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Table of Contents
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Summary
- The major factors behind the July Revolution.
- The key events occurred during the Three Glorious Days.
- The impact of the July Revolution.
Key Facts And Information
Let’s find out more about the July Revolution!
- The July Revolution of 1830 led to the overthrow of King Charles X, a Bourbon monarch, and led to the ascent of his cousin, Louis Philippe, who would later be overthrown himself in 1848.
- King Philippe adopts the tricolour flag of the French Revolution of 1789.
- This revolution directly sparked an August uprising in Brussels, leading to its separation and the establishment of the Kingdom of Belgium.
- The July Revolution gave birth to a new power: The July Monarchy, which was a liberal constitutional monarchy that ended in the 1848 revolution.
Introduction
- The July Revolution in France of 1830, also known as Les Trois Glorieuses or the Three Glorious Days, led to the overthrow of King Charles X, the French Bourbon monarch and the ascent of his cousin, Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans.
- The revolution created the July Monarchy which was a liberal constitutional monarchy and marked the end of the Bourbon Restoration. The power of the House of Bourbon transitioned to its cadet branch, the House of Orléans, and thus the replacement of the principle of hereditary right by popular sovereignty. Supporters of the Bourbons would be called Legitimists and the supporters of Louis Philippe, Orléanists.
- Napoleon’s defeat on 18 June 1815 at the battle of Waterloo imposed the terms of the Treaty of Vienna on France. This brought France’s borders back to their 1791 position and restored the house of Bourbon on the throne in the person of Louis XVIII.
- As the new king, he picked the white flag as the new flag of France which remained as such until the July Revolution. Furthermore, he was rather keen when it came to making concessions to the people of France, probably due to the fact that his brother Louis XVI was decapitated
during the famous French Revolution on 21st of
January, 1793. - As such, he accepted the “La Charte Constitutionnelle” – The Constitutional Charter – which guaranteed the rights gained during the revolution and maintained most of the reforms that had been done, including the Napoleonic Code.
- The reign of Louis XVI was marked by relative peace and stability. This paved the way for the beginnings of a French industrial revolution that would inevitably lead to slow, yet guaranteed, mass unemployment, due to mechanisation. This is a contributing factor both to the July Revolution, and the revolutions that followed. He died after a lingering illness on 16 September 1824, and the throne was passed onto his younger brother, Charles X.
The downfall of Charles X
- Charles was received well at first by the people until he started to impose the worst of the old regime.
- Charles appointed Joseph de Villéle, a leader of the ultra-royalist faction, as his prime minister.
- Extremely unpopular legislation was passed in April 1825, compensating nobles that had their estates confiscated during the 1789 revolution.
- A symbolic law was passed, the anti-blasphemy law, that criminalised “host desecration”; punishment ranged from perpetual forced labour to decapitation. This was seen as an attempt to pander to the clergy, and it was a direct affront to the equality of religious beliefs imposed by the Constitutional Charter.
- As such, people viewed the imposition of the said laws as an attempt of undermining their constitution. Because of this, the popularity of the parliament soared at the expense of the king and his ministers.
- On 16 April 1827, while the king was reviewing the National Guard on the Champ de Mars, the cold silence of the public was a sign of growing hostility, especially when some members of the guard started screaming:
- “Down with Villéle!”, “Down with the ministers!”. Outraged, the king disbanded the National Guard but he failed to disarm them.
- The legislative elections occurred in 1827, with the ultra-royalists losing 228 deputies and the liberals gaining 153, a huge blow for the king. These liberals were royalists too, called “Les doctrinaires”, that favoured a constitutional monarchy and were led by Lafayette. This was a fight on the appropriate degree of royal power. Following this defeat, the king wanted to introduce new laws of censorship against the press to curb growing violent criticism against the government and the church. It failed, as the deputies objected so violently that the humiliated government had no choice but to withdraw the proposal.
- Joseph de Villéle gave his resignation, and the king replaced him with a more moderate minister, le Vicomte de Martignac.
- Martignac was quickly dismissed as both left and right extremists were against him. Even the king did not like his policies. He was replaced by the “Prince de Polignac” – Jules de Polignac who was the son of “La Duchesse de Polignac” – the most hated woman of the prior revolution. She was a favourite of Marie Antoinette, so much so that people thought she was her mistress, thus embodying what was wrong with the aristocracy: nepotism, decadence, and overall idleness.
