19th Century Revolutions – Nathan Michalewicz

1848 Revolutions

What were they?
Where were they?

1848 Revolutions

Revolutions against Absolutist Monarchies
Revolution for Constitutions
Revolution for freedom of Press and Demonstration

Causes, Part I: Congress of Vienna

Weak French Monarchy
Absolutist Monarchies
Multi-ethnic Empires

Congress of Vienna 1815
- Created weak French monarchy
- Italy into dominion of Austria
  - Venice = part of Austria
  - Lombardy = part of Austria
- Poland to Russia
- Germany broken into German confederation of 39 states
  - Generally under dominion of Austrian Empire.
- Ignored liberalism and nationalism.
- Created absolutist states on the basis of pre-French Revolutionary systems
- Absolutist regimes
  - Some parliaments with little power.

Causes, Part II: Nationalism

German Confederation & Nationalism

Italian Nationalism

Austrian Empire

Nationalism

Causes, Part III: Political Activism

Growth in Reading public
Growth in political clubs
Demands for liberal freedoms: Press, demonstration, etc.
Much to complain about.

Political Activism
- Expansion of public sphere
- more educated people in 1848 than were in 1800.
- oppressive censorship
- oppression of public assembly
- 1830s-1840s absolutist systems are faltering
  - demanding liberal reforms:
    - freedom of the press
  - Creating political clubs
    - Some were moderate, based on

Causes, Part IV: The Hungry Forties

Industrial City life in Europe
Real wages dropping in 1830s and 1840s.
Economic downturn in 1842
Bad Harvests in 1845 & 1846: Potatoes and Wheat

1848 Revolutions: France in the Beginning

King Louis-Philippe I (r. 1830-1848)

Banquet against Chief Minister François Guizot (22 Feb. 1848)

2nd Republic (24 Feb. 1848-1852)

June Days 1848

12 January 1848
France
- Banquet against Francois Guizot on 22 Feb 1848
  - Guizot was the Prime Minister of France and a conservative liberal.
    - Defender of limited suffrage.
    - To those that wanted the vote, he said, “Enrichissez-vous” (Get rich)
  - Cancelled public political meetings known as banquets.
    - Many of the banquets were calling for an expansion of the franchise.
    - This one was critical Guizot and his government.
  - Many get angry and begin to protest.
  - 23 Feb 1848, soldiers fire into crowds
  - Many of the working class immediately join in
    - Overnight fears of massacre from soldiers
    - Over million paving stones, 4,000 trees, and 1500 barricades were constructed
- Louis-Philippe I (1830-1848) fleas to England.
Organize elections for 2nd republic. (1848-1852)
- Elect new national assembly in April 1848
- Turned into a class based voting
  - Liberals were joined by conservative peasants (most of society)
    - Didn’t want the monarchy, but didn’t want any social changes.
  - Monarchists and conservative republicans got majorities.
- Paris radicals refused to Accept the results
  - Led to conflict between he liberal property owners and the urban poor.
June Days
- the conflict turned violent
- The industrial workers of Paris launched another revolt against the liberal government.
  - Fighters were the industrial workers (masons, locksmith, etc.)
- Many of the propertied classes (peasants shopkeepers, landowners)
  - Flowed into Paris to stop the fighting.
- 3,000 rebels were shot
- 12,000 arrested.
- 4,500 deported.
- Socialist clubs and newspapers were shuttered.

1848 Revolution: France Fails

President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (Dec. 1848-1852)

President for Life

Emperor Napoleon III (r. 1852-1870)

Presidential elections
- Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (1808-1873)
  - was elected president
  - sold himself as protector of property and protector of voting rights.
  - then suppressed institutions of liberal political culture.
  - radical clubs abolished
  - 1850, removed universal male suffrage.
  - Dec. 1851, declared self president for life.
  - abolished the legislature.
  - 1852, declared self emperor napoleon III.

