1. Critically analyse the origins and nature of the Revolutions of 1848.
  2. 19th century Europe was a dynamic continent which was shaped by the conflicting forces of continuity and change. The European socio political structure continued to be based the feudal system of landownership despite the abolition of serfdom and the majority of the European population comprised of peasants. Land continued to be the most important form of property and wealth and it carried with it political power and social prestige. The position of the landed aristocracy changed little as the wealth continued to be concentrated amongst this class. Even in Great Britain and France, Europe’s most advanced and liberal countries, the equation between land and power remained almost intact despite redistribution of land. Most European countries were still deeply rooted in monarchical traditions. The state’s main functions were considered to be maintenance of security and welfare functions did not exist. The ideas of ‘absolutism’ were added to the concept of monarchy in the 17th century. In its initial stages even the French Revolution did not attempt to overthrow the monarchy and Napoleon himself was careful not to oppose this institution. The French Revolution had attacked the Roman Catholic Church and had reduced the church to the position of a department of state. By 1815, the Church and religious faith was revived in Europe. Fear of revolution restored peoples’ faith in the Church. Pope Pius VII returned to Rome in 1814 and the Jesuits reorganised themselves throughout Europe. Another factor of conservatism that prevailed in Europe in 1815 was the need to maintain peace and stability and prevent warfare and revolts.

The decades between 1815 and 1848, are those which witnessed widespread civil war and new wave of revolutions. This was because it was clear that Europe had entered into a phase of fundamental change. According to Eric Hobsbawn, this was an age of superlatives. By 1840’s, communications were faster than before, population was growing beyond expectations, cities of great size had multiplied and industrial production had increased greatly. Science and knowledge had also spread widely. The most important of these changes was the rate at which the population was growing. It had increased almost fourfold in a span of two centuries. The growth in population resulted in large scale migrations worldwide. Decreased death rates, increased food production due to an agricultural revolution, better provisions of security are some reasons given for this spectacular rise. Different patterns of population growth were recorded in different countries. The processes of Industrialisation and urbanisation started in Great Britain and by 1815 they spread with increasing impetus eastward to Germany, Italy and Russia. The application of steam energy to machines (such as the steam engine) for the purpose of production and transportation became the basis of the industrial revolution. This in turn created a new demand for iron and coal as well as skilled labour. While the middle classes increased in number and became the prime movers of change, a new wage earning class also emerged at the same time. This new working class exercised immense political power to be able to demand protection of their rights. The government now got involved in the social and economic lives of the people as the old conception of ruler and subject came to be replaced by ideas of state and citizen. The middle of the century witnessed a boom in the education sector. The number of schools, number of students and number of trained teachers increased greatly.

Political life, in pre-revolution period was very limited. Information on the public life was gained through newspapers but only a small proportion of the population had access to press. During this period, the system of censorship also reached its peak and it became more difficult to get access to political information. Political organization was also limited. Such organizations were illegal in absolutist states and required permission from authorities in constitutional monarchies. The predominantly active political organizations hence, were secret societies. The French Revolution had left a legacy of political doctrines that prevailed in the 19th century. The latter half of the 19th century can also be described as the ‘age of ideologies’. Nationalism, liberalism and radicalism were the dominant ideologies that took shape during this period. Liberalism advocated equal treatment under the law, basic civic rights such as freedom of speech, free trade and industrialisation. Radicals argued for popular sovereignty and a democratic political system. They also promoted republican governments instead of monarchical institutions. Socialism which criticised concentration of wealth with the capitalists and believed in right o employment and communism emerged in opposition to the democratic conception of society. These two ideas were still new and were being formulated in this period. Nationalism was the desire of a community and a sense of belonging to a common homeland, experiences, history and culture. Nationalist feelings were most vigorously stirred in Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia. Liberalism, Democracy and Socialism were notions that were derived from the 18th century rationalism and they emphasised the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity respectively. The age of romanticism was at its peak between 1840 and 1848. It was an intellectual, literary and artistic movement that had originated in opposition to the rationalistic ideas of the Enlightenment. The movement revived medievalism and placed emphasis on emotions like horror, fear etc. It desired freedom of thought and action and it influenced European cultural and intellectual life as it came to be closely linked with nationalism and liberalism. The growth of these ideologies gave political dimensions to the growing population levels and industrialisation. While at some levels these ideologies complemented one another, they also came into conflict.

 Several historians argue that after settlement of Vienna in 1815, the forces of conservatism had successfully managed to restore the old order which adapted itself to the needs of the times. However the strength of the old order lay in political power and this was becoming less sufficient to resist these forces of change. As new social and political ideas developed, the need for new forms of government was felt and this incited social and political revolt. The conservative monarchies tried to repress these revolts or tried to prevent them by giving partial concessions. All their efforts, however, failed as the forces of change became more resilient and dissatisfied with the old order.

