Deck 12: Revolutions and the Reimposition of Order, 1848-1870

Question 1

All of the following are true about the Revolutions of 1848 except:

A) never before or since has Europe seen so universal an upheaval as in 1848.
B) the nearly simultaneous fall of governments throughout Europe was due in part to an international revolutionary conspiracy.
C) only Russia and Britain escaped revolution in 1848.
D) the revolutions left a legacy of class fears and class conflict.

Answer 1

the nearly simultaneous fall of governments throughout Europe was due in part to an international revolutionary conspiracy.

Question 2

The February 1848 revolution in France was provoked by:

A) the government's refusal to be responsible to the parliament.
B) the government's refusal to grant voting rights to people below the wealthier middle classes.
C) the government's refusal to permit workers to organize a strike.
D) the government's refusal to lift press censorship.

Answer 2

the government's refusal to grant voting rights to people below the wealthier middle classes.

Question 3

In 1848, the French Provisional Government adopted:

A) Louis Blanc's idea of a Ministry of Progress.
B) Louis Blanc's idea of a network of "social workshops."
C) a system of National Workshops.
D) a national system of welfare for the poor.

Answer 3

a system of National Workshops.

Question 4

For many French people, the Bloody June Days of 1848:

A) confirmed their hatred of the bourgeois class.
B) proved that capitalism could only survive by shooting laborers in the streets.
C) left them certain that they had escaped a ghastly upheaval.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 5

In France, during the Bloody June Days of 1848, _____.

A) the radicals of Paris massacred most of the members of the Constituent Assembly
B) General Cavaignac seized power from the government and instituted a reign of terror
C) people from the working-class districts of Paris revolted but were ruthlessly crushed by the army
D) Louis Blanc unleashed a reign of terror against the bourgeoisie

Question 6

In 1848, all of the following were true of militant Chartists in England except:

A) they lacked the strength to start an insurrection.
B) they anticipated that the Parliament would accept their petitions.
C) they surrendered to the Duke of Wellington's 70,000 constables.
D) they gathered arms, planned systematic arson, and organized men to build barricades.

Question 7

In 1848, Louis Napoleon owed his election as president of France to:

A) his reputation as a brilliant military leader.
B) his bravery when he personally took part in suppressing the June 1848 rebellion in Paris.
C) the fame of his enormous wealth and generosity.
D) the fame of his uncle and the Napoleonic Legend.

Question 8

On December 2, 1851, Louis Napoleon seized power in France, subsequently proclaiming himself emperor. He was able to acquire supreme power for all of the following reasons except:

A) he posed as the people's friend and against the greedy plutocrats of the French parliament.
B) he used the army to seize power, dissolving the parliament.
C) the voters overwhelmingly approved his rule.
D) he executed tens of thousands of opponents.

Question 9

The people of the Austrian empire:

A) consisted of about a dozen nationalities or language groups.
B) all had a distinct sense of cultural and political identity.
C) were dominated by Italians, Romanians, and Croats.
D) were made up of two nationalities or language groups.

Question 10

Which of the following is a result of the fall of Metternich?

A) It stopped the rioting in all of Italy and Germany.
B) It reinstated the serfs' legal subservience to noble landowners.
C) It put an end to revolutions in the Austrian Empire of the Habsburgs.
D) It proved that the Vienna government was completely disoriented.

Question 11

A decisive factor in the defeat of the revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian empire was:

A) the incompetence of the Hungarian revolutionary leaders.
B) the astute tactics of the Emperor Ferdinand.
C) the assistance of the Prussians.
D) the immunity of the Austrian armies to nationalist aspirations.

Question 12

The post-1848 Bach system in the Austrian empire:

A) decentralized government authority.
B) re-imposed serfdom on the peasants.
C) rigidly centralized the government.
D) instituted parliamentary government based on a limited franchise.

Question 13

The most difficult question for the all-German Frankfurt Assembly to resolve was:

A) defining what territories constituted "Germany."
B) placating the Prussian army.
C) preventing Russian intervention in Germany.
D) controlling the lower classes.

Question 14

After the Habsburgs refused their offer, the Frankfurt Assembly offered the hereditary leadership of a new German empire to the king of Prussia, who rejected it because:

A) it had not been offered to him by the German princes.
B) it meant a war with France.
C) Russia vetoed his acceptance.
D) the Habsburgs vetoed his acceptance.

Question 15

All of the following are true about the influential philosophy of positivism except:

A) it stressed the importance of verifiable facts rather than theoretical or metaphysical ideas.
B) it called for the development of useful scientific laws of social progress.
C) it contributed to the growth of archaic theology as a branch of learning.
D) it originated with the French philosopher Auguste Comte.

