Part One (short-answer):
Whigs were liberals. They demanded freedoms of speech, press, vote, and market. They contributed to expanding suffrage in new constitutional monarchies. However, Whigs were not about complete suffrage. The liberal/Whig ideology excluded women and was focused for upper-middle-class Whig males who believed men thrive because of their own hard work.
“Springtime of the peoples” is another term for the liberal revolutions of 1848 that occurred all over Europe. These revolutions were sparked by the February Revolution in France in 1848 against the monarchy and spread to Germany, Italy, and the Austrian Empire, with the revolutionaries in the latter three being nationalists.
It is significant because even though the revolutions were ultimately put down, they: awakened German and Italian nationalism; revealed that Germany and Italy would not be united by liberal means; and demonstrated the first evidence of open class warfare and rebellion by the working class in France.
The Frankfurt Parliament or Professor's Parliament was a meeting of educated, liberal men who wished to unify Germany. After creating a somewhat popular constitution under Gagern, their plans fell apart when the King of Prussia denied their request to be King of Germany. This shows that revolution would take more than ideas and would require war.
Luddism: During the First Industrial Revolution, especially in the textile industry, machines replaced individual people and large-scale factories started to replace individual producers. In response to this, followers of Ned Ludd broke machinery in protest. This signifies the effect that changes to the industry had on people and that the Revolution was not entirely positive.
Part Two:
Gros, "Napoleon in the Pesthouse at Jaffa" (1804). This painting played an important role in building Napoleon’s image. The painting shows Napoleon apparently scientifically examining patients dressed in the ways people of biblical times are portrayed. This helps show him as a man of science and learning. It also shows him and the other Europeans present in western military dress looking quite superior to the local populations, this is a representation of Orientalism. This depiction of Napoleon in Egypt helped him craft his image as a national hero; this despite the fact that the conquest of Egypt ended in complete failure. He was however able to overcome this by carefully monitoring and crafting his image to the French people. His later military victories against the Austrians and Italians only helped cement his self portrayal as a Great Conqueror like Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great.
Metternich, Political Testimony of Faith (1820). Prince von Metternich writes thinking that every day could be the last for the Austrian monarchy. It was written on a basis of fear, mainly of further revolutions (after the French Revolution). He fears that another revolution is inevitable, and does not want to lose his job (or his life). The phrases he uses, like “monarchs will fulfill the duties imposed by Him…” imply that he thinks divine right should still apply, and people should know their place. Metternich feels that the monarchs should stick together as a preventative measure against revolutionary idealism, instead of the disunity and nonchalance of monarchies previous. This post-Congress of Vienna feeling results in the creation of the Holy Alliance with Prussia and Russia, as an entirely preemptive measure towards revolution.
Communist Manifesto (1848). This passage from the Communist Manifesto was written by Marx and Engels, the founders of communism and scientific socialism. The Manifesto was written in the context of the liberal revolutions of 1848 against the conservative monarchs of Europe. At this same time, the bonds between revolutionaries began to fray along class lines in France—in the June Days revolt, workers rebelled after the National Workshops established to provide work for the unemployed were shut down—and this marked one of the first episodes of class warfare. This passage is significant because in it Marx and Engels argue that, since the bourgeoisie must always “revolutionize” the means of production in order to increase productivity and profit, they will make everything in life “profane” and stripped down to calculations of profit. Because nothing in life will be held sacred, eventually “man is compelled to face… his real conditions of life” which will ultimately lead those who are oppressed and destitute as a result of the “revolutionizing” (the proletariat) to rebellion against the bourgeoisie. In the Manifesto, Marx and Engels prodded the proletariat to their revolution against the bourgeoisie and to a world of common ownership of the means of production. It is important that they say “all that is holy is profaned” because it implies that even religion will be commercialized, thus eliminating it as “the opium of the people.”
Marpingen Apparitions. The 19th century marked a rise in increased secularization. At the same time, this was the century during which there was a spike in the number of sightings of the Virgin Mary and other religious figures. One possible explanation of this is the "feminization of religion." Women were excluded from politics (“universal” suffrage) and so they turned to what they knew best--religion. Another explanation of this was the turning of the impoverished to religion--they had nothing else to rely on like the wealthy aristocrats or bourgeoisie so they turned to the "opiate of the people" (Marx)--religion. One such sighting, the one described in this excerpt, was a vision of Mary seen by children in Marpingen, Germany. The German government had been suspicious and distrustful of Catholics because Catholicism was said to be not only based upon superstition, but it was said to turn people away from nationalism causing people to identify themselves as "Catholic" and not "German." When the Marpingen sightings began the government tried to squelch the incident and prevent people from making pilgrimages to Marpingen. This excerpt taken from the Dublin Review, an Irish/British publication whose audience was mostly Catholic, was meant to garner support against the restrictive, non-tolerant German government, who was treating citizens of Marpingen as "enemies in their own land." Eventually, once Marpingen became too popular a movement to suppress, with the spring that supposedly had healing powers, the German government resigned itself to simply mocking the Catholics--and that is what is described in this excerpt.
"Europe, its Conditions and Prospects" (1852). Mazzini was an "Italian" nationalist before the unification of Italy. He believed unification should and would come from the people and their want of it. In this excerpt, Mazzini advocates a new literal map of Europe where the lines drawn reflect the people, no what the rulers want. This idea of nationalism is reflected elsewhere in Europe. In the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Hungarians wanted to be independent of the Hapsburgs because they did not share anything in common except an emperor. Their language and culture were different. Mazzini felt that revolution would come from nationalism because the revolutionaries would have a common goal. This is in response to the revolutions of 1848, where the only common trait was opposition to rule. Following the overthrowing of establishment, the revolutions fell apart. The different groups wanted different things. This excerpt from Mazzini shows the change or shift in ideas about what makes a nation.