Against the Existing Order
Revolutionaries attack the status quo
- In the first half of the 19th century, revolutionaries attempted to destroy the status quo.
- Attempted again: the CED records the effort, not a success.
- And the target is precisely what 6.5's Concert existed to preserve — the two subtopics are one argument.
Select both triggers of the revolutions of 1848.
One economic, one political.
1848: causes and effect
- The revolutions of 1848, triggered by economic hardship and discontent with the political status quo, challenged conservative politicians and governments and led to the breakdown of the Concert of Europe.
- Two triggers — one economic, one political — and one named consequence.
- Led to the breakdown of the Concert of Europe is the sentence to remember: 1848 is where 6.5's institution fails.
The CED says 1848 led to...
1848 is where 6.5's institution fails.
Russia: reform from above, revolution below
- In Russia, autocratic leaders pushed through a programme of reform and modernisation, including the emancipation of the serfs, which gave rise to revolutionary movements and eventually the Russian Revolution of 1905.
- The CED's causal chain runs reform → revolutionary movements → 1905, in that order.
- So reform is not presented here as an alternative to revolution; it is presented as one of its causes.
A trigger, an event, or a consequence?
Sort each element of the reaction against the order.
Put the CED's Russian chain in order.
Reform is presented as a cause of revolution, not an alternative.
In the CED's Russian sentence, reform causes revolutionary movements. The chain reads reform and modernisation, including the emancipation of the serfs, which gave rise to revolutionary movements and eventually 1905 — so reform is presented as a cause of revolution, not an alternative to it.
The CED says revolutionaries attempted to destroy the status quo.
It records the effort, not a success.
Why reform can produce revolution
- A reform decreed from above concedes that the existing arrangement was wrong, which licenses further demands.
- It also creates people whose situation has changed enough to make more change imaginable.
- The CED does not spell the mechanism out, but its sentence order does, and following it is safe.
A reform decreed from above concedes the existing arrangement was ____, which licenses further demands.
And it creates people for whom more change is imaginable.
How and why groups reacted
- The objective asks how and why various groups reacted against the existing order.
- How: revolution attempted, 1848's risings, and revolutionary movements in Russia.
- Why: economic hardship, discontent with the political status quo, and reforms that raised expectations.
A government that grants one thing has admitted that granting is possible. The people who receive it are the first to notice, and the second demand is always easier to state than the first was.
Revolutionaries attempted to destroy the status quo in the first half of the century; the revolutions of 1848, triggered by economic hardship and discontent with the political status quo, challenged conservative politicians and governments and led to the breakdown of the Concert of Europe; and in Russia reform and modernisation, including the emancipation of the serfs, gave rise to revolutionary movements and eventually the Russian Revolution of 1905.