Liberal Revolutions: 1820, 1830, and 1848
Liberal Revolutions
Revolutions of 1820 and 1830
During the Restoration, liberals gathered clandestinely in secret societies. These companies, forming partnerships, were comprised of individuals who considered themselves heirs of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. They sought insurrection against absolutism, wielding influence in cities and hoping the people would join the uprising once initiated.
The first revolutionary wave, occurring between 1820 and 1824, caused a temporary collapse of the Restoration system. Triumph in Spain, Portugal, Naples, and Piedmont opened a short-lived liberal period, stifled by absolutist forces. In Spain and the Italian states, the Santa Alianza intervened.
The second wave occurred between 1829 and 1839. Popular intervention favored the overthrow of aristocratic rule in Western Europe. The revolution in France in 1830 led to the overthrow of the Bourbon constitutional monarchy and the establishment of Louis-Philippe of Orléans. This also resulted in Belgium’s independence, altering the map established in 1815. In Poland, an independence movement was crushed by the Russian army. By 1830, absolutism was disappearing from Western Europe, and moderate liberalism was imposed.
Referencing the French Constitution of 1791, the dominance of the big bourgeoisie and landowning aristocracy was consolidated. They maintained their economic power in exchange for relinquishing their estate privileges, forging a moderate liberal elite that monopolized politics and marginalized action for the small and medium bourgeoisie, as well as the popular classes. Moderate liberals defended census-based voting and limited the exercise of freedoms.
The Social Democratic Experience and 1848
The new Revolution ended the Restoration system. Causes included insufficient reforms generated in 1830, capitalist discontent, deterioration in the development of crafts, and a variety of working-class conditions. Eastern Europe, except Russia, abolished feudal structures. New democratic ideals advocated popular sovereignty and universal male suffrage.
Beginning in Paris in February 1848, Louis-Philippe of Orléans restricted liberties. The insurrection culminated in the assault on the Royal Palace and the king’s flight. The republic was proclaimed, and a provisional government was formed with the participation of republicans, socialists, and radicals who pushed for political and social reforms: universal male suffrage, abolition of slavery, abolition of the death penalty, and state intervention in the economy to guarantee the right to work. Elections held by universal male suffrage resulted in a new government of moderate Republicans, who closed the National Workshops and halted the social reforms that had been initiated.
The popular insurrection in June 1848 became a confrontation between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. It was crushed by military intervention, resulting in harsh suppression. The bourgeoisie coalesced around a new, strong government. The December accession to power of Napoleon III responded to these needs and culminated with the proclamation of the Second Empire in 1851.
The impact of the revolution in Paris was immediate and widespread across Europe. The Austrian Empire was transformed into a constitutional monarchy. Serfdom and manorial structures remained abolished. In Russia in 1848, the bourgeois revolution was completed, and the role of popular social forces began, posing new political horizons and announcing the development of liberalism towards democracy.