1848 revolutions essay Flashcards
thesis statement?
- The revolutions of 1848 were driven by conservative and absolutist regimes that failed to respond to the growing liberal, economic, and nationalist demands reshaping Europe
- At the heart of the unrest was an inflexible desire to restore the old order, which ignored the changing realities and aspirations of the people
- In contrast, Britain’s more pragmatic political system, while still reactionary, avoided revolution by offering limited reform and responding to public pressure
outline of the essay
Background
- history of liberalism, the context
- the impacts of industrialisation
France
- the July monarchy
- the February revolution
- why it happened
Germany
- events
- why it spread
Austria
- events
- why it spread
Britain
- nature of governance system
- how it responded to unrest
- didn’t have the nationalism aspect
what is the contextual history of liberalism?
- The French Revolution, Napoleonic wars and how the Congress of Vienna had installed conservative governments across Europe in an attempt to avoid liberal unrest
- As a result there was underlying tensions between the liberal sentiment in Europe that had never disappeared and the conservative governments
impact of industrialisation
- It created a middle class that was particularly at odds with the old aristocracy
- It also created economic hardships that fuelled unrest and discontent with conservatism
- Irish potato famine and the hungry forties
the july monarchy
- Louis Philippe’s government was only elected by about 1% of the population, the middle class were not allowed to vote
- Government repression was widespread
February revolution 1848
- Sparked after a reform banquet was banned by the government, barricades are built across the city in protest
- Louis Philippe abdicated with a provisional government declaring themselves the second republic
- Implement reforms: freedom of speech and religion, universal manhood suffrage
- Socialists in government want more changes such as national workshops for jobs
- Moderate and conservative fears of socialist policies grow, rural voters vote in favour of moderate and monarchist candidates
- They shut the workshops causing the June Days uprising (four day revolt by workers) and it is brutally crushed
- A presidential election is held to restore order, Napoleon’s nephew wins, he later declares himself emperor
1848 revolts in Germany?
- Inspired by revolutions in France, protests caused various rulers including Frederick William IV of Prussia to grant liberal reforms like freedom of the press, trial by jury etc.
- Unification was pursued at the Frankfurt assembly that was liberal but lacked real authority but it was weakened by class tensions about whether whether a united Germany should include Austria (Greater Germany) or exclude it (Lesser Germany)
- They chose lesser Germany and offered the crown to Frederick but he refused it calling it a ‘crown from the gutter’, unwilling to accept power from popular assembly
- Monarchs quickly regained control
why the revolution spread to Germany
- Germany shared the conservative liberal tensions with France as well as the absolutist nature of rule that ignored demands from the people
- Some reforms were implemented but it was nationalist sentiment here that took hold, they took liberal ideas and modified them for their own issues (liberal nationalism)
- It was a relatively new ideology in Europe, growing strength seen in the Greek war of independence but Frederick’s backward view of divine rule prevented reform
1848 revolution in Austria
- Street barricades forced the minister Metternich to flee
- Government introduced liberal reforms but challenges arose over nationalism
- Various ethnic groups used the revolt to push for autonomy
- Kossuth in Hungary led the Magyars in declaring self-rule
- Other minorities like Croats and Romanians were rejected
- Czechs formed a Slavic government in Prague opposing German rule
- These all created divisions that weakened the revolution
- The Habsburg monarchy also used nationalist divisions against each other
- By october imperial control was restored in Vienna
why the revolution spread to Austria
- Shared the same nationalist sentiment as Germany, many of the same reasons
- Austrian empire was made up of so many disparate ethnic groups
- Absolutist rule made no concessions
the nature of the British governance system
Had a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system that allowed for legal reform and political participation more so than absolutist states like Prussia and Austria
how britain responded to unrest
Burke’s ideas had been adopted by the British and a central part of their conservatism was pragmatism and adaptability, not as rigid or determined to cling onto the past as other European governments/monarchies
need something on the chartist movement here
the lack of a nationalist aspect in Britain
unrest in Ireland was weakened by the famine
