Download Reform and Revolutions, 1820-1848

APEURO: Lecture 6B
Mrs. Kray
Some slides taken from Susan Pojer
The Revolutions of 1830

The political settlement of
Vienna, designed to stop
revolution, inadvertently fed
the grievances of
nationalism and liberalism
in the period 1815-1848.
This Age of Revolution
gained fuel from industrial
problems and the legacy of
unfulfilled promises from
the French Revolution.
Among the great powers,
only Great Britain avoided
revolutionary outbursts
through enactment of
tentative Liberal reforms in
this period.
Aristocracy in Control

British society both flexible and remarkably stable
 Dominated by landowning aristocracy
 Classes weren’t closed or rigidly defined

Parliament was undemocratic
 House of Commons was less representative than at any time in its 50
year history
○ Only 8% of the pop. could vote for representatives in Parliament;
manipulated by the king
○ “Rotten boroughs” – sparsely populated boroughs, some even had no
people at all
○ None of the new industrial towns in the north like Manchester had
representation

French Revolution had frightened British aristocracy
 Hostile to any attempts to change the status quo

Conservative Tories in control after 1815
 dominated by aristocracy & fearful of radical movements
 Repressed every kind of popular protest often w/censorship
The Corn Laws, 1815

Prohibited importation of grain
 Unless price at home rose to
improbable levels
 Benefited landed aristocracy by
providing them with a protected market
for their crops
 Hurt consumers w/high prices

Led to widespread protests by urban
laborers & radical intellectuals
 Anti-Corn Law League

1817  Tory government temporarily
suspended rights of peaceful
assembly and habeas corpus
More Repression: The Six Acts, 1819

Symbol of government
determination to repress
reform

Passed as a result of the
Peterloo Massacre
 Peaceful demonstration
 11 killed, 100s wounded

1819: The Six Acts
 Placed controls on a
heavily taxed press
 Practically eliminated all
mass meetings

Parliament pressured by factory
owners and merchants for change

1830s  Whig Party gained power
Reform Begins
 More responsive to commercial &
manufacturing interests

1832  Reform Bill passed
 Signaled emergence of House of Commons
 New industrial areas of the country gained
representation
 “rotten boroughs” eliminated
 Approx. 1 in 5 males could vote
 Workers, women, & the poor still
disenfranchised

Temporarily released pressure that had
been building
 Legislation could solve problems
The Chartist Movement, 1838

Disenfranchised workers
demanded more sweeping reforms

People’s Chart, 1838
 Votes for all men.
 Equal electoral districts (rotten




Key
boroughs) .
Abolition of the requirement that MPs
be property owners
Payment for MPs.
Annual general elections.
The secret ballot.

Had widespread public support

Parliament refused to consider
Chartist proposals

Most of their reforms, however,
were ultimately adopted
Chartist settlements
Centers of Chartism
Area of plug riots, 1842
Anti-Corn Law League, 1845

Formed by prominent industrialists
 Example of working class & middle joining

Advocated a free-trade policy
 Hoped to lower food prices and increase industrial profits
 Other goals: give manufactures more outlets for their
products; expand employment; lower the price of bread;
make British agriculture more efficient and productive;
promote international peace through trade contact

Wealthy landowners stubbornly resisted all reform
proposals

Corn Law Repealed, 1846
 Irish potato famine strengthened support for repeal
 Victory for Britain’s urban population and for free trade
More Reform in England

The working class would ally with
the middle class or aristocracy as
needed to bring reform

Factory Act of 1833
 Limited the number of hours women
and children worked in factories

Mines Act of 1842
 Regulated working conditions and
safety standards for coal miners
 Children under 10 not permitted to
work in the mines
 Safety inspections

Ten Hours Act of 1847
 Limited the workday for women and
children in factories to 10 hours per
day
France: The “Restoration” Era, 1815-1830

France emerged from the
chaos of the revolutionary
period as most liberal large
state in Europe

Louis XVIII governed France
as constitutional monarch
 Agreed to observe 1814
Charter or Constitution of the
Restoration Period
○
○
○
○
Limited royal power
Granted legislative power
Protected civil rights
Upheld the Napoleonic Code
Louis XVIII
(r. 1814-1824)
The “Ultras”

France was divided by those
who had accepted the ideals
of the Fr. Revolution and
those who didn’t.

The Count of Artois was the
leader of the “Ultra-Royalists”
 reactionaries

“White Terror,” 1815
 Royalist mobs killed 1000s of
former revolutionaries.

1816 Elections
 The Ultras were rejected in the
The Count of Artois,
the future King Charles X
(r. 1824-1830)
Chamber of Deputies election in
favor of a moderate royalist
majority dependent on middle
class support.
Conservative Backlash

1820  the Duke of Berri, son of Artois, was
murdered.
 Royalists blamed the Left.

