Welcome to France 1815–1870: Conflict and Change
Welcome to your study guide for CCEA History Unit AS 2: Option 4 (France 1815–70). Between the final defeat of Napoleon I in 1815 and the collapse of the Second Empire in 1870, France experienced extraordinary political transformation. Over just 55 years, the French people lived through four distinct political regimes: a restored traditional monarchy, a constitutional bourgeois monarchy, a short-lived republic, and an authoritarian turned liberal empire.
Don't worry if all the sudden regime changes, revolutions, and kings seem overwhelming at first. We will break down this dramatic period into four clear chapters, highlighting key events, core themes, and essential exam skills.
Exam Overview & Strategy: Unit AS 2
To succeed in your AS 2 exam, it helps to know exactly what the examiners expect:
Exam Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Weighting: 50% of your AS qualification / 20% of your total A Level
Paper Structure: You must answer two questions from a choice of three. Each question is split into two distinct parts:
Part (i) — Short Analytical Question: Tests causation, consequences, or key events. Keep this structured, sharp, and focused on direct causal factors without unnecessary narrative padding.
Part (ii) — Extended Evaluative Essay: Tests your ability to build a balanced historical argument, assess a given proposition, and reach a reasoned conclusion based on evidence.
Section 1: The Restored Bourbon Monarchy (1815–1830)
Following Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815, the Bourbon dynasty was restored to the throne. However, France could not simply return to the absolute rule of the pre-1789 past.
1. Louis XVIII (1814/1815–1824): Pragmatism and Compromise
Louis XVIII understood that trying to turn back the clock completely would trigger another revolution. He pursued a policy of moderation and compromise.
The Charter of 1814 (Charte Constitutionnelle):
This was the constitutional bedrock of the restoration. It established a constitutional monarchy with key features:
• A bicameral legislature consisting of the Chamber of Deputies (elected by a very wealthy, narrow electorate) and the Chamber of Peers (appointed by the King).
• Legal recognition of civil equality and religious freedom, while confirming Roman Catholicism as the state religion.
• Guarantee of the Napoleonic land settlements, reassuring landowners that confiscated Revolutionary property would remain theirs.
Political Factions under Louis XVIII:
• Ultra-Royalists (Ultras): Led by the King's younger brother, the Comte d'Artois. They wanted a return to pre-1789 absolute monarchy, privileges for the nobility, and dominance for the Catholic Church. They were described as being "more royalist than the King."
• Moderate Royalists (Doctrinaires): Politicians such as Decazes and Richelieu who supported the Charter of 1814 and aimed to reconcile the monarchy with modern post-revolutionary society.
• Liberals & Republicans: Favoured expanded voting rights, press freedom, and reduced clerical influence.
Key Crises and the Shift to Reaction:
• The White Terror (1815): A wave of violent retribution by Ultra-Royalists against former revolutionaries, Bonapartists, and liberals following the Hundred Days.
• Assassination of the Duc de Berry (1820): The murder of the King's nephew (the only Bourbon heir likely to continue the direct family line) triggered a massive reactionary backlash. Louis XVIII dismissed his moderate minister Decazes, tightened press censorship, and introduced the Law of the Double Vote, which allowed the wealthiest landowners to vote twice, securing Ultra domination.
Foreign Policy: In 1823, France intervened militarily in Spain under the authority of the Quintuple Alliance to restore King Ferdinand VII. This successful intervention restored French military prestige and re-established France as an accepted power in the Concert of Europe.
2. Charles X (1824–1830): The Ultra Reactionary
When Louis XVIII died in 1824, his brother the Comte d'Artois became King as Charles X. Unlike his brother, Charles was an unapologetic Ultra-Royalist determined to reverse the legacy of 1789.
Charles X's Reactionary Policies:
• Coronation at Reims (1825): A medieval-style coronation ceremony emphasising the divine right of kings.
• The Anti-Sacrilege Act (1825): Imposed severe penalties, including the death penalty, for desecrating church property and church vessels.
• The Billion Francs of Émigrés (Milliard des Émigrés): Compensated nobles whose estates had been confiscated during the French Revolution, funded by reducing interest payments on government bonds (infuriating the middle-class bondholders).
