Origins of Modern Politics

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are

endowed by their creator with certain unalienable right, that among these are life, liberty,

and the pursuit of happiness."

-The Declaration of American Independence, 4 July 1776

The American Revolution (1765-81) was an ideological and political revolution based on the

principles of the American Enlightenment and led to the independence of the American

colonies from the British.It was the first successfulstruggle against colonialism. It opened the

doorsofthemodernageformankind,ledtoworldwideimpactandtransformed both America

and Europe.

John Adams, the second President of the United States, declared that the history of the

American Revolutionwentbackto 1620 whenthefirstpermanentsettlementwasestablished

by the British at James Town. But after a minute analysis, we can say that the differences

between Britain and American settlements started in 1763.

Background: Development of American Colonies

Nature of American society was very different

as compared to the European society.

• Ethnic and cultural diversity

• America is a country of immigrants

who belonged to different ethnic and

cultural groups.

• Unlike European people, Americans

were not bound through a sense of

commonpedigree.Rather,througha

common future dream.

• Unlike Europe, there was no feudalism or

Catholic Church like structure in American colonies. Dominant element in American

society were new settlers. American upper class people had limited political and social

privileges as compare to Europe. All of this contributed in shaping the ideals of

Republicanism.

• American continent was a continent of abundance (no dearth of resources) and it

provided such a large opportunity for enterprise that fate of a person could change

overnight.

• This natural wealth of the continent encouraged the optimism and individualistic

consciousness among American people.

• Fromtheverybeginning,Americanpeoplewereveryactiveandhard-working,and

they had a strong faith in their capability. This is the reason why they showed

courage to resist oppression instead of surrendering.

Lack of Affection with Britain

The bond of attachment between American people and Britain was very weak even though

about 90% of the people living in American colonies were of British origin.

• The people living in these American colonies had moved to America under compulsion.
• Deported to America by the government as a punishment.
• Many had escaped to America from Europe to save their life from prosecution

of state or church.

• Many migrated to America because of economic compulsion.
• These migrants to America had struggled hard over generations to make their living and

to develop them economically. During this long phase of struggle, these Americans

received no help from British government, andtheywereself-madepeople andbecause

of this they had any love or affection for their motherland.

Because of this lack of affection towards Britain the Americans were under no moral

obligation to remain under British rule forever. When the character rule changed against the

interest of Americans after 1763 the people raised the banner of revolution.

Maturation of the American colonies

Bythe middle of 18 th c.,the Americanshad matured politico-admin,socio-culturallyas well as

economically.

• Politico-Admin

• By the middle of 18 th c., all the 13 colonies had their own legislature.
• Most of the politico-Admin responsibilities were handled by Americans

themselves. The British control was limited to top layers of administration.

• Each colony,and the newspapers published therein,dealt with the colonial power

in London and largely ignored other colonies. In one sense, these colonies were

enjoying freedom.

• Socio religious institutions had also evolved in America.

• American society was stable, without the social tensions that dominated the life

of Europeans.

• Educational development: Harvard and Yale were established by 17 th century.
• The First Great Awakening was a series of Christian revivals that swept the 13

American colonies in the 1730 s and 1740 s.

• Thus, a typical America culture had evolved which played an important role in

creating the circumstances responsible for the outbreak of American Revolution.

• Economic

• The level of economic progress in these American colonies was not less than

Britain in any way.

• These Americans were not dependent on outsider for their economic prosperity,

and they were living a better life than most people living in Britain.

Albany Congress (1754)

• The Congress advocated a union of the British colonies in North America for their security

and defense against the French.

• Benjamin Franklin made an appeal to the British government to treat Americans

differently, but the British government did not pay attention to this appeal. He made

Britain aware of the new character of America. He declared that America was in nation

building process.

Issues involved in American Revolution

(A) It was a conflict between British mercantilism and American capitalism.

Americans were firm believers in the philosophy of capitalism because:

• They were self-made economically and struggled hard over generations to accumulate

wealth. The process of their economic advancement was extremely trying. Thus,

Americans loved nothing more than their property.

• They had always fought tough battles against heavy odds, in which the best survives.

Thus, the achievement orientation was very strong among Americans.

• The spirit of individualism was also dominant among Americans because of their

independent mindedness.

• Thecommercialrevolution wasencouragedin America inthe 18th centuryandespecially

after the 1740 s.

• For example, in 1747 America used to import goods having value of one million

pounds from Britain. But in the 1770 s, it increased to four million pounds.

• The monetary economy got an impetus due to the development of internal and

external trade.

• As a result, the existing social structure, which was based on patron-client

relations, began to break down and new social relations were developing based

on economic relations.

Thus, when they were subjected to mercantilist regulations by British government the

reaction was bound to be furious.

On the other hand, the British economic policy was mercantilist in nature. The British

Parliament enacted such mechanisms as protectionist trade barriers, governmental

regulations, and subsidies to domestic industries for the purpose of augmenting British

finances at the expense of colonial territories.

To bring American economy under strict control, England sought to prevent its colonies in

North America from trading with other European countries and from developing a robust

manufacturing industry.

• Various Navigation Acts were introduced in the 17 th century.

• To this end, beginning in 1651, 1660, and 1666, the British Parliament adopted a

series of legislation known as the Navigation Acts.

• It tried to promote the British shipping industry at the cost of American shipping.

• British tried to bring monetary policy and export-import policy of American colonies

under British control.

• For example, on the purchase of two products, tobacco & maize, from American

colonies, there was a complete British monopoly.

• British even discouraged industralisation in American colonies. So that it wouldn't

compete with the emerging British industry.

• The taxes imposed by British during 1764-67 was reflection of British mercantilism

because through these taxes American wealth was to be taken away to Britain.

Since the Americanswere well matured and theywere not dependent on the Britishersin any

way, they refused to abide by these mercantilist regulations. Therefore, the route of the

American slogan 'No Taxation without Representation'basically lay in this capitalist ambition

of American colonies. These developments triggered the revolution in 1776.

(B) American Revolution was ideologically inspired by the Enlightenment thought, and

especially the British thinkers like John Locke, Harrington & Milton.

Enlightenment idealshad ahugeimpacton America.The Enlightenmentidealswerethemain

influences for American Colonies to become their own nation.

American Revolution was related to enlightenment in following ways:

• American scholars were widely influenced by enlightenment.

• European enlightened scholarshad high praise for theopen society like American

society.

• Even before independence, some American scholars like Thomas Jefferson and

Benjamin Franklin had visited Europe. They were considered paragons of

Enlightenment thought.

• Common Sense by Thomas Paine
• In one sense, American Revolution was an extension of the European question.

▪ Americans were revolting against mercantilist policies being imposed on

themintheformof Navigation Laws.Theseideasconnected Americanwith

European thinking.

• The political ideas of Milton, Locke, Sidney, and James Harrington strongly influenced the

American Revolution.Two Enlightenmentphilosophersthatinfluencedthecreationof the

government were John Locke and Montesquieu.

• John Locke's idea of natural rights (life, liberty, property)
• Montesquieu's idea of the separation of powers.
• James Herrington (The Common-wealth of Oceana, 1656)

▪ In Oceana (imagined ideal state), Harrington believed that democracy is

most stable where a strong middle class exists, and that revolution is a

consequence of the separation of economic and political power.

• John Milton (poet of Paradise) supported a republican form of government.
• Algernon Sydney (Discourses Concerning Government has been called the

textbook of the American revolution.)

▪ Sidney directly opposed the theory of divine right of kings by suggesting

ideassuch aslimited government,voluntaryconsent of thepeople and the

right of citizens to alter or abolish a corrupt government.

Religious motivation to oppose tyranny.

Historian John Patrick Diggins writes that American historians have concentrated on

political ideas while underplaying "the religious convictions that often undergird them,

especially the Calvinist convictions that Locke himself held: resistance to tyranny…."

According to Harry S. Stout, a professor of religion at Yale University, "From the repeal of

the Stamp Act on, New England's Congregationalist ministers played a leading role in

fomenting sentiments of resistance, and, after 1774, open rebellion."

(C) There was a political-constitutional conflict as well.

• British executive interfered to a great extent in the matter of the American executive.
• Taxation issue
• British were asserting right of parliament to impose tax.

▪ Accordingtothe British,theparliamentwasanall-powerfulinstitution,and

all other institutions were just subject to it.

• Accordingto Americansmen are enjoying certain natural rights that are above all

laws including parliamentary laws.

Unfolding of the events

(1) Till 1763 the British rule in American colonies was largely symbolic and nominal.

• The Americans were living a life of complete freedom without any interference from

British side.

• The burden of taxes on Americans was much less than the burden being born by

the citizens of Britain.

• The Britishgovernmentwascontrollingonlytoplayerofadministrationwhile most

of the politico-admin responsibilities were being handled by Americans

themselves.

• The American colonies were not a source of Economic gains for Britain, but their

significance was strategic and ceremonial.

• This American Empire was a matter of great prestige for British crown because it

was not letting sun set on British Empire.

• The presence of British force in these colonies were keepingthe French expansion

in American in check.

Asaresultof 7 years'warfought during 1756-63,Canadamoved under Britishcontrol. (Treaty

of Paris)

• It was a very expensive war.
• After that, the British government was no longer worried about the possibility of

any French invasion from north.

• Thefeelingof insecurityamong the Americansfrom the sideof Frenchwasalso no

more.

(2) Thus, there was a change in British policy towards America:

• The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III

• It forbade all settlements west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains,

which was delineated as an Indian Reserve.

• British sought to recoup expenses borne defending the colonies.

• Instituted the first ever direct internal taxes in North America, the most famous

being Stamp Act (a special tax stamp on all legal documents and publications) by

George Granville.

• Measures adopted by Granville to shore up finances:

▪ To strictly enforce navigation laws.

▪ New taxes like the Stamp Act (1765), Currency Act, Quartering Act, and

Sugar Act etc. were imposed by the British parliament.

▪ To activate anti-smuggling laws forcefully.

American Response:

• Such taxes on commerce alienated powerful interests,

including well-off traders in the North and prosperous

planters in the South. British-American colonies, esp.

middle-class merchants, smugglers, political leaders

were enraged.

• Theprotestsledtotheemergenceofanewleadership.
• During the Stamp Act crisis, news began to focus on

events throughout the thirteen colonies.

• They complained that the tax was enacted in England

without the colonists' input. Patrick Henry called

George III a despotic ruler and made a resolution in the

Virginia Assembly that only American representatives

could tax Americans.

• American leaders from 9 colonies gathered at New York and organized Stamp Act

Congress (1765). It was called by the efforts of Patrick Henry and James Otis.

• It decided to boycott British goods.
• The delegates made their famous declaration, 'No taxation without

representation'.

• In this Congress,therightof Britishparliamenttoimpose internaltax(Excise, sales

etc) was questioned. The external tax (custom duty

etc.) was not questioned.

• This was the first major coordinated action by the colonies

together. So, the conflict started here.

• Various Committees of Correspondence were soon formed by

Americans to oppose the British policies and enforce the

boycott. They encouraged opposition to Acts, they gradually

grewtocoordinatetheboycottefforts,andtheyhelpedpeople

become aware of their liberties. (Almost government-like

behaviour.)

• Sons of Liberty (1765) was formed in Boston to oppose unfair

taxation and organize coordinated action.

(3) American efforts succeeded and eventually, the British backed down.

• Granville was soon dismissed by George III and the new Rockingham government came.

He abolished these new taxes - the Stamp Act, Sugar Act etc.

• However, Rockingham also passed the Declaratory Act, which asserted that the British

Parliament had the right to legislate for the American colonies in all cases whatsoever.

(4) George III again replaced Rockingham with Pitt the Elder (66-68). In his government, the

finance minister was Townshend.

• He thoughtthat American colonieshadobjectionsoninternaltaxes onlyand didn'tobject

to British Parliament' right to impose external tax - duties.

Procession in New York

opposing the Stamp Act

James Otis Jr., the soul

of Stamp Act Congress

• He established a series of Acts (called Townshend Acts) which placed an indirect

tax on a few items - glass, lead, paints, paper, coinage, and tea, all of which were

essential commodities and had to be imported from Britain.

• It also created a new board of customs to stop smuggling.

• American Response

• The Townshend Acts met stiff

resistance in the colonies. Many

colonists again responded with

protests and boycotts.

• Women got in on the act this time,

with the Daughters of Liberty,

encouraging homespun clothes to

replace British ones.

• Public opposition was widely debated

in colonial newspapers. Now Americans started to oppose external taxes

authority of British Parliament also.

• Opponents of the Acts gradually became violent,leading to the Boston Massacre

of 1770.

(5) Soon, Pitt's government was replaced by Fitz Roy. (68-70). Uneventful.

(6) Then came Lord North government (70-82).

• Due to intense opposition, the government of the North removed the tax on all other

items except tea. The Parliament passed a Tea Act (1773) designed to aid the financially

troubled East India Company by granting

it a monopoly.

• Despite tax, it made the tea cheaper.
• American Response:

• Still, the protest against taxation

remained intact. Some colonists

were upset that cheap tea would

cut into the profits of smugglers

and established tea merchants,

but most were just angry on

principle.

• Americans now thought thisnot a

matter of tea, this is a matter of

taxation over American products. It created anti-British environment.

• In New York,Philadelphia, and Charleston,tea agentsresignedorcance led orders,

and merchants refused consignments.

• In Bostonportof Massachusetts,however,theroyalgovernor Thomas Hutchinson

determined to uphold the law (allowingshipsto dock and take duties) --> A British

ship full of tea boxes was stationed, when on 16 December 1773, a mob led by

"A ship loaded with tea isnow on her way to

this port, being sent out the Ministry for the

purpose of enslaving and poisoning all the

Americans" New York Journal, 1773.

Samuel Adams took out 341 boxes from the ship and threw them into the sea.

Boston Tea Party (1773).

• It was a major defiance and British now lost patience. There was complete fall-out.

• Lord North passed a number of punitive laws - to punish the Bostonians. These

measures were known as the Coercive Acts in Great Britain, while dubbed the

Intolerable Acts in the colonies.

▪ The trial was started in England

topunishtheculpritsassociated.

▪ The Massachusetts Government

Act curtailed self-government

there.

▪ The Quartering Act forced

colonists to house British

soldiers in their homes when

ordered to.

▪ The Quebec Act extended the

southern boundary of Quebec

and granted religious toleration

to Catholics.

• The British government's efforts to single out

Ma

• ssachusetts for punishment served only to

unite the colonies and impel the drift toward

war. The acts further inflamed Massachusetts

and the other colonies, eventually resulting in

open war in 1775.

Political opposition in the American colonies turned belligerent when Britain threatened to

use force to maintain control. The First Continental Congress (1774) convened in

Philadelphia, composed of delegates from the colonies (except Georgia).

• In this conference it was decided to boycott British goods.
• This Congress sent a petition to the House of Lords. It demanded the repeal of all laws

after 1765.Itsuggested that Americanswereloyal

British subjects who wanted reconciliation with

the mother country.

Meanwhile, the hostilities broke out between

Americans and British troops at Lexington (17 April

1775) and Concord, Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, in 1776, Thomas Paine gave a clear and comprehensive expression to the ideas

of independence in his short text called 'Common Sense'. It had a message to the Americans

A 1774 illustration depicts Prime

Minister Lord North, author of the

Boston Port Act, forcing the

Intolerable Acts down the throat of

America. Behind them, Mother

Britannia weeps while France and

Spain look on.

Paul Revere

Massachusetts minutemen

to stay away from the corrupt rule of George III and throw away the yoke of British colonial

rule. Paine's pamphlets sold 150 thousand copies, and it was extremely widely read.

The next year the Second Continental Congress (1775-89) assembled.

• The Congress organized the military force and appointed George Washington

commander in chief.

• It acted as the provisional government of the 13 colony-states, issuing and borrowing

money, establishing a postal service, and creating a navy.

• On 4 th July, it adopted the Declaration of Independence (1776).
• It prepared the Articles of Confederation (1777), which, after being sanctioned by all the

states, became the first U.S. constitution in 1781.

George Washington surrounded by

members of the Continental Congress

Declaration of Independence on 4 th July 1776.

Success in the War of Independence

The was came to an end when in 1781, Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown and in 1783 the

Treaty of Paris was signed. Now, USA emerged as independence sovereign nation. How did

American colonies get success against the global power British at that time?

• Attitudinal difference

• Earlier, the British authorities didn't take the

American revolutionaries seriously and mainly

reliedonmercenarysoldierstosuppressthem.The

British authorities failed to rally the loyalist

Americans.

• Americans were driven by a strong spirit of liberty

which held them strong during adverse situations.

• Geography:

• Isolation of the American continent and British

ignorance regarding American geography.

• Huge land, British had to send army from afar and

then it was spread over a last mass of land.

• George Washington: able, pragmatic commander
• Cooperation of France, Spain, and Holland

Significances of American Revolution

It transformed not only America but Europe as well as other parts of the world. Its direct and

indirect influences were felt worldwide in the time to come.

It accentuated changes in political, economic & social structure. Some fundamental changes

were noticed in the prevailing economic and social structure in the middle of the American

war of independence.

Impact on America:

• Political Change

• It resulted into the liberation of American colonies and led to formation of a

powerful nation. Not simply that, a federal America could emerge as a world

power and was likely to play a very significant role in world politics after nearly

150 years.

• After the revolution, American colonies emerged to be the first modern

democraticrepublicangovernment.When Europewasatthestageofenlightened

monarchy, British American colonies reached up to the status of a republic. In this

way, ideologically American colonies went ahead of contemporary Europe.

• Written constitution

• American Revolution gave the 1 st modern written constant to world. The

American constant was enacted and adopted by Philadelphia Congress in

• After liberation, American colonies formed a federal government. In this way,

Americans developed a new model of government that was much suited to multi-

racial, multi-lingual & multi-cultural countries.

• Americans sanctified fundamental rights for their people in the new constitution.

The concept of natural rights of man were also popularized.

• The beginning of true religious freedom was truly revolutionary.

• The Church of England ceased to be the Church of America.
• Jefferson called for a "wall of separation" between Church and State.

• America emerged as the most liberal and progressive Nation because of its

success. These liberal & Progressive ideas gave a very high prestige to America in

the community of Nations. This process of American ascendancy reached to

culmination in 1991 when USA was left as only super power.

• Economic Change

• Locke had equated liberty with property.
• Ideas of liberty led to a decline in apprenticeship and indentured servitude.
• Immediately after the war, the split occurred between the North, with its reliance

on paid labor, and the South, with its reliance on slavery.

• Social Change: Eventhoughthe Americanrevolutionariesdidn'toverturnprivilegeortear

apartthesocialorderas the French Revolutiontriedtodo,itdidmakesignificantchanges.

• America made sure that there would never be a formal nobility.
• It recognized the equal rights of daughters and widows, when it came to

inheriting and possessing property. Women got the right to carry on business,

contract and keep separate property in her husband's absence. Along with this,

liberal laws related to marriages and divorces were passed.

• Real seismic change was that after the Revolution, Americans came to view

themselves as equal to each other.

• It paved the way for people participation in the political sphere and

encouraged a free market-based economy.

• Third,after 1791, the United States of America became the first country to

grant right to faith and conscience to its citizen. Fundamental freedoms of

the people were accepted through the fundamental rights.

Therefore, it is difficult to believe that the American freedom movement was devoid of social

purpose.

Limitations of American Revolution

The revolution does not have the voice of social radicalism like in the French Revolution. It

didn't displace the elite, land-owning, white leadership of America.

• Inequality

• Voting Rights: Wealthy class had its influence on the American Constitution. So,

theprinciple ofadult franchise wasnotaccepted. Propertyqualification for voting

was institutionalized. Women were not entitled the right to vote.

• Property: Property rights were protected. Therefore, even after this

independence, economic inequality remained. E.g. The Articles of Confederation

gave the government no power to tax.

• Most of the writers and signers of the Declaration of Independence were

men of property, and they wanted to keep it that way.

• Slavery

• The proclamation of Independence did not apply to slaves. The Revolution was

deeplyhypocritical,whenitcameto"Allmenwerecreatedequal"asthefounding

father were slaveowners.

• 30% Americans were slaves of African descent who were held as property.

• Native Americans

• Native Americans were also profoundly affected by the Revolutionary War.
• American troops were particularly brutal to American Indians who fought for the

British, burning their villages and enslaving prisoners, contrary to the accepted

rules of war.

• Indians didn't get any of the natural rights.

• Women

• Women didn't get much out of the Revolution.

• They were basically still considered wards of their husbands. Or, if they

were unmarried, saleable assets of their fathers.

• The idea of Republican Motherhood became important.
• It held that for the republic to survive, it was necessary to have a

well-educated citizenry. And since women were the primary

educators, they themselves needed to be educated.

• Could not vote.

Worldwide Impact

• The establishment of a powerful state with vast natural wealth in the Western

Hemisphere was a revolutionary change.

• Democratic ideas like equality, liberty, Fraternity were popularized by American,

Revolution all over the world as a result of this. These ideas of enlightenment were

absorbed by common masses everywhere.

• Itinspiredsimilarguaranteesinotherpartsoftheworld'The Declarationof Rights'

adopted by France in Aug 1791 was continuation and reflection of same.

• It triggered a series of trans-Atlantic revolutions.

• It played an important role in the outbreak of revolution in France because

• It gave ideological support to the French Revolution.
• The financial burden of French participation in American war of

Independence has exhausted French treasury.

• The French soldiers who fought in America for liberty and equality of

Americansfound it difficult totolerate the denialof these rightsto them in

their own country. These America returned French soldiers such as

Lafayette were in the fore front of French revolution.

• The flame of revolution reached Ireland in 1798. The European revolution of 19 th

century were the continuation of tradition of revolution triggered by AR of 1776.

• That is why American Revolution of 1776 is known as Mother of all revolutions.

• It was the first example of modern nationalism.

• American liberation became a symbol of 'Anti-colonial movement' that

influenced the liberation/nationalist movements throughout the world.

• It also inaugurated the process of decolonization in the world.
• The immediate impact was visible in Latin America. (Leaders like San Jose Martin

and Bolivar)

• This process continued to gain momentum with the passage of time & over next

two centuries, all the colonies in world gained independence.

Impact on Britain

• British monarchy received a major setback and the process of democratization of the

British parliament started.

• Anglo-French conflict

• It intensified the hostilities between Britain and French because the Americans

could gain independence only because of French support.

• Thisrenewedhostilityaffectedthehistoryof Europeformanydecades Frenchand

Britain fought a number of Battles during 1791-1815

• British government modified its colonial policy to other white-settled colonies i.e.

Canada, South Africa and later even in Australia & New Zealand.

• After losing American colonies, Britain leaned towards India and India emerged to be the

most precious jewel in the British Crown.

• The American Revolution resulted in loss of one colonial empire for Britain but at

the same time it paved the way for another British colonial empire.

UPSC CSE PYQs - American Revolution

• Causes

• The American Revolution "was a natural and even expected event in the history

of colonial people who had come of age." Comment. [1995, 20 Marks]

• "No taxation without representation." Comment. [2006, 20 Marks]
• "The American Revolution was essentially an economic conflict between

American capitalism and British mercantilism." Critically examine. [2012, 10

Marks]

• "American Revolution seems to have come with remarkable suddenness. A

roster of talented leaders emerged during 1763 to 1775 to make it happen."

Elucidate. [2014, 20 Marks]

• Do you understand that the lack of statesmanship in London during the 1760 s

and 1770 s was an important contributory factor in precipitating the American

Revolution? Analyse. [2022, 20 m]

• Nature

• "At the newsof the Declaration of Independencecrowdsgathered to cheer, fire

guns and cannon and ring church bells in Philadelphia. Boston and other places,

but there were many people in America who did not rejoice." Comment. [1988,

20 Marks]

• Consequence

• "The American War of Independence transformed Europeans as well as

America." Comment. [1990, 20 Marks]

• The American War of Independence "deprived Great Britain of one empire, but

it strengthened the foundations of another". Comment. [1998, 20 Marks]

• "The American War of Independence transformed Europe as well as America."

Critically examine. [2018, 10 Marks]

"Wethepeopleof the United States,inordertoformamoreperfectunion,establishjustice,

insuredomestictranquillity,provideforthecommondefence,promotethegeneralwelfare,

and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish

this constitution for the United States of America."

The Preamble to the US constitution

The US Constitution is the earliest example of the modern, written and republican

constitution. It successfully harmonized the interests spread of 13 settlements and

transformed a colonial society into a modern nation. Above all, it has remained intact its

importance by successfully facing many challenges over the last two centuries.

Looking at its making, it could became possible only after an extensive debates. In a sense, in

front of the Americans, more than the war of independence, the task of nation-building was

a greater challenge. It was like bringing together 13 nations.

Articles of Confederation (1781-89)

After a long debate from 1777-81, the Articles of Confederation were drafted and ratified by

the Second Continental. It is regarded as the First US Constitution and remained in force for

a decade from 1781-89.

• Confederation of sovereign states
• Government:

• Legislature: One-house body of delegates, with each state having a single vote.
• There was no executive branch or president and no judiciary to settle disputes.

• Limited power:

• On paper, the Congress had power to regulate foreign affairs + Indian affairs,

declare war, and the postal service and monetary policy. In reality, however, the

Articlesgave the Congressnopowertoenforceitsrequeststothestatesformoney

or troops. It could coin money but couldn't impose taxes.

• The government was deliberately weak, which followed logically from Americans'

fearoftyrannicalgovernmentstaxingthemandquarteringsoldiersintheirho uses.

Very soon, governmental effectiveness broke down.

• Performance of the Articles:

• Guidance for the conduction of business during revolutionary years
• Certain state claims to western lands were settled.

• The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set up a process to create 5 new states

between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Importantly, the ordinance

outlawed slavery in all five of the new states.

• It provided the new nation with instructiveexperience in self-government under a

written document.

• Issues due to weakness:

• It often resulted in the deadlock along sectional lines between North/South,

Big/Small.

• Treatyof Paris(1783)stipulatedthatdebtsowedby Americansto Britishsubjects

were to be honored, These provisions were unpopular, and many states blocked

their enforcement. This led to British refusal to vacate military forts in U.S.

territory.

• It couldn't collect taxes.

• States were not required to provide any help. Although Congress asked for

millions in the 1780 s, it received less than 1.5 million from the states

between 1781 and 1784.

