Revolutions of 1848
Background
• Revolutionary political and social
ideologies combined with economic
crises and romantic impulses
• Only most advanced and most
backward escaped untouched
• Governments toppled
• National independence, liberaldemocratic constitutions and social
reform—goals of this generation
• The revolutions failed…why?
France
Louis XVIII’s Constitutional
Charter of 1814 was basically a
liberal constitution (Napoleonic
Code)
• a) economic and social gains gained
during the revolution were protected free press, religion
b) intellectual and artistic freedom
was permitted
c) real Parliament was created
The old aristocracy were a
small minority
Many Ultra-royalists wanted
revenge
• 1815 the Ultras won control
of government
1816 Louis dissolved
government - new election
produced a more moderate
government
Charles X changed the
situation
• He was a supporter of the
Old Regime and
repudiated the
Constitutional Charter
Censored the press
insurrection in Paris and in
• “three glorious days” the
government collapsed
• Charles fled and Louis Philippe I
(cousin) was placed on the throne
• Louis Philippe accepted the
Constitutional Charter, the red,
white, and blue flag, and admitted he
was merely
• “king of the French people”
Revolutions of 1848
“Springtime of the peoples”
Political and social upheaval
•romantic movement caused
the revolutions
•Only reforming Britain and
Russia remained untouched
•Bad harvests increased
prices, caused
unemployment and
movement to the cities revolution was expected
In the 1830s Louis Philippe’s
“bourgeosie monarchy”
characterized stubborn
inactivity and had more
enemies than friends
In France, 1840-1
• Republicans asked for reforms
But, also had terrible harvests
and food shortages
• 1846 workers demanded the
right to vote - more bad
harvests
• Premier François Guizot banned
a huge reform banquet in Paris
• Crowds marched in protest
France continued
• National Guard was ordered to
stop the protest
• Soldiers refused to disperse the
crowd
• The king fired Guizot
• Soldiers panic and open fire
killing 40
The Barricades
• Feb 22, 1848 barricades went up in
Paris. Louis abdicated in favor of his
grandson
• The Chamber of Deputies formed a
Provisional Govt. and declared the
Second Republic
• Government had two groups:
a) moderate Republicans led by poet—
de Lamartine
b) Socialists led by Blanc
The socialists dominated the cities, the
Republicans dominated the countryside
Beginning of the Second
Republic
The people started to draft a
constitution for the Second
Republic
a) every male was given the vote
b) slaves in the colonies were
freed
c) abolition of the death penalty
d) 10 hour work day for Paris
Yet there were internal problems
for the revolutionary coalition
Constituent Assembly
• The people elected a new
Constituent Assembly with 500
moderate republicans, 300
monarchists, 100 radicals
• A moderate was Alexis de
Tocqueville, Democracy in America
• The countryside was seized with a
hatred of Paris
• In May, workers invaded the
Constituent Assembly - failed
The Govt. responded by using the
National Guard
The government started to
arrest radical republicans
• Close the National
Workshops
June the Assembly voted to
close the workshops for 3
days
• all unmarried males would be
drafted into the army
The people went wild
June Days
•
After three terrible “June
Days” with thousands of
deaths the republican army
under General Louis
Cavaignac stood victorious
• The revolution had been a
spectacular failure, press
was censored, clubs
outlawed, and the right to
assembly was removed
Louis Napoleon (nephew
of Bonaparte) was
elected in Dec. 1848
• His name and desire for peace
at any cost allowed him to win
the election
• * France was different from
other countries because
nationalism was not a key issue
Austria 1848
• polyglot of different cultures,
languages, peoples
• few liberals, but they did want
political change
• Czechs also wanted more rights
Nobody really opposed the
Habsburg rule just the
Habsburg autocracy
Began in Hungary after the
February riots in France
• Louis Kossuth led the
Hungarians demanding
a) national autonomy
b) full civil liberties
c) universal suffrage
Habsburg emperor Ferdinand
promised reform - Metternich
fled in disguise to London
• The monarchy was forced to
abolish serfdom - robot - Austria
was overwhelmingly
agricultural
• The free peasants had no
interest in politics and seemed
like an ally for the government
• Revolutionary leaders wanted a
unified Hungary
