What new ideologies emerged to challenge conservatism?

IIN THE YEARS FOLLOWING THE PEACE SETTLEMENT OF 1815, intellectuals and social observers sought to harness the radical ideas of the revolutionary age to new political movements. Often inspired by liberties championed during the French Revolution, radical thinkers developed and refined alternative ideologies and tried to convince society to act on them. In so doing, they helped articulate the basic political ideals that continue to shape Western society today.

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Mr. and Mrs. Karl MarxActive in the revolution of 1848, Marx fled from Germany in 1849 and settled in London. There Marx and his young wife lived a respectable middle-class life while he wrote Capital, the weighty exposition of his socialist theories. Marx also worked to organize the working class. He earned a modest income as a journalist and received financial support from his coauthor and lifelong friend, Friedrich Engels. (Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)