The Main Cause Of The European Revolutions Of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
HIS 4402
Many historians tend to link the main cause of the European Revolutions of 1848 to the surge of liberal and nationalistic ideologies that seemed to enlighten the newly developed middle and working classes of the European Industrial Revolution. However, many historians forget the pre-revolutionary economic crisis’s that began to build in Europe as early as 1830 that eventually caused Europe to erupt in 1848 . Although the rise of liberal and nationalistic ideals contributed to the European Revolutions of 1848, economic factors played a major role in reshaping Europe politically and economically. The economic landscape of Europe prior to 1848 resembles a society that has shifted toward an …show more content…
industrial society yet still heavily influenced by price and harvest fluctuations in the agricultural sectors . The European industrial revolution had created a middle class of people made up of entrepreneurs, storekeepers, academic professionals, industry owners and managers as well as a new working class . This explains why a large majority of the revolutions in 1848 took place in European cities. The middle class and the factory workers aligned themselves together to confront the disenfranchisement of their social classes and stand up against the conservative model of government that lacked the ability to confront the economic and social issues generated during the European Industrial Revolution. Although the middle class and working classes were able to unite to form an alliance to shift the political structures within their country, the middle class could not identify themselves with the workers and their goals in order to form a new government. On the other hand, the European countryside felt little effects from the revolutions. Most peasants that were fortunate enough to own land tended to lend their allegiance toward the conservative political influences of the old regime. Although elements of an economic crisis’s such as economic depression, high unemployment and famine, was shared by all of Europe, the revolution in Paris, France incorporated all of these characteristics thus making France the nucleus of the Revolutions of 1848. In Paris, France, the middle class began to demand the right to vote and factory workers demanded an end to worker exploitation. Coupled with an economic depression and high unemployment that economically affected both entities, social unrest began to erupt throughout France causing King Louis Philippe to flee into exile to England while revolutionary leaders created an interim government to rule France while the country’s Republican Constitution was being written. In an effort to get people back to work one of France’s revolutionaries, Louis Blanc, created National Workshops or government work projects in an effort to stimulate the economy. Although the idea was meant with good intentions, the Workshops were destined to fail. Massive numbers of unemployed people were added to an already underfunded government payroll system to work on unprofitable government sponsored work projects that equated to busy work. The workshops also contributed to the already high unemployment problem by attracting large numbers of immigrants into the cities to compete for jobs. In July 1848, the National Workshops were eliminated thus creating a social divide and often violent clashes between the middle class and the working class who were most affected by the workshops elimination. In an effort to control the civil unrest the middle class leaders formed a National Guard to confront the riots and protests by workers and for several days the two classes clashed in the cities of France dissolving their former alliance. Although this synopsis of revolutionary events in France can provide a macro view of what was taking place in France, there were economic events throughout Europe leading up to the 1848 revolutions. To understand France’s relevance to the revolutions of 1848 one must understand the role France played that lead up to the revolutions of 1848. To most Europeans, France represented the home of liberty in Europe . Visitors to France under Louis Philippe’s regime were very impressed with the standard of living of France. Railroads were expanding across France, city gas lights were lit showing the expansion of factories and the middle class or bourgeoisie under the direction of the King’s chief minister Guizot were getting richer. Even the standard of living for the poor increased thanks to the advent of new machinery that made wool and cotton readily available, a clear sign of the gap of equality closing . Richard Rush, the American Minister to Paris, wrote in December 1847, “If I looked to the country, instead of the newspapers or speeches at political banquets, I would have thought I had come to a country abounding in the prosperity of every kind and full of contentment. France appeared as well off as could be expected of any country where prosperity and power, existing on a large scale, must have drawbacks.” Regardless of how content France appeared from the outside, the level of discontentment from within the country would stimulate enough political unrest to cause Louis Philippe to flee to England. Alexis de Tocqueville a political thinker in France who studied American democracy had raised awareness with other European political thinkers by his comparison of France to a volcano. “The working classes are not bothered by political passions; but do you not see that, from political, the passions have become social? Ideas flow through their breasts that will shake the basis of society: they say that everything above them is incapable and unworthy of governing; that the distribution of goods to the profit of some is unjust. When such ideas take root, they lead soon or late, I do not know when, to the most terrible revolutions. We are a sleeping volcano.” Tocqueville was foreshadowing the phenomena that many industrialized societies face when a disenfranchised middle class and an exploited working class have been pushed to their limit. For the first time the working class would rise up to demand a redistribution of wealth on the basis that economic prosperity for the middle class could not be achieved without the efforts of the laborer. The working class, located at the bottom of Tocqueville’s volcano analogy began to erupt. Not only did their eruption in February of 1848 remove the King but it also removed the layer of men who wanted to reform the French monarchy. The working class was still unsettled as Alphonse de Lamartine established a provisional government in the wake of France’s February Revolution. Although the working class approved of Lamartine’s French provisional government at the Hotel de Ville where it was announced, the working class again marched onto Hotel de Ville in May of 1848 in protest when it was announced that the National Workshops that were introduced by Louis Blanc and managed by Alexandre Marie would end, thus ending government jobs for the working class. The bourgeoisie’s loudest complaint was for electoral reform. The French bourgeoisie were dissatisfied with their inability to influence their government through elections and wanted to extend voter suffrage to include the more than 200,000 middle class citizens created out of the Industrial Revolution. Many French middle class citizens would meet at banquets throughout France in order to organize in to a formidable political force. Unlike the working class, the bourgeoisie were unscathed by the elimination of the National Workshops. While the bourgeoisie met in protest at