherman: The Second American Revolution, Part 3
  • Burning Sherman
    The Second American Revolution: Part 3

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    “This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing!”

    -William Tecumseh Sherman

    As the snows thawed with the arrival of spring in 1860, the fronts of the American civil war began to once more move. The slave states still held a firm control of their southern heartland, but that would soon change with the rise of one of the commanders that would go down as one of the most important figures of the civil war. A recent convert to the Abolitionist cause thanks to his brother John, William Sherman had been coordinating with the large population of freedmen and Acadians in the city of New Orleans, gathering arms via various methods during the early stages of the war. Inspired by the John Brown revolt and emboldened by the Free States victory at Baltimore, he judged that now was the time to strike. Marching through the city, he and his comrades took the city garrison completely by surprise, freeing any slaves they came upon and arming them as they joined the ever-growing mass of people marching towards the city centre and hoisting an improvised liberty bell flag. Whilst he set the majority of his trained troops to the task of fortifying the city and sending messages to the Free states, he himself took a handful of troops into the marshes of Louisiana to wreak havoc in the countryside. In what would later become known as the burning of Louisiana, Sherman and his small unit of guerrilla fighters would suddenly overwhelm slave plantations, killing the overseers and setting the slaves free before burning the farm down. This accomplished three important things: it severely hurt the morale of federal troops, it damaged the cotton supply that was so vital to the slave states’ economy and it added more people to the cause. Soon New Orleans was a well-fortified city with a large force of former slaves under its command. Along with the occasional supply ship that managed to make it past the giant battlefield that was the east coast naval theatre, the city was now truly prepared to withstand anything, a quality it would desperately need. Throughout its long history as an abolitionist outpost deep in the heartland of the slave states, the city and it’s commander William “Burning” Sherman would face both uprisings by the white population and a prolonged siege by federal forces up until they were finally relieved following the arrival of Free States general Benjamin Butlers forces in 1861.

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    Free States Volunteers march in front of President Lincoln

    Up in the north, the Free States consolidated internal control during the final phases of the New York campaign, with the final defeat of the federal forces prompting the surrender of the New York government for fear of a prolonged blockade of Long Island. Along the southern front, DC was still in federal hands in the beginning of spring, but after a series of bloody but decisive battles the capitol was captured by Free State forces under Hooker’s command, but a subsequent thrust further south by him and his colleague George B. McClellan was decisively stopped by Federalist General Thomas Jackson after what would become the first battle of Bull run. Even though the war had entered its second year, many of the forces on both sides were still rather poorly organized and only rudimentarily trained. However, the slow-moving situation on this front gave McClellan a perfect opportunity to thoroughly reorganize the logistics and organization of the Free States’ forces and come 1862, the Free States would have a competent and effective fighting force to aid their drive south.
     
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    "Die Gendanken Sind Frei": Faith and art after the 1848 Revolutions
  • "Die Gendanken Sind Frei"
    Faith and art after the 1848 Revolutions

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    Honoré Daumier,Les Joueurs d'échecs (The chess players), 1863
    "Utopia: The symbosis of Art and Politics" by Axelina Persdotter (2019, Uppsala Communal Publishing)

    A common misconception about the 1848 revolutions is that they were chiefly political in nature, which is far from the case. The revolutions also ushered in a new era of artistic and religious expression, especially in those nations that eschewed the traditionalist institutions of monarchy entirely. Even in the few remaining European absolute monarchies however, there was still a new and radical current in the ways individuals expressed themselves artistically throughout the second half of the 19th century. The most well-known movement today would be the widespread artistic adoption of the Realist or Naturalist style. This was primarily a reaction to the previous Romanticist movement who emphasised the mystical and emotional along with more traditionalists and conservative qualities, which the new wave of revolutionary and scientifically inclined artists of the post-revolution era rejected. This new focus on detail also meant the inclusion of elements traditionally considered “ugly” or “inconvenient” by previous generations of artists which included both themes such as the mundanity of regular life and political elements like the corrupt behaviour of authority figures. This movement would eventually culminate in several different forms of realism of both stylistics and political nature. One of the most prominent branches of realism was Pacifist Realism, which rose to international status primarily following the immense bloodshed of the second revolution in America and the Polish War in Europe. Pacifist realism, as the name implies focuses mostly on an anti-war message, conveying the sorrow, loss and devastation created by war and conflict. This had close ties with the contemporary spiritualist movement, perhaps embodied most prominently in the play “Miss Julie” by Swedish writer August Strindberg. The play takes place entirely in a kitchen on midsummer’s eve and revolves around the titular Miss Julie’s attempt to connect to the spirit of her true love, a young soldier that died fighting on the Finnish front during the war. She is ultimately successful (although if the occurrence is really supernatural or merely a figment of her imagination is left deliberately ambiguous) and after a brief conversation decides that she would rather commit suicide than marry the man arranged to her by her father the count.

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    Photograph of the first production in Stockholm of August Strindberg's 1878 naturalistic play "Miss Julie" in November 1906, at The People's Theatre
    An equally important contemporary phenomenon was that of spiritualism, but one that has largely been forgotten due to its decline in the popular consciousness since. Like Naturalism, spiritualism was initially a reaction to the traditionally rigorous religious structures that permeated the authoritarian societies of monarchical Europe, eschewing the public practice of religion in large congregations and replacing it with the more private spiritual experiences of séances. Many early participants in Spiritualism were radical Quakers and others involved in the mid-nineteenth-century reforming movement. These reformers were uncomfortable with more prominent churches because those churches did little to fight slavery and even less to advance the cause of women's rights. Such links with reform movements, often radically socialist, had already been prepared in the 1840s, as the example of Andrew Jackson Davis shows. After 1848, many socialists became ardent spiritualists or occultists. Socialist ideas, especially in the Fourierist vein, exerted a decisive influence on Kardec and other Spiritists. This current of radicalism certainly played a large part in the widespread adoption of Pacifist Realism as a political tool in the aftermath of the Polish war and the subsequent Uranian and Suffragist movement that sought to improve the social and political standing of women and those that did not conform to conventional norms on love and gender. In Wales in particular, this blend of spiritualism and radicalism would influence the nationalist and religiously eccentric Welsh liberal movement to be the first to grant women voting rights in national elections as early as 1879, an immensely radical move even compared to the neighbouring Chartist Republics of Ireland and England.
     
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    Interlude: The Boerstaat
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    "Cultures thrive on the blood of their enemies."
    -Eugène Terre'Blanche
    From Scio, the World Encyclopedia

    The Boerstaat was a Boer ethnostate in Africa existing between 1968 and 1972 and is infamous for its campaigns of rapid military expansion, ethnic cleansing and creation of the Cultural Supremacist ideology. The Boerstaat had its roots in the Boer Confederacy, a confederation of Republics ruled by ethnic Boers segregated along racial and cultural lines, with native Africans not granted the same rights as the white Boers. The Boer Confederation had been viewed negatively by the majority of the Americas and Eurasia since the introduction of the IA Bill of Universal Human Rights and the progressive movements against racism, but it was with the rise of the New Dawn party under Terre'Blanche that these xenophobic cultural attitudes would crystallize into a true ideology. Following the introduction of sanctions by several neighboring nations with a primarily native african population, the Boer Confederation elected the New Dawn party on a platform of "Cultural Purity" and a self-strengthening of the Boer culture as an entity. This was followed by the large-scale massacre of non-Boers within the Boerstaat's territory by means of toxic gas as well as military raids and the subsequent declaration of "cultural war" on all neighboring nations and a subsequent miltiary invasion. The goal of the Cultural Supremacist movment was as the name indicated to utterly eradicate all opposing cultures by means as broad as ethnic cleansing, reeducation and the complete destruction of "foreign" settlements and cultural landmarks, which was to be carried out in "waves" of conquest until the Boer culture would come to dominate the entire world. Whilst the Boerstaat gained inital victories against its immediate neighbours such as the Xhosa Kingdom partisan resistance, challenging terrain and the immense resource drain resulting from the Boerstaats systemic destruction of anything non-Boer stalled further military action. The Boerstaat was given its first major military defeat during the Cape Free State campaign, when insurgents and mercenary forces successfully kept Boer armoured forces at bay throught unconventional warfare. It was only with the arrival of International Assembly Coalition Forces in late 1972 that the tide truly began to turn and the joint US-CCR air operation "Rightgeous Vengeance" crippled the Boerstaats infrastructure and mechanized forces, paving the way for the subsequent invasion and occupation of Pretoria and the establishment of the International Assembly South Africa Transitional Government (IASATG) in 1974.
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    The Coalition fleet arrives in Southern Africa

