Wallachian Revolution of 1848
Transylvanian revolution | |||||||
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Part of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 | |||||||
People in Bucharest during the 1848 events, carrying the Romanian tricolor, by Costache Petrescu | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Revolutionaries |
Wallachia Ottoman Empire Russian Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Neofit Gianoglu Christian Tell Ion Heliade Ștefan Golescu Gheorghe Magheru Gheorghe Scurti |
Gheorghe Bibescu Constantin Cantacuzino Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei Omar Pasha Alexander von Lüders |
History of Romania |
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Romania portal |
The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a
Despite its rapid gains and popular backing, the new administration was marked by conflicts between the radical wing and more conservative forces, especially over the issue of land reform. Two successive abortive coups were able to weaken the Government, and its international status was always contested by Russia. After managing to rally a degree of sympathy from Ottoman political leaders, the Revolution was ultimately isolated by the intervention of Russian diplomats, and ultimately repressed by a common intervention of Ottoman and Russian armies, without any significant form of armed resistance. Nevertheless, over the following decade, the completion of its goals was made possible by the international context, and former revolutionaries became the original political class in united Romania.
Origins
The two Danubian Principalities, Wallachia and Moldavia, came under direct Russian supervision upon the close of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, being subsequently administered on the basis of common documents, known as Regulamentul Organic. After a period of Russian military occupation, Wallachia returned to Ottoman suzerainty while Russian oversight was preserved, and the throne was awarded to Alexandru II Ghica in 1834—this measure was controversial from the onset, given that, despite the popular provisions of the Akkerman Convention, Ghica had been appointed by Russia and the Ottomans, instead of being elected by the Wallachian Assembly.[1] As a consequence, the Prince was faced with opposition from both sides of the political spectrum, while also attempting to quell the peasantry's discontent by legislating against the abuse of estate lessors.[2] The first liberal movement, taking inspiration from the French Revolution and having for its stated purpose the encouragement of culture, was Societatea Filarmonică (the Philharmonic Society), established in 1833.[3]
Hostility towards Russian policies erupted later in 1834, when Russia called for an "Additional Article" (Articol adițional) to be attached to the Regulament, as the latter document was being reviewed by the
Câmpineanu, who had proposed a reformist constitution to replace the Regulament entirely, was forced into exile, but remained an influence on a younger generation of activists, both Wallachian and Moldavian.
Pre-revolutionary events and outbreak
In October 1840, the first specifically revolutionary secret society of the period was repressed by Prince Ghica.[9] Among those arrested and taken into confinement were the high-ranking boyar Mitică Filipescu, the young radical Nicolae Bălcescu, and the much older Dimitrie Macedonski, who had taken part in the uprising of 1821.[10]
The new ruler,
Rebellion broke out in late June 1848, after Frăția's members came to adopt a single project regarding the promise of
Originally, the revolutionary grouping had intended to take over various military bases throughout Wallachia, and planned to simultaneously organize public gatherings in Bucharest, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Ploiești, Romanați County and Islaz.[15] On June 21, 1848, Heliade Rădulescu and Tell were present in Islaz, where, with the Orthodox priest Șapcă of Celei, they revealed the revolutionary program to a cheering crowd (see Proclamation of Islaz).[16] A new government was formed on the spot, comprising Tell, Heliade Rădulescu, Ștefan Golescu, Șapcă, and Nicolae Pleșoianu—they wrote Prince Bibescu an appeal, which called on him to recognize the program as the embryo of a constitution and to "listen to the voice of the motherland and place himself at the head of this great accomplishment".[15]
The revolutionary executive left Islaz at the head of a gathering of soldiers and various others, and, after passing through Caracal, triumphantly entered Craiova without meeting resistance from local forces.[15] According to one account, the gathering comprised as many as 150,000 armed civilians.[17] As these events were unfolding, Bibescu was shot at in Bucharest by Alexandru or Iancu Paleologu (the father of French diplomat Maurice Paléologue) and his co-conspirators, whose bullets only managed to tear one of the Prince's epaulettes.[18] Over the following hours, police forces clamped down of Frăția, arresting Rosetti and a few other members, but failing to capture most of them.[15]