banquets with platters of food, the working class suffrage movement was motivated by the basic need for food. The abolishment of the National Workshops divided France even further with the bourgeoisie and peasant land owners siding against the workers although the bourgeoisie could not have accomplished their revolutionary agenda without the muscle of the working class. The political and social unrest in eastern and central Europe was in motion well before the 1848 February Revolution in France. The Industrial Revolution had created a middle class and working class society that would challenge the traditional forms of political, economic and social views. Europe had experienced an economic crisis that was relatively new for a society that was still transitioning from an agrarian society. While the Industrial Revolution had provided prosperity to Europe, it had also brought with it new economic and social challenges. Industrialization in Great Britain arrived earlier than in the rest of Europe and social reforms had already been established which helped to shield Great Britain from the fallout of the revolutions of 1848. In 1847 the British parliament had already passed the “Ten Hours Bill”, which reduced the number of hours that women and children could work. Another proactive approach that the British parliament took prior to 1848 was to eliminate the Corn Laws thus reducing the economic impact on the working class in England as food prices rose because of poor wheat and potato harvests. When comparing England’s economic and political status with the rest of Europe during the 1800’s it is easy to see that social unrest was inevitable in central Europe. By 1840 Britain’s industrial output was three times of what it was in 1800. Belgium’s industrial capacity doubled yet still remained half that of Great Britain while France’s industrial productivity had increased 77 percent since 1800 with a per capita industrialization about 35 percent of Great Britain’s. German industry began to grow faster than in France, yet its per capita output was only one quarter that of Great Britain. The Austrian Empire which grew much slower than Germany while Italy and Russia lagged far behind Austria. However, industrialization was a double edged sword that contributed further to the plight of Europeans. The Industrial Revolution prompted the expansion in mechanization allowing for faster transatlantic shipments of crops from America. Potatoes shipped from America arriving with mold decimated the potato crops in Europe. Drought and bad harvests caused food shortages and higher food prices throughout Europe. In 1845, Europe witnessed a mass exodus of Europeans leaving for the United States, many running from hunger resulting in a sharp decline in the European population. These events had a significant impact on the working and lower classes. The lower classes of this era spent almost three quarters of their income on food and the majority of the food purchased consisted of grain and potatoes. Households were limited in their ability to avoid the economic constraints that were imposed upon them. Substituting different types of grain to avoid economic hardship did not exist. As food prices rose the adverse affect was the standard of living for the working class in Europe decreased. Ironically before 1848 food prices began to level off by the fall of 1847 when Europe finally experienced a bountiful harvest. The time lag between the fall of 1847 and the February Revolutions of 1848 in France can be easily explained. Generally when a society experiences starvation they become physically weak thus directing all their time and energy on finding food. Once food becomes available and the society regains their physical strength, more time and energy can be focused on digesting their negative experience thus allowing the society to begin to react politically. The advent of the telegraph proved to be the catalyst that helped fan the fires of the European Revolutions of 1848. As the news of the revolutionary movement in Paris, France quickly spread throughout Europe, many inspired by the French began to organize and rise up against their own governments. It only took a few short days for the news of the uprising in Paris, France to reach the rest of Europe, causing a wave of copy-cat uprisings.
In Germany, peasants protesting against the abolishment of serfdom for some peasants but not all forced the Grand Duke of Baden along with other ruling families in Württemburg to flee their homes as new revolutionary provisional governments were established. In Westphalia, Prussia, peasants as well as the landless demanded a redistribution of wealth because they felt the economy benefited only the rich. In Vienna, a demonstration on March 12, 1848 of more than 10,000 laid off factory workers and students were fired upon by the military unleashing a massive uprising directed toward Metternich, the chief minister of the Habsburg Monarchy and his State Council. Metternich ordered the municipal guard to stop the uprising; however, the municipal guard sided with the rebellion thus enhancing the uprising in Vienna. By March 15, King Ferdinand was forced to adhere to the demands of the Vienna uprising and promised to provide a constitution to the people of Austria. By late March, Pope Pius IX had granted a constitution for the Papal States as Metternich entered into exile and the Italian cities of Venice and Milan declared their independence from Austria. By April 30, 1848, Romanians in the cities of Czernowtiz and Transylvania, inspired by the Vienna uprising declared their independence from the Habsburg Empire and demanded …show more content…
recognition of their Eastern Orthodox religion. Although much of central Europe erupted in hopes of civil emancipation that would improve the suffrage of the protesters, not all of Europe was affected by the Revolutions of 1848. It is evident that central European countries such as France, Austria, Italy, Poland and Hungary experience widespread violence during the revolutions of 1848.
It is also evident that European countries such as Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands were able to avoid widespread violence by implementing immediate constitutional reforms, while European countries such as England, Russia and Spain saw no widespread political protests or forced changes to their government’s constitutions. The reason for the diversity in the reaction of each country to the Revolution of 1848 was the socioeconomic factors that many historians have failed to factor in. It is relevant to assume that the agricultural crisis that occurred in 1845-47 had a significant impact on the industrial sector in 1848. The higher wheat and grain prices caused an unexpected increase in the cost of living thus reducing the demand for manufactured goods in some of the lesser industrialized countries of France, Austria and Prussia. More highly industrialized countries like England and the Netherlands where there was not a direct economic relationship between the agricultural and industrial sectors experienced minor fluctuations in their economy and no violent uprisings. Thus we can conclude that the negative economic down turn in the late 1840’s was a catalyst that helped to ignite the European Revolutions of 1848. We can also conclude that the countries with the most repressive regimes had uprisings that
tended to be more violent than the less repressive regimes. The mere presents of a repressive regime did not unilaterally cause the revolutions of 1848 but it did help shape the revolutions therefore reminding us to not neglect the economic factors that explain the European Revolutions of 1848.
