Centers of the Revolution in France 1848. History of the French Revolutions

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Revolution of 1848 in France(fr. Revolution française de 1848 ) - bourgeois-democratic revolution in France, one of the European revolutions of 1848-1849. The objectives of the revolution were to establish civil rights and freedoms. It resulted on February 24 in the abdication of the once liberal king Louis-Philippe I and the proclamation of the Second Republic. In the further course of the revolution, after the suppression of the social revolutionary uprising in June 1848, Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected president of the new state.

Pan-European context of the February Revolution

Further information: France in the long 19th century

Events in France became the spark that ignited liberal uprisings in many European countries, especially in the countries of the German Confederation, known as the Revolution of 1848-1849 in Germany. All of them had a pan-European dimension and shared bourgeois-liberal goals. To all these revolutions, including the revolution in France, one can apply the collective name Revolution of 1848-1849, without losing sight of the fact that in individual countries these events developed differently and had different consequences.

Prerequisites

Louis Philippe came to power in 1830 during the bourgeois-liberal July Revolution, which overthrew the reactionary Bourbon regime in the person of Charles X. The eighteen years of Louis Philippe's reign (the so-called July Monarchy) were characterized by a gradual retreat from the ideas of liberalism, increasing scandals and increasing corruption. Louis Philippe eventually joined the Holy Alliance of the monarchs of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Prussia. The goal of this union, based on the Congress of Vienna, was to restore the order in Europe that existed before the French Revolution of 1789. This was expressed primarily in the renewed dominance of the nobility and the return of its privileges.

Reform banquets

During those years, a movement for electoral reform arose in France, as in England. In France it was called reformist banquets. To promote reform while circumventing strict prohibitions on unions and meetings, wealthy members of the reform movement held public banquets, first in Paris and then in large provincial cities. The speeches that were made spoke loudly about reform projects, and sometimes sharply criticized the government. From July to February, about 50 such banquets took place. The irritated head of government, Guizot, on February 21, 1848, banned the next banquet scheduled in the capital. At the same time, he warned the organizers in harsh tones that in case of disobedience, he would use force. In response, unrest began in Paris, which by evening had assumed the scale of a revolution.

Barricades

Not wanting to tempt fate, Louis Philippe did so, before leaving, having previously abdicated the throne in favor of his grandson, the young Count of Paris. But this categorically did not suit the rebels. As soon as on February 25 they became aware of the intention of the Chamber of Deputies to proclaim the Count of Paris king, a crowd of rebels burst straight into the meeting of the chamber. At gunpoint, deputies proclaimed France a republic and formed a new radical-bourgeois government.

Universal male suffrage

Another important measure of the new government was the opening of National Workshops for the unemployed, where they received a small - 2 francs per day - but guaranteed pay. Although workshops were introduced only in a few major cities, soon more than 100 thousand people worked in them.

The main tasks of the revolution were completed. The population received broad political rights and civil liberties, the unemployed were employed in road and earthworks, and improved houses and city streets. The radicals used the large crowds of people in the workshops to conduct revolutionary propaganda there.

June Uprising June 23-26, 1848

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REVOLUTION OF 1848

In 1847, an outbreak broke out in the country economic crisis. The previous summer, first drought, then heavy rains destroyed a significant part of the crop. The following year, potatoes, the staple food of many, suffered greatly from the disease. ordinary people. The majority of the population spent money on sharply rising prices for bread; there was no money left to purchase industrial goods. Food prices also rose because there was a ban on the import of grain from abroad.

But industry has its own problems. The railway boom gave rise to speculation, which increased the cost of transportation. This hit many industries, especially the metallurgical industry. As a consequence, the bankruptcy of enterprises and mass layoffs created the conditions for the first systemic crisis of capitalism.

General discontent made political situation more tense. In workers, students, and intellectual circles, socialist ideas became increasingly popular: the government and the economic liberalism it pursued were blamed for all troubles. The bourgeoisie increasingly urgently demanded expansion of voting rights.

Since rallies and meetings were prohibited, opposition activists adopted the “banquet tactic.” Throughout France, crowded feasts were held in the bourgeois environment, during which they sounded political speeches and toast. Those gathered demanded the right to vote for all members of the National Guard and people with higher education, as well as exclusion from the chamber of civil servants.

February 22, 1848 was a holiday, and a large banquet was planned in Paris with the participation of many deputies and commanders of the national guard. However, Premier Guizot, irritated and misjudged the situation, banned such events the day before. And that was enough.

