The lecture series discusses the series of revolutions that swept across Western Europe in the 19th century, primarily in the 1820s, 1830s, and the pivotal year of 1848, driven by the ideologies of liberalism and nationalism, despite efforts by conservative powers to maintain the status quo after the Napoleonic Wars.
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
too hello welcome back to our lecture
series for Western Civilization 102. our
topic today will be revolution I know
you're thinking we have discussed so
much Revolution
um recently with this lecture series
it was hoped of course after the defeat
of Napoleon in 1815 and and it's the
reason why some of the European the
major European States got together at
that Congress of Vienna it was hope that
they can maintain
a balance of power and and that you know
they could make sure that what happened
in France of course doesn't happen again
but not not long after obviously we will
experience some revolutionary years in
western civilization the year 1820
around 1820 was was huge we have quite a
lot of revolutions taking place in
different European countries for example
they had a very famous Revolution that
took place in Greece
the Greek Revolution was was actually
romanticized in some of some of the
they Greece had rebelled against the
Ottoman Empire
we've heard the name the Ottoman Empire
in the past
and Greece won which was not always the
case you'll see but Greece won this
Rebellion they actually had help outside
help which was not always the case as well
from places like Britain and France and Russia
Russia
why would other countries help them in a
rebellion so to speak because that you
know when a country's rebelling and
they're trying to to become independent
for example at this time from the
Ottoman Empire
that's not maintaining the status quo
that's not go remember Europe wanted to
go back to the way it was before the
French Revolution
but I guess the powers in Europe felt
that an independent Greece would be
better for them
because Greece of course right there on
the Mediterranean it maybe would help
them with Naval positions in fact uh and
it would also help give them access to
Christian shrines in the Holy Land you
know Russia also wanted
territories in this area and wanted to
become the protector of the the
Christian shrines there in the holy land
so anyway Greece experienced a revolution
revolution
and we'll find out of course you know
what happens as far as that you know
Spain is concerned a lot of these
revolutionaries a lot of these people
that were revolting in these different
countries for the most part they
believed in what's called liberalism
not modern liberalism but but the
liberalism in this time period they
believed they wanted written
constitutions they they wanted the
middle class to have more of a say in
government and in politics which they
hadn't had in the past and so then you
have the conservatives the rulers the
monarchs who are obviously do not want
written constitutions and they will have
problems and have rebellions
because of this so we'll see what
happens as well as that Italy
experiences a revolution in 1821 as well
now we're going to see that Britain will
remain Revolution free I guess you could
say pretty much because Britain decides
that they will start putting forth some
reform measures
because they do not want to go the way
of some of these other countries with
that with those problems they will start
to give their middle class more of a
sand government it's called the Great
Reform Bill of 1832.
because like I said we have Revolutions
in the 1830s as well um
now
we also will see a series of revolutions
that take place in the year 1848 and
1849 it's kind of the year of the
revolutions and and we'll find out of
course why we see this during this time period
period
remember that there was also something
called nationalism
and it's where people of a certain
ethnic group a certain cultural that are
tied together culturally or historically
wanting to create their own countries that
that
sounds fine but it will create a huge
problem because for example the Austrian
Empire is is made up of a lot of
different ethnic groups
you have of course even
in Italy the austrians are prominent
there in Italy as well
so we will of course see nationalism
play a huge role in some of these
revolutions that take place in the Years
1820 1830 and and of course that really
prominent year of 1848. so let's learn
more about
once again Revolution
at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the
great Powers were sharply divided over
the issue of whether or not the concert
of Europe that is the aggregation of
great Powers should intervene in
countries to prevent Revolution
Alexander the first of Russia and Prince
metternick of Austria were strongly in
favor of doing so they were joined in
this by Frederick William III of Prussia
and even by the French who now with a
bourbon back on the throne were opposed
to Revolution and willing to intervene
elsewhere the one strong exception was
the British whose Lord Castle Ray was
steadfastly opposed to intervening in
any other State's business
this of course was a purely theoretical
point in 1815 but in beginning in 1820
it became a very concrete issue there
were in fact in the next three decades
three Great Waves of Revolutions in
Europe one in the 1820s a second in the
early 1830s and a third pervasive wave