Bibliography
1848: The Triumph and Failure of the Workers ' Republic. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2013, from The France of Victor Hugo: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwaret/hist255/la/1848.html
Berger, H. a. (2000, October). Economic Crises and the European Revolutions of 1848. Retrieved January 12, 2013
Revolutions in 1848. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2013, from Macrohistory.com: http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h36-48.html
Revolutions of 1848. (2013, January 14). Retrieved from HS-102 Readings: http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/western/revolution1848.html
Robertson, P. (1971). Revolutions of 1848: A Social History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
The European Revolutions of 1848-1849. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2013, from Age of the Sage: http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/1848/revolution_of_1848.html
The Revolution of 1848 and Neoabsolutism. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://countrystudies.us/austria/23.htm
Revolutions of 1848
HIS 4402
Many historians tend to link the main cause of the European Revolutions of 1848 to the surge of liberal and nationalistic ideologies that seemed to enlighten the newly developed middle and working classes of the European Industrial Revolution. However, many historians forget the pre-revolutionary economic crisis’s that began to build in Europe as early as 1830 that eventually caused Europe to erupt in 1848 . Although the rise of liberal and nationalistic ideals contributed to the European Revolutions of 1848, economic factors played a major role in reshaping Europe politically and economically. The economic landscape of Europe prior to 1848 resembles a society that has shifted toward an industrial society yet still heavily influenced by price and harvest fluctuations in the agricultural sectors . The European industrial revolution had created a middle class of people made up of entrepreneurs, storekeepers, academic professionals, industry owners and managers as well as a new working class . This explains why a large majority of the revolutions in 1848 took place in European cities. The middle class and the factory workers aligned themselves together to confront the disenfranchisement of their social classes and stand up against the conservative model of government that lacked the ability to confront the economic and social issues generated during the European Industrial Revolution. Although the middle class and working classes were able to unite to form an alliance to shift the political structures within their country, the middle class could not identify themselves with the workers and their goals in order to form a new government. On the other hand, the European countryside felt little effects from the revolutions. Most peasants that were fortunate enough to own land tended to lend their allegiance toward the conservative political influences of the old regime. Although elements of an economic crisis’s such as economic depression, high unemployment and famine, was shared by all of Europe, the revolution in Paris, France incorporated all of these characteristics thus making France the nucleus of the Revolutions of 1848. In Paris, France, the middle class began to demand the right to vote and factory workers demanded an end to worker exploitation. Coupled with an economic depression and high unemployment that economically affected both entities, social unrest began to erupt throughout France causing King Louis Philippe to flee into exile to England while revolutionary leaders created an interim government to rule France while the country’s Republican Constitution was being written. In an effort to get people back to work one of France’s revolutionaries, Louis Blanc, created National Workshops or government work projects in an effort to stimulate the economy. Although the idea was meant with good intentions, the Workshops were destined to fail. Massive numbers of unemployed people were added to an already underfunded government payroll system to work on unprofitable government sponsored work projects that equated to busy work. The workshops also contributed to the already high unemployment problem by attracting large numbers of immigrants into the cities to compete for jobs. In July 1848, the National Workshops were eliminated thus creating a social divide and often violent clashes between the middle class and the working class who were most affected by the workshops elimination. In an effort to control the civil unrest the middle class leaders formed a National Guard to confront the riots and protests by workers and for several days the two classes clashed in the cities of France dissolving their former alliance. Although this synopsis of revolutionary events in France can provide a macro view of what was taking place in France, there were economic events throughout Europe leading up to the 1848 revolutions. To understand France’s relevance to the revolutions of 1848 one must understand the role France played that lead up to the revolutions of 1848. To most Europeans, France represented the home of liberty in Europe . Visitors to France under Louis Philippe’s regime were very impressed with the standard of living of France. Railroads were expanding across France, city gas lights were lit showing the expansion of factories and the middle class or bourgeoisie under the direction of the King’s chief minister Guizot were getting richer. Even the standard of living for the poor increased thanks to the advent of new machinery that made wool and cotton readily available, a clear sign of the gap of equality closing . Richard Rush, the American Minister to Paris, wrote in December 1847, “If I looked to the country, instead of the newspapers or speeches at political banquets, I would have thought I had come to a country abounding in the prosperity of every kind and full of contentment. France appeared as well off as could be expected of any country where prosperity and power, existing on a large scale, must have drawbacks.” Regardless of how content France appeared from the outside, the level of discontentment from within the country would stimulate enough political unrest to cause Louis Philippe to flee to England. Alexis de Tocqueville a political thinker in France who studied American democracy had raised awareness with other European political thinkers by his comparison of France to a volcano. “The working classes are not bothered by political passions; but do you not see that, from political, the passions have become social? Ideas flow through their breasts that will shake the basis of society: they say that everything above them is incapable and unworthy of governing; that the distribution of goods to the profit of some is unjust. When such ideas take root, they lead soon or late, I do not know when, to the most terrible revolutions. We are a sleeping volcano.” Tocqueville was foreshadowing the phenomena that many industrialized societies face when a disenfranchised middle class and an exploited working class have been pushed to their limit. For the first time the working class would rise up to demand a redistribution of wealth on the basis that economic prosperity for the middle class could not be achieved without the efforts of the laborer. The working class, located at the bottom of Tocqueville’s volcano analogy began to erupt. Not only did their eruption in February of 1848 remove the King but it also removed the layer of men who wanted to reform the French monarchy. The working class was still unsettled as Alphonse de Lamartine established a provisional government in the wake of France’s February Revolution. Although the working class approved of Lamartine’s French provisional government at the Hotel de Ville where it was announced, the working class again marched onto Hotel de Ville in May of 1848 in protest when it was announced that the National Workshops that were introduced by Louis Blanc and managed by Alexandre Marie would end, thus ending government jobs for the working class. The bourgeoisie’s loudest complaint was for electoral reform. The French bourgeoisie were dissatisfied with their inability to influence their government through elections and wanted to extend voter suffrage to include the more than 200,000 middle class citizens created out of the Industrial Revolution. Many French middle class citizens would meet at banquets throughout France in order to organize in to a formidable political force. Unlike the working class, the bourgeoisie were unscathed by the elimination of the National Workshops. While the bourgeoisie met in protest at banquets with platters of food, the working