Louis XVIII moved the gov’t more to the right
 Changes in electoral laws narrowed the eligible voters.
 Censorship was imposed.

Liberals were driven out of legal political life and
into illegal activities

1823: Triumph of reactionary forces!
 French troops were authorized by the Concert of Europe
to crush the Spanish Revolution and restore another
Bourbon ruler, Ferdinand VII, to the throne there.
King Charles X of France,
(r. 1824-1830)

His Goals:
 Lessen influence of the middle class.
 Limit the right to vote.
 Put clergy back in charge of
education.
 Public money used to pay nobles for
the loss of their lands during the
French Revolution.

His Program:
 Attack the 1814 Charter.
 Control the press.
 Dismiss the Chamber of Deputies
when it turned against him.
 Appointed an ultra-reactionary as his
first minister.
Charles Sparks Another Revolution

Election of 1830
 repudiated the Charles’ policies
 brought in another liberal majority.

July Ordinances
 Charles dissolved the entire parliament.
 Imposed strict censorship
 Changed the voting laws so that the government in the future
could be assured of a conservative victory.

Discontent with these and other arbitrary policies
united the working class and bourgeoisie against the
monarchy
 Ignited three days of rioting in July 1830
“To the Barricades”
Eugene Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People

Unity between
working class
and bourgeoisie
proved brief

Workers wanted
a republic

Bourgeoisie
wanted a
constitutional
monarchy
 They prevailed
Louis Philippe – “The Citizen King,”
1830-1848
 Duke of Orleans
 Relative of the Bourbons but had
steered clear of the Ultras

His Program:
 Abide by Constitution of 1814
 Property qualifications reduced
enough to double eligible voters.
 Press censorship abolished.
 The King ruled by the will of the
people, not by the will of God – he
was “King of the French”
 The French Revolution’s tricolor
replaced the Bourbon flag.

The government was now
under the bourgeoisie’s control
Francois Guizot Accepts the Charter
from Louis Philippe
Continuing Worker Resentment

His government ignored the needs
and demands of the workers in the
cities.
 They were seen as another nuisance
and source of possible disorder.

July, 1832  an uprising in Paris
was put down by force and 800
were killed or wounded.

1834  Silk workers strike in Lyon
was crushed.
 Seething underclass.
 Strike was seen as a violation of the
status quo set down at the Congress
of Vienna.
Caricature of Louis Philippe
“The Pear”
Revolution in
Belgium,
1830

Its union with Holland
after the Congress of
Vienna had not proved
successful.

 Wide cultural differences
between North & South
○ North: Dutch, Protestant,
seafarers and traders
○ South: French, Catholic,
farmers and individual
workers
But there had been very little
popular agitation for Belgian
nationalism before 1830
 Seldom had nationalism arisen
so suddenly.

Treaty of London, 1839
 Great Powers & the Netherlands
recognized Belgian
independence exchange for
Belgium’s perpetual neutrality
Belgian Revolution, 1830
Stirrings of Polish Nationalism, 1830

The bloodiest struggle of the 1830 revolutions.

The Poles in and around Warsaw gained a special
status by the Congress of Vienna within the
Russian Empire.
 Their own constitution.
 Local autonomy granted in 1818.

Poles became restless under the tyrannical rule of
Tsar Nicholas I.
 Polish intellectuals were deeply influenced by
Romanticism.
 Rumors reached Poland that Nicholas I was planning to
use Polish troops to put down the revolutions in France
and Belgium.

Several Polish secret societies rebelled.
Failed Revolution in Poland

Revolutionaries were split into
moderate and radical factions
 United they might have been
successful

The Poles had hoped that Fr &
Eng would come to their aid, but
they didn’t.
Took Russian army a year to
suppress this rebellion.
 The irony  by drawing the Russian
army to Warsaw for almost a year,
the Poles may well have kept
Nicholas I from answering Holland’s
call for help in suppressing the
Belgian Revolt.

Unrest in Italy

Austria dominated Northern
Italy
 Italian nationalists formed a
secret society called the
Carbonari
 Hoped to drive out the Austrians
and unify Italy

Inspired by events in France
and Belgium, the Carbonari
rebelled

Metternich sent in Austrian
troops to restore order

Carbonari’s failure left
Giuseppe Mazzini as Italy’s
foremost nationalist leader
The Results of the Revolutions
1. The Concert of Europe provided for a recovery of Europe after
the long years of Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.
2. The conservatives did NOT reverse ALL of the reforms put in
place by the French Revolution.
3. Liberalism would challenge the conservative plan for European
peace and law and order.
4. These revolutions were successful only in W. Europe:
 Their success was in their popular support.
 Middle class led, aided by the urban lower classes.
5. The successful revolutions had benefited the middle
class  the workers, who had done so much of the rioting and
fighting, were left with empty hands!
6. Therefore, these revolutions left much unfinished & a seething,
unsatisfied working class.