February Days

Dan D.:
The “February Days” in France came about due to rising unrest and dissatisfaction in the country. Louis Phillipe, a member of the Orleans took power carrying the title “King of the French” rather than the King of France. He was intended to establish much more of a republic yet he retained significant power such as over the military and appointments. Phillipe forced prefects and mayors out to put in his own friends and supporters.
In 1834 an increase in weaving rates caused workers to assemble and protest, these gatherings were very frowned upon by the government and as a result laws were passed banning the association of workers. What occurred as a result is known as the Lyon Uprising where workers in some cases violently challenged the law and government.
In early 1848 a combination of popular protest, oppositional politics and leaders, unpopular government action, and urban insurrection all led to revolution.
The French people felt they were under a tyrant and called for things such as universal suffrage and an end to French monarchy. Those behind the February Days thought that their actions would lead to events all around Europe. The biggest demand it could be said was for the establishment of a true republic, a government by the people.
As February began, those in power were beginning to realize that they were facing potential revolution, as the month wore on people began to demonstrate and gather more and in larger crowds as well as construct barricades.
When a large group of citizens met with soldiers there was clear cause to believe that the time for conflict was that moment, upon the firing of musket, unaware if from the demonstrators or soldiers, the guards opened fire on the crowd. After this event the crowd dispersed but soon more and more people gathered throughout Paris ready for conflict.
Louis Phillipe ordered his men who were already scattered, poorly commanded, and had been stationed for up to 2 days straight to not fire. The guard houses and other stations were taken over by the now armed revolutionaries. When he was overtaken it is said he was more embarrassed than anything else.
A provisional government was established after the revolution as well as workers’ associations. What followed was continuing disagreement of the future of the country between Conservatives and Liberals, the government in place faced protests themselves from radicals and the poor.
A constituent assembly was put in place in order to figure out who would ultimately lead the government; radicals who called for support of other European revolutions were largely ignored by the group. After the Constituent Assembly established a constitution, Louis Napoleon was elected as President of the Second Republic.

Julie:

 


March in Berlin

Stephanie:
• Different squares in Berlin caused word to spread that had different views of what was going on in Berlin on March 18th and 19th 1848. http://web.bham.ac.uk/1848/comments/belinma1.htm#title (this map shows the different squares in Berlin in 1848)
• Account from, GENERAL LEOPOLD VON GERLACH, ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF FREDRICK WILLIAM IV
♣ His army and himself marched out on Monday and by Wednesday the situation was getting “grave”
♣ He was told to advance into Palace square; to find an unfinished or destroyed barricade which caused no problem to go through
♣ On Thursday they went to the Palace of the Prince of Prussia where they were throwing stones at the crowd from the Palace, which did not stop the crowd so six shots were fired and two hit. The shots emptied the square
♣ Friday was quiet, the King signed a document granting constitutionalism, which had to be done
♣ Saturday was cheerful, the king appeared twice on his balcony with excitement from the crowd each time; “Bodelschwingh had a vain tried through speeches to send away the crowd.” This made the crowd go wild again in the Palace Square where fatal shots had taken place; “the dragoons had made their `murderous' attack” Fatal shots were also taken at Long Bridge as the crowd dispersed and new barricades were put up around the whole square
• Account from, ANONYMOUS WRITER IN THE BROCKHAUS ENCYCLOPAEDIA, 1849 EDITION
♣ Fighting began at the “corner of the Oberwall and the Jägerstrasse where the first barricade was erected at the corner house”
♣ A poorly constructed barricade; “Two cabs, one coach, the guard-room of the bank building, the gutter bridges and dome barrels served quickly for its construction”
♣ People armed themselves on top of their houses with stones; and dragoons and battalion of infantry advanced on the square before barricades were even built
♣ Around 5 o’clock Everyone in the whole town was out near a barricade ready to defend themselves with whatever they could find; the first shot was fired at this time in Königstrasse and up to the Alexander Square
♣ “By five o'clock in the afternoon the whole town, even in its most distant parts, was covered with barricades, which in some streets reached into the first floors . . . Everywhere citizens, artisans, students and working men rushed into the streets, supplied themselves as best they could with weapons, with some ammunition, with axes and iron bars, and rushed in various directions in order to seek out a place of fighting or to help to defend a barricade”
♣ By 6 o’clock there were around 900 people in the town ready to defend; by this time all the barricades in Königstrasse had been attacked and the soldiers began to hand fight the townspeople
♣ 7 o’clock solders had taken over Königstrasse; the fighting then started in the Royal Palace
♣ The people did not know what was happening on the other side of town.
♣ “In the various parts of the town in which there was fighting before and behind the barricades, only quite isolated battle scenes took place, for there was no question of any cohesion among the fighters in the various parts of the town, and they did not know in one end of the town what was happening in the other.”
• Account of, GENERAL LEOPOLD VON GERLACH
♣ Communication problems because the Minister told the king to withdraw the citizens from the street but the word did not get around the square so not everyone knew.
♣ “Minister Bodelschwingh entered the room where everyone was assembled and the last deputation was waiting. He declared in a loud voice: `As the barricades are disappearing so His Majesty commands that all the troops should be withdrawn from all streets and squares.' In vain General Prittwitz declared that such a disappearance of the troops from the streets and squares was not feasible . . . communications between the various units would be lost, the garrison at the Palace and at the arsenal could no longer be supported and the troops would see themselves surrendered to the enemy with tied hands.”
• Berlin is a example of how not to deal with revolutionary situations
♣ Berlin was in the process of rapid economic transformation yet, “the population was strikingly inexperienced and apathetic”
♣ Liberal movement had its influence in Rhineland and in provincial cities such as Königsberg and Breslau
♣ In 1848 there were textile trade workers but they were illiterate to politics and class consciousness was non-existent
♣ “There were even stronger forces convinced that fundamental changes were inescapable and that Prussia's future position in Germany depended on leadership of the liberal movement. As early as March 12 the king, albeit reluctantly and with mental reservations, made the basic decision to accept a constitution and a responsible ministry.”
♣ There were no police in the city of Berlin of 400,000, public order relied on the garrison troops, which meant the government could only deal with issues of serious disturbance only by method employed by Russia
♣ With excitement and controversy growing in the city more troop were brought in and a few lives began to be taken on March 9th
♣ March 18th, the king announced his “patent” which huge crowds came cheerfully to hear about; commotion became so great, General von Prittwitz was ordered by the king to clear the square; two shoots had been fired with no harm to make the people leave and they then felt betrayed
♣ This made many stories go throughout the square and more barricades were put up
♣ General von Prittwitz had 15,000 troops and artillery; the people had stones hot water which they threw from the roof of their houses and he took hostage of cut down all the citizens
♣ The king wanted the fighting to stop and he left the city
♣ A new civil guard was established and called Bürgerwehr, organized in each districts with 100 men in each
♣ Only full citizens were eligible
♣ Hours after fighting the Bürgerwehr took over duty at the Palace

Akil:

Evan:

The German Constitution

As a result of the Congress of Vienna came a political settlement for German lands.

All but four of the German states were princely states of one kind or another.

So, German states were not parliamentary monarchies like Britain or France.

 

June Days

Kim:
The issue of workshops was very prominent in Paris at this point and a point of much contention.  For most workers, workshops were the main source of income and employment at this time.  The June Insurrection went from June 23-26 and was a revolt in reaction to a decree made on June 21st.  This decree stated that workers who were unmarried were no longer allowed in the workshops.  This was the last straw for Parisians in a long line of issues which included workers being transferred from place to place and the people formed an uprising against which military strengths had to stand.  When all was said and done, an estimated 1500 Parisians were killed. 
The University of Birmingham’s website has a sample document from June Days.  It reads:

INSURGENTS' PROCLAMATION, 26 JUNE

TO ARMS!
We demand the Democratic and Social Republic! We demand the sovereignty of the People!
No citizen of a Republic could or should desire anything else.
To defend this Republic everyone's aid is needed.
The many democrats who have seen this necessity have for two days been out in the streets.
Already this holy cause has many victims: we are all resolved to avenge these noble martyrs or to die. Awake! Citizens, let not one of us fail to answer the call.
In defending the Republic we defend property.
If blind obstinacy makes you indifferent to so much bloodshed we shall all die beneath the burning ruins of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
Think of your wives and children, and you will come to us!
This document is an example of the type of propaganda that drew more and more working class Parisians into the revolts until an estimated tens of thousands had participated in some way.  This movement was a true cry for unity amongst the citizens.

