Revolutions of the 19th century



The LIBERALS, men from the middle class - factory owners, bankers, merchants, from the intellectual elite : teachers, professors, judges - were no longer willing to accept being excluded from the political process and demanded the kings to grant a written constitution. The kings were adamant, claiming to rule by DIVINE RIGHT and refusing to grant the constitution demanded.
The early decades of the 19th century were characterized by this controversy; at times the liberals, in assembling and marching on the royal palace demanding the king to immediately grant the constitution, were successful. Often it took more than that.
On the side of the liberals there was a willingness to use violence, if necessary, and the FRENCH REVOLUTION had provided the master print as to how to achieve the goal. Yet timing was critical, for the royal government expected revolutions to occur and the HOLY ALLIANCE provided an instrument to suppress them.

Yet the Holy Alliance did not function well if there were too many fires to be stamped out at the same time. Twice in the first half of the 19th century revolutions sparked in Paris and then spread like wildfires over Europe - in 1830 and in 1848.
In 1830 the Belgians achieved their independence because Polish troops lead by Russian officers, ordered to suppress the Belgian revolution, rebelled sparking a general Polish rebellion - which was suppressed; 1830 thus saw success of the revolutionaries in France and Belgium, a defeat in Poland.
In 1848 the German liberals attempted to overcome the country's partition, but broke up over internal dissent; the revolution in Hungary was suppressed by Russian and Austrian troops. On the other hand, the Kings of the Netherlands, Denmark, the Duke of Savoy, fearing revolution, had granted constitutions - again overall a mixed result of success and failure; the liberals and democrats of eastern central Europe prevented Holy Alliance forces to reinforce the Congress system in western Europe.

The Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 had a number of common characteristics : they took place in cities. The revolutionaries would take control of the city, establish a revolutionary government. In expectation of an attack by forces loyal to the king, BARRICADES were erected in the streets.
In a number of cases the armies were part of the revolutionary process - in Poland 1830 the troops ordered to suppress the Belgian revolution themselves revolted; in 1848 both the King of Prussia and the Austrian Emperor lost control of their respective armies and moved to countryside retreats, where they had to observe how events unfolded.
The revolutions of 1830 and 1848 had a less violent, more democratic character than the French Revolution of 1789. There was no phase of terror. In Germany an attempt was made to overcome the country's fragmentation; representatives were elected all over Germany to meet in the National Assembly. Yet democracy had it's limits. Franchise was still limited to men of property and education; the Frankfurt Parliament was a parliament of professors. Only after the Frankfurt Parliament broke up in dissent, did the kings reestablish their authority over army and country.
During the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, the FREE CORPS as well as the 'mob' played an important role. While the FREE CORPS were citizens' rifleman's guilds, with a decades old history and well-organized, as well as identifying themselves with the aims of the revolution, the 'mob' consisted largely of the urban poor, of the emerging PROLETARIAT, whose interests were different, hoping for an improvement of their desperate economic situation. Yet in 1848 the liberals failed to address their needs; the stage for the emergence of a LABOUR MOVEMENT was set.



France Belgium
1815-1830 		Italy Germany Poland
1830-1863
Netherlands Denmark
1815-1864 		Germany
1848-1849 		Hungary
1848-1849




EXTERNAL
FILES 		Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions
REFERENCE



This page is part of World History at KMLA
Last revised on February 20th 2002

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics