In July 1830, an uprising took place in France, as a result of which the last representative of the senior line of the Bourbon dynasty, King Charles X, was overthrown and his relative Duke of Orleans Louis Philippe was enthroned. As a result, the regime of restoration of power of the Bourbons, established in 1814, was put an end to, who tried with all their might to restore the order that prevailed before the 1789 revolution in the country. The subsequent period in the history of France went down in history as the July Monarchy.
What the next revolution brought to the country
The period of the July Monarchy is characterized by the fact that as a result of the uprising, called the Second French Revolution, a new Constitution (an updated Charter) was adopted, which provided greater observance of civil rights and expanded the powers of Parliament.
The ruling class still remained the big bourgeoisie, and if earlier it was subjected to pressure from the feudal nobility, now the danger for it came from below - from the petty bourgeoisie and the working class that had formed by that time. Since ordinary citizens of the country practically did not have the opportunity to defendtheir rights through Parliament, they continued to pose a potential threat to the established order in the country.
Struggle of parliamentary factions
However, this does not mean the homogeneity of the parliament and its inaction. The peculiarities of the July Monarchy lie precisely in the extreme aggravation of the intra-parliamentary struggle caused by contradictions between representatives of various parties.
The opposition, for example, was not satisfied with the adoption of the old Constitution in an updated form and demanded its complete revision. Their main goal was to establish universal suffrage in the country and further expand civil liberties.
Spreading the ideas of socialism
In this situation of acute political struggle, the July Monarchy became fertile ground for the spread of various forms of socialist doctrine. In the 30s of the 19th century, it gained many supporters thanks to the active work of the founder of the school of utopian socialism, Count Saint-Simon. He and his followers, known as the Saint-Simonists, addressed the people of France immediately after the victory of the Second Revolution, and gained considerable political weight in the following years.
In addition, the popularity of the works of Proudhon and L. Blanc contributed to the spread of the ideas of universal equality and the socialization of the means of production. As a result, the July Monarchy in France was often shaken by major popular unrest, which had a pronounced socialist character.
Streetearly 1930s riots
Their aggravation was sharply indicated in November of the same 1830, when the newly appointed head of government, Jacques Lafitte, had to organize a trial of the ministers of the previous cabinet, formed during the reign of the deposed King Charles X.
The crowds that spontaneously gathered in the streets of Paris in those days demanded the death pen alty for them, and the court's verdict of life imprisonment seemed too lenient to them. The socialists tried to take advantage of the unrest that arose in connection with this, whose goal was to lead the country to a new revolution.
The supporters of the restoration of the former regime and the enthronement of the young Henry V, in whose favor the recently deposed monarch abdicated, also added fuel to the fire. In February 1831, they organized a demonstration, giving it the appearance of a memorial service for another heir to the throne, who had died the year before, the Duke of Berry. However, this action did not come at the right time, and the indignant crowds of people destroyed not only the church where it was held, but also the house of the archbishop himself.
Revolts against the regime of Louis Philippe
During the 1930s, the July Monarchy was shattered by a series of popular uprisings. The largest of these was organized in June 1832 in Paris by members of the secret society of "rights of man", supported by numerous foreign emigrants. The rebels built barricades and even proclaimed a republic in the country, but after short fights there weredispersed by government forces.
Another major performance of this period took place two years later in León. It was provoked by harsh police measures against political organizations. For five days, gendarmerie detachments tried to storm the barricades erected by the workers, and when they succeeded, they staged an unprecedented bloodshed on the streets of the city.
In 1839, another popular uprising swept Paris. Their initiator was a secret political organization, hiding under the faceless name "Society of the Seasons." This manifestation of general hatred of the government was also suppressed, and its instigators were brought to justice.
Attempt on the King
In addition to mass demonstrations aimed at overthrowing the regime of King Louis Philippe, in the same years, 7 attempts were made on his life by individuals. The most famous of them was organized by the Corsican Joseph Fieschi. In order to kill the monarch, he designed, built and secretly installed a certain unique structure on his route, consisting of 24 loaded gun barrels.
