The French Revolution of 1848 (french: Révolution française de 1848), also known as the February Revolution (), was a brief period of
civil unrest
Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, or social unrest is a situation arising from a mass act of civil disobedience (such as a demonstration, riot, strike, or unlawful assembly) in which law enforcement has difficulty ...
in France, in February 1848, that led to the collapse of the
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...
and the foundation of the
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic (french: Deuxième République Française or ), officially the French Republic (), was the republican government of France that existed between 1848 and 1852. It was established in February 1848, with the February Revo ...
. It sparked the wave of
revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
.
The revolution took place in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, and was preceded by the French government's crackdown on the
campagne des banquets
The Campagne des banquets (''banquet campaign'') were political meetings during the July Monarchy in France which destabilized the King of the French Louis-Philippe (France), Louis-Philippe. The campaign officially took place from 9 July 1847 to 25 ...
. Starting on 22 February as a large-scale protest against the government of
François Guizot
François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848.
A conservative liberal who opposed the a ...
, it later developed into a violent uprising against the monarchy. After intense urban fighting, large crowds managed to take control of the capital, leading to the abdication of King
Louis Philippe
Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France.
As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...
on 24 February and the subsequent proclamation of the Second Republic.
Background
Under the
Charter of 1814
The French Charter of 1814 was a constitutional text granted by King Louis XVIII of France shortly after the Bourbon Restoration, in form of royal charter. The Congress of Vienna demanded that Louis bring in a constitution of some form before he ...
,
Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
ruled France as the head of a
constitutional monarchy
A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
. Upon Louis XVIII's death, his brother, the Count of Artois, ascended to the throne in 1824, as
Charles X
Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Loui ...
. Supported by the
ultra-royalist
The Ultra-royalists (french: ultraroyalistes, collectively Ultras) were a French political faction from 1815 to 1830 under the Bourbon Restoration. An Ultra was usually a member of the nobility of high society who strongly supported Roman Catho ...
s, Charles X was an extremely unpopular reactionary monarch whose aspirations were far more grand than those of his deceased brother. He had no desire to rule as a constitutional monarch, taking various steps to strengthen his own authority as monarch and weaken that of the
lower house
A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
.
In 1830, Charles X of France, presumably instigated by one of his chief advisers,
Jules, Prince de Polignac
Jules Auguste Armand Marie de Polignac, Count of Polignac (; 14 May 178030 March 1847), then Prince of Polignac, and briefly 3rd Duke of Polignac in 1847, was a French statesman and ultra-royalist politician after the Revolution. He served as pr ...
, issued the
Four Ordinances of St. Cloud. These ordinances abolished
freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...
, reduced the electorate by 75%, and dissolved the lower house. This action provoked an immediate reaction from the citizenry, who revolted against the monarchy during the
Three Glorious Days
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (french: révolution de Juillet), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after the first in 1789. It led to the overthrow of King ...
of 26–29 July 1830. Charles was forced to abdicate the throne and to flee Paris for the United Kingdom. As a result,
Louis Philippe
Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France.
As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...
, of the
Orléanist
Orléanist (french: Orléaniste) was a 19th-century French political label originally used by those who supported a constitutional monarchy expressed by the House of Orléans. Due to the radical political changes that occurred during that centu ...
branch, rose to power, replacing the old Charter by the
Charter of 1830
The Charter of 1830 (french: Charte de 1830) instigated the July Monarchy in France. It was considered a compromise between constitutional monarchists and republicans.
History
After three days of protests in July 1830 – the July ...
, and his rule became known as the
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...
.
Nicknamed the "Bourgeois Monarch", Louis Philippe sat at the head of a moderately liberal state controlled mainly by educated elites. Supported by the Orléanists, he was opposed on his right by the
Legitimist
The Legitimists (french: Légitimistes) are royalists who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession to the French crown of the descendants of the eldest branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They re ...
s (former ultra-royalists) and on
his left by the
Republicans. Louis Philippe was an expert businessman and, by means of his businesses, he had become one of the richest men in France. Still Louis Philippe saw himself as the successful embodiment of a "small businessman" (''
petite bourgeoisie
''Petite bourgeoisie'' (, literally 'small bourgeoisie'; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a French term that refers to a social class composed of semi-autonomous peasants and small-scale merchants whose politico-economic ideological st ...
''). Consequently, he and his government did not look with favor on the big business (bourgeoisie), especially the industrial section of the French bourgeoisie. Louis Philippe did, however, support the bankers, large and small. Indeed, at the beginning of his reign in 1830, Jaques Laffitte, a banker and liberal politician who supported Louis Philippe's rise to the throne, said "From now on, the bankers will rule."
["Class Struggles in France" in ''Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Volume 10'', p. 48.] Accordingly, during the reign of Louis Philippe, the privileged "financial aristocracy", i.e. bankers, stock exchange magnates, railroad barons, owners of coal mines, iron ore mines, and forests and all landowners associated with them, tended to support him, while the industrial section of the bourgeoisie, which may have owned the land their factories sat on but not much more, were disfavoured by Louis Philippe and actually tended to side with the middle class and laboring class in opposition to Louis Philippe in the Chamber of Deputies.
Naturally, land-ownership was favored, and this elitism resulted in the disenfranchisement of much of the middle and working classes.
By 1848 only about one percent of the population held the franchise. Although France had a
free press and
trial by jury
A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions.
Jury trials are used in a significant ...
, only landholders were permitted to vote, which alienated the
petty bourgeoisie and even the industrial bourgeoisie from the government. Louis Philippe was viewed as generally indifferent to the needs of society, especially to those members of the middle class who were excluded from the political arena. Early in 1848, some Orléanist
liberals, such as
Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( , ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France and first President of the French Third Republic.
Thiers was a key figure in the July Rev ...
, had turned against Louis Philippe, disappointed by his opposition to
parliamentarism
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
. A Reform Movement developed in France which urged the government to expand the electoral franchise, just as Great Britain had done with the
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major chan ...
. The more radical democrats of the Reform Movement coalesced around the newspaper, ''
La Réforme
''La Réforme'' was a French political newspaper of the mid-19th century. Founded in Paris on 29 July 1843 by Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, the newspaper had a left-wing radical liberal republican editorial line, and published some early socialist w ...
''; the more moderate republicans and the liberal opposition rallied around the ''
Le National'' newspaper. Starting in July 1847 the Reformists of all shades began to hold "banquets" at which toasts were drunk to ''"République française"'' (the French Republic), ''"
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
''Liberté, égalité, fraternité'' (), French for "liberty, equality, fraternity", is the national motto of France and the Republic of Haiti, and is an example of a tripartite motto. Although it finds its origins in the French Revolution, it ...
"'', etc. Louis Philippe turned a deaf ear to the Reform Movement, and discontent among wide sections of the French people continued to grow. Social and political discontent sparked revolutions in France in 1830 and 1848, which in turn inspired revolts in other parts of Europe. Workers lost their jobs, bread prices rose, and people accused the government of
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
. The French revolted and set up a republic. French successes led to other revolts, including those who wanted relief from the suffering caused by the Industrial Revolution, and nationalism sprang up hoping for independence from foreign rulers.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works ...
observed, "We are sleeping together in a volcano. ... A wind of revolution blows, the storm is on the horizon." Lacking the property qualifications to vote, the lower classes were about to erupt in revolt.
Economic and international influences
The French middle class watched changes in Britain with interest. When Britain's
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major chan ...
extended enfranchisement to any man paying taxes of £10 or more per year (previously the vote was restricted to landholders), France's free press took interest. Meanwhile, economically, the French working class may perhaps have been slightly better off than Britain's working class. Still, unemployment in France threw skilled workers down to the level of the proletariat. The only nominally social law of the
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...
was passed in 1841. This law prohibited the use of labor of those children under eight years of age, and the employment of children less than 13 years old for night-time work. This law was routinely flouted.
The year 1846 saw a financial crisis and bad harvests, and the following year saw an economic depression. A poor railway system hindered aid efforts, and the peasant rebellions that resulted were forcefully crushed. According to French economist
Frédéric Bastiat, the poor condition of the railway system can largely be attributed to French efforts to promote other systems of transport, such as carriages. Perhaps a third of Paris was on
social welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
. Writers such as
Louis Blanc
Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc (; ; 29 October 1811 – 6 December 1882) was a French politician and historian. A socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of cooperatives in order to guarantee employment for the urban poor. Alt ...