of revolution in 1848 and 1849. at the
heart of these revolutions were two
revolutionary ideologies that is
revolutionary for the early 19th century
one of these was liberalism 19th century
liberals sought to reduce the authority
of monarchy and to increase the rights
particularly of the middle class through
legislative assemblies and a wider
extension of the franchise
a second Factor was nationalism in many
places notably in Germany and Italy
there were nationalistic groups who did
not yet have a nation-state and in most
cases the nationalists and the Liberals
work together because both face the same
opponent that is the conservatives who
were interested in preserving the status
quo thanks to the Industrial Revolution
there was also a third element in
increasing role played by workers in
this period some of whom though not all
of whom embraced socialism and this is
particularly evident in the 1848 revolutions
revolutions
the first wave began in the 1820s in
1820 Revolution erupted in Spain and in
Portugal the following year in 1821 in
Italy and in Greece and in 1825 there
was a short-lived Revolution in Russia
in Spain the Spanish revolution of 1820
to 1823 was directed against the
restored bourbon King Ferdinand VII
Ferdinand had initially agreed to a
constitution the constitution of 1812 in
Spain which granted rights to the
Spanish people and granted
representation in the form of the the
ancient representative institution the Cortez
Cortez
however in 1820 Ferdinand dissolved the
Cortez and began making plans to send
the Spanish Army to the new world where
there had also been a number of
successful Revolutions in Spanish
colonies colonies that Ferdinand hope to recapture
recapture
much of the opposition to Ferdinand in
fact came from younger liberal officers
in the Spanish Army the result was the
outbreak in 1820 of a very veritable
Civil War in Spain between supporters of
the king and supporters of the Liberals
for a Time Ferdinand himself actually
became a captive of his opponents
the concert of Europe responded of
course Alexander the first of Russia
wanted to intervene France agreed and so
also did medernick of Austria but they
recognized the British sphere of
influence in Spain which was closer to
Britain than it was to either Austria or Russia
Russia
the British opposed both because they
did not want to get involved in Spain
and also because they had their own
Colonial interests in the new world to
pursue and the upshot of that was that
in the short term there was no
intervention although that's not the end
of the story
in 1820 also there was rebellion in
Portugal against Joy or John VI here the
Army also revolted and here too the
British backed uh the rebels to the
extent of opposing any sort of intervention
intervention
there was also revolution in the two
sicilies or the kingdom of Naples and
Sicily however you prefer against
Ferdinand the first another bourbon
restored to the throne After the
Revolution there too the Army revolted
led by googly Elmo Pepe
in the midst of all of this the great
Powers met again in 1820 at the Congress
of trapal the second major Congress
since the Congress of Vienna at this
particular Congress Austria Prussia and
Russia agreed upon something known as
the trapal protocol which gave the great
Powers the right to intervene in the
case of revolutions knowing that this
would be the case the British refused to
participate and the French also for the
time being refused to give their permission
permission
the following year in 1821 at the
Congress of labach
the great Powers who were in attendance
Austria Prussia and Russia gave
permission to Austria to intervene in
the Revolt in Naples where they restored
Ferdinand the first and went on to
suppress an additional Revolt in Sardinia
Sardinia
in response to this Britain formally
repudiated the trapal protocol and the
whole notion of interfering in revolutions
revolutions
a final Congress occurred in 1822 in
Verona the Congress of Verona actually
authorized French intervention in Spain
the French making the argument that
Spain is their next-door neighbor was
their business and there in 1823 they
restored Ferdinand the seventh so in the
first part of the wave of Revolutions of
the 1820s the more conservative or
indeed reactionary wing of the concert
of Europe got exactly what it wanted it
suppressed revolution in Italy it
suppressed revolution in Spain
now Portugal was an exception to that
one of the offshoots of this
interestingly enough was that the
activities of the concert of Europe had
a bearing on United States foreign
policy in this period insofar is that
they contributed to the formulation of
the Monroe Doctrine issued in 1823 by
James Monroe although largely formulated
by John Quincy Adams what this stated
was that the United States would not
tolerate European interference in the
Western Hemisphere this was directed
primarily against any sort of efforts on
the part of Spain for example to try to
regain its recently liberated colonies
interestingly enough though the United
States really lacked a Navy sufficient
to enforce the Monroe Doctrine in the
1820s and the actual enforcement was
carried out by at the time America's
Ally Britain which was eager to thwart
the other European countries and played
a major role in keeping them out of the
Western Hemisphere
now all this was going on
Revolt also broke out in Greece in 1821.