• Both the national government and the individual states had racked up

massive debt to pay for the war, and their main source of revenue became

tariffs, but because Congress couldn't impose them, states had to do it

individually.

• After the war, British traders flooded U.S. markets with British goods, to

the detriment of American importers and manufacturers. But the

Confederation lacked the authority to regulate this trade.

• People who held government bonds wanted central government to have

tax revenue, so that they would be paid back.

• Shay's Rebellion (1786-87): Massachusetts farmers rose up and closed the courts

to prevent them from foreclosing upon their debt-encumbered farms.

• In revealing their own weaknesses, the Articles paved the way for the

Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the present form of U.S. government.

So, there was clearly a need for a stronger central government. However, weaker sections,

small merchants and agriculturalists didn't want a strong central government. They feared

strong centre with its army and bureaucracy to impost the taxes on all and collect it.

Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia (1787-89)

Theconventionmetin the Pennsylvania,Philadelphia(1787),ostensiblytoamend the Articles

of Confederation, but ended up writing a new Constitution altogether.

The 55 delegates included many of the leading figures of the period. Among them were

George Washington, who was elected to preside, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, James

Wilson, John Rutledge, Charles Pinckney, Oliver Ellsworth, and Gouverneur Morris.

Amongthefirstthingsthat the Conventiondidweretochooseapresidingofficer,unanimously

electing George Washington to be the president of the convention.

Discarding the idea of amending the Articles of Confederation, the assembly set about

drawingupanewschemeofgovernmentbutfounditselfdivided,delegatesfromsmallstates

opposing those from large states over the apportionment of representation.

Most of the delegates voted for a powerful central

government capable of establishing law and order,

paying off debt, promoting economic growth, and

protecting American interests on the foreign soil. At

the same time, they took care that the popular

opinionabouttherightsoftheprovincesshouldnot

be disregarded.

Second, they ignored theconcept of universal adult

franchise because they believed that this type of

government would affect the right to property and

enlightened leadership. They were not in favour of

abolishing majorityrule, they only wanted to secure

the interests of the wealthy minorities.

Then the emphasis of these constitution makers was on establishing a balance among the

different interests. In particular, the emphasis was to establish a balance between property

and numbers in such a way that the poor should not be exploited by the rich, on the other

hand the poor also could not forcefully deprive the rich people of property.

Features of the American constitution

• Government to have executive, legislative and judicial arm
• Separation of power
• Check & Balance
• Bicameral legislature
• A republican government and representative democracy
• Directly elected president.
• Limited franchise
• 538 members of Electoral college
• Federal structure
• Fundamental rights

Sectional Tensions: Controversies

Issue Solution

Big states

vs small

state

Small states demanded

equality in representation of

states, while big states pleaded

for representation on the s of

the states.

Connecticut (Great) Compromise:

Bicameral legislature

• Proportional representation in the

lower house.

• Congress, for 2 years term
• Responsible to people
• Equal representation of the states in

the upper house

• Senate, 6 years term, with 1/3

rolling retirement cycle

All revenue measures would originate in

the lower house. But the upper house was

slightly more powerful overall because it

represented states.

Free state

vs slave

state

Slaveholding states demanded

that while providing them

representation in the House of

Representatives even slaves

had to be counted.

Free states opposed this move

for fear of losing the status of

majority in the lower chamber.

Settled by a compromise agreement that

three-fifths of the 'other persons' should

becountedaspopulationinrepresentation

and should also be counted as property in

assessing taxes.

Federalist

vs

Democratic

debate

Big merchants, financiers,

capitalists & bankers favoured

a strong federal government

for economic protection

against European competition.

Lower peasants and merchants

opposed a federal government

because it would impose and

collect high taxes with iron

hand (strong army/police)

To avoid tyranny of the government, the

Constitution embraced two principles:

(1) Strict separation of power: The powers

of the executive and judiciary were

enumerated, and the Constitution was

itself declared to be the "supreme law of

the land."

(2) Federalism: governmental authority

rests both in the national and the state

governments. The national government set

up by the Constitution possessed limited

enumerated powers only.

To protect against the tyranny of majority

(1) Senators were elected by the states,

usually by state legislatures.

(2) Electoral College

• The electors were supposed to be

prominent, educated men of property

who were better able to elect a

president.

However, since most delegates in the

Convention wanted a stronger centre, this

debate was not resolved satisfactorily.

Thus, afterwards we have the first 10

amendments called Bill of Rights.

Every previous national authority had been either a centralized government, or a

confederation of sovereign constituent states. The Constitutional Convention created a new,

unprecedented form of government by reallocating powers of government. Thus, in 1789 in

Philadelphia Congress, the constitution which was adopted was a compromise between big

states & smaller states, slave states & Free states, and federalist & non-federalist.

After nearly four months of debate, the draft was finalized in Sept 1787. 39/55 delegates

signed it.Benjamin Franklin summedupthesentimentsof those whodid sign,stating: "There

are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I

shall never approve them." He would accept the Constitution, "because I expect no better

and because I am not sure that it is not the best".

Federalist vs anti-Federalist debate --> Bill of Rights

Since most delegates in the Convention were Federalists, who came from capitalist interest

and thus wanted a stronger center, the debate between federalist-democratic was not

resolved satisfactorily during the Convention. This debate came to fore during the process of

ratification by the states (1787-1790).

Ratification by 9/13 states was required.Each state had a specialconvention where delegates

could vote on whether or not to adopt the new constitution.

In 1787, there were many prominent politicians on both sides of the debate and public

opinionwasevenlydivided. Themaindisagreement between Federalistsand Anti-Federalists

was over how much power the federal government should have. Throughout the debate,

both attempted to disseminate their views to the general public. This debate helped clarify

America's political ideology.

Federalist Anti-Federalist

Ben Franklin, Alexander

Hamilton, John Jay, and James

Madison

John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George

Mason, and Mercy Otis Warren.

• They came from the cities

and represented

commercial classes. They

felt that a strong centre

would benefit country as a

whole. A stronger national

government would

improve relationships

between states, and help

create, as the Constitution

stated, a "more perfect

union."

They were usually supported by common people, small

farmers who weren't as involved in commercial activity.

They wanted weak centre and strong states.

• They saw less need for a strong national government

that would foster trade and protect creditors.

• They were very afraid of a strong government

(especially one dominated by the wealthy) which

would be prone to tyranny.

• They pushed for the addition of a bill of rights, which

would guarantee several rights and freedoms of

individual.

• A smaller unit of states, closer to people, would be

more responsive to people needs.

Thus, in Feb 1788, a compromise was reached with the states holding ratification out. These

statesagreedtoratifythedocumentwiththeassurancethatamendmentswillbeimmediately

proposed. Thus, it became the law of the Land.

George Washington became the first president of the USA and, in 1790, the government was

fullyoperative. Just within 2 yearsof passingthe constitution, the first 10 amendments called

Bill of Rights were passed in 1791, as a single unit. On the basis of these amendments,

Fundamental Rightswere providedto thepeople.Theseten amendmentsto the Constitution

guarantee many of the rights and freedoms we now consider hallmarks of the American

democracy.

The Bill of Rights derives from the Magna Carta (1215), the English Bill of Rights (1689), the

colonial struggle against king and Parliament, and a gradually broadening concept of

equality among the American people.

Rights:

• First Amendment: Congress can make no law respecting an establishment of religion or

prohibiting its free exercise, or abridging freedom of speech or press or the right to

assemble and petition for redress of grievances.

• Second Amendment: Right to bear arms.
• Fifth Amendment: requires grand jury indictment in prosecutions for major crimes and

prohibits double jeopardy for a single offense. It provides that no person shall be

compelled to testify against himself and forbids the taking of life, liberty, or property

without due process of law and the taking of private property for public use (eminent

domain) without just compensation.

• Sixth and Seventh Amendment: Trial by jury.
• Ninth Amendment: protects unenumerated residual rights of the people.
• Tenth Amendment: powers not delegated to the United States are reserved to the states

or the people.

"An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States" - Charles Beard

The American constitution has been interpreted by various scholars ever since its drafting in

1787.

In 1913, a very controversial interpretation was put forward by

Charles A Beard, that it was an economic document. He is known for

radical re-evaluation of the Founding Fathers of the United States,

whom he believed to be more motivated by economics than by

philosophical principles.

His progressive interpretation of the Constitution assumed class-

conflict.To Beard,the Constitutionwasacounter-revolutionsetupby

rich bondholders,againstthe farmers and planters. Beard argued the

Constitution was designed to reverse the radical democratic tendencies unleashed by the

Revolution among the common people, especially farmers and debtors.

Representation: (elite interest group)

• Most of the delegates were rich merchants and big landlords. Out of the 55-delegate

Convention, 25 were slave owners.

• Thedelegatesto the Constitution Conventionwere sentbystateassemblieswhosevoting

rights were based on property qualification. In fact, about 75%

of qualified voters were excluded from the election process on

one ground or another.

• It was supported by those sections of the population that had

huge assets and investment in trade. The weak and poor

sections of the population opposed it when it was drafted.

Thus, the ordinary poor Americans did not play any role either

directly or indirectly in the drafting of constitution. Beard

emphasized that Constitution Convention was made by rich class.

When the British rule came to an end, this rich class captured the

power through constitutional convention.

Substantive Clauses:

Beard found that provisions of the constitution indicate its economic character:

• It guaranteed the rights to private property as a fundamental inviolable right. This

provision was in accordance with the aspirations of rich class and was against interest of

ordinary Americans who were not well off.

• Other provisions such as Laissez Faire, continuation of voting rights on basis of property

qualification and continuation of practice of slavery were in accordance with aspirations

of rich population.

This interpretation put forward by beard enjoyed acceptance for almost half a century, till

1950 s. With the emergence of the Cold War, there was successful re-evaluation of his thesis.

• Forrest Mc Donald (1958) carried out a fresh examination of the entire constitutional

scheme.

• They argue that Beard's reliance on economic data and property ownership

records is overly reductionist.

• Beard had misinterpreted the economic interests due to the lens of class-conflict.

They argue that the framers were driven by a complex mix of economic, political,

and ideological factors. While economic interests may have played a role, they

contend that the framers also had broader goals such as creating a stable

government and protecting individual liberties.

By 1950 s, Beard's economic determinism was largely replaced by the intellectual history

approach, which stressed the power of ideas, especially republicanism, in stimulating the

Revolution. It argues that the constitution is not just an economic document because its

provisions deal with politico-admin, socio-cultural and religious issues as well.

• Idea of equal protection of law which is pro- common people.

• It guaranteed the freedom of religious beliefs and practices. It is cosmopolitan in

character.

• The democratic system envisioned.

Thus,

• "While it is true that many of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention had

economic interests, the Constitution they produced cannot be reduced to a simple

economic document. The framers were influenced by a range of political and

philosophical ideas that went beyond narrow economic self-interest." (Gordon Wood)

• "The framers of the Constitution were deeply influenced by Enlightenment ideas and

political theory. Their goal was to create a government that balanced power and

protected individual liberties, not simply to protect their economic interests."(Bernard

Bailyn)

Thus, the constitution cannot be accepted as an economic document only. However, the

legacyofexaminingtheeconomicinterestsofhistoricalactorsisstillfoundin the 21st century.

Features of American Constitution: Comparative Perspective

Was every feature of the American constitution of British in origin?

Britishconstitutionisanunwrittenconstitutionthatcameaboutduringtheprocessofgrowth

of representative parliamentary structure.

American colonists were of British origin. So, obviously they shared the constitutional vision

of the British people. It was due to this fact that certain provisions of the American

constitution seem to be of British origin.

However, many other factors played a role when Americans developed their constitution.

• British constitution ensured a model of a unitary government.

• But the outlook shaped due to cultural diversity, spirit of freedom,

cosmopolitanism, pluralism.

• British presented a model which fused monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy into one.

There were no such constraints of feudalism, aristocracy, or monarchy in the US. Infused

withtheideasof Europeanenlightenment,Americansfoundrepublicanismmoresuitable.

• It was an unwritten constitution which had evolved through centuries.

• The British government functioned mainly based on customs and tradition which

required some consensus on basic constitutional values.

• Capitalism was the dominant idea among Americans.
• For British, parliamentary sovereignty was a solution to monarchical despotism. But

Americans,whoexperiencedthateven the Britishparliamentcanbedespoticandathreat

to theirfreedom,it wasindividual rights,judicial supremacyand separation ofpower that

mattered more.

So, Americans developed a different sense of constitutionalism.

Similarity Dissimilarity

• Rule of law
• The control of Congress on taxation

matters

• British Magna Carta and Bill of Rights

became the precursor of American

fundamental rights.

• Unwritten vs written.
• Evolution vs Adopted constitution.
• Monarchical vs Republican
• Prime ministerial vs Presidential
• Parliamentary supremacy vs Judicial

supremacy

• No check and balances vs checks and

balances

• Unitary vs Federal
• Fusion of power vs Separation of power
• Single citizenship vs Dual citizenship
• Natural rights vs Bill of Rights.

UPSC CSE PYQs - American Constitution

• What were the factors that worked in the drafting of the American Constitution? Do

you agree with Beard's view of the Constitution being an Economic Document? [2005,

60 Marks]

• How far is it correct to say that every feature of the American Constitution was

ultimately of English Origin? [2010, 20 Marks]

• Explain the main features of the US Federal Constitution. [2016, 10 Marks]

The American Civil War (1861-65) was fought

between the Union (the North) and the

Confederacyofseceded 11st ates(the South).

The war began after decades of tensions

between the northern and southern states

over slavery, states' rights, and westward

expansion.

It was the bloodiest conflict in entire

Americanhistory,inwhich 2000+battleswere

fought, 6.20 lakh+ people were killed and

more than double of this were injured. More

than 2000 battles were fought b/w forces of union and rebellious southern states. This war had

continued for more than 4 years, and it had shaken the American union to the core.

Causes of Civil War

There were many factors which prepared the background of the American Civil War. Some scholars

considerslave system asthe foremostcauseforthis war, whilesomeothers consider theissueofunity

and security of the American federalism as an important reason. In fact, the American Civil War

involved many theories and questions.

• Slavery as a Moral issue:

• Northern and southern states had different views on the issue of slavery.
• North American states, which were more liberal and progressive, declared the slavery as

amoral/evil.

• In the southern states, social status of family was dependent on number of slaves held by

it. These states tried to justify it on the moral ground while taking a reference from 'the

Bible'.

• Economic issues:

• Northern and central parts of United States of America were economically more

advanced, and they were carrying industrialization. 'Free wage labour' was the demand

for industrialization, but not slavery. So, slavery didn't have economic value for them.

• Slavery was the lifeblood of the economy of southern American states, as they were

involvedinplantationagriculture,whichwasheavilyexportorientedandlabourintensive.

▪ Gained new vitality when extremely profitable cotton-based agriculture

developed in the South in the early 19 th

century.

• Another economic issue

▪ The newly industrialist class of North America wanted protection of American

industries from foreign competition.

▪ The southern states objected it because due to the protectionist policy, they

received manufactured goods at expensive prices.

• Political issue:

• European scholars and humanitarians constantly criticized America for its slavery system.

In Europe, slavery was abolished already by 1833 in Britain but USA alone remained.

• (Tidbit - Brazil abolished slavery in 1888)

• Constitutional issue:

• Duringthewestwardexpansion('Manifest Destiny'),theintegrationofeveryregionraised

the question of Free-vs-Slave state.

• This question was associated with the constitutional issue of representation in the House

of Representatives.

Polarization on the issue of Slavery

• With the expansion of America westward, the issue of Slave/Free state became complicated. To

avert the situation of conflict with every new state induction, Henry Clay initiated the Missouri

Agreement in 1820.

• Missouri was inducted as a slave state
• The regions north of 30° 36 parallel in Louisiana land and to the west of Missouri had to

be inducted as a Free Statein the future. Otherwise, itwould be inducted as a slave state.

• This plan didn't give any permanent solution as the southern states didn't stick to its term

and created problems with the induction of every new state including Texas, California,

Kansas and Nebraska.

• Decade of 1850 s

• Texas and California → Compromise of 1850

▪ Texas was inducted into the USA as Slave state in 1845.

▪ Now Californiawantedtoenterasafree-state,butitwouldhaveupset Free-Slave

balance.

▪ Compromise of 1850 (series of 5 bills), to maintain free-slave balance.

• California admitted as a free state.
• New Mexico and Utah-withoutmentioning Slavery(popularsovereignty

would decide)

• Slave trade abolished in Washington DC
• Amending Fugitive Slave Act (to satisfy southern states)

• Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854: Climax of the dispute.

▪ These states should have been incorporated as slave free-states according to the

Missouri Accords. But a political leader named King Stephen Douglas included

these two states as slave states in order to get votesof southern states. Naturally

there was resentment in northern states.

• Response from North: Strengthening of Abolitionist movement.

▪ Antislavery northerners, who held the Missouri Compromise sacrosanct,

condemned Douglas for being a dupe of southern interests.

▪ So far northern states used to oppose the slavery system in principle, but now a

full scale 'Abolitionist Movement' started to emerge which encouraged anti-

slavery consciousness and gathered momentum.

▪ Literature: 'Uncle Tome's Cabin' by HB Stove (1852) played the powerful role in

mobilizing public opinion. It evoked a far-reaching emotional response which

further strengthened abolitionist cause.

▪ It helped the rise of the anti-slavery Republican Party.

• The Republican Party was founded in the northern states in 1854 and

grewoutofoppositionto the Kansas-Nebraska Act.Itquicklybecame the

principal opposition to the dominant Democratic Party.

• In the Presidential election of 1856,Democrat James Buchanan defeated

Republican John C. Frémont. However, once dominant Whig party was

almost collapsed in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

• Roleof American Supreme Court:Dred Scottverdict(1857)(Chief Justice Roger B.Taney)

▪ Slavery was enshrined the American constitution. Slaves were just like Chattel

without rights. Like property.

▪ It voided the Missouri Compromise (1820) and made slavery legal in entire U.S.

▪ Anti-slavery movement suffered a deep blow by this decision, which confirmed

that the scope for compromise was exhausted.

• No more compromises possible.

• By this pointmany Americans, North and South, had concluded that slavery and freedom

could not much longer coexist in the United States. There was an irreconcilable conflict

between freedom and slavery. The compromises going on since 1820 became impossible

by the 1850 s.

• For Southerners the answer was withdrawal from a Union that no longer protected their

rights and interests

▪ They had talked of it as early as the Nashville Convention of 1850, when the

compromise measures were under consideration.

▪ Now more and more Southerners favoured

secession.

• For Northerners the remedy was to change the social

institutions of the South

▪ Few advocated immediate or complete

emancipation of enslaved people

▪ Most felt that the South's "peculiar institution"

must be contained.

▪ A rising Republican politician, Abraham Lincoln (Illinois) unsuccessfully contested

Douglas for a seat in the Senate, announced that "A house divided against itself

cannot stand this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half

free."(1858)

▪ Harpers Ferry Raid 1859 Anarmedbandofabolitionistsledby John Brownraided

afederalarmourytoinciteslaverebellion.Itbecameamainprecipitatingincident

to the American Civil War.

• Election of 1860:

• Abraham Lincoln was the candidate of anti-Slavery Republican Party. In his election

manifesto, two issues were much prominent:

▪ Abolition of slavery

▪ Protectionism for industries

• Many Southerners saw the potential election of Abraham Lincoln as a threat to their way

of life and the harbinger of secession. But most people didn't expect Lincoln to win the

election. However, due to internal split within the Democratic Party, Lincoln won the

presidential election.

• Secession:

• In the South,Lincoln'selection was taken as thesignalfor secession,and on December 20

South Carolina became the first state to withdraw from the Union. By Lincoln's

inauguration in March, seven Southern states had seceded. Later it increased to eleven.

• Southern states considered that their steps were permissible under the Constitution as

they believed in the doctrine of state sovereignty.

• Faced with a fait accompli, Lincoln, when inaugurated, was prepared to conciliate the

South in every way but one: he would not recognize that the Union could be divided. In

April the American Civil War began.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate in

Illinois (1858)

Contribution of Abraham Lincoln

• He fought the civil war not in the name of abolition of slavery, but in the

name of protection of the American Union.

• After entering the office of American President on 4 th March 1861,

Lincoln tried to persuade the rebellious southern states to abandon

theirseparatistpolicyanddeclaretheirfaithin Americanunion.Talks

were held between the representatives of the Union and

Confederate.Lincolnrepeatedlyemphasizedthatemancipation shall

not be imposed on any state against its will.

• He declared that "If I can save the union through freeing all slaves,

we do it, if we can save union through not freeing any slave, I will do it & if I can save

the union through freeing some slaves, but not some others, I will also do that.' (1862)

• Southern states had declared secession from the Union on the basis of the 'concept of

state sovereignty', but Lincoln rejected it and rather he propagated the concept of the

sovereignty of the federation. If states are indestructible, so is the federal union. So, he

very sagaciously, first made the stance of southern state unconstitutional and illegal.

• Constitutionalpositionwasalsoimportantbecauseotherwisethiswouldhavebecomean

international war.

• When civil war broke out American parliament passed a resolution by which the Union

was declared Insoluble.

• Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

• In the midst of the Civil War (1861-65), Lincoln emancipated slavery in South (1863)
• It freed only those slaves held in the Confederate States of America. It was intended not

to benefit the slaves but to hamper the Southern war efforts.

• Thirteenth Amendment (1865)

• Slavery was nationally abolished through the 13 th

Amendment.

• Lincoln played a significant role in securing congressional support for the 13 th

Amendment,whichpermanentlyabolishedslaverythroughout the United States.

He used his political skills to garner the necessary votes and build a coalition of

supporters.

• After passing the amendment, Lincoln signed it, but he was assassinated by John Wilkes

Booth before it was ratified by requisite number of states.

Gettysburg Address

Fourscoreandsevenyearsagoourfathersbroughtforthonthiscontinent,anewnation,conceived

in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived

and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come

to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that

that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this

ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our

poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but

it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the

unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to

be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take

increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we

here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall

have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people,

shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863

Significance of American Civil War

The Union won the war due to their superior resources, transportation, and

industrial capacity. The Union's victory was also due to the leadership of

President Abraham Lincoln and the military strategies of General Ulysses S.

Grant.

• Devastating Modern War
• The American Civil War is considered the first modern war.
• Railways, telegraph, and newspapers played an

important role in influencing public opinion.

• Boththenavalandthearmyperformedimportanttasks.
• The war was horribly costly for both sides.
• Federal forces: 3.5 lakh+ deaths
• Confederate armies: 2.5 lakh+ deaths.
• Both governments took loans and printed fiat money to finance the war

(collectively more than $15 b)

• The south was physically and economically devastated.
• Most of the war was fought in South.
• It lost its labour system.
• Thus, although the Union was preserved and restored, the cost in physical and moral

suffering was incalculable, and some emotional wounds caused by the war still have not

been healed.

• It was a partly successful social surgery of the USA, as a result

of which it emerged to be more powerful. After this, cultural

and economic integration between the North and the South

American states became possible.

• 13 th

Amendment abolished slavery

• 14 th

Amendment gave citizenship

• 15 th

Amendment gave black voting rights.

• It proved a capitalist movement due to following factors:

• After the abolition of slavery, even southern American states moved for industrialization.

Therefore, the USA underwent a capitalist transformation as industrialization became all-

pervasive.

• Factors

▪ It also led to the economic integration of America.

▪ Protectionism: after the civil war, USA followed the protectionist policy in favour

of its industries, for more than half a century. It did so at a time when in the rest

part of the world free trade policy was being encouraged.

• It is not merely a coincidence that the economy of USA manifested the fastest rate of growth

between 1870 and 1970. Here, the abolition of slavery worked as a major trigger.

UPSC CSE PYQs - American Civil War

• "If Icouldsavethe Unionwithoutfreeinganyslave,Iwoulddoit;andif Icouldsaveitby freeing

all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I

would also do that.". Comment. [1986, 20 Marks]

• Examine the issues involved in the American Civil War. Was it a contest between two separate

nations? [1991, 60 Marks]

• "Six hundred thousand men had died. The union was preserved, the slaves freed. A nation

'conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal' had

survived its most terrible ordeal." Critically examine. [2013, 10 Marks]

• "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure

permanently, half slave and half free" Explain Abraham Lincoln's perspective. [2016, 20 Marks]

• "Lincoln's main thesis was that the Slavery issue had to be decided one way or the other and

could no longer be evaded by compromise." Comment in the light of his role in the American

Civil War. [2020, 20 Marks]

• Inthe Americancivil war,thevictoryof the Northhadmanyconsequences.Someofthemwere

direct and obvious. However, its indirect effects on American development were perhaps even

more important. Comment. [2021, 20 Marks]

"It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."

• Charles Dickens, "A Tale of Two Cities"

"Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death."

• Maximilien Robespierre

"A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past."

• Fidel Castro

"In revolutions, the first victor is the one who seizes the imagination of the future."

• Hannah Arendt, "On Revolution"

By the end of 18 th c., Europe had undergone profound change under the influence of

Enlightenment. Philosophers and artists promoted reasoning and human freedom over

traditions and religion. The rise of a middle class and availability of printed material

encouraged political awareness, and the American Revolution had turned a former English

colony into an independent republic.

Yet France, one of the largest and richest European countries was still governed by Ancien

Regime, a three-level rigid social class system. The French Revolution was a major landmark

whichchallenged the Ancien Regimeandledtotheformationofanewrepublic. Itestablished

the power and prestige of the middle class parallel to the monarchy, the nobility and the

church.

Thisphenomenon didn'tremain restricted to France only,rather it proved to be a widespread

upheaval which shook all institutions in other part of Europe as well. Thus, the French

Revolution gave a definite shape to the transitional process from the Middle Age into the

Modern Age, which began with the Renaissance in the European history.

Causes of the French Revolution

1. Social divisions in Early Modern France: Ancien Regime

Theestatesoftherealmweretheordersofsocialhierarchy used in Christian Europeofthe

Middle Ages.

• England:two-estatesystemwithnobility+clergyintoonelordlyestate and"commons"

as the second estate.

• French Ancien Régime (Old Regime): A three-estate system of clergy (the First Estate),

nobles (Second Estate), peasants and bourgeoisie (Third Estate).

