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Revolutions of 1848
Why did Revolutions take place in 1848 on the continent?
Unresolved Political Rights
Agricultural Conditions
Industrialization
Nationalism
Role of the Domino Effect
Why Revolution doesn’t take place in Britain?
Workers’ Chartism of the 1830s and 1840s
Failure of Workers’ Charter vs. victory of middle classes by 1846
Goals of the revolution
Why did revolutions fail?
Revolutions of 1848
•Why Revolutions in
1848?
•Why did this not
happen in Britain?
•What were the goals?
•Why did the majority
of revolutions fail?
•What lasting impact
did revolutions have on
Europe?
Why did Revolutions take place in 1848?
•Unresolved political rights
•Agricultural conditions
•Industrialization
•Nationalism
•Role of the domino effect
Illustrated London News (20 Feb 1847)
Why violent revolution doesn’t take place in Britain
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Chartism (1830s & 1840s)
Working-class radicals
Change from within the political
system
Six points of the Charter
Universal manhood suffrage
Equal electoral districts
No property qualification for
MPs
Payment for MPs
Annual parliaments
Secret ballot
Presentation of Charter three
times (1839, 1842, 1848)
Ultimate failure of the Charter
Internal Divisions
Role of Government to stamp
out Chartist Factions
Last Great Chartist Demonstration, Kennington Common, London (1848)
Goals of the Revolution in France, 1848
Goals of the revolution differed depending on your class:
Bourgeois liberal goals:
Constitutional representative governments
Limited democracy
Limited state interference
Nationalism
Working-class radical republican goals:
Constitutional representative governments
Universal male suffrage
Activist state
Nationalism
From Restoration to Revolution
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Louis XVIII (1814-1824)
Louis XVIII (1815-1824) the
Constitutional Charter
Charles X (1824-1830)
attempts at Grandeur
– July 1830: July Ordinances
1830 Revolution and the July
Monarchy
Louis Philippe: the “Bourgeois
King” (1830-1848)
Eugene Delacroix, “Liberty Leading the People” (1830)
Temporary alliances between middle and laboring
classes fade with victory of Louis Philippe
Reign of Louis-Philippe (1830-1848)
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July Monarchy
“Bourgeois” king
Reforms:
– Adopted the Tricolor
flag of the revolution
– Abolished censorship
– Worked with the
parliament
– Electoral Reform
Louis-Philippe’s reforms
helped mainly the upper
middle classes (wealthy
industrialists &
financiers).
Reign of Louis-Philippe (1830-1848)
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Industrialization took off during the reign of
Louis-Philippe.
Louis-Philippe did little to help the plight of
workers.
Lyon Uprisings (1831 & 1834)
Louis-Philippe became increasingly reluctant to
grant democratic reforms.
Frustration finally erupted in February 1848
when a cross-class alliance overthrew LouisPhilippe
February Revolution in France
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On 22 February, a grand political banquet was planned in Paris.
– Louis-Philippe banned this banquet.
– Barricades went up.
Louis-Philippe called out the National Guard.
Without the support of the National Guard, Louis-Philippe was
backed into a corner and began to make concessions.
Provisional Government established.
– Led by a group of moderate & radical republicans.
Immediate Goals:
– Elections for a Constituent Assembly by universal manhood
suffrage.
– New constitution (Republic)
– Abolished slavery
– Abolished the death penalty
– Established the 10-hour workday
The Course of the 1848 Revolution:
January: Palermo
(Italy)
February: Paris
March: Berlin,
Munich,
Vienna,
Venice,
Milan,
Cracow
In Austria
Kaiser Franz Joseph
1849: Revolt in Hungary
suppressed with Russian
help
Metternich forced
to flee in March
1848
Revolutions in Europe
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Austria:
– Meternich flees the revolution
 Ferdinand deposed, choice of his nephew Franz
Joseph II (1848-1916)
– Hungarian revolt suppressed with Russian help
 Nicholas I, “the policeman of Europe.”
Germany:
– Unification of German States
 Large Germany (Grossdeutsch), or Little Germany
(Kleindeutsch)
Frankfort Parliament offers imperial crown to
Prussian king
Italy: Revolts in Naples, Papal States, Tuscany, Venice
– Goal: Unification under the House of Savoy
– Austrians reassert control in Tuscany & Venetia
Revolutionaries in city of Wartburg 1848
Split among Revolutionaries
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Spring 1848 -- a split developed between Moderate Republicans &
radical groups (Left Republicans & Socialists).
23 April 1848 – Elections to the National Assembly. Moderate
Republicans were victorious.
15 May 1848 – People of Paris stormed the National Assembly.
May 1848 – Marked the end of the truly revolutionary period of the
Revolution.
The new revolutionary government tried to alleviate unemployment
through a government-sponsored works program (National
Workshops).
Issue of the Workshops was the lightening rod that divided the
revolutionaries.
June Days (23-26 June 1848)
To many Europeans, June Days marked an important departure in
revolutionary politics. Now the new struggle: bourgeoisie vs. the
working classes.