class suffrage movement was motivated by the basic need for food. The abolishment of the National Workshops divided France even further with the bourgeoisie and peasant land owners siding against the workers although the bourgeoisie could not have accomplished their revolutionary agenda without the muscle of the working class. The political and social unrest in eastern and central Europe was in motion well before the 1848 February Revolution in France. The Industrial Revolution had created a middle class and working class society that would challenge the traditional forms of political, economic and social views. Europe had experienced an economic crisis that was relatively new for a society that was still transitioning from an agrarian society. While the Industrial Revolution had provided prosperity to Europe, it had also brought with it new economic and social challenges. Industrialization in Great Britain arrived earlier than in the rest of Europe and social reforms had already been established which helped to shield Great Britain from the fallout of the revolutions of 1848. In 1847 the British parliament had already passed the “Ten Hours Bill”, which reduced the number of hours that women and children could work. Another proactive approach that the British parliament took prior to 1848 was to eliminate the Corn Laws thus reducing the economic impact on the working class in England as food prices rose because of poor wheat and potato harvests. When comparing England’s economic and political status with the rest of Europe during the 1800’s it is easy to see that social unrest was inevitable in central Europe. By 1840 Britain’s industrial output was three times of what it was in 1800. Belgium’s industrial capacity doubled yet still remained half that of Great Britain while France’s industrial productivity had increased 77 percent since 1800 with a per capita industrialization about 35 percent of Great Britain’s. German industry began to grow faster than in France, yet its per capita output was only one quarter that of Great Britain. The Austrian Empire which grew much slower than Germany while Italy and Russia lagged far behind Austria. However, industrialization was a double edged sword that contributed further to the plight of Europeans. The Industrial Revolution prompted the expansion in mechanization allowing for faster transatlantic shipments of crops from America. Potatoes shipped from America arriving with mold decimated the potato crops in Europe. Drought and bad harvests caused food shortages and higher food prices throughout Europe. In 1845, Europe witnessed a mass exodus of Europeans leaving for the United States, many running from hunger resulting in a sharp decline in the European population. These events had a significant impact on the working and lower classes. The lower classes of this era spent almost three quarters of their income on food and the majority of the food purchased consisted of grain and potatoes. Households were limited in their ability to avoid the economic constraints that were imposed upon them. Substituting different types of grain to avoid economic hardship did not exist. As food prices rose the adverse affect was the standard of living for the working class in Europe decreased. Ironically before 1848 food prices began to level off by the fall of 1847 when Europe finally experienced a bountiful harvest. The time lag between the fall of 1847 and the February Revolutions of 1848 in France can be easily explained. Generally when a society experiences starvation they become physically weak thus directing all their time and energy on finding food. Once food becomes available and the society regains their physical strength, more time and energy can be focused on digesting their negative experience thus allowing the society to begin to react politically. The advent of the telegraph proved to be the catalyst that helped fan the fires of the European Revolutions of 1848. As the news of the revolutionary movement in Paris, France quickly spread throughout Europe, many inspired by the French began to organize and rise up against their own governments. It only took a few short days for the news of the uprising in Paris, France to reach the rest of Europe, causing a wave of copy-cat uprisings. In Germany, peasants protesting against the abolishment of serfdom for some peasants but not all forced the Grand Duke of Baden along with other ruling families in Württemburg to flee their homes as new revolutionary provisional governments were established. In Westphalia, Prussia, peasants as well as the landless demanded a redistribution of wealth because they felt the economy benefited only the rich. In Vienna, a demonstration on March 12, 1848 of more than 10,000 laid off factory workers and students were fired upon by the military unleashing a massive uprising directed toward Metternich, the chief minister of the Habsburg Monarchy and his State Council. Metternich ordered the municipal guard to stop the uprising; however, the municipal guard sided with the rebellion thus enhancing the uprising in Vienna. By March 15, King Ferdinand was forced to adhere to the demands of the Vienna uprising and promised to provide a constitution to the people of Austria. By late March, Pope Pius IX had granted a constitution for the Papal States as Metternich entered into exile and the Italian cities of Venice and Milan declared their independence from Austria. By April 30, 1848, Romanians in the cities of Czernowtiz and Transylvania, inspired by the Vienna uprising declared their independence from the Habsburg Empire and demanded recognition of their Eastern Orthodox religion. Although much of central Europe erupted in hopes of civil emancipation that would improve the suffrage of the protesters, not all of Europe was affected by the Revolutions of 1848. It is evident that central European countries such as France, Austria, Italy, Poland and Hungary experience widespread violence during the revolutions of 1848. It is also evident that European countries such as Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands were able to avoid widespread violence by implementing immediate constitutional reforms, while European countries such as England, Russia and Spain saw no widespread political protests or forced changes to their government’s constitutions. The reason for the diversity in the reaction of each country to the Revolution of 1848 was the socioeconomic factors that many historians have failed to factor in. It is relevant to assume that the agricultural crisis that occurred in 1845-47 had a significant impact on the industrial sector in 1848. The higher wheat and grain prices caused an unexpected increase in the cost of living thus reducing the demand for manufactured goods in some of the lesser industrialized countries of France, Austria and Prussia. More highly industrialized countries like England and the Netherlands where there was not a direct economic relationship between the agricultural and industrial sectors experienced minor fluctuations in their economy and no violent uprisings. Thus we can conclude that the negative economic down turn in the late 1840’s was a catalyst that helped to ignite the European Revolutions of 1848. We can also conclude that the countries with the most repressive regimes had uprisings that tended to be more violent than the less repressive regimes. The mere presents of a repressive regime did not unilaterally cause the revolutions of 1848 but it did help shape the revolutions therefore reminding us to not neglect the economic factors that explain the European Revolutions of 1848.
Bibliography
1848: The Triumph and Failure of the Workers ' Republic. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2013, from The France of Victor Hugo: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwaret/hist255/la/1848.html
Berger, H. a. (2000, October). Economic Crises and the European Revolutions of 1848. Retrieved January 12, 2013
Revolutions in 1848. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2013, from Macrohistory.com: http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h36-48.html
Revolutions of 1848. (2013, January 14). Retrieved from HS-102 Readings: http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/western/revolution1848.html
Robertson, P. (1971). Revolutions of 1848: A Social History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
The European Revolutions of 1848-1849. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2013, from Age of the Sage: http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/1848/revolution_of_1848.html
The Revolution of 1848 and Neoabsolutism. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://countrystudies.us/austria/23.htm
.