• Sweden and Russia: A four-estate system with rural commoners ranking the lowest as

the Fourth Estate.

• The first & second estate enjoyed various economic & social privileges:

• The French political system was aristocratic in nature. All the high offices under

the state were monopolized by nobles and clergymen.

• First Estate (Church, clergy class): Only 1% population (1.5 lakh in 2.5 m) but

controlled 10% land. It was itself exempted from all sorts of tax.

• Second Estate(Aristocracy):owningvastland,collectingtax,freegifts(milk,fruits)

and corvee from peasants. Their population was around 1% but they controlled

more than 15% of the nation's resources. Since they controlled vast tracts of land,

they dominated the countryside.

• The Third Estate (98% people)

• The middle class (bourgeoise of rich peasants, intellectuals, teachers, merchants

etc.) was highly dissatisfied with its position as its economic status largely

improved, but it was socially deprived.

▪ In France,therewasamajor contradiction between economicallyeffective

class & socially effective class (David Thomson). They were educated and

awakened. Although the burden of taxes on them was quite less when

compared with peasants and other poorer sections of society, the level of

discontent was most intense. It was this middle class that was in forefront

in the French Revolution, at least during the initial phase.

• The lower class was aggrieved due to tax burden

and excessive feudal exaction. Peasants formed

85% of population and paid most of the taxes.

▪ Taille (land tax)

▪ Gabelle (salt tax)

▪ Tithe (called Dime) to Church.

▪ Feudal dues, gifts

▪ Corvee (free labour) to Lords.

One major reason the French Revolution was the

dissatisfaction of members of the Third Estate, who wanted a

more equal distribution of wealth, power and privilege.

1. Economic factors:

• The French economy continued to be in the medieval state, because even during 1780 s

there was no trace of industrial Revolution in French.

• Agriculture:

▪ Most of land was owned by the Church and Feudal lords.

▪ There were large no peasant-proprietors.

▪ Peasants were heavily burdened with taxes.

• Industries:

▪ Handicraft-based, level of production was low.

▪ Guilds enjoyed monopolistic control.

• Calamities, disaster and decline after growth: Despite the limitations, French economy

widely expanded between 1730 s and 1760 s - three-fold growth in agriculture and 5-fold

increase in industrywithin two generations.But from 1770 s onwards,there wasa decline

due to:

• Afterthe Americanwarofindependence,inflowofpreciousmetaldecreased,and

there was a sort of depressionary situation in French economy.

• Incidents of crop failure in France consecutively in 1788-89.

▪ It led to famines, shortages and finally bread riots occurred with the

outbreak of the revolutions.

▪ Italsoledtohugehunger-drivenout-migrationofpeasantstowards the

cities, esp Paris, looking for new occupations.

• Bankruptcy of government and failure of economic reforms.
• Impact on middle class

▪ Economic decline following a long period of prosperity created a deep

psychological effect.

▪ Firstly, the interests of the aristocracy and the middle class began to

collide. Secondly, both these classes were unhappy with the monarchy.

Thus,overall,therewasadismaleconomiccondition.So,economicdeclinewasnot the cause

of the Revolution, rather economic crisis that set-in after a long period of growth was the

cause of the revolution.

1. Ideological factors:

(A) Direct influence:

An all-encompassing event like French Revolution can never occur in the condition of

intellectual vacuum. The writings of the French scholars like Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot,

and Rousseau certainly contributed to the outbreak of the revolution.

The French citizens valued the ideas of liberty and equality discussed by Rousseau and

Voltaire etc., and these ideas formed the core of Revolutionary ideology. Thus, French

Revolution is when the ideas of the Enlightenment were put into action.

• The thinkers drew the attention of the people towards existing political, economic &

social apathy. They openly criticized the autocracy of the monarchy, the dogma of the

nobility and the superstition of the Church. They created a revolutionary awakening

among the people to the outbreak of the revolution.

▪

• They coined/popularized certain revolutionary terms/slogans like liberty, equality,

fraternity, rule of law (loi), citizen (citoyen), homeland (patrie), individual rights.

• The Enlightenment ideas were particularly popularized in France by the influence of the

American War of Independence

• Revolutionaries used the ideas to formulate their strategy:

• Fictional dialogue with Montesquieu and Rousseau by Abbé Sièyes' 'What is the

Third Estate?' (1789)

• Itsinfluence canclearlybe seen inthe Declarationof the Rights of Man and ofthe

Citizen.

(B) Minimal/Insignificant Influence:

• Unlike American leaders Thomas Jefferson & Benjamin Franklin, the thinkers didn't

participate. At the time of the revolution, none of the thinkers was alive.

• Books which ultimately shaped the public opinion were more of the semi-

pornographic/scandalous novels and tabloid/libelous journals which purported to expose

the sexual and moral corruption of the court. It damaged the credibility and led to

desacralization of monarchy.

• Marxist interpretation emphasizes long-term structural factors.

• French Revolution not simply a political struggle from absolute monarchytowards

democratic republicanism, it was a bourgeois revolution, essentially marked by

class conflict. It represented destruction of nobility, and a shift from feudalism to

capitalism. Since the Enlightenment thinkers came from middle-class background

andthusbelieved inpeacefultransformation,notinrevolution. (e.g.enlightened

despotism or constitutional monarchy)

• In one way, the Revolution was the anti-thesis of Enlightenment. Where

Enlightenment philosophers looked to an informed public opinion to exert an

indirect, restraining influence on government, and supported gradual progress of

the society, the revolutionaries were committed to the overthrow of the ancien

régime by direct action.

(C) Indirect influence: Catalyst

• The outbreak of the French Revolution was the result of the combined effect of various

factors working together. It was a response and reaction to evils prevailing in French

politico-admin system social, religious, and economic system. So, even though the

Philosophers didn't create the circumstances responsible for the revolution, they

certainly exposed the ills of the Ancien regime and provided alternative vision.

• Thepeoplewere alreadysuffering,and discontentwasaccumulatingin them since

alongtime.Theawakeningcreatedby Philosophersintensifiedthepainbydrawing

attention of masses towards limitation of existing regime. So, the philosophers

played the role of catalyst.

• Thinkers formed one of the earliest forms of civil society i.e., debating clubs, coffee

houses, salons etc. through which their ideas circulated rapidly.

• The ideas discussed in clubs/meetings resulted in a breakdown of the

stratification, fundamentally changing France's social organization.

▪ When the Estates-General was called, its rigid organization conflicted with

the new, informal organization, and caused dissent; and the King's refusal

to equality triggered their secession from royal authority.

• The ideas only played a part after the Revolution had begun; it was used to justify

revolutionary action.

• In the midst of the revolution, the leaders quoted these philosophers at their

convenience.

• The revolution embraced a radical ideology of popular sovereignty (General Will)

so that any abuse of power could be excused so long as it was achieved in the

name of the people.

• Thus, the philosophers reflected public discontent. Therefore, the role of those

philosophers cannot be seen in isolation.

1. Political factors:

• French polity was absolutist (Bourbon dynasty) and the Divine right of the monarch was

the guiding principle. As a consequence, the French Politico-Admin system was

centralized in nature. Such system required a king of exceptional abilities for its effective

management.

• It functioned well under Louis XIII and XIV (1643-1715) but under their successors

Louis XV (1715-1774) and Louis XVI (1774-92), the evils of centralised despotism

started becoming visible. Neither of the successors of Louis XIV were competent

enough to tackle the complex situation.Therefore, economic &socialunrest were

allowed to culminate into a major political crisis which became a prelude to the

revolution.

• The suffering of people increased enormously because the aristocracy started misusing

authority of state for their own benefit.

• E.g the judicial/legal system in France was arbitrary and the concept of rule of

law was absent. The word of the king was the law of the land. The worst feature

was the instrument of 'letters de cachet'.

It was this accumulated discontent among the masses that came out in the form of massive

revolution in 1789.

1. Immediate factor:

The French government had taken no interest in the advancement of economy.

• There was no system of budget in French.
• Thetaxsystemwasunscientificandirrational becauserich/privilegedclasswasfree from

the burden of taxes while all the taxes were paid by commoners.

• The French participation of American war of Independence ruined the financial health

completely because an amount on this war.

Thus, the first problem before the French monarchy was to overcome the financial crisis.

• Louis XVI appointed a number of capable ministers such as Turgot (1774-76), Necker

(1776-81), Cologne (1783-87) Brienne (1787-88) but they were dismissed one after the

otherwhentheysuggestedtheimpositionoftaxesonprivileged class.Thus,theeconomic

bankruptcy of the French government and its desperate attempt to find a solution led to

the summoning of the Estate General, which had remained in the state of animated

suspension for the last 175 years.

• The news of the meeting of the 'Estates General' made excited all the sections of French

society. The decision to convene the Estate General was welcomed by all the three

Estates. They considered it as a panacea for all the problems.

• The privileged class saw it as a means to reassert its power and privileges.
• The bourgeoisie saw it as an opportunity for fundamental constitutional reforms,

which would enable the bourgeoisie to exert more control over the political

institutions and to redesign the economic structure by changing the taxation

norms.

• For peasantry it was a means by which the unequal distribution of taxation would

be remedied.

• The Estates-General were summoned by a royal edict dated to 24 January 1789.

• Thesummoningof Estate Generalunderthecombinedpressureof the Estateswas

taken as the collapse of monarchy.

• Finally, in May 1789 the session of the Estates General started. It meant that the

monarchy had surrendered.

• Itwasin Estate Generalontheissueof Votingthatthedifferencesamongdifferent

classes took the form of a political crisis.

• Finally, the representatives of the third estate boycotted the session and moved

to Tennis Court Assembly in nearby region. It is here they were joined by artisans

of Paris and peasants of France popularly known as 'Mob of Paris'. Thus, started

the revolution.

From the Estates-General to National Assembly

• Voting Procedure

• Such a session had taken place 175 years ago, so there was no latest tradition.
• Earlier tradition: Three Estates to meet in three different chambers - each to vote

separately. The value of each Estate was similar. Thus, Nobles and Clergy could

together outvote the Commons by 2 to 1. This issue was widely discussed in the

press during the autumn of 1788.

• As the press began to demand that the Commons be allocated more delegates, to

bolster his failing popularity, the King acceded to this measure of "doubling the

Third." He was confident of his influence over the Nobility and Clergy.

• Elections during early 1789

• Total elected delegates: 1,200 (about 300+300+600)
• French society had changed since 1614, and these Estates-General were not

identical to those of 1614.

• Many nobles were elected to the Third Estate. The total number of nobles in the

three Estates was about 400. Noble representatives of the Third Estate were

among the most passionate revolutionaries in attendance, including Jean Joseph

Mounier and the Comte de Mirabeau.

• Some clergy were also elected as Third Estate delegates, most notably the Abbé

Sieyès.

• King's Miscalculation:

• Aristocracy: The Nobles in the Second Estate were the richest and most powerful

in the kingdom. The King thought he could count on them. However, since the

aristocracy was vociferously against monarchy, the first salvo came from

aristocracy only.

• Clergy: The king also expected that the First Estate would be predominantly the

noble Bishops. The electorate, however, returned mainly parish priests, most of

whom were sympathetic to the Commons.

• Third Estate elections returned predominantly magistrates and lawyers.

▪ As the session started inside the palace of Versailles, on 5 th May 1789, the

common people of lower class were not allowed to go there. Thus, only

middle classes could go and join.

▪ So, the middle class represented both itself and lower class.

Opening of the Estates-General in Versailles 5 May 1789

• Opening of the Estates-General (5 th May)

• Differences on the issue of Voting led to a political crisis.

▪ On 6 th May, the Third Estate discovered that the royal decree, despite

granting double representation, upheld the traditional voting "by orders".

▪ The Third Estate wanted the estates to meet as one body and for each

delegate to have one vote.

• Suspicion

▪ The representative of 3 rd Estate came to attend the session of Estate

general with great enthusiasm. They brought the letter of Grievances

(Cahiers) but the moment the session of Estate general commenced their

hopes got shattered because the Privileged class wanted to prevent them.

▪ The realization of the anti-people nature of functioning propelled the

representatives of 3 rd Estate to demand the joint sitting of Parliament.

▪ This demand was rejected by the king and the representative of the

privileged class.

• National Constituent Assembly

• On 13 th June, Third Estate resolved to examine and settle the powers of the three

orders.

▪ They declared themselves redefined as the National Assembly, an

assembly not of the Estates, but of the people.

▪ They invited the other orders to join them but made it clear that they

intended to conduct the nation's affairs with or without them.

• The King attempted to resist this reorganization of the Estates-General.

▪ On 20 th June, he ordered the hall where the National Assembly met to be

closed, and entry to the Third Estate was disallowed. The Assembly then

went out,takingtheir deliberationsto the nearbytennis court,where they

proceeded to swear the 'Tennis Court Oath', agreeing not to disband until

they had settled the constitution of France.

▪ The monarch now sent army to vacate the Tennis Court.

• In themeantime,thenewsofallthistug-of-warbroke out.Artisans

and peasants (mob of Paris - Sans-culottes) surrounded them and

thus police/army didn't dare to crush them with iron hand. Brutal

stepcouldn'thavebeentakenbythem.Middleclassleadership was

saved by the active role of the lower class. Thus, started the

revolution.

• Failingtodispersethedelegates, Louisreluctantlyrecognized their

validity on 27 June.

▪ Now,those representatives of the nobility who still stood apart also joined

the National Assembly. The Estates-General had ceased to exist, having

become the National Assembly.

• The Assembly renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly

on 9 July and began to function as a governing body and a

constitution-drafter.

UPSC CSE PYQs - French Revolution

Causes: Philosophers' role?

• "The writings of the philosophers had a tremendous influence on the minds of the

people and created a revolutionary awakening in their minds and formed the

intellectual creed of the French Revolution." Comment. [1983, 20 m]

• "What mattered in 1789 - and what made men revolutionary almost in spite of

themselves - was the whole 'revolutionary situation'; and in producing that situation

the work of the philosophers played no very important role." Comment. [1985, 20 m]

• "French political writers of the eighteenth century were influenced by Locke and also

by the curious contrasts which they perceived between the government of his country

and their own." Comment. [1991, 20 m]

• "If monarchical misrule ignited the French revolution, lofty ideas both inspired and

sustained it." Comment. [1997, 20 m]

• "If monarchical misrule ignited the French Revolution, lofty ideas both inspired and

sustained it." Comment. [2002, 20 m]

• "The writings of the philosophers had a tremendous influence on the minds of the

people and created a revolutionary awakening in their minds and formed the

intellectual creed of the French Revolution." Comment. [2005, 20 m]

• "No event asencompassingas the French Revolution occursin an intellectual vacuum."

Comment. [2007, 20 m]

• "The connection between the philosophers' ideas and the outbreak of the French

Revolution (1789) is somewhat remote and indirect." Critically evaluate. [2012, 10 m]

• Critically examine the statement that the French Revolution was not caused by the

French philosophers but by the conditions of national life and by the mistakes of the

government. [2016, 20 m]

Causes: Other factors?

• What were the ideals of the French Revolution of 1789? How far is it correct to saythat

it overthrew mercantilism and the surviving relics of feudalism and contributed to the

political supremacy of the middle class? [1979, 60 m]

• "To some extent, the American War of Independence inspired the French Revolution."

Comment. [1999, 20 m]

• "The multiple contradictions that quickly undermined the new edifice had been

expressedevenbeforethemeetingof the Estate Generalin France.Theinternalconflict

among Estates had manifested itself." Critically examine. [2015, 10 m]

• "The causes of the French Revolution of 1789 included both long term and structural

factors, as well as more immediate events." Critically examine. [2020, 10 m]

Objectives and achievements

• The French Revolution (1789) sought to remove both "the religious and secular props

of the existing social order." Elucidate. [1996, 20 m]

• "The French Revolution attacked privileges and not property." Comment. [2003, 20 m]
• The French Revolution (1789) really achieved far less than what it intended to effect.

Do you agree? [1989, 20 m]

• "The Declaration of Rights was the death-warrant of the system of privilege, and so of

the ancient regime … Yet in the history of ideas it belonged rather to the past than to

the future." Examine. [2014, 20 m]

First Phase: The Phase of Constitutional Monarchy (1789-92)

(A) Fiscal Crisis (Immediate Cause): Aristrocratic Revolution and Calling of Estates-General

The French government had taken no interest in the advancement of economy.

• There was no system of budget in French.
• Thetaxsystemwasunscientificandirrational becauserich/privilegedclasswasfree from

the burden of taxes while all the taxes were paid by commoners.

The problem before the French monarchy was to overcome the financial crisis.

• Louis XIV: He fought 4 extravagant wars + Built the palace of Versailles.
• Louis XV: Seven Years' War because of rivalry with Britain: very costly and burdensome.
• Louis XVI:The Frenchparticipationof Americanwar of Independence ruinedthefinancial

health completely.

• He appointed a number of capable ministers such as Turgot (1774-76), Necker

(1776-81),Cologne(1783-87)Brienne(1787-88)buttheyweredismissedone after

the other when they suggested the imposition of taxes on privileged class.

• Lefebvre: the French Revolution wasstarted and laid to victory in itsfirst phase by

the aristocracy.

▪ In the mid-1780 s, the government realized that without tax reforms, the

fiscal crisis could not be solved, the various reform proposals of the

ministers encountered the opposition of both Estates and the aristocrats

to the lead in this.

• Thus, the economic bankruptcy of the French government and its desperate attempt to

find a solution led to the summoning of the Estate General, which had remained in the

state of animated suspension for the last 175 years.

• The news of the meeting of the 'Estates General' made excited all the sections of French

society. The decision to convene the Estate General was welcomed by all the three

Estates. They considered it as a panacea for all the problems.

• The privileged class saw it as a means to reassert its power and privileges.

• The bourgeoisie saw it as an opportunity for fundamental constitutional reforms,

which would enable the bourgeoisie to exert more control over the political

institutions and to redesign the economic structure by changing the taxation

norms.

• For peasantry it was a means by which the unequal distribution of taxation would

be remedied.

Aristocratic revolution ended with the summoning of the Estate General.

(B) Bourgeoise Revolution and formation of National Assembly

• Elections during early 1789

• "Doubling the Third":

▪ As the press began to demand that the Commons be allocated more

delegates, to bolster his failing popularity, the King (as per advice of

Necker) acceded to this measure of doubling the Third.

▪ Total elected delegates: 1,200 (about 300+300+600)

• French society had changed since 1614, and these Estates-General were not

identical to those of 1614.

▪ Aristocracy:

• Members of the nobility were not required to stand for election to

the Second Estate.

• Amongst the nobles, about 1/3 rd of them were liberal minded.

▪ Clergy:

• The electorate returned mainly parish priests, most of whom were

sympathetic to the Commons. (about 50%, who were originally

from the Third Estate)

▪ Third Estate elections returned predominantly magistrates and lawyers.

• Amont the Third Estate representatives, there were men like

Mounier, Barnave, Target, and even Robespierre.

• Many nobles were also elected to the Third Estate. The total

number of nobles in the three Estates was about 400.

• Renegade nobles elected in Third Estate: Comte de

Mirabeau and Lafayette.

• Some clergy were also elected as Third Estate delegates, most

notably the Abbé Sieyès.

• Opening of the Estates-General (5 th May)

• The representative of 3 rd Estate came to attend the session of Estate general with

great enthusiasm. They brought the letter of Grievances (Cahiers), but there was

no indication of the joint session.

• The king, after inaugural his address (On 6 th May), left asking the orders to have

their separate sessions. Despite

granting double representation,

traditional voting-by-orders was to

continue.

• The Third Estate wanted the estates

to meet as one body and for each

delegate to have one vote. They

demanded a joint sitting like a

Parliament. This demand was

rejected by the king and the

representative of the privileged

class.

• The stalemate continued for about a month.

Opening of the Estates-General in

Versailles 5 May 1789

• The king then called the royal session on 22 nd June but the deputies of the Third Estate

came to the assembly on 20 th June, only to find the doors of the hall closed. The King had

ordered the hall to be closed to disallow their entry.

• The Assemblythenwentout,takingtheirdeliberationstothenearbyindoortennis

court, where they proceeded to swear the 'Tennis Court Oath'.

▪ The oath read "we will not disband until we have constructed a nation of

individual Citizens instead of a kingdom of servile subjects"

▪ The oath was proposed by Jean Joseph Mounier. He said there is no going

away, and the nation would remain united so long as the Estate General

was not reorganized as National Assembly.

• Thus,

▪ They declared/redefined themselves as the National Assembly, an

assembly not of the Estates, but of the people.

▪ They invited the other orders to join them but made it clear that they

intended to conduct the nation's affairs with or without them.

• The monarch now sent the army to vacate the Tennis Court.
• However, in the meantime,

the news of all this tug-of-

war broke out. Artisans and

peasants (mob of Paris -

Sans-culottes) surrounded

them and thus police/army

didn't dare to crush them

with iron hand.

• Middle class

leadership was saved

by the active role of

the lower class.

• Failing to disperse the

delegates, Louis reluctantly

recognized their validity on

27 June.

• The Estates-General had ceased to exist, having become the National Assembly.

• Now, some of those representatives of the nobility, who had still stood apart, also

joined the National Assembly. However, the majority remained to be bourgeoise

in nature.

• The Assembly renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 th July and

began to function as a governing body and a constitution-drafter.

(C) Popular Revolution and Fall of Bastille (14 th July 1798)

• Soon, the king asked the army to parade the streets of Paris and Versailles.

• This was seen as a direct affront by the Third Estate. Bourgeois revolution, which

had won when the Estates-General was converted into the national assembly,

seemed lost when the king decided to have recourse to army.

• It produced a revolutionary mentality. (Lefebvre)

The chaotic scene of Tennis Court Oath (Jacques-Louis

David)

• This mentality of insurrection had two aspects: Great hope and Great fear.
• Great hope was the expectation of quick reforms from the Estates-general.
• When there were difficulties, people became impatient, and this hope wasturned

into a fear.

▪ Already, the lack of food supplies had infuriated towns/provinces.

▪ There were rumours of aristocratic conspiracy going around. That the

aristocrats and monarch were trying to bring in brigands from outside,

collaborate with foreign powers to destroy the people's initiative and

overthrow the Third Estate.

• Fall of Bastille

• The people took to the streets of Paris. When the

army finally started parading the streets on 14 th of

July, there was a great assembly and popular

violence.

• This violence was their response to the Kings

resorting to arms. A monastery at Saint Lazare was

looted,gun shopsand arsenalswere looted and then

they were marching towards the Bastille fort, which

was now a prison.

▪ Although there were only 7 prisoners at the time, it was the symbol of the

absolutist character of the government.

▪ The aim was not to free prisoners when they were very few, but the

problem was that they wanted to take the arms and ammunition stored

there.

• Significance: The fall of the Bastille had a tremendous impact on the attitude of

the people.

▪ The 'public' had drawn first blood. It marked the success of armed

uprising.

▪ The king was obliged to accept this as a revolution.

▪ It symbolized the decline of the autocratic nature of the monarchy.

▪ All press censorship was lifted in its wake.

▪ It was the emblem of the old regime, and its fall signified the fall of the

Ancien Regime

▪ In the countryside,peasantstookovercheatauxanddestroyed aristocratic

titles to Land. Opened the door for the Great Fear.

(D) Peasant Revolution (Great Fear, July-August)

• The fall of Bastille also had its impact on the countryside (provinces), where peasants had

been greatly influenced by rumours.

• There was a rumor that the wandering vagrants are nothing but the brigands that

the aristocrats had recruited to unleash them on the peasants.

• So, in the provinces, there was a whole series of peasant uprisings against the lord.

• The nobles and the bourgeois now took fright.
• Their attack was on manorial rights. They attacked the manor houses; they

destroyed whatever document there had been

• The King now had no option but to allow the National Assembly to properly meet draft a

new constitution and decide the fate of France. The King retired to Versailles.

Work of the National Constituent Assembly (1789-91)

(a) End of feudalism in France (4 th August, 1789)

On the night of the 4 th of August 1789, a set of 19 articles were passed by the National

Constituent Assembly which abolished feudalism in France and ended the tax exemptions as

well as privilegesof theupper classes. Thus,the institutional andpracticesof oldregimewere

wiped out.

• The principle of equality was declared as the basis of state and society.

• Established fiscal equality.
• Equality of rights, freedom from arbitrary arrests and freedom of expression etc.
• Subjects of the king were transformed into citizen of France.

• Seigneurial rights and manorialism were abolished

• Hunting, gifts, corvee of the Second Estate (the nobility)
• tithe gathered by the First Estate (the Catholic clergy)

• Guilds were destroyed. All economic activities were thrown open to every Frenchman.
• The old judicial system, founded on the 13 regional parlements was also abolished.

Thus, both economic and social privileges were abolished. This was the middle-class triumph.

These resolutions destroyed the old France gave birth to a new France. That is why, it is

commented that,

• On 4 th August 1789 the France mentioned in history disappeared and a new democratic

France emerged.

• On the night of 4 th August, the old France went to bed but next morning, a new France

woke up.

• 14 th of July ended the political regime of Bourbons, while the decrees of the night of 4 th

of August ended the social and administrative base of the regime.

• The revolution went through the stages, started by the aristocracy but finally the

aristocracy was to find a common grave as it were with the monarchy.

5 th August - after wiping out the old France the new Assembly dedicated itself to the tank of

making of new constitution. In fact, on 9 th July itself, the National Assembly had announced

the formation of the constituent Assembly.

(b) Replacing the Ancien Regime with Modern system

Declaration of the Rights of Men & Citizen (26 th August 1789):

(Death Warrant of the Old Regime - Lefebvre)

• It consisted of 17 articles and served as the preamble to the French Constitution of 1791.

• It was drafted by Abbe Sieyes and Marquis de Lafayette, in consultation with Jefferson.
• It was a noble document on which the French Revolution and the working of the

Constitution were to be based.

• Clearly inspired by the Enlightenment Age principles.
• A number of rights were enshrined in this declaration like

• Right to life
• Every person is born with certain natural rights. It

is the duty of the state to protect these rights of

citizens.

• Liberty:

▪ Every citizen is free to practice and

propagate any religion within the limits

prescribed by the law.

▪ Freedom from arbitrary arrest.

• An individual must be safeguarded

against arbitrary police or judicial

action.

• No person shall be accused,

arrested or imprisoned except in

accordance with the law.

▪ Freedom of expression and press

▪ Right to own property (described as sacred, inalienable, and inviolable)

• Equality:

▪ Equality before law

▪ Right to acquire government ranks in accordance with their merit.

• Separation of powers
• Law to be enacted by elected assembly.
• Law to be expression of general will.
• Sovereignty to reside in nation.

An entire new basis was created or for the restructuring of France politically, legally and

constitutionally. The Declaration served as an affirmation of the core values of the French

Revolution and had a major impact on the development of liberty and democracy in Europe

and across the world.

Analytical Perspective

Positive side:

• It was unique as it was theoretically guided by Rousseau's concept of 'General Will'.
• Some essential rights for a citizen such as rule of law, right to property, right to safety

from arbitrary imprisonment, etc.

• Itreflectedtheprincipleswhichbecame the basisforthefuturegovernment of France.

• The future constitution in France tried to conform to it in spirit.

• It became a charter of freedom for liberals of 19 th c. Europe. It was not only in the

contextof Francebutratheroftheentireworld.Ittalkedabout the wholeofhumanity.

Limitations:

• Favoured middle class:

• The enshrined rights reflected the interest of the middle class. That's why the

right to property, freedom of thought and expression, freedom of religion etc.

were accepted but not right to work, right to assembly and right to food, which

could have benefited the lower class. It was limited to the right to form

organization.

• The Declaration was indeed a watershed moment in the history of human rights, going

further in scope than most of the similar documents that came before. Yet, at the time

ofitsframing,activecitizenshipwasonlygrantedtomalepropertyownersovertheage

of 25 who paid their taxes. This amounted to roughly 20% of the population. Women,

slaves, and foreigners were thereby omitted from the democratic process.

• Women

▪ Frustration that women's rights were not considered led the playwright

Olympe de Gouges to pen the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and

of the Female Citizen (1791), stating explicitly women's equality with

men. She sought to expose the failure of the Revolution to live up to its

promises of equality.

▪ Mary Wollstonecraft (English jounralist) witnessed the revolution first-

handbygoingto Paris.Shedefendedthequote"rightsofman"ina 1791

book and in 1792 she published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

• It failed to end slavery.

▪ Although the Declaration did not mention slavery, its principles inspired

slavesinthe Frenchcolonyof Saint-Domingue(Haiti)torise,thusleading

to the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804).

• Workers

▪ When inspired workers started to form their association, they were

prohibited to do so. So, the declaration was more abstract than real for

them.

Because of these limitations, it appears that the declaration of rights was drawing

inspiration more from past than future.

Conclusion:

• Despite its shortcomings,it wasone of the most significant and enduring achievements

of the French Revolution.

• Even the limited aims of the framers of the Declaration (especially Article 1) extended

logically to mean political and even social democracy.

• It was "the credo of the new age." (19 th-c historian Jules Michelet)

Women's March (5 October 1789)

The kingrefused to sanction the August Decreesand Declaration both. There wasstilla fear

and anxiety among the people that the king and the aristocrats were continuing their

conspiracy to defeat the revolution.

The Parisians rose again and on October 5 marched to Versailles. There was a Women's

Marchon Versailles(oneofthemostsignificanteventsin FR)-Thousandsofwomenmarch

to Versailles, demanding bread, and the return of the royal family to Paris. The next day

they brought the royal family back to Paris.

• Significance

• The march proved that the monarchy was subject to the will of the people. It

also gave the revolutionaries confidence in the power of the people over the

king. It stripped the king of much of his remaining independence and authority.

• As a result of the march, the monarchist faction in the Assembly effectively lost

its significance.

• So, for many scholars, FR was not about high Enlightenment ideas but about

primarily economic hardship.

• Louis attempted to work within the framework of his limited powers after the

women's march but won little support, and he and the royal family remained

virtual prisoners in the Tuileries.

• Desperate, he made his abortive flight to Varennes in June 1791. Attempting to

escape and join with royalist armies, the king was once again captured by a

mixture of citizens and national guardsmen who hauled him back to Paris.

• Now the aristocrats began to flee the country.

(c) Administrative Re-organization (Decree of 22 December 1789)

• The complicated administrative system of the ancien régime was swept away. The old

feudal system was replaced with a more centralized and rational system of governance.

• The anarchy was sought to be ended by reconstituting France

• Creation of 83 departments (new provinces).
• System of intendants was abolished.
• General Council and Executive Council etc were created.
• Departments → Districts → Cantons
• Municipal government was in the hands of the communes, who were elected.
• So, there was decentralization of power.

• Judicial principles were radically changed.

• No longer arbitrary arrest of people
• People have the right to defend themselves.
• Significantly, the judges were to be elected.
• Justice of peace in every Canton, appeal courts at national level.

(d) Economy

• Nationalization of Church Property (Nov 1789)

• It nationalized the lands of the Roman Catholic Church in France to pay off the

public debt.

• Also,againstthis Churchproperty,theassemblydecidedtoissue Assignant(paper

currency).

• The Assembly preferred free trade and removal of control.

• The toll barriers were removed. The grain trade was freed. This all helped

bourgeoise.

(e) Church: Civil Constitution of the Clergy (July 1790)

(to restructuring the relationship between the church and the state)

• Separated the church of France from the Papacy. It was to democratize religion and

disown the connection of Pope.

• No longer 135 Bishops but 83, corresponding 83 departments. There would be no

archbishop.

• Electionofbishopsandparishpriestsbythepeople,ratherthantheirappointment

by the Pope.

• State would have control over appointment and dismissal of clergy.
• Anointment of provincial bishops by the bishops in capital and likewise.
• Salaries would be paid by the government.
• Clergy to take oath of loyalty as witnesses to the new constitution.

▪ It led to deep internal division among the French clergy.

• It virtually made the Church a department of the government. It was rejected by Pope

Pius VI.

(f) The Constitution (Sept 1791)

• Constitution-making took two years since the Declaration.
• Not a republic but a constitutional monarchy.

• Change in King's title: Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre →

Louis, bythe graceof God and the constitutional will of the people, the king of the

French.

• King was not the King of territory but the a king of a people.
• The king retained substantial executive authority but in reality, most of his orders

had to be counter-signed by a minister who was sort of responsible to the

assembly.

• Legislative assembly

• The Montesquieuean concept of separation of power introduced.
• It introduced a unicameral legislative assembly (or National Assembly) with

limited powers to make laws and levy taxes.

• Provision for limited franchise, based on property, suited the interest of the

middle class. There was a clear distinction was made between active and inactive

citizens of France.

▪ Active citizens (with property) - given franchise. T

▪ Passive citizens (didn't have property)

• These 4.3 m people (Primary level) would select about 50,000 electors (Secondary

level), who would in turn elect the deputies (members of the assembly)

• Women had no right to vote.

• It guaranteed basic civil liberties such as freedom of speech, press, and religion.

• In this constitution, the hegemony of the middle class was present. The influence of the

middle class could be seen on this new constitution. This is the reason why political

balance and social harmony were emphasized in this constitution.

Thus, the National Constituent Assembly completed the abolition of feudalism, suppressed

the old orders,established civil equality amongmen and made more than half the adult male

populationeligibletovote.Whatissignificantisthatcareerwasopentotalent,itmarkedvery

definitely the end of the special privileges which the upper orders enjoyed earlier. It ended

the old France. It was given a new legal, administrative and social basis.

Finally, in September, the Constitution was formally accepted by King Louis XVI and the

National Constituent Assembly officially dissolved, and the Legislative Assembly takes its

place.

Second and Third Phase (1792-99)

Legislative Assembly

On the basis of the Constitution of 1791, there was the formation of unicameral legislation

after the election in 1791.

• The assembly, thus formed, was divided into two groups: Rightist (Pro-monarchial

elements, royalists) & Leftist (Radical members).

• Radicals wanted to completely abolish the monarchy and establish republican

government while the rightist wanted to restore the tradition and old order.

• Radicals:

▪ Middle class was represented by Girondists, relatively less radicals.

▪ Lowerclasswasrepresentedby Mountain(pettymerchants,shopkeepers,

dockyard workers etc.) - highly radical.

▪ Plains - in between. They occupied centrist position.

French Revolutionary War

While the Constituent Assembly was in session, a few disturbing trends could be seen:

• Fear of Counter-Revolution: The revolutionaries in France were concerned about the

possibility of foreign intervention aimed at restoring the French monarchy.

• Flight to Varennes (June 1791)

▪ Louis XVI's failed attempt to flee to Varennes. It raised suspicions that

foreign powers might be conspiring with the French royal family.

• The Declaration of Pillnitz in mid-1791

▪ Iftherewasanyattemptonthelifeofthe king,the Europeanpowerswould

form a coalition and intervene in France.

▪ It was clearly seen as a signal for a possible invasion of France by the

monarch occult powers of Europe.

• Manyémigrésformed armed groups closetothe NE frontierof France andsought

help from the rulers of Europe.

▪ It was widely suspected that they were conspiring with the aide of the

possible upsurge of the counter-revolutionary emotions in France.

• When the National Constituent Assembly proclaimed a revolutionary principle of

the right of self-determination, it gave new hope to the revolutionaries across

Europe, the rulers in various countries began to worry when.

• Brunswick Manifesto (July 1792)

▪ The Dukeof Brunswick,commandinggeneralof the Austro-Prussian Army,

threatened the destruction of Paris should any harm come to King Louis

XVI of France.

The French Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria in April 1792. It marked the

beginningofthe French Revolutionary Wars,whichwouldeventuallyinvolve many European

powers and have profound consequences for both France and Europe as a whole.

Fall of Monarchy

Domestic Developments:

• The fear of conspiracy of the émigré nobility and the monarchical powers (that counter-

revolution threatened the revolution) gradually led to radicalization of politics.

• Formation of Paris Commune

• The radical sections of Paris got together at the hotel de Ville of that townhall and

decidedto createtherevolutionarycommune that wasthemunicipalgovernment

of Paris. The assembly was forced to recognize it.

• The economic crisis continued. It gradually worsened.
• King's attempt to flight. He tried to leave France was caught with his family at Verennes

and was brought back.

• The war was continuing.

• It had started well for France, but very soon it started going against France.
• It deepened the passion and sense of urgency among the various factions. There

was a widespread belief that they had been betrayed by the monarchy.

This exacerbated France's domestic political turmoil. Due to public violence and the political

instability, there was political breakdown.

• August Insurrection (1792):

• Now,peopledecided toact once more.Therewasan insurrection on 10 th August.

People attacked Tuileries Palace, where the King lived. 600 royal guards were

killed. The king left the palace and took refuge in the assembly chamber. The

assembly decided to suspend the King for the moment.

• September Massacres (1792):

• In September,the Parisian crowdbroke intotheprisonsandmassacredthenobles

and clergy held there.

Radicalization inside the Assembly:

It was now decided to overthrow the monarchy and to establish a republic in France.

• A new assembly would be elected and known as the National Convention.

• It would be elected on the basis of Universal Adult Male Suffrage.

• On 22 nd September, the monarchy finale came to an end. France became a republic. It

marked the beginning of the new calendar, year one of the republic.

• Apart from the abolition of the French monarchy, they assembly gave call for every other

kingdom to do the same: "All governments are our enemies, all people our friends," the

Edict of Fraternity. (Dec 1792)

What started as a movement not against the monarchy, now consumed the monarchy, as the

revolutionary ideas and revolutionary enthusiasm propelled the revolution to earth a

Republicansolution.Withthefallofthemonarchy,therevolutionenteredanewphase.Itwas

still at war with Europe which had to be fought, but for that, the revolution would now be

more successfully organized.

Second Phase: The phase of Radical Republicanism (1792-94)

Formation of the National Convention:

• Formation of Republic:

• The radical members prevailed in the new Convention. So, it abolished the

monarchy and declared the France as a Republic on 25 th Sept 1792.

• Regicide:

• Withfurtherreversesonwarfront,Louis XVIwascondemnedtodeathfortreason

by the Convention and executed on January 21, 1793; Marie-Antoinette was

guillotined nine months later.

• Internal Division and the failure of Girondin ministry

• Internal Division:

▪ According to Girondists, now the objective of the revolution was

accomplished, so it wasthe time of consolidation domestically. The goalof

the people's war has been achieved.

▪ Jacobins, led by Maximilien Robespierre, wanted to give the lower classes

a greater share in political and economic power.

• Internal Crisis: Economic crisis continued. The bread was not only dear, but it was

also becoming scarce.

• External Crisis: Meanwhile, the war started to bad once again for France.
• It is in this context, the people of France preferred almost emergency kind of

government. But the weakness of the Girondist ministry compounded the

problem.

• The Jacobins took advantage of this and seized power. (Fall of Girondists)

• Girondin leaders were dragged out from the National Convention by the crowd of

20,000 Jacobin supporters and killed in broad daylight. Thus, Jacobins seized

power in June 1793.

• Thus, by July, there was the beginning of the Reign of Terror (July 1793-July 1794). With

this, French Revolution turned bloody and violent.

• Now for time being, Revolution slipped out of the hands of middle class and

hijackedbythelower class.Itevenhastarnisheditsownimageintheeyesof other

Europeans.

• It was an emergency form of government, when terror was used as instrument of

enforcement of certain policies, and particularly to eliminate 'enemies of

revolution'.

• Instruments of the government

• Committee of Public Safety:

▪ Itwaschargedwithprotectingthenewrepublicagainstitsforeignenemies

(First Coalition) and domestic enemies (emigres).

▪ As a war-time measure, it was given broad supervisory powers over the

army, judiciary, and legislature. (Concentration of executive authority)

• Deputies/representatives sent to the army to bring it under political control.
• Deputies were also sent to provinces to gather support for this more radical form

of government.

• Revolutionary Tribunal: for trial of political offenders and enemies of

revolutionaries.

• Law of Suspect defined suspects and authorized their elimination. It gave greater

power of surveillance.

• Law of the Maximum was the most important one. It decided the maximum price

of the bread and certain other commodities. Very soon, Law of Minimum to

decide minimum wages. Thus, there was a movement towards a more controlled

economy.

• Robespierre soon eliminated the other leaders (Dante, Herbert etc) and established a

one-man dictatorship.

Assessment of Jacobin Government in National Convention

With the king dead and the church legally abandoned, the Jacobins under Robespierre's

leadership, committed the nation to a so-called reign of virtue and complete obedience to

Rousseau's idea of the general will of the people--despite all those freedoms agreed upon in

the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

The Second Constitution of 1793 (June 1793)

It abolished the monarchy and established a democratic republic.

• It gave universal suffrage to all men over the age of 21 who could read and write.
• It established the National Convention as the legislative body, which had unlimited

powers to make laws and levy taxes.

• It guaranteed several social and economic rights, such as the right to work, education,

and public assistance.

• Positive contribution:

• The objective of the Revolution was clearly defined.

▪ It was not just the overthrow of monarchy and destruction of old order in

France. Rather the spread of revolution among the san-culottes and

peasants, and also other parts of Europe who were under the same

tyranny.

• Converted France into a republic:

▪ Ordered the confiscation and sale of the property of émigrés.

▪ Supported democratic ideas by introducing the universal adult male

franchise.

▪ Churches were shut down and its buildings were being used as barracks

and offices.

▪ Decimal system and new calendar were adopted.

• Encouraged welfarist ideas:

▪ Ensuring 'right to work' and 'right to food'.

▪ To control food riots and mass hunger in the cities: Introduced the

Maximum (governmentcontrol ofprices),rationingofmeatandbread etc.

▪ Taxed the rich

▪ Brought national assistance to the poor and to the disabled (due to war)

▪ Abolished slavery and slave trade.

▪ Declared that education should be free and compulsory.

• The system of military conscription was introduced, which was instrumental

behind the military success of France.

• Culture

▪ Changing everything. Not only government but entire Society. Names of

street, measurement system, time (hour of 100 units).. everything.

▪ A new rational calendar was created.

▪ The Jacobins transformed culture: festivals celebrated patriotic virtue;

churches were turned into temples of reason; dishware carried patriotic

mottos; and clothing was in red, white, and blue--the colors of the

revolutionary flag.

▪ Louvre museum was opened in August 1792.

• Terror:

• These exceptional measures provoked violent reactions. Opposition to it was

broken by the Reign of Terror.

▪ "The basis of popular government in time of revolution is both virtue and

terror. Terror without virtue is dangerous, virtue without terror is

powerless. Terror isnothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice - it

flows, then, from virtue." Robespierre

• Political Terror:

▪ Violence, which was earlier considered the natural outrage of a frustrated

mob, was now given a legitimate and institutional basis. Terror was

bureaucratized. (Public Safety Committee, Revolutionary Tribunal,Lawof

suspects and Guillotine etc.)

▪ It arrested of at least 300,000 suspects, 17,000 of whom were sentenced

to death on guillotine and executed while more died in prisons or were

killed without any form of trial. (estimated total about 40,000 died)

▪ It gave a cruel face to the revolution, and then the revolution started to

devour its own children.

• Economic Terror:

▪ Attempt to control the economy was inimical to the interest of upper

bourgeoise.

▪ Created Revolutionary Armies, around 22,000 of them across France, to

find out economic offenders (hoarding, black marketing, profiteering)

▪ They also wanted death penalty for hoarders and black marketeers

• Religious Terror:

▪ Attack on Christianity - either de-Christianization movement, new secular

festivals were created and made mandatory.

▪ The Bishop of Paris was forced to resign. In Notre Dame, y celebrated the

festival of reason. It was converted into a Temple of Reason.

▪ Later, Robespierre introduced the worship of Supreme Being.

End of the Reign of Terror: (Thermidorian Reaction)

But as French soldiers began to win their wars abroad, people became tired of excessive

revolutionary bloodshed and mounted opposition. Victory in the War made the Terror, and

the economic and social restrictions seem pointless. In the end, there

was a fierce reaction against this rule of Robespierre. Robespierre was

overthrown on 9 Thermidor, year II (July 27, 1794), and executed the

following day.

Now, the red terror of the Jacobins was replaced with the white terror

of the Thermidorian reaction. Thus, terror didn't end but the Jacobin

terror ended on 27 th of July.

Not only right (middle class and aristocratic elements) but also left

(lowerclass,ashisgovtwasscourgeto Frenchpeople)combinedtodemolishhisgovernment.

It was not just the overthrow of a few persons but rejection of a system of government.

Soon after his fall, the Maximum was abolished, the social laws were no longer applied, and

efforts toward economic equality were abandoned.

Final Word: It was a broken dream. It was an attempt to create a democracy, but it didn't

succeed.However,thefailurewasnotthelastword,thedreamwouldberealizedmuch later.

Terror notwithstanding, there was a positive side to the revolutionary government.

The Third Phase: Liberal Republicanism (1795-1799)

(The Age of Directory)

During the stage once again, the leadership came into the hands of the middle class. It

became possible due to two factors:

• At this turn of history, lower-class people were not so strongly organized.
• Differences appeared between peasants & artisans w.r.t the rationing of grains.

Third Constitution (1795) (Constitution of Year 3)

Since the Second constitution had created Jacobin Terror, it was found to be unsuitable and

was soon replaced by the Third constitution.

• Bicameral legislation

• Council of Ancients/Elders
• Council of Five Hundred (1/3 rd members retiring every year)

• Executive power was vested in 5 directors. (Directory)

• Earlier there were different committees in charge of executive power.

• The two chambers as well as the five directors - all were elected by the people. But it

limited suffrage to men who paid a certain level of taxes.

• It curtailed some of the social and economic rights guaranteed by the previous

constitution such as right to work and right to public assistance.

This government is known as the 'Rule by Directory'.

Critical analysis:

• Now, there was the return to the principles of 1789.
• Jacobin sympathisers viewed the Directory as a betrayal of the Revolution.
• The rule of Directory was also known as bourgeoisie republic.
• They sought to neutralize the power of the popular movement.

• In this government, the political parties were consciously discouraged.
• White Terror was used to suppress the Red Terror.
• It was the restoration of the property owners' republic. Only about 40,000 people

constituted the political nation.

• Thus, it reflected a shift towards a more conservative and cautious approach to

governance, following the excesses and upheavals of the preceding years.

Rule of Directory

According to David Thomson, the directory was ill fated from birth. It faced internal unrest, a

weak economy, and an expensive war.

• Directory followed the politics of balance. They wanted to restore the politics of the

possessing classes. Thus, there was gradual exclusion of the people. It led to the popular

discontent against the Directory.

• There was administrative ineptitude, inefficiency, nepotism and increasing corruption

which didn't allow them to concentrate on solving the problem.

• The war was still ongoing, which demanded their major attention.

• The war also meant the continuousneed for furnishing supplies. The currency had

all but disappeared. The directory tried to reintroduce the metal currency and it

was made possible because of certain conquests which were made during this

period particularly the campaignsin Italy. Although the Directory repudiated most

of the assignats and the debt, it failed to restore financial confidence or stability.

But the price continued to rise.

• The war soon certainly went in favour of France but it increased dependence of

the Directory on the army.

• There was a fear of both counter-revolution and increasing radicalism.

• The elections which came increasingly every year, returned both loyalist deputies

and Jacobindeputiesinincreasing numbers.So,thedirectoryatalevelwas always

waged between a Royalist fear and the fear of the Jacobins. It limited options of

the Directory.

So, Directory failed to bring France out of the continuing chaos. It led to the rise of Napoleon

Bonaparte during the Italian campaign, which brought the directory into some kind of

semantic relationship with him. They would increasingly depend on Napoleon and on the

generals, in a manner of speaking, in order to sustain themselves in power against series of

coup d'etat.

• Coup d'état Vendémiaire (Oct 1795): royalist uprising. Napoleon successfully suppressed

it.

• Conspiracy of Equals:

• Gracchus Babeuf (1760-97) was a militant revolutionary of the earlier period. He

wanted to stage another insurrection/revolution to capture power.

• Atasignal,therewouldbeinsurrectionindifferentpartsof France,andtheywould

capture power. But this did not continue for a long time and the Directory get to

know about the conspiracy and it was suppressed. The leaders were guillotined.

• Coupd'étatof 18 Fructidor(Sept 1797):Inthe 1797 elections,Royalistswereontheverge

of power. But the Directory managed the situation. Using the army of Napoleon, the

election of 177 deputies was annulled, the royalists were deported, and the power was

retained by the republicans.

It never had a strong base of popular support; when elections were held, most of its

candidates were defeated. After 1797, Jacobin deputies returned in very large number to the

Council of Five Hundreds. Without a majority in the legislature, the Directors relied on the

army to enforce decrees, and extract revenue from conquered territories. Generals like

Napoleon and Joubert were now central to the political process, while both the army and

Directory became notorious for their corruption.

Fall of Directory

• Background: There was increasing weakness of Directory in France.

• It was inept and corrupt. The economic crisis continued, and the coffers of the

state were empty. And there was a threat from royalists as well as Jacobins. This

was the multi-faceted crisis.

• Lefebvre has said that there was a need to close the revolution and preserve its

gains. 'Indeed, it was the inner necessity that drove the revolution to dictatorship,

and not for the first time.'

• Thus, the Directory collapsed because by 1799, many 'preferred the uncertainties

of authoritarian rule to the continuing ambiguities of parliamentary politics'.

• The French people fed up the weak Directory rule. They wanted a strong regime

to resolve their domestic issues as well as to protect French people from foreign

powers. It was the discontent against the Directory coupled with the increasing

importance of army which prepared the ground for the rise of Napoleon

Bonaparte.

• 'In what sort of state did I leave France and in what sort of state do I find it again?

I left you peace, I find war. I left you conquests and the enemy is crossing our

frontier. I left you our arsenals full, I do not find a single weapon. I left you the

millions of Italy and I find spoliating laws and poverty everywhere.' - Napoleon to

a friend, while coming back from Egypt.

• So, it was this inner necessity that drove Napoleon to take revolution, to find a

strong man and a strong government there.

The Jacobins earlier wanted a democratic dictatorship. But what they got in 1799 was a

bourgeoise dictatorship. But it was too late for them, and the resistance was almost

impossible. It was now widely believed that Napoleon could be the saviour. To save France

from the royalist threat, European invasion and Jacobin danger. He, in short, became the

bulwark of the society.

Coup d'état of 18 Brumaire:

• The architect of its end was Abbe Sieyès. Nominated to the Directory, his first action was

to remove Barras, with the help of allies including Talleyrand, and Napoleon's brother

Lucien Bonaparte (President of the Council of 500).

• On 9 November 1799,the Coupd'étatof 18 Brumaire replacedthefive Directorswith the

3-member French Consulate, which consisted of three members, Napoleon, Sieyès, and

Roger Ducos.

• But it seemed there were not one but two coup d'etat in on 18 Brumaire 1799.

• One that was devised by the politicians when they thought of using Napoleon to

come to power.

• But the second was executed by the Napoleon when he turned tables on the

politicians of the directory and arrogated all power to himself.

• In 1799 he became the first consul. The constitution was duly adopted, of the year 7.

• All power in France passed into the hands of a 30 years old general, who was to

control the destiny not only of France but virtually the whole of Europe for the

next 15 years.

Tocqueville had long time back said that there were two ways in which the revolution could

be brought to a close. A, through personal interest and B, through national glory and as he

commented neither led to Liberty but both to Napoleon Bonaparte. Most historians consider

this the end point of the French Revolution.

The significance of 18 th Brumaire

Jean Tulard, a historian, has said that faced with internal and external danger the French

bourgeoisie always succeeded in inventing a savior. In his book, The Myth of the Saviour, he

suggests that Napoleon was a savior that the bourgeoise had invented to protect themselves

against the two-pronged internal and external danger.

"Why did they want to do it? The sale of the confiscated property had helped the bourgeoise.

Many upper and middle level of the bourgeoise had benefited from the revolution, by

indulging in trade, in speculation, through the purchase of land. And they now wanted the

revolutiontobebroughttoasuccessfulconclusion.Itwasanalliancebetweenthebourgeoisie

andapartofthepeasantry.Theycouldnowdothisaroundonemanandaroundoneprinciple.

The principle was already known - the property. The man was now found - Napoleon."

4 th Phase: Napoleon (1799-1814)

Why is Napoleon considered the child of the Revolution?

