19th Century European Revolutions | History Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Overview

• After the Congress of Vienna, liberal and nationalist ideas spread easily across Europe, especially where there were socioeconomic issues.
• The nineteenth century was marked by industrialization, modernization, a demographic explosion, and advancements in transportation and communication.
• This period witnessed unprecedented changes such as growing literacy, rapid urbanization, shifts in political institutions, the emergence of national identity, cultural developments, remarkable scientific discoveries, and significant changes in lifestyles.
• These profound transformations inevitably led to major social changes.

Revolutions of the 1820s

• The first of these revolutions occurred in 1820 in Spain. In 1812, a liberal constitution known as The Cádiz Constitution was established. However, after the Congress of Vienna, King Ferdinand VII disregarded this constitution. In 1820, a military uprising led by General Riego aimed to restore liberal principles, forcing Ferdinand to accept the constitution. By 1823, the Congress of Verona sent French troops, dubbed the ‘100,000 Sons of Saint Louis’, to reassert Ferdinand’s authority and suppress the rebels.
• Despite this, liberal ideas rapidly spread to Portugal, the Two Sicilies, Sardinia, and various German states. However, revolts in these regions were swiftly quelled by military forces.
• In 1821, a Greek revolution against Ottoman rule met with greater success. Greek nationalists garnered European support by appealing to sympathy for a Christian nation under Muslim dominance. With the backing of France, Britain, and Russia, Greece achieved independence in 1829 and was recognized as a sovereign nation by 1832.
• By the mid-1820s, liberal movements began to resurface in Britain, France, and the Low Countries. Liberals advocated for stronger parliaments, broader protection of individual rights, and voting rights for the propertied classes. They also pushed for commercial legislation favoring business growth, such as opposing the Corn Law tariffs in Britain, which protected landlord interests and maintained high food prices and wages. Belgian liberals, too, were driven by nationalist sentiments, as the Treaty of Vienna had placed their country under Dutch rule.

Revolutions of the 1830s

• In 1830, liberal concerns sparked a new wave of revolution, ignited by an uprising in Paris. Known as the ‘July Revolution’, it led to the ousting of the ultraconservative Bourbon King Charles X and the ascension of the more liberal-oriented Louis Philippe I. Charles X, who favored absolutism, attempted to revert to the Ancien Régime, but faced opposition from the upper bourgeoisie and influential liberals who encouraged the public to revolt against him. As a result, France transitioned into a constitutional monarchy.
• In Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, formed after the Congress of Vienna, encompassed a southern part (now Belgium) that was predominantly Catholic and French-speaking, and a northern part (now Holland) that was Dutch-speaking and Protestant (Calvinist). In 1830, a rebellion erupted in Brussels, ultimately leading to Belgian independence in 1831, under a new king, Leopold I, and a liberal government.
• Following the revolutions of 1820 and 1830, liberal governments proliferated across Europe. The only regions remaining absolutist were Central Europe, the German and Italian states (except Savoy), and the empires of Russia, Austria, and Turkey.
• Europe became divided into a liberal west and a conservative centre and east. Russia appeared largely insulated from the political currents affecting the rest of the continent, partly due to the lack of significant social and economic change. A revolt by liberal-minded army officers in 1825, known as the Decembrist revolt, was easily suppressed, and the new tsar,Nicholas I, implemented a stricter system of political police and censorship. A nationalist revolt in Poland, part of the 1830 movement, was also violently suppressed. Russian diplomatic interests continued along traditional lines, with ongoing warfare against the Ottoman Empire to gain southern territories. It wasn’t until after 1850 that the Russian regime seriously reconsidered its conservative stance.

This pattern did not hold elsewhere in Europe. Scandinavian governments moved towards increasing liberalism by expanding parliamentary powers, a process completed in the late 1840s. The Dutch monarchy followed suit. The next significant advancement came from a series of revolutions in 1848, marking the final revolutionary wave in Western Europe.

Revolutions of 1848

1848 was a remarkable year in European history, marked by widespread revolutions and uprisings. Historians refer to this year as “The Spring of Nations.” In addition to the factors from previous revolutions, several new causes can be identified:

• Some earlier revolutions, such as the one in France, began to take effect.
• In countries where absolutism remained strong, the bourgeoisie rose against it. Conversely, in countries with a constitutional monarchy, radical politicians, often from the proletariat class (known as democrats), sought more significant changes in their parliamentary systems, such as universal suffrage.
• Industrialization led to technological changes, creating a new class—the proletariat.
• Technological advancements also facilitated a wider press, enabling faster dissemination of ideas across a broader segment of society.
• Nationalism gained strength.
• Socialism gained rapid momentum, especially after the publication of the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels in 1848.
• Crop failures in 1846 across Europe led to an economic crisis, fostering discontent among peasants and the emerging working classes.

The revolutions of 1848 unfolded in most Western and Central European countries, including France, the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, and various German states such as Prussia, Saxony, and Venice-Lombardy. Some uprisings also had nationalist elements, particularly in Italian and German regions.

Significant changes emerged from the 1848 uprisings:

• Manorialism was permanently abolished across Germany and the Habsburg territories, granting peasants new rights.
• Democracy was established in France, even under the new empire and despite considerable manipulation; universal manhood suffrage was permanently instituted.
• Prussia, despite conservative leadership, set up a parliament based on a limited vote, acknowledging liberal sentiments.
• The Habsburg monarchy implemented a rationalized bureaucratic system to replace localized landlord authority.
• Some feminist movements emerged in France and Germany.

The stage was set for rapid political evolution after 1850, making literal revolutions increasingly challenging.