Revolt and ReformEurope: 1848

Ch. 21

Wave 3 --- the Climax --- 1848 The Watershed of the 19th Century Everywhere BUT… (see map)

• Issues same as 1789 – end of Ancien Regime

• But now irrepressible – 1848 – beginning of new age

Why?• Severe food shortages (e.g. potato

blight, poor grain harvests)• Financial crises / business failures /

unemployment• Living conditions deteriorating in cities• Nationalism (e.g. Germany / Italy /

Eastern Europe)

Wave 3 : France February 1848 King Louis Philippe and Chief Minister, Guizot refuse to

bring electoral reform (bourgeois monarchy)• February 22-23 – street riots• February 24 – Louis Philippe (like Charles X) abdicates

Provisional Government declares “2nd Republic” Louis Blanc: worker rep. pushes for National

Workshops Unemployment relief – women excluded – by June

200,000 non-working men in Paris April = Constituent Assembly – Lamartine - anti-socialism

Gov’t closes National Workshops “June Days”: New Revolution, seems class warfare –

prefigures Russia • Gen. Cavaignac instates dictatorship and crushes

revolt (10,000 dead) – victory for conservatives Constituent Assembly calls universal suffrage vote:

• Landslide for Louis Napoleon Bonaparte – Napoleon’s nephew

Louis Napoléon, The President

France: From President to Authoritarian

Louis Napoleon “The Pretender” – the Legend• consolidated support (though with the Assembly) Middle class: he was a strong authority vs. socialists and workers

Army: he later used it to control assembly

Church: he increased role in education – army defends Rome

Peasants: he promised support, though actually revoked the vote at first

December 1851: Coup d’etat vs. Assembly• Louis Napoleon re-“elected” president

From Authoritarian to Emperor

Modifying the Constitution• Louis Napoleon becomes head of the armed forces

• Dissolves Legislative Assembly – new Legislative Corps with controlled elections every ten years

• Restores universal suffrage

December 1852• Plebiscite “elects” Emperor Napoleon III• l’Empire, c’est la paix “The Empire means peace”

Emperor Napoléon III

Wave 3 : Austrian Empire 1848• Vienna, March 1848 --- begins in Hungary Louis Kossuth: Speech on liberties 3/3 Vienna riot by workers and students 3/13

Ferdinand I (1835-48) capitulates – offers reforms

Metternich flees in disguise! --- TOTAL CHAOS

• Berlin, March 15, 1848 riots• Hungary, March 15, 1848 – constitutional

separatism (led by Kossuth)• Bohemia, March 1848 – Prague Conference &

Austroslavism (Windishgrätz crushes rebellion)• Italy March 23 Charles Albert of Sardinia (Savoy)

declares war on Austria BUT – revolutionary groups fail – b/c Hungary

filled with minority Serbs, Croats, Romanians vs. Hungary• October: Ferdinand abdicates for nephew Franz

Joseph – 18 years old (1848-1916) restored as emperor --- Russia helps subdue Hungary

Wave 3: Risorgimento in Italy Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872)

• Young Italy, 1831 = creation of Italian republic• Duties of Man “O my Brother! Love your

Country. Our Country is our home.”• Cristina Belgioioso – published Italian

newspaper from Paris Revolutions

• Sicily – Lombardy – Venetia • King Charles Albert of Piedmont leads war of

liberation vs. Austria BUT…defeated March 1849 – abdicates-Victor Emmanuel II now KING

• Revolutionaryies turn to Pope Pius IX…BUT Count Rossi assassinated, Pius fless and ROMAN REPUBLIC est. under Mazzini and Garibaldi – FRANCE liberates Rome in July 3

Revolutions FAIL– only Piedmont keeps liberal constitution

Wave 3 : Berlin & German Confederation 1848

• Pre 1848 – liberals pro constitutional monarchy• After France – liberals revolt in Berlin• Frederick William IV (1840-1861) vacillates

Offers to be part of new German State --- not enough

April 1849 dissolves assembly, proclaims own constitution

• German States call National Assembly in Frankfurt: revolutionary Kleindeutsch vs. Grossdeutsch

• March 1849 National Assembly elects King Fred. Wm of Prussia as emperor of new German State (Austria / Schleswig-Holstein not included) Fred. Wm. reasserts royal authority – but not as

emperor! Austria demands Prussian allegiance, Prussia caves “Humiliation of Olmutz” German Confederation re-

established UNITY = TOTAL FAILURE

Some Reasons for Failure of 1848 Revolutionaries split ranks – liberals

vs. radicals• No universal male suffrage (except France)• Liberals fear social revolution

Ethnic issues not addressed• Esp. in Austria: use ethnic tension in

Hungary against Hungarian nationalist movement