Napoleon was the child of revolution. He was product of the circumstances created by

revolution. It was the revolution itself that prepared the way for the rise of Napoleon

Bonaparte. Without the positive transformations brought about by the French revolution of

1789 a commoner like Napoleon could have never achieved such phenomenal success.

• The revolution overthrew the old regime based on class privileges, aristocratic values and

feudal institutional. The revolution opened the gate for the rise of talent/merit.

• A commoner like Napoleon could never have received a high military rank or

dreamt of becoming head of state of France without it.

• The revolution proclaimed the principle of equality as the basis of state and

society. The class privileges were wiped out. Any Frenchmen irrespective of his

social background could aspire for high offices under the state.

• The French monarchy was abolished by revolution in 1792. The throne was empty after

the regicide and discontinuation of hereditary monarchy. This empty throne could be

filled by Napoleon to become the head of state.

• The revolution provided an opportunity for Napoleon to capture the imagination of

Frenchmen through his phenomenal success. In the in the absence of revolutionary wars,

Napoleon would have never gained such popularity.

• It was the ideals of the revolution which legitimized the position of Napoleon Bonaparte

on many occasions.

Reasons for the Rise of Napoleon

• Role of the revolution

• Napoleon was the child of revolution. He was product of the circumstances

created by revolution. (explained already)

• Role of counter-revolution:

• The revolution of 1789 destroyed the old regime successfully, but it failed to

replace it with a new stable structure. The failure of various experiments pushed

France into serious internal disorder.

• The common Frenchmen were tired of the fluctuations in their fortune, economic

instability and the extreme violence faced by France. By 1799, the people were

strongly demanding peace and stability.

• Role of Nationalism and French Revolutionary War

• The phenomenal victories of Napoleon against the enemiesof France satisfied the

nationalist hunger for glory of common Frenchmen. These victories had captured

the imagination of masses in France and the Frenchmen became the blind

supporter of Napoleon.

• Failure of Directory

• The institution of directory was created in 1795 to eliminate the possibility of

misuse of state authority by one individual but this institution proved to be

completely ineffective & its polities pushed France into a bigger crisis, on both

internal as well as external fronts.

• Since the directory was bringing national shame and disgrace, when Napoleon

threw it off, not a single Frenchmen shed tears.

• Role of Napoleon's personality, talent and policies

• His achievements were unparalleled. The reforms initiated by him in Italy during

1796-97 proved his administrative acumen. That is why, the people had started

looking towards Napoleon to pull them out of the situation of disorder.

• Napoleon was a common born person. He was a son of revolution. His rise as a

head of the state was a guarantee of safety for the ideas of revolution.

• Section-wise support:

▪ The nationalists supported Napoleon because he brought national glory.

▪ Common masses supported him because he was expected to secure the

gains of revolution.

▪ The monarchists supported him because they were hopeful that only a

strong personality like Napoleon could restore the monarchical system in

France.

▪ The bourgeoisie supported Napoleon because his rise was the guarantee

of peace and stability.

• The massive support passed the way for the rise of Napoleon in 1799.

Napoleonic Reforms to consolidate the gains of Revolution

• In the administrative field, he left the legacy of a visionary government.

• Napoleon created a modern state system in France based onthe ideasof equality,

rule of law, secularism, merit, toleration & the doctrine of peaceful co-existence

(fraternity)

• There was resemblance with the Revolutionary era:

▪ Executive power:

• National Convention: Different committees.
• Directory: 5 directors
• Napoleon Bonaparte: 3 councils.

• When Napoleon declared himself to be the first Consul for a lifetime or an

emperor, he represented the French republic.

• Creation of a system of merit-based promotion within the civil service.
• Napoleon carried out centralization of administrative to counter the prevailing

disorders and instability.

▪ Central secretariat was created by him to manage the administrative

affairs.

▪ He appointed officers known as perfects and sub perfects at district level.

They were responsible to central government.

• Even in the economic field, Napoleon carried the legacy of the revolution.

• National Convention had originally brought a plan for the survey of whole income

in France. Later, it was implemented by Napoleon.

• Thelandcapturedbypeasantsfromfeudallordswasrecognizedastheirproperty.
• The doctrine of Laissez Faire (Free Trade) was adopted.
• Freedom of profession was granted to every French citizen.
• The National Convention brought a plan for organizing exhibitions to promote

industrialization. Napoleon also adopted this method.

▪ Machines were imported to commence the Industrial Revolution.

• Directoryhadintroducedmetalliccoins,whichwerecontinuedby Napoleon.Bank

of France was established in 1800.

• Legal reforms

• Napoleoncreateda modern judiciallegal system in France inaccordance with the

ideas of the revolution. Rule of law was implemented without any discriminatory

treatment on the basis of birth or any other criteria.

• Napoleon codified the laws under Code Napoleon (1807)

▪ It replaced the patchwork of laws that had existed under the ancien

régime.

▪ It codifiedmanyoftheprinciplesof the Revolution,suchasequality before

the law, the right to property, and religious toleration.

▪ It had separate provisions for civil and criminal matters. It was having a

separate commercial court to deal with the economic offences.

▪ It was simple, liberal & progressive. It inspired and deeply influenced the

judicial legal system all over the world.

• In social field, Napoleon could maintain certain ideals of revolution.

• He continued the abolition of feudalism & maintaining equality in society.

• Religious Reforms

• The French Revolution of 1789 attacked the institution of Church fiercely to wipe

out its evils. Such acts of revolution were deeply resented by many Frenchmen

who were committed Catholic.

• In 1801, Napoleon entered a religious treaty with pope as Concordat (religious

peace)that established the relation ofstate withchurch and satisfied the religious

aspirations of Frenchmen.

• As per the concordat,

▪ Roman Catholicism was recognized as the religion of majority of French

people.

▪ Religious freedom was guaranteed to every Frenchmen including the

atheist.

▪ The priest would be selected by the state and were to be invested by the

Pope.

▪ The priests were too paid by state.

• Establishment of a national education system.

• Napoleon initiated several steps in the field of education so that thinking of

Frenchmen can be regulated.

• In 1802, a series of military style schools known as Lycee was created.
• In 1808, French university system was established.
• Ecole Polytechnique was established to produce engineers.
• Teachers training institutes were established and only these teachers were

appointed in schools.

• The education of women was neglected by Napoleon.

• Even outside of France, he was welcomed as crowned-Jacobian, as Napoleon projected

himself as the representative of revolution.

• Theprinciplesofliberty,equality,Fraternity,ruleoflaw,tolerationandlaissezfaire

were implemented by Napoleon in Italy as well as in Germany.

• He was welcomed as a liberator by common masses and because of this, his

empire symbolized the extension of revolution beyond French borders.

Bypresentinghimself asa leaderwho wascarryingon the legacyof the Revolution,Napoleon

wasabletowinthesupportof many Frenchpeoplewhohadbeendisillusionedbythechaos

and violenceoftherevolutionary period. Although hisautocratic rule andmilitaryconquests

ultimately led to his downfall, the legacy of the Revolution continued to inspire political

movements throughout the 19 th and 20 th centuries.

Did Napoleon reverse some of the ideals of the revolution?

• In political field

• Napoleon put a check over liberty, one of the ideals of the revolution.

▪ Napoleon restored the monarchy in altered form and even tried to link his

legacy to old Bourbon kings. He called Louis XIV 'mon-oncle' means my

uncle.

▪ Political liberty was curtailed by him:

• More than 20 people could not gather without the permission of

state.

• Anybody could be arrested on suspicion of indulging in Anti state

activities.

• Political dissidents were prosecuted.

• Although he permitted equality, for him the equality meansequal opportunity for

all but not economic equality of wealth

▪ Napoleon was product of equality. This was the most cherished ideal of FR

but the institution of legion of honor created by him was against the

principle of quality. This institution created a kind of semi-mobility in

France.

▪ Napoleonproclaimedhisfaithintheprincipleof merit.He wastheproduct

of a system based on merit, but he dissolved this principle by appointing

his brothers and other close relatives to high offices.

• Napoleon proclaimed his faith in the ideal of fraternity, but his wars and battles

were against this very ideal.

• He also revived some of the unjust laws of old Bourbon kings in which there was

a provision for arrest even without a warrant. (eg letters de cachet)

• He put a check over the political parties and preferred to eliminate his enemies

through his secret police. It became a very common feature among the future

dictators.

• He sidelined the legislative body and carried his works through plebiscite.
• Democratic instruments like the plebiscite were used by Napoleon to strengthen

but at the same time, he curbed the power and functions of elected bodies for

effective control over administrative.

• In the economic field

• The emphasis of revolution had been on free trade but Napoleon always

emphasized mercantilist policy. (eg. continental system)

• Likewise, the revolution had emphasized the method of direct tax but Napoleon

gave more emphasis on indirect tax.

▪ In 1804, he laid the foundation of an excise bureau.

• In the social field

• Napoleon's code was inspired by the Roman code of law in which female

members were subordinated to the male members and the head of the family was

enjoying too much power. So even these measures seemed counter to the basic

ideals of the revolution.

• Napoleon did nothing for the empowerment of women. He neglected their

education.

• Even outside of France, he represented rather the distorted ideas of the revolution.

How did Napoleon link old France to New France?

Napoleon certainly adopted some measures which could bring stability and prosperity in

France. Even on the military front, France could get a better success but in this course,

Napoleon changed the course of the revolution itself. Therefore, the role of Napoleon needs

a rational and balanced evaluation.

• On the one hand, Napoleon was a revolutionary figure who sought to break with the

traditions and institutions of the ancien régime. On the other hand, he also recognized

the need to maintain some continuity with the past in order to ensure stability and

legitimacy for his regime.

• The Old Francemeantpre-revolutionary Franceand New Francemeanttheradical

France of the post-revolutionary era.

• On the one hand, he tried to maintain equality but put a certain check on liberty.

• He put a check on liberty and even defined equality in a practical way as for him

equality meant equal opportunity for all but not economic equality. So, even on

the front of equality, he was a bit cautious ashe promised to applythe equality of

opportunity.

• He maintained the limited franchise and avoided universal suffrage.
• Althoughhe maintainedthe abolitionoffeudalism andtalked intermsofequality

of people, but he revived some old laws of Bourbon monarchs in which there was

a provision of arrest even without a warrant.

• He reintroduced the titles of nobility that had been abolished during the

Revolution,buthealsocreatedasystemofmerit-basedpromotionwithinthecivil

service that allowed talented individuals from all social backgrounds to rise

through the ranks.

• He also introduced the Napoleonic Code, a new legal code that replaced the

patchwork of laws that had existed under the ancien régime, but which also

codified many of the principles of the Revolution, such as equality before the law

and religious toleration.

▪ Theobjectiveof the Napoleoniccodewastomaintainbalance and stability

in society that's why he consciously subordinated the females to the male

members of the society.

• He triedto linkhis lineageto the Bourbon kings and intheir fashion,he concentrated the

power into his hand.

• Although his monarchy was different from the Bourbon monarchy, in that it was

approved by the popular support and plebiscite.

• On the one hand he neglected the legislative body but on the other hand, he got

the approval for his policy directly from the people through the method of a

plebiscite.

• Likewise, through secret police, he preferred to eliminate his enemy.

• One way that Napoleon linked old France to New France was through his use of symbols

and pageantry. Napoleon recognized the power of symbols and rituals in reinforcing the

legitimacy of his regime, and he drew on both the traditions of the ancien régime and the

symbols of the Revolution to create a new, hybrid system of symbols and rituals.

• For example, he adopted the imperial eagle as a symbol of his regime, which

harked back to the traditions of the Roman Empire. At the same time, he also

retained some of the symbols of the Revolution, such as the tricolor flag and the

"Marseillaise" national anthem.

Overall, Napoleon sought to create a new order in France that drew on both the traditions of

the past and the values of the Revolution. By linking old France to New France in this way, he

was able to create a regime that was seen as legitimate and stable, while also introducing

significantreformsthathelpedtomodernize Frenchsocietyandlaythegroundworkforfuture

political developments.

What was the contribution of Napoleon Bonaparte to Europe?

• Major contribution: the spread of nationalism and the ideals of the revolution.

• Wherever Napoleon went, he brought certain reforms with him. For example, he

abolished feudalism, put a check over the church and introduced the Napoleonic

code. Because of this, monarchial nations transformed into popular nations,

subjects became citizens and different regions started to emerge as nations.

• Due to the exploitative policy of Napoleon in that region, popular reaction set in

against his policy and it took the form of nationalist resistance.

• In the case of Italy and Germany, his geographic reorganization became the harbinger of

the future integration of Italy and Germany.

• It is said that although the Napoleonic Empire proved ephemeral, his reforms were put

on granite.

• Napoleonic reforms continued in Europe even after Napoleon Bonaparte. It was

because most ofthereforms carriedby Napoleon Bonaparte suited to the interest

of the rising middle class.

Reasons for the Decline of Nepoleon

Though Napoleon empire collapsed as a result of his defeat in a battle, this defeat itself was

the outcome of a number of factors operating at various levels.

Was the Napoleonic Empire bound to collapse due to its internal contradictions?

Although Napoleon created one of the largest empires in Europe, right from the very

beginning, this empire had continued to face some basic contradictions.

OR

The Napoleonic Empire was very extensive, but its foundations were weak because it was

resting on a number of inherent contradictions that affected its ethical, moral foundations.

• Napoleon proclaimed himself as the 'son of revolution', but many of the essential ideals

of revolution were abandoned by him.

• One major contradiction was the incompatibility between the noble ideas of revolution

and the reality of the Napoleonic Empire. Initially, Napoleon was welcomed by European

people as a liberator, but very soon the imperialistic character of his rule was exposed,

and people turned against him.

• Oneofthemajorfactorsbehindthemilitarysuccessof Franceagainst Europewas military

conscription (citizens' army). However, soon afterwards, every nation adopted the same

method and France lost its relative advantage. Now, the French were outnumbered by

the soldiers of other European nations together.

• Napoleon dealt with European nations individually and tried to keep them divided.But as

Napoleon defeated and humiliated European kings, obviously, he unconsciously gave

them a common ground for developing a sense of fellow feeling. So, from time-to-time,

European nations formed coalitions against Napoleon Bonaparte.

Faults in Personality

Napoleon was a great military conqueror, but he suffered from a number of personal

limitations. These limitations of his personality hastened the process of his downfall once it

commenced.

• Napoleon was autocratic. He imposed his will on other without caring for their opinion.

• Manyofhisadvisorsandwellwisheslefthimandduringthehourofcrisis,hecould

not get the best input.

• Napoleon was over-ambitious.

• In fact, his ambitions knew no limits. At one time. Entire continental Europe was

under his dominance, but his desire for Britain doomed the fate of his empire.

• Napoleon was selfish and opportunist.

• He pursued his dreams and ambitions blindly. Many of his well-wishers left him to

join hands with his enemies.

• Napoleon was revengeful in his outlook.

• He failed to learn the art of forgiveness, because of this, the events of past

continuously haunted him and he could not concentrate on future.

• Napoleon was overconfident.

• He under-estimated the strength and capabilities of his opponents. This had

played an important role in his disastrous fall during Russian campaign and defeat

in the battles of Leipzig and Waterloo.

• Napoleon faced serious health problems during the last years of his reign.

• While fighting in the battle of Leipzig, he was unable to sit on a horse for a long

time. This affected the effectiveness of his command & contributed to his defeat.

Character of the Napoleonic Empire

• The Napoleonic empire was over-centralized.

• The level of institutionalization of empire was quite low. No smooth

administration.

• Everything revolved around the personality of Napoleon. This one-person-centric

empire could not be administered effectively when Napoleon got busy in

continuous wars and battles.

• Napoleon created an extensiveempire within a short period of time, buthe could find no

time for its consolidation because of which the foundation of his empire remained weak,

and it could not last long.

Thus,itkeptonfacinginternalstressandstrainwhichplayedanimportantrolein the downfall

ultimately.

Role of Nationalism:

• Napoleon was a symbol of French nationalism. But his imperialism outside France was

against the spirit of nationalism of German, Italian, Spanish and Russians etc.

• Napoleon seized the crown of Spain deceptively, by pressurizing Spanish ruler Charles IV

and his son Ferdinand to renounce their claims to the throne. He imposed the rule of his

Brother Joseph Bonaparte on Spain. This Napoleonic imperialism triggered national

upsurge in Spain. The Spanish rebels inspired by the spirit of nationalism fought hard

against the forces of napoleon. They used the guerilla method of warfare against which

napoleon's military could not stand napoleon got trapped in a crisis known as 'Spanish

war'.

• His withdrawal from Spain seriously affected his prestige and the myth of Napoleon's in

win ability got shattered. This inspired the Germans, Italians, Russians to rise against

napoleon dominance and they defected him in a battle of Leipzig leading to the downfall

of Napoleon empire.

More reasons behind the decline of Napoleon Bonaparte:

• Continental system:

• Napoleon introduced the system without the proper planning and preparation.
• It resulted in scarcity of essential goods and created wider public discontent.
• Forced implementation against the will led to the Peninsular war that sapped his

energies.

• This popular revolt was later joined by European power against Napoleon. So,

Napoleon was defeated in 1813.

• Napoleon was dependent too much on the military option. He did not learn the

technique that how to perpetuate the victory through the method of diplomacy.

• For example, he fought 5 battles with Austria, but 3 battles were fought only for

preserving the gains ensured through the earlier two battles.

• The Moscow expedition was a major mistake on the part of Napoleon Bonaparte.

• In this expedition, a substantial part of his Grande Army was destroyed, and he

also lost prestige.

• A big mistake on the part of Napoleon was that he went on such a devastating

expedition in the eastern part (Moscow expedition) while in west, Britain was still

unconquered. The same mistake was committed by Hitler 130 years later.

Characteristics of the French Revolution

• It was primarily a bourgeoise Revolution, especially during the first and third phase. But

overall, it was a mass revolution.

• It was not a planned revolution, but a culmination of a series of events.
• It was a violent revolution, with ample instances of extreme excesses being committed

during the course of the revolution.

• It was progressive in nature. It was inspired by the vision of a better and brighter future.
• Itwasacompositemovementandtouched Politicaladministrative,socio-religiousas well

as economic sphere of human life.

• It was characterized by ideological transformation during its course of the four phases.

• First Phase: Liberal, constitutional, monarchical regime.
• Second Phase: Radical republic.
• Third Phase: A collegiate form of government.
• Fourth Phase: Political despotism under Napoleon.

• It was not an isolated phenomenon but a part of a long series of trans-Atlantic

revolutions.

• In termsof itsimpact, itwas pan-European in character. The direct and indirect effectsof

this revolution were felt throughout Europe.

The Legacy of FR

"The French Revolution is the crossroads of the modern world. We live on one side; all the

issues that torment us can be traced back to the debates and actions of that era. What it is

to be a citizen; what limits there are on the state's power to write laws on your body; who

can vote; what is property, what can be owned; what authority is and how it can be

overthrown -- these questions were posed and for the most part answered in one

momentous historical sequence."

• Simon Schama

The outbreak of the French Revolution (1789) opened the doors of modern age not only for

France but for almost whole of Europe. This revolution transformed every dimension of

human life, and its echoes were heard far and wide.

Objectives Achievements

Political-Administrative:

• Absolutism →

constitutionalism,

natural rights,

Political-Administrative:

• 4 th August (Old Feudal France was destroyed). 26 th

August (Declaration of Rights) → Equality, rule of law,

natural rights, separation of power, popular

sovereignty. Thus, ideas of political democracy.

separation of power,

popular sovereignty

• Aristocracy →

Meritocracy

• Feudalism → Equality
• Arbitrariness → Rule of

Law

• Absolute Bourbon dynastic rule → constitutional

monarchy → Republic → Bonaparte Monarchy →

Bourbons (Louis XVIII).

Social:

• Class privilege → Social

equality

• Exploitation,

Discrimination →

Fraternity

Social:

• Successfully destroyed social system based on class

privileges. Principle of equality was declared as the

basis of society.

• The objective of fraternity could not be realized

because of extreme violence witnessed during course

of revolution. Onlywhen Napoleon emerged ashead of

state, he tried to bring order and promote principle of

fraternity.

Economic:

• Unequal resource

distribution → uniform

taxation

• Guild and mercantilism

→ Free Trade

• Poverty, hunger,

unemployment →

Prosperity

Economic:

• Economic privilege enjoyed by nobles and clergymen

were destroyed and uniform taxation was introduced.

• Mercantilist institutes like Guilds were wiped out and a

free economy was established.

• Property of Church was broken into small parts & sold

to peasants on easy term. Whatever land peasants had

confiscated from feudal lords were recognized as their,

property.

• Though economic crisis intensified in the first decade

after the outbreak of revolution, with the rise of

Napoleon the French economy started gaining health.

Religious:

• Evils of Church →

Freedom of Religion and

tolerance

Religious:

• Destroyed the dominance of church and took away the

privileges.

• Freedom of religious was granted to every French

citizen.

• Church could no longer interfere in personal life of

people against their will.

• "The Revolution created the secular, free society that so

many people around the world now associate with

modernity." - Lynn Hunt

The Congress of Vienna made every possible effort to wipe out effect of these ideas, but their

impact onhuman thinking could notbe removed.The awakeningcreated by these ideaswere

responsible for European revolution of 19 th century.

French Revolution and the emergence of Modern Politics

"The intellectual legacy of the French Revolution was perhaps best expressed in the principles of

universal human rights and popular sovereignty, which became central to political and legal

thought."

• Jurgen Habermas
• Encouraged nationalist, democratic and republican thoughts.

• The divine right of kingship was abandoned, and sovereignty of the people was

encouraged.

• "The French Revolution brought an end to the Aristotelian notion of a mixed form

of government, the perfect government of the limited polis, and inaugurated the

era of representative democracy." - Hannah Arendt

• "The French Revolution gave rise to political nationalism." - Jonathan Israel

• Popular participation

• Itconsolidatedtheideathatthenationiscomposedofcitizens.Mostlycitizenmen

at first--a fraternity or brotherhood that replace a kingdom in which a monarch

ruled his subjects.

• Before the revolution of 1789 there was a gap between the government and

society. This gap was reduced to a considerable extent after the revolution as

various sections of the society, which till now had no role in the government and

its machinery, became active in politics.

• Ideological Spectrum

• Modern politics started after the revolution, and Leftist and Rightist ideologies

spread its influence further in politics.

• Authoritarian instruments

• Plebiscitewasintroducedduring the Frenchrevolution.Even Napoleonlegitimized

most of his action based on plebiscite.

• The excesses of Jacobean government, their use of guillotine and the oppressive

policy of Napoleon inspired future dictators.

• Liberal nationalism

• French revolution encouraged liberal and nationalist thoughts which had a great

influence on Latin America and Asia. It played an important role in the

liberalization of the colonies.

• Revolutions

• French revolution made revolution a part of world traditions. It continued to

inspire revolutionaries in the 19 th and 20 th century.

Impact outside France

It was a pan-European phenomenon. Its direct and indirect consequences were seen

throughout Europe.

OR

With the outbreak of this revolution in France, not a single important event took place in

Europeduringthenext 25 yearsthatwasnotrelated with thisrevolutiondirectlyor indirectly.

That is why, it is commented with its outbreak, history of Europe merges into the history of

one event, one nation, and one man. This event was the revolution of 1789, the nation was

France, and the man was Napoleon.

• The ideological impact of FR and changes brought about by Napoleon started the process

of decline of ancient regime in Europe.

• Curtains started coming down on divine rights, royal absolutism, aristocracy,

feudalism, class privileges, medieval institutions etc.

• Bytheclosingyearsof 19 th c.,thesepracticeshaddisappearedinalmostwhole

of Europe.

• By this, the French Revolution paved the way for economic transformation in

Europe.

• Nationalism

• The liberal and progressive ideas of FR were propagated throughout Europe

by the victorious army of Napoleon.

▪ He initiated a number of political, socio-religious and economic

changes based on idea of FR in Italy & Germany.

▪ The awakening triggered by these reforms was responsible for birth of

Italian and German nationalism.

• Napoleon administrative reorganization also contributed in German

unification.

▪ Hesuccessfullyamalgamatedsmaller 300 Germanstates into 39st ates.

▪ This greatly eased the future task of Bismarck as he was required to

merge these 39 into one.

• The French Revolution was responsible for the emergence of spirit of

nationalism in Europe.

▪ When France was invaded by the First Coalition in 1791, French

nationalism emerged and when Napoleon imposed his imperial rule

over Spain, Italy and Germany, spirit of nationalism emerged in these

countries as well.

▪ This spirit of nationalism was responsible for many wars and battles in

Europeinthefuture.Theconflictsassociatedwiththeprocessof Italian

and German unification, the Balkan wars, the first and second World

Wars were triggered by unfulfilled national aspirations only.

• Thus, it helped usher in the idea of nation-states, and the idea that the most

important people within those nation-states are the citizens. And so

enthusiastsfor freedom flocked to France from all cornersof Europe--if not in

person then at least in their imaginations. "Bliss was it in that dawn to be

alive," wrote poet William Wordsworth.

• All these developments placed France at the center of Europe.

• France emerged as intellectual leader of Europe & the masses throughout

Europe started looking towards France for guidance and inspiration.

• That iswhy any incident taking place in France used to create echo in whole of

Europein 1 st halfof 19 th century.Wholeof Europeusedtocatchcoldwhe never

France sneezed. This effect was visible in 1830 and 1848 quite clearly.

Congress of Vienna (1815)

After the defeat of Napoleon in the battle of Leipzig, the victor powers assembled at Vienna,

the capital of Austria, under the leadership of Austrian chancellor prince Metternich. It

resumed after the defeat of napoleon in the battle of Waterloo in June 1815.

Objectives of the Congress of Vienna: To create post-revolutionary arrangement/order in

Europe.

• To re-arrange the map of Europe which had been disfigured by Napoleonic war.
• To maintain the Balance of Power in Europe in order to avert the situation of war again

in future.

• To suppress the ideals of the French revolution and to crush the ideas of Liberalism and

Nationalism which threatened the stability in Europe.

Program:

• To maintain the principle of legitimate rule.
• Principle of balance of power

1. To maintain the status quo in Europe and eliminate the possibility of wars.
2. To prevent emergence of any one strong state from becoming too dominant.

• Principle of rewarding victors to compensate for losses.

Major Powers: In the Congress of Vienna, the victor party consisted of Britain, Austria,

Russia, and Prussia. All these nations were dominant in the proceedings of the Congress of

Vienna. However, this whole system that was created out of it was known as the Metternich

system.

