The Revolution of 1848 in France was the republican armed insurrection that overthrew King Louis Philippe I of the liberal July Monarchy, which collapsed during this political upheaval. As a result, the rebels established the Second Republic in France, which lasted from 1848 to 1852, with Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte being elected President of France. One cause of the revolution was the growing contradictions within the French bourgeoisie -the conflicts between the financial aristocracy, which had gained complete ascendancy after the July Revolution of 1830, and the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie, which had grown strong in the course of the industrial revolution and demanded the right to participate in the government of the country. Another cause of the revolution was the exacerbation of class conflicts between the proletariat and the liberal bourgeoisie. The ripening of the revolutionary situation had been stimulated by the crop failures of 1845 and 1846, the economic crisis of 1847.
The Revolution of 1848 was triggered by the government’s prohibition of a banquet and a demonstration organized by the opposition activists in Paris, both scheduled by the opposition for February 22, 1848. Despite the cowardly appeal of the liberal monarchy to submit to the authorities, tens of thousands of Parisians joined the demonstration on February 22. Clashes between the demonstrators and government troops took place on the streets of Paris. Then a popular uprising broke out on February 23–24; in this insurrection, workers, supported by the petite bourgeoisie, played a decisive role. Under pressure from the insurgent workers, who defeated the troops in street fighting, Louis Philippe I abdicated and a Provisional Government was formed on February 24.
After the abdication of King Louis Philippe I in February 1848, the Provisional Government of the Second Republic ruled France. In the following months, this government veered to the right as it became more conservative, establishing friendly links with liberals and pro-monarchists. However, on June 23, 1848, the people of Paris rose up in insurrection again. This event became known as June Days Uprising; it was a bloody but unsuccessful rebellion by the Paris workers against a conservative turn in the Republic's course. As a result, on December 2, 1848, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon III) was elected president of the Second Republic, largely on worker and peasant support. Exactly three years later he suspended the elected assembly, establishing the Second French Empire, betraying the people that had voted him. The Second French Empire would last until 1870, when Louis Napoleon was forced to resign as the result of the Franco-Prussian War.
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| Above, a painting depicting the fighting on the streets of Paris, during the Revolution of 1848. |
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| A daguerrotype showing the barricades on a Parisian street set up by the rebels. |