In the decades between 1815 and 1830, European economic progress was basic; agricultural growth was slow, improvements in transport were limited, industrial growth though striking was confined only to certain areas. But by 1830’s, Europe was on the brink of a railway revolution. In the United Kingdom, the railways were a welcome relief as other modes of transport were not as well developed. In Russia, the railways replaced rivers as the main form of communication by 1840’s. The improving conditions of transport and communication linked the countries better and helped promote feelings of nationalism. Extent of industrialisation in European countries before 1830 was very little even in the most economically developed countries. Mechanisation had not been introduced in all spheres and the main socio economic distress was due to high prices of food, bad harvest, bad housing conditions, long working hours or aftermath of war. With the spread of industrialisation and as a consequence of economic change, those who were engaged in manufacturing, business and trade, grew not only in numbers but also in wealth and influence. These men began demanding policies that were favourable to their interests and a form of government that would be more sensitive to their needs. It was here that the link between liberalism and industrial revolution evolved.

In countries like France, the policy of protection was intensified as British goods increasingly found European markets and as fear of competition from the more industrialised British production set in. While the internal tariffs and restrictions in France were removed by 1790, barriers on foreign trade and tariffs on agricultural produce, coal and iron were raised to please the landed elite and the industrialists respectively. In other European countries too commercial policies were dictated by a concern to protect home industries against British competition. Even the Russian Tsars who were in favour if a free trade were forced to give into the economic pressures as the Russian industries, unable to find foreign markets were facing decline. By 1830, European trade achieved a freeing of movement of goods within countries and creation of larger home markets which were important for the national development of these countries. Periodic trade depressions were caused mainly due to the hampering of interstate trade and this fostered socialist and democratic movements. Around the same time growing national debts, foreign loans and investments resulted in the emergence of a new wealthy and socially important class of bankers, businessmen and financiers. Though a small group in terms of numbers, it did play an important role in politics as well.

The second half of the year 1830 witnessed a wave of revolutions in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Poland. These were primarily protest movements against the rigidities and limitations of the policies adopted since. In France, after the elections of 1830, a set of five ordinances were passed to dissolve the newly elected Chamber, called for new elections and forbade any publications that were not authorised by the government. The liberal politicians and journalists gathered to protest against and defy these measures. Bands of students and workers collected in Paris, captured the city hall, raised the tricolour flag and paraded in the boulevards. By the end of July, Charles X was forced to abdicate the throne. The revolution was accepted with little resistance, constitutional monarchy was consolidated in France and the revisions of the Charter reflected liberal ideals. Belgium felt the repercussions of the July Revolutions of Paris. Here resentment was based on both liberal oppositions as well as nationalist desires. After the compulsory unification in 1815, the country was being run mainly by the Dutch officials and in the interests of the Dutch minority. The victory of liberalism in France encouraged conservative Catholics and liberal Belgians to revolt against the Dutch domination. Revolts broke out in provincial towns and they took control. By October 4, Belgium proclaimed complete independence. Ripples of revolt spread to the cantons of Switzerland which gained liberal constitutions under the pressure of students, journalists and other small liberal groups and local revolts were seen in the German confederation. In Italy, revolutions took a more rigorous form as secret societies came into greater contact with liberals of France and Belgium and as movements like ‘Young Italy’ encouraged greater unity. In Poland, revolution began in November 1830 and was led by university students and secret societies. As a counterpart to the liberal revolutions in the rest of Europe, the great parliamentary Reform Bill was passed in Britain in 1832. These developments were almost a complete reversal of the Vienna Treaty of 1815.

The decades after 1833 saw a rapid expansion of industrial production and trade in Europe. This new era was inaugurated by the revolution in the transport sector due to expansion of the railways and the use of the steam locomotive. The Liverpool and Manchester railway was opened in 1830; Russia began building its first railroad in 1838. The years 1844-47 witnessed a considerable consolidation of railway lines. Expanding railway sector created a large demand for coal and iron and stimulated a similar revolution in the heavy industries as well. Britain’s output of coal doubled by 1848 and it produced almost half of the world’s pig iron. The railroads created new employment opportunities and encouraged the rise of big contractors. The growth of the British cotton industry also provided a stimulus for expansion of British overseas trade. Cotton manufacture set the pace for factory production and trade boosted shipping. Belgium was the first in having a railway policy and in planning railroad construction. French economic growth was gradual but industry and trade were encouraged. In Eastern Europe however, railways and the corresponding advances in manufacturing spread slowly. Overseas trade became important as well. As a consequence of this growing international and overseas trade, Europe experienced periods of economic crisis. The crisis was most severe between 1838-39 and 1845-46. Fluctuations of cotton prices in U.S.A. and the winding up of the Bank of United States had repercussions on European economies as companies and banks in Britain and Belgium ran into difficulties. There were large scale bankruptcies and mercantile failures. Bad corn harvests in 1846 and 1847 and failure of potato crops due to spread of potato blight resulted in shortage of food supplies and impacted food prices. Throughout the continent there were bread and potato riots to ensure that food was sold at prices below market levels. Food had to be imported from America and southern Russia and this meant drain of gold. Cholera epidemic added to the problems in this period. Growing social distress along with political discontent created an atmosphere of revolution by 1848. It became clear that the liberal governments of 1830 were dependent on the manufacturing interests and would not be able to handle the grievances of the people. This realisation resulted in the growing demand for further liberalisation and extension of democratic and socialist policies.