Provisional Government
Creation
Early on June 23, Bibescu also attempted to regain the loyalty of his Militia forces by an order to take a renewed oath of allegiance—the officers agreed to do so, but added that under no circumstances did they agree to shed the blood of Romanians.[15] In the afternoon, the Bucharest populace, feeling encouraged by this development, rallied in the streets; around four o'clock, the church bells on Dealul Mitropoliei began sounding the tocsin (by banging their tongues on only one side of the drum).[15] Public readings of the Islaz Proclamation took place, and the Romanian tricolor was paraded throughout the city.[19] At ten o'clock in the evening, Bibescu gave in to the pressures, signed the new constitution, and agreed to support a Provisional Government as imposed on him by Frăția.[20] This effectively disestablished Regulamentul Organic, causing the Russian consul to Bucharest, Charles de Kotzebue, to leave the country for Austrian-ruled Transylvania.[21] Bibescu himself abdicated and left into self-exile.[22]
On June 25, the two proposed cabinets were reunited into Guvernul vremelnicesc (the Provisional Government), based on the Executive Commission of the
The Wallachian revolutionaries maintained ambiguous relations with leaders of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, as well as with the latter's ethnic Romanian adversaries in Transylvania. As early as April, Bălcescu, who maintained close contacts with many Romanian Transylvanian politicians, called on August Treboniu Laurian not to oppose the unification of Transylvania and revolutionary Hungary.[24] In parallel, secretive negotiations were carried out between Lajos Batthyány and Ion Brătianu, which were in connection to a project of creating a Wallachian–Hungarian confederation.[24] Although it drew support from radicals, the proposal was ultimately rejected by the Hungarian side, who notably argued that this carried the danger of deteriorating relations with Russia.[25] Progressively, Romanian Transylvanians distanced themselves from the rapprochement, and clarified that their goal was the preservation of Austrian rule, coming into open conflict with the Hungarian revolutionary authorities.[26]
Early reforms
The following day, the new administrative bodies issued their first decrees. One of them instituted the horizontal tricolor with the inscription DPEПTATE – ФРЪЦIE ("Justice – Brotherhood" in
The official
The authorities publicized their reforms by making use of new press institutions, the most circulated of which were Poporul Suveran (a magazine edited by Bălcescu, Bolliac, Grigore Alexandrescu, Dimitrie Bolintineanu and others) and Pruncul Român (published by Rosetti and Eric Winterhalder).[35] In parallel, the Bucharest populace could regularly hear public communiques read on the fields of Filaret (known as the "Field of Liberty").[36]
Disputes and intrigue
Support for the Provisional Government began to be tested when the issue of land reform and corvées was again brought to the forefront. Aside from the important conservative forces, opponents of the measure were to be found inside the leadership body itself, and included the moderates Heliade Rădulescu and Ioan Odobescu.[36] Revolutionaries who favored passing land into the property of peasants were divided over the amount that was to be ceded, as well as over the issue of compensation to be paid to boyars.[37] A compromise was reached through postponing, with a decision taken to submit all proposals to the vote of the Assembly, which was yet to be convened, instead of drafting a decree.[37] Nevertheless, a Proclamation to estate-holders was issued (June 28, 1848), indicating that the reform was to be eventually enforced in exchange for unspecified sums, and calling on peasants to fulfill their corvées until autumn of the same year.[36]
This appeal caused a reaction from the opposition forces: Odobescu rallied to the cause of conservatives, and, on July 1, 1848, together with his fellow officers Ioan Solomon and Grigorie Lăcusteanu, arrested the entire Government.[36] The coup almost succeeded, being ultimately overturned by the reaction of Bucharesters, who organized street resistance against mutinied troops, mounted barricades, and, eventually, stormed into the executive's headquarters.[36] The latter assault, led by Ana Ipătescu, resulted in the arrest of all coup leaders.[36]
Despite this move, disputes regarding the shape of land reform continued inside the Government. On July 21, 1848, Nicolae Bălcescu obtained the issuing of a decree to create Comisia proprietății (the Commission on Property), comprising 34 delegates, two for each Wallachian county, representing respectively peasants and landlords.[38] The new institution was presided over by the landowner Alexandru Racoviță, and had the Moldavian-born Ion Ionescu de la Brad for its vice president.[37]
