- Empire: The rule or control, direct or indirect, political and economic, of one state or people over similar groups. This rule is associated with the concepts of peace, law and order.
- Obedience and taxes in return for security.
- Romanov, Habsburg, Ottoman Empires. Dynastic, classical,continental.
- Agrarian economies under autocratic rule. Army, bureaucracy, the royal court.
- Belated industrial development. State domination over nascent bourgeoisie
- Appropriation of western technology. Initiators of modernization.
- Legitimation: Imperial heritage, their territories were already under older imperial rule. (Holy Roman, Mongol, Byzantine Empire). Tracing their genealogies back to Rome.
- Universal monarchies, avoiding ethnic identification or single nationality.
- Continental location, less diverse in developement than colonial empires.
- Elements of conflict: Extensive ethnic intermixture in the imperial centers. Turbulent frontier, instability on their frontier pulled them into expansion. Defenders of Christianity/Islam. Not systematic conversion activity though. Frequent warfare among one another. Struggle against Western imperialism. Struggle against democracy & nationalism.
- ‘Prison-houses of nations’. Reforms, standardization, centralization.
- Collective sense of identity, integration. Loyalty to the dynasty, imperial ambitions.
- The double-headed eagle, East and West. Domestic imperial projects as a response to western imperialism.
- Cultural rights of ethnic communities. The idea of progress, development.
- Top-down innovations,through authority. Fast forward modernization.
- French revolution and Napoleonic invasions brought the reforms to a halt.
- Peter the Great (1682-1725), centralizing and westernizing attempts.
- Catherine II (the Great) (r. 1762-1796), economic and legal reforms.
- Maria Theresa (r. 1740-1780), centralized bureaucracy, secularized state.
- Joseph II (r. 1780-1790), further secularization of the state, German as official language.
- Napoleon’s defeat, return to conservatism. Response to revolutionary ideas.
- 1815 Congress of Vienna. The Austrian Klemens Wenzel von Metternich (1773 – 1859).
- Redrawing the continent's political map. Suppressing all nationality problems.
- 1848 uprisings. End of conservative stability in Europe. Social and political motivations. Newspapers, dissemination of ideas. Barricades, the bastions of resistance. Martyrs of nation and democracy. 3-color-flags (after French revolution).
- It resulted to domination of ethnic nationalism and intolerance between ethnic groups.
- Conservative-counter revolution prevailed. Constitutions remained.
- The Habsburg abolished serfdom, introduced new sort of neo-absolutism.
- The rulers opted for popular support. In 1867, the Ausgleich led to Austria-Hungary as a Dual Monarchy.
