A Wind of Revolution

This week in History class we learned about the different revolutions in Europe in 1830 and 1848. The goal of this lesson was to tell whether or not these revolutions were complete and utter failures as many historians have claimed. To be able to achieve this goal we had to study 6 very important revolutions: the Decembrist Revolt, the French Revolution of 1830, the French Revolution of 1848, the Frankfurt Assembly, and finally the Hungarian Revolution. Not only did we need to know about the revolutions, but we also had to find out what about them made them successes or failures. To really understand which qualities would fall under success and which would fall under failure; we made a scale. My group decided that to be an utter failure not one of the goals would have been reached and nothing would have changed. Next, if a small amount of progress was made, but no real influential changes have taken place then the revolution would be a moderate failure. A neutral revolution would be when a compromise is made between the revolutionary ideals and the current system. When most things are changed from the revolution but not all the demands of the people are met, it would be classified as a moderate success, and finally for the revolution to be a complete success every goal and demand has been met, without major setbacks. After this we were split into different groups, assigned a revolution, and given some sources to find out more about our revolution. From here we determined the basic facts, such as; what country it took place in, what year, the goals of the revolution, who the opponent was, the outcome, and some reasons for the success or failure. Then we were to identify using evidence, which primary sources from our handouts fell under the categories of outcome, opponent, and goals. Once we finished this each group created a survey monkey to help our classmates learn about each individual revolution.

My group’s revolution was the French Revolution of 1830. Obviously the country this revolution took place in was France, and the year it occurred in was 1830. The goals of this revolution were to extend suffrage, or establish voting rights, to win power for the middle class citizens, and to gain a constitution that would recognize the rights of the people. The opponent of this revolution was Charles X, he was the younger brother of Louis XVIII who died in 1824. “The liberty of the periodical press is suspended.…In consequence no newspaper or periodical or semi-periodical work, established or to be established, without discrimination as to the matters which shall be treated therein, shall appear, either in Paris or in the departments,”. This quote from The July Ordinances, July 25, 1830 By Charles X and His Ministers is telling the public that all rights they had to voice their opinions are now abolished. Charles X angered the people when he did this, he was attempting to keep the people in check, and to make sure that ideas of revolt couldn't spread. The outcome of this revolution was the people of France receiving a new king named Louis Philippe, who was also referred to as “The Citizen King”. “The Duke of Orleans [Louis Philippe] is a prince devoted to the cause of the Revolution…The Duke of Orleans is a citizen king, …It is from the French people that he will hold the crown.” This is an excerpt from Theirs, Adolphe.2 “Orleanist Manifesto..., and it tells that the new king was voted on. Louis Philippe extended suffrage but only for the wealthier of Frances citizens. Under his reign the upper bourgeoisie prospered, and the majority of the people were still unable to vote. The French Revolution of 1830 falls under the category of either a neutral revolution or moderately successful revolution; things were changed for the better, but not necessarily for everyone that was asking for the change. Click here to take our group's Survey Monkey.

This is a screenshot of the answers my classmates gave when answering this question,
clearly the majority understood where the French Revolution of 1830 fell on the scale of success and failure.

The European revolutions of 1830 and 1848, overall were more so successes than failures, the only true failure seemed to be the Decembrist revolt. The French Revolution of 1830 was a revolution that was trying to gain rights for middle class and to give people the right to vote, this goal was achieved. Not necessarily for all classes but for some. “It is from the French people that he will hold the crown.” This quote from Theirs, Adolphe.2 “Orleanist Manifesto... is saying that Louis Philippe obtained the crown, because of the french people that decided he was fit for it. The Hungarian Revolution was more of a neutral war; this was a battle that called for the countries independence and an outline of the people’s basic rights. The outcome of the Hungarian revolution was that for some time the independence was granted as told in this excerpt from Hungarian Declaration of Independence, April 1849; “WE, the legally constituted representatives of the Hungarian nation, assembled in Diet, do by these presents solemnly proclaim, in maintenance of the inalienable natural rights of Hungary, with all its dependencies, to occupy the position of an independent European State”. Shorty after the claims were taken back, but the goal of the revolution was achieved for an amount of time. Many historians have concluded that the European Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were overall failures, but I think differently.