- In March 1830, the king threatened the opposition in a speech to the assembly. In retaliation, 221 liberal deputies voted in favour of a motion of no-confidence. The motion stated that the king and his government were no longer deemed fit to hold their positions. The king dissolved the assembly in hopes that a new election would restore the balance of power, in favour of the ultra-royalists. The elections happened in July 1830, and it was yet again a devastating defeat as the liberals obtained 274 of the 428 chairs of the assembly.
- News of the recent capture of Algiers bolstered the king’s confidence and in order to further strengthen his power, he decided to release the infamous Saint-Cloud Ordinances on the 25th of July.
- The first ordinance suspended the freedom of the press.
- The second dissolved the assembly, even though it had been elected a week before.
- The third reduced the number of deputies and tightened requirements to vote from 428 to 258. It removed the right to vote for the commercial bourgeoisie which tended to be more liberal.
- On the same night of the 25th of July, the ordinances were sent at the printer of Le Moniteur, which was the official newspaper of the government, and it was to be published the following day.
- Everything was done in secrecy, not even the military forces were informed of it, thus making them unable to strengthen security within the capital.
Three Glorious Days
- Monday, 26 July 1830 – Most businessmen remained in Paris for they could not afford to leave for the country after a hot and dry summer. The Parisians read “Le Moniteur” and found out about the ordinances.
- In response, the commercial bourgeoisie protested by refusing to lend in La Bourse and shut down their factories. This led to unemployment which had already risen throughout the summer. Hence, large numbers of workers protested.
- While newspapers such as the “Journal des débats”, Le Moniteur, and “Le Constitutionnel” had already ceased publication in compliance with the new law, nearly 50 journalists from a dozen city newspapers met in the offices of “Le National”.
- There, they signed a collective protest and vowed that their newspapers would continue to run. “The legal regime has been interrupted: that of force has begun… Obedience ceases to be a duty!” – A call for revolt signed by 44 prominent journalists.
- To add further incitement to the masses, “Le Prefet de Police” – The police prefect writes: “The most perfect tranquillity continues to reign in all parts of the capital. No event worthy of attention is recorded in the reports that have come through to me.”
- This was again an insult, as, before this statement, the police raided a news press and seized contraband newspapers. They were greeted by a sweltering, unemployed mob that angrily shouted: “À bas les Bourbons!” (“Down with the Bourbons!”) And “Vive la Charte!” (“Long live the Charter!”)
- Armand Carrel, a journalist, wrote in the next day’s edition of Le National: “France… falls back into revolution by the act of the government itself… the legal regime is now interrupted, that of force has begun…”
- On the same night of the 25th of July, the ordinances were sent at the printer of Le Moniteur, which was the official newspaper of the government, and it was to be published the following day.
- Everything was done in secrecy, not even the military forces were informed of it, thus making them unable to strengthen security within the capital.
- Monday, 26 July 1830 – Most businessmen remained in Paris for they could not afford to leave for the country after a hot and dry summer. The Parisians read “Le Moniteur” and found out about the ordinances.
- In response, the commercial bourgeoisie protested by refusing to lend in La Bourse and shut down their factories. This led to unemployment which had already risen throughout the summer. Hence, large numbers of workers protested.
- While newspapers such as the “Journal des débats”, Le Moniteur, and “Le Constitutionnel” had already ceased publication in compliance with the new law, nearly 50 journalists from a dozen city newspapers met in the offices of “Le National”.
- There, they signed a collective protest and vowed that their newspapers would continue to run. “The legal regime has been interrupted: that of force has begun… Obedience ceases to be a duty!” – A call for revolt signed by 44 prominent journalists.
- To add further incitement to the masses, “Le Prefet de Police” – The police prefect writes: “The most perfect tranquillity continues to reign in all parts of the capital. No event worthy of attention is recorded in the reports that have come through to me.”
- This was again an insult, as, before this statement, the police raided a news press and seized contraband newspapers. They were greeted by a sweltering, unemployed mob that angrily shouted: “À bas les Bourbons!” (“Down with the Bourbons!”) And “Vive la Charte!” (“Long live the Charter!”)