this was the latest stage in the
long-running and by no means uh soon
concluded Eastern question uh that that
involved pretty much the entire Eastern Mediterranean
Mediterranean
Greece had for hundreds of years been
part of the Ottoman Empire of the Turks
now in 1821 it sought to break free
there was a revolutionary group in
Greece known as the fanariots made up
primarily of merchants who were eager to
establish Greek Independence and who
embraced both Greek liberalism and Greek
nationalism in the process
they were led by a man named Alexander
ipsilanti and curiously enough there was
no opposition to the revolution in
Greece from the concert of Europe
there are two reasons for this one
is that in the west at this time there
was a wave of what we call panhellenism
that is sympathy with the Greeks who
were regarded as among the founders of
Western civilization and who were seen
in the west as Christians seeking to
obtain their independence from an
Islamic Overlord and therefore the
western states were quite enthusiastic
about the Greek Revolution and
volunteers from Britain and France and
others went and actually fought on
behalf of the Greeks
with respect to Austria and Prussia
there was a somewhat different motive
although it was couched in in somewhat
ideological terms
both Austria and Russia bordered on the
Ottoman Empire both Austria and Russia
lusted for territory that was currently
in the hands of the Turks particularly
territory in the Balkans and territory
along the Black Sea
in addition Russia also was eager to
extend its influence far enough into the
Black Sea to have access unimpeded to
the Turkish Straits therefore anything
that weakened the Ottoman Empire
anything that led to a gradual chipping
away of Ottoman territory was good as
far as Austria and Russia were concerned
therefore they did not oppose the Greek
Revolution as they had in the past
therefore no one from the concert of
Europe stepped in to oppose the Greeks
this revolutionary fighting in Greece
continued for over a decade but in the
meantime there was yet another Uprising
in of all places Russia with an uprising
known as the decemberist revolution in
December of 1825.
in the aftermath of the French
Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars many
Russian soldiers came back to Russia
from fighting in France having been
exposed to the greater Liberty that the
French enjoyed and convinced that they
ought to have more of the same at home
moreover early on in his career Czar
Alexander the first had given the
Russians reason to believe that he was a
reformer that he was interested in
creating a Russian Parliament that he
was interested in recognizing many of
the rights that France had recognized
During the Revolution so there was a
widespread expectation among Russian
soldiers that they would be rewarded for
their work in fighting against Napoleon
by being given greater rights but that
in fact is not what happened indeed it
was just the opposite Alexander the
first became more repressive in the wake
of the Revolution and the result of this
is that many of the younger officers in
the Russian army attracted to the
liberal principles of the French
Revolution began organizing secret
revolutionary societies
none of these did very much until 1825
but in that year Alexander still a
relatively young man suddenly died
leaving the throne vacant
now the question was who would take his place
place
his next brother in terms of age was a
brother named Constantine but
Constantine at the time was
administering Russian territory in
Poland and seemed quite happy to
continue doing that
a third brother named Nicholas was
actually in Russia and there ensued a
brief comedy of errors in which Nicholas
recognized Constantine as the heir and
Constantine recognized Nicholas as the heir
heir
revolutionary Societies in both northern
and southern Russia attempted to seize
the opportunity that this afforded for a
revolution and indeed the northern
Society actually marched into Saint
Petersburg and was on the verge of
seizing control of The Winter Palace
when they stopped to make speeches and
to celebrate which allowed the tsarist
forces to muster enough troops to put
them down
The Decemberists Revolution therefore
came to a very quick and bad end
Nicholas the first wound up being Czar
and proved to be far more repressive
than Alexander the first ever had been
it will tell you something about
Nicholas the first to know that he was
one of the few czars who was a hero of
Joseph Stalin now
now
in the succeeding Century The
Decemberists Were Heroes for every
revolutionary group to come along in
Russia but in the short term they
accomplished little except to make the
Russian government even more repressive
than it had been
meanwhile Russia had become involved in
the vicinity of Greece for a rather
different reason it had entered in 1828
into a war with the Turks on its own not
necessarily to help Greece but in
pursuit of its own interests this Russo
Turkish War lasted from 1828 until 1829
and the principal bone of contention
here was possession of the two
territories of Moldavia and wallachia
which controlled access to the Danube
River particularly its mouth as it
enters into the Black Sea
ultimately the war came to an end in
1829 with the treat Treaty of Adrian
opal which made Moldavia and wallachia
protectorates of the Russian Empire and
required the Turks to abide by the
judgment and direction of Britain France
and Russia when it came to Greece
not surprisingly then the Turks were
shortly compelled to recognize Greek Independence
Independence
in 1830 the great Powers issued what
were known as the protocols of 1830
which recognized Greek Independence
subsequently a Convention of London In
1832 set the boundaries and placed on
the Greek Throne a German Prince
Otto of Bavaria thus the Greek
Revolution uh uniquely was successful
among the Revolutions of the 1820s
the second wave of revolutions began in
1830 and interestingly enough it was
sparked in that home ground of
Revolution France
there of course the Bourbons had been
restored in 1814 in the person of Louis
the 18th who had briefly had to escape
during the hundred days when Napoleon
returned but had been restored again in
1815 and ruled until the end of his life
in 1824.
