The French revolution of 1848

At the close of the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars (1789-1815) the Bourbon dynasty was restored in France in the person of a brother of the King who had been sent to the guillotine during the revolution. This restoration King, Louis XVIII, alienated opinion due to his absolutist tendencies and his 'legitimate' monarchy was usurped in 1830 with a junior, Orleanist, branch of the dynasty being recognised as Kings of the French rather than as Kings of France. The King installed in 1830, Louis Phillipe, was himself a son of Phillipe, Duke of Orleans, a Bourbon prince who had offered some support to the revolution of 1879 and who had become known as Philip Egalite.

Notably disagreeable weather across much of Europe in 1845-6 affected agricultural production leading to rising food prices and to generally depressed economic conditions of widespread unemployment. Such sufferings as this brought to those badly affected led, in turn, to a radicalisation of political attitudes.
  During these times France was yet a monarchy under Louis Phillipe but with his "Liberal" monarchy having few real supporters. Elections were held on the basis of quite limited suffrage, many felt excluded from any possibility of gaining wealth, and others felt that his "Bourgeois and Liberal" monarchy compared unfavourably with earlier, "Glorious", eras of French Monarchy or Empire.

  On 14th January 1848 the authorities banned a "banquet", one of a series that had intermittently been held by 'liberal' interests after July 1847 in Paris, and subsequently widely across France, in protest at such things as limitations on the right of assembly and the narrow scope of the political franchise, with the result that the it was postponed by its organisers. Although the banquet, now set for the 22nd February, was cancelled at the last minute there were some serious disturbances on the Paris streets on the 22nd and on 23rd February where a number of fatalaties and serious injuries ensued. The were instances of units of the National Guard that had been deployed by the authorities refusing to act to contain the protest. Faced with such unrest Louis Phillipe dismissed Guizot, his unpopular Prime Minister on the 23rd and himself, reluctantly, abdicated on the 24th.
The French Chamber of Deputies accepted that the Crown would now pass to a youthful grandson of Louis Phillipe, the Comte de Paris, with powers of regency being vested in his mother.

In the wake of these dramatic developments what had effectively become a French revolution of 1848 continued with the Chamber of Deputies being invaded and replaced with the establishment of a Provisional Government of a French Republic. This government was formed in a climate where power needed to be exercised by a central authority but where there was also a divergence of opinion as to the desireable political and social outlook of that government. Although Louis Phillippe had abdicated in favour of his grandson this was disregarded given the popular mood in favour of a republican form of government. Monarchy was pronounced to be abolished in France "without possibiliy of return". Important figures in the Provisional Government administration included established moderate, liberal, middle-class, "reformers - now become republicans", such as Lamartaine. A campaign sponsored by a newspaper named Réforme culminated in some more radical persons being accepted into the new government. These included the prominent French socialist Louis Blanc and a "working man" named Albert who was addressed by this forename all the while he was involved in the government.
It was accepted that elections based on universal adult (male) suffrage would return delegates who would more fully decide the future direction of the governance of France.

By this time some twelve thousand muskets formerly held within government arsenals had fallen into the hands of radicalised protestors. On the 25th February socialists in Paris secured a decree which proclaimed that the newly formed Provisional Government would undertake to provide opportunities for paid work for all citizens and would also recognise workers rights to "combine in order to enjoy the legitimate benefits of their labour." A system of "National Workshops" was instituted in relation to this guarantee of "labour to every citizen".

These revolutionary developments were perhaps more Parisian than French, they were orchestrated by a radical section of the population of Paris but they did not generally receive the support of the French provinces. The socialistic radicals of Paris urged the adoption of the red flag of socialism whilst those supportive of constitutional republicanism preferred to re-adopt the red, white, and blue, "Tricolour" flag that had been adopted in the early days of the French Revolution of 1789. The stresses incidental to this divergence of aspiration and outlook between Republicans and Socialists resulted in a compromise where a red rosette was added to the standard of the Tricolour.

