Revolutions during the 1820s included revolutions in Russia (
Decembrist revolt
The Decembrist Revolt ( ru , Восстание декабристов, translit = Vosstaniye dekabristov , translation = Uprising of the Decembrists) took place in Russia on , during the interregnum following the sudden death of Emperor Al ...
), Spain, Portugal, and Italy for constitutional monarchies, and for
independence from Ottoman rule in Greece. Unlike
the revolutionary wave in the 1830s, these tended to take place in the peripheries of Europe.
Timeline
* 1820: in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (
Cato Street Conspiracy
The Cato Street Conspiracy was a plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in 1820. The name comes from the meeting place near Edgware Road in London. The police had an informer; the plotters fell into ...
,
Radical War
The Radical War, also known as the Scottish Insurrection of 1820, was a week of strikes and unrest in Scotland, a culmination of Radical demands for reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which had become prominent in the earl ...
)
* 1820: in Spain
* 1820: the
Liberal Revolution in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
* 1820: in Italy
* 18211829:
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...
* 1825: the
Decembrist revolt
The Decembrist Revolt ( ru , Восстание декабристов, translit = Vosstaniye dekabristov , translation = Uprising of the Decembrists) took place in Russia on , during the interregnum following the sudden death of Emperor Al ...
in Russia
* 1828: the
Decembrist revolution in Argentina
Europe
Italy
![Palermo insurrection of 1820](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Palermo_insurrection_of_1820.jpg)
The
1820 revolution began in
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
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, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
and in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, against King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, who was forced to make concessions and promise a constitutional monarchy. This success inspired
Carbonari
The Carbonari () was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay and Ru ...
in the north of Italy to revolt too. In 1821, the
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...
(
Piedmont
it, Piemontese
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
) obtained a constitutional monarchy as a result of Carbonari's actions, as well as other reforms of liberalism.
The
Holy Alliance
The Holy Alliance (german: Heilige Allianz; russian: Священный союз, ''Svyashchennyy soyuz''; also called the Grand Alliance) was a coalition linking the monarchist great powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. It was created after ...
would not tolerate this state of affairs and decided in October 1820 to intervene. In February 1821, it sent an army to crush the revolution in Naples. The
King of Sardinia
The following is a list of rulers of Sardinia, in particular, of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica from 1323 and then of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1479 to 1861.
Early history
Owing to the absence of written sources, little ...
also called for Austrian intervention. Faced with an enemy overwhelmingly superior in number, the Carbonari revolts collapsed and their leaders fled into exile.
Spain
Colonel
Rafael del Riego
Rafael del Riego y Flórez (7 April 1784 – 7 November 1823) was a Spanish general and liberal politician, who played a key role in the outbreak of the Liberal Triennium (''Trienio liberal'' in Spanish).
Early life
Riego was born on 7 April ...
led a large part of the Spanish army in a mutiny, demanding that the liberal constitution of 1812 be restored.
King Ferdinand VII
, house = Bourbon-Anjou
, father = Charles IV of Spain
, mother = Maria Luisa of Parma
, birth_date = 14 October 1784
, birth_place = El Escorial, Spain
, death_date =
, death_place = Madrid, Spain
, burial_plac ...
agreed, but secretly asked for aid from the Congress system which, in the
Congress of Verona
The Congress of Verona met at Verona on 20 October 1822 as part of the series of international conferences or congresses that opened with the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, which had instituted the Concert of Europe at the close of the Napole ...
of 1822, agreed to have France send 100,000 troops, which promptly defeated Riego's forces and reinstalled an absolute monarchy. This period was known as the
Trienio Liberal.
Portugal
![Manuel_Fernandes_Tomás,_Veloso_Salgado](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Manuel_Fernandes_Tom%C3%A1s%2C_Veloso_Salgado.png)
The Liberal Revolution of 1820 began with a military insurrection in the city of Porto, in northern Portugal, that quickly and peacefully spread to the rest of the country. The Revolution resulted in the return in 1821 of the Portuguese Court to Portugal from Brazil, where its members had fled during the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
, and initiated a constitutional period in which the 1822 Constitution was ratified and implemented.
According to
Kenneth Maxwell
Kenneth Robert Maxwell (born March 3, 1941) is a British historian who specializes in Iberia and Latin America. A longtime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, for six years he headed its Latin America Studies Program. His May 13, 2004 resi ...
, "the important point about Brazil is that it became economically and politically emancipated between 1808 and 1820 while acting as the centre of the Luso-Brazilian Empire", meaning Brazil's independence was proclaimed after the nation had had an "imperial-like" experience.
