Transcript L13: Nationalism in Europe - cacacewhs2016-2017

L7: The Success and Failures of the French and German Revolutions 1848
The Age of Revolutions
Agenda
Objective:
1. To understand the key events of the French and German
Revolutions of 1848
2. To understand the role of socialism in these events
3. To evaluate whether or not these revolutions were successful
and why
Schedule:
1. Lecture & Discussion
Homework:
None
Revolutions of 1848
• Ideas of Socialism and Liberalism Fuel
Revolution in France and Germany in 1848
– First time we see ideas of socialism giving
impetus to revolution
– First time we see the working class becoming a
concrete force in revolutionary movements
• “The turning point at which history failed to
turn” (George Macaulay 1937)
– What does this mean? Do we agree?
The World 1848
European Revolutions
Key World Events
• Communist Manifesto published
• Seneca Falls Convention (US)
• Mexican-American War Ends (US)
• Chartist Rally (UK)
Revolution in France 1848
Background (Recap, France 1830)
• Congress of Vienna restored the
monarchy after the French Revolution.
• The monarch they put up, King Louis
XVIII, is a moderate.
• In 1824 Louis XVIII was succeeded by
his brother Charles X
• Charles X was an absolute monarch
• In response to Charles X’s conservatism,
Parisians revolt in an effort to bring
liberalism to France.
• Charles X flees
Revolution in France (Again), 1830:
The Revolution Ends and a new Gov’t Takes Control
• France establishes a new government
• Constitutional Monarchy
• King Louis Philippe, the “Citizen
King”
• But mainly supported the interests
of the wealthy.
• French people quickly became
dissatisfied with his rule
Revolution in France (Yet Again!)
February 1848: The Revolution Begins!
• French citizens began to take to the streets in protest to Louis Philippe’s rule. These
protests soon gave way to full scale revolution
• Unlike the liberal revolutions we had seen in France (and other locations) the protestors
were comprised of members of France’s middle class and working class.
• Each expressed opposition Louis Philippe’s rule, but grounded their concerns in different
grievances:
– Middle Class: Lack of political
– Working Class: Lack of
economic opportunity
• Coalition of middle class and
Louis Philippe to abdicate
representation and democracy
democracy, but also lack of
working class effectively forces
Middle Class Takes Command of the
Revolution
• Led by Alphonse Lamartine
• Goal was to secure the rights long
sought for in the “Declaration of the
Rights of Man.”
– To vote, to free speech, to property, & to a
secular education.
• Middle Class takes command of the
revolution and declares a new
Provisional Government.
The Second Republic
• 1848-1851
• Representative government
• Universal male suffrage
• Separation of powers
• President who was directly elected
• Parliamentary system
The Second Republic Begins to Crumble
• The forces that united to overthrow the king soon split into moderate and radical factions.
– Moderates
• Wanted middle-class control within the existing social order
– Radicals
• Wanted social and economic revolution.
• The conflicts between liberals & socialists over:
– The timing of elections to the Constituent Assembly.
– The costs of government social programs.
• Did they violate laissez-faire?
– The question of whether you could have liberty for all men and still have a system based on private
property.
• Growing social tensions between the working class & the bourgeois middle class regarding:
– The nature of work.
– The right to unionize.
– Pay levels.
Working Class Radicals push for Socialist Ideals
• Led by Louis Blanc
• Believed in the “Right to Work.”
– National Workshops.
• Provide work for the
unemployed.
Revolution in France (Yet Again!) June 1848:
National Workshops
• Soon the new government faced a major crisis
over national workshops.
• National Workshops
– State-run factories/ workhouses
– Guaranteed French citizens “the right to
work.”
• Problem was there was not enough work to
do.
– Some laborers were assigned to move dirt
from one end of a park to the other and on the
next day move it back.
The June Days Uprising
• Government closes the national workshop.
• This lead to a riot among some members of the French public.
• June Days
– June 23-25, 1848
– Riots over the closing of the
National Workshops.
– Unemployed workers raised a
red flag as a sign of revolution
(the first time that the red flag had been used as a symbol of the proletariat).
– Movement was crushed.
– Showed the triumph of the liberals over leftist radicals.
President Louis Napoleon
• The December election:
– The “law and order” candidate,
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte won
• Nephew of Napoleon
– This was a big shift in middle
class opinion to the right!
• Why do you think the middle class moved to the right in this election
• The New President:
– Purged the govt. of all radical left-leaning officials.
• Replaced them with ultra-conservative and monarchists.
– Disbanded the National Assembly and held new elections.
• Represented himself as a “Man of the People.”
– His government regularly used forced against dissenters.
France Becomes a Dictatorship,
again…
• However, three years later he launches a coup
and names himself Napoleon III, Emperor of
the Second Empire
• The Second Republic is over and the Second
Empire has begun.
Making Meaning of the French Revolution of 1848
• Would you consider the Revolution of 1848 to be a success or
failure? Why?
• de Tocqueville: “What distinguished [the June 1848 Revolution]
among all the events of this kind which have succeeded one
another in France for 60 years, is that id not aim at changing the
form of government, but at altering the order of society.” (Alexis
de Tocqueville, 1848.” What do you make of this?
Revolution in Germany 1848
German Revolution 1848
• Word of France’s revolutionary
activity in 1848 spread quickly
throughout Europe and soon at
public assemblies throughout
Germany, members of the working
class and the middle class were
clamoring for change
• As in Paris, German citizens began
building barricades in Berlin in the
German state of Prussia.
German Revolution 1848
• In response, the Prussian King, Frederick William
IV decided to make concessions rather than
unleash further violence and bloodshed.
– He ordered the army out of Berlin and promised the
Prussian people their liberal demands of a parliament,
a constitution, and a united Germany.
• Upon learning of this development, the rulers of
other German states agreed to establish
constitutional governments and guarantee basic
civil rights.
The Frankfurt Parliament
• The Frankfurt Parliament opened its first session with more than 500 delegates from the various
German states and Austria.
• There was disagreement among members of the Parliament over several significant issues that
divided along middle class/working class lines:
– What form of government would be best for the new empire?
– Who would make up the new empire?
• All German-speakers in central Europe?
• All Germans in central Europe except Austrians?
• All of the infighting prevented the
Parliament from reaching any sort
of consensus and the Parliament
was largely ineffective.
• Germany fails to:
– Unify
– Meaningfully liberalize
Concluding Thoughts
• What patterns/similarities did you notice in both
revolutions?
• Do you think Macaulay’s assessment of the Revolutions of
1848 as “The turning point at which history failed to turn”
is accurate?