Western History 162: What happened during the 1830 Revolutions?

There were several  revolutions in the year 1830 that set as a pretext the stage for the more well known Revolutions of 1848. They were largely driven by liberal and nationalistic popular up swells and had mixed record of success. 

In France the Bourbon monarch Charles X who had replaced Louis XVIII in 1824 was overthrown in the July Revolution. Charles had reigned as an autocrat and stood opposed to liberal reforms. He was replaced by Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orleans who would go on to rule France as the so-called Citizen King until 1848. Despite his royal roots (he came from the Bourbon-Orléanist branch of the dynasty) the Duke was seen as a reformer by the Liberal revolutionaries.

Liberty leading the People in the July Revolution source: emersonkhent.com

The Belgian Revolution of the 25^th of August 1830 followed a month later. Tension had been growing for sometime between the Dutch and Belgium nations who had been forced into an uneasy union since 1815. The Revolution was ignited by a bourgeoisie revolt in Brussels following the staging of the nationalist opera (La muette de Portici ). The French would come to the aid of the Belgians who would eventually win independence in July 1831 with the German Leopold I emerging as the new nation’s first monarch.

Scenes from the Belgian Revolution source blogs.bu.edu

Revolutionary sentiment showed itself in Italy as well with insurrections breaking out in a number of regions viz. Bologna, Ferrara, Ravenna, Perugia.. Many of these were supported by the new French King Louis-Philippe but Austrian intervention following a request by the Pope Gregory XVI, whose papal legations were under threat, resulted in their failure. Still they set the ground for future revolutions and further seeded a growing movement for Italian unification.

Poland was the site in 1830 of revolutionary fervor directed at the Russian overlords. This spread into Lithuania and Belarus but Russian intervention succeeded in crushing the rebellious initiatives. Russia would in turn increase the severity of her control in Poland thereby stifling further Polish nationalistic uprisings.

Polish Revolution 1830 source: akg-images.com

Revolutionary movements did have some success in Switzerland where they forced many of the Cantorial governments to agree to their more demands. This was largely achieved through peaceful means and involved amendments to provisions in the respective constitutions.Kudos to the Swiss for classically and somewhat typically avoiding unnecessary bloodshed.