Fall of Louis Philippe

Context By 1847 France had fallen into economic slump and LP’s regime was deeply unpopular LP had done nothing for growing working class LP’s middle class habits and ‘timid’ foreign policy had alienated the monarchists The fat old King had become a figure of constant public ridicule – ‘La Poire’ Chief Minister Guizot deeply unpopular because of his implacable refusal to extend the franchise – if you want votes “Get Rich” Agitation for parliamentary reform and political change was gathering pace

Events Opposition groups staged a series of reform banquets where radical speakers would address the diners with demands for political change – by 1847/8 demands were becoming quite radical with many calling for a republic In Feb 1848 a grand Reform Banquet arranged in Paris to be preceded by a procession in which the masses also could express their demand for reform. The government was alarmed by this prospect and immediately banned the Banquet. Organisers decided to cancel but didn’t inform many of the diners who turned up anyway or the Paris Mob who took to the street expecting something to happen

Events LP made the fatal error of calling on the National Guard to disperse the crowd – they refused LP then backed down and agreed to the dismissal of Guizot to appease the crowd Things seemed to be calming down but following a clash between troops and a small section of the crowd the following day barricades went up all over Paris with considerable fighting between army and crowd Discouraged by his own unpopularity LP abdicated in favour of his grandson Comte de Paris Meanwhile Parliament had declared themselves a provisional government and had voted for France to become a Republic. The Orleanist monarchy was over. In the celebrations which followed the royal Tuileries palace in Paris was overrun and several rioters were drown in the floods of red wine which were released from the royal cellars

Possible Causes 1. Economic crisis – short term 2. Unpopularity of Guizot and the doctrinaires 3. Short term errors by Louis Philippe – revolt 'unexpected and avoidable’ 4. Rise of republican and socialist opposition 5. Repressive legislation 6. Lack of social policy In a causal essay you will be expected to be able to discuss a range of possible causes, draw out the links between causes AND come to a supported judgement Causal essays also lend themselves to sensible comments about historiography

Economic Crisis The 1846 harvest was poor, in France as elsewhere. A rise in the price of wheat, the dietary staple of the common people, provoked a food shortage, while purchasing power decreased. The resulting fall in domestic consumption led to a crisis of industrial overproduction. This in turn immediately led to massive lay-offs, and thus to a large withdrawal of savings, leading to a banking crisis. Bankruptcies multiplied, and stock prices on the stock exchanges collapsed.... Unemployment widespread The government reacted by importing Russian wheat, which created a negative balance of trade and further economic difficulties including public debt. All programme of public works and public investment stopped leading to even more widespread unemployment Further poor harvests 47 and 48 and the arrival of the potato blight made conditions even worse – actual starvation occurred in urban areas

Guizot Guizot, Louis Philippe’s favourite politician, was a ‘doctrinaire’ – academic school committed to an ideology of laissez faire, freer trade, limits to royal power AND opposition to the extension of the franchise to anyone lower than the capitalist elite. Guizot though in some ways successful had a very limited appeal – disliked by both legitimist Right and republican and socialist Left Guizot believed that the capitalist elite ‘deserved’ to be in power having shown their worth economically – this view informed his education policy and its encouragement of bourgeois values, and his deeply unpopular response ‘if you want the vote get rich’ Guizot dominated politics It was the sacking of Guizot that many republicans were calling for in 1848, and in one of his final acts Louis Philippe offered them this in an attempt to cling onto power

Guizot Successes and Failures Successes Established close links and an informal entente with British Whigs and even closer links to Peel Also able to step in and avoid war with Britain after Thiers grandstanding over Mehemet Ali Education policy – the foundation for French secularism in education – breaking the link between religion and education

Guizot Successes and Failures Relations with Britain sour after the fall of Peel in 46 and Palmerston coming to power – Spanish marriages Lack of social policy Repression of speech, assembly and opposition groups (ideologically driven?)

Lack of social reform Workers had no legal right to assemble or petition the government for increased pay or improved conditions, Guizot did little for the lower classes. Workers had 14 hours work, daily wages of 0,20 Francs, and no possibility of organising themselves in trade unions. 250,000 beggars were registered, and 3 million citizens registered in the charity offices. State assistance was non- existent. The only social reform of the July Monarchy was to outlaw, in 1841, working of children under 8 years old, and night work for those of less than 13 years. The law, however, was almost never implemented. Guizot's advice to those who were disenfranchised by the tax-based electoral requirements was simple ‘Get rich through work and savings and then you will be electors’. Guizot’s indifference encouraged ‘Saint-Simonianism’ and the workshops of Louis Blanc, which were to become major factors from Underground republicanism becomes increasingly ‘red’ (see earlier PPT) There was an increasing number of workers' demonstrations, with riots in the Buzançais in In Roubaix, a city in the industrial north. 60% of the workers were unemployed. About a third of Paris was on the dole. Radical writers such as Louis Blanc (‘The right to work’) and Pierre- Joseph Proudhon (‘Property is theft!’) became popular As the right of association was strictly restricted, and public meetings prohibited after 1835, the opposition was paralyzed.... Was open revolt the only option?

Further Reading Now read the teachers notes pages 22-27