France 1848
Influence of the Revolution on Europe's Development
- The February Revolution in France was an example to the rest of Europe, as it showed how a provisional government was constructed. It was also one of the first nations to proclaim male suffrage and abolish slavery, taking a step forward in Europe.
- Because of France’s revolutionary tradition, the republic had to reassure other powers of Europe that the French would not try to export their revolution, as it had occurred in the 1790s.
- The other powers feared that the new regime might publicly support Polish independence or Italian and German nationalism. Also, “National Workshops” appeared in France, showing other nations an example of paying unemployed workers to repair roads and level hills.
Pre-Revolution: Monarchy
King Louis-Philippe was supported by the Orleanists, and used his police force (the Paris National Guard commanded by Francois Guizot) to enforce his regime.
Factions:
- Republicans-wanted a republican regime
- Orleanists-wanted the Orleanist king to stay on the throne
Revolution
Factions:
- Socialists
- Leader: Louis Blanc
- Wanted a democratic and socialist republic using elected officials and democratic legislation
- Orleanists
- Leaders: King Louis-Philippe and sons
- Wanted a royal king on the throne with the ability to exercise monarchical power
- Moderates wanted a limited monarchical power with a legislative branch
Nationalism in the Revolution
At every stage of the French Revolution of 1848, nationalism seemed to play a surprisingly small role in the revolution. Initially, France was a monarchy, then a provincial republic, before it became an empire. France had always had some sort of national status both internationally and domestically and France was essentially always considered "French" and under the control of the French people.
- Socialists clubs were persecuted by the elected conservative Constituent Assembly
- General Louis Cavaignac puts down any leftist protests and closes National Workshops. Revolutions ensue. Socialist workers erect barricades in an attempt to slow the Mobile Guard. Cavaignac becomes interim executive until presidential elections occur
- Louis Cavaignac: Conservative
- Alexandre-Auguste Ledru-Rollin: Socialist
- Alphonse de Lamartine: Moderate
- Louis Napoleon Bonaparte: Legitimist's Winner
Counter-Revolution
Candidates for Presidential Elections
- Republicans wanted electoral reform
- Workers demanded the right to vote and state assistance for their trades. Once a provisional government was established, it immediately proclaimed universal male suffrage and abolished slavery in the French colonies.
- Legitimists wanted a Bourbon Restoration.
- Socialists hoped that the Republic would be the first step toward a “democratic and social republic.”
- Women also called for more equal rights, including: women before the law, right to divorce, and better working conditions.
- The Montagnards called for the establishment of progressive taxation, higher wages, and abolition of the tax on wine.
- Many just wanted political stability to be restored.
Objectives and Goals of the Revolution
During Louis-Philippe’s reign, economic stability was never a sure thing for France, in fact before the February Revolution of 1848, there was already a large economic crisis in France due to the king’s support of the Egyptian revolt against the Ottoman Empire. During the revolution, the economic crisis widened the gap between the moderate and the socialists. Unable to secure credit or capital, businesses closed; government bonds plunged in value, and the Paris Stock Exchange temporarily shut down. Artisans were left without clients and laborers without work. More than half of Paris’s workforce was unemployed. More and more people enrolled in the Mobile Guard, an auxiliary paramilitary police force, organized by the provisional government. The provisional government then raised direct taxes on an emergency basis by 45% due to a lack of funds.
- Broken promises
- Lack of consistency in authority figures and national leaders
- No REAL change
- Second Republic of France under Louis Napoleon’s presidency
- June Days Uprising: Unsuccessful uprising by Paris workers against conservatism of French government
- After the Second Republic of France, the French Empire was formed
- Initially, the Monarchy of Louis Philippe, which was overthrown in February, after which the more conservative, Second Republic of France was established
- Largely middle class groups of individuals began holding “fund-raising banquets” to show their protest and voice political unrest, because larger-scale protests and demonstrations were outlawed in France at this time
- February 1848: All campaign banquets were outlawed as well
- Anger was then direct towards King Louis Philippe, who eventually abdicated and fled to England
- Less of a focus on art and painting, more stress placed on growth in literature
- Karl Marx’s Essay: The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (1852)
- Described the revolution as a “class struggle”
- Gustave Flaubert: Sentimental Education (1869)
- Set during the Revolution of 1848
- Regarded as one of the most influential novel’s of the 19th century by his contemporaries
- Victor Hugo: Les Misérables (1862)
- Novel set during the French Revolution of 1848
- Sparked revolutions throughout Europe
- New French constitution
- Stock markets rose
- Peasants were no longer "inevitably conservative"
- Served as a period of "apprenticeship" for republicanism
French writers and pamphleteers, Victor Hugo and Emile Girardin attempted to raise Napoleon III in the ancient Roman fashion of respect. But obviously they are running into some difficulties.