there France was split between two
groups known as the liberals who
embraced liberal ideology the the
ideology of the French Revolution and a
group known as the Ultras who supported
absolute monarchy and a very powerful Church
Church
Louis not surprisingly sympathized with
the Ultras but he recognized the reality
of the situation knew that it was not
practical uh to Simply go back on all of
his promises uh to the revolutionaries
and so he abided by that Constitution he
had granted in 1814 the charter of 1814.
of course he spoiled at some extent by
insisting on referring to it as a gift
rather than the right of the French
people but in any case it meant that he
shared power with a bicameral
legislature the Chamber of peers and the
Chamber of deputies
however in 1824 Louis the 18th died
without Heirs of his own and was
followed by his younger brother Charles
the count of Artois who now became
Charles the tenth Charles was far more
reactionary than Louis much more openly
pro-ultra much more closely tied to the
church he began attacks on liberal
groups also on universities which were
seen as a Heartland of liberal ideas and
in 1830 matters came to a head
when Charles issued something called the
July ordinances of 1830 in which he
dissolved the old bicameral assembly
established a new election system
deprived the middle class of the vote
implemented rigid censorship and
abrogated the charter of 1814.
the result of this was Revolution
although as a relatively non-violent
Revolution compared to what happened in
1789 and after the government was
completely unprepared for what happened
in on July 26 1830 the workers threw up
barricades in the streets of Paris
over the next three days the 27th the
28th and the 29th of July which the
French came to call the three Glorious
Days workers students and Republicans
that is those who opposed a monarch
manned the barricades and as a result
Charles fled the country
he was replaced not by a republic but by
a cousin by the Duke of Orleans Louis
Philippe who is in fact a descendant of
Louis XIV
received the crown on July the 31st and
began an 18-year Reign which is
sometimes referred to as the July
monarchy and sometimes referred to as
the Bourgeois monarchy because of Louis
Philippe's fondness for the French
middle class
the French Revolution of 1830 in turn
helped to spark a revolution in Belgium
there the Congress of Vienna
had combined Belgium and the old
Protestant United provinces of the
Netherlands into a single Kingdom Under
the rule of William the first
Belgium was not particularly happy about
that because it found itself at odds
with its northern Neighbors The Dutch in
a number of respects
the Dutch in the northern half of the
New Kingdom of the Netherlands spoke
Dutch they were Calvinists they were
largely commercial and they held the
belgians in contempt
the belgians were ethnically Walloon
they spoke French and Spanish they were
catholic in terms of religion they were
Agricultural and Industrial in terms of
their economy they resented tariffs
imposed upon them by William the first
and economic problems in general and
they held the Dutch in contempt so in a
sense trouble was brewing from the beginning
beginning
what brought it to a head is that on the
9th of August the 25th uh 1830 about
four weeks after the French Revolution
there was a play or rather an opera that
was performed at a theater in Brussels
the theater Royale de la Monet called
the mute girl of portagee by Daniel Auber
Auber
this particular Opera is actually an
Italian opera it's set in 1647 in Naples
and it is set amidst a rebellion that
took place in Naples in that year
it appealed greatly to the belgian's
Romantic nationalism and in the
aftermath of the play it sparked rioting
in Brussels which spread to the rest of
Belgium and led to the setting up in
October of a provisional government in
opposition to William the first
now not surprisingly the great Powers
reacted to this
Austria Prussia and Russia wanted to
intervene in the Belgian Revolution
however they were distracted by the fact
that there was also trouble in 1830 in
Poland about which more in a minute
and Austria at least by the fact that
there was trouble in Italy
in addition Britain opposed any uh
interference in Belgium as did the
French and the upshot of this was a
conference in London in 1831 which
recognized the independence of Belgium
and led to the creation of a Belgian
Constitution and a constitutional
monarchy headed by yet another German
Prince imported for Belgian purposes
Leopold the first
Belgium would go on to be a major player
in the Diplomatic Affairs and especially
the Empire Building of the 19th century
in Poland
of course there is no Poland per se that
is there is no independent country of
Poland Poland having been absorbed by
the partition of Poland in the 1770s and
90s and then restored to its owners
after Napoleon's experiment with the
grand duchy of Warsaw however the polls
were certainly still there and the polls
were not at all happy about being ruled
variously by Russians austrians are
prussians and in November of 1830 there
was an uprising led by an army officer
named Peter wasaki
um against primarily Nicholas the first
of Russia
because this is a revolution that
involves the Army it is also sometimes
called the cadet Revolution unfortunately
unfortunately
Prussia or rather Poland was surrounded
by its three adversaries Russia Austria
and Prussia and the result was that the
Polish Uprising was crushed in 1831
primarily by a Russian army led by
Yvonne paskovich so the Polish
Revolution came to very little though it
did help to distract Austria Prussia and
Russia from being involved in Belgium
meanwhile there were also insurrections
in Italy particularly in Modena and in
that collection of states in
northeastern Italy known as the papal ligations
ligations
in Modena there was a ruler at the time
named Francis IV the Duke of Modena who
actually encouraged revolutionaries in
his own kingdom and in others around him
or in his own duchy and others around
him because he wanted to create a North
Italian Kingdom with himself at its head
he ever was not a very trustworthy
individual as the modinan
revolutionaries were about to discover
in 1830 a revolutionary in Modena by the
name of minadi LED an uprising but as it
turned out France is the Duke of Modena
double-crossed him and the modinan
Revolution was put down in 1831.