By the evening of February 22, crowds of excited people began to gather in some blocks adjacent to the central ones and several barricades were built. The next morning, workers and students moved to the western, aristocratic part of the city, demanding the resignation of Guizot and his cabinet. Among the protesters, some were armed. The government tried to restore order with the help of the national guards, but they, themselves mostly dissatisfied with the bourgeoisie, acted reluctantly. Many joined the demonstrators.

Louis Philippe made concessions. Guizot was suspended. People did not disperse, but their mood began to change, perhaps the matter would have ended peacefully - many retained sympathy for their good-natured and sociable king. But an incident occurred: infantrymen guarding the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suddenly opened fire on the demonstrators. Several people were killed. Who ordered the shooting remains unclear.

This tragic incident sealed the fate of King Louis Philippe. The bodies of the dead began to be carried along all the streets, they were accompanied by many angry people, there were shouts and calls “to arms!” The alarm sounded from the bell tower of the Church of Saint-Germain-aux-Prés. Barricades appeared everywhere.

Louis Philippe decided to act by force. But when on the morning of February 24 he began to circle the line of his supposed defenders, the soldiers remained sullenly silent in response to the royal greeting, and the national guards shouted the same slogans as the rebels.

The dispirited sovereign returned to his apartments. The journalist Emile Girardin, who was with him, was the first to decide to offer to renounce. His words were echoed by others close to him. Louis-Philippe realized that there was no other way out. But, wanting to retain the throne for the House of Orleans, he abdicated in favor of his grandson. Then he dressed himself in simple clothes, got into a hired carriage and, accompanied by a squadron of cuirassiers, set off for Saint-Cloud.

When the text of the renunciation was delivered to the Chamber of Deputies, crowds of people had already burst into it. Some of the participants fled. Those who remained, among them Lamartine, declared themselves supporters of the republic. There was no question of preserving the monarchy. A list of the provisional government was immediately compiled. They went with him to the town hall building, where the leaders of the popular uprising were located. There the mood was more radical, so the composition of the provisional government was supplemented by the socialist Louis Blanc and the democratic politician Ledru-Rollin. Radical Republicans wanted to add other supporters of revolutionary change, but moderates did not support them.

The king and his family left for England. There, the exiles were helped by a relative, the Belgian king Leopold I. He provided them with his Clermont castle, where Louis Philippe died in August 1850 at the age of 77.

The government was headed by Alphonse Lamartine, not only a politician, but also a famous romantic poet. He and his supporters took a moderate position: they considered it necessary to introduce universal suffrage (by “everyone” meant, of course, adult men), but not to affect property rights and relations between labor and capital.

The left called itself the “party of the social republic” and made the red flag its symbol. One of their leaders, Ledru-Rollin, who joined the government, dreamed of reviving the Jacobin system with authorized revolutionary commissars in the provinces. Such revolutionary romance could have an effect on someone, but Ledru-Rollin did not have a specific program for social reconstruction. Socialist Louis Blanc, on the contrary, was even now ready to begin the “organization of labor,” that is, socialist reforms.

The moderates took control of the country. Universal suffrage was introduced. Lamartine addressed all European governments with a reassuring statement: France is not going to export its revolution anywhere. But calm down, don’t calm down - dangerous fermentation engulfed many countries, and soon an all-European fire broke out (God had mercy on Russia - it had Nicholas I). However, France really did not help anyone - revolutions were suppressed everywhere.

The workers, who kept weapons with them just in case and organized their own national guard, were guaranteed the right to work - the state pledged to provide everyone with the opportunity to earn money. A “commission for workers” was created, headed by Louis Blanc, to solve their problems. Deputies from workers took part in its work. The commission reduced the length of the working day and proposed the introduction of an arbitration court to resolve disputes between employers and workers.

But less than two months had passed before the situation worsened again. The radicals put forward new demands; the moderates responded that the government had already gone too far. When the workers' guards came to the town hall to declare the need to “abolish the exploitation of man by man and the organization of labor in the form of associations,” they were met by “shaggy hats,” as members of the traditional bourgeois national guard were called. They shouted their slogan: “Down with the communists!” Things did not come to bloodshed, but the Minister of the Interior, Ledru-Rollin, who had recently dreamed of Jacobin order, switched to the position of the moderate bourgeoisie.

The government decided to organize “national workshops” - that is, to employ the needy unemployed in public works. In the conditions of the economic crisis, there were more of them every day, and in search of a piece of bread they kept coming and coming from the provinces to Paris.

