The Decline of Monarchies and Rise of Parliamentary Power

The late 19th century witnessed a dramatic shift in Europe’s political landscape as traditional monarchies gradually yielded power to emerging democratic institutions. This transformation occurred through various means across the continent – sometimes through violent upheaval, other times through gradual reform. In 1903, Serbia experienced a military coup that significantly weakened royal authority while strengthening electoral power. Portugal’s monarchy met a more abrupt end on October 4, 1910, when a group of young officers calling themselves “Carbonários” arrested senior military leaders, armed Lisbon citizens, and proclaimed a republic. The king, interrupted during a bridge game, fled to a desolate beach and sailed into British exile.

Spain presented a contrasting case of relative stability amid regional turbulence. From the mid-19th century until 1914, Spain maintained a constitutional monarchy where conservative and liberal parties peacefully alternated power – a system colloquially known as “taking turns.” The balance between royal and parliamentary authority across Europe largely depended on three factors: the temperament of individual monarchs, the competence of political elites, and each nation’s distinct political culture.

Scandinavia led the way in democratic reforms. Norway established parliamentary accountability over government in 1884, with Denmark and Sweden following suit in 1901 and 1917 respectively. While reform motivations varied, fear of revolution served as a powerful catalyst for expanding suffrage – evident from Britain’s 1832 Reform Act to Austria’s 1907 electoral changes. Conservative politicians in France, Germany, and Britain (1867) often miscalculated that expanding voting rights to certain groups would strengthen the existing order against liberal challengers.

The Rural Awakening: Peasants Enter Politics

The turn of the 20th century marked a watershed as modern politics finally reached Europe’s rural masses. Traditional peasant uprisings continued, particularly where farmers were excluded from political participation – as seen in Russia (1905) and Romania (1907). However, a more significant development emerged as peasants began organizing politically. Southern Italy and Sicily witnessed a unique fusion of peasant revolts with socialist ideology and anarchist revolutionary theory.

Germany’s rural transformation proved particularly noteworthy. During the 1890s, German farmers established agricultural cooperatives at an astonishing rate – over 1,000 new cooperatives annually until 1914. Bavaria’s “Peasants’ League” mobilized rural populations with their provocative slogan: “No nobles, no priests, no doctors, no professors – only peasants should represent peasants!” This movement channeled deep resentment against local elites who ignored agrarian interests.

France experienced its own rural awakening. The 1907 phylloxera epidemic devastated vineyards, sparking mass protests led by Marcelin Albert, a vintner and café owner. Tens of thousands attended his rallies, tax resistance spread, and local officials resigned en masse. When dispatched troops refused orders to suppress protesters (and were subsequently exiled to remote Tunisian posts), Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau personally intervened. The movement eventually consolidated under the Radical Party, which successfully reduced peasant taxes.

The Irish Land Wars: Nationalism and Agrarian Conflict

Ireland’s rural unrest proved far more intractable. The catastrophic 1840s potato famine triggered mass emigration and intensified conflict between predominantly Protestant Anglo-Irish landlords and Catholic tenant farmers. As literacy rates soared from 33% (1850) to 84% (1900) and a Catholic middle class emerged, the late 1870s witnessed the explosive “Land War” across rural Ireland.

Between 1879-1882, this movement generated over 11,000 recorded “outrages,” primarily threatening letters. Approximately 11,000 tenant families faced eviction, while landlords endured physical attacks and occasional assassinations. As one contemporary observer noted: “The English shoot peasants and poachers, the Irish shoot landlords and their agents.” Rural crime rates in the 1880s reached 25 times their 1878 levels, including animal maimings, hunt disruptions, and violent assaults.

This agrarian unrest fused with growing nationalist sentiment against British rule. Irish smallholders resented their legal disenfranchisement and despised the Protestant ascendancy over them. The emerging nationalist movement, predominantly middle-class, effectively channeled this rural discontent into a powerful political force.

The Democratization of Politics: Expanding Participation

Several interconnected developments facilitated mass political participation across Europe:
– Rising literacy rates and educational access
– Standardization of national languages
– Transportation and communication revolutions (railways, newspapers, printed materials)

In nations with universal male suffrage or broad electoral rights, voter turnout surged dramatically. By the early 20th century, participation rates exceeded 85% in countries like Germany. This democratization spurred the development of modern political parties organized to contest elections and secure parliamentary representation. However, the increasing political mobilization of ethnic minorities soon challenged Europe’s multi-ethnic empires.

