The Ringstrasse: A Balance

http://www.wien.gv.at/ma08/geschichte/bilder/ring-eng.jpg

Vienna differs greatly from Paris and London. One family, the Hapsburgs, ruled Vienna for many years while many different families (royal or not) ruled France and England over those same years. Another difference is in the bourgeoisie of these three cities. While the bourgeoisie took over very early on in Paris and London, they took much longer to gain power in Vienna. And when the bourgeoisie started to gain power, the emperor gave them the Ringstrasse to suppress their desires for real power. The Ringstrasse, unlike Paris and London, neither catered completely to the monarchy nor the bourgeoisie. In Paris, the monarchy came out on top by allowing Haussmann to build the city plan he set up for Paris. This plan had wide open streets, for suppressing rebellion, roads that went from one governmental building to another and many other things, such as squares and parks, which showed the power of the monarchy, and threw aside all non-upper classers. In London, the bourgeoisie came out on top by forcing the monarchy to give parliament most of the power in the government and forced the government to cater to the middle class making the government build suburbs and affordable housing. In Vienna, the Ringstrasse was created to cater to the bourgeoisie while keeping them out of the Aldstadt. In this way, Vienna was able to stay ruled by an emperor longer than either Paris or London because it catered to the bourgeoisie while keeping them separate from the upper class and ruling class. The emperor put five things or types of things in the Ringstrasse to please the bourgeoisie: the Parliament, the Burgtheater, the University, the Rathaus (city hall), and apartment palaces.

bou - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie
ringstra - http://www.macalester.edu/courses/geog61/aaron/
hapsburgs - http://www.geocities.com/historyofaustria/habsburgs.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Haussmann