A Level History: Modern Europe 1750-1921 — Revision Notes

Condensed for the final weeks. For the full explanation, use the Modern Europe 1750–1921 study guide.

The French Revolution

Long-term causes: the estates system placing the tax burden on the Third Estate; Enlightenment ideas of liberty, equality and popular sovereignty; the financial crisis worsened by the American war; poor harvests and bread prices; and the weakness of Louis XVI.

The financial crisis is the trigger that connects the rest. Bankruptcy forced the calling of the Estates-General in 1789, which gave the Third Estate a platform it had not had for 175 years — turning a fiscal problem into a constitutional one.

Key events: Tennis Court Oath, storming of the Bastille (July 1789), Declaration of the Rights of Man, abolition of feudalism, flight to Varennes, war (1792), execution of the King (1793), the Terror, and Thermidor.

The Terror is usually explained by a combination of foreign invasion, internal counter-revolution in the Vendée, economic crisis, and the ideology of the Committee of Public Safety. A strong answer weighs whether it was primarily a response to circumstance or a product of ideology.

Napoleon

Domestic: the Napoleonic Code, the Concordat with the Church, the Bank of France, the lycée system, and a centralised administration through prefects.

The central historiographical question — was Napoleon the heir of the Revolution or its betrayer? The evidence cuts both ways, and the best answers use both:

• Heir: he preserved legal equality, careers open to talent, and the abolition of feudal privilege.
• Betrayer: he ended political liberty, censored the press, restored a hereditary nobility, and crowned himself Emperor.

Fall: the Continental System failed and alienated allies; the Peninsular War drained resources; the Russian campaign of 1812 destroyed the Grande Armée; and nationalism, which he had helped awaken, turned against him.

Industrialisation

Causes: agricultural improvement releasing labour, population growth, capital from trade, coal and iron reserves, transport improvements, and technological innovation.

Consequences: urbanisation, factory discipline, the rise of an industrial working class and middle class, poor urban living conditions, child labour, and eventually trade unions and reform legislation.

Comparative point worth having ready: Britain industrialised first and gradually, driven by private capital; Germany industrialised later, faster, and with far greater state direction and bank involvement — which is why German heavy industry could overtake Britain’s within a generation.

Unification

Italy (1859–70): obstacles were Austrian control, the Papal States, regionalism and poor communications. Cavour supplied diplomacy and the French alliance; Garibaldi supplied the south; Mazzini supplied the ideology.

Germany (1864–71): Bismarck’s Realpolitik. Three deliberately limited wars — Denmark, Austria, France — each fought only after the opponent had been diplomatically isolated, and each ended once its objective was secured. The Ems Telegram provoked France into declaring war, so the southern German states joined Prussia against an aggressor rather than being absorbed.

The assessment question is usually whether unification was Bismarck’s design or the product of forces already in motion — economic integration through the Zollverein, the growth of nationalism, and Austrian weakness. Argue both, then judge.

Towards 1914

Long-term causes — MANIA: Militarism (the Anglo-German naval race), Alliances (Triple Alliance and Triple Entente), Nationalism (Balkan Slav nationalism, French revanchism), Imperialism (the Moroccan crises), Assassination (Sarajevo, June 1914).

July Crisis: assassination → Austrian ultimatum backed by Germany’s “blank cheque” → Serbia’s near-complete acceptance → Austrian declaration → Russian mobilisation → German mobilisation and the Schlieffen Plan → invasion of Belgium → British entry.

Why it escalated so fast: the Schlieffen Plan required Germany to defeat France quickly before turning east, so Russian mobilisation removed the diplomatic window almost entirely. Military timetables, not diplomacy, set the pace.

Writing the essay

Examiners reward argument, not narrative. The structure that scores:

1. An introduction that states a clear line of argument.
2. Paragraphs each making a point, supporting it with precise evidence — names, dates, figures — and linking back to the question.
3. Explicit counter-argument, engaged with rather than mentioned.
4. A conclusion that judges, and explains the criterion on which the judgement rests.

Precision is what separates bands. “Bismarck fought several wars” is weak; “Bismarck fought three wars between 1864 and 1871, each against a diplomatically isolated opponent” is strong.

Exam traps

• Narrating events instead of arguing a case.
• Vague evidence with no dates, names or figures.
• Ignoring the counter-argument.
• A conclusion that summarises rather than judges.
• Treating the assassination as the sole cause of 1914.
• Answering the question you prepared rather than the one set.

Self-test

1. Why did the financial crisis matter more than the other long-term causes of 1789?
2. Give two pieces of evidence that Napoleon was heir to the Revolution and two that he betrayed it.
3. What distinguished German industrialisation from British?
4. Describe Bismarck’s method in three points.
5. Why did the July Crisis escalate so quickly?

Answers: 1. Bankruptcy forced the calling of the Estates-General in 1789, which gave the Third Estate the platform that converted long-standing grievances into a constitutional revolution. 2. Heir: legal equality in the Napoleonic Code and careers open to talent. Betrayer: press censorship and the creation of a new hereditary nobility with his coronation as Emperor. 3. It came later, moved faster, and was far more state-directed and bank-financed, which allowed German heavy industry to overtake Britain’s within a generation. 4. Isolate each opponent diplomatically first; fight limited wars for defined objectives; stop once the objective is achieved rather than pursuing total victory. 5. The Schlieffen Plan required Germany to attack France immediately once Russia mobilised, so military timetables overrode diplomacy and left no time for negotiation.