AP European History

Crash Course

Restoration, Romanticism, and Revolution, 1815-1848

IV. Romanticism

• A. The Romantic Movement
  • Swept across Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century
  • Influenced religion, art, music, and philosophy
  • Inspired a desire for freedom of thought, feeling, and action
• B. Key Characteristics
  • 1. The primacy of emotion
    1. The Enlightenment stressed reason as a way to understand nature.
    2. Romantics rejected reason, and instead stressed emotion, intuition, and subjective feelings.
  • 2. A different past
    1. Neoclassical artists looked to Greece and Rome for models of order and clarity.
    2. Romantics looked to the medieval period for models of chivalrous heroes, miraculous events, and unsolved mysteries.
  • 3. A new view of nature
    1. Enlightened thinkers relied on the scientific method to study and understand nature. They viewed nature as a well-ordered machine.
    2. Romantics preferred to contemplate the beauty of nature. They were inspired by raging rivers, great storms, and majestic mountains veiled in mist.
• C. Making Comparisons: Enlightened and Romantic Views of Religion
  • 1. The Enlightenment embraced a mechanical view of human nature and the physical world. Enlightened thinkers rejected faith and instead relied on a rational, scientific approach to understand the relationship between human beings and the natural world. The Enlightenment favored the deist view that a distant God created the natural world and like a “divine watchmaker” stepped back from his creation and humanity’s daily concerns.
  • 2. The romantics believed in a loving, personal God. They stressed emotions, inner faith, and religious inspiration. Romantics embraced the wonders and mysteries of nature as a way to feel the divine presence.
• D. Key Romantic Writers, Artists, and Composers
  • 1. Writers
    1. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, lyrical ballads
    2. Friedrich von Schiller, Ode to Joy
    3. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust
    4. Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
    5. Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
    6. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Grimm’s Fairy Tales
  • 2. Artists
    1. Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Mist
    2. Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People
    3. John Constable, the Hay Wain
    4. J. M. W. Turner, Hannibal Crossing the Alps
    5. Francisco Goya, The Third of May 1808
  • 3. Composers
    1. Ludwig van Beethoven, Ninth Symphony
    2. Richard Wagner, The Ring of the Nibelung
• E. Romanticism and Nationalism
  • 1. As romantic writers studied the past, they helped make people aware of their common heritage. The resurgence of national feeling sparked nationalist movements across Europe. The first stirring was felt in Greece.
  • 2. Greek Independence
    1. the Greek revolt against the Ottoman Empire began in 1821.
    2. While the revolutions in Spain and Italy failed because of great power intervention, the Greek revolt succeeded because of the support of Great Britain, France, and Russia. These nations all wanted to expand their influence in the Balkans. They were also influenced by public support for Greece because of its historic importance as the birthplace of Western civilization.
    NOTE: The Romantic movement is one of the most frequently tested APEURO topics. Multiple-choice questions focus on the romantic emphasis on emotion. Free-response questions focus on comparison between the Enlightenment and romantic views of nature.

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