- Armand Carrel, a journalist, wrote in the next day’s edition of Le National: “France… falls back into revolution by the act of the government itself… the legal regime is now interrupted, that of force has begun…”
- Tuesday, 27 July 1830: Day one
- Over 50 newspapers refused to submit to the new ordinances and started to publish inflammatory material against the king. The police attempted to seize the presses, but they were attacked by a vicious mob.
- Barricades were already being established and the first altercations between rioters and soldiers began soon after. From the rooftops, Parisians threw rocks, roof tiles and more against the patrolling troops. The soldiers responded by firing in the air in an attempt to scare them, but then they started to aim for the people. The protestors gained weapons little by little, likely supplied by the National Guard that had been disbanded three years prior. This gave them an important advantage as they used it to pillage various barracks, thus gaining even more weapons.
- The fighting went on until the night; 22 rioters had been killed. One of the bodies was dragged around the city to incite further outrage. The revolution started.
- Wednesday, 28 July 1830: Day two
- In an attempt to quell the rebellion, the king sent General Auguste de Marmont to Paris. Marmont was severely outnumbered as most of his soldiers were sent for the conquest of Algiers.
- In the capital, anti-Bourbon settlements turned into calls for the guillotine. The king’s ministers, including Polignac, were forced to hide in the Palas des Tuileries, along with Marmont who told the king: “Sir. It is no longer a riot. It is a revolution.”
- The French troops were hopeless, as revolutionaries would fire upon them and then quickly disappear. Bolstered by the once soldiers of the National Guard who had come to join them in their old uniforms, the Parisians captured the Hotel de Ville – the town hall. They raised the tricolour flag and rang the bell of Paris. Despite this, the king and his Prime Minister Polignac refused to see anybody. The king asked Polignac for advice, and the advice was to resist.
- Thursday, 29 July 1830: Day three
- Poet Alfred de Vigny wrote: “They do not come to Paris. People are dying for them. Not one prince has appeared. The poor man of the guard abandoned without orders, without bread for two days. Hunted everywhere and fighting.”
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- An outstanding 4,000 barricades had been erected across Paris in one day and night. They were manned by 30,000 revolutionaries. Marmont received neither orders nor reinforcements. The Louvre was easily captured as the Swiss Guard fled without fighting. They were probably disheartened by the memory of their fallen brothers who stood their ground similarly in 1792 and were torn to pieces. The Tuileries Palace was quickly captured afterwards and thus the king was defeated. The liberals imposed a provisional government and Lafayette was sent to calm the mobs before the whole affair degenerated like in 1792. There was a fear that the revolutionaries would succeed in creating another republic.
- The revolution of July 1830 produced a constitutional monarchy. Charles X abdicated on the second day of August and departed for Great Britain. The provisional government placed on the throne a distant cousin of the king, Louis Philippe of the House of Orleans, who agreed to rule as a constitutional monarch. This period became known as the July Monarchy.
- Supporters of the exiled senior line of the Bourbon dynasty became known as Legitimists. Philippe was well received, and to bolster his popularity, renamed himself as King of the French and not King of France thus implying he was the people’s king. He adopted the tricolour flag of the revolution.
Aftermath
- The abdication of Charles marked the end of the Bourbon dynasty in France. A dynasty which, excluding the revolution and Bonaparte, had reigned since Henry IV, almost 250 years.
- The July Revolution inspired and sparked the November rising in Poland against the rule of Russia, though it was a failure and the latter annexed the whole of Poland. Furthermore, the August revolution that occurred in Brussels ended up creating a little country known as Belgium.
- Located on Place de la Bastille, the July Column commemorates the events of the Three Glorious Days.
Image sources:
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Louis_XVIII_relevant_la_France.jpg/800px-Louis_XVIII_relevant_la_France.jpg
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Karel_X-Koning_der_Fransen.jpg/800px-Karel_X-Koning_der_Fransen.jpg
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Révolution_de_1830_-_Combat_de_la_rue_de_Rohan_-_29.07.1830.jpg/1024px-Révolution_de_1830_-_Combat_de_la_rue_de_Rohan_-_29.07.1830.jpg