Revolutions of 1830-33 had left reason for continuing discontent as the new governments had made concessions and had been careful to keep away from democratic movements. The right to vote was defined in terms of property owned and such qualifications kept all but the wealthy middle classes from exercising political power. Given the extent of abuses in electoral and parliamentary machinery, the democrats and radicals demanded universal suffrage and overhauls of the system. Growing industrialisation and urbanisation and the recurrent economic depression resulted in the demand for economic reforms. Those who demanded these reforms saw democratic reforms as the first step to socio-economic reforms because they believed that the middle classes were using their political powers to protect economic interests and that this had to be curtailed. Economic hardships along with the stirring of nationalist aspirations resulted in a series of eruption in almost all parts of Europe by July 1848. In almost all countries, there was a growing resentment towards the existing political regimes and political campaigns were being carried out. The opposition used means of election campaigns and parliamentary activity combined with festivals and banquets to create a common political programme. Such practices were evident in countries like France and Hungary. Prussia and Italy initiated the party of movement in the continent. Here the moderate liberals carried out their programme of national unity and constitutional government peacefully and by means of cooperation with authorities.

The initiative of the revolution lay with the people of Palermo in Sicily who came out onto the streets in rebellion on 12th January 1848. This uprising was mainly against the misrule of Ferdinand II. Within a month’s time the rebellion spread to all Italian states. The uprising was successful in forcing the king to implement basic civil rights, grant a constitution and call for elections to a legislative assembly. Charles Savoy and Pope Pius IX led the Italian liberals. The secret societies and the Mazzinian republican movements were also active everywhere and were responsible for the earliest uprisings in Milan and Palermo. Charles Albert, despite his reforms, continued to rule as an absolutist ruler. The Mazzinians were successful in compelling Ferdinand II to grant Sicily the Constitution of 1812 and its independence from Naples. In Piedmont, Tuscany and Rome too, similar constitutions were granted to avoid revolution. The joint efforts of the liberal constitutionalists and democratic republicans opened a new era of liberal government. In February 1848 the French liberals rose in opposition against the conservative government of Guizot and proclaimed their intention of holding a propaganda banquet. Banquet campaigns had begun in France in mid-1847 and these gave way to demonstrations. The demonstrators gained control of the city hall and demanded that a republic should be set up. Despite the dismissal of the Guizot ministry, the mobs erected barricades, looted gunmen’s shops and led Paris into a state of total revolution. The uprising was supported by moderate socialists and the extremist social revolutionaries alike. Luis Philippe was forced to abdicate and a provisional government consisting of liberals was established. Under pressure from the mobs and the democrats, the provincial government was forced to carry out social and political reforms such as reduction of working hours, reorganisation of right to work, removal of restrictions on liberty and press and expansion of the electorate. These two separate incidents resulted in two different types of insurrections which sparked off a series of similar revolutions in almost all of Europe. The revolutionary impulse in Germany was one of nationalism which implied overthrow of Austrian domination and unification of German territories into one state. To avoid revolt, the king formed a liberal government and a constituent assembly was formed to pursue the work of writing a constitution till the revolutionary waves passed. In Austria-Hungary, the opposition to the Metternich rule reached its climax and it was drawn from all social classes. Metternich was forced to resign and the government of Vienna was forced to set up moderate governments in both Hungary and Austria but it held onto enough power so as to ensure a reaction once the threat of revolution had passed. In all parts of the continent there was a massive celebration of the victory of freedom. Parades, church services and speeches became a common feature of this celebration. A wave of fraternization united several incongruent elements as Europe celebrated the end of a period of oppression.

