International relations (1808-

‘[``From 1808 to 1, the major European Powers didn’t go to war against one another for the most part. This period was characterized by an effort for international relations and comprehension to evade continuing the horror from the Revolutionary Wars. Furthermore, although France was now reluctantly accepted by the international community as a sovereign nation to be respected and not waged war against, nontheless its ideological basis of government more liberal than its mostly conservative counterparts led to indirect confrontation. Other European nations were wary of the French ideals transfering onto and toppling their governments, rightfully so, as Napoleonic ideals influenced the newer generations of European revolutionaries that were now inspired by a sense of revolutionary fervor, liberalism, doing away with the old regimes and also nationalism. Thus, the waves of revolution that took over in the 1820’s, 1830’s and 1840’s were met with sometimes fatal opposition from the conservative governments and lukewarm reactions from France, if obviously they weren’t affecting her already.

## 1808-1830: Political acclimatization and initial revolutionary sentiments

The initial years after Napoleon celebrated the Congress of Erfurt were dictated by an almost self-fulfilling expectation of the continuation of the war. Most European nations didn’t expect the peace to last, yet Afthe Congrress ended, surprisingly most countries kept their promises and tried not to provoke each other into conflict. The British were still recovering economically and soon enough the trade with other countries helped. However, a most interesting thing hapenned for both British and French started to commerce with one another, which in turn led to both sides losing interests in pursuing one another belically instead of economically.

Then Austria suddenly became Napoleon’s surprisingly closest “ally” among the Great Nations. For instance, the emperor chose Francis’ firstborn daughter as his new empress in 1810, and later she gave birth to his only legitimate son, Napoleon II. Then the giving of Silesia worked just as the emperor expected and caused a rift between the germanic powers, which led to Austria allyigning herself closer to France in fear of a Prussian-Russian alliance.

However, in late 1810, the unexpected happened when Napoleon’s rival turned ally Alexander I died in his sleep. Rumours soon spread that he had been assassinated by Napoleon as he the emperor was suspected of turning into a pro-British force and Napoleon was very suspicious of the British still. Non the less, the emperor wa succeeded by his younger brother Constatin Nikolayevitch. He didn’t really want the crown but his younger brothers Nicholas and Michael were still too young to ascend and as such he decided to accept it as a temporary measure. However, at the birth in 1812 of his son Alexander II, he started to become more enamoured with the idea of remaining on the throne.

However, what did indeed take everyone by surprise was in 1813, when following a series of stomach complaints, the emperor himself succumbed to what was later desried as a stomach ulcer who had bursted. He left the throne to his 3 year old son Napoleon II.

The death of Napoleon seemed like it would bring about more international warfare. Yet, as incredible as it may seem, the nations of Europe simply allowed for the transition from one emperor to another to occur, as the alternative option of prolonging the conflict was just too much for them to handle. Napoleon died sufficiently late so that tensions had cooled down a bit but not enough that newer tensions arose. Europe was just too worn out for the continuation of the revolutionary wars.

Thus, a new period of international relations emerged, as the major powers decided to pursue a diplomatic dance rather than traditional warfare as a mean of solving their disputes. On international politics, Talleyrand basically translated his erratic and self-preserving personality into France’s international policy. First and foremost, he worked really hard to cultivate an image of a post-bellum France that was eager to work herself into the concert of Europe in a non-threatening manner. According to this narrative, the warring years of France and Europe were over and now it was time to come together and stop the spread or radical liberalism. Thusly, they were to work together and stop bickering and fighting. The truth however behind this narrative couldn’t be farther from that, for throughout this period whenever there were conflicts where the great powers intervened indirectly, France would almost always find herself against the other Great Powers.