1848 Revolutions: Italy in the Beginning

Palermo, 12 January 1848

Sought a Constitution and lower Taxes

Constintutional Monarchies

Italy
- Began 12 Jan 1848 in Palermo
- Spread to Naples
  - Quickly Kingdom of two Sicilies (Naples) granted constitution and basic civil liberties.
  - In Feb. Grand Duchy of Tuscany granted constitution.
  - After news of Paris came more fell
    - Pope Pius IX (the liberal pope) granted constitutional monarchy
    - Piedmont-Sardinia also granted constitutional monarchy.
    - Then Lombardy declared itself independent from Austria
    - Then Venice declared itself independent of Austria.
      - These led to war with Austria
  - Led to revolt in the countryside,
    - Especially over usage of the forests (think of it like the killing of the pigeons).

1848 Revolutions: Italy Fails

Lombardy and Venetia declare independence

King Carlo-Alberto (Piedmont-Sardinia), in 1848

Austria Crushes the Italian Revolutions

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (1849)

Failure
- The king of Piedmont-Sardinia Carlo-Alberto overplayed hand
- Led plebiscite votes where Lombardy and Venice voted to join Piedmont-Sardinia
  - Split the nationalists in Italy.
  - Led the central powers of Italy to withdraw support for the war.
  - Piedmont-Sardinia could not defeat the Austrians alone.
  - Austria destroyed the
- Radicals then took control of Rome,
  - Hoping to spur unification.
  - But Louis-Napoleon was invited to intervene by the Catholic clergy and forced their surrender of the Republicans

1848 Revolutions: German Lands

King Friedrich Wilhelm IV (r. 1840-1861)

Grants Constitutional Monarchy and legislative assembly

German Confederation elects him King of unified Germany, March 1849

A crown from the gutter

Prussia
- Freidrich-Wilhelm IV accepted changes early on
- Really regretted accepting them
- inspired many liberals at the German Confederation to put hope in him
  - starting creating a new consitution for a united Germany.
  - created a mixture of the USA system and the parliamentary system of UK.
- Then Friedrich-Wilhelm changed his mind.
  - Dec. 1848 new legislature took its seats.
  - One week later, he formed a new government around a conservative prime minister
    - marched an army into Berlin
    - dissolved parliament
  - rewrote a new more conservative constitution.

1848 Revolutions: Austria Fails

Nationalist Revolutions

Vienna, Prague, Lombardy, Venetia, Zagreb (Croatia)

Revolutionary in-fighting

Military Repression

Austria
- Nationalist revolutions
  - in Vienna, Prague, Lombardy, Venetia, Zagreb (Croatia)
    - all declaring soverign authority
    - all wanted end of Klemens von Metternich (foreign minister 1809-1821, Chancellor 1821-1848)
      - he stepped down.
      - march 12,
  - Czech Natioanlists calling for a Czech national assembly within Austria
  - Hungary won autonomy, a parliament and an elected legislature.
    - they were granted.
  - They ran into major problems
    - class problems
      - Peasants vs Austrians
      - peasants vs local nobles
    - national problems
      - multiple nations within areas
        
        Germans supported the crush of the Czechs in Prague
        
        they supported national sovereignty but thought Czechs threatened their own.
  - led to a series of devastating defeats against Austrian Armies in 1848.
  - Refused the concessions already made to Hungary for example by having Ferdinand I abdicate the throne in favor of Franz Josef.
    - Hungarians fought on
    - Russia then granted support to Austria.
    - Hungary finally subjugated in August 1849.

Consequences

Newspapers
Political Clubs
Class & Political Divisions
Nationalism

Consequences.
- newspapers
  - Austria
    - before 1848
      - 79 newspapers, 19 discussed politics
    - after
      - 388 papers, 306 were political news.
- political clubs
  - German-speaking Europe
    - between 1 million and 1.5 million people joined political clubs.
      - 1 out of every 9-10 men.
  - clubs turned people into citizens
    - in Germany they became really important to conservative politics
      - by 1849, conservative clubs outnumbered liberal clubs.
- Created large political meetings
  - planned well ahead of time and publicized.
  - women joined these meetings
    - other times women joined political clubs.
    - they became increasingly participatory.
- Class & political division
  - became clear that there were major divisions between class and poltiics