By: Anji Chandiram, Luca Khouri, Manisha Saha, Gabby Shadeed and Matthew Mahfood

 During the early 1800s, people with different ideologies clashed  This caused Europe to endure 30 years of turmoil  Conservatives Prefer the Old Order  Conservative forces, also known as monarchs and their officials, church leaders and noble landowners, looked highly upon the Congress of Vienna.  These “conservatives” came together and tried to maintain the political and social order that existed before Napoleon Bonaparte.  Conservative ideas also appealed to peasants, who strived to protect “traditional ways.

 Conservatives wanted to return to the way of life before the French Revolution because they “benefited from the old order.”  Their aim was to help royal families return to their thrones that were taken away when Napoleon conquered parts of Europe.  Conservatives supported the idea of a social hierarchy, where people of the lower class respected and obeyed their “social superiors.”

 They also supported the idea of an established church, and believed that conversations about rights and government led to chaos, with the French Revolution as a perfect example.  “Change had to come slowly.”  Conservatives “defended peace and stability,” and therefore believed that they were benefiting everyone.  Metternich, a conservative leader, aimed to put an end to revolutionary ideas.  Metternich wanted monarchs to “oppose freedom of the press,” suppress protests in their countries and sent troops to end rebellion in neighboring lands.

 Liberals and Nationalists challenged conservatives at every chance they got.  Liberals usually spoke for the lower classes/ bourgeois. These liberals consisted of your 'average day' people including business owners, lawyers, bankers, as well as politician owners writers and others.  Liberals wanted governments to be based on written constitutions and separation of powers.  Liberals spoke out against divine-right monarchy, the old aristocracy and established churches.

 They defended the natural rights based on liberty, equality and property.  They believed that only males had a right to vote.  Only later did liberals support the principle for universal suffrage.  Liberals also supported laissez-faire by Adam Smith.  They thought the free market was a good way for finance and business to succeed.

 European rulers had gained/lost lands through wars, marriages and treaties  Exchanged territories and the people in them  By 1815 Europe had several empires that included many nationalities  Each empire included diverse people

 Nationalists who shared common heritage set out to win their own states  Nationalist leaders tried to unite and win independence for each particular group  Nationalism gave people with a common heritage a sense of identity and the goal of creating their own homeland

 In the liberalism and nationalism revolutionaries fought against the old order.  The Serb leader Karageorge led a guerrilla war against the Ottomans.  The struggle was unsuccessful but it encourages a sense of Serbian identity. The rival of Serbian literature and culture added to the sense of nationhood.  Milos Obrenovic led the serbs in rebellion that is more successful. The only reason for the success was that Obrernovic turned to Russia for assistance.

 The Ottoman sultan agreed to formal independence.  The Greeks revolted to end centuries of Ottoman rule but the Greeks were badly divided. However, years of suffering in long bloody wars of independence-helped shape a national identity.  The British, France and Russia forced Ottomans to grant independent. The Europeans power forced the Greeks to accept German king, and to show that they did not support nationalism that brought to revolution.

 The Greek people had a revolt in 1821 trying to end countries under Ottoman rule.  Even though they were divided, the years of war helped shape the identity of the country.  Many leaders called their struggle a holy war.  When Greece became independent, the rest of Europe pressured Greece to accept a German.

 Challenges erupted in southern Europe.  Most commonly in Spain and Portugal.  Metternich urged many of the powerful rulers to stop small uprisings before the became stronger and increased in numbers.  Outbursts were stopped and many Italian uprisings were put to rest.