• Dissolution of the National Guard (1827): Disbanded after members voiced anti-government slogans.
• Appointment of Jules de Polignac (1829): Appointing an extreme Ultra as Prime Minister alienated moderate opinion and placed the crown on a collision course with the liberal Chamber of Deputies.
3. The July Revolution (1830)
In July 1830, after liberal electoral victories, Charles X attempted an unconstitutional royal coup by issuing the Four Ordinances of Saint-Cloud:
1. Dissolved the newly elected Chamber of Deputies.
2. Suspended the freedom of the press.
3. Drastically restricted the electoral franchise (excluding commercial middle classes).
4. Ordered new elections under the restricted franchise.
The Three Glorious Days (Les Trois Glorieuses — 27–29 July 1830): Barricades went up across Paris. Workers, students, and middle-class liberals revolted. The army failed to maintain control, forcing Charles X to abdicate and flee to Britain.
Section 1 Summary & Key Takeaway: Louis XVIII kept his throne through pragmatism and the compromise of the 1814 Charter. Charles X lost it because he attempted to enforce an Ultra-Royalist reaction that ignored the irreversible changes brought by the Revolution.
Section 2: The July Monarchy (1830–1848)
Rather than declaring a Republic in 1830, moderate liberals placed Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans, on the throne. He was styled not as "King of France" (ruling by divine right) but as "King of the French" (ruling by the will of the people) and was nicknamed the "Citizen King."
1. The Nature of the Regime
• The Revised Charter of 1830: Established a constitutional monarchy rooted in national sovereignty. Censorship was abolished, Roman Catholicism was no longer the state religion (merely the religion of the majority), and the voting age and property qualifications were lowered.
• A Bourgeois Monarchy: Power rested firmly in the hands of the wealthy middle class (haute bourgeoisie — bankers, large landowners, and industrialists). The franchise remained very narrow: only around 200,000 to 240,000 wealthy men held the right to vote in a country of over 30 million.
2. Domestic Turmoil and Governance
The July Monarchy was attacked from both the political right (Legitimists loyal to the exiled Bourbons) and the left (Republicans and emerging socialists).
• Social Unrest: The Silk Weavers' Uprisings in Lyon (Canut Revolts of 1831 and 1834) exposed the terrible conditions of industrial workers. The regime responded with firm military repression.
• Key Ministers: Early governments were led by figures like Casimir Périer and Adolphe Thiers. From 1840 to 1848, François Guizot dominated policy. Guizot rejected calls for political reform and widening the franchise, famously telling disenfranchised citizens to "Enrichissez-vous" ("Enrich yourselves") through work and savings if they wanted the vote.
3. Foreign Policy
Louis Philippe pursued a cautious foreign policy aimed at avoiding expensive European wars:
• Kept France out of foreign entanglements, notably refusing to intervene in support of the Polish uprising in 1830.
• Cooperated with Britain over the creation and independence of Belgium.
• Strained relations with Britain later in the 1840s over the Affair of the Spanish Marriages.
• This cautious policy, while preserving peace, bored the public and offended French national pride, creating a nostalgic longing for the glorious days of Napoleon.
4. The Collapse of the July Monarchy (1848)
The regime fell rapidly in February 1848 due to a combination of long-term grievances and short-term triggers:
• Economic Distress (1846–1847): Severe agricultural failures (bad grain and potato harvests) combined with an industrial crisis, causing food shortages, mass unemployment, and widespread misery.
• Rigid Resistance to Franchise Reform: Guizot and Louis Philippe flatly refused to lower the property qualification for voting to include the professional middle class.
• The Banquet Campaign: Because political meetings were illegal, opposition reformers organised large dinners or "banquets" to discuss electoral reform. When the government banned a major banquet scheduled for 22 February 1848 in Paris, popular protests erupted into street barricades.
• Facing revolution, Louis Philippe abdicated on 24 February 1848, ending the July Monarchy.