In Indonesia, French colonial administration took hold in an attempt from preventing a British take-over like that of 1811. Expanding outwards, their bellicious policy served as a way for Talleyrand to make use of many of the armies that were otherwise jobless and potentially willing to conspire for the continuation of conflict in Europe. Davout was oe of the most famous “relocated” marshalls and he eventually became governor of the colony from 1820 onwards. As one of the most important events from this time, Talleyrand managed to negotiate the first amicable colonial treaty with the British in the “Convention of London” of 1814, wherein the former Dutch colonial holdings were divided among British and French interest in a more thrurough manner than in the Congress of Erfurt. In exchange for Ceylan and half of Dutch Guiana, the United Kingdom gave France the holdings of Sumatra it hold. Furthermore, the treaty confirmed British holding of SIngapore and French holding of Cape Town. The British tried negotiating for the latter but refusal from Talleyrand (who was interested in keeping the British at a disadvantage in Cape Town) eventually led to the British foundation of the Port Elizabeth and eventually the Maputo Cease and the foundation of St Augustin Bay. Although Talleyrand tried to mantain good relations with the British, the truth was that the refusal to cede the Cape Colony led to the commencement of the Anglo-French colonial race both in Southern Africa and eventually the world.

### 1820’s revolutions

The first international threat the regime faced was as a part of the 1820 revolutions that swept the entire continent. Initiating in Spain, the movement soon spread throughout the Southern part of Europe, and affected territories both held by France and her puppet regimes. First in Portugal, where the Murat Regime had been established a mere 12 years ago and where the Portuguese revolutionaries demanded French troops leave the country as well as the perceived “agent of France” of Queen Mother Carolina. Some even asked for the young king Carlos I to also abdicate but the monarch managed to negotiate with them. Then, revolutions spread to Sicily and Naples, wherein the latter the regime of Giuseppe Bonaparte eventually led to the creation of both a Parliament and a constitution. Metternich demanded to intervene in favour of pollitical stability in the region, but Talleyrand was wary of Austrian intervention in a Puppet regime. As Giuseppe didn’t ask for intervention and eventually told Louis that he needn’t interfere, eventually the waters calmed down. Finally, in the Piédmont (most of the Post-Alpine French Regions in Italy), Santorre di Santa Rosa tried to conspirate for a revolution to start in Turin, but he was quickly found out and put on trial. Talleyrand also took the opportunity (and the death of Elisa Bonaparte) to take over Florence and the quasi-independent Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Elisa’s family were rellocated to Paris and eventually forgotten about.

In all, the 1820’s revolutions showed the weakness France truly was in. The regime failed to uphold backing of its puppet regimes, and soon other puppet states started to drift from France’s sphere of influence. The process had already started as soon as Napoleon died with the Duchy of Warsaw where the Prime Minister Count Potocki and Duke Frederick Augustus had mantained nominal ties with France in order to avoid being invaded by Prussia or Russia. However, since by 1820 the country was somewhat well-established and backed by Austria so long as it served as a counterbalance against Prussia. Thus by 1820 when some opposition centered around his cabinet, the aging Count Potocki resigned and the new ministers took the chance to start a process of independence for Poland from all European powers. They would eventually break their personal union with the Kingdom of Saxony in 1830 in favour of the house of Saxe-Coburg-Warsaw.

The other regimes also started to drift. Both Westphalia and Naples remained loyal but their rulers (siblings of Louis) started t favour their countries’ interest above those of France. In Italy, although French presence remained militarly in the French Departéments and the Papal States, the Kingdom of Italy, under Eugène I, became the more independent and alligned with Austria.

As it seemed, France was still a major power and one certainly not to underestimate, but the glorious far-fetching empire under Napoleon was long gone, and the other European powers knew that. Thus, Austria started to exert more power over the Italian sub-states and across the Confederation of the Rhine, which under leading economic policies of Hans von Bülow would align itself into a Westphalia-lead economic union called the Zollverein. Prussia on her part would almost immediately take over said Zollverein and promote the Economic union of German States, which made her so extremely more respected among the German nations.

### Abolition of the Slave Trade and the Commencement of the age of colonial expansion

An important liberal advance was the abolition of the international slave trade. It began with legislation in Britain and the United States in 1807, which was increasingly enforced over subsequent decades by the British Royal Navy patrols around Africa. Britain negotiated treaties, or coerced, other nations into agreeing. The result was a reduction of over 95% in the volume of the slave trade from Africa to the New World. About 1000 slaves a year were illegally brought into the United States, as well as some to Spanish Cuba and the Empire of Brazil.