During the proceedings, a number of boyars had switched to supporting peasants: the liberal boyar Ceaușescu, a delegate to the Commission's fourth session, made a celebrated speech in which he addressed laborers as "brothers" and deplored his own status as a landowner.[39] An emotional audience applauded his gesture, and peasants proclaimed that God forgave Ceaușescu's deeds.[39] Other landowners, more circumspect, asked peasants what they planned to use for compensation, for which they were to be largely responsible; according to Mihail Kogălniceanu, their answer was "With these two slave's arms, we have been working for centuries and provided for all the landowners' expenses; once freed, our arms would work twice as much and rest assured that we will not leave you wanting of what the country's judgment will decide we should pay you".[33] This reportedly caused an uproar inside the Commission.[33]
Peasants and their supporters advocated the notion that each family was supposed to receive at least four hectares of land; in their system, which made note of differences in local traditional, peasants living in wetlands were to be assigned 16 pogoane (approx. eight hectares), those living in plains 14 (approx. seven hectares), inhabitants of hilly areas 11 (between five and six hectares), while people inhabiting the Southern Carpathian areas were supposed to receive eight pogoane (approx. four hectares).[36] This program was instantly rejected by many landowners, and the negotiations were ended through a decision taken by Heliade Rădulescu, when it was again decided that the ultimate resolution was a prerogative of the future Assembly.[37] The failure to address this most significant of the problems faced by Wallachians contributed to weakening support for the revolutionary cause.[40]
Diplomatic efforts and regency
Faced with the clear hostility of the
Warmly received by the city's inhabitants and authorities, Süleyman opted to impose a series of formal moves, which were intended to appease Russia.[36] He replaced the Government with a regency, Locotenența domnească, and asked for some changes to be operated in the text of the constitution (promising that these were to ensure Ottoman recognition).[36] The new ruling body, a triumvirate, comprised Heliade Rădulescu, Nicolae Golescu, and Christian Tell.[36]
On Süleyman's explicit advice, a revolutionary delegation was dispatched to Istanbul, where it was to negotiate the movement's official recognition—among the envoys were Bălcescu,
Metropolitan Neofit's coup
On July 11, 1848, the false rumor that the
Over the following months, the population radicalized itself, and, on September 18, 1848, just one week before the Revolution was crushed, crowds entered the Interior Ministry, taking over the official copies of
Suppression
Battle of Dealul Spirii | |||||||
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Part of Wallachian Revolution of 1848 | |||||||
Resistance of the firemen on Dealul Spirii | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Wallachia | Ottoman Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Pavel Zăgănescu Radu C. Golescu | Kerim Pasha | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Fire company | Unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
916 | 6000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
48 killed 56 wounded |
158 killed 400 wounded |
On September 25 [
The radical faction around Nicolae Bălcescu and
Immediately after the events, 91 revolutionaries were sentenced to exile.[49] Of these, a small group was transported by barges from Giurgiu, on their way to the Austrian-ruled Svinița, near the Danube port of Orschowa.[54] The revolutionary artist Constantin Daniel Rosenthal and Maria Rosetti, both of whom had been allowed to go free and had subsequently followed the barges on shore, pointed out that the Ottomans had stepped out of their jurisdiction, and were able to persuade the mayor of Svinița to disarm the guards, which in turn allowed the prisoners to flee.[55] The escapees then made their way to Paris.[56]
Most other revolutionaries were detained in areas of present-day
In the meantime, Magheru, upon the advice of Colquhoun,[39] ordered the demobilization of his troops (October 10), and, accompanied by a few of his officers, passed the Southern Carpathians into Hermannstadt—at the time, the Transylvanian city was nominally in the Austrian Empire, but gripped by the Hungarian Revolution.[49]
Aftermath
Wallachian activities in Transylvania
Starting in December 1848, a number of Wallachian revolutionaries who had escaped or had been set free from arrest began mediating an understanding between Hungary's
On May 26, 1849, Nicolae Bălcescu met with Kossuth in Debrecen, and, despite his personal disappointment with the Hungarian discourse and his ideal of full political rights for Romanians in the region,[62] agreed to mediate an understanding with Iancu, which resulted in a ceasefire and a series of political concessions.[63] This came as Russian troops were entering Transylvania, a military operation culminating in Hungarian defeat at the Battle of Segesvár in late July.
