Comment by BurningFrog
4 days ago
The time between the Napoleon wars and WW1 (1815-1914) was very peaceful in Europe. Absolutely not nonstop warfare!
4 days ago
The time between the Napoleon wars and WW1 (1815-1914) was very peaceful in Europe. Absolutely not nonstop warfare!
Maybe not nonstop warfare, but there was still a lot of violence going on. European powers were engaged in more-or-less nonstop warfare overseas in their empires, but maybe you're excusing that because those weren't in Europe.
In Europe itself, you have quite major conflicts in the Franco-Prussian War, Austro-Prussian War, and the Crimean War, plus more minor conflicts around the unification (more like conquest) of Italy, the independence of various Balkan states from the Ottoman Empire starting with Greece, Prussia's war against Denmark. And then you have all of the internal civil wars or strife people usually don't call outright wars, but in the 19th century, were often quite violent. The Revolutions of 1848, for example. Or France switching governments four times (July Monarchy, Second Republic, Second Empire, Third Republic) after the restored monarchy, all of them quite violent transitions.
Not to mention the fact that the stresses of urbanization and concomitant social changes provoked a lot of resistance from the lower classes, which was often quite violent. It's not until well into the 20th century that major strikes don't involve lots of bloodshed!
19th century Europe is only peaceful relative to the quite bloody conflicts that bookended the time period, which themselves rank among the bloodiest conflicts in all of human history.
You're listing pretty much all the wars of that era.
That adds up to about 5 years or less at war for almost all European countries. Probably the most peaceful century in the history of Europe.
During this time, European population also doubled, life expectancy increased by 10-15 years, and GDP/person more than doubled.
That's not true. Here's an abbreviated list from:
http://historyguy.com/major_wars_19th_century.htm
I'm sure there are others. It lists:
Together, that adds up to multiple decades of war.
3 replies →
I've listed most of the conflicts that occurred on the European continent (I've omitted several Russian wars, and there's a couple more civil wars I've also omitted). And some of that is because I'm doing wildcards rather than trying to, e.g., track down every single Balkan conflict in the 19th century.
If you think I've included most of the conflicts that involved European powers on one side... no. Not even close. This is an era when Europeans are essentially in a permanent state of war with everybody they consider inferior to themselves. And, albeit at the tale end of this era, it's still the era when private companies assert the right to go to war against other people. Don't forget that non-European wars can still leave indelible imprints on the European psyche--the Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War both had massive implications for their home countries, and it's ultimately the Italian invasion of Libya that kicks off World War I.
> Probably the most peaceful century in the history of Europe.
World War II is not yet 100 years gone, but there's not really going to be any question that that the 100 years after WWII will be the most peaceful 100 years in recorded history. For comparison's sake, you're probably looking at like roughly a Napoleonic Wars' amount of death in conflict on the European continent between the Napoleonic Wars and WWI. And as I've mentioned, you're really lucking out that there's just under 100 years between two of the bloodiest conflicts of European history, so you get to pick a 100 year time period without the largest conflicts. If the time period were instead 110 years, now you'd have to confront the bloodbath not only of WWI but also the Russian Civil War.
Also I don't know exactly when they started having police and gendarmerie (riot police) but probably not until 20th century, so the usual response to an angry mob was to bring the army. And army doesn't know much but shoot. Hence, lots of bloody massacres.
> The time between the Napoleon wars and WW1 (1815-1914) was very peaceful in Europe.
If, when you talk about "Europe", you exclude Spain and also Greece, the Balkans, and much of Eastern Europe, sure, the powers in "Europe" did most off their fighting in colonial wars in the period rather than at home (they did a quite a lot of fighting in colonial wars, though.)
> (1815-1914) was very peaceful in Europe. Absolutely not nonstop warfare!
No, absolutely not. This is factually incorrect.
Crimean War 1853-1856? Austro-Prussian War 1866? Italian Wars for Independence throghout the 19th century?
Franco Prussian War 1871
Danish vs Austri-Hungary and Prussia 1864.
Belgian Independence 1831
Civil Wars in SPain 9Carlist War) and Portugal 1830s
Revolutions of 1848
Europe was busy conquering their colonial empire.