in the papal legations a series of
States between the Papal States and
Venice Revolution also broke out in 1830
the revolutionaries adopted the
tri-color flag of the French Revolution
and called for United Italy
they were opposed of course by Pope
Gregory the 16th and Gregory sought help
where he knew he was likely to get it
that is to say he asked Prince madernick
of Austria for assistance and Austria
sent in troops who crushed the Rebellion
thus of the 1830s rebellions the one in
France and the one in Belgium succeeded
those in Poland and in Italy did not
the implications though seem to be that
the concert of Europe worked after a
fashion Austria and Prussia had shown
restraint regarding Belgium Britain and
France had shown restraint regarding
Italy and Poland and there had been no
wider War
one reason for the concert of Europe was
of course to avoid Warfare among the
great powers and that is what seems to
have happened at this time
now from 1831 until 1848 things remained
relatively quiet
although trouble was brewing in many
places in that period
nationalism growing stronger liberalism
going stronger and among liberals an
increasing number turning to
republicanism rather than liberal
monarchy as their ideal and even some
Liberal Republicans embracing the idea
of democracy
the working class also grew larger as a
result of the Industrial Revolution and
the the workers tended to either support
liberals or to embrace socialism in some cases
cases
in 1848 there would be a veritable
explosion of revolutions
the first broke out in January of 1848
in Palermo in Italy and over the next
four months there were almost 50 in
other European States
in fact the only two major States not to
experience revolution in 1848 were
Britain and Russia countries which were
at the opposite ends of the map in terms
of geography and at the opposite ends of
the Spectrum in terms of politics
Britain having the most open uh liberal
sort of government at the time and
Russia the most repressive uh autocratic
government at the time
one of the Sparks for this revolution as
is so often the case with upheavals like
this was an economic crisis
as a general rule if you find a severe
economic crisis particularly one that
leads to hunger you can look down the
road three to five years and find
serious trouble and this is no exception
in 1845 and 1846 there was a severe
agricultural crisis in Europe that led
to poor harvests shortages of food high
prices and hunger even to starvation in
some places
another problem is that by this time the
industrial revolution had become so
large and had begun to move so quickly
that there was industrial overproduction
and lots of goods that failed to sell
with the result that workers were laid
off and what have you and then of course
there were the ever-present forces of
liberalism and nationalism
the real spark for the 1848 revolutions
was not the uprising in Palermo which
was of relatively small significance but
yet another revolution in France the
revolution of 1848.