Territorial re-arrangements:

In order to strengthen

the bordering states

of France.

• Belgium merged with Holland, to form Netherlands, to check

future expansion in that direction. It was created a an

independent and neutral state.

• Switzerland's permanent neutrality was recognized.
• Norway was separated from Denmark and merged with

Sweden.

• Genoa was given to Piedmont-Sardinia to prop it up against

possible future French aggression. Thus, Piedmont-Sardinia's

territory was enlarged, and it became a powerful state.

Principle of

Legitimate Rule

The Dynasties replaced by the Forces of revolution were restored.

• Rule of Bourbon dynastywasrestored in France, Spain,Naples

and Sicily.

• The House of Savoy was restored in Piedmont Sardinia
• The House of Orange was restored in Holland.
• Rule of Pope was restored in central Italy.

Principle of

Rewarding the victor

• Russia was rewarded with Finland and most of Poland.
• Prussia was given parts of Rhineland and Saxony.
• Austria was given north Italian territories of Lombardy and

Venetia.

To suppress the

feeling of liberalism

and nationalism

which were generated

by the French

revolution.

Germany

• Germany was earlier reorganized by Napoleon into 16 bigger

states in Confederation of Rhine, but the Congress of Vienna

tried to divide it consciously. With this purpose, the

confederation was dissolved into pre-revolutionary 38 states.

No longer under French control. Simultaneously, Austria was

made the guardian and supervisor of the region.

• German Confederationof 39st ates,bigandsmall,wascreated

with (continued till 1848). Austria and Prussia had significant

influence within the German Confederation.

Italy: Italy was geographically divided so that it should not rise as

a nation in the future. With this purpose,

• Lombardy and Venetia in Northern Italy were placed under

Austria.

• Parma, Modena and Tuscany under the Habsburg Dynasty
• In southern Italy, Naples and Sicily, the king from Bourbon

dynasty was placed.

Metternich's System

Metternich:

• Prince Metternich was the Chancellor of Austria. He was a complete reactionary
• In the post-Napoleonic decades, there was a conflict between the forces of continuity

and forces of change.

• The forces of continuity were represented by monarchy, aristocracy, and the

churchwhiletheforcesofchangeswererepresentedbyliberalismandnationalism

on an ideological basis and industrial revolution and growth in population on

material basis.

• The conflict took place during 1820, 1830, and 1848.

• Metternich was guided by the interest of a multi-ethnic empire like Austria, which was

threatened by the idea of rising nationalism. It questioned the unity and integrity of the

empire.

• So, Metternich followed the policy of check and balance among the people from

different nationalities and preferred to create a cleavage among them.

The forces of change: Ideological Forces

A. Liberalism

It is the political ideology of the middle class, and it is guided solely by the interest of the

middle class.

It emphasized the following factors:

• Limited monarchy
• Constitutionalism
• Representative government
• Laissez faire economy
• Individual freedom

In other words, one can say that what is capitalism in economic field and individualism in

social field, liberalism is in the political field. All of the three were guided by middle-class

interest.

B. Nationalism

A nation denotes a community of people linked to each other through

land/history/ethnicity/language etc. It is the product of the historical force.

• Early Modern Era:

• Themodernconceptofnationalismbegantotakeshapein Europeduring the early

modern period (17 th c).

• Factorssuchas the riseof centralizednation-states,thespread of literacy,andthe

development of vernacular languages contributed to the growth of national

identity.

• Intellectual movements like the Enlightenment and Romanticism fueled

nationalist sentiments, emphasizing cultural uniqueness and shared heritage.

▪ Counter: Benedict Anderson argues that national identity is not a natural

or inevitable phenomenon, but rather a socially constructed one.

• French Revolution played a pivotal role in the spread of nationalism:

• It destroyed internal division of society and created equal citizens.
• It promoted the idea of popular sovereignty (Rousseau).
• Revolutionary France's "citizen armies" highlighted the concept of a nation

defending its own territory.

• Napoleonic Era (Early 19 th Century):

• Napoleon's conquests across Europe inadvertently stimulated nationalist

resistance movements in occupied territories. Nationalism became a force for

liberationandself-determination,asseeninthe Spanish Warof Independence and

the German Wars of Liberation.

• Congress of Vienna (1814-1815):

• It aimed to restore monarchies and traditional order in Europe, but it also planted

seeds of nationalism by redrawing borders without regard for ethnic and cultural

identities.

• Nationalist movements sought to challenge the established order and gain

independence.

Nation-State (16-18 th c) Liberal Nationalism (19 th c)

• Common geographical region
• Common language, value system and

identity (cultural uniformity)

• Centralized government
• Monarchical
• Representative government
• Parliamentary politics
• Constitutionalism
• Popular sovereignty
• Individual freedom
• Middle class

Both combined to make Modern Nation State

The forces of change: Material factors

Growth in population and the industrial revolution prepared the basis for change.

(A) The growth in population

It created a situation for a change in that, it brought a mismatch between the demand for

the resources and the availability of the resources. This situation created unrest among the

people.

(B) Industrial revolution

It brought a change in the means of production. So, it prepared the way for social change as

well. It issaidthateven if French revolutionhadnottaken place,almostallthechanges which

occured in as the result of the revolution, might have anyway occurred eventually (David

Thomson). The main reason being the role of the industrial revolution.

Metternich System: Concert of Europe

Institutional Structure of Metternich System:

It was a system of regular diplomatic meetings and cooperation among the major European

powers:

• To maintain peace and manage conflicts.
• To act as an observer of Europe.
• To ensure that there is no challenge to the territorial arrangement of the Vienna

Settlement.

• It was based on the idea of collective security.

It included not just the four members of the Quadruple Alliance but also other European

powers, including France.

• Congress System

• A series of international meetings to preserve the balance of power.
• Four important Congresses

▪ Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818)

▪ Congress of Troppau (1820)

▪ Congress of Laibach (1821)

▪ Congress of Verona (1822)

• These congresses discussed issues related to the balance of power and territorial

arrangements.

• It provided a framework for the powers to intervene in the affairs of other

European nations to maintain stability and prevent conflicts. This policy was used

to justify interventionism.

• Quadruple Alliance (1815-1818)

• Military alliance of the four powers Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
• In 1818,Francewasaddedtoit -->Quintuple Alliance(Congressof Aix-la-Chapelle

1818)

• It was a key element in maintaining peace and stability with the purpose of:

▪ Working together to preserve the territorial arrangements established by

the Congress.

▪ To intervene militarily if any European power attempted to upset the

balance of power.

Working of the Metternich System:

The alliance was established at a time when the European powers were still recovering from

the Napoleonic Wars, and there was a general consensus that cooperation was necessary to

prevent future conflicts. However, as time passed, the individual interests of the member

states began to diverge, and tensions arose between them.

The Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe tried to maintain the old order in Europe.

Inspiteofthewholeconservativeorderof Metternich system,the forcesofchangecouldnot

be crushed. The legacy of the French Revolution thundered throughout this time. It was due

to this fact, a series of revolts and revolutions occurred in Europe between 1815 and 1848.

Thus, the system could not work smoothly.

• Internal division: Thus, differences cropped up over time.

• Austria (Prince Metternich) and Russia (Tsar Alexander I) were conservative and

hated the ideas of liberalism and nationalism.

• Britain and France were liberal members.
• Prussia was a middling power.

• During the Greek War of Independence, which broke out in 1821:

• Russia and France supported the Greek rebels, while Great Britain and Austria

were initially opposed to the rebellion.

• Such differences created a rift within the alliance. Still, the system was in place until the

mid-1830 s, when a series of revolutions and uprisings throughout Europe marked the

beginning of a new era of political upheaval and change.

Analysis of the Metternich system

Limitations of the Congress of Vienna:

• Congress worked as a reactionary and conservative force.
• It tried to restore the old order and to suppress progressive ideas like liberalism

and nationalism. (The forces of continuity)

• It wasanintegralpart the Conservative Order,inwhich democracyand civil rights

associated with the American and French Revolutions were de-emphasized.

• It was due to this fact that it turned out to be a failure in the long run. Within four

decades, the arrangements made by the Congress of Vienna collapsed.

Achievements of the Congress of Vienna:

• The Congressof Viennacouldmaintainthebalanceofpowerin Europefordecades.After

1815 till the Crimean War (1854-1856), no important war could take place in Europe.

Another major war in Europe after 1815 was only when World War I started in 1914. It

was one of the major achievements of the Congress of Vienna.

• The Concert of Europe, which was created in the Congress of Vienna, remained to be

muchactiveandwatchful.Itwasasignificantstepin the transitiontoanewinternational

order in which peace was largely maintained through diplomatic dialogue. (Henry

Kissinger)

• Contrarian Views: French historian Henry Rousso argued that the Congress represented

a clash between competing visions of European identity and power, with the British,

Prussians, and Russians all seeking to impose their own models on the continent.

Thus,although the Congressof Vienna preserved the balanceofpower in Europe, itcould not

check the spread of revolutionary movements across the continent some 30 years later.

Impact of Nationalism on European Politics

Hardly did any other ideology influence the course of History as deeply as nationalism. Since

American and French revolution, it became a very powerful force. It kept Europe busy for the

next 150 years. Not simply that, it changed the configuration even of Asio-African and Latin

American countries.

Nationalism did not produce a uniform impact on all the regions equally. Nationalism can be

a source of unity and self-determination, but it can also lead to exclusion, conflict, and

intolerance.

• Somewhere it worked as the unifying/cementing force.
• In other regions, it worked as a divisive factor as well.
• In Western Europe, states peacefully transformed into modern nations.

• Here, it was a force for political and social liberation.
• Nationalist movements sought to create new nation-states based on shared

cultural, linguistic, and historical identities.

▪ Inthesestates,therewaslessculturaldiversity,andthesizeofthecountry

was not unmanageably large.

▪ Moreover, some basework was already done by earlier monarchs.

• These movements, in the post-Napoleonic era, were often associated with liberal

and democratic political reforms, and the subjects gradually became citizens.

• In Central Europe: it also worked as a unifying force in the case of Italy and Germany.

• The Year of Revolutions in 1848 saw widespread nationalist uprisings across

Europe but after their failure, romantic nationalism took the refuge to militarism.

• Unification movements sought to consolidate smaller, fragmented regions into

singlenation-statesbasedonsharedculturalandlinguisticties. Italyand Germany

emerged to be a modern nation-state.

• In Eastern Europe, the situation was more complex. Subversive forces became active in

three old/medieval empires of Austria, Ottoman and Russia.

• These empires were characterized by authoritarian rule. Autocratic monarchy,

centralized bureacracy as well as coercive army suppressed various national

identities.

• The ethnic and cultural diversity of Eastern Europe made the process of nation-

building more complicated.

▪ Nationalist movements often struggled to establish a sense of common

identity among these groups.

▪ Here, nationalismgaveaseverechallengeto theunityand integrity ofthe

empire and encouraged separatism.

▪ There was also an issue of marginalization and persecution of national

minorities.

• Nationalist movements were met with repression from the ruling powers and

thus often took on a more revolutionary/violent character.

• Examples:

▪ Austria: Hungarian Revolution (1848) was brutally suppressed by the

Austro-Hungarian Empire.

▪ Russia:Implementedapolicyof"Russification"initsterritoriesthatsought

to suppress national identities and assimilate them.

▪ Ottomans: the divisive impact became so wide that it took the form of an

Eastern question and created permanent unrest in the Balkan region.

More Dimensions:

• Ideological force nationalism gave a strong

push to imperialism also.

• Nationalism in European powers

fueled imperial expansion, as

nations sought to exert dominance

over other regions.

• Colonized nations often developed

their own nationalist movements in

opposition to imperial rule.

• It took the form of supra-nationalism also.
• Finally resulted in two world wars.

• The devastating world wars of the

20 th c. highlighted the destructive potential of extreme nationalism.

• Post World War

• The aftermath of World War II led to the formation of the United Nations and the

recognition of self-determination as a principle.

• Decolonization: The post-World War II period witnessed the decolonization of

many African and Asian nations, driven by nationalist movements demanding

independence from colonial powers.

• Cold War: It could not substitute nationalist division. Rather, the formation of

newly independent nations in Asio-African countries presented a new challenge

to cold war politics.

• Era of Globalization

• It remains a potent force in contemporary politics, with variations ranging from

ethnic nationalism to civic nationalism. Even globalization could not put an end to

the nation-state system. Rather, globalization is working over the infrastructure

of nationalism.

• New issues of national conflict appeared.

▪ Globalization and migration have influenced debates on national identity

and multiculturalism.

▪ Balancing national identity with global interdependence poses challenges

in the 21 st century.

Nietzsche saw nationalism as a source of

cultural decay and degeneration. He

believed that nationalism was rooted in

the desire for power and domination,

and that it led to a glorification of the

state, manifestation of herd mentality

and the suppression of individual

freedom and creativity. For him,

nationalism was incompatible with the

individualism and self-expression that he

valued so highly.

UPSC CSE PYQs

• Metternich System

• "For a tired and timid generation Metternich was the necessary man." Comment.

[1993, 20 Marks]

• What is Metternich system? Assess its impact on Europe. [2016, 10 Marks]

• Liberalism and Nationalism

• "The characteristic motive of this period (1830-1871) was not so much Liberalism

as Nationalism." Comment. [1982, 20 Marks]

• Do you subscribe to the view that the Greek War of Independence was mired in

contrasts of the best and the worst episodes? How did it affect the Concert of

Europe? [2019, 20 Marks]

• The rise of nationalism across nations shattered the chains which held together

the empires of modern Europe. Discuss. [2021, 20 Marks]

• Revolutions of 1830

• "The whole episode that is known as the July Revolution (1830) was fought and

won not for the establishment of an extreme democracy but to get rid of the

aristocratic and clericalist attitude of the restored Bourbons." Critically examine.

[2015, 10 Marks]

At the Congress of Vienna, Prince Metternich and his allies tried to prevent another French

Revolution. But despite the Congress of Vienna's determined efforts to prevent them, reform

and activism heated up after 1815, alongside industrialization.

1820 s 1830 1848

England

Peterloo

Massacre (1819)

Reform Act (1832) Chartist Movement

France

July Uprising against

Charles X -

Constitutional Monarchy

February Revolution

against Louis Philipp,

Second Republic (1848-52),

Napoleon III

Belgium

Independence from

Dutch, kingdom

formation

Italy Carbonari coup Mazzini and Young Italy

Charles Albert went on war

with Austria.

Austria

Demands in Italian parts

(Venetia/Lombardy)

suppressed

Initial promise of liberal

constitution, later

suppression. Metternich

fled.

Prussia

A series of limited and

short-lived reforms

followed by suppression.

Prussian Landtag was

established.

German

States

Urban/student revolts

largely suppressed

Frankfurt Parliament

Greece Greek War of Independence (1821-32)

Russia

Decemberist

Revolt (1825)

Polish uprising brutally

suppressed

Latin

America

Independence of various Countries (1820 s)

Portugal

Liberal

Revolution -

Constitutional

Monarchy

Portuguese Liberal Wars

(1832-34)

Liberal Constitution

Spain Trienio Liberal Liberal Constitution

The Revolutions of 1820 s

The Revolutionsof 1820 swereaseriesofliberalandnationalistuprisingsthatoccurredacross

several European countries. Unlike the revolutionary wave in the 1830 s, these tended to take

place in the peripheries of Europe. Its nerve centers were in Russia, Italy, Portugal, Spain and

Greece.

Causes:

The primary causes of the 1820 s revolutions were discontent with authoritarian regimes,

demands for constitutional government, and aspirations for national sovereignty. Economic

hardships, social inequality, and the desire for political representation also played a role in

fuelling the uprisings.

• Italy

• Coup by Carbonari (secret society of liberal intellectuals and military officers) in

1821, forced King Victor Emmanuel I of Piedmont-Sardinia to abdicate. It led to a

temporaryconstitutional monarchybefore the Holy Alliance intervened. (Austria,

Prussia, Russia)

• Mazzini participated as a young boy of 15 in these demonstrations and was

influenced by Carbonari.

• Portugal - Liberal Revolution

• The Revolutionresultedinthereturnof the Portuguese Courtto Portugal(in 1821)

from Brazil, where it had fled during the Peninsular War.

• Establishment of Constitutional monarchy.

• Russia - Decemberist Revolt (1825)

• Russian military officers who had been exposed to liberal and nationalist ideas in

Europe led the failed attempt to overthrow Tsar Nicholas I.

• England: Peterloo Massacre (1819)

Greek war of independence (1821-32)

• Against its master Ottomans in 1821.

• Ottoman Empire was a Muslim Empire but under its control, there was a larger

Christian population in Eastern Europe. Greece was among them.

• For over 400 years,the Greekshad suffered variousformsofoppression,including

economic exploitation and restrictions on their language, culture, and religion.

• Nationalism and the idea of self-determination were gaining traction which created a

favorable context for the revolt.

• When Greece revolted against their master, Ottomans responded with brutal force and

a long-standing warfare began.

• When Turkey was not nable to suppress it on its own, it hired services of Egypt.
• The conflict attracted international attention and support.

• Various European powers, including Britain, France, and Russia, provided aid to

the Greeks.

• On the basis of the principle of legal inheritance, even this revolt should have

been suppressed by the Concert of Europe but here the matter was complicated

due to religious factors.

▪ Since most of the Greeks belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church, Russia

had natural affinity towards Greek independence.

▪ However, Metternich wanted to support old states and oppose any

nationalism which he considered equally dangerous to all. So, a rift

appeared between Austria and Russia on this issue.

▪ Britaingotinvolvedthematterbysupporting/sympathizing with Greeceas

it didn't want Russia to take the sole credit of support.

• In 1827,Britain,France, and Russiasigned the Treatyof London,whichrecognized

Greece as an independent state and called for the withdrawal of Ottoman forces

from Greek territory. Britain played a key role in negotiating this treaty, which

helped to bring an end to the war.

• Then,in 1827,acombined British,French,and Russianfleet defeatedan Ottoman

fleet at the Battle of Navarino, which helped to enforce the Treaty of

Constantinople and secure Greece's independence (1832). Thus, with European

intervention, Greece got independence.

• The war had a significant impact on European politics and contributed to the growth of

nationalism and the principle of national self-determination.

Latin America

• When Spain became free after defeat of Napoleon, it again tried to assert its dominance

on Latin America. It was protected by Concert of Europe.

• But in the meanwhile, Britain had expanded its trade relationship with Britain. Spanish

re-assertion would have snapped the trade relation. So, Britain became the vested

interest and encouraged Spanish nationalists to rise against their masters. Britain

extended the secret help. Thus, started their liberation movement.

• Among creoles emerged Simon Bolivar, a military leader. He started to liberate colonies

onebyone.When Spainsenthisarmytosuppressthemovement,eventhearmyrevolted

against the Spanish government.

• It was the time that some of the conservative members of the Concert of Europe decided

to intervene in the matter of Latin America and to send their army to suppress the

movement there.

• Both Metternich and Tsar Alexander I of Russia wanted to suppress the ideals of

FR - liberalism and nationalism.

• But this proposal was opposed by Britain under PM Canning.

• However, since Metternich and Tsar Alexander were not budging, Britain encouraged the

USA to step in. It was American President James Munroe who propagated his famous

Munroe doctrine (1823) and gave a serious warning to European powers for not

intervening in the matter of America.

• "Latin Americaisthebackyardof United Statesof Americaandifanypowermakes

an intervention into the matter, it is just like making an intervention into the

internal matter of U.S.A."

• A great rupture was created in the rupture of Europe as Britain was not willing to go with the

conservative policy of Austria/Russia and even France was nearer to Britain.

Liberation of Latin America and Simon Bolivar

Latin Americawas Spanishcolonialempireruledoveriteversincethediscoveryof America.

Like the America colonies in North, the Spanish American empire was also inhabited by

whites only and these whites fought for independence from Spanish rule.

Factors responsible for the rise of Nationalism:

The land was ethnically diverse.

• Peninsulares = Spanish
• Creoles = Spanish origin but settled here
• Mestizos = Creoles + Indians
• Mulattos = Creoles + Africans
• Indians
• African

• Conflict of interest between Peninsulares and Creoles:

• Most posts were occupied by Peninsulares while Creoles were educated,

landholders, respectables but were deprived from power structure. It created a

clash of interest.

• Success of North American colonies:

• In 1780 s, the British American colonies in north America led the first liberation

movementofacolonyintheworldandsuccessfullyemergedasanindependent

nation. Its success encouraged aspiration among Latin American people. The

impact of ideas of American Revolution also resulted in growth of awakening in

Latin America.

• The political transformation brought about FR of 1789 also played role in the

commencement of nationalist struggle in Latin America.

• The message of nationalism of FR reached Latin America.
• Soon, Napoleon conquered whole Europe including Spain (1808) which was the

mother country of Latin American states. Napoleon disgraced the king. The

Spanish control over colonies became negligible. Now, local Spanish

commanders were ruling in name of Spain. This provided an opportunity to

nationalist elements to intensify its struggle for independence from Spanish

rule. It created some sort of confidence in the Creoles.

During opening decades of 19 th c., the Latin American struggle was led by San Jose Martin,

and Simon Bolivar.

Simon Bolivar Liberation of several South American nations, including Venezuela,

Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

San Jose Martin Liberated Argentina, Chile, and Peru from Spanish colonial rule.

Others:

• Mexican independence: Miguel Hidalgo, Jose Maria Morelos and Agustin de Iturbide
• Chile: Bernardo O'Higgins

Simon Bolivar (The Liberator):

• Simon Bolivar, himself a Creole, started a war of liberation after having been inspired

by the episode of British Americans.

• Bolivar propagated progressive and liberal ideas of the French Revolution. He penned

two political treatises encouraging the people of South America to rebel against

Spanish colonial rule.

• Manifiesto de Cartagena ("Cartagena Manifesto")
• Carta de Jamaica ("Letter from Jamaica")

• He was also inspired by Napoleon.

• Napoleon, he believed, had freed people from the old regime of absolutism.

• Bolívar himself led multiple expeditionary forces against the Spaniards with covert

British support.

• Between 1819 and 1822 he successfully liberated three territories

• New Granada (Colombia and Panama)
• Venezuela (1813), and Quito (Ecuador, 1821)

• With the help of Argentine revolutionary José de San Martín, Bolívar freed

• Peru (1824)
• Upper Peru (Bolivia, 1825)

• So, there emerged from the fragments of the former Spanish Empire a collection of

republics most of them ruled by soldiers.

1789 1837

Vision of a United South America

• Bolivar's original plan was, after liberating the region, to constitute a federation.
• Bolivar's most notable attempt at creating a united South American nation was the

formation of Gran Colombia. (on lines of USA)

• Bolivar envisioned Gran Colombia as a federation of these newly independent

regions. He wanted to create a single, strong nation that would serve as a

beacon of liberty and democracy in South America.

• At the Congress of Angostura (1819), Bolivar presented his ideas for Gran

Colombia.

▪ The Congress adopted a constitution, and Bolivar was elected as its first

president.

▪ The constitution of Gran Colombia

emphasized democratic principles

and equal rights.

▪ Life-long presidency, nominated

upper house of parliament &

Elected lower house of

parliament.

• However, the practical challenges of

governance and regional differences soon

became apparent.

▪ Bolivar struggled to maintain unity within the federation. Political

disagreements and conflicts between centralists and federalists further

strained the union.

▪ His ideas were too conservative for liberals and too liberal for

conservatives.

• By 1831, Gran Colombia had dissolved due to internal strife and regional

separatism. He was overthrown and Local commander established their rule in

different parts of Latin America. Venezuela, Ecuador, and New Granada

(present-day Colombia) became separate, independent nations.

• Panama Congress (1826)

• Convened with broader Bolivar's vision of regional integration and solidarity

among newly independent nations.

• Despite Bolivar's aspirations, the Congress of Panama faced significant

challenges. Many of the participating nations had differing priorities and

concerns. Internal divisions and rivalries amongthe delegates also hindered the

congress from achieving its intended goals.

So, his specific plans for creating a united states of South America did not come to full

fruition.

Causes behind the failure:

• Just like in Africa, the mismatch between the geographical and ethnic boundaries.
• Division between urban minorities which led the liberation movement and their

followers.

• Racial division
• Economic dependency
• Growing role of Church in politics
• The affairs of the republics were usurped by Caudillos
• Civil wars ensued between different states.

Although Simon bolivar died as a hated man, importance of his ideas realized by Latin

American even today and he is hailed as EL LIBERATOR. His ideas of unity, democracy, and

liberty had a lasting impact on the region. He is often referred to as the "George

Washington of South America" for his role in the independence movement.

Even though his dream of United South America couldn't be fulfilled, organizations like the

Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and

Caribbean States (CELAC) are examples of recent initiatives that aim to foster cooperation

and unity among Latin American nations.

Revolution of 1830 s

The revolution started in France (July Revolution of 1830), and very soon it assumed Pan

European character.

France:

After the downfall of Napoleon, the Charter of 1814 established constitutional monarchy. It

limited the powers of the king, created bicameral legislature, protected certain rights and

liberties of people, and ensure property rights. It led to the restoration of Bourbons.

Bourbon Restoration Period (1814-1830)

• Louis XVIII (1815-24)
• Charles X (1824-30)

The revolution of 1830 took place against the ruler Charles X.

• Charles didn't want to follow the compromising policy of his predecessor

• His attempts to restrict the powers of the legislature and limit the rights of the

people led to widespread opposition.

• He also tried to enforce Roman Catholic religion on people.
• He imposed death penalty for any pilfering of Church objects.
• Compensation for aristocratic losses in the revolution of 1789.

• His assertion was opposed by the middle-class people who were in the assembly. So, he

tried to bypass the Assembly and Charter, and started to rule through Four Ordinances.

• Restrict the freedom of the press.
• Dissolve the newly elected Chamber of Deputies
• Change the electoral laws in favor of the monarchy
• Reduction in number of voters

• Peoplesawthemasanattackonthelibertiesandanattemptbythemonarchytomaintain

absolute power. It was taken as a harbinger of return to Absolutism. The ordinances

sparked widespread protests and demonstrations, which was the July Revolution of 1830.

• As street protests erupted, these opponents of Charles X were also worried that

commoners would demand that France become a republic once again which they didn't

want.