            While prepared to be violent, the initial movement was one of much shouting and slogan yelling with little violent intent.  Some examples from documentation of these days show this further.  They read:
“The column in question proceeded into the Rue du faubourg Saint-Antoine. The people in it chanted again and again: ‘We won't go!’ They shouted furious insults about citizens Lamartine and Marie, saying that the rich are thieves. They said too that this evening at six they are all going to gather at the Pantheon.

5.00 P.M. The workers have started to arrive. A group of six to seven hundred people, mostly in overalls, swarmed over the Place du Pantheon shouting various slogans.”
“9.00 P.M. A column whose strength may be estimated at between eight and ten thousand persons, and which appears to come from the faubourg Saint-Antoine, is passing at this moment in front of the Hôtel-de-Ville. This mass, in the midst of which a great number of banners can be seen, is making its way toward the Pantheon, in order to join forces with the workers of the 12th arrondissement. Various shouts emanate from this crowd which also includes women. They demand work and they add ‘We won't go! We'll get him! We'll hang him! The Republic for ever!’ Some want massacre and looting, shouting ‘Down with traitors! Down with the national guard! It's got to stop!’”

An English eye witness reports a more violent view of the insurrection as things carried on:
“5 p.m. - Another alarm has been raised, and all citizens ordered within doors. I now hear quick firing in the direction of the Luxembourg. Madame Dumez has just informed me that a large number of the people took refuge in the Panthéon, and surrounded it by barricades. The military stormed it, destroyed the barricades and a great portion of the building by artillery, and after some time succeeded in dislodging the Revolutionists. A number of the insurgents have also taken refuge in a neighbouring church and have not yet been dislodged.”
“The rails have been taken up on several of the railways - amongst the rest, on the Paris and Rouen, and on the Paris and Amiens lines. Immense numbers of troops continue to pour in from the suburbs, and from Rouen and Orleans and Amiens. At 9 o'clock last night the President announced to the Assembly that the insurrection had terminated, all the barricades had been destroyed, and the buildings occupied by the insurgents captured. Two thousand prisoners have been captured and lodged in the vaults under Notre Dame. No attempt is made to estimate the number of killed and wounded.”

Alex de Tocqueville speaks to women’s unique role in the revolt saying, “It must also be observed that this formidable insurrection was not the enterprise of a certain number of conspirators, but the revolt of one whole section of the population against another. Women took part in it as well as men. While the latter fought, the former prepared and carried ammunition; and when at last the time had come to surrender, the women were the last to yield. These women went to battle with, as it were, a housewifely ardour: they looked to victory for the comfort of their husbands and the education of their children. They took pleasure in this war as they might have taken pleasure in a lottery.”

What came to be after the insurrection?
“In terms of immediate political consequences the alliance of moderate republicans with other social conservatives had fatally weakened the Republic at what had been formerly its prime source of strength - at Paris. It had divided the moderate republicans, the only republicans most of France could accept in positions of power, and that only reluctantly, from the workers, who were the most devoted supporters of republican institutions. It forced these republicans to rely on non- or even anti-republican social groups for the preservation of the Republic. The only alternative for radicals was to appeal to the peasant masses with promises of social reform which did not threaten their property. This some republicans would proceed to do. “

“The Development of a Revolutionary Situation “

“'A Day of Fate' “

“The Republican Organization”

“The Rising of 24 February”

“From Rising to Riot”

“The Order to Fire”

The soldiers, considering themselves attacked, presented their guns and fired

“The King Gives Way”

Katie:
“The Development of a Revolutionary Situation “

“'A Day of Fate' “

“The Republican Organization”

“The Rising of 24 February”

“From Rising to Riot”

“The Order to Fire”

The soldiers, considering themselves attacked, presented their guns and fired

“The King Gives Way”

 

 

“A Day of Fate” (February 21 & 22)

Chelsea:

The Rising of February 24th

De Tocqueville: The February Days (His Accounts)

“The boulevard, which we followed to get there, presented a strange spectacle. There was hardly a soul to be seen, although it was nearly nine o'clock in the morning, and one heard not the slightest sound of a human voice; but all the little sentry-boxes which stand along this endless avenue seemed to move about and totter upon their base, and from time to time one of them would fall with a crash, while the great trees along the curb came tumbling down into the roadway as though of their own accord. These acts of destruction were the work of isolated individuals, who went about their business silently, regularly, and hurriedly, preparing in this way the materials for the barricades which others were to erect. Nothing ever seemed to me more to resemble the carrying on of an industry, and, as a matter of fact, for the greater number of these men it was nothing less.” (http://web.bham.ac.uk/1848/document/tocque.htm#title)

“The time which we had spent with M. Dufaure had sufficed to enable the rioters to erect a large number of barricades along the road by which we had come; they were putting the finishing touches to them as we passed on our way back. These barricades were cunningly constructed by a small number of men, who worked very diligently: not like guilty men hurried by the dread of being taken in the act, but like good workmen anxious to get their task done well and expeditiously.”

