An Arab Spring. Riots over a stupid internet film, the Innocence of Muslims, The Occupy Movement, technological unemployment. Continents are trembling and a world is awakening. In some ways, our past several years, and the so called American “fiscal cliff” to come, has some haunting reminders of the events leading up to the revolution of 1848; and 1848 had a “triste” end, when the springtime hopes of an entire continent collapsed in the reaction of counterrevolution. Will 2012, like 1848, be called, in Toynbee’s phrase, a turning point where history failed to turn? Or,are we in the midst of something both prophetic and nostalgic. For 1848 we have near perfect hindsight; presently, we are still in the high- or low-tide of events. Does reaction follow revolt as inevitably as one tide the other? …
—On 14th January 1848 the authorities banned a “banquet”, one of a series that had intermittently been held by ‘liberal’ interests after July 1847 in Paris, and subsequently widely across France, in protest at such things as limitations on the right of assembly and the narrow scope of the political franchise, with the result that the it was postponed by its organisers.
There was actually a law in place requiring official permission for any meeting to be attended by more than six persons.
I am told that there is no danger because there are no riots; I am told that, because there is no visible disorder on the surface of society, there is no revolution at hand….
This, gentlemen, is my profound conviction: I believe that we are at this moment sleeping on a volcano. I am profoundly convinced of it …
Think, gentlemen, of the old (i.e. pre 1789) monarchy: it was stronger than you are, stronger in its origin; it was able to lean more than you do upon ancient customs, ancient habits, ancient beliefs; it was stronger than you are, and yet it has fallen to dust…. —Read More:http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/1848/french_revolution_1848.html
Protest Becomes Revolution…At the Tuileries on February 21,1848, Louis Philippe pondered news of angry street crowds and laughed: “It’s a storm in a teapot.” On February 24 he was fleeing to England. The tumultous events of the intervening days can be chronicled by the hour and the street. Early on February 23 protestors in Paris were shouting “A bas Guizot” – down with the premier. At 2:30 P.M. the king asked Guizot to resign. In the evening a jubilant throng marched to the rue des Capucines to demand that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs light up its offices to celebrate Guizot’s fall.
—Honore Daumier, satirical lithograph. “MM. Victor Hugo & Emile de Girardin cherchent à élever le prince Louis sur un pavois, ça n’est pas très solide !” (published in Charivari, December 11, 1848) “Messrs. Victor Hugo and Emile de Girardin try to raise Prince Louis upon a shield [in the heroic Roman fashion]: not too steady!”—Source WIKI
—Incendie du château d’eau, place du Palais Royal, le 24 février 1848 (Eugène HAGNAUER, 1848)
Cette révolution de 1848 m’a toujours passionné. La Révolution française et l’Empire ne sont pas loin. C’est le Paris décrit par Eugène SUE dans les Mystères de Paris . Comment la révolution a-t-elle éclaté?—Read More:http://ethnolyceum.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/revolutions-paralleles/
Overnight, the protest had become a revolution. The more daring took the offensive. At the square of the Palais Royale, as in the painting, crowds set fire to the Chateau d’Eau, a military post, and fought with the troops. Bloodied now, the rebels marched on the Tuileries itself. Before they reached the gates, the king had fled, and the French monarchy was no more…
Jules Gaildrau art…The Château d’Eau was built in the early 18 th century as an indestructible stronghold for the French militia. On February 24, 1848 , the Château d’Eau was the site of heavy rioting by Parisian revolutionaries. Occupied by members of the Garde Municipale, as well as many insurgents that they held as prisoners, the Château d’Eau was a revolutionary target. Parisians stormed the building and demanded that the guards give up their weapons, but to no avail. Shooting broke out shortly after, and the insurgents responded by setting the Château d’Eau ablaze; surviving soldiers were forced to surrender. An estimated 11 soldiers and 38 citizens were killed in the riot.
Read More:http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/exhibits/paris/political.html
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