- Workers: Many workers demanded the right to vote and wanted state assistance for their trades. When the stock exchange shut down, laborers left work. Some younger and more marginal workers fought alongside the Mobile Guard to bring down uprisings.
- Middle Class: This class participated in the National Paris Guard and refused to disperse large crowds by force. Also, most of the workers at this time were members of the Middle Class.
- Artisans: Many artisans were left without clients during this revolution, and had to participate in the Mobile Guard.
- Peasants: Many of the poor put their support into “democratic socialists,” as the low prices of agricultural depression had brought about difficulties. The repression drove them into secret societies, whose members–mostly artisans and peasants–swore an oath of allegiance to defend the “democratic and social republic.”
- Nobles: Insisted that the monarchy lacked dynastic legislature.
Political Cartoon
Romanticism in the Revolution
a. This noted socialist thought that June Days
would give way to a future proletarian revolution.
b. How many serious candidates for president ran in the 1948 election?
c. Democratic socialists renamed themselves this after the far left of the first French Revolution.
d. Name a symbol of the French Revolution that was outlawed by Napoleon III.
a. Karl Marx
b. 5
c. the Montagnards
d. Liberty Trees, the song “The Marseillaise,” etc.
This colony is where 4,000 French workers were exiled to after rebelling against the Second Republic.
How was Louis Bonaparte related to Napoleon Bonaparte?
- February 22-24, 1848: Revolution breaks out in Paris-King Louis Philippe overthrown
- April 23, 1848: National elections return a parliament more conservative than the provisional government
- June Days 1848: Workers rebel in Paris when the national workshops are dissolved
- November 1848: New republican constitution is announced and presidential elections are scheduled
- December 1848: Louis Napoleon is elected President
- March 1850: Assembly passes Falloux Law
- May 1850: Constituent Assembly ends universal male suffrage
- December 1851: Louis Napoleon and his supporters declare the end of the Second Republic, dissolving the Constituent Assembly and declaring Napoleon III the Emperor of France
Workers, Artisans & Proletariats
This social class was instrumental in every stage of the revolution.
This city-state was assisted by French troops during the city-state’s revolution, provoking a socialist counter-revolution in France.
He wrote the original novel Les Misérables in 1862 and lived through the French Revolution of 1848.
How many socialists were elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1848?
This faction supported the new French Monarchy in 1848
Alexandre-Auguste Ledru-Rollin
Who was the socialist candidate for President in 1848?
French Revolution of 1848
Social Development
of the Revolution
The revolution also questioned established social institutions, especially the gender hierarchy. In Paris, women formed a number of clubs and newspapers such as "The Woman's Voice," which called for reforms including legal equality, the right to divorce, and improved working conditions.
With elections approaching, French interest in politics heightened. In Paris, more than 200 political clubs began to meet. In the provinces, newspaper circulation became more widespread because rural citizens, who lived farther from Paris, wanted to learn more about the elections.
After Louis-Philippe abdicated the throne and the Second French Republic had been formed, the revolution spread to the provinces. Enthusiastic republicans planted liberty trees which were intended to commemorate a new era.
Alphonse de Lamartine
A French poet, appointed president of the provisional government in France at the beginning of the Second Republic and served as France’s sole director for three months
Established the “right” of citizen to work and the National Workshops, which employed hundreds of thousands of French men
King of France who was overthrown in February 1848 as France drew nearer to conservatism
President of the Second Republic of France and supporter of conservatism in France
Alexandre-Auguste Ledru-Rollin
The leader of the radical socialists, who was eventually arrested during the June Days and also ran (unsuccessfully) for president
Jacques-Charles Dupont D-Eure
Chairman of the provisional government, until the Executive Commission was created, which was a body of five co-presidents that acted as the Head of State
Christopher Perpich, Katie Burns, Megan Pohle, Sierra Twesten, and Jack Youngblut