Question 16

Marxism may be said to have merged three national streams of early nineteenth-century European history. The three national streams are:

A) French absolutism, British pragmatism, and German nationalism.
B) French egalitarianism, British liberalism, and Russian despotism.
C) French revolutionism, British Industrial Revolution, and German philosophy.
D) Russian authoritarianism, British industrialism, and German philosophy.

Question 17

Which of the following is true of Marx and Engels's Communist Manifesto published in January 1848?

A) It maintained that uprooted workers should be loyal to their native country and not their own class.
B) It led to revolts in Germany in March 1848.
C) It called the state a committee of the bourgeoisie for the exploitation of the people.
D) It urged the creation of a workers' state along Saint-Simonian lines.

Question 18

Marx adopted from the British political economists the subsistence theory of wages, which:

A) condemned the working class to perpetual poverty.
B) promised workers a rise, albeit a slow rise, in living standards.
C) claimed that the owners of factories were doomed to mere subsistence since the workers would always demand and receive any excess profits.
D) suggested that if capitalists wished to subsist, they must pay their workers living wages.

Question 19

Marx adopted Hegel's dialectic, but Marx differed from Hegel in one vital respect since Hegel did not contend that:

A) history, indeed all reality, is necessary, logical, and deterministic.
B) all change comes through the clash of antagonistic elements.
C) material conditions were the primary determinants of social change.
D) history cannot happen any differently from the way it has happened.

Question 20

According to Marx, in the universal struggle between proletarian and bourgeois, _____.

A) proletarians must ceaselessly press their demands for better wages and hours
B) proletarians must take control of the government through the ballot box
C) periods of industrial peace must be used by proletarians to focus on political goals
D) proletarians who try to improve their economic conditions betray their class interest

Question 21

One of Marxism's greatest advantages in winning adherents was its:

A) utopian vision of the future.
B) claim to be scientific.
C) concrete designs for a socialist society.
D) claim to adhere to high moral and ethical standards for society.

Question 22

Which of the following statements is true of Napoleon III?

A) He was a professional soldier and a great organizer like his famous uncle Napoleon I.
B) He appealed to the masses by giving them the vote, by promises of prosperity, and by pageantry.
C) He held that forms of government were more important than economic and social realities.
D) He felt less concern than Napoleon I for the plight of the working classes.

Question 23

Elections to the French Second Empire's Legislative Body were:

A) based on an upper middle-class electorate.
B) carefully managed to limit opposition to official candidates.
C) sharply contested.
D) completely democratic.

Question 24

Baron Haussmann's new Paris was a city with wide avenues designed to do all of the following except:

A) preserve the glories of Paris's medieval past.
B) stimulate business and employment.
C) permit the freer flow of traffic.
D) permit easier military operations against insurrectionists.

Question 25

Economic development under Napoleon III included:

A) the invention of investment banking.
B) the end to inflation.
C) government-sponsored draining of swampland.
D) the creation of large, government-owned luxury industries.

Question 26

Napoleon III's concessions to the working classes included the:

A) eight-hour day.
B) five-day week.
C) right to strike.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 27

The fall from power of Napoleon III was due to:

A) a popular revolution.
B) defeat in war.
C) pressure from the British and Austrian governments.
D) a combination of economic depression and financial bankruptcy.

Question 28

"Never before 1848 had Europe seen so truly universal an upheaval." According to this statement, what were the economic, social, and political causes of the revolutions of 1848?

Question 29

Why was the democratically elected Frankfurt Assembly unable to bring about the unification of Germany in the period of 1848-1849?

Question 30

Why was there no revolution in Britain or Russia in 1848?

Question 31

Why did the Habsburg Empire survive revolution and rebellion in the period of 1848-1849?

Question 32

What role did peasants, workers, and students play in the revolutions of 1848?

Question 33

Explain how the English, French, and German thought contributed to the development of Marxism.

Question 34

Describe the economic development of the second empire of France under the regime of Napoleon III.

Question 35

Some contemporaries referred to Napoleon III as our "socialist emperor." Explain what they were referring to and whether you agree with that characterization of Napoleon III.

Question 36

Why do you think the outbursts of revolutionary upheaval were concentrated in urban centers across Europe in 1848?

Question 37

What was the significance of the Bloody June Days of 1848?

Question 38

What role did Magyar nationalism play in the victories of counterrevolution during the revolutions of 1848?

Question 39

What was Realpolitik? Consider different meanings of the word for different groups.

Question 40

How did British industrialism influence Engels?

Question 41

What are the main strengths and weaknesses of Marxism?

Question 42

In what ways did Napoleon III promote progress during the Second Empire?