Building the Republic

Louis-Philippe - The "Citizen King"

Louis-Philippe was born to a French noble family in 1773 and was part of the royal family. His family, while part of the nobility, was greatly influenced by the Enlightenment and was considered liberal. When the French Revolution began in 1789, Louis-Philippe was among the nobles who supported the revolution and he joined the Jacobins in 1790. When the Revolutionary French government went to war in 1792, Louis-Philippe joined the army as an officer and fought in the Battle of Valmy, in which the French army drove back the invading Austrians. However, in 1793 as France fell into the Reign of Terror, Louis-Philippe found himself in a difficult position as his commanding officer was accused of being a traitor. Fearing for his life, Louis-Philippe fled to Switzerland. Later that year, his father was arrested and executed by the Revolutionary government. As a exile, Louis-Philippe traveled to the United States and then lived in England. Louis-Philippe returned to France in 1814, after the defeat of Napoleon and the restoration of Louis XVIII as king. However, Louis-Philippe was not a supporter of the king and put himself in the liberal opposition. After Louis XVIII death, Louis-Philippe got on well with the next king Charles X. But in 1830, Charles X’s repressive policies caused a popular uprising, Louis-Philippe took advantage of the situation to gain power. Louis-Philippe was popular with both the radicals of Paris and the middle class and they supported him to become king. The decision to make him king is seen as victory of the middle class over the nobles and aristocracy. When he was crowned king, Louis-Philippe took the title "King of the French", which linked the king to the people (the traditional title was "King of France").As King, Louis-Philippe's rule tried to follow a path between the conflicting groups in French society - the conservative monarchist and the republicans and supporters of Napoleon. Supporting liberal ideas, he did allow for freedom of the press and trial by jury. He also made the tri-color, the flag of Revolutionary France, the official French flag. In general, his policies favored the wealthy non-noble upper class who gained voting power. The middle class and workers did not benefit as much and resented not having any say in the government. As his reign continued he became more repressive in response to several rebellions and assassination attempts. A combination of a financial crisis and poor harvests in 1846 caused widespread popular discontent against Louis-Philippe. This anger grew into a political reform movement that demanded the right to vote for the middle and lower classes. Louis-Philippe ignored this popular anger and it grew into a rebellion in the spring of 1848. When the people of Paris rose in rebellion against him, Louis-Philippe abdicated and France became an republic. Louis-Philippe and went into exile in England, where he died two years later.

Victor Hugo - French Writer

Victor Hugo was born in 1802 in France during the period when Napoleon was establishing his rule over France and across Europe. The turmoil in France was reflected in Hugo's own family. His father was a supporter of the revolutionary republic and an officer in Napoleon's army. While his mother was conservative and a supporter of the monarchy. When he was a child, Hugo held many of his mother's beliefs, but as he got older, he shifted to the ideals of his father. As a student, Hugo studied law, but also spend his time writing poetry.

Hugo published his first book of poems in 1824 which was widely read and resulted in king Louis XVIII awarding Hugo a royal pension. This allowed Hugo to spend his time working on his writing and he continued to write poetry, but also began to write more realistic novels. In 1829, he published his first novel, The Last Day of a Condemned Man, based on the real life story of a murderer. The novel follows the thoughts of a prisoner in his final hours before his execution and was critical of the public executions that were common at the time. He followed this up with The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1831 which became popular across Europe and made Notre Dame cathedral at the center of Paris a tourist attraction.

Beginning in the 1820's, Hugo began to turn against the monarchy after the government of king Charles X censored and banned some of his plays. Hugo became more moderate in his political views after witnessing the Revolt of 1830, which brought Louis Philippe, the citizen-king, to power. Hugo had been in Paris during the Revolt and witness the fighting, but was not clear in his public support for the revolutionaries. Hugo was opposed to the potential chaos of democracy and instead began to write in praise of the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, who had brought order to France after the Revolution. During this time, while Hugo enjoyed the support of Louis Philippe, he began to and become more involved in politics and supported France becoming a republic, opposed to the death penalty and advocated for the freedom of the press.

Following the Revolts of 1830, Hugo began to work on his most important work, Les Misérables or "The Miserable Ones". The book described the brutal lives of the poor people of France and the social, and legal, injustices they faced. The book is centered on the life of a former convict who becomes the mayor of a town and successful businessman who is unjustly pursued by the legal system. The book tied the personal struggles of the characters to larger social conflicts in France during this period. It took Hugo seventeen years to write the book and it was only published in 1862. While the book is set in the years 1807 to 1832 and describes the fighting in the Revolt of 1830, the subject matter of the book was greatly influenced by later events, such as the Revolts of 1848.

Hugo supported the 1848 revolution against Louis Philippe and was elected to the Legislative Assembly and the Constitutional Assembly. However, this revolt divided French society, and shortly after the establishment of the Constitutional Assembly, the workers of Paris rose up in rebellion against the new government. Hugo opposed this rebellion, but he was also against the violence the government used to suppress the rebellion. During this rebellion, Hugo walked the streets of Paris actively trying, but failing, to stop the fighting between the workers and government soldiers. Hugo would draw on this experience in describing the scenes of street fighting in Les Misérables.

Hugo was a supporter of Louis Napoleon and felt that he should become the president of the new republic. Hugo hoped that Louis Napoleon would be able to bring stability and order to France. However, within a year of Louis-Napoleon's election, Hugo was criticizing the new government for its repressive policies and for doing little to relieve poverty. After Louis-Napoleon declared himself emperor Napoleon III in 1851, Hugo helped organize a rebellion against him. This failed and Hugo had to flee the country and live in exile. While in exile, he wrote Napoleon the Little, a pamphlet attacking the emperor, which was banned in France.

In 1859, Napoleon III granted amnesty to all political exiles. However, Hugo refused to return to France until 1870, when Napoleon III was defeated and the Third Republic was established. Hugo was appointed to the National Assembly and was elected to the Senate in 1876. Hugo died on 22 May 1885, at the age of 83.

Source # 1 - Scenes from the Movie Les Misérables. based on Victor Hugo's book.

Video # 1 - Scene of the city streets of Paris and speech by the radical Marius - click here

Video # 2 - Scene of the rebellion and street battle - click here

Louis Napoleon or Napoleon III - Nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte

Classwork Source # 5 - The Marseillaise by Jean Beraud (1880) - The Marseillaise is the song made popular by the Revolutionary Army during the French Revolution and became the French National Anthem. The column in the background is the July Column (named for the Revolt of 1830) which stands in the Palace de la Bastille (the place where the Bastille once stood).