.
HIS 4402
Many historians tend to link the main cause of the European Revolutions of 1848 to the surge of liberal and nationalistic ideologies that seemed to enlighten the newly developed middle and working classes of the European Industrial Revolution. However, many historians forget the pre-revolutionary economic crisis’s that began to build in Europe as early as 1830 that eventually caused Europe to erupt in 1848 . Although the rise of liberal and nationalistic ideals contributed to the European Revolutions of 1848, economic factors played a major role in reshaping Europe politically and economically. The economic landscape of Europe prior to 1848 resembles a society that has shifted toward an …show more content…
industrial society yet still heavily influenced by price and harvest fluctuations in the agricultural sectors . The European industrial revolution had created a middle class of people made up of entrepreneurs, storekeepers, academic professionals, industry owners and managers as well as a new working class . This explains why a large majority of the revolutions in 1848 took place in European cities. The middle class and the factory workers aligned themselves together to confront the disenfranchisement of their social classes and stand up against the conservative model of government that lacked the ability to confront the economic and social issues generated during the European Industrial Revolution. Although the middle class and working classes were able to unite to form an alliance to shift the political structures within their country, the middle class could not identify themselves with the workers and their goals in order to form a new government. On the other hand, the European countryside felt little effects from the revolutions. Most peasants that were fortunate enough to own land tended to lend their allegiance toward the conservative political influences of the old regime. Although elements of an economic crisis’s such as economic depression, high unemployment and famine, was shared by all of Europe, the revolution in Paris, France incorporated all of these characteristics thus making France the nucleus of the Revolutions of 1848. In Paris, France, the middle class began to demand the right to vote and factory workers demanded an end to worker exploitation. Coupled with an economic depression and high unemployment that economically affected both entities, social unrest began to erupt throughout France causing King Louis Philippe to flee into exile to England while revolutionary leaders created an interim government to rule France while the country’s Republican Constitution was being written. In an effort to get people back to work one of France’s revolutionaries, Louis Blanc, created National Workshops or government work projects in an effort to stimulate the economy. Although the idea was meant with good intentions, the Workshops were destined to fail. Massive numbers of unemployed people were added to an already underfunded government payroll system to work on unprofitable government sponsored work projects that equated to busy work. The workshops also contributed to the already high unemployment problem by attracting large numbers of immigrants into the cities to compete for jobs. In July 1848, the National Workshops were eliminated thus creating a social divide and often violent clashes between the middle class and the working class who were most affected by the workshops elimination. In an effort to control the civil unrest the middle class leaders formed a National Guard to confront the riots and protests by workers and for several days the two classes clashed in the cities of France dissolving their former alliance. Although this synopsis of revolutionary events in France can provide a macro view of what was taking place in France, there were economic events throughout Europe leading up to the 1848 revolutions. To understand France’s relevance to the revolutions of 1848 one must understand the role France played that lead up to the revolutions of 1848. To most Europeans, France represented the home of liberty in Europe . Visitors to France under Louis Philippe’s regime were very impressed with the standard of living of France. Railroads were expanding across France, city gas lights were lit showing the expansion of factories and the middle class or bourgeoisie under the direction of the King’s chief minister Guizot were getting richer. Even the standard of living for the poor increased thanks to the advent of new machinery that made wool and cotton readily available, a clear sign of the gap of equality closing . Richard Rush, the American Minister to Paris, wrote in December 1847, “If I looked to the country, instead of the newspapers or speeches at political banquets, I would have thought I had come to a country abounding in the prosperity of every kind and full of contentment. France appeared as well off as could be expected of any country where prosperity and power, existing on a large scale, must have drawbacks.” Regardless of how content France appeared from the outside, the level of discontentment from within the country would stimulate enough political unrest to cause Louis Philippe to flee to England. Alexis de Tocqueville a political thinker in France who studied American democracy had raised awareness with other European political thinkers by his comparison of France to a volcano. “The working classes are not bothered by political passions; but do you not see that, from political, the passions have become social? Ideas flow through their breasts that will shake the basis of society: they say that everything above them is incapable and unworthy of governing; that the distribution of goods to the profit of some is unjust. When such ideas take root, they lead soon or late, I do not know when, to the most terrible revolutions. We are a sleeping volcano.” Tocqueville was foreshadowing the phenomena that many industrialized societies face when a disenfranchised middle class and an exploited working class have been pushed to their limit. For the first time the working class would rise up to demand a redistribution of wealth on the basis that economic prosperity for the middle class could not be achieved without the efforts of the laborer. The working class, located at the bottom of Tocqueville’s volcano analogy began to erupt. Not only did their eruption in February of 1848 remove the King but it also removed the layer of men who wanted to reform the French monarchy. The working class was still unsettled as Alphonse de Lamartine established a provisional government in the wake of France’s February Revolution. Although the working class approved of Lamartine’s French provisional government at the Hotel de Ville where it was announced, the working class again marched onto Hotel de Ville in May of 1848 in protest when it was announced that the National Workshops that were introduced by Louis Blanc and managed by Alexandre Marie would end, thus ending government jobs for the working class. The bourgeoisie’s loudest complaint was for electoral reform. The French bourgeoisie were dissatisfied with their inability to influence their government through elections and wanted to extend voter suffrage to include the more than 200,000 middle class citizens created out of the Industrial Revolution. Many French middle class citizens would meet at banquets throughout France in order to organize in to a formidable political force. Unlike the working class, the bourgeoisie were unscathed by the elimination of the National Workshops. While the bourgeoisie met in protest at banquets with platters of food, the working class