Jennifer R.:

Carly:


March in Berlin

Dylan:
I. The Failure of the Deutsche Bund

Tiffany:

The March Insurrection in Berlin

http://web.bham.ac.uk/1848/document/62-64.htm

(a) General Leopold Von Gerlach, Adjutant-General of Fredrick William IV

(b) Anonymous Writer in the Brockhaus Encyclopedia, 1849 Edition

(d) Anonymous Writer in the Brockhaus Encyclopedia, 1849 Edition

(e) General Leopold Von Gerlach

 

June Days

Tom:

Bibliography

Amann, Peter H. Revolution and Mass Democracy: The Paris Club Movement in 1848. (Princeton, 1975).

Sir Edward Frankland, Sketches from the Life of Sir Edward Frankland (London: Spottiswoode & Co., 1902), pp. 456-69.

Maciej:
After a new government was established in France, the representation only appealed to a certain group (class) of citizens. The others (Parisian workers, in example) became oppressed and unfairly treated. There was talk of having many of them exported to the provinces,
             "There had already been measures to restrict access to public works and to transfer many             Parisian workers out to the provinces."
            "the Government had tried to disperse it by sending part of the workmen into the country.             They refused to leave. On the 22nd of June, they marched through Paris in troops, singing             in cadence, in a monotonous chant, “We won't be sent away, we won't be sent away. . .""            
As a result, this was seen as a signal to revolt for all of the poorer Parisians, and thus, the June Days occurred. This was an insurrection that consisted of surprisingly organized fighting parties who were militarily able to fight against the National Guard brought into the city to restore order.
            "I come at last to the insurrection of June, the most extensive and the most singular that             has occurred in our history, and perhaps in any other: the most extensive, because, during             four days, more than a hundred thousand men were engaged in it; the most singular,             because the insurgents fought without a war- cry, without leaders, without flags, and             yet with a marvelous harmony and an amount of military experience that astonished             the oldest officers."
This was due to the fact that many of the Parisian workmen that partook in the revolts had previously participated in the Army. On top of this, military education was a common theme throughout France, "and particularly the military education which the majority of the men of the people in turn receive, suffice to explain it. Half of the Paris workmen have served in our armies, and they are always glad to take up arms again" This revolt was not aimed at destabilizing the government completely or erasing it. Instead, it was more of a war between classes. Both men and women played an equal role in participation and energy.
            "It must also be observed that this formidable insurrection was not the enterprise of a             certain number of conspirators, but the revolt of one whole section of the population             against another. Women took part in it as well as men. While the latter fought, the former             prepared and carried ammunition; and when at last the time had come to surrender, the             women were the last to yield."
Some of the demands of the insurgents included:
-"A Social and Democratic Republic"
-"Free association of Labor, aided by the state"
-"the impeachment of the Representatives of the People and of the ministers, and the immediate arrest of the Executive Commission"
-"the removal of troops from Paris"
            (J. J. Guillet)

After the insurgents were able to successfully overtake control all the districts in which they lived, the Army was sent to Paris to confront and subdue the combatants. The army was helped by various paramilitary groupings that included unemployed Parisian youths. It is estimated that roughly 15,000-50,000 Parisians took part in the insurrections; 1500 people died on both fronts, 3000 insurgents were shot on the spot, 12,000 arrests were made, and 4500 people were deported to Algeria.
            "Only after they had done this did the army, assisted by various paramilitary groupings             which also included many unemployed Parisian youths, move in to crush the rebellion. It             is difficult to know how many Parisians took part in the insurrection, estimates range             from 15,000 to 50,000. In the repression some 1500 people were killed on both sides;             another 3000 insurgents were shot on the spot; about 12,000 arrests were made, of whom             about 4,500 were deported to Algeria." 

Meghan: