O Level History: The Nineteenth Century 1848-1914 — Revision Notes

Condensed for the final weeks. For the full explanation, use the The Nineteenth Century 1848–1914 study guide.

The 1848 revolutions

Causes: nationalism, liberal demands for constitutions, economic hardship after poor harvests, and the French example.

They failed because the revolutionaries split between liberals and radicals, the middle classes withdrew once property seemed threatened, the peasantry stayed largely uninvolved, and the conservative powers kept control of their armies.

The lesson drawn shaped everything after: unification would come through force and diplomacy rather than through parliaments.

Unification

Italy (1859–70). Obstacles: Austrian control of the north, the Papal States splitting the peninsula, regional loyalties, poor communications. Cavour provided Piedmontese diplomacy and the French alliance; Garibaldi delivered the south with the Expedition of the Thousand; Mazzini supplied the nationalist ideology; Victor Emmanuel II became king.

Germany (1864–71). Bismarck’s method, and the three-part structure is the answer to most questions on him:

1. Isolate each opponent diplomatically before fighting.
2. Fight a limited war for a defined objective — Denmark 1864, Austria 1866, France 1870–71.
3. Stop once the objective is achieved rather than pursuing total victory.

The Ems Telegram provoked France into declaring war, so the southern German states joined Prussia against a foreign aggressor rather than being annexed. That is why the sequence ended in a German Empire rather than a Prussian conquest.

Alliances

Bloc	Members
Triple Alliance (1882)	Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
Triple Entente (1907)	Britain, France, Russia

Britain abandoned “splendid isolation” because German naval expansion threatened its naval supremacy; the Entente Cordiale (1904) and the Anglo-Russian agreement (1907) settled colonial disputes.

Alliances turned a local crisis into a general war — but they were also intended to deter one, and noting both sides is what raises an answer.

The Eastern Question and imperialism

The Eastern Question — what would happen to the territories of the declining Ottoman Empire, and which power would gain from its collapse.

Power	Concern
Russia	Wanted access to the Mediterranean through the Straits; posed as protector of Ottoman Christians
Britain	Wanted to block Russian expansion towards the Mediterranean and the route to India, so generally propped up the Ottoman Empire
Austria-Hungary	Feared Balkan nationalism, encouraged by Ottoman retreat, spreading to her own Slav subjects

Motives for imperialism in Africa: economic (raw materials such as rubber and cotton, and new markets); strategic (routes such as the Suez Canal and the Cape, and coaling stations for naval power); national prestige and rivalry (colonies as a mark of great-power status, and seizing territory to deny it to a rival); ideological/religious (the “civilising mission” and missionary activity).

Long-term causes — MANIA

Militarism	The Anglo-German naval race over dreadnoughts; glorification of the military
Alliances	Two armed camps with obligations to support partners
Nationalism	Slav nationalism in the Balkans; French desire to regain Alsace-Lorraine
Imperialism	Colonial rivalry; the Moroccan crises of 1905 and 1911
Assassination	Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo, 28 June 1914

The July Crisis

Assassination → Austrian ultimatum, backed by Germany’s “blank cheque” → Serbia’s near-total but incomplete acceptance → Austria declares war → Russia mobilises → Germany mobilises and executes the Schlieffen Plan → Belgium invaded → Britain enters under the 1839 treaty.

Why it escalated in days rather than months: the Schlieffen Plan required Germany to defeat France quickly before turning east, so Russian mobilisation removed the diplomatic window entirely. Military timetables, not diplomats, set the pace.

The causation essay

“Was the assassination the main cause of the First World War?” is the standard question.

1. Yes — it was the immediate trigger; without it the July Crisis would not have begun when it did.
2. But — the tensions were already in place, and MANIA had built a system where any Balkan crisis could escalate.
3. Judgement — the assassination was the spark, not the cause. Another incident could have served, precisely because the long-term causes had made the material combustible.

Examiners reward weighing, not listing. Always reach an explicit conclusion, and say what it rests on.

Exam traps

• Listing causes without explaining how each contributed.
• Treating the assassination as the sole cause.
• Confusing long-term causes with the immediate trigger.
• Omitting dates, names and treaties — precision separates the bands.
• Narrating events instead of explaining or evaluating.
• A conclusion that summarises rather than judges.
• Treating the Eastern Question as simply “the decline of Turkey” without naming which power gained what from the outcome.
• Listing imperial motives as a single undifferentiated list, rather than grouping them as economic, strategic, prestige and ideological.

Self-test

1. Give two reasons the 1848 revolutions failed.
2. Give Bismarck’s method in three steps.
3. Why did Britain abandon splendid isolation?
4. What does MANIA stand for?
5. Why did the July Crisis escalate so rapidly?
6. What was the Eastern Question, and why did Britain and Russia take opposite positions on it?

Answers: 1. The revolutionaries divided between liberals and radicals; the middle classes withdrew support when property seemed threatened; the peasantry remained uninvolved; the conservative powers retained their armies — any two. 2. Isolate each opponent diplomatically; fight a limited war for a defined objective; stop once that objective is secured. 3. German naval expansion under Tirpitz threatened British naval supremacy, and colonial disputes with France and Russia had been settled by the 1904 and 1907 agreements. 4. Militarism, Alliances, Nationalism, Imperialism, Assassination. 5. The Schlieffen Plan required an immediate attack on France once Russia mobilised, so German military planning left almost no time for diplomacy. 6. The Eastern Question was the problem of what would happen to the declining Ottoman Empire’s territories; Russia wanted access to the Mediterranean through the Straits, while Britain wanted to block that same Russian expansion to protect the route to India, so she generally propped the Ottoman Empire up rather than letting it collapse.