As per the colonies, it is generally considered that the age of old imperialism ended with the Convention of London of 1814. It marked the end of the old British Empire (which had already had to re-focus their colonial strategy since the end of the American Revolutionary Wars) and the re-continuation of the French colonial Empire, for most of it had dissapeared since the 7 years wars. Now, the remnants of it had also been conquered through the Napoleonic wars, making the British mostl the sole masters of the sea. However, since the treaty, France demanded to be given back most of her colonies plus those of the Netherlands, as a way to admit independence of the latter (thus giving the British a foot on land). This was a very high-risk bet on behalf of Talleyrand, who in order to keep peace with the British realized that both Britain and France had to feel at the same time threatened and secured on ther holdings, so as to deter them from escalating into conflict. Castlereagh himself saw it fit and didn’t really want to continue the war against the French. Thus, he agreed to most of the terms. Effectively, this set the pace for the posterior British and French colonial policies. The way they were divided the colonies made both countries suspicious towards the other. The French refusal to give over Cape Colony eventually gave way to the Maputo Cease to the British in an attempt to get a foothold in Africa on the way to India.

On the following years, the augmentation of European mercantilism and international commerce would lead to the expansion of economical and colonial interests. Eventually, British and French obsession with the other taking over a country instead of them would propell the overtaking of many societies before the wave of colonization of the 1880’s. This rivalry would be seen across the Egyptian-Ottoman War in the 1830’s, the Opium Wars in the 1850’s and the Pacific Conflict throughout the mid to late 1800’s. Towards the middle of the century, tensions relaxed, only to be brought up at the end of it.

### Greek War of Independence

The Greek War of Independence was the major military conflict in the 1820s. The Great Powers supported the Greeks, but did not want the Ottoman Empire destroyed. Greece was initially to be an autonomous state under Ottoman suzerainty, but by 1832, in the Treaty of Constantinople, it was recognized as a fully independent kingdom.

After some initial success the Greek rebels were beset by internal disputes. The Ottomans, with major aid from Egypt, cruelly crushed the rebellion and harshly punished the Greeks. Humanitarian concerns in Europe were outraged, as typified by English poet Lord Byron. The context of the three Great Powers' intervention was Russia's long-running expansion at the expense of the decaying Ottoman Empire. However Russia's ambitions in the region were seen as a major geostrategic threat by the other European powers. Austria feared the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire would destabilize its southern borders. Russia gave strong emotional support for the fellow Orthodox Christian Greeks. The British were motivated by strong public support for the Greeks. Fearing unilateral Russian action in support of the Greeks, Britain and France bound Russia by treaty to a joint intervention which aimed to secure Greek autonomy whilst preserving Ottoman territorial integrity as a check on Russia.

The Powers agreed, by the Treaty of London (1827), to force the Ottoman government to grant the Greeks autonomy within the empire and despatched naval squadrons to Greece to enforce their policy. The decisive Allied naval victory at the Battle of Navarino broke the military power of the Ottomans and their Egyptian allies. Victory saved the fledgling Greek Republic from collapse. But it required two more military interventions, by Russia in the form of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29 and by a French expeditionary force to the Peloponnese to force the withdrawal of Ottoman forces from central and southern Greece and to finally secure Greek independence.

## 1830 Revolutions

By 1830 the situation in France had become somewhat unbereable. The general agreement had been for the regency to take over France until the emperor was over 21 years old, but the now restless emperor had reached 18 and started to demand to be allowed to reign. This combined with economic difficulties eventually managed to divide the French society into those who opposed the regime continuing the regency and those whose interests aligned more with those of the triad. There were multiple factors at play, but essentially the revolution culminated with the deposition of Savary and emperor Napoleon II coming to power. The main point with these revolutions is that they revived the revolutionary spirit throughout Europe and thus propelled a new wave of revolutions

### Revolutions in Europe

The 1830 revolutions spread throughout Europe, with different countries having different reasonings for revolting. First and foremost, the revolutions in July in Paris inspired two political movements, one in Bayonne and other in Turin

The Bayonne movement inspired revolutionary movement in Spain, which in itself was already divided on a constant battle between liberalism and absolutism. Then, the Turin societies started to influence a new movement of Carbonari revolutionaries, set on taking of the yolke of French occupation of Italy. Although their plot to start an uprising in Turin was discovered by the French authorities and put down, it did allow for the Carbonari from central Italy to rise up, demanding the end of Italian division and provlaimng the short lived “Italian Republic”, overthrowing both papal and regal authorities. The revolution was eventually put down and Menotti was executed.