"This unusual circumstance explains why in 1820 it was Portugal that declared independence from Brazil, and only afterwards, that Brazil declared its independence from Portugal", as one may read in the Manifesto issued by the rebels in Oporto in 1820:
"
..The idea of the status of a colony to which Portugal in effect is reduced afflicts deeply all those citizens who still conserve a sentiment of national dignity. Justice is administered from Brazil to the loyal people in Europe
..
Greece
![The sortie of Messologhi by Theodore Vryzakis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/The_sortie_of_Messologhi_by_Theodore_Vryzakis.jpg)
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution of 1821 or Greek Revolution ( el, Ελληνική Επανάσταση, ''Elliniki Epanastasi''; referred to by
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
in the 19th century as simply the Αγώνας, ''Agonas'', "Struggle";
Ottoman: يونان عصيانى, ''Yunan İsyanı'', "Greek Rebellion"), was a successful
war of independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List of o ...
by Greek revolutionaries against the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
between 1821 and 1829.
The Greeks were later assisted by the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
,
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 ...
, and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, while the Ottomans were aided by their North African vassals, particularly the
eyalet
Eyalets ( Ottoman Turkish: ایالت, , English: State), also known as beylerbeyliks or pashaliks, were a primary administrative division of the Ottoman Empire.
From 1453 to the beginning of the nineteenth century the Ottoman local government ...
of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
. The war led to the formation of
modern Greece
The history of modern Greece covers the history of Greece from the recognition by the Great Powers — Britain, France and Russia — of its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828 to the present day.
Background
The Byzantine Empire had ...
. The revolution is
celebrated by Greeks around the world as
independence day
An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
on 25 March.
Russia
The Decembrist revolt or the Decembrist uprising ( ru , Восстание декабристов, translit =Vosstanie dekabristov , translation = Uprising of the Decembrists) took place in
Imperial Russia
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
on .
Russian army
The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска В Sukhoputnyye voyska V, also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
The primary responsibilities of the Russian Gro ...
officers led about 3,000 soldiers in a rejection of
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Nicholas I's assumption of the throne hours before, as Nicholas's elder brother
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
*Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...
had
removed himself (non-publicly) from the line of succession. Because these events occurred in December, the rebels became known as the ''Decembrists'' (russian: link=no, Декабристы, translit= Dekabristy).
Latin America
Argentina
The Decembrist revolution ( es, Revolución decembrina) was a military coup in the
Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
.
Juan Lavalle
Juan Galo Lavalle (17 October 1797 – 9 October 1841) was an Argentine military and political figure.
Biography
Lavalle was born in Buenos Aires to María Mercedes González Bordallo and Manuel José Lavalle, general accountant of rents and t ...
, returning with the troops that fought in the
Argentine-Brazilian War
The Cisplatine War (), also known as the Argentine-Brazilian War () or, in Argentine and Uruguayan historiography, as the Brazil War (''Guerra del Brasil''), the War against the Empire of Brazil (''Guerra contra el Imperio del Brasil'') or t ...
, performed a coup on 1 December 1828, capturing and killing the governor
Manuel Dorrego
Manuel Dorrego (11 June 1787 – 13 December 1828) was an Argentine statesman and soldier. He was governor of Buenos Aires in 1820, and then again from 1827 to 1828.
Life and politics
Dorrego was born in Buenos Aires on 11 June 1787 to José An ...
and ultimately closing the legislature. The rancher
Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rosas (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Althoug ...
organized militias that fought against Lavalle and removed him from power, restoring the legislature. However, as the coup had reignited the
Argentine Civil Wars
The Argentine Civil Wars were a series of civil conflicts of varying intensity that took place through the territories of Argentina from 1814 to 1853. Initiation concurrently with the Argentine War of Independence (1810–1820), the conflict pr ...
, Rosas was appointed governor of the Buenos Aires province to wage the war against the
Unitarian League
The Unitarian League ( es, Liga Unitaria) also referred to as the League of the Interior () was a league of provinces of Argentina led by José María Paz, established in 1830, aiming to unite the country under Unitarian Party, unitarian princip ...
.
José María Paz
Brigadier General José María Paz y Haedo (September 9, 1791 – October 22, 1854) was an Argentine military figure, notable in the Argentine War of Independence and the Argentine Civil Wars.
Childhood
Born in Córdoba, Argentina, the so ...
made from Córdoba a league of provinces, and so did Rosas. The conflict ended a short time after the unexpected capture of Paz, who mistook enemy troops for his own.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Revolutions during the 1820s
1820s conflicts
Late modern Europe
Revolutionary waves
European political history
19th-century revolutions
Age of Revolution