("The
right to work
The right to work is the concept that people have a human right to work, or engage in productive employment, and should not be prevented from doing so. The right to work is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized i ...
") and
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
("
Property is theft
"Property is theft!" (french: La propriété, c'est le vol!) is a slogan coined by French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his 1840 book ''What Is Property? or, An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government''.
Overview
By "pro ...
!") proliferated.
Bastiat, who was one of the most famous political writers of the 1840s, had written countless works concerning the economic situation before 1848, and provided a different explanation of why the French people were forced to rise in the revolt. He believed that the main reasons were primarily the political corruption, along with its very complex system of monopolies, permits, and bureaucracy, which made those who were able to obtain political favors unjustly privileged and able to dictate the market conditions and caused a myriad of businesses to collapse, as well as
protectionism
Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
which was the basis for the French foreign trade at the time, and which caused businesses along the Atlantic Coast to file for bankruptcy, along with the one owned by Bastiat's family. Indeed, most of Bastiat's early works concern the situation in Bayonne and Bordeaux, two large merchant harbors before the Napoleonic Wars, gradually devastated first by Napoleon I's continental blockade, and later by the protectionist legislation of the nineteenth century. According to Bastiat's biographer, G.C. Roche, just prior to the revolution, 100,000 citizens of Lyon were described as "indigent" and by 1840 there were at least 130,000 abandoned children in France. International markets were not similarly troubled at the time, which Bastiat attributed to the freedom of trade. Indeed, a large part of French economic problems in the 1830s and 1840s were caused by the shortage and unnaturally high prices of different products which could have easily been imported from other countries, such as textiles, machines, tools, and ores, but doing so was either outright illegal at the time or unprofitable due to the system of punitive tariffs.
Bastiat has also noted that the French legislators were entirely unaware of the reality and the effects of their radical policies. One of the members of the French Chamber of Deputies reportedly received a standing ovation when he proposed that the depression of 1847 was due primarily to "external weakness" and "idle pacifism". Nationalist tendencies caused France to severely restrict all international contacts with the United Kingdom, including the ban on importing tea, perceived as destructive to the French national spirit. As the United Kingdom was the largest economy in the world in the nineteenth century, France deprived itself of its most important economic partner, one that could have supplied France with what it lacked and bought surplus French goods.
Such governmental policies and obliviousness to the real reasons of economic troubles were, according to Bastiat, the main causes of the French Revolution of the 1848 and the rise of socialists and anarchists in the years preceding the revolution itself.
Because political gatherings and demonstrations were outlawed in France, activists of the largely middle class opposition to the government began to hold a series of fund-raising banquets. This campaign of banquets (
Campagne des banquets
The Campagne des banquets (''banquet campaign'') were political meetings during the July Monarchy in France which destabilized the King of the French Louis-Philippe (France), Louis-Philippe. The campaign officially took place from 9 July 1847 to 25 ...
), was intended to circumvent the governmental restriction on political meetings and provide a legal outlet for popular criticism of the regime. The campaign began in July 1847.
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ,["Engels"](_blank)
'' François Guizot
François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848.
A conservative liberal who opposed the a ...
outlawed it. Nonetheless, the banquet's organizers decided that it would still be held, alongside a political demonstration, and scheduled it for 22 February.
Revolution
22 February
Aware of the political gatherings scheduled for the following day, on 21 February the French government had banned the political banquets for the second time. The ban succeeded in pressuring the organizing committee to cancel the events. However, the workers and students, mobilising in the previous days, refused to back down over the demonstrations.
[ 22 February started quietly, and at 9 a.m., members of the Municipal Guard who had been assigned to arrest the banquet leaders were recalled to their normal duties by the Prefect of Police.] Only a small number of troops remained at critical points.[ Shortly before noon, large crowds began flooding out onto the streets of Paris, gathering from the eastern suburbs and the ]Latin Quarter
The Latin Quarter of Paris (french: Quartier latin, ) is an area in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne.
Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistro ...
towards the Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde () is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.
...
and the Place de la Madeleine
Madeleine may refer to:
Common meanings
*Madeleine (name), also Madeline, a feminine given name
*Madeleine (cake), a traditional sweet cake from France
*Mary Magdalene, also called the Madeleine
Arts and entertainment
* ''Madelein'' (1919 fi ...
.[ Their appearance came as a surprise to the authorities, after the events were supposedly cancelled, and led to a confused initial response.][
The crowds, mostly unarmed, easily overcame the few Municipal Guardsmen, filling the squares and nearly invading the ]Palais Bourbon
The Palais Bourbon () is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the ''Rive Gauche'' of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concor ...
, the seat of the Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
.[ These demonstrations soon developed into a large-scale, popular revolt, making 22 February the first day of the Revolution.][ With the arrival of reinforcements in the afternoon, protesters were dispersed from the Place de la Concorde and the Place de la Madeleine. The crowds were too large to be arrested or contained, and so they spread out around the ]Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is lo ...
and back into southeast Paris, building the first barricades
Barricade (from the French ''barrique'' - 'barrel') is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction. Adopted as a military term, a barricade deno ...
.[ In the evening, early skirmishes took place with the Municipal Guard.][
]
23 February
On 23 February, the Ministry of War Ministry of War may refer to:
* Ministry of War (imperial China) (c.600–1912)
* Chinese Republic Ministry of War (1912–1946)
* Ministry of War (Kingdom of Bavaria) (1808–1919)
* Ministry of War (Brazil) (1815–1999)
* Ministry of War (Estoni ...
requested more regular troops from outside Paris.[ Crowds marched past Guizot's residence shouting "Down with Guizot" (''À bas Guizot'') and "Long Live the Reform" (''Vive la réforme''). The ]National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
was mobilized, however its soldiers refused to engage the crowds, and instead joined them in their demonstrations against Guizot and King Louis Philippe.[ In the early afternoon, Louis Philippe summoned Guizot to the ]Tuileries Palace
The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...
, the king's residence, and reluctantly asked for his resignation. Guizot returned to the Parliament where he announced his resignation as prime minister, and the King then requested Count Molé to form a new government.[
Upon Guizot's resignation, the leaders of the Movement Party (known as the "dynastic opposition"), ]Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( , ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France and first President of the French Third Republic.
Thiers was a key figure in the July Rev ...
and Odilon Barrot
Camille Hyacinthe Odilon Barrot (; 19 July 1791 – 6 August 1873) was a French politician who was briefly head of the council of ministers under President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in 1848–49.
Early life
Barrot was born at Villefort, Lozè ...
, congratulated themselves on achieving a change of ministry while preserving the monarchy.[ After news of Guizot's resignation spread through Paris, fighting gradually ceased and the crowds began to celebrate.][ However, despite the fall of an unpopular government, underlying social preassures remained, and republicans still sought to secure a change of regime.][
At around 9:30 pm, a crowd of over six hundred gathered outside the ]Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
on the Boulevard des Capucines
The Boulevard des Capucines is a boulevard in Paris. It is one of the 'Grands Boulevards' in Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an ...
.[ The building was guarded by about two hundred men of the .][ The commanding officer ordered the crowd not to pass, but the soldiers began to be pressed by the crowd.][ The officer then ordered his men to fix ]bayonet
A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...
s in order to keep people at distance.[ However, as they were performing this, an unidentified weapon was discharged, and in response the soldiers opened fire on the crowd in a ]fusillade
A fusillade is the simultaneous and continuous firing of a group of firearms on command. It stems from the French word ''fusil'', meaning firearm, and ''fusiller'' meaning to shoot.
In the context of military tactics, the term is generally used ...
. 52 people were killed and 74 others were injured,[ and the crowd immediately dispersed as people fled in all directions.][
News of the massacre soon sparked anger among Parisians. After the crowd regrouped on the Boulevard des Capucines, some of the dead were loaded on to horse-drawn wagons and paraded through the streets by workers calling for vengeance, as a general call to arms.][ During the night between 23 and 24 February, over 1,500 barricades were erected throughout Paris, and many railways leading to the city were ]sabotaged
''The Missing'' is a series of young adult fiction, fictional young-adult novels written by Margaret Peterson Haddix. It tells the story of famous children from history stolen by futuristic time travelers from their place in time and accidental ...