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    Coalition soldiers from the CCR pose for a photo
     
    Interlude Cont: Political Compass
  • Hey, what kind of self-respecting AH.com creator doesn't enjoy the occasional political compass?
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    Kultur und Erziehung: The Vienna crisis of 1873
  • Kultur und Erziehung
    The Vienna crisis of 1873

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    The "Rotunde", erected specifically for the 1873 Exhibition

    Sparks and Flames: a history of international crisis by William Earhart (1978, Capitol Books)


    The 1870s saw a return to relative peace in Europe with all the major powers at peace and still licking their wounds in the devastating aftermath of the Polish war, though peripheral conflicts and internal political turmoil of course still remained. Perhaps the most emblematic symbol of this peace was the 1873 Vienna world fair, the goal of which was precisely to celebrate art and culture. Whilst the initial intention of the German hosts were to erect the fair in the German capital of Frankfurt in line with all the previous world fairs since the English Republics 1851 “Great Exhibition”, the non-political focus of the exhibition and the cultural prestige carried by the historic city of Vienna ultimately won the approval of the German hosting commission. The construction and preparation of the city for the various delegations and representatives of different nations came upon a major difficulty however: just one year before the exhibition was scheduled to occur Spain became embroiled in a bloody civil war that would later be labelled the Carlist War, pitting the French-backed forces of the Conservative Spanish Carlists against the Spanish Liberals, initially in the form of a regency government and then followed by a German-backed republic. The main issue was that of representation, as both governments naturally claimed to be the rightful government of Spain. Normally, the German government would clearly have chosen their republican ally over the Carlists, but there were several factors that contributed to the situation; whilst the city of Vienna was in general a liberal stronghold, the catholic south of Germany was as a whole more conservative and thus had more sympathy for the traditionalist Carlist cause. As such, excluding the Carlists representatives posed the very real risk of a southern sympathy boycott, causing logistical havoc right on the doorstep of the exhibition.

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    Republican troops charge Carlist forces

    There was also the fact that the current liberal prime minister of Germany Hans Victor von Unruh was a Prussian and therefore emblematic of the division between the liberal north and conservative south in the eyes of many Germans and a rejection would therefore also be seen as another slight against the south’s political interests. The third issue was one of more international repercussions; the leader of the Carlist forces Carlos VII, was also the heir apparent to the French throne. Following the French defeat in the Polish war, Napoleon III was toppled from power and in the following election the newly unified monarchist party dominated by the Legitimist wing swept to power, appointing the new king Henri V as head of state, but who suffered a fatal stroke just three years into his reign and thus making his relative Jean III king of France and his son in turn heir apparent. Many therefore saw the explicit recognition of the republicans as a potential trigger for a second Franco-German war, if not immediately then as a looming issue that could at any time spark conflict in tandem with French irredentist ambitions. The issue of representation was finally resolved when the specially assembled Exposition Division Commission (EDC) chose to award the position of Spanish representative to the small community of Spanish expatriates in Germany and her neighbouring nations (Italy, France and Switzerland) along with one representative from each faction of the ongoing war allowed attending in an informal capacity. This would prove to have been a wise decision with the 1874 capitulation of the republic to the Carlists and the subsequent formation of the Latin Kingdom. This also preserved ties with the still relatively monarchist Italian Union, preserving their alliance even in spite of the rise of the Latin Kingdom as the preeminent monarchist power in Europe.

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    Map of the World in 1870
     
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    Diamonds in the rough: South Africa and India beyond 1848
  • Diamonds in the rough
    South Africa and India beyond 1848

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    A mining operation in the Cape Free State

    "Remnants: A comprehensive history of the British successor states" by Darien Tremblay (2005, Toronto Books)

    The collapse of the British Empire, perhaps one of the largest empires of all time, had lasting repercussions. Beyond simply making overseas colonialism seem like somewhat of a white elephant and “old-fashioned”, the Empire left small outposts everywhere in the wake of its collapse. Some retained some contact with their former overlords, such as the many American possessions of the government-in-exile or the explicitly chartist republic of Sierra Leone an even larger number went their own way or were subsumed by their neighbours completely. The most prominent of the states that survived the collapse were the Cape Free State and the parts of the Indian continent still under the nominal control of the EIC (more commonly known both then and now as “the Bandit Coast”).