No one was going to find them work in their specialty; they were sent en masse to excavation work on the Campus Martius - in essence, no one needed it. When the poor fellows numbered 6 thousand, they were paid 2 francs a day. But when 100 thousand people arrived, the fee was lowered to 1 franc. However, the government did not have enough money for such a handout, and it was forced to introduce a surcharge “for national workshops” to the existing taxes.

The peasants, who made up the majority of the population, perceived this measure not only with displeasure - they began to be hostile to both the government and the republic. The rural people managed to become imbued with fear of socialist ideas (of course, knowing about them only by hearsay or thanks to the explanations of their curates), and feared that the peasant fields would be “socialized.” Therefore, when the elections to the Constituent Assembly took place, there were many conservatives there - supporters of the two overthrown dynasties and clerics. The majority were moderate Republicans.

The revolutionaries - the utopian communist Blanqui and the socialist Barbes - organized an attempt to invade a crowd of their supporters (they were joined by many political emigrants) into the assembly hall to proclaim their provisional government, but the “shaggy hats” repelled the attack.

The Constituent Assembly decided to close the “national workshops”, inviting the unemployed to join the army or go to dig land in the provinces. The workers, who had a lot of weapons in their hands, responded with an uprising. The common people's quarters of Paris were covered with barricades.

The meeting placed General Eugene Cavaignac at the head of the available troops and endowed him with emergency powers. The bourgeois national guard joined the army units, and bourgeois detachments continuously arrived from the suburbs and neighboring cities. Fierce fighting continued for four days (June 22-25, 1848), in which about 10 thousand people died on both sides.

Cavaignac, who led the attack on the working-class neighborhoods according to all the rules of the art of war, achieved victory. Next - reprisals against the vanquished in the worst traditions of civil wars. The prisoners were shot, the captured leaders of the uprising were exiled to hard labor in Cayenne ( French Guiana). Louis Blanc managed to escape abroad. All socialist newspapers were closed.

The Constitution of 1848, adopted by the Constituent Assembly, began with the words: “Before the face of God and in the name of the French people.” Next they talked about love for the fatherland and fraternal mutual assistance. But this constitution did not guarantee the right to work; its authors limited themselves to vague provisions on helping the poor to the extent possible. The post of president, elected by universal suffrage, was also introduced. The President was vested with full executive power. He was commander-in-chief and could appoint ministers at will. In conditions when power in departments belonged not to local elected bodies, but to officials, under a certain set of circumstances, the president could well turn into a dictator.

In the presidential elections, moderate Republicans nominated General Cavaignac as their candidate. But, contrary to expectations, he did not win. By a huge margin (5.5 million votes versus 1.5 million), the nephew of the great emperor, Louis Bonaparte, became president.

His father was Napoleon's brother Louis, who at one time held the position of Dutch king, but was abolished for sabotaging the continental blockade. Louis's mother was Hortense Beauharnais, the emperor's stepdaughter (Josephine's daughter from her first marriage). In 1810, the parents separated, and the two-year-old child remained with his mother.

Under the Bourbons, all Bonapartes emigrated or were sent into exile. Louis studied in Bavaria - first at the gymnasium, then at military school. His further fate is full of exciting changes. He was a member of the secret society of Carbonari, who fought for the liberation of northern Italy from Austrian rule, and narrowly escaped arrest.

In 1832, mother and son returned to France, where they were favorably received by King Louis Philippe. In July of the same year, after the death of the emperor's son (Napoleon II), the young man became the head of the house of Bonaparte.

For some time he served with the rank of captain in Switzerland. And in 1836, with a small number of associates, he tried to raise the garrison of Strasbourg in northern France to revolt. The conspirators hoped that the soldiers, as soon as they saw the nephew of their great uncle, would immediately move under his leadership to Paris to place him on the throne. Some people were really enthusiastic, but it ended in arrest. Louis Philippe treated the troublemaker good-naturedly, handed him 15 thousand francs and sent him to New York.

Louis Bonaparte did not stay in America for long. He moved to England, where he led a lifestyle befitting a gentleman and became an avid hunter. But when in 1840 the body of Emperor Napoleon, at the request of King Louis Philippe, was taken to France and reburied in the cathedral of the Invalides, when Bonapartist sentiments intensified in connection with this, the exile started a new adventure.

Having landed in Boulogne with a small detachment, he, exactly following the scenario four years ago, appeared before the soldiers of the infantry regiment in all the regalia of the Napoleonic era. Someone began to enthusiastically greet him, someone tried to arrest him. Louis fired his pistol, but wounded his own follower. The conspirators were forced to retreat and were soon detained. This time the king was truly angry: the head of the Bonaparte house was sentenced to life imprisonment in the fortress.