.[
]
24 February
By 24 February, Paris was a barricaded city, and King Louis Philippe remained without a government, as first Molé, then Thiers, failed to form a cabinet.[ After hearing of the massacre on the Boulevard des Capucines, Louis Philippe called for a government to be installed by Barrot, who represented a significant concession to the reformists.][ At the same time, however, the king gave the command of the troops in Paris to ]Marshal Bugeaud
Thomas Robert Bugeaud, marquis de la Piconnerie, duc d'Isly (15 October 178410 June 1849) was a Marshal of France and Governor-General of Algeria.
Early life
He was born at Limoges, a member of a noble family of Périgord (Occitania), the y ...
, who was despised by the crowds for his reputation of brutality in suppressing protests.[ In the early morning, Bugeaud sent four ]columns
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...
through the city in an attempt to defeat the insurgents at the barricades.[ However, Louis Philippe, intending to avoid even more bloodshed, ordered the officers in charge to attempt to negotiate before opening fire.][ Several barracks in Paris were attacked, and a convoy of ammunition was captured by the insurgents at ]Vincennes
Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...
.[ The seat of the city administration, the Hôtel de Ville, was taken by the revolutionary National Guards.][ Bugeaud ordered all his soldiers to fall back and consolidate the defense around the Tuileries Palace.][
During the morning, heavy fighting broke out in several parts of Paris, with the largest combat taking place at the Place du Château d'Eau.][ There, armed insurgents attacked the Château d'Eau, a guard post on the way to the Tuileries held by about one hundred men of the Municipal Guard and the despised 14th Line Regiment. After intense fighting, the Château d'Eau was overrun and set on fire, with the surviving soldiers throwing away their weapons in surrender.][
With the insurgents closing in on the royal palace, Thiers advised Louis Philippe to leave Paris and crush the revolution from outside with an overwhelming force of regular troops; however, this strategy was soundly rejected by Thiers' colleagues, including Barrot.][ While the Château d'Eau burned, the king received conflicting advices from his allies, and briefly collapsed on his study.][ ]Émile de Girardin
Émile de Girardin (22 June 180227 April 1881) was a French journalist, publisher and politician. He was the most successful and flamboyant French journalist of the era, presenting himself as a promoter of mass education through mass journalism. ...
was the first of his advisors to suggest abdication.[ At around noon, realizing no further defence was possible, Louis Philippe called off all resistance and formally abdicated in favor of his nine-year-old grandson Philippe, Count of Paris.][
]
Louis Philippe and Queen Maria Amalia boarded a carriage awaiting at the Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde () is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.
...
, from where, escorted by the cavalry, they drove off and left Paris.[ After the royal couple's departure, the revolutionaries finally seized the now nearly deserted Tuileries Palace. On the king's throne, which would be burned the next day at the ]Place de la Bastille
The Place de la Bastille is a square in Paris where the Bastille prison once stood, until the storming of the Bastille and its subsequent physical destruction between 14 July 1789 and 14 July 1790 during the French Revolution. No vestige of the ...
, they wrote, "The People of Paris to All Europe: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. 24 February 1848".[
]
Later political developments
After Louis Philippe's abdication, his daughter-in-law Helena, Duchess of Orléans, became the presumptive regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
of France as the mother of Philippe, Count of Paris.[ She therefore, along with her son, went from the Tuileries to the Chamber of Deputies to try to prevent the abolition of the monarchy.][ However, following their victory at the Tuileries, the revolutionary crowd broke into the meeting hall of the Chamber.][ The effort by the dynastic opposition to secure a regency was defeated by popular calls for a Republic, and a preliminary list of members of a provisional government was announced by deputy ]Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...
.[
Responding to cries of "To the Hôtel de Ville!", Lamartine, along with the left-wing republican deputy ]Ledru-Rollin
Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (; 2 February 1807 – 31 December 1874) was a French lawyer, politician and one of the leaders of the French Revolution of 1848.