suffrage movement was motivated by the basic need for food. The abolishment of the National Workshops divided France even further with the bourgeoisie and peasant land owners siding against the workers although the bourgeoisie could not have accomplished their revolutionary agenda without the muscle of the working class. The political and social unrest in eastern and central Europe was in motion well before the 1848 February Revolution in France. The Industrial Revolution had created a middle class and working class society that would challenge the traditional forms of political, economic and social views. Europe had experienced an economic crisis that was relatively new for a society that was still transitioning from an agrarian society. While the Industrial Revolution had provided prosperity to Europe, it had also brought with it new economic and social challenges. Industrialization in Great Britain arrived earlier than in the rest of Europe and social reforms had already been established which helped to shield Great Britain from the fallout of the revolutions of 1848. In 1847 the British parliament had already passed the “Ten Hours Bill”, which reduced the number of hours that women and children could work. Another proactive approach that the British parliament took prior to 1848 was to eliminate the Corn Laws thus reducing the economic impact on the working class in England as food prices rose because of poor wheat and potato harvests. When comparing England’s economic and political status with the rest of Europe during the 1800’s it is easy to see that social unrest was inevitable in central Europe. By 1840 Britain’s industrial output was three times of what it was in 1800. Belgium’s industrial capacity doubled yet still remained half that of Great Britain while France’s industrial productivity had increased 77 percent since 1800 with a per capita industrialization about 35 percent of Great Britain’s. German industry began to grow faster than in France, yet its per capita output was only one quarter that of Great Britain. The Austrian Empire which grew much slower than Germany while Italy and Russia lagged far behind Austria. However, industrialization was a double edged sword that contributed further to the plight of Europeans. The Industrial Revolution prompted the expansion in mechanization allowing for faster transatlantic shipments of crops from America. Potatoes shipped from America arriving with mold decimated the potato crops in Europe. Drought and bad harvests caused food shortages and higher food prices throughout Europe. In 1845, Europe witnessed a mass exodus of Europeans leaving for the United States, many running from hunger resulting in a sharp decline in the European population. These events had a significant impact on the working and lower classes. The lower classes of this era spent almost three quarters of their income on food and the majority of the food purchased consisted of grain and potatoes. Households were limited in their ability to avoid the economic constraints that were imposed upon them. Substituting different types of grain to avoid economic hardship did not exist. As food prices rose the adverse affect was the standard of living for the working class in Europe decreased. Ironically before 1848 food prices began to level off by the fall of 1847 when Europe finally experienced a bountiful harvest. The time lag between the fall of 1847 and the February Revolutions of 1848 in France can be easily explained. Generally when a society experiences starvation they become physically weak thus directing all their time and energy on finding food. Once food becomes available and the society regains their physical strength, more time and energy can be focused on digesting their negative experience thus allowing the society to begin to react politically. The advent of the telegraph proved to be the catalyst that helped fan the fires of the European Revolutions of 1848. As the news of the revolutionary movement in Paris, France quickly spread throughout Europe, many inspired by the French began to organize and rise up against their own governments. It only took a few short days for the news of the uprising in Paris, France to reach the rest of Europe, causing a wave of copy-cat uprisings.
In Germany, peasants protesting against the abolishment of serfdom for some peasants but not all forced the Grand Duke of Baden along with other ruling families in Württemburg to flee their homes as new revolutionary provisional governments were established. In Westphalia, Prussia, peasants as well as the landless demanded a redistribution of wealth because they felt the economy benefited only the rich. In Vienna, a demonstration on March 12, 1848 of more than 10,000 laid off factory workers and students were fired upon by the military unleashing a massive uprising directed toward Metternich, the chief minister of the Habsburg Monarchy and his State Council. Metternich ordered the municipal guard to stop the uprising; however, the municipal guard sided with the rebellion thus enhancing the uprising in Vienna. By March 15, King Ferdinand was forced to adhere to the demands of the Vienna uprising and promised to provide a constitution to the people of Austria. By late March, Pope Pius IX had granted a constitution for the Papal States as Metternich entered into exile and the Italian cities of Venice and Milan declared their independence from Austria. By April 30, 1848, Romanians in the cities of Czernowtiz and Transylvania, inspired by the Vienna uprising declared their independence from the Habsburg Empire and demanded …show more content…
recognition of their Eastern Orthodox religion. Although much of central Europe erupted in hopes of civil emancipation that would improve the suffrage of the protesters, not all of Europe was affected by the Revolutions of 1848. It is evident that central European countries such as France, Austria, Italy, Poland and Hungary experience widespread violence during the revolutions of 1848.
It is also evident that European countries such as Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands were able to avoid widespread violence by implementing immediate constitutional reforms, while European countries such as England, Russia and Spain saw no widespread political protests or forced changes to their government’s constitutions. The reason for the diversity in the reaction of each country to the Revolution of 1848 was the socioeconomic factors that many historians have failed to factor in. It is relevant to assume that the agricultural crisis that occurred in 1845-47 had a significant impact on the industrial sector in 1848. The higher wheat and grain prices caused an unexpected increase in the cost of living thus reducing the demand for manufactured goods in some of the lesser industrialized countries of France, Austria and Prussia. More highly industrialized countries like England and the Netherlands where there was not a direct economic relationship between the agricultural and industrial sectors experienced minor fluctuations in their economy and no violent uprisings. Thus we can conclude that the negative economic down turn in the late 1840’s was a catalyst that helped to ignite the European Revolutions of 1848. We can also conclude that the countries with the most repressive regimes had uprisings that
tended to be more violent than the less repressive regimes. The mere presents of a repressive regime did not unilaterally cause the revolutions of 1848 but it did help shape the revolutions therefore reminding us to not neglect the economic factors that explain the European Revolutions of 1848.