There he wrote pamphlets (quite informative) on socio-political topics and somehow became the father of two children. In 1846 he managed to escape. The fortress was undergoing renovations, and a noble prisoner, having carefully studied the characteristic habits of the workers, one day shaved off his mustache and beard, changed into a blouse - and that was it. Soon he was in Belgium, then again in England.

He returned to France in 1848 - but again not without incident. First, after the February revolution, the provisional government expelled him. And only in September it was finally possible to firmly stand on his native land (according to rumors, during the landing, a tame eagle soared over Louis Bonaparte).

On her native land, the situation had changed significantly by that time. Both the people, whose needs they ceased to be interested in, and the bourgeoisie, which once again began to dream of a strong hand, became disillusioned with the moderate republicans. Which, as many well remembered, was possessed by the uncle of the returning Bonaparte. Louis also for some time preferred to be called additionally Napoleon, so full name his now was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.

First, Louis Napoleon won the elections to the Constituent Assembly. And in October 1848 he entered the fight for presidential chair and, as we have seen, he defeated General Cavaignac with a crushing score.

Having taken office, he immediately came into conflict with the assembly, forming a government from representatives of the conservative parties - despite the fact that they were in the minority there. And in the summer of 1849, against the will of the deputies, he sent troops to Rome - to help the pope in the fight against the revolutionaries (unlike his uncle, Louis Bonaparte was always a zealous Catholic). The head of the Republicans, Ledru-Rollin, demanded a trial of the president; his more radical colleagues appealed to the people to defend freedom. But the president declared a state of siege and closed the newspapers of his opponents. For now, the matter was limited to this - the parties calmed down and began to coexist further.

But in the National Assembly, which replaced the Constituent Assembly, the majority were monarchists. And then Louis Bonaparte, according to one of the newspapers, “sent the Roman expedition inward”: the clerics (Catholic party) achieved “freedom of teaching,” that is, the transfer of schools into their hands. Radical socio-political ideas managed to strike fear into respectable people. Even the democrat Thiers began to adhere to the opinion that “only the catechism can save you from socialism.” At the same time, the bill on universal free education. During its discussion, the Minister of Education called non-clerical school teachers"officials socialist republic" Religious orders, including the Jesuits, could now freely open their educational establishments. Soon there were many Catholic schools in France, and the education of girls became almost entirely the responsibility of convents.

Then it came to revising the electoral law. “You cannot leave the decision of state affairs in the hands of a vile crowd” - another thoughtful statement by Thiers. According to the law of 1850, people who had not lived in one place for three years lost the right to vote. And these were many workers who were forced to constantly move around the country in search of work. Convicted for insulting the authorities, for participating in secret societies ah, they were also excluded from the elections. Overall, the number of voters decreased by 3 million.

Louis Napoleon purposefully gained popularity in the army and promoted his supporters to the most important government posts. When he visited various departments of the country, loyal people organized demonstrations, from the ranks of which enthusiastic cries were heard: “Long live the Emperor!”

There was one difficulty: the constitution did not allow holding the presidency for two terms in a row. When the question of lifting the restriction was raised in the meeting, it did not agree. Or rather, there was not a sufficient majority necessary to amend the constitution. Then Louis Napoleon took up a familiar task - he began to prepare a coup. Only now it was not the previous childish antics.

Late in the evening of December 1, 1851, gendarmes occupied the state printing house. By morning, a proclamation was printed there in numerous copies and immediately distributed throughout Paris. The population was informed that the National Assembly had been dissolved as a “nest of conspiracies”, that from now on all citizens were allowed to participate in elections without any qualifications, and that a draft of a new constitution was being prepared. 80 deputies who could provide any active opposition to the coup were detained and expelled from the capital - among them Thiers and Cavaignac.

Nevertheless, several radical deputies, who were overlooked, began to go around the suburbs, calling people to the barricades. But there were few hunters. “We should fight over your 25 francs!” - one worker said to Deputy Bodin (25 francs was the deputy’s daily allowance). Boden died a few hours later in a shootout: units loyal to Louis Napoleon, dispersed throughout the city, barely opened fire with such density that it did not correspond to the resistance offered.

There were cases of demonstrations under red banners locally. It was the rural poor, artisans, petty officials who rose up - people who were part of secret societies that had long been created, whose members had chronic hostility towards the authorities, large (or even all) owners, and tax collectors. Although quite a few of them took up arms, a state of siege was introduced in many departments. The prefects were all on the side of the new Napoleon, and the movement was quickly suppressed.