    The image of these states as a lawless no-man’s land full of bandits and ne’er do wells fighting rugged adventurers and scoundrels from the crime-ridden capital seeking fame and fortune is mostly an invention by Eastern movies, but like most fiction there is some amount of truth to it. Crime and corruption was a major issue in both the Cape and Bandit coast, but these took the forms of syndicates, protection rackets, gangs or other criminal organizations rather than lone gun-toting villains. Both states served as a safe haven for a fair number of political dissidents, adventurers, escaped criminals and other unusual members of European society, but the vast majority of European immigrants were (in the case of the Cape) miners looking for gold and diamonds or enterprising merchants looking to profit off of the shipping industry and in the case of the Bandit coast, from the lucrative trade of spices and narcotics (particularly opium).

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    A scene from the famous Eastern "A fistful of Diamonds" with Clint Eastwood in his signature role.

    The Cape Free State in particular was much more “civilized” than the popular imagination would have one believe, with a functioning system of supply trains and lines of communication operating between mining sites and the coastal area of heavy settlement. Most large mines were controlled by either the Cape authorities, a miner’s association or a criminal organization and mining was therefore mostly without risk from outside attackers, though casualties from accidents and the glaring lack of any form of safety standards or regulation were frequent. The only time bandits and wild animals posed real danger was when foolhardy miners or enterprising farmers ventured away from the established mines or roads and tried to start their own operation and even then it was far more common to die of disease or animals like snakes than to be ambushed by gun-toting bandits. Governance of the free state did in fact often fluctuate between local families, groups of business owners and crime lords, but the presence of a population where the vast majority possessed some form of firearm or other weapon meant that these groups often had to consider the interest of the local populace regardless and was often extremely wary of armed uprisings, meaning that a basic system of public health and bans on practices such as slavery and child labour remained in effect even long after formal independence.

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    The situation on the Pirate coast was often rather different and the vast majority of settlements were often governed by the local populace or a council of elders, but the presence of groups of mercenaries and criminal gangs (in particular those related to the opium trade) did have a large impact on local governance. Many cities hired mercenary units to wage wars against their enemies like the Italian states of the renaissance or aligned themselves with native warlords, fighting over access to the many trade routes both on sea and land, engaging in banditry and robbery when given the opportunity. It should be noted that women on the Bandit coast enjoyed a unique position of relative power compared to many of their contemporaries on the continent, which would become a lasting legacy of female autonomy even as the area was incorporated into neighbouring states and empires. Another pervasive and perhaps somewhat insidious view of the Pirate coast is the inflated presence given to Europeans in most mainstream depictions of the period. In reality there were still of course Anglo-European mercenary units and a small population that remained in the aftermath of the British withdrawal, but the vast majority of powerbrokers, merchants and adventurers of any kind were native Indians who in turn fought for power and money against other Indians, with the presence of Europeans outside the port cities being an exception rather than the rule.
     
    The Quiet Decade: Europe 1875-1885
  • The Quiet Decade
    Europe 1875-1885

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    Monumental conical clock by Eugène Farcot at the hall of the Galerie d'Iéna of the Palais du Champ-de-Mars

    The Quiet Decade: a divided Europe by Rodrick Van Gogh (1976, University of Amsterdam Publishing)

    Although somewhat of a misnomer, the period known in Europe as “the quiet decade” was indeed a calm period in regards to European international affairs, especially in contrast to the bloody conflicts that directly preceded and succeeded it. This did not mean that the entirety of Europe simply went on with their day as usual, quite the contrary: it was a period of fierce political advocacy, the spread of the universal suffrage movement and the emergence of agrarianism as a potent political force on the European stage. Following the brief economic instability that came after the polish war, the European economy was “jump-started” by the significant shortage of overseas goods that arose during and after the second American Revolution along with the existing initiatives for industrialization promoted by the liberal governments in place in central Europe. A consequence of this was the resurgence of the suffrage movement in nations such as the Latin union, Belgium, Scandinavia and Yugoslavia. These movements met with mixed results: with either forced dispersion or outright ignorance in the case of Belgium and the Latin union, the granting of voting rights to male property owners in Yugoslavia but full male suffrage in Scandinavia.

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    Oscar II, King of Scandinavia

    Important factors for the success of the suffrage movement in Scandinavia included the rapid industrialization, the federal nature of the Scandinavian monarchy and the 1876 student march in the capital of Gothenburg including people from all over the kingdom to demand suffrage. Despite his somewhat conservative worldview, Oscar II chose to create a system of bicameral legislatures on the level of the individual kingdoms, which in turn could elect a representative to a pan-national royal advisory council. Oscar II was a competent statesman and had observed the revolutions of 1848 closely, particularly the successes. By granting universal suffrage, he gave the growing middle-class and industrial workers political representation, but also introduced a large bloc of reliably royalist and conservative voters in the form of the largely agrarian majority of the Scandinavian population. This was aided by the large public support for his continued reign: all throughout his life he was a widely respected patron of the arts and sciences, even in largely republican nations like the United States and Wales, overseeing the funding and construction of a number of theatre buildings and other public works throughout his life: even on his death bed, he asked that the operas not be closed on the day of his death, a wish that was subsequently honoured by theatres in all parts of the kingdom.

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    The effects of the ever-growing industrialization were not only felt economically and technologically, but also politically. Political movements advocating for the rights of workers grew in prominence and a wave of political campaigning in the form of protest marches and strikes swept Europe during the years 1878-1881 and heralded a number of important changes in labour laws across Europe and the Americas: by 1885, child labour was outlawed in virtually all industrial societies and a large amount of them had also instituted laws regulating the number of working hours and the factory conditions of most major industries (a large exception being the Latin union and the states in its sphere of influence). Industrialization also spurred on the development of agrarianism as a potent political force: in the Latin bloc as the neo-physiocracy and in northern and central Europe as Political romanticism. Inspired by the writings of François Quesnay, neo-physiocrats advocated for the preservation of the rural economy, economic protectionism and a curtailing of industrialism. This was well-received in much of the agrarian Latin bloc and across class boundaries: the still widely agrarian societies of France and Spain were enthusiastic about land reform and the increasingly mechanized production of many important goods, whilst the political elite was concerned about the Latin blocs relative international isolation and therefore receptive to the idea of securing the domestic supply of food. Across the border, the bastion of agrarian politics in Germany was the south and southwest of the country, which had not industrialized to nearly the same extent as the north and whose population was still dependent on the agricultural economy to survive. This led to the creation of an informal alliance of southern states colloquially known as the “Bauerbund” (roughly “peasant’s association”) that fiercely fought with the liberal north in matters of economic policy both at home and abroad. Whilst similarly named organizations arose both west and east of Germany (such as the Scandinavian Bondeførbundet) it was the self-labelled English “political romantics” that would go on to give the entire movement its name. This industrial-agrarian divide would go beyond the national assemblies and parliaments of the nations of Europe and seep down as far as their infrastructure: most of the rail line constructed in the Latin bloc during this period was laid across the rural region to connect them to the capital, whilst the rails of Germany and many other states instead largely formed a network connecting various urban industrial hubs. This division also nearly split the growing international socialist movement in two, with the Russian Alexander Herzen leading the “green” agrarian socialists against the “red” industrialists and was nearly expelled by Marx during a 1879 meeting of the international.

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    "Impression, soleil levant" by Claude Monet, 1872

    The Quiet Decade also saw an explosion in both the quantity and quality of art; with the new art movements of Monetism and Goghism taking their place alongside realism in the art galleries of Europe. Monetism and Goghism were as the names imply spearheaded by two men; the Dutch painter Van Gogh and the French painter Claude Monet. Contrary to popular belief, the two men were remarkably friendly with each other and kept up correspondence after meeting at the 1878 Paris world exhibition. Their contemporaries were not so friendly, often fuelled by nationalist zeal and determined to prove one art style superior over the other. One German art critic concluded that

    “The Monetists’ dedication to the so called “rules” of art clearly exemplified the caged mind of the Latin culture; all innovation co-opted by authority to fit the predetermined mould of society”

    Whilst a contemporary French opinion gave this rebuttal to what he perceived as the “anarchy” of Goghism:

    “Goghism is not art as much as it is evidence that the radical Germans and their ilk have lost all morals and sense of reason.”