Bibliography
1848: The Triumph and Failure of the Workers ' Republic. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2013, from The France of Victor Hugo: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwaret/hist255/la/1848.html
Berger, H. a. (2000, October). Economic Crises and the European Revolutions of 1848. Retrieved January 12, 2013
Revolutions in 1848. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2013, from Macrohistory.com: http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h36-48.html
Revolutions of 1848. (2013, January 14). Retrieved from HS-102 Readings: http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/western/revolution1848.html
Robertson, P. (1971). Revolutions of 1848: A Social History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
The European Revolutions of 1848-1849. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2013, from Age of the Sage: http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/1848/revolution_of_1848.html
The Revolution of 1848 and Neoabsolutism. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://countrystudies.us/austria/23.htm
Revolutions of 1848
HIS 4402
Many historians tend to link the main cause of the European Revolutions of 1848 to the surge of liberal and nationalistic ideologies that seemed to enlighten the newly developed middle and working classes of the European Industrial Revolution. However, many historians forget the pre-revolutionary economic crisis’s that began to build in Europe as early as 1830 that eventually caused Europe to erupt in 1848 . Although the rise of liberal and nationalistic ideals contributed to the European Revolutions of 1848, economic factors played a major role in reshaping Europe politically and economically. The economic landscape of Europe prior to 1848 resembles a society that has shifted toward an industrial society yet still heavily influenced by price and harvest fluctuations in the agricultural sectors . The European industrial revolution had created a middle class of people made up of entrepreneurs, storekeepers, academic professionals, industry owners and managers as well as a new working class . This explains why a large majority of the revolutions in 1848 took place in European cities. The middle class and the factory workers aligned themselves together to confront the disenfranchisement of their social classes and stand up against the conservative model of government that lacked the ability to confront the economic and social issues generated during the European Industrial Revolution. Although the middle class and working classes were able to unite to form an alliance to shift the political structures within their country, the middle class could not identify themselves with the workers and their goals in order to form a new government. On the other hand, the European countryside felt little effects from the revolutions. Most peasants that were fortunate enough to own land tended to lend their allegiance toward the conservative political influences of the old regime. Although elements of an economic crisis’s such as economic depression, high unemployment and famine, was shared by all of Europe, the revolution in Paris, France incorporated all of these characteristics thus making France the nucleus of the Revolutions of 1848. In Paris, France, the middle class began to demand the right to vote and factory workers demanded an end to worker exploitation. Coupled with an economic depression and high unemployment that economically affected both entities, social unrest began to erupt throughout France causing King Louis Philippe to flee into exile to England while revolutionary leaders created an interim government to rule France while the country’s Republican Constitution was being written. In an effort to get people back to work one of France’s revolutionaries, Louis Blanc, created National Workshops or government work projects in an effort to stimulate the economy. Although the idea was meant with good intentions, the Workshops were destined to fail. Massive numbers of unemployed people were added to an already underfunded government payroll system to work on unprofitable government sponsored work projects that equated to busy work. The workshops also contributed to the already high unemployment problem by attracting large numbers of immigrants into the cities to compete for jobs. In July 1848, the National Workshops were eliminated thus creating a social divide and often violent clashes between the middle class and the working class who were most affected by the workshops elimination. In an effort to control the civil unrest the middle class leaders formed a National Guard to confront the riots and protests by workers and for several days the two classes clashed in the cities of France dissolving their former alliance. Although this synopsis of revolutionary events in France can provide a macro view of what was taking place in France, there were economic events throughout Europe leading up to the 1848 revolutions. To understand France’s relevance to the revolutions of 1848 one must understand the role France played that lead up to the revolutions of 1848. To most Europeans, France represented the home of liberty in Europe . Visitors to France under Louis Philippe’s regime were very impressed with the standard of living of France. Railroads were expanding across France, city gas lights were lit showing the expansion of factories and the middle class or bourgeoisie under the direction of the King’s chief minister Guizot were getting richer. Even the standard of living for the poor increased thanks to the advent of new machinery that made wool and cotton readily available, a clear sign of the gap of equality closing . Richard Rush, the American Minister to Paris, wrote in December 1847, “If I looked to the country, instead of the newspapers or speeches at political banquets, I would have thought I had come to a country abounding in the prosperity of every kind and full of contentment. France appeared as well off as could be expected of any country where prosperity and power, existing on a large scale, must have drawbacks.” Regardless of how content France appeared from the outside, the level of discontentment from within the country would stimulate enough political unrest to cause Louis Philippe to flee to England. Alexis de Tocqueville a political thinker in France who studied American democracy had raised awareness with other European political thinkers by his comparison of France to a volcano. “The working classes are not bothered by political passions; but do you not see that, from political, the passions have become social? Ideas flow through their breasts that will shake the basis of society: they say that everything above them is incapable and unworthy of governing; that the distribution of goods to the profit of some is unjust. When such ideas take root, they lead soon or late, I do not know when, to the most terrible revolutions. We are a sleeping volcano.” Tocqueville was foreshadowing the phenomena that many industrialized societies face when a disenfranchised middle class and an exploited working class have been pushed to their limit. For the first time the working class would rise up to demand a redistribution of wealth on the basis that economic prosperity for the middle class could not be achieved without the efforts of the laborer. The working class, located at the bottom of Tocqueville’s volcano analogy began to erupt. Not only did their eruption in February of 1848 remove the King but it also removed the layer of men who wanted to reform the French monarchy. The working class was still unsettled as Alphonse de Lamartine established a provisional government in the wake of France’s February Revolution. Although the working class approved of Lamartine’s French provisional government at the Hotel de Ville where it was announced, the working class again marched onto Hotel de Ville in May of 1848 in protest when it was announced that the National Workshops that were introduced by Louis Blanc and managed by Alexandre Marie would end, thus ending government jobs for the working class. The bourgeoisie’s loudest complaint was for electoral reform. The French bourgeoisie were dissatisfied with their inability to influence their government through elections and wanted to extend voter suffrage to include the more than 200,000 middle class citizens created out of the Industrial Revolution. Many French middle class citizens would meet at banquets throughout France in order to organize in to a formidable political force. Unlike the working class, the bourgeoisie were unscathed by the elimination of the National Workshops. While the bourgeoisie met in protest at banquets with platters of food, the working class suffrage movement