Section 2 Summary & Key Takeaway: The July Monarchy catered to a wealthy elite (haute bourgeoisie). Its refusal to widen the franchise, coupled with economic crisis and the suppression of the Reform Banquets, led to its sudden collapse in February 1848.
Section 3: The Second Republic (1848–1852)
1. Creation and Radicalisation (February – June 1848)
Following the 1848 revolution, a Provisional Government was established, declaring the Second Republic:
• Universal Male Suffrage: Instantly expanded the electorate from roughly 240,000 to over 9 million men.
• The National Workshops (Ateliers Nationaux): Influenced by socialist thinker Louis Blanc, these were created to provide state-funded work and relief for unemployed Parisian labourers.
The June Days Uprising (1848):
Conservative and rural voters elected a predominantly moderate-to-conservative National Assembly in April 1848. Fearing the radicalism and cost of the National Workshops, the government closed them in June. In response, working-class Parisians rose in armed rebellion. General Cavaignac brutally crushed the insurrection during the "June Days" (23–26 June 1848). This bloodshed created a deep, permanent divide between working-class socialists and moderate middle-class republicans.
2. Ascent of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte
In the presidential election of December 1848, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (nephew of Napoleon I) won an overwhelming landslide victory.
Why did Louis-Napoleon win?
• The Napoleonic Legend: His name symbolised national order, French glory, and pride.
• Broad Electoral Appeal: Peasants remembered the stability of Napoleon I; the bourgeoisie saw him as a defender of property against socialism; working-class citizens saw him as an alternative to the hated moderate republicans who crushed the June Days.
Consolidation of Power (1849–1851):
• Loi Falloux (1850): Granted the Catholic Church increased authority over primary and secondary education, securing conservative Catholic support.
• Electoral Restriction (May 1850): The conservative Assembly passed a law requiring three years of residency to vote, effectively disenfranchising 3 million poorer, mobile working-class voters.
• The Coup d'État of 2 December 1851: The Constitution barred the President from seeking a second consecutive term. When the National Assembly refused to amend the constitution, Louis-Napoleon launched a coup d'état on 2 December 1851 (the anniversary of Napoleon I's coronation and the Battle of Austerlitz). He dissolved the Assembly, restored universal male suffrage, and crushed resistance.
• Through heavily controlled plebiscites (national referendums), the French public overwhelmingly approved his actions. On 2 December 1852, he formally proclaimed the Second Empire, ruling as Emperor Napoleon III.
Section 3 Summary & Key Takeaway: Class conflict during the June Days of 1848 fractured the republic. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte exploited the desire for social order and the power of the Napoleonic name to move from elected President to Emperor via the Coup of December 1851.
Section 4: The Second Empire (1852–1870)
1. The Two Phases of Napoleon III's Rule
Historians divide the Second Empire into two distinct political periods:
Phase 1: The Authoritarian Empire (1852–1860)
• Executive power was concentrated in the hands of Napoleon III.
• The legislative assembly (Corps Législatif) had limited power: it could not initiate legislation or freely publish its debates.
• Strict press censorship, government monitoring of elections through official candidates, and political opponents exiled or silenced.
• Frequent use of plebiscites to bypass parliamentary institutions and claim direct democratic legitimacy from the people.
Phase 2: The Liberal Empire (1860–1870)
• Napoleon III gradually relaxed authoritarian controls to rebuild political support as opposition grew.
• The Corps Législatif gained the right to debate policy freely, question ministers, and amend legislation.
• Press restrictions were relaxed, and public meetings were permitted.
• In 1864, the regime granted workers the legal right to strike.
• In 1870, liberal politician Émile Ollivier formed a government overseeing constitutional reforms that created a semi-parliamentary regime, confirmed by a decisive majority in the May 1870 plebiscite.
2. Economic and Social Modernisation
Domestic modernisation was one of the Second Empire's greatest achievements:
• Haussmann's Rebuilding of Paris: Directed by Baron Haussmann, Paris was transformed. Narrow, medieval streets were replaced by wide boulevards, public parks, modern sewage systems, and clean water supplies. This improved public health and made it far more difficult for rebels to build barricades.