The Crisis of Liberalism and Minority Nationalism

From the 1870s onward, most European minorities remained politically insignificant or suppressed. Polish nationalism, though a major 19th century revolutionary force, was brutally crushed after the 1863 uprising. In Austria-Hungary and Britain, however, expanding political rights empowered significant minority populations with potentially existential consequences by 1914.

Britain’s political transformation proved particularly dramatic. The 1867 and 1884 Reform Acts marked the decline of Whig aristocracy and the rise of mass politics. William Gladstone, the era’s dominant Liberal figure, initially resisted then ultimately championed democratic reforms. His bitter rivalry with Conservative Benjamin Disraeli captivated the nation, their parliamentary duels becoming popular entertainment.

Gladstone’s 1879-1880 “Midlothian Campaign” revolutionized political campaigning. Addressing crowds of 10,000-12,000 (with “relayers” repeating his words to outer rings), his five-hour speeches combined moral fervor with policy detail, establishing the template for modern electioneering. Meanwhile, Joseph Chamberlain’s 1877 National Liberal Federation created the first modern party organization, with local branches, registered members, and coordinated campaigns.

The Irish Home Rule Crisis: Democracy’s Greatest Challenge

Ireland emerged as the crucible where democracy and liberalism collided. Catholic Irish resentment against absentee Protestant landlords and British rule found political expression through Charles Stewart Parnell’s Irish Parliamentary Party. After the 1884 Reform Act, Home Rule supporters increased to 86 MPs, holding the balance of power.

Gladstone’s 1886 Home Rule Bill split the Liberals. Whig aristocrats and Chamberlain’s radicals opposed it, fearing imperial disintegration and property confiscations. The bill’s defeat triggered an election that brought Conservative-Liberal Unionist coalition to power for nearly 20 years (1885-1905, with brief interruptions).

The subsequent scandal surrounding Parnell’s affair with Kitty O’Shea destroyed both his career and the Home Rule movement. When Captain O’Shea filed for divorce in 1889 naming Parnell as co-respondent, nonconformist Liberal supporters revolted. Parnell died in 1891, his movement fractured, and Home Rule delayed for a generation.

The Conservative Ascendancy and New Liberalism

The Marquis of Salisbury dominated late Victorian politics as prime minister (1885-1902). His aristocratic conservatism checked democratic impulses while accepting mass politics. Meanwhile, Liberals regrouped under the 1891 Newcastle Program, embracing state intervention and welfare policies to attract working-class support – a decisive break from Gladstone’s small-government ideals.

The Second Boer War (1899-1902) exposed imperial vulnerabilities and divided Liberals. Joseph Chamberlain’s 1903 tariff reform campaign further split Conservatives between free traders and protectionists. This disintegration enabled Liberal Henry Campbell-Bannerman’s 1906 landslide victory, supported by 377 Liberals, 53 Labour MPs, and 83 Irish nationalists.

Constitutional Crisis and the People’s Budget

The new Liberal government, led successively by Campbell-Bannerman and H.H. Asquith, faced immediate challenges. Chancellor David Lloyd George’s radical 1909 “People’s Budget” proposed progressive taxes on wealth and land, prompting the unelected House of Lords to unprecedented action – vetoing the budget. The resulting constitutional crisis led to two 1910 elections and the landmark 1911 Parliament Act, stripping the Lords of veto power and leaving only delaying authority.

The Gathering Storm: 1910-1914

With Irish nationalists sustaining Liberal majorities, Home Rule returned in 1912. Protestant Ulster organized 100,000-strong paramilitaries, while British officers mutinied rather than enforce Home Rule. Only World War I’s outbreak in August 1914 delayed civil war.

Simultaneously, Britain experienced unprecedented labor unrest (1911 railway strikes, Welsh mining riots) and militant suffragette campaigns. While Liberals introduced minimum wages and social insurance (1912), these failed to satisfy workers. Union membership surged 60% (1910-1914), strengthening Labour. Asquith’s 1912 electoral reform attempts stalled over women’s suffrage.

By 1914, Britain’s democratic achievements were undeniable, yet the political system appeared increasingly strained. The Irish crisis threatened national unity, while the Liberal-Labour alliance fractured. As one historian later observed, “the strange death of Liberal England” had begun – a process that would culminate in Irish independence (minus Ulster) during the 1920s. This turbulent period (1870-1914) ultimately transformed Europe’s political landscape, establishing foundations for modern democracy while revealing its profound challenges.