Elections were put in train, on the basis of an Universal Suffrage which recognised some nine million persons as being competent electors (compared to the 250,000 previously recognised voters under the previously more restrictive suffrage), towards the forming of a National Assembly which was to deal with important constitutional issues. 

The National Workshops system set out to offer constant work and did this at a relatively high rate of pay such that it soon attracted the services of all the casual labour of Paris and also began to draw in a large influx of other casual labour from the provinces. Within two or three months there were some 66,000 persons on the payroll. The unsettled times tended to contribute to a fall off in expenditure by the rich, many of whom left Paris for the countryside. As there proved to be insufficient work provided by the National Workshops for all the facility was rationed in that those involved reported to the workplace on two days of the week but were recognised as being entitled to a 'salary of inactivity' payment of one franc per day for other days. The main initial task tackled being a public works scheme levelling a small hill - a scenario that did not involve the receipt of revenues to offset the expense to the public purse. Other tasks included planting trees, building roads, and building railway stations - the authorities even oversaw the performance of "the same tasks" over and over to provide sufficient paid occupation. They did not want to sponsor economic activities that might seem to be in competition with the interests of existing capitalist enterprise.
Some additional taxes were raised, that mainly impacted upon the rural peasantry, in efforts to help to meet the expense of the National Workshops.

The National or Constituent Assembly resulting from the processes of election convened on May 4^th 1848. Some 900 deputies had been returned to serve in the National Assembly. About half were returned as supportive of (Orleanist or Legitimist) monarchy rather than republicanism, about 350 were returned on a clericalist 'freedom of education' ticket, there were only a minority, about 100 strong, of variously comitted republicans or socialists. Despite the breadth of the franchise, that had recognised some nine million persons as being voters, the main voting bloc - the peasantry - proved to be content with the legacy of the 1789-1815 French Revolutionary and Napoleonic era that had left them as owners of their small farms with the result that they voted for conservative candidates that would not threaten the rights of property. In these times of widespread illiteracy the political opinions of rural voters were often guided by respected local figures such as parish priests.

It proved to be the case that the political representatives of France as a whole were not prepared to endorse many of the policies that were preferred by Parisian radicals. The administration recognised by the assembly did not include an important role for Louis Blanc. The Assembly declined to send assistance to the Polish reformers who, in their struggles against Russian Tsarist authority, enjoyed the sympathies of the French radicals. On May 15th the National or Constituent Assembly was invaded by persons seeking its overthrow and replacement by an administration headed up by Louis Blanc.
In the event the National Guard acted to prevent the overthrow of the Assembly. Radicalism had showed a willingness to attempt to turbulently impose its own agendas. The stage was now set for a continuance of a serious confrontation between French conservatism and Parisian radicalism.

The European Revolution of 1848 represents a widespead emergence of situations where populist aspirations, or human aspirations as less limited by traditions of respect for monarchical or religious authority, variously sought constitutional, liberal, nationalist or socialistic changes in society.

1 The European Revolution of 1848 begins

A broad outline of the background to the onset of the turmoils and a consideration of some of the early events.

2 The French Revolution of 1848

A particular focus on France - as the influential Austrian minister Prince Metternich, who sought to encourage the re-establishment of "Order" in the wake of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic turmoils of 1789-1815, said:-"When France sneezes Europe catches a cold".

3 The Revolution of 1848 in the German Lands and central Europe

"Germany" had a movement for a single parliament in 1848 and many central European would-be "nations" attempted to assert a distinct existence separate from the dynastic sovereignties they had been living under.

4 The "Italian" Revolution of 1848

A "liberal" Papacy after 1846 helps allow the embers of an "Italian" national aspiration to rekindle across the Italian Peninsula.

5 The Monarchs recover power 1848-1849

Some instances of social and political extremism allow previously pro-reform conservative elements to support the return of traditional authority. Louis Napoleon, (who later became the Emperor Napoleon III), attains to power in France offering social stability at home but ultimately follows policies productive of dramatic change in the wider European structure of states and their sovereignty.

Other Popular European History pages
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