July Revolution in France

Setting the scene

The July Revolution of 1830, also called the Second French Revolution or Trois Glorieuses ('Three Glorious Days'), overthrew King Charles X of France from July 27-29, 1830. Charles, who succeeded his brother Louis XVIII in 1824, was an ultra-royalist who sought to restore pre-revolutionary absolutism. He compensated émigrés for revolutionary confiscations, restored the Catholic Church's power, and restricted press freedom. By 1830, his government, led by the unpopular Prince de Polignac, faced a liberal majority in the Chamber of Deputies.

What happened

In July 1830, Charles issued the Four Ordinances: dissolving the newly elected Chamber, imposing censorship, restricting suffrage, and calling new elections. Paris erupted in revolt. Barricades went up, and crowds fought royal troops for three days. The army, demoralized and sympathetic to the people, failed to suppress the uprising. Charles abdicated on August 2 and fled to England. The revolutionaries, led by liberal monarchists like Lafayette and Adolphe Thiers, did not establish a republic but offered the throne to Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, a cousin with liberal credentials.

Why it still matters

Louis-Philippe became 'King of the French' (not 'King of France'—a symbolic distinction emphasizing popular sovereignty) and ruled as a constitutional monarch until 1848. The July Revolution established the July Monarchy, a bourgeois regime that favored the wealthy. It inspired revolutions across Europe in 1830—Belgium revolted against the Netherlands and gained independence; Poland, Italy, and German states saw uprisings (mostly suppressed). The revolution demonstrated that the Bourbon Restoration (1815-1830) had failed to reconcile France to monarchy, and that revolutionary ideals remained potent. It was a liberal, not radical, revolution—replacing one king with another, not abolishing monarchy.

Background

Louis-Philippe took the Orléanist throne.