• Infrastructure and Banking: Massive expansion of the railway network unified the national market. Innovative investment banks like the Crédit Mobilier funded industrial projects, ports, and mining.
• Free Trade: In 1860, France signed the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty with Great Britain, lowering tariffs and encouraging modern industrial competition.
3. Foreign Policy: Ambition, Miscalculation, and Collapse
Napoleon III declared that "The Empire means peace," but he believed that French prestige depended on an active, revisionist foreign policy.
Successes (1853–1859):
• Crimean War (1853–1856): France allied with Britain to defeat Russia. The peace conference was hosted at the Congress of Paris (1856), placing France back at the centre of European diplomacy.
• Italian Campaign (1859): France allied with Piedmont-Sardinia against Austria, securing the annexation of Nice and Savoy to France.
Failures and Diplomatic Isolation (1860–1870):
• The Roman Question: French troops garrisoned Rome to protect the Pope against Italian nationalists, which alienated French liberals and Italian allies without fully satisfying French Catholic conservatives.
• The Mexican Intervention (1861–1867): A disastrous attempt to establish an Austrian archduke (Maximilian) as Emperor of Mexico ended in military withdrawal and Maximilian's execution, severely damaging French international prestige.
• The Rise of Prussia: Otto von Bismarck outmanoeuvred Napoleon III during the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Luxembourg Crisis (1867), leaving France diplomatically isolated in Europe.
4. The Downfall: The Franco-Prussian War (1870)
• The dispute over the Hohenzollern candidature for the Spanish throne provoked a diplomatic crisis between France and Prussia.
• Goaded by Bismarck's publication of the edited Ems Telegram, France declared war on Prussia in July 1870.
• The French army suffered catastrophic defeats. On 2 September 1870, at the Battle of Sedan, Napoleon III was surrounded and captured alongside over 80,000 troops.
• When news reached Paris on 4 September 1870, the Second Empire was abolished, and the Third Republic was proclaimed.
Section 4 Summary & Key Takeaway: The Second Empire successfully modernised the French economy and rebuilt Paris. However, diplomatic blunders and military catastrophe against Prussia at the Battle of Sedan in September 1870 brought the regime to a sudden end.
Comparative Timeline: Four Regimes at a Glance
• 1814/1815–1830 (Bourbon Restoration): Louis XVIII (moderate constitutionalism via Charter of 1814) \(\rightarrow\) Charles X (reactionary Ultra policies) \(\rightarrow\) Collapsed via July Revolution 1830.
• 1830–1848 (July Monarchy): Louis Philippe ("Citizen King") and François Guizot. Dominated by the haute bourgeoisie. Refusal to reform the franchise led to the February 1848 Revolution.
• 1848–1852 (Second Republic): Universal male suffrage and social division (June Days 1848). Louis-Napoleon elected President (Dec 1848), followed by his Coup d'État (Dec 1851).
• 1852–1870 (Second Empire): Napoleon III. Transitioned from Authoritarian (1852–1860) to Liberal Empire (1860–1870). High domestic modernisation; destroyed by defeat at the Battle of Sedan (1870).
Examiner Tips & Common Pitfalls
• Do not conflate Louis XVIII and Charles X: Examiners frequently penalise candidates who treat both Bourbon kings as identical. Louis XVIII was pragmatic and compromised; Charles X was dogmatic and provoked his own downfall.
• Avoid single-factor explanations for 1848: Do not blame the 1848 Revolution solely on the banned Reform Banquets. A high-scoring response evaluates underlying agricultural crises (1846–47), working-class distress, and systemic bourgeois frustration with Guizot's narrow franchise.
• Balance your assessment of Napoleon III: Avoid describing Napoleon III simply as an incompetent adventurer. Highlight his significant domestic economic successes (railways, banking, Haussmann's Paris, legalising strikes) alongside his foreign policy errors in Mexico and against Prussia.
• Structure for Part (i) vs. Part (ii): In Part (i), answer directly with 2–3 precise, explained causes/consequences. In Part (ii), write a balanced essay comparing factors, debating the proposition in the question, and delivering a substantiated final judgment.