there over the last 18 years the July
monarchy had at first proven to be very popular
popular
Louis Philippe had embraced the middle
class he had done a great deal to
promote business and and Industry in
France he was known for his Thrift for
his sobriety for his hard work all
things that were values that the middle
class in France could embrace
But as time went on his policies came
more and more to favor the wealthy not
the lower middle class or the workers
and there was increasing dissatisfaction
moreover and this is not to be
discounted lightly Louis Philippe had a
very unambitious foreign policy which in
some respects may have been exactly what
France needed at the time after years of
the French Revolution in Napoleon but
people quite frankly found him boring uh
we're not necessarily happy with the
fact that France was failing to cut a
major figure on the stage of Europe and
for all of these reasons there was
increasing dissatisfaction and
opposition to Louis Philippe
not everyone opposed him there was a
party in France at the time known as the
party of resistance and that means not
resistance to Louis Philippe but
resistance to his opponents or
resistance to any kind of change this
party was led by a man named Francois
gizo it was somewhat right of Center and
it tended to believe that the status quo
in France was exactly right that there
should be no further changes on the
other hand there was a party called the
party of movement led by a man named
Adolf ta which was a more liberal group
wanting a broader electorate and more
constitutional rights for the French people
people
these were the two major parties in the
assembly but there were other groups of
significance as well
there were a group of individuals known
as the legitimists and what the
legitimates wanted to do was to bring
back the Bourbons
there weren't any real strong bourbon
candidates in the 1840s but such men did
exist and the legitimate held out a thin
hope that they might bring them back
there was also a group known as the
bonapartists the original Bonaparte of
course was dead as was his son by this
time but his nephew Louis Napoleon was
very much alive and the bonapartist
supported the notion of placing him in
charge of the country however is the
time he was largely regarded as
something of a joke not taken very
seriously his early forays into politics
were not successful and so about nobody
paid a whole lot of attention to him
then there were a variety of Republicans
in France college students young
radicals secret societies purveyors of
propaganda individuals who wanted to
extend the right to vote individuals who
wanted a salary for members of the
assembly individuals who wanted a free
public education and prominent among
them was the Republican Louis blankie
and of course there were some socialists
notably Louis Blanc who we discussed
earlier when talking about the so-called utopians
utopians
well all of this came to head in France
in 1847 1848 during what was called the
winter of discontent
food was short
prices went up jobs dropped in number
there were working demons worker
demonstrations all over France the
government cracked down on these and the
response among the liberal middle class
was to come up with a very clever
gimmick for holding political meetings
without calling them political meetings
they began something known as the
banqueting campaign
what they would do is to hold a banquet
and it would just so happen that at this
banquet there would be somebody on hand
to serve as Speaker who would give a
political speech criticizing the
government and attempting to Rally the
opponents of Louis Philippe
all of this was intended to culminate in
Paris in February of 1848.
but gizo who was a member of Louis
Philippe's government banned the banquet
in Paris and the result of that was revolt
revolt
members of the middle class initially
rose up in Revolt they were joined by
the workers who threw up barricades in
the street and when the government sent
the National Guard out to suppress them
the National Guard crossed the lines and
joined the rebels
in short Louis Philippe was in big trouble
trouble
in fact within hours he fled the country
and the rebels set up a provisional government
government
a provisional government which initially
was quite radical which included a lot
of Republicans and even some socialists
like Louis Blanc and which set up a
number of essentially socialist-based
workshops to put people to work during
the unemployment crisis
there was however a backlash against
this among the more well-to-do middle
class and the nobility and the upshot
was that in the summer of 1848 the
Socialists were purged from the
government and by late in the year the
government had adopted a new
constitution a constitution of the
second French Republic which was meant
to act as a barrier against radicalism
and to protect order instability
one of the features of this second
Republican Constitution was a very
strong president
another was a separate legislature and a
third was Universal manhood suffrage
that is all male citizens of adult age
had the right to vote
an election was held
in which there were several strong candidates
candidates
but to the surprise of almost everyone
the man who was elected in 1848 as the
president of the second French Republic
was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
whose name carried such cachet that
people voted for him in large numbers
and were attracted by his own attempts
to pose as a defender of on order and is
somebody who could restore the greatness
of France to what it had been under his
uncle the original Napoleon
as we will see in days to come Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte would serve as
president for four years and then
declare himself emperor of France with
very far-reaching consequences
in the time being
revolution spread from France to other states
states
in Germany
the French Revolution frightened the
rulers of the 39 German states and many
of them responded to the fear of
Revolution by granting very liberal
constitutions to their people and by
embracing part of the agenda of German
liberals and nationalists hoping thereby
to win over the Liberals and
nationalists to their side and to avoid confrontation
confrontation
but there were also social forces going
on here as well as political there was
still a threat of violence uh Artisans
were opposed to industrialists and vice
versa peasants were opposed to Nobles
and vice versa and these newly liberal
governments now had to find a way to
restore order
it would be impossible here to talk
about all 39 German states but one that
is especially important because of its
size and its expected leadership role
was Prussia
Prussia by now was ruled by Frederick
William IV
who in 1848 engaged in a great deal of
romantic talk about German National
Unity about creating a single Germany
although in Prussia itself he had
absolutely no intention of giving up power
power
he did allow elections he did allow the
creation of a Prussian Parliament but
then he reasserted power and uh
modified the Constitution so as to
safeguard Liberties but at the same time
to keep most power in his hands
this was something of a disappointment
to liberals and nationalists in the rest
of Germany because they had seen Prussia
as their best hope for creating a United
Germany since Austria was steadfastly
opposed to such an idea
in the meantime something else happened
in Germany which is rather peculiar and
that is the creation of something called
The Frankfurt Parliament
this was not actually a
government-sponsored Endeavor at all it
was not sponsored by any of the
governments of any of the 39 German states
states
rather what happened is that liberal
intellectuals in all of these states set
up elections which led to the election
of 830 delegates Again by Universal
manhood suffrage most of them from the
upper middle class and they began
meeting in Frankfurt on May the 18th 1848.