• They acted as if the monarchy
did not exist
“March Laws”
• delegates in the Hungarian Diet
were elected by male property
owners
- Emperor would remain king but
there would be a separate army
and Hungary would deal with
her own foreign policy
Other minorities
• Croats, Serbs, and Rumanians
protested
• The Habsburg monarchy exploited
these problems and was soon in an
armed struggle
• When the urban poor revolted the
middle class panicked
• Emperor Ferdinand regained his
courage
But his brother’s wife, archduchess
Sophia provided the rallying point
Abdicated in favor of her
son Francis Joseph
• Powerful nobles organized with
Sophia to crush the revolution
• Francis Joseph became emperor in
Dec. 1848
• Nicolas I of Russia helped by
sending 130,000 Russian troops to
Hungary
• The Habsburg ruled Hungary like a
conquered territory
Prussia
• Burschenschafen - members of
student fraternities wanted a
united Germany
Carlsbad Decree
a) abolished free press
b) outlawed fraternities
Basically allowed archconservative Metternich to
control Germany
Prussia was different
because there was the
additional goal of unifying
the 38 states of the
confederation
• Therefore the events were actually
on two separate levels
• After Austria, Prussia was the most
influential German kingdom
• The fall of Louis Philippe encouraged
the Germans to seek liberal reforms
• When these were not granted a
social war exploded
Frederick William IV
• promised a liberal constitution and
the creation of a new German state
The workers wanted more - the
middle class wanted less
• The workers demanded:
a) universal suffrage
b) minimum wage
c) 10 hour work day
d) a ministry of labor
Otto von Bismarck joined the
Conservative clique around the king
The Frankfurt Assembly
• had no real political power
Depended upon the states to supply the
power
• Met in 1848, mostly professional people
• wanted a liberal, self-governing, federally
unified Germany
• They wanted no armed conflict
• They feared the Chartists ideas in Britain
and the June Days in Paris
• Radical riots broke out in Frankfurt in
September, the Assembly suppressed the
riots – they used the Prussian army
The big question was ‘what was Germany?’
The Frankfurt Assembly
–
• initially convened to write a constitution
became absorbed with the war with
Denmark over Schleswig and Holstein
• Frederick VII nationalistic king of Denmark
had tried to integrate both provinces into
Denmark - the Germans revolted
• The National Assembly called on Prussian
troops to help in the name of Germany
Prussia went to war with Denmark
• The National Assembly also wanted to
unite the German-speaking provinces of
Austria into a new Germany
Austria refused
• In 1849 the Assembly gave King
Frederick William of Prussia
emperor of the new German
national state - minus Austria
and Schleswig-Holstein,
• he refused
• Frederick William with the army
• disbanded the Assembly and
claimed divine right to rule
“crown from the gutter”
• He tried to get the German
kings to acknowledge him as
emperor - they refused
• The Austrians with help from
Russia forced him to renounce
unification in 1850
• The German Confederation was
re-established
In what ways sense were the
decades between 1830-1848
thought to be the golden age
of the bourgeoisie?
1. Liberalism influential
2. Working class power not yet
high
3. Capital accumulation rapid
4. Political influence gaining
5. Capitalist share of profits
great
What general conclusions can
be drawn about Europe 18151848?Consider the Metternich
system, the industrial revo,
the isms, revolutions and the
bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie was gaining, the
workers were trying to get some
rights, but the conservatives were
keeping both at bay on the
Continents until 1848
What actions of Charles X
(Artois) invited the July
Revolution of 1830?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Repressive policies
Conservative practices
Foe of liberalism
Restricted suffrage to upper middle class
Dissolved Chamber of Deputies
Allowed Church to reassert power
What events precipated
Charles X abdication?
• Censorship of the press
• Dissolved Chamber
• Revolution of workers, artisans,
students, writers—to streets and
barricades
The crowning of Louis
Philippe by the Chamber of
Deputies in 1830 is
reminiscent of what
analogous event in England?
• Glorious Revolution 1688
The Revolution of 1830
produced what kind of
government in France?
• Constitutional Monarchy
All the revolutions failed
• To be continued…several
years later