Finally, the revolutionary wave arrived in Poland wherein young Polish officers from the local military academy revolted, led by lieutenant Piotr Wysocki. They were soon joined by large segments of Polish society, and the insurrection spread like wildfire. The cause of discontent were the increasingly pro-Saxon policies of Duke Antoni I of Warsaw. The revolutionaries defeated the Saxon troops that were stationed and proclaimed the dissolution of the Personal Union between Saxony and Warsaw. Later, they would convene and proclaim the creation of the Kingdom of Poland. Infanta Augusta, the only daughter of duke Fryderyk Augustus I, was perceived by many as the rightful Queen of Poland, but due to the increasing anti-liberal positions of her husband, archduke Francis of Austria-Este, it was decided instead that her oldest son Ferdinand Augustus would ascend to the throne as Augustus IV of Poland.

Then, the revolutionary movements inspired those in Georgia that wanted to bring about an end to the Russian occupation of the territories. The promulgation of a constitution in Russia (also inspired by other movemenets in Europe) had lead to the Georgian nobility fearing that they would have their feudal rights taken away by the St Petersburg government, thus they decided to revolt in order to safeguard their rights. The revolt started in 1832 and culminated by 1835 with the Treaty of Batumi.

### Revolutions elsewhere

The revolutions in 1830 throughout Europe inspired an uprising against the Bragança monarchy in Brasil, as well as one against Murat rule in Lisbon. The new French regime doubled down on its francification policies, which would alienate the Boer population on Cape Colony, which would thereon inspire the Great Trek.

## Colonization of the World by Europe

### Post-Erfurtian Colonial Divide

The old colonial empires of Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands didn’t truly survive the Napoleonic Wars. The former’s inability to effectively govern its colonies led to them separating in the Hispanic-American Wars of Independence, which saw the separation of the Viceroyalties into new independent countries, some of which even became colonial empires themselves. As for the latter, they were eventually occupied by Napoleon and their colonies divided among the British and French authorities. This was done so out of the idea that the countries were far too week and remaining with their colonies would only lead to the two great powers bickering over for control of them down the line. Portugal also gave independence to the Brasilian Empire which would itself also become a colonial empire. As per the Dutch, it was agreed that the lucrative Spice Islands and the Dutch East Indies, as well as the Dutch Indian colonies save Ceylan were to be given to France. As well, the latter’s colonies were restored to it by Britain, notably various trading posts in Senegal, the *Île Bourbon* (renamed Bonaparte) in the Indian Ocean, and France's tiny Indian possessions; however, Britain finally annexed Saint Lucia and the Seychelles. Tobago was to be returned to the British as a compensation for allowing the French to retain their Indian possessions.

### Abolition of the Slave Trade and the Commencement of the age of colonial expansion

An important liberal advance was the abolition of the international slave trade. It began with legislation in Britain and the United States in 1807, which was increasingly enforced over subsequent decades by the British Royal Navy patrols around Africa. Britain negotiated treaties, or coerced, other nations into agreeing. The result was a reduction of over 95% in the volume of the slave trade from Africa to the New World. About 1000 slaves a year were illegally brought into the United States, as well as some to Spanish Cuba and the Empire of Brazil.

As per the colonies, it is generally considered that the age of old imperialism ended with the Convention of London of 1814. It marked the end of the old British Empire (which had already had to re-focus their colonial strategy since the end of the American Revolutionary Wars) and the re-continuation of the French colonial Empire, for most of it had dissapeared since the 7 years wars. Now, the remnants of it had also been conquered through the Napoleonic wars, making the British mostl the sole masters of the sea. However, since the treaty, France demanded to be given back most of her colonies plus those of the Netherlands, as a way to admit independence of the latter (thus giving the British a foot on land). This was a very high-risk bet on behalf of Talleyrand, who in order to keep peace with the British realized that both Britain and France had to feel at the same time threatened and secured on ther holdings, so as to deter them from escalating into conflict. Castlereagh himself saw it fit and didn’t really want to continue the war against the French. Thus, he agreed to most of the terms. Effectively, this set the pace for the posterior British and French colonial policies. The way they were divided the colonies made both countries suspicious towards the other. The French refusal to give over Cape Colony eventually gave way to the Maputo Cease to the British in an attempt to get a foothold in Africa on the way to India.