    The art movements were also divided by class: the Monetists derived a large amount of their funding from the works of royalty and aristocracy such as for example the Belgian Leopold II (who died in a freak industrial accident whilst visiting a factory in 1881), whilst many Goghists lived off of either selling their works to government-run art exhibitions or government-issued grants to support their continued education and creativity. Even as the international waters were calm Europe lay divided, a division which would intensify and erupt with the 1885 Ottoman crisis…

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    "De Aardappeleters" by Vincent Van Gogh, 1885
     
    Rerum Novarum: The rise of Political Romanticism
  • Rerum Novarum
    The rise of Political Romanticism

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    Irish Farmers in the early 1880s

    Art to ideology: a history of Romanticism by Edmund Crowley (George Foundation Publishing, 1976)

    Perhaps one of the greatest ironies of the 1848 revolutions is the rise of political romanticism and the subsequent agrarian-aligned political movements that were largely rural and conservative in nature in contrast to the relatively wealthy and urbanized populations that begun the wave of revolutions in the first place. Whilst perhaps most visible in the aftermath of the French revolution and the subsequent years of monarchist rule under first Napoleon III and then the new Pan-Latin Monarch Jean III, the romanticist movement grew to become a powerful political force even in the most radical of republics. One of the key appeals of romanticism was the explicitly conservative aspect, with many early parties and movements that would go on to evolve into romanticism often drawing heavily on religion as a philosophical basis. Whilst drawing from a wide range of intellectual sources from the French neo-physiocrats and the Irish land league to individuals like Pope Leo XIII and Leo Tolstoy, the movement was at least initially one united by Christianity and in particular Catholicism.

    Romanticism got its first real political footing in Ireland in the aftermath of the 1848 revolution, with the sweeping land reforms of the 1850s giving many of the previously impoverished and landless native Irish population a part of the land they had once worked as mere tenant farmers to mixed success. The reintroduction of agricultural self-sufficiency was a major step in ending the years of starvation, but prohibitions on land acquisition for would-be urban investors also prevented the centralization and consolidation of Irish farmland along with slowing down the pace of the already haphazard process of Irish industrialization. However, the comparative lack of rural poor moving to urban areas in Ireland compared to many other countries did mean that the small Irish industry was rather progressive in its labour laws and the structure of Irish society would go on to be used as a model for the rising Distributivism movement that emerged in the early 1900s. There were also similarly rural-oriented movements in England and Scotland that found moderate success during that same time period whilst never gaining the same foothold in the radical and industrialized Wales.

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    The Cross and Sickle, a common romanticist political symbol.

    The primary driving force behind much of the early romanticist movement would be the Catholic Church, which spread its influence across the Latin sphere as well as traditionally catholic areas like southern Germany and Italy. It is therefore no surprise that the first confluence of philosophers and political movements that would merge into Romanticism was when the newly elected Pope Leo XIII called for a meeting of moderates and catholic intellectuals to discuss the direction and role of the Church in contemporary and future society. Whilst initially intended as a purely catholic affair, the event soon attracted Christians of other denominations and political visionaries like (formerly Russian Orthodox) Leo Tolstoy, the American Ernest Howard Crosby and even the English Henry George, the famous founder of the Georgist movement and would grow far beyond its intended scope to become a melting pot of ideas and an anvil from which was formed a cohesive movement whose branches would extend all across Europe. Eschewing the radicalism and industrialism of contemporary liberal republican societies, the Romanticists elected to place the question of land at the centre of their political agenda, as Henry George himself said:

    “Here are the three core questions of our movement: Who owns the land? Who uses it, and What morals drive this use?”

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    Tolstoy organising famine relief in Samara, 1891.
    The broad vision of political romanticism was therefore one largely resembling feudal Europe: a traditionalist society of self-sufficient agriculture supplied with tools and materials by areas of concentrated industry run by a guild organization, all in the spirit of good Christian morality and charity. Even so, there were a number of differences amongst the attendants even at the very conception of the movement, most pressingly about the socially conservative nature of romanticism: radicals like the Proudhon-inspired Tolstoy wished for the abolishment of the state and the fundamental equality of all human beings regardless of colours and creed, whilst on the other side of the spectrum prominent Neo-Physiocrats like Charles de Larcy desired the restoration of the pre-revolutionary society of feudalism, religion and traditionalism as well as being an early believer in the theories of cultural supremacy. Despite these differences it is well accepted today that this conference in January 1879 was indeed the birthplace of a new ideology that would soon arise to take its place on the European scene with vigour just in time to see Europe one again be plunged into distrust and hostility as the turn of the century loomed large in the distance.
     
