Revolutions made Modern Europe - Revision

What is Meant by Revolution?

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• Not just a change of leader, not only the shifts from one head of state to another one. It has a
wider impact, it goes beyond the American war for independence. Sets markers for historical
change across the world.

Types of revolutions :
* Radical Revolutions
* Non-Radical Revolution
* Social Revolution—> Political revolutions can bring about major social changes, as the French
Revolution did, but other transformations of society are separate from changes in governing
structures. For example, the Protestant Reformation, when many of today's Christian
denominations split from the Catholic Church, can be described as a revolution. A different kind
of cultural transformation happened in the U.S. staring in the 1960s with the so-called "Sexual
Revolution," which replaced strict traditional sexual morality with a modern culture where sex
outside marriage, contraception and equal relationship roles for men and women are all common
and in-the-open
* Intellectual Revolution —> Enlightenment
* Industrial Revolution —> Revolutionary changes can also affect the economic systems in a
society. The most famous example is the Industrial Revolution, which began in England in the late
1700s. As traditional methods of producing goods by hand and through direct human labor were
replaced by factories and machines, the economies of England, Europe and later the whole world
were radically transformed. Another example is the "Green Revolution" of the 20th century, when
technological advances brought huge increases to the world's agricultural production, making
food cheaper in the developed world but failing to end world hunger.

Reasons:
• popular disillusionment
• demographic changes e.g. rise in population and lack of resources
• revolution ends depending on your definition and understanding of ‘revolution’
• revolutions can take place from inside or outside the regime
• usually involve a clash between the elites and the popular pillar of society
• social injustice
• revolution can occur due to failing government or the beginning of a modernising state and
greater centralisation
• international content

Revolutions
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• 18th century = Age of democratic Revolutions

• Revolution was against the possession of government and the exercise of coercive authority
simply by his own right / status
• Three regime, don’t simply change a regime, but also have a socio-economical impact on the state
• Britain: England and wales mid 17c: took place in economic transformation, an emerging
capitalist order - agricultural feudal, in a time when monarchs struggle to exercise their power
• Two decades of upheaval the time there was no real way of describing what was taking place
• French revolution had the largest impact: Furet spend a lot of time trying to argue that the French
revolution was over.
• France in 1789 was probably the most powerful state in the world, ideas, cultural, French
language has respectable distinct, the revolution produced a new form of society

1792-1801 = wars of the French Revolution

1795= Dutch Revolution (Batavian Republic founded)
1794= Polish Revolution climax - Kosciusko (military engineer) + Hungary
1794= British government scared of too many democrats
1796-8= Revolution in Milan, Rome and Naples (Cisalpine,Roman, Parthenopean Republic) -
Germany the disturbance was largely ideological
1797= Quebec & Quito political imprisonment & agitation
1798 = Bahia Brazil republic conspiracy
1798=Irish Revolution
1798= Swiss Revolution (Helvetic Republic)
1821-1830 = Greek revolution against the ottoman empire

• Not all such agitations in the 1790’s was due to machinations of Revolution in Paris
BUT
• persons of revolutionary persuasion were able to instal revolutionary regimes only where French
support (republic army) was received (e.g.Italian unification)
BUT
• revolutionary sympathis & aims existed in Europe and America
• These revolutions are admittedly different yet they are related products of a common impulse, or
different ways of achieving under different circumstances and against different degrees of
opposition, certain common goals

England:
• Rationalisation of Authority
- Rejection of external constraints i.e. God, Fate and Destiny e.g. manifested in law
- Theory of Sovereignty served for the modernisation of Monarchs = helped modernisation by
legitimising the concentration of authority and the breakdown of medieval pluralistic
political order
• Differentiation of structure
- differentiations of functions and specialisation of governmental bodies = increase efficiency
i.e administrative, judicial,military
- Parliament and crown no longer fused together but carry out differentiated functions
• Political Participation
- 17th century democratisation
 French Revolution Russian Revolution
Causes 5 major causes in 3 stages : Various causes
1. Absolute Monarchy - Absolute Monarchy
2. Estate System - The first Revelation
3. Economic Injustice - World War 1
4. The Enlightnment - Marxism
5. Other Revolutions - Rasputin
(3 stages = The Tennis Court
Oath, The Great Fear and
Reign of Terror)
Similarities - Caused by Absolute monarchy
- Inspired by other Revelations
- Resulted in mass murders
- Overthrew their leaders and form of government
- Wanted equality
- Collapse of the old system
- seizure of power by new and unauthorised groups
- extermination of old institutions
- confiscation
- emigration
- terror
- attack upon the church etc…
Differences - French turned into democracy, Russia turned into a
communist
- One in 18th century, other in the 19th century
- French Revolution lasted 10 years, Russian was a smaller
time and was made of small revelations
Instead of stages, Russia went through various small revolutions
- February Revolution
- October Manifesto
- Led to the creation of the soviet union
Important People Marrie Antoinette
Nicholas II

Historians
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• Mirabeau writing at the time the declaration of the right of man, was applicable at all times
• Figes the peoples tragedy 1917 the revolution in Russia takes place in a weaker part of the world
arena, state characterise by inequality, many things of the old world order survive at the time of
the revolution, what peasants wanted was the same as french, a part of land.
• This revolutions transform existing conditions, transform society form top to bottom, remake the
existing the existing world and look beyond the existing world.
• Russell or Morrel English revolution
• Schama and Furet, Levy: French revolution, revolution best understood in the ideas behind them,
as political events, the influence of the "masters thinkers" philosophers that give expectations to
normal people, produce a sense that it can be possible achieve, this is why they lead to brutality
and tyranny
• Democracy come from market forces, Fukuyama the end of history, there is a universal human
revolution in free societies, the liberal order is the result of advancing industrialisation and
therefore capitalism, the great revolutions are undermined in the way that those economic
transformations were inevitable, thus great revolutions are in the upheaval was not the real cause
• Associative view: French Revolution is an origin/partial cause/ distant prefigurement of the
Russian Revolution - Jaconism = ‘communism of the 18th century ( view of Marx, Lenin and
Trotsky)

Unreasonable expectations
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• Totalitarianism
• The masters thinkers has held power twice in the French revolution and Marxism
• Revolutions are dangerous as they produce instability of the status quo
• There is 3 basic characteristics account of revolutions:
- The challenge historians explanations of interest based on their position in society is
challenged by voluntarist passion
- Second, circumstances are secondary to the predominance of politics - this influence over
social and economical matters
- How to understand revolution? Revolutions happened throughout the development of
modern societies and they will continue to do so
• Important to understand the role of politics, economic change, ideas and social class
• Politics is better understood not as autonomous round that is imposed on society but a round of
choices not the product of economics
• It happens in society were there is inequality and politics interacts with this and economics
• Heinz Lubasz - every great revolution involves large masses of people, there is always more than
one projected alternatives more than one revolutionary programme. Revolutions can be seen as
open ending events. Events where we have to think about revolutions, not simply in ideas, is the
gap between what is thought and what takes place. French revolution develops democratic
processes and capitalist economy. Those gains are the result of collective action.
• Lacoste and Saint-Andre is absolutely essential to keep the poor alive if you want them to help in
the revolution. It becomes necessary to put a stop in the revolution
• Sewell demonstrate how interplays everyday reality and ideas of the revolution, creates dynamics.
Tocqueville democracy means impositions of limits, in the illusion of democracy it is forever
unattainable and therefore it needs to be understood its limits. It is a life aspiration