1830, Time for a Revolution

In class recently, we've been learning about the revolutions that happened in Europe in 1830 and 1848, especially whether or not they were failures.  To determine the level of success of each of the revolutions, the class split off into groups and each group was assigned a different revolution.  Then each group made a SurveyMonkey about their revolution for the rest of the class to take.

Our group was assigned the Decembrists' Revolt, which took place in Russia.  Our SurveyMonkey is here with a few extra questions here.

When Tsar Alexander died, many citizens wanted Constantine for the throne.  However, he abdicated, and Nicholas was made tsar in his place.  Those who wanted Constantine for tsar revolted, and when Nicholas retaliated, it became very bloody very quickly.  He was initially reluctant to spill the blood of his own people, but felt that it was the only thing he could do, and soon became quite obsessed with crushing the revolution and teaching a lesson to not only Russia, but the rest of Europe as well.  The people of Russia were also angry about the terrible, slave-like living conditions there and their miserable poverty.  After Russia was conquered by Napoleon, they saw what better, more democratic living conditions were like, and they wanted those better conditions back when Napoleon was defeated and Russia's conditions became horrid again.

The Decembrists' Revolt was the only revolution that was a complete failure.  It resulted in a military crackdown on the people of Russia, and they ended up with even fewer rights and freedoms than they had originally.  The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was a partial success because it caused Metternich to flee Austria.  Metternich was the primary voice of conservative ideals in Europe at that time.  The revolt was eventually oppressed, but they did accomplish this victory.  The French Revolution of 1830 was also a partial success, because they got rid of Charles X, who revoked their constitution and freedom of the press, but France became a constitutional monarchy again, and conditions for the poor were not improved.  France had another revolution in 1848.  The revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were not complete failures (except for the Decembrists' Revolt), but they definitely weren't successful.