• Eventually, Charles X was forced to abdicate, there was the overthrew of the Bourbon

monarchy and establishment of a new constitution.

Outcome:

• It marked the end of the Bourbon monarchy

• The revolution resulted in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under

the rule of Louis-Philippe of the house of Orleans. He was thus known as Citizen

King. This marked a shift towards a more liberal and constitutional form of

government, known as the July Monarchy.

• This change of government was definitely a rupture which was created in

Europeanorder,asthegovernmentof Charles Xwasalegitimate governmentduly

accepted by the Concert of Europe. Thus, the principle of legitimacy emphasized

by Vienna Congress got shattered.

• French middle class established its political dominance in the country.

• New king expanded suffrage to around 1.7 L people (out of 3 crore population) (
• Secularism also triumphed in France because the educations was liberated from

the control of church.

• However,

• Social unrestremainedhigh as Francebecamea moreindustrializedeconomy with

morepeoplelivingincities.Bothlivingandworkingconditionsforcommonpeople

were often terrible.

Spread of Revolution outside France

Austrian Chancellor Metternich commented "what did happen to Europe, whenever France

sneezes, the whole of Europe catches cold".

• Thenewsofsuccessofrevolutionin Franceinspiredthepeopleall over Europerevolutions

broke out in parts of Italy, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal.

• As a result of impactof FRof 1789,Francehad attainedthestatusofleader in Europe,any

incidence taken place in France used to generate echoes in all over Europe.

• The people of Europe had supported their kings in 1813 against Napoleon's imperialism

with the hope of getting liberal constitutional regime. But the Vienna Order shattered

their hopes and aspirations. As a result of which the people started looking towards

France once again for guidance and leadership.

• Belgium

• Arevolutionstarted against Holland/Dutchandfinally,Belgiumgotindependence.
• London Conference of 1830 established Belgium as an independent and neutral

kingdom.

• This incident also shows growing rapture in European order. The territorial

arrangement on the border of France set up by Co V was disturbed.

• Britain

• Therevolutionarysituationwasavertedthroughintroducingaparliament reforms

bill in 1832.On the basis of thisbill 6 lakh new voters got the franchise. It widened

the social base of democracy.

• Italy

• Various Italian states, including the Papal States, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,

and the Duchy of Modena, experienced uprisings and revolts against their rulers.

These revolts, while not leading to significant political changes, demonstrated

growing nationalist sentiments and desires for reform.

• A revolution in favor of unification started under Mazzini in 1831. Mazzini

emerged as a key figure in the Italian nationalist movement.

▪ He spread nationalist awakening among Italians through his writings and

speeches.

• He sought to create a sense of national identity among the diverse

peoples of Italy.

• Hehighlightedthecommondemandspresentamongdiverse Italian

cultures.

• The spirit of fraternity was propagated by him among the people.
• He emphasized the virtue of sacrifice for the causes of nation.

▪ The efforts made by Mazzini brought about an intellectual revolution in

Italy. He successfully carried out intellectual unification of all Italians and

this intellectual unification prepared a background for political unification

of Italy in future.

• Young Italy was formed in 1831 by Mazzini. It aimed to unify Italy, free it from

foreign domination and establish of a democratic republic. It worked overtly

through activism, propaganda, and education, with the aim of creating a popular

uprising. It established a network of secret societies throughout Italy, working to

recruit and radicalize individuals.

• Itsactivitiesweresuppressedbythevariousreactionaryforcesthatdominated the

Italian peninsula at the time. Thus, it didn't succeed in unifying Italy.

• Germany

• The revolution in German states (esp urban uprisings and student movements)

was mostly suppressed.

• However, people of Brunswick, Hesse and Hanover could extract liberal

constitutions from their rulers.

• Polish November Uprising (1830): Brutally suppressed by the Russian Tzar Nicholas I.

Analysis of 1830

• Nationalism

• The Revolutions of 1830 were marked by a rising tide of nationalism, with people

across Europe seeking greater political autonomy and independence from foreign

rulers.

• Nationalist sentiments were particularly evident in the Belgian and Polish

uprisings.

• Class role debate:

• Liberal ideas, including demands for constitutional government, individual rights,

and freedom of the press, were central to the revolutions. In many cases, liberals

played a key role in organizing and leadingthe uprisings. In countries like Belgium,

Britain and France, liberalism triumphed.

▪ Franz Mehring (German socialist historian): "The July Revolution of 1830

was an uprising of the middle classes, the bourgeoisie, which was directed

not only against the Bourbon dynasty, but also against the old feudal

system."

• Social and economic discontent played a role in these revolutions. The urban

working class, influenced by liberal and republican ideas, often supported calls for

political reform and representation.

▪ George Rude (British Marxist historian): "The social and economic crisis,

which swept through the towns and countryside of the Bourbon kingdom

in 1830, had produced a class-consciousness among the urban workers."

• Outcome:

• While some countries, like Belgium, France and Britain (Western Part), achieved

their independence or constitutional reforms, others, like Italy, Germany and

Poland (Eastern Part), saw their uprisings crushed.

• Limited Impact: "The Revolution of 1830 did not represent a general overthrowof

the old order. It was a disturbance, a violent break in the rhythms of established

life and society." (Eric Hobsbawm)

• The Revolutions of 1830 demonstrated the persistence of revolutionary spirit in

Europe, settingthe stageforfurtherrevolutionarymovementsinthedecades that

followed, including the Revolutions of 1848.

UPSC CSE PYQs

Revolutions of 1848

• "Most of the European Revolutions of 1848 were nationalist as well as popular

insurrections against foreign rule and repressive policy of Metternich." Comment.

[2008, 20 Marks]

• "The language of narrow nationalism held at Frankfurt destroyed the German

Revolution; as the fatal idea of aggrandizement of the House of Savoy destroyed the

Italian Revolution." Discuss. [2014, 20 Marks]

• Discuss how agrarian crisis accompanied by severe industrial depression triggered the

Revolutions of 1848. [2017, 10 Marks]

• "The 1848 revolutions frightened the crowned heads of Europe and caused several to

abdicate. Those who remained were cognizant of the threats posed by liberalism,

nationalism and socialism." Comment. [2020, 10 Marks]

• What were the causes and consequences of the revolutionary upsurges of the 1840 s in

Europe? [2021, 20 Marks]

• "The Revolutions of 1848 were shaped by the ideas of democracy and nationalism."

Critically Analyze. [2023, 10 Marks]

Revolution of 1848

(Spring of Nations)

In the year 1848, revolutions swept across Europe once again. It was the greatest wave of

revolutions Europe had ever seen.

• Nationalism: It was a potent force in 1848. Many people in Europe were yearning for

national unity and self-determination.

• The revolutions of 1848 were the first major wave of revolutions to be driven by

popular nationalism.

• Nationalist sentiments brought together diverse groups, including intellectuals,

students, urban middle class, peasants, and workers, to demand political change.

• The intelligentsia played a key role in promoting nationalism during the

Revolutions of 1848.

• Nationalist movements sought to unify people who shared a common cultural or

linguistic heritage into cohesive and independent nation-states.

• Liberal Ideas:

• Nationalism went hand in hand with a desire for political independence and self-

determination. Many people saw the ruling monarchs, often from foreign

dynasties, as oppressors who didn't represent the interests of their nation.

• Industrial Revolution and Economic Discontent:

• Peopleincitiesweresufferingfromeconomicdislocation,manyhavingcome from

farms where new machinery had made their labor unnecessary. Urban artisans

were also under threat because industrialization was automating some of their

jobs.

• In severalparts of Europe, particularly in Ireland and Eastern Europe, crop failures

and famines aggravated the existing economic and socialtensions,contributingto

discontent.

Nationalism and 1848 Revolutions

• Linda Colley: "Nationalism was a crucial element in the 1848 upheavals. Nationalist

movementswereinstrumentalinchallengingthelegitimacyofrulingelitesandcreating

a sense of collective identity among diverse groups within a nation."

• Jonathan Sperber: "The revolutions of 1848 were not driven solely by nationalism, but

by a complex interplay of factors including economic hardship, political repression,and

social discontent. Nationalism served as a unifying force among disparate groups, but

it was not the sole cause of the uprisings."

The Revolutions of 1848 was a major challenge to Vienna order of 1815. It was the

continuation of the revolution triggered by FR of 1789 in Europe. It tried to complete

unfinished agenda of revolution of 1830, but its success was only partial. Like in 1830, it

started in France andmovedtoothercountriesof Europesuchas Italy,Germany,Hungaryetc.

Western Europe

France (February Revolution)

• This time, a revolt was organized against the government of Louis Phillip.

• His foreign policy was tame, and the domestic policy was against the interest of

the common masses.

• Theconstitutionalregimeof Louis Phillipswasrestingonthesupportof the French

middle class. Upper/middle-class reformers objected to cronyism, limited voting

rights, and censorship.

• The revolution

• On 2 nd February 1848, an agitation was going on in streets of Paris, demanding

extension of franchise. The police fired upon these agitators. Immediately a

revolution broke out in the streets of Paris.

• The terrified king Louis Phillips renounced the throne and exiled to Paris. His

abdication resulted in fall of monarchy in France.

• The role of working class

• The crowds that backed by the middle-class reformers were fueled by

discontented workers, the unemployed, and struggling artisans --all affected by

rising food prices as well as uncertain conditions of employment.

• After 1830 s, the socialist ideas had gained popularity in France despite the much

lower level of industrialization in France when compared with Britain.

▪ Socialism was far more popular in France because of environment of free

thinking created by the revolution of 1789.

▪ Saint Simon was one of the earliest socialist thinkers, Louis Blanc was

another prominent socialist leader, these socialists were demanding

better working conditions for labours and extension of Franchise.

• Second Republic (1848-1852)

• It was organized by liberal and socialist politicians.
• With this, the political dominance of the middle class got shattered and political

resurgence of lower classes took place.

▪ The June Days Uprising takes place in Paris, resulting in a violent clash

between the government forces and socialist revolutionaries. The

government suppressed the revolt.

• Reforms:abolitionofslaveryin Frenchcolonies,theintroductionofuniversalmale

suffrage, and the establishment of the right to work.

• However,thegovernmentfacedoppositionfromconservativeforces,whosawthe

reforms as a threat to their power and privilege.

• When the elections were held in the new republic for the post of president,it was

the Bonapartists who came to power, and as the leader of Bonapartists, Louis

Napoleon III became the president of the French Republic.

• He remained the president for four years and then he declared himself to be the

Emperor of France. So, it appears as if history repeated itself.

Other countries:

• Britain: The popular discontent took the form of a peaceful movement that was the

Chartist movement in 1848.

• Workers had developed their own leadership. Nearly 5 lakh workers gathered in

London, and in support of their six demands, they presented nearly 60 lakh

signatures to the British parliament.

• The British parliament rejected them. So, immediately it did not produce any

substantial result, but it prepared the way for future changes.

• Spain/Portugal - establishment of liberal constitution in 1851.

Central and Eastern Europe

The success of February revolution in France inspired the revolutionary uprisings in various

other parts of Europe.

• Austria

• By 1848, Metternich was so unpopular that disliking him managed to unite the

disparate interests of various classes and ethnic identities in the empire.

▪ Revolutionaries brought a barricade around Vienna.

• Under the pressure of revolution, the conservative Chancellor Metternich was

forced to resign, he flew from the capital in disguise and took refuge in Britain.

▪ "The time has been when I could have saved my reputation, but I would

not save it at the expense of my country. My reputation is gone, but I have

saved my country. I am either too early or too late."

• In Dec 1848, Emperor Ferdinand stepped down in favor of his nephew, Francis

Joseph. The new Austrian monarch,

under the pressure, was ready to accept

a liberal constitution for the people.

• But, later when the Russian army

appeared and gave support to the

Austrian government. Then the Austrian

government withdrew its earlier

concession and suppressed the

revolution.

• Later, Hungary gained internal autonomy

from Austria.

• Germany

• The downfall of Metternich inspired the German nationalists to carry out the

political unification of Germany. A session of Frankfurt parliament was summoned

by German nationalists and it was decided that Germany should be unified under

the leadership of Prussia.

• The Frankfurt parliament took the initiative for unification.

▪ Parliament was convened in 1848.

• Its goal was to draft a constitution for a unified German state.
• Itpreferredconstitutionalmonarchy.Itofferedthecrownofunited

Germany to Frederick William IV king of Prussia.

• However, the Frankfurt Parliament faced numerous challenges,

▪ Opposition from conservative forces within Germany

▪ It was also plagued by internal disagreements over key issues such as the

relationship between the federal government and the individual German

states.

Caricature on Metternich's escape

from March 1848

▪ The Prussian king Frederick William IV refused to accept the office of

emperor.

▪ Resistance from Austria, which saw it as a threat to its own influence.

• Thus,it did not get success.So,the movement forunification in Germanyreceived

a setback.

▪ The crackdown on the Frankfurt Parliament suppressed it, but couldn't

eliminate,therevolutionarymovementin Germany.Thedesirefor German

unification,and the movement for a unified Germanycontinuedto grow in

the coming decades.

• Italy

• A movement for unification started in Italy by Mazzini. Mazzini persuaded ruler of

Piedmont, Charles Albert, declared war against Austria. Pope Pious IX and

Ferdinand II of Naples Sicily were also pressurized to join hands

• When the fight against Austria was going on, Pope Pious IX Ferdinand II withdraw

from the battlefield. Charles Albert alone was no match to Austria might. He was

defeated by Austria.

• With this, the bid for unification received a major setback.

Analysis of 1848

Extent of success

• It was an all-European Revolution.
• Positive changes were more visible in Western Europe but in Central and Eastern Europe,

the revolution was almost suppressed. So, there was a relative failure.

1830 v/s 1848

• John Merriman:

• Therevolutionsof 1830 werelargelyaliberalreactiontotheconservativeregimes

(bourgeoise revolution) and tried to bring constitutional reforms and political

freedom for the middle class.

• Therevolutionsof 1848 weremore radical.Theywerearesponseto the economic

and social dislocations caused by industrialization and urbanization (democratic

revolution). They involved a broader cross-section of society, including workers

and peasants. It was more broadly concerned with social, economic, and political

reforms, including issues such as workers' rights, land reform etc.

▪ Industrial revolution in Europe was bringing radical change. With the

growing Industrial Revolution,theplightof theworkingclassbecamequite

pathetic. There was a deep social intensity, in front of which, the survival

of conservative/reactionary Metternich system became impossible.

▪ In 1845, there was also a failure of potato crop. Not only in Ireland, but

also in Germany,France,Belgium, ithadhuge impact.It causedfoodprices

to rise, making it difficult for many people to afford basic necessities. So, a

revolution-like atmosphere was created.

• Eric Hobsbawm:

• The revolutions of 1830 and 1848 represented different stages in the broader

process of the European revolutions.

• The 1830 revolution was a "liberal revolution" that paved the way for the more

radical and transformative 1848 revolution.

• Robert Gildea:

• While the 1830 revolution was primarily focused on domestic issues, the 1848

revolution was driven in part by a desire for national unity.

• It was thus redrawing the map of Congress of Vienna, along ethnic and linguistic

boundaries.

AJP Taylor described 1848 as a moment when history reached a turning point but failed to

turn.

• Reached a turning point:

▪ 1848 was a year of widespread revolution and political upheaval across

Europe.Inmanycountries,peopleweredemandingpoliticalandsocialre form,

and there were widespread uprisings and protests. It was a moment of high

expectations and potential for change.

• Failed to turn:

▪ Despite initial success,these revolutions were often short-lived or incomplete.

They ultimately failed to bring about the sweeping reforms.

▪ Conservative forces were able to reassert their control in many countries and

the movements were defeated either through military force or by the

conservative governments.

▪ Many of the gains made during the revolutions were reversed or undermined

in the yearsthat followed, and it wasnot until many decades later that the full

extent of the social and political changes was achieved.

• Reasons:

▪ One major factor was the lack of consensus among the revolutionaries about

an alternative future.

▪ Resistance of conservative forces.

▪ External factors: economic and political power of Great Britain and France

helped conservative governments and prevent revolutionary movements in

other parts of Europe.

• Yet it doesn't mean that it was without significance.

▪ A profound impact on the development of European nationalism.

▪ The revolutions helped to establish the principles of democracy and popular

sovereignty as powerful and enduring ideas, thereby helped to pave the way

for future movements for social and political change.

• Despite its relative failure, 1848 proved a game-changer for future Europe, as both

Socialism and Nationalism learnt a hard lesson from that.

▪ Although the leadership was in the hands of the middle class. But it was

the artisans and workers who were active in the urban regions and

peasants were active in the countryside. Artisans and workers created

barricades in important towns of Vienna, Berlin, Paris etc.

▪ After 1848, feudalism got wiped out from the whole of Europe quickly.

• Austria abolished corvee in 1848.
• Even in Russia, serfdom was abolished in 1861.

▪ Before 1848, nationalism was idealistic and liberal but after 1848 nationalism

became militaristic and realistic.

▪ That's why Italian and German nationalists later accepted the leadership of

Cavour and Bismarck respectively in order to realize their goal.

▪ Afterthefailure of 1848,socialism discarded itsearlier idealisticcharacter and

became much more realistic in approach. It was in the same year that Marx

published its famous Communist Manifesto.

• The revolution popularized socialism in Europe but the western

interest did not allow the socialist ideas to gain much success. This

failure convinced the socialists that the liberal methods won't

succeed and working class turned its face towards Marxism.

UPSC CSE PYQs

• Stages

• Trace the various stages that led to the Unification of Italy between 1848 and

1. [1980, 60 Marks]

• Trace the course of the movement for Italian Unification from 1848 with special

reference to the contribution of Mazzini. [1983, 60 Marks]

• How was Italy transformed from 'a geographical expression' to a nation-state?

[2019, 20 Marks]

• Discuss the different stages of the unification of Italy from 1848 to the

occupation of Rome in 1870. [2023, 20 Marks]

• Role of Cavour

• "They have stopped me from making Italy by diplomacy from the North; I will

make it by revolution from the South." Comment. [1985, 20 Marks]

• What were the obstacles to Italian unification till 1852? How and with what

methods was the unification of Italy achieved? [1993, 60 Marks]

• "They have stopped me from making Italy by diplomacy from the North; I will

make it by revolution from the South." Comment. [2005, 20 Marks]

• Role of Mazzini

• "Mazzini's conception of Italian nationality was not exclusive, and his dominant

ideal was the recreation of moral unity of mankind." Critically examine. [2015,

10 Marks]

• With Reference to the Co V

• "The unification of Italy completed…the destruction of the European order."

Comment. [1997, 20 Marks]

Italian region did have a sense of a shared culture from the time of renaissance itself, but

remained geographically, politically and economically divided at the beginning of the 19 th

century.

Risorgimento was a 19 th-century ideological as well as political movement which aroused

national consciousness for Italian unification. It culminated in the establishment of the

Kingdom of Italy in 1861, by expelling foreign domination and uniting different regions

politically.

Obstacles in unification of Italy

• Internal Division: "Italy was merely a geographical expression" (Metternich)

• Congress of Vienna divided Italy in various parts under different rulers.

▪ Piedmont-Sardinia: A separate state under the House of Savoy.

• It was the most powerful state in the region.

▪ Lombardi, Venetia: Vested under the

control of Austria.

▪ Parma, Modena and Tuscany:

Habsburg prince was established as

the monarch.

▪ Middle Italian region: given to Pope

(Papal region)

▪ Naplesand Sicily:Kingsfrom Bourbon

dynasty were restored.

• Regionalism: Every Italian states had its own

unique history, culture, and language.

• Italy was economically divided between

northern-southern part. Slight

industrialization had taken place in North

Italy but South Italy was primarily agrarian.

• The feudal lords and nobles were very powerful and wanted to keep Italy

fragmented to ensure their interests.

• Opposing forces:

• Foreign domination:

▪ Italy was divided into several small states and territories that were under

the control of foreign powers, such as Austria, France, and Spain.

▪ Austrian Empire was working as vigilante opposing any change.

• Papal Opposition:

▪ The Catholic Church held significant influence in Italy and was opposed to

the idea of unification because it would threaten its power and influence.

▪ Some region in middle Italian part was under the control of Pope and no

Europeanpowercoulddaretoinvade.Ifdisturbed,even Francewould have

to intervene.

• Weakness of the Unification movement

• Lack of popular support:

▪ The idea of Italian unification was initially popular only among a small

group of intellectuals and liberals.

▪ Most of the population was largely indifferent to the idea of a united Italy

and did not actively support the cause.

• Limited resources:

▪ The Italian states were poor and lacked the financial resources to fund a

war or a significant political movement for unification.

• Internal/ideological divisions:

▪ The Italian unification movement was marked by internal divisions,

rivalries, and disagreements among its leaders and supporters. These

divisionsweakenedthemovementandmadeitdifficulttoachieveaunified

strategy and approach.

▪ On this issue, there were three different models.

• Monarchists: Unification under the leadership of the monarch of

Piedmont-Sardinia. (eg Cavour)

• Republicans: Unification under the leadership of the republic as in

Italy.

• Italy had a long tradition of republicanism since Roman era.
• Leader: Mazzini and his disciple Garibaldi.

• Neo-gulfs: Favoured the unification under the leadership of Pope

of Rome. (eg Priest Geoberti)

Despite these obstacles, Italian unification was eventually achieved through the leadership of

figures such as Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Camillo di Cavour.

The Timeline of Unification

• Role of Napoleon Bonaparte

• Italy was conquered by Napoleon during 1796-97. He liberated Italy from Austria.

Entire Italy was divided into three parts and a republican state was established in

Italy.

• Napoleon carried out reform in accordance with the ideas of French Revolution.

Politicallibertywasgranted,principleofequalitywasdeclaredasthebasisof state

andsocietybydestroyingfeudalism.Freedomofpressandreligionwereprovided.

• Napoleon also reminded Italiansof their past greatnessand paved the wayfor the

growth of awakening.

• When the rule of Napoleon turned despotic, the spirit of nationalism emerged in

Italy. This Italian nationalism inspired the process of Italian political unification in

future.

• Role of Congress of Vienna:

• The Congress of Vienna, in order to suppress the idea of Nationalism, reversed

the political changes carried out by Napoleon.

• With this objective, it divided Italy and converted it merely a geographical

expression. The changes carried out by Vienna congress were strongly against

Italian nationalist aspirations, but the integration of Genoa with Piedmont

Sardinia created the possibilities of Italian unification under its leadership.

• Carbonari (1800-1831) (charcoal burners)

• It was a secret society and revolutionary movement inspired by the

Enlightenment and French Revolution. It aimed to overthrow foreign rule and

absolute monarchy, promote liberal and nationalist ideals, constitutional

government, and civil liberties.

• The Carbonari included members from all walks of life, including peasants,

artisans, merchants, and professionals (mobilized a broad range of people in

support of Italian unification).

• It was also involved in revolutionary activities like uprisings, conspiracies, and

insurrections against foreign rulers and conservative governments in Italy. (e.g.

Neapolitan Carbonari uprising of 1820)

• However, the secrecy made coordination difficult, and internal divisions hindered

effectiveness. Additionally, their uprisings faced harsh repression from foreign

powers, such as Austria and the Bourbon monarchy in Naples.

• Still, they contributed to the early awakening of Italian nationalism and their

legacy as a symbol of Italian resistance and the desire for unification endured and

inspired future generations of Italian nationalists, including Giuseppe Garibaldi

and Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour.

• The course of events carried the movement of unification naturally in favour of

monarchy.

• 1820 s: disturbance in Naples, Sicily and many other regions.
• 1830 s: Activism of republican leader Mazzini who promoted his organization

'Young Italy' encouraged the revolution through republican ideas. (already

covered in earlier class)

• 1848:

▪ Charles Albert rose up to the occasion and he declared a war against

Austria.

▪ But Piedmont-Sardinia was not a match for the Austrian empire. So, It was

defeated at the hand of Austria and the process of unification received a

serious jolt.

The Era of Victor Immanuel II and Count Cavour

• Victor Immanuel II was a very competent ruler. He decided to make Piedmont-Sardinia a

powerful state in Italy. So, he started a process of reforms in Piedmont-Sardinia.

• The king appointed Count Cavour I as the finance minister.

▪ He was a proponent of constitutional monarchy and liberal reforms.

▪ He carried reforms in agriculture, worked for the promotion of

industrialization, and in order to promote trade and commerce, he

pursued the policy of free trade and concluded treaties with European

countries. Banks and cooperative societies were established.

▪ So, economically now Piedmont-Sardinia was in a better position.

• After that in 1852, Victor Immanuel II promoted Cavour to the post of Prime

Minister.

▪ He now did a lot for the reorganization of the army of Piedmont-Sardinia.

So,evenonthemilitaryfront,Piedmont-Sardiniabecameapowerful state.

A strong force of 90,000 soldiers was created.

▪ Stepswere taken to provide civilliberties to people. Therole of the Church

was curtailed and a secular polity was established.

• Thus, Piedmont Sardinia became a model state in the Italian Peninsula - the

wealthiest, powerful and most liberal state.

• Crimean War and diplomatic gains of Piedmont-Sardinia (1854-56)

• After having been prepared economically and militarily, Cavour set a foot in

international politics.

• Firstly, he discarded the doctrine of Italia-fara-da-se (Italy will go alone)

promoted by earlier King Charles Albert. He started to search for an international

ally.

• Crimean War gave him a good opportunity for internationalizing Italian issue and

find an international ally.

▪ He supported Britain and France in the battle. In this war, he volunteered

for a military contingent of 15,000 soldiers.

▪ As a result of this move, Piedmont-Sardinia could get a seat in the Paris

Conference (1856) after the war. Thus, Crimean war proved the game

changer - thus from the mud of Crimea the unified Italy emerged.

• Inthisconference,Cavourinternationalizedtheissueevenafter the

objection from the Austrian representative.

• Rift caused between Austria and Russia
• In the Paris Conference, Cavour developed personal rapport with

Napoleon III, which helped in Plombiers' Pact. It was with the

Frenchhelpinthesecondwarof Italianunification,that Austriawas

expelled from some Italian reigon.

• Treaty of Plombieres (1858): In Paris conference, Cavour came near to French Monarch,

Louis Napoleon III as well. Now he decided to conclude a treaty to reserve the support

from France for Piedmont-Sardinia on the Italian issue.

• Treaty

▪ It established a military alliance between Piedmont-Sardinia and France.

France promised assistance of 2 lakh soldiers.

▪ France would help Piedmont-Sardinia to recover Lombardy and Venetia

from the Austria. In return, France would get Nice and Savoy.

• The Plombières Pactmarkedaturningpointin the Risorgimento,andsetinmotion

the process that eventually led to the unification of Italy under the leadership of

Sardinia. It was a diplomatic success by Cavour.

• Second war of Italian Independence (1859) → Unification of Lombardy

• After getting assurance of French support, Cavour instigated a revolt against

Austria in Lombardy, at this Austria attacked Piedmont in 1859. As per the pact,

French forces arrived for help.

• Then France and Piedmont started a joint military operation against Austria. After

this operation, when they got initial success, French emperor Louis Napoleon III

changedhismind.Hedida volte-faceandsigned the Treatyof Villafrancain 1859.

• Why did he do so?

▪ In fact, it was in the hope of Nice and Savoy from Piedmont, Louis had

joined the alliance, and he was hopingfor domestic support. However, the

people of France became disturbed because

• France being a Roman Catholic Nation fighting against another

Roman Catholic Nation, Austria.

• Large number of French casualties were reported.

▪ So, he withdrew from the war and signed a separate peace from Austria.

▪ Thereby, Piedmont-Sardinia received a serious jolt. Cavour felt

backstabbed and considered it as deceit of Villafranca.

▪ Cavour: "They have stopped me from making Italy by diplomacy from the

north, I will make by revolution from the south."

▪ At least, due to the intervention of Louis Napoleon III, Austria had to cede

the region of Lombardy to Piedmont-Sardinia but Venetia remained under

Austrian control. So, a part of the original plan was successful.

• Parma, Modena, Tuscany

• With annexation of Lombardy to Piedmont-Sardinia, there was a wave of the

nationalistsentimentsin the Italianregion.So,amovementforunificationstarted

in the region of Parma, Modena and Tuscany. (revolutionary environment

prevailing in the region)

• Cavourwasconfidentthatifareferendumwasconductedinthe region,theregion

could be merged with Piedmont-Sardinia.

• He assured Louis Napoleon of transfer of Nice and Savoy afterthe referendum the

region. So, the French emperor intervened in the matter.

• Onthebasisofthereferendum, withalmostunanimousvote,theregionof Parma,

Modena and Tuscany were integrated with Piedmont-Sardinia. So,the integration

of Northern Italy was almost over.

• Austria wanted to intervene in Italy to restore the rulers of Parma, Modena,

Tuscany, but British neutrality did not allow Austria to do so. British government

led by PM Palmerston declared that Italians must he left alone to decide their

future, and nobody must interface from outside.

• Based on referendum, Savoy and Nice was also united with France. When

Napoleon III accepted Nice and Savoy, Cavour said, "We are not accomplices."

• Southern Expedition by Garibaldi:

• The nationalist transformations going on in North Italy triggered popular

revolution in Naples against the foreign rule of Bourbon dynasty. But it was not

possible for Cavour to intervene in Naples and Sicily directly because of the

possibility of French Reaction.

• Integration of Southern states became possible due to the role of Garibaldi who

was a disciple of Mazzini, a republican.

• Garibaldi, in association with his 1000 well-disciplined volunteers (Redshirts),

moved towards southern states.

▪ En route, Garibaldi captured Naples and Sicily in 1860. He overthrew the

Bourbonmonarchy there.Soon,Cavouralsoconquered Umbria&Marche.

He was asked to merge these territories with North Italy, but he refused to

do so because he

wanted to create a

Republic.

• Cavour realized that

Garibaldi might convert

southern states into

republics.

▪ So, he suggested

Italian king Victor

Immanuel II to go

south and to take

charge of Naples and

Sicily from Garibaldi.

While moving

southwards, Victor Immanuel II captured some region of Pope, and then

he took charge of Naples and Sicily from Garibaldi.

▪ A plebiscite was held in all these regions to understand people's desire.

When the result was announced, Garibaldi realized his mistake and he

surrendered to king victor Immanuel II but was pardoned and was allowed

to go away. As per the result, all these territories were merged with North

Italy and Victor Immanuel II was coronated as the king of united Italy.

• So, except Venetia and Rome, the whole of Italy was unified and Victor Immanuel II

became the emperor of the Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946).

• The further development on the issues of Venetia and Rome was linked to the issue of

unification of Germany.

• Third War of Italian Unification (Venetia, 1866)

▪ When Prussia defeated the Austrian empire in the Battleof Sadowa, there

was the Treaty of Prague. Being an ally of Prussia, Italy also gained the

region of Venetia from Austria.

• Papal States (Rome, 1870)

Meeting at Teano (1860)

Garibaldi shook Victor Emanuel's hand and

hailed him as King of Italy; thus, Garibaldi

sacrificed republican hopes for the sake of

Italian unity under a monarchy.

▪ In the Battle of Sedan between France and Germany (1870), France came

under pressure and withdrew its soldiers from Rome. Prussia soon

defeated France.

▪ Italy seized the moment, sent its army and capture Rome. Pope was left

with small territory known as Vatican City and Rome was made the capital

of Italy.

• Thus, the unification of Italy was completed.

The relative contribution of different personalities in the unification of Italy

Victor Emmanuel, Garibaldi, Cavour, and Mazzini have been referred as Italy's Four Fathers

of the Fatherland.

Mazzini:

• Mazzini was a very important personality. He was a great visionary. It was he, who

conceived the idea of unified Italy.

• However, he was too idealistic in his approach. Republicanism was his first priority and

unification was the second one. So, wherever there was a conflict in the objective of

unification and republicanism, he gave priority to republicanism than to unification.

• When he found his disciple, Garibaldi, coming under the influence of monarchy of

Piedmont-Sardinia, discarding the objective of republicanism, he was grieved and

declared that "Aah, ultimately Machiavelli emerged to be victorious".

Victor Immanuel II:

• The first important personality was King Victor Immanuel II.
• He took charge of the affairs after the failure of his predecessor, Charles Albert.
• After coming to power, he did a lot for the modernization of Piedmont-Sardinia, and to

make it militarily a powerful state.

• He not simply chose Count Cavour as Prime Minister of Italy but also gave him sufficient

power to deal with the affairs.

Count Cavour:

• Count Cavour was a constitutional monarchist.

• Hisfirstobjectivewastostrengthenthepositionoftherulerof Piedmont-Sardinia.

Earlier, he was not in favour of Italian unification as a whole. Thus, his initial

objective was to geographically expand Piedmont-Sardinia in the region of

Lombardy and Venetia.

• He wassuspiciousaboutthemovementof republicanism.He tookrepublicanistas

a danger to the monarchy of Piedmont-Sardinia. However, it was after the treaty

of Villafranca, he became soft towards republicanism.

• When France deserted him, out of reaction, Cavour declared that they (European

powers)havestoppedusfromunificationthroughdiplomacyfromnorth,wewould

complete it through a revolution from south. Then it was with the support of

republicans he won through the referendum in the states of Parma, Modena and

Tuscany.

• Still, throughout his life, he remained worried about republicans.

• Afterthe integration of Northern Italy,he wasnotin a moodto go to southfor the

fear that republican ideas could prevail in Italy.

• But when Garibaldi chose the independent course of action, so for the fear of

southern states turningto be republican, he intervened in the matter and decided

to go to south.

• So, what appeared later as unified Italy, was not totally according to the vision of Count

Cavour.

Garibaldi:

• Without the role of Garibaldi, one can't explain unification.
• He was the disciple of Mazzini, and he was the republican. But he gave priority first to

unification and then to republican ideas, and whenever there was a contradiction

between the two he chose the course of the unification.

• That's why he welcomed the decision of Italian republicans, when they accepted

the leadership of the monarchy of Piedmont-Sardinia.

• But it didn't mean that he was at peace with monarchy.

• Once he expressed hisgrief,"Aah, what have youdone, we have expelled Bourbon

(Naples and Sicily) but brought another dynasty (Immanuel II), we have dismissed

a corpse from the throne but restored on that his sick brother".

Inthisway,theunificationof Italywasneithertotallyinthevisionof Cavournotinthevision

of Garibaldi, both had to make a lot of compromises.

Role of Popular Movement in the unification of Italy:

There is a debate over the relative importance of elites and the masses in the Risorgimento.

• Somehistorianshaveemphasizedtheroleof political andintellectualelitesin shapingthe

direction of the movement, while others have focused on the role of popular uprisings

and mass movements in achieving Italian unification.

• In the unification of Italy, popular sentiments played a very significant role. Sometimes

thepeopleenthusiasticallyparticipatedinthemovement,butmiddle-classleadership was

always conscious about its rights and privileges and used the popular movement in its

favour.

UPSC CSE PYQs

• Overall

• What determinant factors, along with diplomatic, shaped the process of

German Unification? [2017, 20 Marks]

• Napoleon

• "Napoleon kindled the national sentiment, but German unity was achieved by

Bismarck." Discuss. [1981, 60 Marks]

• "It is one of the ironies of history that Napoleon was the creator of modern

Germany." Comment. [1984, 20 Marks]

• "Napoleon kindled the national sentiment, but German unity was achieved by

Bismarck." Discuss. [2002, 60 Marks]

• Bismarck

• "The Unification of Germany was the one thing Bismarck was determined to

prevent." Comment. [1987, 20 Marks]

• "The political unification of Germany was accomplished solely by Bismarck."

Comment. [1999, 20 Marks]

• "Bismarck created a new Germany with the policy of 'blood and iron'."

Comment. [2001, 20 Marks]

• Bismarck united Germany not by majority of votes and speeches but by a policy

of "Blood and Iron". In the light of this statement assess the contribution of

Bismarck to the unification of Germany. [2003, 60 Marks]

• Was German unification achieved more by 'coal and iron' than by 'blood and

iron'? [2012, 30 Marks]

• "From Bismarck's 'Blood and Iron' speech and his forceful actions to achieve

German unification, Bismarck came to be known as the Iron Chancellor."

Critically examine. [2020, 20 Marks]

Right from the time of Westphalia, German

stateswasa sleeping Satan.Noneattemptedto

wake it up.

In was merely a geographic entity in 1805,

divided into numerous units. Austria & Prussia

were two big states, while there were more

than 300 small German states. All of these

together were part of Holy Roman Empire

headed by the king of Austria.

Emergence of sense of national consciousness:

• Historical Context:

• The protestant movement under Martin Luther gave the German region a

common cultural identity particularly for the fact that Martin Luther translated

the Bible into German language.

• Role of Napoleon Bonaparte proved to be an unconscious stimulator for German

unification. His conquests and reforms had a profound impact on Germany.

• Territorial reorganization: He defeated Austria in the battle of Austerlitz in 1805

and imposed the peace of Pressburg. As per which,

▪ He demolished the relic of the so-called Holy Roman Empire.

▪ Created Confederation of Rhine by reorganizing 300 tiny German states

into 16 bigger states. (In Future, Bismark was required to merge these 39

into one.)

• Internal Reforms:

▪ Napoleon abolished feudalism, put control over Church, and introduced

the Napoleonic Code. So, he internally organized the administration of

Germany. These reforms helped to create a sense of national identity

among the German people.

• War of Nations:

▪ The influence of these ideas resulted in the growth of awakening among

Germany and when the rule of Napoleon turned despotic during the last

year of his reign, a strong wave of German nationalism emerged.

▪ In a war against Napoleon Bonaparte, German states participated. So,

unconsciously the German states developed a sense of fellow-feeling

among themselves.

• It was this spirit of German nationalism that guided and inspired the process of

German unification which was concluded finally by Bismark.

▪ "Napoleon kindled German national sentiment & Bismark carried out

political unification."

▪ "Napoleon wrote the preamble of German unification, but it was Bismarck

who provided it with the finishing touch."

• However,Napoleon'sdefeat in 1815 led tothe dissolution of the Confederation of

the Rhine and the restoration of the old order in Germany.

• Inspite of being an imperialist, the works of Napoleon helped in the emergence of

modern unified Germany. That iswhy,it is commented that 'It is one of the ironies

of history that Napoleon was a creator of modern Germany.'

• Congress of Vienna (1815)

• It made every possible effort to restore the pre-Napoleonic picture in Germany.
• Since the 39 states of Rhine Confederation could not be reverted, a German

Confederation was created.

▪ It consisted larger kingdoms like Austria and Prussia, as well as smaller

duchies, principalities, and free cities.

▪ It was a patchwork of states, each with its own ruler, laws, and degree of

autonomy.

• The Frankfurt parliament, closed down by Napoleon, was also reestablished. Its

powers were limited.

▪ The Federal Diet could not levy taxes, maintain a standing army, or enact

significant legislative measures. Decisions required a consensus among

member states, making it difficult to take decisive action. Austria and

Prussia were the most influential states and competed for dominance.

• Cultural-Ideologicalfactor:Soon,the Germanphilosopherspromotedthesenseoffellow-

feeling as well as nationalist consciousness.

• Theirspeeches&writingsintensifiednationalistawakeningamongthepeople and

this German nationalism was responsible for the political unification of Germany.

• The Romantics wanted to discard the cold, artificial logic of the Enlightenment to

return to the roots of a simple and authentic life based on direct experience and

community.

▪ Language was seen by Herder as a vessel that molded community and

national identities.

▪ The brothers Grimm went out to collect "authentic" German folk tales

while at the same time studying the German language, pursuing the

Romantic conviction that language and folk culture were deeply related.

• The German historians re-interpreted the past of German people in a positive

light. The achievements of rulers like Frederick, the Great were highlighted the

common elements prevailing among Germans living in different parts were

brought to the notice of people.

• Some Germanthinkerslike Johann Herder,Fichte,Hegelrejectedtheuniversalism

of Enlightenment, rather they gave emphasis over the German unification.

• These German philosophers and historians brought about cultural unity in

German. Their efforts prepared a solid-cultural platform our which the political

unificationof Germanycouldbecarriedout.Thatiswhyitiscommented that"The

Political unity of Germany was placed on a solid cultural base."

• Burschenschaft (student union)

• It wasan organizationofuniversitystudents,withthegoalofpatriotism,unityand

liberal rule. In the Wartburg Festival (1817), students from various universities

gathered and burned reactionary books and expressed their desire for political

reform.

• The reactionary political authorities in the various German states, including

Metternich, viewed the Burschenschaften with suspicion. They cracked down on

the student fraternities, leading to arrests, censorship, and the banning of their

activities.

Economic-Industrial factor:

• The unification under Austria might have been historical for the fact that Austria carried

the legacy of the Holy Roman Empire. But German states preferred the integration with

Prussiainplaceof Austria,forthefactthat Prussiawaseconomicallyandindustrially more

advanced than Austria.

• Economic and material basis for integration:

• At the beginning of 19 th century, industrial revolution started in Prussia, and it

spread to the other parts of Germany. As Prussia was the leading region in

industrialisation, all other regions were looking to Prussia for leadership.

• In 1834, there was the formation of the custom union Zollverin in Germany.

• In 1830 s and 1840 s, it paved the way for the development of means of

transportation such as roads and railways lines. Thus, the geographical distance

among Germans got reduced. Also, the German market was better integrated.

(geographic and economic unification)

• Since Austria refused to join it, the lesser German states gradually moved away

from Austria and closer to Prussia and their economic interests got interlinked.

(integration of economic interests with Prussia alone).

• It helped in the growth of modern industries in Germany and thereby a strong

capitalist group emerged. In the international competition with British capitalists,

they preferred and supported strong unified centralized state for better

protectionist policies and colonies abroad for raw material/markets. They threw

their weight behind Bismarck. (class interest in unification)

• The economic progress brought about by its success allowed Bismarck to raise a

large army. This military strength imparted the winning edge to German

nationalism. (resources for militarization)

• So, the economic-industrial factor played such a significant role in the unification of

Germany.

• John Maynard Keynes, declared that "It was not blood and iron rather iron and

coal which made the unification of Germany possible."

• The success of Bismarckian policy of blood & iron depended to a large extent on

the forces of coal and iron.

• The forces of coal & Iron prepared a strong material base for the political

unification of Germany.

• Without the support of the forces of coal & iron German nationalism would have

remained a much weaker force.

Political-Diplomatic Factor:

From 1815 to 1866, about 37 independent German-

speaking states existed within the German

Confederation. The 'German question' was debated

intensely during these decades. The question about the

best way to achieve aunification wasconfoundeddue to

historic problem of German Dualism.

The alternate two solutions were discussed:

• Greater German solution: Favored unifying all

German-speakingpeoples under one state and was promoted by the Austrian Empire and

its supporters.

• Little German solution: sought only to unify the northern German states and did not

include any part of Austria; this proposal was favored by the Kingdom of Prussia.

When the Revolutions of 1848 swept across Europe, demands for political reforms,

constitutional rights, and national unification were widespread. The Frankfurt National

Assembly was convened in 1848 in an attempt to create a unified and liberal German state,

but it ultimately failed.

(A) Failure of 1848

• In spite of the economic integration, political integration was not possible till the demise

of Austria as the political power. Whenever some step was taken towards German

integration, due to opposition from the side of Austria, it failed. It is here, the role of

Bismarck that of the policy of blood and iron became decisive.

• In 1848, at Frankfurt Parliament, an attempt was made by Prussian monarch,

Fredrick William IV, to bring a model of unification. The whole project failed due

to the resistance/threat from Austria, and he had to withdrew.

• Furthermore, on the basis of Olmutz Punctation of 1850, the old German

confederacy was restored by Austria.

• Outcome:

• The Failure of liberal methods in accomplishing the task of German unification

convinced German nationalist that onlymilitarism could succeed.Rise of Bismarck

in German polities was the outcome of the same.

• It also became crystal clear that no future constitutional revolution in Germany

was possible without a war with Austria. So, far Austria was there, such political

unification under Prussia was a impossible.

• Attitude of Bismarck: "The Unification of Germany was the one thing Bismarck was

determined to prevent."

• Bismarck was basically reactionary.

▪ He came from Junker class. He was ultraconservative champion of Junker

interests.

▪ He was a radical nationalist, totally dedicated to the institution of

monarchy.

• He didn't believe in parliamentary politics.

▪ He hadnofaith in theefficiencyof liberalmethods. He saw liberalism asan

expressionof the political,economic,and social interestsofthe propertied

urban class associated with industrialization.

▪ He countered it by raising the material interests of the Junkers to the level

of patriotic duty.

▪ If this unification was to be carried out under Liberal leaders, they would

prevail, and the demand of liberalism was constitutional monarchy.

▪ He believed that the German unity forget through liberal method would

remain weak and fragile. He wanted to create united Germany only

through military methods.

• He never left anyone in doubt that he was a Prussian patriot, not a German

nationalist. "Prussian we are and Prussian we wish to remain" he said in June

1848.

▪ He wanted to carry out the Prussianization of Germany rather than

Germanization of Prussia.

▪ He believed that only Prussia's internal strength can overcome its

revolutionaries and helped to protect Germany from its foreign enemies.

▪ Bismarck believed that Germany was too small for both Austria and

Prussian. He wanted to oust Austria from Germany, so that Prussian

domination could be imposed. Thus, there was no place for Austria in

Bismarckian vision. Thus, he created obstruction in the way German unity

till the time Austria was ousted.

• Bismarck also wanted that German prestige must be highest in Europe. He

wanted to carry out German unification in such a way that Austrian and French

Prestige could be shattered.

▪ That is why, it is commented that 'Bismarck did not fight his wars for the

sake of German unification but in reality, he used the Process of German

unification as an ensure to fight his wars.'

• So, it is true that initially Bismarck was opposed to the unification of old Germany.

(B) Bismarck In the Parliament

From 1865 onwards,Bismarckwasreadyforthisgreatjobof

unification, and it was he who, through a diplomatic and

military option, made the unification possible.

(machtpolitiks - power politics, realpolitik - pragmatism).

• Before Bismarck:

• William I was a strong German nationalist. He

wanted to carry out political unification of

Germany. He knew that Prussia might have to

fight a war with Austria. Thus, William I started a very ambitious plan for

militarization.

• But the liberal members of the bicameral parliament turned down his proposals.

▪ The lower house of Prussia parliament was dominated by liberal. This

house did not approve the budget for military reforms.

• Having failed repeatedly in his efforts to persuade the liberal dominated Prussian

Parliament, king William I appointed Bismarck as Prussian chancellor in 1862

because bythistime, Bismarck developed a strong reputation for hisruthlessness.

(1862)

▪ With the appointment of Bismarck as Prussian chancellor, the process of

German unification commenced in a real way. He provided complete

support and promised, "I will be destroyed in fight against the parliament,

but I will never desert you."

• Bismarck's approach:

• Bismarck too faced significant opposition in the House of Representatives when

he sought to pass military reforms and increase funding for the Prussian army.

The liberal majority in the House resisted these measures, seeing them as

potentially strengthening the monarchy's power at the expense of parliamentary

democracy.

• Liberal thinkers also preferred unification but not through military means. To

counter their method, Bismarck gave his famous Blood and iron (Eisen and Blut)

speech in parliament in the course of getting these proposals passed. (30 Sept

1862)

▪ In the speech, Bismarck called for a small German nation-state dominated

by Prussia.

▪ He stated that the great questions of the day should be decided by blood

and iron.

• 'You are mistaken, German states are not looking upto us for our

liberalism but for our power… it is not by speeches and majority

resolutions that the great questions of the time are decided - that

was the big mistake of 1848 and 1849 - but by iron and blood…

With power game only, this problem could be solved. This The

Gordian knot was not to be untied by the gentle methods of dual

policy and could only be cut by the sword.'

• But the liberal members were not ready in

1. So, Bismarck neglected the lower

chamber of the parliament.

▪ Ultimately, Bismarck used a

combination of political

maneuvering, diplomacy, and the

threat of external conflict to

navigate these hurdles and push

through his policies.

▪ He started bypassing the lower

house, used ordinances, and passed budgets with the help of upper house

to sanction funds for the military reforms.

• Thus, He led Prussia into three wars in seven years, eschewing democracy and its

plebiscites and achieve a united German aristocracy behind the king of Prussia. He

became known as "the iron chancellor".

(C) The Three Wars (1866-1871)

• Phase 1: Integration of the two dutchies, Schleswig and Holstein

• Two Duchies in the north of Germany, named Schleswig and Holstein were a kind

of frontiers. From time immemorial, it was not clear whether they were with

Denmark and Germany.

• They were placed under the nominal control of Denmark by Vienna congress of

1815 but the majority of population there was German.

• So, Prussia and Austria invaded them and annexed them.
• Under the Gastein Convention of 1865. The regions were put under joint

administration.Althoughthe Convention temporarilypostponedthefinal struggle

between them for hegemony over Germany. Bismarck managed to engineer a

difference between Austria and Prussia with the help of intentional vagueness in

the arrangement.

• Phase 2 - Creation of North German Confederation.

• The joint administration led to disputes between the two powers.
• Finally, in 1866, Prussia was so prepared. So, Bismarck provoked a war with

Austria. In the Battle of Sadowa (1866) he gave Austria a crushing defeat. Within

6 weeks Austrian empire was routed.

• So, northern German states were integrated with Prussia, in the Treaty of Prague

(1866).Withthis,morethan 50%unification

was completed.

• Before the war began, Bismark had ensured

French and Russian neutrality, while Italy

was on the Prussian side, to gain Venetia.

• In the battle of Sadowa, it was not Austria,

rather France which was defeated.

• Bismarck now dissolved the Austria-dominated

German Confederation and replaced with North

German Confederation.

• Austria was excluded from German affairs,

and the North German Confederation, led

by Prussia, emerged asthe dominant power

in northern and central Germany.

• Prussia-dominated Reichstag was also

established to represent people.

• Zollverin was reconstituted with enlarged

territories.

▪ The new Zollverein was stronger, in that no individual state had a veto.

• A key feature of the North German Confederation was its unified military

structure. This military cooperation not only enhanced the confederation's

defense capabilities but also underscored Prussia's dominance.

• Phase 3: Integration of South German states

Frenchpoliticalcartoon:Bismarck

is shown sewing together the

German states into a nation

dominated by Prussia. The

caption reads "It is one thing to

know how to use a needle.... But

it's a skill that should not be

abused."

• South German states were close to France because of their Catholic religion.

Bismarck had to first create a division between them. Bismarck used German

Nationalism for bringing southern German states into his fold.

• Bismarck consciously created tension with France and provoked a war by leaking

the edited version of Ems Telegram, to hurt both French as well as German

sentiments.

• Since he was already prepared for war, he roundly defeated it in the Battle of

Sedan in 1870.

• Then, on the basis of the Treaty of

Frankfurt in 1871, southern German

states were integrated with Prussia.

In this way, German unification was completed.

So, if iron and coal created the basis for

unification, it was blood and iron which gave it a

finishing touch.

Impact of German Unification:

"With the battle of Sedan, Europe lost a mistress and got a master."

• The completion of the process of German unification resulted in the emergence of most

powerful empire in Europe.

• German prestige was highest in whole of Europe. Berlin emerged as the capital of

Germany as well as Europe, because all important decisions were taken in Berlin

under the leadership of Bismarck.

• Till the time Bismarck remained German chancellor (resigned in 1890) not a single

important event took place in entire Europe that was not dictated or directed by

Germany.

• With the unification of Germany, Europe gained a master, and their master replaced that

role of minister played by France.

• The French influence in Europe had been mild. It was positive because France

spread the ideas of revolution in whole of Europe these liberal and progressive

ideas propagated by France were liberating in nature. France was a leader of

Europe ideologically.

• While France enjoyed soft power in Europe, but German dominance was an

example of hard power. The Bismarckian system of alliances ensured that no

country was left in Europe that could stand against German domination.

William is proclaimed German

Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors in

Versailles, France

Comparison between Italian and German Unification

Similarities:

• Geographic division
• Role of Napoleon
• Role of Vienna Congress as an obstacle
• Austria as a common enemy
• Bigger states taking lead - Piedmont Sardinia and Prussia
• Prime Ministers played important role - Cavour and Bismarck
• Use of Diplomacy, war, and nationalism

Differences:

Italy Germany

Obstacles

Role of

intellectual

unification

Leadership

Role of

King and

Monarchy

Method

Wider

Impact