In total, about 30 thousand people were arrested throughout the country. Of these, 3 thousand were sentenced to prison, 10 thousand were expelled from the country, 250 of the most dangerous were exiled to Guiana. Victor Hugo had to move to the islands belonging to England near the Norman coast - he spent 20 years in exile. His guilt was that he had the courage to declare, speaking in the House: “Louis Napoleon Bonaparte violated the constitution to which he swore an oath. He has outlawed himself."

Before the end of the year they managed to hold a referendum. 7.5 million French people agreed that their president would remain in office for another term; 10 times less were against it.

On January 14, 1852 it was made public new constitution. Louis Napoleon was given such powers that he essentially turned into a dictator. The place of the National Assembly was taken by the Legislative Corps - a body, although elected, but, contrary to its name, it had the right not to propose laws, but only to discuss them. He was also given very limited powers to control the budget. The Senate became a much more effective governing body, but its composition directly or indirectly depended on the will of the president. One of their first decisions, the senators assigned the president an annual allowance of 12 million francs, which was good news for the bankers who financed the events described above.

Not only the press, but also the theater now lived in fear of being subjected to police persecution for disloyalty. Within the Ministry of Police, a wide network of agents was created to monitor all suspicious people and the mood of society in general. The spies, recruited mostly from Corsicans, poked their noses into the most intimate aspects of people's lives.

At the same time, Louis Napoleon tried to win the sympathy of the workers. It wasn't purely tactical political move: the brochures he wrote in his youth contained, albeit in an unclear form, socialist ideas. An insurance fund was established to support elderly workers. Later, a similar fund appeared for the families of the deceased. And towards the end of his reign, Louis Napoleon was considering introducing compulsory general insurance for workers.

This text is an introductory fragment.

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Revolution of 1848 in France- bourgeois-democratic revolution in France, one of the European revolutions of 1848-1849. The objectives of the revolution were to establish civil rights and freedoms. It resulted on February 24 in the abdication of the once liberal king Louis-Philippe I and the proclamation of the Second Republic. In the further course of the revolution, after the suppression of the social revolutionary uprising in June 1848, Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected president of the new state.

Pan-European context of the February Revolution

Prerequisites

Louis Philippe came to power in the year during the bourgeois-liberal July Revolution, which overthrew the reactionary Bourbon regime in the person of Charles X. The eighteen years of Louis Philippe's reign (the so-called July Monarchy) were characterized by a gradual retreat from the ideas of liberalism, increasing scandals and increasing corruption. Louis Philippe eventually joined the Holy Alliance of the monarchs of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Prussia. The goal of this union, based on the Congress of Vienna, was to restore the order in Europe that existed before the French Revolution of 1789. This was expressed primarily in the renewed dominance of the nobility and the return of its privileges.

The beginning of the revolution

The authorities themselves gave the reason for the massive outburst of indignation. During those years, a movement for electoral reform arose in France, as in England. In France it was called reformist banquets. To promote reform while circumventing strict prohibitions on unions and meetings, wealthy members of the reform movement held public banquets, first in Paris and then in large provincial cities. The well-worn speeches spoke loudly about reform projects and sometimes sharply criticized the government. From July to February, about 50 such banquets took place. The irritated head of government, Guizot, on February 21, 1848, banned the next banquet scheduled in the capital. At the same time, he warned the organizers in harsh tones that in case of disobedience, he would use force. In response, unrest began in Paris, which by evening had assumed the scale of a revolution.

Not wanting to tempt fate, Louis Philippe did just that, having previously abdicated the throne in favor of his grandson Henry, Count of Paris, before leaving. But this categorically did not suit the rebels. As soon as on February 25 they became aware of the intention of the Chamber of Deputies to proclaim Henry king, a crowd of rebels burst straight into the meeting of the chamber. At gunpoint, deputies proclaimed France a republic and formed a new radical-bourgeois government.

Soon after the proclamation of the republic, universal suffrage was introduced for men over 21 years of age. At that moment, such wide voting rights were not available in any country in the world, not even in England, which considered itself the birthplace of democratic freedoms. Another important measure of the new government was the opening of National Workshops for the unemployed, where they received a small - 2 francs per day - but guaranteed pay. Although workshops were introduced only in a few large cities, soon more than 100 thousand people worked in them. The main tasks of the revolution were completed. The population received broad political rights and civil liberties, the unemployed were employed in road and earthworks, and improved houses and city streets. The radicals used the large crowds of people in the workshops to conduct revolutionary propaganda there.

June Uprising June 23-26, 1848

The maintenance of the National Workshops, which initially cost the government 150 thousand francs a day, required increasing expenses as the number of people working in them constantly grew. I had to reduce the payment to 1.5 francs per day, and then reduce the number of working days to two per week. For the remaining five days, workshop workers received a franc. But this was too much for the treasury, and the efficiency of the workshops became lower and lower. Finally, on June 21, at the initiative of the government, the Constituent Assembly dissolved the National Workshops. Single men aged 18-25 were invited to join the army, the rest were invited to go to earthworks in the provinces. However, the unemployed did not want to leave the capital.

On June 23-26, riots began in Paris, which developed into an uprising. To suppress it, troops had to be brought into the city, which was again covered with barricades. They were led by the Minister of War, General Louis-Eugene Cavaignac. Cavaignac tried to calm the rebels, to convince them that the radicals are “your and our enemies.” He called: “Come to us as repentant brothers, obedient to the law. The Republic is always ready to accept you into its arms!”

The June uprising had no specific purpose, apart from demands to reopen the National Workshops, release the radicals arrested on May 15, and establish a “democratic and social republic.” It was a senseless crowd riot caused by a number of reasons: low level the lives of workers, unemployment, closure of workshops, etc. Most of the members of the future government were in prison, and the leadership of the armed struggle was carried out by “foremen” and “delegates” of national workshops, leaders of political clubs, and commanders of national guard units.

Nevertheless, the unrest did not stop, and Cavaignac gave the order to suppress the uprising. During the capture of the working-class suburbs of Saint-Antoine and La Temple - strongholds of the rebels - several thousand people died.

Establishment of the Second Republic

As a result of the June explosion, the bourgeois-democratic reforms begun by the provisional government were suspended. The authorities were forced to close radical newspapers, clubs and societies. But universal suffrage was preserved, and this made it possible to hold popular elections in December 1848. It was expected that the main struggle would unfold between the candidates of the big bourgeoisie, Cavaignac, and the petty bourgeoisie, Ledru-Rollin. But unexpectedly, the overwhelming majority of voters voted for Napoleon's nephew, the forty-year-old Prince Louis Bonaparte. He was supported mainly by peasants, workers, the urban lower classes and part of the petty bourgeoisie, since they associated the past and future greatness of the country with his name Napoleon and hoped that the new president would show the same attention to the needs of ordinary Frenchmen as his famous uncle.

Plan
Introduction
1 Pan-European context of the February Revolution
2 Prerequisites
3 The beginning of the revolution
4 June Uprising June 23-26, 1848
5 Establishment of the Second Republic
Bibliography

Introduction

The revolution of 1848 in France (French Révolution française de 1848) is a bourgeois-democratic revolution in France, one of the European revolutions of 1848-1849. The objectives of the revolution were to establish civil rights and freedoms. On February 24, 1848, it resulted in the abdication of the once liberal king Louis Philippe I and the proclamation of the Second Republic. In the further course of the revolution, after the suppression of the social revolutionary uprising in June 1848, Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was elected president of the new state.

1. Pan-European context of the February Revolution

Events in France became the spark that ignited liberal uprisings in many European countries, especially in the countries of the German Confederation, known as the Revolution of 1848-1849 in Germany. All of them had a pan-European dimension and shared bourgeois-liberal goals. To all these revolutions, including the revolution in France, one can apply the collective name of the Revolution of 1848-1849, without losing sight of the fact that in individual countries these events developed differently and had different consequences.

2. Prerequisites

Louis Philippe came to power in 1830 during the bourgeois-liberal July Revolution, which overthrew the reactionary regime of the Bourbons in the person of Charles X. Eighteen years of Louis Philippe's reign (the so-called July Monarchy) were characterized by a gradual departure from the ideas of liberalism, increasing scandals and increasing corruption. Louis Philippe eventually joined Holy Alliance monarchs of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Prussia. The purpose of this based Congress of Vienna in 1815, the union was the restoration in Europe of the order that existed before the French Revolution of 1789. This was expressed primarily in the renewed dominance of the nobility and the return of its privileges.

Francois Guizot

By the mid-1840s, there were signs of a social and economic crisis in France. Despite the ongoing industrial expansion, mass bankruptcies became more frequent, the number of laid-offs and unemployed increased, and prices constantly rose. In 1845-1847, the country suffered severe crop failures. The “bourgeois king”, the “people's king” Louis Philippe no longer suited not only the common people (legends about his “simplicity” and populist walks along the Champs Elysees without security with an umbrella under his arm quickly tired of the common people), but also the bourgeoisie. First of all, she was angered by the introduction of suffrage, under which votes were no longer equal, but were weighed according to the income of the voter, which in practice reduced the influence of the bourgeoisie on legislation. Louis Philippe patronized only his relatives and friends, who were mired in financial scams and bribes. All the attention of the government was paid to the monetary aristocracy, to whom the king gave clear preference than to the common people: senior officials, bankers, large merchants and industrialists, for whom the most favorable conditions were created in politics and business. There was a widespread belief that the electoral system must be changed. In the Chamber of Deputies there was increasingly a demand to expand suffrage to all taxpayers, but the king stubbornly rejected any idea of political changes. These sentiments were supported in him by the most influential minister of the last seven years of his reign - Francois Guizot, who became the head of the cabinet in 1847. He responded to all the demands of the chamber to reduce the electoral qualification with refusals.

It is not surprising that in those years there were more than ten attempts on the king’s life. They were committed both by members of secret societies (for example, Fieschi from the “Society of Human Rights” by Auguste Blanqui, who shot the king on July 30, 1835), and by illiterate individuals who had heard enough of radical propaganda. In 1840, another person who attempted the life of the king, floor polisher Georges Darmes, was asked during the investigation what his profession was. “Tyrant Slayer,” he answered proudly. “I wanted to save France.” General dissatisfaction with the July Monarchy and its head grew.

Among the workers there is dissatisfaction with the predicament social status, aggravated by the agricultural and trade crisis of 1847, developed into revolutionary sentiments.

3. The beginning of the revolution

Alphonse de Lamartine (in the center with his hand raised) does not allow social revolutionaries with a red banner to enter the Paris Town Hall on February 25, 1848. Painting by Felix Emmanuel Henri Philippoteau

The reason for the massive outburst of indignation was given by the authorities themselves. During those years, a movement for electoral reform arose in France, as in England. In France it was called reformist banquets. To promote reform while circumventing strict prohibitions on unions and meetings, wealthy members of the reform movement held public banquets, first in Paris and then in large provincial cities. The speeches that were made spoke loudly about reform projects, and sometimes sharply criticized the government. From July 1847 to February 1848, about 50 such banquets took place. The irritated head of government, Guizot, on February 21, 1848, banned the next banquet scheduled in the capital. At the same time, he warned the organizers in harsh tones that in case of disobedience, he would use force. In response, unrest began in Paris, which by evening had assumed the scale of a revolution.

On February 22, the day of the forbidden banquet, Parisians began to erect barricades on the streets. As was later calculated, more than one and a half thousand barricades appeared in the capital. Crowds of workers broke into gun shops and took possession of weapons. Alarmed, Guizot tried to disperse the rebels with the help of troops National Guard. However, the guards flatly refused to shoot at the people, and some of them even went over to the side of the rebels. Contrary to expectations, the unrest only intensified.

The mood of the guards opened the eyes of the king. The frightened Louis-Philippe accepted the resignation of the Guizot government on February 23 and announced his decision to form a new cabinet of ministers from reform supporters. This news was greeted with complete delight. Crowds of people continued to remain on the streets, but the mood of the Parisians changed noticeably - instead of menacing exclamations, cheerful talk and laughter were heard. It seemed that the king had a chance to defend his power, but then the unexpected happened. Late in the evening of February 23, a crowd of people gathered in front of the Foreign Ministry hotel. The line infantry guard guarding the building opened fire on those gathered. Who gave the order to start the shooting remains unknown, but this incident decided the outcome of the revolution. The corpses of the dead were placed on carts and driven through the streets, a crowd of angry people followed them with shouts and curses. On the morning of February 24, Louis-Philippe agreed to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies and propose electoral reform. But these measures had no effect; it was already too late. A huge crowd of rebel Parisians, who stormed the Palais Royal, then surrounded the royal Tuileries Palace, demanding that Louis Philippe leave “following Charles X,” that is, abdicate and emigrate to England.

The maintenance of the National Workshops, which initially cost the government 150 thousand francs a day, required increasing expenses as the number of people working in them constantly grew. I had to reduce the payment to 1.5 francs per day, and then reduce the number of working days to two per week. For the remaining five days, workshop workers received a franc. But this was too much for the treasury, and the efficiency of the workshops became lower and lower. Finally, on June 21, at the initiative of the government, the Constituent Assembly dissolved the National Workshops; ordinary men at the age of 18-25 they were asked to join the army, the rest were asked to go to earthworks in the provinces. However, the unemployed did not want to leave the capital.

The June uprising had no specific goal, other than demands for the reopening of the National Workshops, the release of radicals arrested on May 15, and the establishment of a “democratic and social republic.” It was an uprising of the people, caused by a number of reasons: the low standard of living of workers, unemployment, the closure of workshops, etc. Most of the members of the future government were in prison, and the leadership of the armed struggle was carried out by “foremen” and “delegates” of national workshops, leaders of political clubs, commanders of National Guard units.

IN last years During the July Monarchy, the leading role in the government of France was played by the famous historian F. Guizot, whose main principle of policy was the preservation of the existing order. His policy suited Louis-Philippe quite well, who sought to strengthen royal power. Having taken control of the electoral process, the government created a majority of officials loyal to it in the Chamber of Deputies. Liberal Guizot turned the bribery of deputies into a system, thereby encouraging corruption and massive profiteering.

In 1847, France was rocked by scandals related to speculation in the royal circle, which contributed to further discredit of the July Monarchy. The economic crisis that began in the same year led to numerous bankruptcies and money circulation, mass unemployment, rising prices. The opposition organized a “banquet campaign”, during which the issue of “replacing the uncontrolled and irresponsible system of personal government with a regime in which the country itself would manage its own forces” was discussed. Opponents of the regime called for “reform to avoid revolution,” and in case of refusal of reform, they predicted “a revolution of indignant public conscience and a revolution of contempt.”

The beginning of the revolution

Overthrow of Louis Philippe

The ban on the next banquet, scheduled for February 22, 1848, became the reason to start armed uprising in Paris. Two days later, Louis Philippe abdicated the throne, and the Republicans formed a Provisional Government, which included socialists for the first time in history. The new government abolished titles of nobility, proclaimed universal suffrage for men, freedom of the press and assembly.

The revolution led to an unprecedented intensification of political life. The largest theoreticians of socialism and communism - O. Blanqui, E. Cabet, T. Desami, P.-J. - came up with projects for the practical implementation of their ideas. Proudhon and even R. Owen, who specially came from England. The most active was Blanqui, who argued: “There is no freedom if there is no bread. There is no equality if affluence is displayed next to poverty.”

Decree on the “right to work”

At the initiative of the socialist L. Blanc, the Provisional Government issued a decree on the “right to work,” by which its author meant the elimination of unemployment and ensuring a decent existence for workers through fair payment for their work. The French Republic accepted these obligations on the basis that “the question of labor is a matter of the greatest importance; that there is no question higher or more worthy of the concern of a republican government.” In France, the organization of public works began in the form of “national workshops”, whose workers were paid guaranteed and equal wages for all.

Causes of the uprising

February Revolution posed a threat to the dominance of the financial aristocracy, a stock exchange panic began in the country, and the financial system fell into complete disarray. In the hope of rectifying the situation, the government introduced an additional tax, which the most astute revolutionaries regarded as a death sentence for the republic. The main burden of additional payments fell on the peasants, so the new tax gave rise to hatred in the village towards the “45 centimes republic”. Opponents of the republic convinced the peasants that they were being charged money to support “Parisian idlers” in national workshops. In such a tense situation, elections to the Constituent Assembly took place, which brought defeat to supporters of continuing social reforms. The new authorities closed revolutionary clubs and national workshops, condemning tens of thousands of workers to poverty.

June 23-26, 1848

In June 1848, the Parisian proletarians responded with an armed uprising, which contemporaries perceived as the beginning civil war. For four days, fierce barricade battles raged in Paris. The Constituent Assembly handed over full power to the Minister of War L.-E. Cavaignac, who became famous for his brutal suppression of the uprising in Algeria. Using artillery and not stopping at the destruction of entire neighborhoods, the general just as decisively suppressed the uprising in his own capital. Volunteers from the provinces came to the aid of the regular army and organized a real march on Paris to put an end to the “eternal uprisings of Parisian workers.” Material from the site

“The February Revolution of 1848 ... gave results that were unexpected for everyone. Again it turned out that the government, seemingly strong, had no support and collapsed at the first onslaught. Again, as in 1830, the victory was not those who formed the visible opposition, but a small group that fought vigorously with weapons in their hands in a moment of general confusion. But the winners could not seize power, since even in Paris they had few supporters, and the provinces were against them.”

Second Republic in France

On December 10, 1848, presidential elections took place, which ended in a sensational result. A prince was elected head of the French Republic Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I. The main force that ensured his victory were the peasants, who continued to believe in the legend of the “peasant emperor Napoleon.” Thus ended the first experiment with universal suffrage in Europe. Relying on the support of the peasantry and the army, Louis Napoleon set a course for the restoration of the empire. Bo-Napartist propaganda claimed: “This