was motivated by the basic need for food. The abolishment of the National Workshops divided France even further with the bourgeoisie and peasant land owners siding against the workers although the bourgeoisie could not have accomplished their revolutionary agenda without the muscle of the working class. The political and social unrest in eastern and central Europe was in motion well before the 1848 February Revolution in France. The Industrial Revolution had created a middle class and working class society that would challenge the traditional forms of political, economic and social views. Europe had experienced an economic crisis that was relatively new for a society that was still transitioning from an agrarian society. While the Industrial Revolution had provided prosperity to Europe, it had also brought with it new economic and social challenges. Industrialization in Great Britain arrived earlier than in the rest of Europe and social reforms had already been established which helped to shield Great Britain from the fallout of the revolutions of 1848. In 1847 the British parliament had already passed the “Ten Hours Bill”, which reduced the number of hours that women and children could work. Another proactive approach that the British parliament took prior to 1848 was to eliminate the Corn Laws thus reducing the economic impact on the working class in England as food prices rose because of poor wheat and potato harvests. When comparing England’s economic and political status with the rest of Europe during the 1800’s it is easy to see that social unrest was inevitable in central Europe. By 1840 Britain’s industrial output was three times of what it was in 1800. Belgium’s industrial capacity doubled yet still remained half that of Great Britain while France’s industrial productivity had increased 77 percent since 1800 with a per capita industrialization about 35 percent of Great Britain’s. German industry began to grow faster than in France, yet its per capita output was only one quarter that of Great Britain. The Austrian Empire which grew much slower than Germany while Italy and Russia lagged far behind Austria. However, industrialization was a double edged sword that contributed further to the plight of Europeans. The Industrial Revolution prompted the expansion in mechanization allowing for faster transatlantic shipments of crops from America. Potatoes shipped from America arriving with mold decimated the potato crops in Europe. Drought and bad harvests caused food shortages and higher food prices throughout Europe. In 1845, Europe witnessed a mass exodus of Europeans leaving for the United States, many running from hunger resulting in a sharp decline in the European population. These events had a significant impact on the working and lower classes. The lower classes of this era spent almost three quarters of their income on food and the majority of the food purchased consisted of grain and potatoes. Households were limited in their ability to avoid the economic constraints that were imposed upon them. Substituting different types of grain to avoid economic hardship did not exist. As food prices rose the adverse affect was the standard of living for the working class in Europe decreased. Ironically before 1848 food prices began to level off by the fall of 1847 when Europe finally experienced a bountiful harvest. The time lag between the fall of 1847 and the February Revolutions of 1848 in France can be easily explained. Generally when a society experiences starvation they become physically weak thus directing all their time and energy on finding food. Once food becomes available and the society regains their physical strength, more time and energy can be focused on digesting their negative experience thus allowing the society to begin to react politically. The advent of the telegraph proved to be the catalyst that helped fan the fires of the European Revolutions of 1848. As the news of the revolutionary movement in Paris, France quickly spread throughout Europe, many inspired by the French began to organize and rise up against their own governments. It only took a few short days for the news of the uprising in Paris, France to reach the rest of Europe, causing a wave of copy-cat uprisings. In Germany, peasants protesting against the abolishment of serfdom for some peasants but not all forced the Grand Duke of Baden along with other ruling families in Württemburg to flee their homes as new revolutionary provisional governments were established. In Westphalia, Prussia, peasants as well as the landless demanded a redistribution of wealth because they felt the economy benefited only the rich. In Vienna, a demonstration on March 12, 1848 of more than 10,000 laid off factory workers and students were fired upon by the military unleashing a massive uprising directed toward Metternich, the chief minister of the Habsburg Monarchy and his State Council. Metternich ordered the municipal guard to stop the uprising; however, the municipal guard sided with the rebellion thus enhancing the uprising in Vienna. By March 15, King Ferdinand was forced to adhere to the demands of the Vienna uprising and promised to provide a constitution to the people of Austria. By late March, Pope Pius IX had granted a constitution for the Papal States as Metternich entered into exile and the Italian cities of Venice and Milan declared their independence from Austria. By April 30, 1848, Romanians in the cities of Czernowtiz and Transylvania, inspired by the Vienna uprising declared their independence from the Habsburg Empire and demanded recognition of their Eastern Orthodox religion. Although much of central Europe erupted in hopes of civil emancipation that would improve the suffrage of the protesters, not all of Europe was affected by the Revolutions of 1848. It is evident that central European countries such as France, Austria, Italy, Poland and Hungary experience widespread violence during the revolutions of 1848. It is also evident that European countries such as Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands were able to avoid widespread violence by implementing immediate constitutional reforms, while European countries such as England, Russia and Spain saw no widespread political protests or forced changes to their government’s constitutions. The reason for the diversity in the reaction of each country to the Revolution of 1848 was the socioeconomic factors that many historians have failed to factor in. It is relevant to assume that the agricultural crisis that occurred in 1845-47 had a significant impact on the industrial sector in 1848. The higher wheat and grain prices caused an unexpected increase in the cost of living thus reducing the demand for manufactured goods in some of the lesser industrialized countries of France, Austria and Prussia. More highly industrialized countries like England and the Netherlands where there was not a direct economic relationship between the agricultural and industrial sectors experienced minor fluctuations in their economy and no violent uprisings. Thus we can conclude that the negative economic down turn in the late 1840’s was a catalyst that helped to ignite the European Revolutions of 1848. We can also conclude that the countries with the most repressive regimes had uprisings that tended to be more violent than the less repressive regimes. The mere presents of a repressive regime did not unilaterally cause the revolutions of 1848 but it did help shape the revolutions therefore reminding us to not neglect the economic factors that explain the European Revolutions of 1848.
Bibliography
1848: The Triumph and Failure of the Workers ' Republic. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2013, from The France of Victor Hugo: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwaret/hist255/la/1848.html
Berger, H. a. (2000, October). Economic Crises and the European Revolutions of 1848. Retrieved January 12, 2013
Revolutions in 1848. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2013, from Macrohistory.com: http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h36-48.html
Revolutions of 1848. (2013, January 14). Retrieved from HS-102 Readings: http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/western/revolution1848.html
Robertson, P. (1971). Revolutions of 1848: A Social History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
The European Revolutions of 1848-1849. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2013, from Age of the Sage: http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/1848/revolution_of_1848.html
The Revolution of 1848 and Neoabsolutism. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://countrystudies.us/austria/23.htm
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