The Age of Revolution 1789-1849 - Essay Example

The Age of revolution Revolutionary events of 1789-1849 represent one of the major stages in the development of class struggle. In revolutionary fight the national liberation movement of the oppressed people occupied an important place. In each country the crucial role in events was played by mass. In terms of the objective tasks these revolutions were bourgeois. Active participation of mass in them gave to revolutions bourgeois and democratic character. The given paper will prove that though the revolutions of 1789-1849 did not resolve the objective problems of the majority of the states, they still brought many transformations to the political regimes. Along with the common for many countries of Europe task – the destruction of the feudal rule, which was slowing down the development of capitalism – the revolutionary movement in the certain countries had the special purposes as well. Revolution proceeded differently depending on the situation, on historical conditions and a ratio of class forces. In France where with feudalism and absolutism came to the end during the revolution of 1789-1794, the overthrow of exclusive domination of the financial aristocracy and the establishment of domination of bourgeoisie class was an objective problem of the revolution of 1848-1849. In Germany the main goal of the revolution was the elimination of political dissociation, creation of the state unity. In Italy the same task was supplemented with a problem of release of northern part of the country from the Austrian dominion. In Austria the revolution of 1848-1849 had to finish a reactionary system of Habsburg monarchy and release the oppressed people from national enslavement Active participation of working class, which in the majority of the countries was the main driving force of revolution, was the main feature of events of 1789-1849. In 1848 the working class for the first time in the history of revolutions declared its political and economic requirements, for the first time in such extensive scale showed itself as a special class, essentially hostile not only to feudal, but also bourgeois rule. The leading role of working class was clearly shown in France. The revolution in Haiti in 1791-1804 brought freedom to the French colony of Saint-Domingue, eliminated slavery and established the Republic of Haiti. The revolution in Greece in 1821-1832 released Greece from the rule of the Ottoman Empire and made it independent. The American Revolution in 1776 brought freedom to many British colonies and served as the start of The United States of America. “"It is evident that so profound a transformation cannot be understood without going back very much further in history than 1789, or even than the decades which immediately preceded it and clearly reflect (at least in retrospect), the crisis of the ancient regimes of the North-western world, which the dual revolution was to sweep away. Whether or not we regard the American Revolution of 1776 as an eruption of equal significance to the Anglo-French ones, or merely as their most important immediate precursor and stimulator; whether or not we attach fundamental importance to the constitutional crises and economic reshuffles and stirrings of 1760-89, they can clearly explain at most the occasion and timing of the great breakthrough and not its fundamental causes” (Hobsbawm). Among the reasons of defeat of revolutions of 1848-1849 there was a treachery of the liberal bourgeoisie, which adjoined revolution only to use peoples movement in their own purposes. During the class fight the moderate bourgeois liberals frightened by revolutionary activity of working class concluded the agreement with the monarchic power, with reactionary soldiery, with all the power of old regime. This happened in France where the upper bourgeoisie for the sake of preservation of the class domination supported Bonaparte adventurers. In Prussia bourgeois liberals submissively obeyed to soldiery and the nobility. It also happened in other German states. Liberals betrayed Italian bourgeois revolution having refused revolutionary methods of fight for the release of the country from the Austrian oppression. The exposure of treacherous essence of bourgeois liberalism was the most important lesson of the revolutions of 1789-1849 (Canny & Morgan). On the other hand in revolutions and revolutionary movements of 1789-1849 bourgeois democrats suffered bankruptcy, their limitation and inability to rally the masses round itself came to light. Their inconsistency and incompleteness, in particular in the solution of an agrarian and country issue, contributed to the defeat of revolutionary movements. Dual nature of bourgeoisie affected the incompleteness of democrats. Together with bourgeois democracy the ideology of bourgeois socialism also failed. By the promotion of reconciliation of antagonistic classes, by the tactics of conciliation with bourgeois liberals Louis Blanc and other socialist reformists played into the hands of reaction. They facilitated the deception of masses hiding class contradictions in the phrases about "freedom, equality and brotherhood". Revolutionary events of 1848- 1849 disclosed the insolvency of bourgeois social theories (Matson). Marxism appeared the only social theory, which sustained the historical check of rough events of 1848-1849. Only proletarian revolutionaries Marx, Engels and their colleagues united in the Union of Communists conducted consistently the revolutionary fight for originally democratic solution of objective problems of these revolutions. One of the most important reasons of the defeat of revolutions and revolutionary movements of 1848-1849 was the essential support of internal counterrevolution by the forces of the international reaction. The important role was played also by the fact that the economic crisis of 1847-1848, which accelerated revolutionary approach, weakened and by the beginning of the 1850s years was replaced by the economic recovery. Revolutionary movements of 1789-1849 had not met with success in the majority of the countries of Western Europe and didnt solve objective problems, which these countries faced. Nevertheless revolutionary fights of 1848 were not vain. They undermined the feudal relations and remnants in the number of the countries, promoted the establishment and further development of capitalism, growth of consciousness and organization of the proletariat, put in an agenda many historical tasks in particular the national unification of Italy and the unification of Germany. Works cited Matson, Cathy. "The Atlantic Economy in an Era of Revolutions: An Introduction". William and Mary Quarterly, 2005 Hobsbawm E. J.” The Age of Revolution: Europe, 1789-1848”, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962 Canny, Nicholas and Morgan, Philip. The Oxford Handbook of the Atlantic World: 1450-1850. Oxford University Press, 2011 THE GREEK DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (1822). Web 27 July 2015 The Haitian Declaration of Independence (1804). Web 27 July 2015 Read More