On the following years, the augmentation of European mercantilism and international commerce would lead to the expansion of economical and colonial interests. Eventually, British and French obsession with the other taking over a country instead of them would propell the overtaking of many societies before the wave of colonization of the 1880’s. This rivalry would be seen across the Egyptian-Ottoman War in the 1830’s, the Opium Wars in the 1850’s and the Pacific Conflict throughout the mid to late 1800’s. Towards the middle of the century, tensions relaxed, only to be brought up at the end of it.

### Colonization Societies

Many Europeans and later other nationalities dreamed on establishing new homes either for themselves or for their nations, dreaming on expanding their homelands. Others were driven by economic factors, such as a belief in the ability by European nations to commercially trade with and or exploit certain regions around the globe. As well, the prospect of “civilicing” what were considered to be “savage nations” led to many settling in different areas, be it missionaries, priests or traders. These beliefs by society were encompassed by the American idea of Manifest Destiny or the Congress of Berlin.

#### German expansion

However, the first idea of colonization was inspired by a mixture of European romanticism and the idea of a Nation-State, that being that a People were entitled to a nation of which to call their own. This ideal very strongly penetrated the German and Italian peoples, who would see eventually a push for their national unification in the Spring of Nations in 1848.

Calls for colonial expansion were central to German liberals’ efforts to establish their concept of the nation-state. Indeed, in discussions about national identity, Liberals' emphasis on the symbolically important question of colonies was central to their assertion of social, cultural and political hegemony in Germany.

On 2 February 1806, in Tübingen the student Carl Ludwig Reichenbach founded a secret Otaheiti Society for the establishment of a colony in the South Seas in Tahiti, together with Carl and Wilhelm Georgii, the Kurz brothers, Georg Sellner, Immanuel Hoch, Christian Klaiber, Friedrich Hölder and Christian Friedrich Hochstetter. At the end of 1808, the group attained assent from Joachim Nettelbeck, who had tried in the 1780’s to convince the Prussians to start a colonial prospect. Nontheless, despite their lack of any government’s support, the Otaheiti society managed to gain some momentum in the Congress of Erfurt, where they convinced Frederick Ferdinand of Anhalt-Köthen to partially finance their prospect. In 1818, a ship called the *Askania-Nova* departed from Lübeck with several settlers and reached Chiloé in late 1818, where some remained and settle in-around San Carlos, with backing from king Leopoldo I. In his honour, the later settlement of Leopoldsburg was named and settled in part by some of these German colonists The rest, now with some sheep to farm managed to reach Tahiti by 1820. There, they met with king Pōmare II, who had recently converted to Christianity and who was somewhat keen on relations with European nations. They explained to the king that they came with the intention of settling on the island, and the king initially gave his consent. He had in 1815 fought a small civil war against the Teva clan over the island’s conversion to Christianity and thus decided to grant them land over the Pare district, wherein they found their first colony that they named Neuer Köthen in honour of their founder.

However, the death of Pōmare II in 1821 led to some power struggle in Tahiti and eventually the missionaries that controlled the court started to eye with suspicion the pressence of the German colony in Pīra’e and eventually pressured the Regents into asking the Germans to leave. Given the choice of moving elsewhere or starting a fight, the Germans decided to settle down to negotiate. An agreement was reached with Queen regent Teriitaria II of Huahine and Maia’o and it was decided that Tahiti would help the move of the German colony to Maia’o, whereupon the new colony of Carlsburg was founded.

In 1828 a group of settlers founded the estate of Askania-Nova in present-day Ukraine as a colony leased to the German Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen. In the first ten years sheep farming was successfully carried on. However, due to financial mismanagement, the colony had to be repeatedly bailed out by the Duchy. It passed into the possession of the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau and was eventually sold in 1856 to a German-Russian nobleman