Political outcome
The Ottoman–Russian occupation prolonged itself until 1851, while the 1849 Convention of Balta Liman awarded the Wallachian crown to Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei.[64] In contrast to the 1848–1849 setbacks, the period inaugurated by the Crimean War disestablished both Russian domination and the Regulamentul Organic regime, and, within the space of one generation, brought about the fulfillment of virtually all revolutionary projects.[65] The common actions of Moldavians and Wallachians, in pace with the presence of Wallachian activists in Transylvania, helped circulate the ideal of national unity, with the ultimate goal of reuniting all majority-Romanian territories within one state.[49]
In early 1859, at the close of a turbulent period, Wallachia and Moldavia entered a
Following an 1866 conflict between the increasingly authoritarian Cuza and the political class, various trends organized a coup which brought Prince Carol, a Hohenzollern, to the Romanian throne[67]—echoing a will expressed by some of the 1848 activists to have a foreign dynasty rule over a unified state.[67] In 1877, as a consequence of the Russo-Turkish War, Romania proclaimed her independence.[67]
Notes
- ^ Djuvara, p. 325
- ^ Djuvara, pp. 325, 328–329
- ^ Stavrianos, p. 347
- ^ a b c Djuvara, p. 329
- ^ Djuvara, pp. 329–330
- ^ Djuvara, p. 330; Grenville, pp. 82–83; Stavrianos, p. 347
- ^ Frunzetti, p. 11; Stavrianos, p. 347
- ^ Frunzetti, pp. 11-12
- ^ Djuvara, p. 330
- ^ Djuvara, p. 330; Giurescu, p. 132
- ^ Djuvara, pp. 330–331; Giurescu, p. 132; Stavrianos, p. 347
- ^ a b Giurescu, p. 132
- ^ Frunzetti, p. 16
- ^ Djuvara, p. 331; Stavrianos, p. 347
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Giurescu, p. 133
- ^ Djuvara, p. 331; Giurescu, p. 133
- ^ Cooke, p. 85
- ^ Djuvara, pp. 131–132; Giurescu, p. 133
- ^ Giurescu, pp. 133–134
- ^ Cooke, p. 85; Djuvara, p. 331; Giurescu, p. 134; Stavrianos, p. 347
- ^ a b c d e Giurescu, p. 134
- ^ Cooke, p. 85; Djuvara, p. 331; Stavrianos, p. 347
- ^ Giurescu, pp. 134, 135
- ^ a b Romsics & Király, p. 102
- ^ Romsics & Király, pp. 102–103
- ^ Maior, pp. 17–18, 320–321, 369; Romsics & Király, p. 104
- ^ "Decretul No. 1 al Guvernului provisoriu al Țării-Românesci".