When the king caught up with her, the conspirator fired a powerful volley, as a result of which Louis-Philippe was not injured, but 12 people from the retinue surrounding him were killed and many were injured. The conspirator himself was immediately seized and soon guillotined.
War on the press and change of ministers
However, the main danger to the king came from the press, which was given much more freedom by the July Monarchy than the regime that preceded itBourbons. Many periodicals did not hesitate to openly criticize both Louis Philippe himself and the government he created. They did not stop their activities even despite the systematic lawsuits organized against them.
The crisis of the July Monarchy was clearly marked by the frequent change of members of the Cabinet of Ministers, which began as early as 1836. The head of government, Francois Guizot, and Louis-Philippe himself tried in this way to streamline the work of the highest authority, and at the same time calm both the parliamentary opposition and the masses.
By the way, in world history there are many examples of how weak and mediocre rulers tried to delay the collapse of the regime they created through frequent personnel changes. Suffice it to recall the “ministerial leapfrog” that preceded the fall of the Romanov dynasty.
Mood prevailing in Parliament
The Prime Minister for quite a long time managed to skillfully maneuver between parties that put forward a variety of demands. For example, the dynastic opposition wanted a parliamentary reform that would give deputies the right to hold various positions in state institutions. They also insisted on expanding the electorate with the introduction of new categories of people.
Despite the fact that the causes of the July Monarchy were the dissatisfaction of the representatives of the bourgeoisie with the reactionary tendencies of the previous government, they themselves were unable to put forward any radical demands.
Worse was the situation with representatives of the extreme left wing. They insisted on the introduction of universal suffrage in the country and the establishment of a number of civil liberties, which they heard about from the socialists.
Having in parliament the votes of the majority of deputies obedient to him, Guizot easily coped with the recalcitrant, but against the external opposition, expressed in the ever-growing popular discontent, he was powerless. Not only republican, but also socialist sentiments in the country grew stronger every year, and there was nothing to oppose them.
Napoleon's Ghost
If the reasons for the crisis of the July Monarchy lie mainly in the dissatisfaction of the masses with the lack of radical changes expected after the overthrow of Charles X, then the resurgent popularity of Napoleon Bonaparte led to the fall of his successor, King Louis Philippe, to a large extent.
Propaganda of the ideas of returning to the state system, which preceded the restoration of the monarchy (1814), was largely promoted by the government itself. By his decision, the ashes of the great Corsican were transported to Paris, and the statue was installed on top of the Vendome column, which towered in the center of the French capital and was allegedly cast from Russian captured cannons.
Posthumous ex altation of the name of Napoleon was also promoted by prominent public figures of that era, such as the famous historian Louis Adolphe Thiers and writers Pierre-Jean de Beranger and George Sand. At the same time, on the political horizon, the figure of the nephew of the late emperor, Charles, loomed more and more clearly. Louis Napoleon.
Descendant of the Emperor
As a descendant of the universal idol, he himself twice tried to come to power through poorly organized and mediocre coup attempts, to which Louis-Philippe did not attach the slightest importance and did not even arrest their instigator. They just didn't take him seriously.
However, the situation changed radically after a large and very representative party formed around Louis Napoleon. One of its leaders was a prominent politician of that era, Odilon Barro. With his light hand, the opposition movement took the form of the so-called banquet campaign.
Banquets that ended in revolution
It consisted in the fact that at first in Paris, and then in other cities of France, in order not to violate the law on rallies, which required its organizers to obtain permission from local authorities, real public banquets were held, at which several thousand people.
Tables were set up with wine and snacks, which gave the meeting the appearance of a banquet, though numerous, but not prohibited by law. Before the heated wine, the guests were speakers, who then took places at the common tables. Understanding the true background of the events being held, the authorities, however, could not find fault with anything, and the campaign was in full swing.
Such mass feasts, organized by we althy politicians, eventually led to another French revolution, as a result of which February 24, 1848King Louis Philippe abdicated.
The results of the July Monarchy boiled down to the fact that a republic was established in France, headed by its first president, Louis Adolphe Napoleon. Fate would have it that after two unsuccessful coup attempts, he finally came to power legally, and went down in history under the name of Napoleon III.
