The Beginning:
Jan. 12, 1848 – A rebellion in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies against King Ferdinand II. This will be the first of ~50 revolts in Europe during the next 4 months.
What Was the Cause?
·
Nationalistic
desires throughout the Italian & German states and the Austrian Empire
increased revolutionary tensions
·
Economic
problems, including issues raised by industrialization, such as a new class of
working poor
·
Agricultural
problems (the “hungry forties”), e.g. the Irish potato famine
In 1848, a French rebellion
sparks the rest of the European revolutions. With the rise of censorship and
the banning of openly political meetings, opponents of the regime turned to
holding “banquets,” thinly veiled political meetings. There had been over 70
held during the winter, with the largest to be held on Feb. 22, 1848, to honor
George Washington, continental liberals’ hero. Francoise Guizot, Louis
Phillipe’s chief minister, issued a ban against it that morning, resulting in
four days of revolution in Paris. Louis Phillipe forced Guizot to resign as a
result. This may have placated the liberals; however, the workers were not
satisfied until Louis Phillipe fled to England.
Political disagreements between the liberals and radicals were involved in the revolution. The liberals focused on political issues such as suffrage expansion. The radicals, led by Louis Blanc, were for fundamental social and economic change. Blanc’s supporters pressured the provisional govt. to set up national workshops to provide jobs.
Outside of Paris, the nation was more conservative, with the April 23 assembly election won by mostly moderate republicans. The election, which employed universal male suffrage, created a govt. run by a 5-man executive committee comprised of moderates. Anger over the election results led to a worker’s revolt in Paris during May, but was quickly stopped. In June, the govt. felt powerful enough to do away with the workshops, which they had felt pressured to support. This led to “June Days,” which was essential a violent class struggle in Paris, with 10,000 dead. This further strengthened the moderate republicans, and in November they felt confident enough to create the French Second Republic, headed by a President, who would be elected by a universal male body, and not responsible to the legislature.
In December, when the first election for President was held, the victor was Louis Napoleon (1808-873), a nephew of the Emperor. He was able to capitalize on name appeal and made vague promises to aid the workers. After the election, he created a rather conservative govt., and, by 1851, during a constitutional crisis, he assumed dictatorial powers. In 1852, he made himself Emperor Napoleon III.
In Prussia, Frederick William IV had promised to promote moderate reform for many years, but never did. In March 1848, Berlin’s streets erupted. Horrified by the bloodshed, Frederick ordered his army to leave the city, leaving him without defense against the crowd. He then allowed for an election for a constitutional assembly, which would draw up a new constitution for Prussia. Several months later, confident, he called back his troops, dissolving the constituent assembly. In Dec. 1848, he drew up his own constitution, which was close to what the assembly had planned. It allowed for personal rights, such as freedom of the press, and created a 2-house legislature, with adult-male universal suffrage in the lower house (although this was weakened by giving weighted votes to those who paid more taxes).
In Austria, the French
revolution inspired nationalists to break free from the control of the Austrian
monarchy. In Hungary, Lajos Kossuth demanded a constitution that would provide
for a responsible govt. In Prague, a revolt called for the creation of a
semi-autonomous Czech homeland. From May-Oct., Vienna was under control of
students and workers who demanded freedom of the press, an end to censorship,
and the hated Metternich’s removal from office. The emperor did not want
bloodshed, so like in Prussia, he called off his troops. By June, the Prague
revolt had been put down by the military, and in Nov. the Emperor was firmly in
control in Vienna, although he needed Russian help to put down the Hungarian
revolt.
In 1848, there was an effort
to establish a unified German estate. On May 18, elected representatives from
all German states gathered in Frankfurt to participate in what they thought
would be the birth of a nation. The Frankfurt
Parliament was slowed by the political inexperience of its participants and
by conflicting aims; while all wanted to see a unified German nation, major
disagreements arose over whether it should be a monarchy or a republic and over
border lines. Two ideas:
·
Grossedeutsch plan: wanted to see all German lands, including German sections of
Austria and Bohemia, united under German rule
·
Kleindeutsch plan: felt a more realistic solution would be to include only Prussia
and the smaller German states.
Eventually, the delegates chose the Kleindeutsch plan, and offered the German Imperial throne to William IV, the King of Prussia, who declined. This was a lost opportunity to build a German nation under a liberal parliament, rather than a militaristic Prussian state, as would be the case in 1871.
The revolt that first broke
out in Sicily led Ferdinand II to grant a liberal constitution. Eventually,
similar revolts broke out, causing charter to be granted by terrified monarchs
in Tuscany, Sardinia, and the Papal States. In the north, revolts in the
Austrian-dominated provinces of Lombardy and Venetia broke out, leading to
Italian liberals to call for a war of unification. Charles Albert, ruler of the
Kingdom of Sardinia, reluctantly went with the Italian nationalists and
attacked Lombardy, only to be defeated by the Austrians.
For Italy, the lesson for the future was that unification would not take place under the papacy as some prior to 1848 had assumed. But, the possibility of the Kingdom of Sardinia serving as the foundation for a unified state improved, b/c of those Italian states which had been given constitutions in 1848, only Sardinia governed by the constitutional monarchical course. A final lesson would have future consequences: the Italians could not eject Austria from its possessions within Italy without the aid of another European power.
Two nations avoided 1848
revolutions: Russia and Great Britain. Repression in Russia was so complete
under Nicolas I that hardly any discontent was seen there all year. Great Britain
was completely different, with 1848 being the peak year for Chartism. This centered on the belief
that the problems of the working class could by corrected by changes in the
political organization of the country. The People’s
Charter of 1838, from which the movement received its name, contained six
points:
·
Universal
adult-male suffrage (some Chartists favored female suffrage as well)
·
The
secret ballot
·
Abolition
of property requirements for members of parliament
·
Payment
to members of parliament
·
Equal
electoral districts
·
Annual
parliaments with yearly elections
Working-class unhappiness with the House of Commons
after the passage of the Great Reform Bill was a motivating factor behind the
Chartist movement b/c they believed that the reformed parliament was completely
unresponsive to their demands.
In April 1848, a mass meeting was scheduled in London on April 10 for presentation of the Charter to the House of Commons. If the petition were once again rejected by parliament, the Chartist Convention planned to transform itself into a National Assembly, which would take over the govt. of the country. The capital’s mood was apprehensive. In London there were preparations for a violent conflict, and Queen Victoria was sent away for safety. On the 10th, 200,000 people gathered to sign the petition. It was then presented to the House of Commons, and everyone went home peacefully. Great Britain had appeared to be on the verge of revolution, but luckily for them, it did not occur. Reform did eventually come in stages; by the early 20th century, five of the Six Acts of the Charter (the annual parliament didn’t pass) were established parts of the British constitution.