    Spectre of Europe: A history of the International Workingmen’s association
  • Spectre of Europe
    A history of the International Workingmen’s association

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    “If one wishes to experience the platonic concept of pandemonium, one needs look no further than the International Workingmen’s Association.” - Louis Auguste Blanqui

    The Socialist Laboratory; a history of the internationals by Anita Blair (Lumo Syndicate, 2018)


    As turmoil once again loosened its grip on Europe in the aftermath of the Polish war, many nations suddenly found themselves having to cope with the loss of a large number of able-bodied working age men, particularly nations on the mainland such as France, Russia, Germany and Italy. This relative scarcity of manpower became a driving force for social change in revolutionary nations such as Germany where the workplace protections and wages for the average factory worker markedly increased and the possibility of female involvement in the workplace rose to become a serious possibility. In this climate of domestic political unrest and organised industrial dissent, an idea was conceived by English and French workers. Whilst some of the issues they faced could be solved on a domestic level, the fact was that workers across all of Europe faced similar challenges when it came to a multitude of topics spanning from the price of food to the realization of national self-determination. It was therefore that on 29 September 1865 an international crowd of workers gathered to welcome the many international delegates to London’s St. Martins hall. The group was diverse and included delegates from nearly every nation in Europe as well as many ideologically diverse members ranging from Baltic nationalists, English and Welsh Owenites and radical Chartists, Italian Republicans, Proudhonians and Blanquists. Amongst the most notable individuals to be found amongst its ranks were the Proudhonian Henri Tolain, the father of Blaquism himself Louis Auguste Blanqui, prominent trade unionist George Odger and the at this time rather unknown German journalist by the name Karl Marx.

    Despite a hefty amount of later historical mythologizing, the first meeting of the International was mostly an administrative affair, with the primary topic of debate being the structure of the organization itself. Various proposals were put forward ranging from a single unified political party to little more than an advisory council for the various branches and parties already working across Europe, but in the end it would come to structurally resemble something similar to the modern International Assembly. The organization was to be regulated by a general council of representatives, which could issue resolutions, vote on the inclusion or exclusion of participating movements and provide resources and aid by drawing on member organizations for help. There was a great deal of disappointment and complains that the organization risked becoming little more than a “red-tinged bureaucracy”, but this approach also helped keep the movement together in the face of constant factionalism. Already during the second conference wide rifts arose regarding the aims and methods of socialism: reform contra revolution, parliamentarianism contra working outside the system, statism vs anarchism and many, many more. Comparisons will inevitably be made to the CCR and the Revolutionary Unity council, but the two are not sufficiently alike that it merits further exploration here.

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    Max Hödel

    The international remained a somewhat obscure organization in the popular imagination until the public assassination of the Hungarian King Karl Ludwig I by the German Anarchist Max Hödel, a dedicated member of the anarchist wing of the organization. Whilst hailed as a hero of the people by many of the different groupings, this tacit endorsement of political violence prompted many reformist groups to leave the organization and despite this remained a large point of controversy in the organization. Despite being by far the most prolific action connected to the international, much more important was the support the organization provided to labour movements all over Europe, ushering in a vast number of improvements in the conditions of the ordinary factory worker, spearheading the budding movement of female suffrage (the organization accepted female members as early as the second congress) and even the covert supplying of arms and other supplies to various radical movements around Europe by their fellow radicals inside the organization. They also provided a large body of ideological and philosophical work to base their beliefs on, creating smaller but more clearly defined ideological branches such as Mutualism, Blanquism, Marxism, Syndicalism, Communalism and Anarchism just to mention a few. Yet their time had not quite arrived just yet. Whilst they had doubtlessly improved the lot of the ordinary worker, the true workers revolution that so many sought had yet to come, still looming over the horizon as the 19th century was drawing to a close. Regardless of if the people of Europe or indeed the world knew, a new dawn was coming. A Red Dawn.
     
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