Though the revolutions were largely diverse they did share some common features. These movements occurred almost a generation after the Vienna settlement of 1815 and in general they were protests against this treaty. Economic developments in the transport sector and industries, unparalleled population growth, and ferment of new ideas and ideals were the main factors that conditioned the revolutionary mood in 1848. The revolutions originated mainly in towns. This was because the conditions of towns were rapidly deteriorating due to increasing population. Conditions of unemployment and declining standards of living nurtured revolutionary spirit in towns. Within towns it was the intellectual groups- professors, students, journalists and historians- that led the revolutions. The peasantry on the other hand, led the counterrevolutions as they were trying to protect their conservative landed interests. European politics was dominated by the feelings of nationalism. This could imply integration of states into comprehensive nation states or disintegration of dynastic states into smaller and intensive nation states. The states were also to be organised in structure and institutions based on liberalism and democracy. Sperber points out three main features of the first wave of revolutions. The first, he says, was that in all countries except France, the revolutionaries did not proclaim a republic and the monarchies remained intact. New governments promised civil liberties, a constitution and parliamentary elections but refrained from any drastic measures. The second was the speed with which the existing governments collapsed in all countries. The authorities didn’t use force to suppress these insurrections and gave in without resistance. Lastly, the impact of these uprisings wasn’t felt in the Russian empire and in Great Britain. Britain and Belgium already had flexible constitutional governments and their industrial systems were advanced enough to absorb the pressures of democratic and radical movements and pressures on internal economies. The revolutions impacted mainly the agrarian and peasant countries.

Another significant feature of the revolution was the development of political organisations and mass political participation. New possibilities for public life and a new space for political activity emerged as the liberal governments granted civil liberties like freedom of expression, speech, press and assembly. Legislative bodies of 1848, many of which were constituent assemblies became the focus of political life in Europe. Initiatives were taken to set up political parties and federations of political clubs. Political clubs, which could be dated back to the French Revolution, rapidly proliferated in 1848. These were voluntary associations of men who engaged in organised political activity. They organised political rallies and demonstrations, held debates and discussions and acted as a link between the upper level of political leadership and political activists. Clubs popularized their demands, slogans and songs and effectively spread various issues. The mass movement of petitions to the parliament made it an alternative to the monarchy. An end to censorship implied a boom in journalism. There were almost 170 newspapers being published in Paris. Newspaper became free to engage in political discussions and attempts were made at introducing popular press. Popular folklore and mass demonstrations came to be used for political ends. Revolutions of 1848 saw the birth of labour movements and growth of trade unions and craftsmen guilds as well.

One of the most interesting aspects of these revolutions was the active participation of women in public life. In the German town of Eberfeld, women called a public meeting to promote textiles produced within the nation and assist in the movement of national unification and to find a solution to the social crisis. In other places too women asserted their role in the public life but mostly in terms of their private role in the household. They formed clubs and associations to assist political refugees, to promote girls’ education etc. They participated in demonstrations, festivities and banquets. Women sewed flags for the town’s National Guard, spoke in ceremonies reminding men of their patriotic duties, participated debates on public matters in clubs and were in small proportions found at barricades among those who were wounded or were arrested in street fighting. Clubs such as the Club of Emancipation of Women and the Union of Women demanded that women should have the equal right to public education, to control property and divorce should be legalized. France’s leading feminist, Jeanne Deroin, proposed even to run for elections as a democratic candidate. Her initiatives marked the height of women’s political activism. However women’s participation was mostly restricted to their support of the men. Very rarely did they take part in the revolutionary activity on their own account.

Sperber highlights the fact that very few global changes can be attributed to the revolutions of 1848. The provisional government in France managed to abolish slavery in the West Indies and this received tremendous support from the United States but unlike the French Revolution of 1789, the revolutions of 1848 were not a hotly debated topic outside European continent. This was probably because the revolutions were usually transmitted to the world through colonial empires and the only colonial empire at this point was the British Empire and Great Britain had not been affected by the revolution.

By end of May 1848, the revolutionary movements had won victories but were reaching a point of stalemate. The period after this saw a new phase in the European Revolutionary movement. Most countries witnessed series of counterrevolutions led by forces of reaction or moderate liberals and conservatives. The year of revolution ended with a suppression of democratic radical movements. Though the revolutions were widespread, they had little impact. Very few countries gained constitutions. In France Luis Napoleon established a dictatorship and in Italy, Germany and Austria, pre-revolutionary conditions were restored. Feudalism was abolished and the peasants were emancipated in most countries but they continued to support the reactionary governments. The age of romanticism declined and was replaced by an age of Realism and rifts emerged between liberals and nationalists as they realised that the two ideologies didn’t always complement each other. The failed revolutions also resulted in the emergence of ‘communism’ which was developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Most historians consider the revolutions a failure as they were unable to bring about a permanent structural change.

Bibliography:

  1. Droz, Jacques, ‘Europe between Revolutions 1815-1848’, William Collins Sons and Co. Ltd., 1976.
  2. Hobsbawn, Eric, ‘The Age of Revolution of 1789-1848’, Vintage Books, 1996.
  3. Sperber, Jonathan, ‘The European Revolutions, 1848-1851’, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
  4. Taylor Alan J., ‘The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1848-1918.

Surbhi Bhambri

III Year BA (Hons)History