This week we have been learning about the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 in Europe. We started the first class by defining what a revolution was. We defined revolutions in Europe as the people rebelling against an unfair government. If the people didn't get the changes they hoped for, then the revolution would have failed, if they did get the changes they wanted it would have been a success. But, not all revolutions fall in those two extremes, so we created a scale to rate them on. There is complete failure at one end, followed by partial failure, then neutral where nothing changed, partial success, and then complete success.
Historians believe that all these revolutions were failures, and our job this week was to decide for ourselves if we agreed. We were put into groups and each assigned a revolution, we read an overview and primary source documents and then created a survey using Survey Monkey. Then, the rest of the class took our survey to learn about our revolution.
My group was assigned the 1848 French Revolution. The 1848 Revolution consisted of working class citizens rioting against Louis Philippe's corrupt government with goals of political reforms, an end to government corruption, and extended suffrage. During February of 1848, Louis Philippe was forced to resign from the thrown, and the Second Republic was proclaimed. During June of the same year, working class citizens rioted for lower bread prices, and were attacking by bourgeoisie and peasants. While fighting broke out in the streets, citizens used building as weapons and protection. One famous building was the barricade of Saint Antoine, and according to Victor Hugo in his Description of the Barricade (http://www.edline.net/files/_5YGnP_/efd5e1bb61c791 f13745a49013852ec4/France_1848.pdf) "all that civil war can throw at the head of society came from it." After the fighting, the National Assembly created a constitution for the Second Republic, and all wealthy men were given the right to vote for their president. They elected Louis Napoleon III, Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew, as their president. But eventually he ended the Second Republic, and proclaimed himself emperor. He states in his Proclamation of 4 January 1852, that he admired the way his uncle Napoleon ruled, and was going to revert the French government back to the way it was when he was in power. This rebellion was over all more of a failure than a success. The rebels did get extended suffrage, but only for the wealthy, and eventually the Second Republic did come to an end under the rule of Louis Napoleon.
The Survey Monkey my group created can be found here:https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T9SGP5X
My group was assigned the 1848 French Revolution. The 1848 Revolution consisted of working class citizens rioting against Louis Philippe's corrupt government with goals of political reforms, an end to government corruption, and extended suffrage. During February of 1848, Louis Philippe was forced to resign from the thrown, and the Second Republic was proclaimed. During June of the same year, working class citizens rioted for lower bread prices, and were attacking by bourgeoisie and peasants. While fighting broke out in the streets, citizens used building as weapons and protection. One famous building was the barricade of Saint Antoine, and according to Victor Hugo in his Description of the Barricade (http://www.edline.net/files/_5YGnP_/efd5e1bb61c791 f13745a49013852ec4/France_1848.pdf) "all that civil war can throw at the head of society came from it." After the fighting, the National Assembly created a constitution for the Second Republic, and all wealthy men were given the right to vote for their president. They elected Louis Napoleon III, Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew, as their president. But eventually he ended the Second Republic, and proclaimed himself emperor. He states in his Proclamation of 4 January 1852, that he admired the way his uncle Napoleon ruled, and was going to revert the French government back to the way it was when he was in power. This rebellion was over all more of a failure than a success. The rebels did get extended suffrage, but only for the wealthy, and eventually the Second Republic did come to an end under the rule of Louis Napoleon.
The Survey Monkey my group created can be found here:https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T9SGP5X
Overall, our survey was successful and most of the class got the majority of the questions correct.
As we took other groups' Survey Monkeys, we learned about the other revolutions in Europe that took place between 1830 and 1848. One of the revolutions was the 1825 Decembrist Revolt. This revolt happened in Russia after the death of their leader Tsar Alexander. His death was unexpected, and a delay in arranging his succession opened an opportunity for reform. But, when Tsar Nicholas stepped up and declared himself ruler during the rebellion, he instituted a law allowing no one to leave Russia or have any contact with the outside world. This caused violence and unrest. Another revolt was in Germany in 1848. People from the German states decided to meet in the Frankfurt Assembly, where they created a new constitution for Germany. They offered Prussia's Frederick William IV the crown, but he refused because it was written by the people, and not the nobles. This caused conservatives to revolt, and as a result hundreds of Germans were killed, many more were imprisoned, and thousands fled to America. One final revolt we discussed was in 1848 in Hungary. Fighting against their Austrian ruler, nationalists demanded an independent government, an end to serfdom, and a written constitution to protect basic rights. Overwhelmed, the Austrian government agreed to these reforms, but they didn't last for long. Austrian forces were able to take back control over Budapest causing many to be imprisoned, executed, or forced to exile. With evidence from these revolutions, historians were correct in saying the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were failures. None of the rebels got everything they fought for, and their governments almost always ended up back the way they were from the start.
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