- ^ a b Giurescu, p. 134; Stavrianos, p. 348
- ^ Stavrianos, pp. 348, 349
- ^ Stavrianos, p. 349
- ^ Achim, p. 110; Kogălniceanu; Giurescu, p. 134
- ^ Achim, p. 109; Kogălniceanu
- ^ a b c Kogălniceanu
- ^ Achim, p. 110
- ^ Giurescu, pp. 134–135
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Giurescu, p. 135
- ^ a b c d Giurescu, p. 135; Kogălniceanu
- ^ Djuvara, p. 331; Giurescu, p. 135
- ^ a b c Djuvara, p. 331
- ^ Stavrianos, p. 348
- ^ Cooke, p. 85; Giurescu, p. 135; Stavrianos, p. 348
- ^ Djuvara, p. 331; Giurescu, p. 135; Stavrianos, p. 348
- ^ Giurescu, pp. 135–136
- ^ a b c d e f Giurescu, p. 136
- ^ Giurescu, p. 136; Grenville, p. 83; Stavrianos, p. 348
- ^ Grenville, p. 83
- ^ Cooke, p. 85; Djuvara, p. 331; Grenville, p. 83
- ^ Giurescu, pp. 136–137
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Giurescu, p. 137
- ^ Grenville, p. 83; Stavrianos, p. 348
- ^ a b Djuvara, p. 331; Giurescu, p. 137
- ^ Ilie, Aurora-Florentina (2015). "Drapelul Regimentului 19 Infanterie, model 1922" (PDF). Anuarul Muzeului Național al Literaturii Române Iași (in Romanian). Iași: Editura Muzeelor Literare. p. 129.
- ^ Grenville, p. 82
- ^ Djuvara, p. 332; Frunzetti, pp. 18–20; Giurescu, p. 137
- ^ Frunzetti, p. 20
- ^ Frunzetti, p. 21; Giurescu, p. 137
- ^ Djuvara, p. 332; Giurescu, p. 137
- ^ a b Djuvara, p. 332
- ^ Maior, p. 334
- ^ Maior, pp. 334–340
- ^ Maior, pp. 340–353
- ^ Djuvara, p. 332; Maior, p. 375
- ^ Romsics & Király, pp. 70–72; Maior, pp. 375–403
- ^ Cooke, p. 85; Giurescu, p. 139; Kogălniceanu
- ^ Djuvara, p. 332; Giurescu, p. 139; Kogălniceanu
- ^ Giurescu, pp. 140–141; Kogălniceanu
- ^ a b c d Djuvara, p. 333
- ^ Djuvara, pp. 332–333; Giurescu, p. 137; Kogălniceanu
References
- Viorel Achim, The Roma in Romanian History, Central European University Press, Budapest, 2004
- W. S. Cooke, The Ottoman Empire and Its Tributary States (Excepting Egypt), B. R. Grüner, Amsterdam, 1968
- Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995
- Ion Frunzetti, Pictorul revoluționar C.Rosenthal ("The Revolutionary Painter C. Rosenthal"), Editura de Stat pentru Literatură și Artă, Bucharest, 1955
- Constantin C. Giurescu, Istoria Bucureștilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre ("History of Bucharest. From the earliest times until our day"), Editura Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966
- Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 1999
- (in Romanian) Mihail Kogălniceanu, Dezrobirea țiganilor, ștergerea privilegiilor boierești, emanciparea țăranilor ("The Freeing of the Gypsies, the Disestablishment of Boyar Ranks, the Emancipation of Peasants") (wikisource)
- Liviu Maior, 1848–1849: Români și unguri în revoluție ("1848–1849: Romanians and Hungarians in the Revolution"), Editura Enciclopedică, Bucharest, 1998
- Ignác Romsics, Béla K. Király, Geopolitics in the Danube Region: Hungarian Reconciliation Efforts, 1848–1998, Central European University Press, Budapest, 1998
- L. S. Stavrianos, The Balkans Since 1453, C. Hurst & Co., London, 2000
Further reading
- Morris, J. (2020). "Locating the Wallachian Revolution of 1848." The Historical Journal.