Youth
The grandson of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, the celebrated quack doctor known ...
, marched to the Hôtel de Ville. There, on the evening, the final list of the eleven individuals who would form the Provisional Government
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...
was drawn up, with its members then being announced one by one to the crowd outside. Its composition was the result of a compromise between the moderate and radical tendencies of the republican movement, associated, respectively, with the newspapers '' Le National'' and ''La Réforme
''La Réforme'' was a French political newspaper of the mid-19th century. Founded in Paris on 29 July 1843 by Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, the newspaper had a left-wing radical liberal republican editorial line, and published some early socialist w ...
''.[ In the early hours of 25 February, Lamartine came to the balcony of the Hôtel de Ville and, followed by a euphoric cheering from the crowd, announced the proclamation of the French Republic.][
]
Impact abroad
The February Revolution had a major impact in Europe, sparking a revolutionary wave
A revolutionary wave or revolutionary decade is one series of revolutions occurring in various locations within a similar time-span. In many cases, past revolutions and revolutionary waves have inspired current ones, or an initial revolution has ...
known as the Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
.[ The American '']chargé d'affaires
A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...
'' to the Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
, William H. Stiles, reported the Revolution "fell like a bomb amid the states and kingdoms of the Continent", and that "the various monarchs hastened to pay their subjects the constitutions which they owed them".[ As one of its immediate effects, it sparked a wave of revolutions in the German states.][ The outcome of the Revolution in France pressured the monarchs of ]Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, Austria and Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
into granting liberal reforms.[
]
In literature
* Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...
's novel '' L'éducation sentimentale'' uses the 1848 revolution as a backdrop for its story.
* Laura Kalpakian's novel ''Cosette'' uses the 1848 revolution as a primary part of the plot.
* Sylvia Townsend Warner's novel ''Summer Will Show'' uses the 1848 revolution as a primary part of the plot.
* Kurt Andersen
Kurt Andersen (born August 22, 1954) is an American writer and was the host of the Peabody-winning public radio program ''Studio 360'', a production of Public Radio International, ''Slate'', and WNYC.
Early life and education
Andersen was bo ...
's novel ''Heyday
Heyday may refer to:
* Titled works:
** Music:
*** ''Heyday'' (The Church album), a 1986 album by the Church
*** ''Heyday'' (Fairport Convention album), a 1987 album by Fairport Convention
** ''Heyday'' (novel), a historical novel by Kurt Ander ...
'' begins with one of the protagonists witnessing and unintentionally participating in the 1848 revolution.
* The character of Piotr Alejandrovitch Miusov, uncle and tutor of Dmitri Fyodorovich Karamazov in Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's novel ''The Brothers Karamazov
''The Brothers Karamazov'' (russian: Братья Карамазовы, ''Brat'ya Karamazovy'', ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing '' ...
'', hinted that he himself had almost taken part in the fighting on the barricades in the 1848 revolution.
* ''L'Autre Dumas
''Dumas'' (original title: ''L'Autre Dumas'') is a 2010 French film directed by Safy Nebbou about 19th-century French author Alexandre Dumas.
Plot
In February 1848, Alexandre Dumas ( Gérard Depardieu) is at the height of his fame. He has with ...
'' ( en, The Other Dumas), a 2010 French film
French cinema consists of the film industry and its film productions, whether made within the nation of France or by French film production companies abroad. It is the oldest and largest precursor of national cinemas in Europe; with primary influ ...
directed by Safy Nebbou
Safy Nebbou (born 27 April 1968) is a French actor and director.
Life and career
Nebbou was born on 27 April 1968 in Bayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France to a German mother and an Algerian father. He is the brother of actor Mehdi Nebbou.
He ...
, depicts Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...
in a fictitious involvement with a young female revolutionary.
* Rachel Field
Rachel Lyman Field (September 19, 1894 – March 15, 1942) was an American novelist, poet, and children's fiction writer. She is best known for the Newbery Award–winning ''Hitty, Her First Hundred Years''. Field also won a National Book Award, ...
's novel ''All This And Heaven Too'' (1938) uses unrest leading up to the 1848 revolution as a backdrop for its story.
* Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works ...
's ''Recollections'' (also known as ''Souvenirs'') provides primary insight from a moderate liberal as he saw events unfold.
* Rudin, the protagonist of Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...
's novel of the same name, dies at the barricades of the revolution in the epilogue.
*' by Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
includes passages concerning the author's actions during the time of the revolution in Paris.
See also
* Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy
During the French Revolution, the proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy (French: ''Proclamation de l'abolition de la royauté'') was a proclamation by the National Convention of France announcing that it had abolished the French monarchy ...
* Charles de Choiseul-Praslin
* History of the French Left
The Left in France (french: gauche française) was represented at the beginning of the 20th century by two main political parties, namely the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party and the French Section of the Workers' Internatio ...
References
Further reading
* Agulhon, Maurice. ''The Republican Experiment, 1848–1852'' (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (1983
excerpt and text search
* Amann, Peter H. ''Revolution and Mass Democracy: The Paris Club of 1848'' (Princeton UP, 2015).
* Ankersmit, Frank. "Tocqueville and Flaubert on 1848: The Sublimity of Revolution." ''Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal'' 37.2 (2016): 253–271
online
* Beecher, Jonathan. ''Writers and Revolution: Intellectuals and the French Revolution of 1848'' (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
* Castleton, Edward. "Untimely Meditations on the Revolution of 1848 in France." ''Opera Historica'' 19.2 (2018): 244–270
online
* Clark, Timothy J. ''Image of the people: Gustave Courbet and the 1848 revolution'' (Univ of California Press, 1999), interpreting his paintings.
* Collins, Ross William. ''Catholicism and the second French republic, 1848-1852'' (Columbia UP, 1923
online
* Coutant, Arnaud. ''1848, Quand la République combattait la Démocratie'', Mare et Martin, 2009.
* Crook, Malcolm. "Universal Suffrage as Counter‐Revolution? Electoral Mobilisation under the Second Republic in France, 1848–1851." ''Journal of Historical Sociology'' 28.1 (2015): 49–66.
* Duveau, Georges. ''1848: The Making of a Revolution'' (1966)
* Fasel, George. "The Wrong Revolution: French Republicanism in 1848," ''French Historical Studies'' 8#4 (Autumn, 1974), pp. 654–7
in JSTOR
* Fortescue, William. ''France and 1848: The end of monarchy'' (Psychology Press, 2005
online
* Heywood, O. E., and C. M. Heywood. "Rethinking the 1848 Revolution in France: The Provisional Government and its Enemies." ''History'' 79.257 (1994): 394-41
online
* Kim, Richard. "Virtue and the material culture of the nineteenth century: the debate over the mass marketplace in France in the aftermath of the 1848 revolution." ''Theory and society'' 41.6 (2012): 557–579.
* Loubère, Leo. "The Emergence of the Extreme Left in Lower Languedoc, 1848–1851: Social and Economic Factors in Politics," ''American Historical Review'' (1968), v. 73#4 1019–5
in JSTOR
* Merriman, John M. ''The Agony of the Republic: The Repression of the Left in Revolutionary France, 1848-1851'' (Yale UP, 1978).
* Moss, Bernard H. "June 13, 1849: the abortive uprising of French radicalism." ''French Historical Studies'' 13.3 (1984): 390-41
online
* Price, Roger, ed. ''Revolution and reaction: 1848 and the Second French Republic'' (Taylor & Francis, 1975).
* Rudé, George. ''The Crowd in History'', Chapter 11, "The French Revolution of 1848", pp. 164–178. (1964)
online
* Takeda, Chinatsu. "The Reception of Considerations: A Constitutional Historiography of the French Revolution (1818–1848)." in ''Mme de Staël and Political Liberalism in France'' (Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore, 2018) pp. 261–279.
Primary sources
* De Tocqueville, Alexis. ''Recollections: French Revolution of 1848'' (1896
online
* Marx, Karl. ''The Class Struggles in France: From the February Revolution to the Paris Commune'' (Resistance Books, 2003), a primary source.
External links
*
{{Authority control
1848 in France
French Second Republic
July Monarchy
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
Rebellions in France
February 1848 events
1840s in Paris
Republicanism in France
Insurgencies in Paris
Louis Philippe I