1848.
they claimed to represent all the German
people and many of the German people
applauded that but the rulers of the 39
German states did not recognize their authenticity
authenticity
and in fact while what the Frankfurt
Parliament hoped to achieve was a United
Germany it found itself facing a number
of conflicting aims
was the German state to be a
confederation of the 39 States or was it
to be a truly unified Nation one Germany
was it to have an emperor a king or be a republic
republic
what would its boundaries be
would it include Austria or not
would it have an army
most people thought that would be
impossible and in fact they would have
to rely on the Prussian Army but that
made many of the non-prussian states nervous
nervous
also the Frankfurt Parliament eventually
came to annoy the two largest German
states Austria and Prussia and misjudged
the extent to which those two were
prepared to act
nonetheless the Frankfurt Parliament got
around to writing a constitution called
the fundamental rights of the German
people in early 1849.
had it been effectively implemented this
would have granted freedom of the press
freedom of speech freedom of assembly
and a good deal of representation
unfortunately it was passed by the
Frankfurt Parliament too late to be
accepted by the German states
the most important problems were first
of all that there was a split in the
group between whether to have a big
Germany or a little Germany a big
Germany would include Austria as a part
A Little Germany would exclude Austria
Austria not surprisingly was opposed to either
either
uh another thing is that the austrians
didn't like this idea not only because
they didn't want to be subsumed within
Germany they also feared that they would
have to give up their non-german
territories elsewhere
Francis Joseph the new ruler in Austria
absolutely refused and when the
Frankfurt Parliament offered the crown
to Frederick William IV of Prussia the
crown of all Germany he turned it down
saying that he would not take a crown
from the gutter
and thus the German Revolution began to
crumble the idea of German Unity does
not go away it will be back but this
attempt came to nod
meanwhile in Austria itself there was
also Revolution
Revolution against madernic and you
might say medernick's last hurray
madernick had done his best in the 1840s
to insulate Austria and its territories
from revolutionary ideas
but the population there had grown
increasingly restive the biggest threat
being nationalism
German nationalism in Austria where
there was a lot of sentiment for joining
in a larger Germany Magyar nationalism
in Hungary where there was a desire for
greater autonomy and Czech nationalism
in Bohemia where there was a similar desire
desire
to the extent that Austria held Italian
territories there was a similar problem
there as well
in Hungary a group of magyars led by
Louis kossuth demanded Hungarian
autonomy in 1848.
the checks did the same in Bohemia the
croats and the Romanians and the Balkans
Vienna students in Vienna and ultimately
medernick found himself forced to resign
and to sneak out of Vienna in the back
of a taxi
in March 1848 Hungary forced through the
passage of something called the March
laws which made Hungary virtually
independent created a Hungarian
Parliament established a Hungarian Army
an independent budget and an independent
foreign policy
oddly enough though Hungary which had
demanded this from Austria now in turn
refused to recognize the rights of its
own minorities people like the croats
for example and that would come back to
haunt them a bit later on
in Bohemia in the city of Prague
a pan slav Congress began meeting in
1848 with the idea of trying to create a
single Slavic state in Southeastern
Europe or in Eastern Europe there were
demonstrations but this was quickly
suppressed by the Austrian General
Alfred windscrots who established a
military dictatorship there
in Vienna there was at first no radical
change until after medernick fled but
there eventually the students and others
pushed through a liberal Constitution
the emperor Ferdinand fled
but once again windy scrotz came in
suppressed the Revolution and put a new
relative of Ferdinand on the throne a
young 18 year old ruler named Francis
Joseph or Franz Joseph who would remain
on the throne there all the way down to
1916 ruling Austria through the majority
of World War One
of course Francis Joseph was very young
and inexperienced so he turned over a
good deal of decision making in 1848 to
his chief minister Prince Felix schwartzenberg
schwartzenberg
and under schwarzenberg with the
assistance of generals like vendish
grotz the revolution in Hungary was put down
down
Louis kossuth escaped and like escapees
from political turmoil all over Europe
in the 19th century he fled to Britain
where he would be safe and the
revolution subsided
well that leaves Italy
in Italy the Revolutions of 1848 came in
three phases
the first of these was Revolutions in
states that were under Austrian rule
revolutions against the Austrian government
government
the second phase came with a full-blown
war for independence led by Charles
Albert the king of Sardinia
and the third phase came with the
attempt by a man named mazzini to
establish a republic in the city of Rome
none of these in the short term would
come to fruition
the wars in Italy were inspired by both
liberalism and nationalism by a desire
for more liberal government for more
popular participation and also by out of
the desire for the creation of a single
Italian state
there were calls for a war of liberation
liberals and nationalists all over Italy
looked to Charles Albert of Sardinia to
lead them but as was the case with
Frederick William IV and Prussia Charles
Albert was not especially enthusiastic
the difference is though he eventually
was won over and reluctantly but
valiantly fought against the austrians
unfortunately the Italian soldiers at
this juncture and Charles Albert himself
in particular were no match for the
Austrian troops which were led into
Italy in 1848 by a general named Joseph radetsky
radetsky
in fact the Italian revolutions were put down
down
moreover of all people Louis Napoleon of
France intervened in 1849.
in Rome
mazzini and one of his Sidekicks
Giuseppe Garibaldi later to be a major
Italian hero had attempted to set up a
republic centered in Rome expecting the
hope of the Pope or that the the support
of the Pope
but in fact the pope resisted them the
pope appealed to France for Aid and
Louis Napoleon who was looking for an
opportunity to make a splash on the
European continent came to the Pope's assistance
assistance
mazzini was driven out of Rome
Garibaldi fled initially to the United
States and the Roman Republic was
squashed the papacy restored and Louis
Napoleon cemented a strong relationship
for the time being at least with the
Catholic Church
the only place where there was any
success for revolutionary activity in
Italy in 1848 and 1849 was in Sardinia
there interestingly enough Charles
Albert abdicated after the failure of
the other revolutions and was replaced
by his son Victor Emmanuel II
Victor Emanuel was assisted at this
juncture by a minister named count
Camilo kavor who like Garibaldi would
later become a hero of Italian nationalism
nationalism
now aside from the fact that Sardinia or
Piedmont Sardinia is the only state to
enjoy any sort of success because Victor
Emanuel does Grant a liberal
Constitution there were some lessons
that Italian liberals and nationalists
learn from the failures of 1848 and 49.
number one
they recognized that they were unlikely
to get any help from the papacy
one of the options previously had been
to try to create a United Italy under
the pope but that no longer seemed like
a workable idea
a second lesson was that the most likely
state to lead an Italian Revolution was
indeed Piedmont Sardinia the realm of
Victor Emmanuel II
and the third lesson was that the
Italian states were not strong enough to
drive the austrians out by themselves
therefore in the years to come they
would begin looking for an ally to help
them drive out the austrians and they
would eventually find such an ally in
Louis Napoleon of France
the overall consequences of the 1848
revolutions were by and large failure
outside of France
but what they did do in all countries
was to focus a demand for National Unity
where National Unity did not already
exist nationalism in Germany and Italy
especially became much more powerful
after the 1848 revolutions and the
fusion of liberal and nationalist ideas
also became stronger
one result of the revolution in France
was universal suffrage there although
the hopes of the workers in France and
even more elsewhere were largely not realized
realized
another thing is that the Revolutions of
1848 pretty much shattered any romantic
utopian ideas of Revolution and
convinced future revolutionaries that
they must rely Less on idealism and more
on force and For Better or For Worse
that is how it would be in the years to come
come
well of course you know you would think France
France
would not experience Revolution after
they had gone through so much chaos and
Terror at certain times during their own
Revolution that they would not
experience Revolution again but that is
simply not the case because France will
not be immune as you see to the
revolutions that are happening in Europe
after the Napoleonic Wars in fact when
we come back on our next lecture we'll
learn more about France
and we'll learn about how
there will be a second Empire created
there and amazing interestingly
uh another Bonaparte another Napoleon
will gain power in France again
which of course at the end of the
Napoleonic War as you would think would
never have happened so of course we'll
find out why
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
