Industrial revolution free response

Explain how the Industrial Revolution influenced the rise of conservative and liberal philosophies and explain how those philosophies competed with or related to nationalism in Greece and Germany.

During the 19th century the industrial revolution had taken off in England and was spreading rapidly across Europe. Following the industrial revolution came the political philosophies of liberalism and conservatism. These new philosophies emerged at a time when nationalism was picking up in Germany and Greece. The liberalists in Germany and Greece were overshadowed by the rise of nationalistic ideals in their countries and nationalism became the pre-eminent philosophy of the German and Greek peoples.

The rise of nationalism in Greece came swiftly once the Ottoman Turks occupation had ended. With the absence of the Turks the Greeks were free to create their own government. After the Greek war of independence the people were filled with nationalistic fervor, because of this the new government of the Greek state was primarily nationalistic and conservative and focused on the betterment of the country as a whole rather than the betterment of the people. The aftermath of this ensured that the liberalist ideas spreading from the North were not overly popular in Greece.

In Germany a new chancellor named Bismarck had been appointed. The Prussian government and Bismarck had wanted to unite Prussia and the rest of the German states but were always unable to because of political and military blocks by Austria. The need for a larger army was apparent if Prussia wanted to unite Germany. In order to do this Bismarck needed funds to arm and train a large army, however, his petitions to increase taxes and acquire the necessary funds were always blocked by the liberalists inside Prussia. In order to get the money he needs Bismarck violates the constitution and disregards the liberal complaints. The army of Prussia is doubled in size from the funds and Germany is able to unite under a nationalist government, moreover this showed that the liberalist movement had lost its power in the government.

The governments and people of Germany and Greece after the industrial revolution were both united under strenuous circumstances. For Greece it was the war of independence that made it into a nation recognized by the great powers. While with Germany it was the unification of the various states into once coherent government by Bismarck. After these unifications the level of nationalism in both countries was unprecedented and the ideals of liberalism were put down by the industrial fervor of the new nationalist Greek and German governments following a conservative strategy of industrialism and production. The liberalist movement that had succeeded in Britain had failed to significantly affect the lives of Germans and Greeks in the 19th century.