Karl Marx: “Only after baptism in the blood of the June insurgents did
the tricolor become the flag of the European revolution—the red
flag.”
After the June Days in France
June Days marked a victory for the Moderate
Republicans.
 Each month grew more conservative.
 4 Nov. 1848 – Second French Republic proclaimed
 10 December 1848 – Presidential Elections held. Nephew
of Napoléon Bonaparte, Louis-Napoléon, won.
 His greatest support came from the peasantry.
 March 1850 – Falloux Law
 2 December 1851 – Louis-Napoléon’s coup d’état
 2 December 1852 – Louis-Napoléon assumed the title of
Emperor Napoléon III
 Conservative order had been re-established.
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Revolution in Berlin (Prussia)
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3 March 1848 – Revolution broke out in the Rhineland
15 March 1848 -- Revolutionaries revolted in Berlin, demanding
liberal democratic reforms.
King of Prussia (Frederick William IV) made concessions to the
revolutionaries.
Soon afterwards, the other leaders of German states also gave their
support for liberal democratic & nationalist reforms.
Believing that the kings & princes were committed to a united
Germany, bourgeois liberal leaders began to meet in Frankfurt to
write a new constitution for a united Germany. (Frankfurt
Parliament)
– Supported liberal democracy
– Little Germany or Large Germany?
– Supported a constitutional monarchy (under the leadership of
the King of Prussia) & a united Germany without Austria.
Police Breaking Up a Demonstration, Berlin, 1848
Revolution in the Austrian
(Hapbsurg) Empire
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While many revolutionaries
advocated liberalism, most
were nationalists.
Calls for liberal democracy
centered in Vienna
12 March 1848, Revolution
broke out in Vienna
Nationalist Revolutions
Czechs, Hungarians, &
Italians, in particular, rejected
the dominance of a foreign,
German-speaking, ruler.
Hungarian (Magyar) & Czech Revolutions
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Most powerful of the
minorities & the most
successful of the
revolutionaries.
Louis (Lajos) Kossuth (18021894)
3 March 1848 – Revolution
broke out in Budapest
Frightened Metternich, who
quickly agreed to allow the
Hungarians to establish a
liberal democratic parliament.
March Laws: Representation,
freedom of the press, religious
freedom, equal justice before
the law, taxation of the
nobility.
May 1848 – Czechs revolted,
demanding political autonomy
similar to what the Hungarians
had received.
Retreat of the Hapsburg Empire
Seeing what was happening throughout Europe, the Austrian Emperor
(Ferdinand I) began to grant liberal concessions.
– March 1848 – King dismissed Metternich
– 25 April 1848 – King agreed to a constitutional monarchy
– Granted Universal manhood suffrage
– Emancipated the serfs
 15 May 1848 – Another wave of demonstrations broke out in Vienna
 May 17 1848 – Emperor fled to Innsbruck (Austria)
 Beginning in the summer of 1848, Austria reasserted her dominance over
the revolutionaries.
– June 1848 – Emperor’s army crushed the Czech revolution
– October 1848 – Emperor crushed the revolt in Vienna.
– September 1848 1848 – Emperor sent troops into Hungary to suppress
the revolution.
– December 1948 – Emperor abdicated in favor of his nephew (Francis
Joseph I) who was determined to suppress these revolutions.
– March 1849 – Austrian forces conquered Hungary & imposed military
rule.
– June 1849 – Austrian joins with Prussia to crush revolutions in the
Rhineland, Saxony, & Bavaria.
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Milan, 1848
Fighting at the Tosa Gate, 1848
Note green, white and red flag
Flag of Cisalpine republic of Napoleonic Period
Revolution in Italy
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January & February 1848 – Revolts erupted in Naples & Turin
March 1848 – Guerra Santa (Holy War)
22 March 1848 – Revolution broke out & Venetian Republic was
established.
– Came under the leadership of Garibaldi
March 1848 – Papal States were given a constitution
– February 1849 – Roman Republic proclaimed under the
leadership of Mazzini.
Goals: Liberalism & National Unification
Led by Charles Albert (King of Piedmont-Sardinia)
23 March 1848 – Piedmont-Sardina declared war on Austria
New Republics: Venice, Tuscany, & Rome
June 1848 – Austrians defeated Piedmont-Sardinia. Austrians reestablished control over Lombardy & Venetia, destroying the
republics.
Why do the Revolutions Fail?
•Problem of Idealism among Revolutionaries
•Military Power
•Weak Alliances
The Suppression of the 1848 Revolutions
Lasting Significance of 1848
•While there was a lasting challenge of liberal and radical
programs
•Persistence of old regime
•“Democracy” and 2nd Republic in France under Louis
Napoleon, president (1848-1852) then Emperor
Napoleon III (1852-1870)
•“Representative” government (Landtag) in Prussia
•Emigration of 1848’ers to United States
•Eventual conservative cooption of liberal and radical
platforms