The Revolutions of the 1820s--Interesting Random Facts

As I wrote in my review at the time, one of the things that impressed me about The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848 by Eric Hobsbawm was Hobsbawm's ascertion that there was a mini wave of Revolutions in the Mediterranean countries during the 1820s.

This surprised me because I had never heard of it before.  I had always thought the big revolutionary years in Europe were 1789, 1830, 1848, 1871, and 1917.  I had never heard of the 1820s being revolutionary years before.

The subject has been on my mind recently, because I've been listening to Revolutions Podcast by Mike Duncan.  And, to my disappointment, Mike Duncan largely ignores the 1820s.  

So I thought to myself the other day, "I wonder if the Revolutionary period of the 1820s is like an established thing, or is that only in Hobsbawm's book."

So, I googled it, and sure enough, it's a thing.  It's got it's own Wikipedia page and everything.

Revolutions during the 1820s

Revolutions during the 1820s included revolutions in Russia (Decembrist revolt), Spain, Portugal, and the Italian states for constitutional monarchies, and for independence from Ottoman rule in Greece. Unlike the revolutionary wave in the 1830s, these tended to take place in the peripheries of Europe.^[1]

Timeline[edit]

• 1820: The Trienio Liberal in Spain
• 1820: the Liberal Revolution in Portugal
• 1820: the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
• 1821 – 1829: Greek War of Independence
• 1821: the Kingdom of Sardinia
• 1825: the Decembrist revolt in Russia
• 1828: the Decembrist revolution in Argentina

Unfortunately, aside from a list of revolutions in the 1820s, there's not a lot of other information on Wikipedia about the causes or character of the 1820s Revolutions.  (Of course, that's just at the time of this posting.  Maybe in 10 years time, it will evolve into a decent article.)

A google search does also show some more information at a website called School History: 

Key Facts & Summary

The Revolutions of 1820 were a revolutionary wave in Europe that took place in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece.
While the revolutions in Spain, Portugal and Italy were for establishing constitutional monarchies, in Greece the revolution was to gain independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Unlike the revolutions in 1830, the revolutions in 1820 tended to take place in the peripheries of Europe.
The Napoleonic wars played a key role in the independence of the Latin American colonies from Spain and Portugal.
Lord Byron, the famous British poet supported the liberation movement in Italy and even actively fought in the Greek War of Independence. He even spent his own fortune supporting the Greeks and ultimately gave his life for the Greek cause, a country which wasn’t even his homeland.
Secret societies played a great role, both in the fight against conservatism and Ottoman rule.
Prologue

The revolutions of 1820 were the first challenge to the conservative order of Europe established after the fall of Napoleon I in 1815. Though most ended in failure, they demonstrated the rising strength of the liberal-nationalist movement that would eventually sweep away the conservative order. The years following 1815 were generally quiet. Most Europeans were satisfied to see peace and order restored after years of revolution and war. But the liberal-nationalist minority, deeply discontented, organized secret societies dedicated to overthrowing the existing order.  (et cetera.  More information at the website). 

In Age of Revolution, Hobsbawm says that in the 1820s, these Revolutions, although they occurred on the peripheries, served as little proxy wars for the supporters of revolution against the conservative order.  Because there was no revolutionary activity happening in the main European countries during this period, supporters of Revolution in those countries (England, France, etc), poured their energies into supporting the revolutions in the Mediterranean.  So both the Trienio Liberal in Spain and in the Greek War of Independence attracted a lot of international support from liberals and revolutionaries in the more central countries. 

On their template for Revolutionary Waves, Wikipedia lists the Revolutions of the 1820s of one of their five waves of revolution during the 19th century:

19th century

Spanish American wars of independence,  Revolutions of 1820,  Revolutions of 1830,  Revolutions of 1848,  Great Eastern Crisis

Although, if you click on the actual revolutionary waves article, it includes a lot of other waves during the 19th century: 

19th century[edit]

• The Latin American wars of independence, including the various Spanish American wars of independence of 1810–1826 were often seen as inspired at least in part by the American and French Revolutions in terms of their liberal Enlightenment ideology and aims, are counted as the second part of the Atlantic Wave.^[16]
• The Revolutions of 1820, also the Decembrist revolt of 1825 in Russia and the Greek War of Independence.^[16][15]
• The Revolutions of 1830, such as the July Revolution in France and the Belgian Revolution^[15] or November Uprising against the Russian rule in Poland.
• The Revolutions of 1848 throughout Europe, following the February Revolution in France.^[11][15][16]
• The early 1850s saw the Taiping Rebellion in China, Great Revolt in India and Eureka Rebellion in Australia.
• In the 1860s, Italian unification, the German Unification Wars, the Spanish Revolution of 1868, the US Civil War (sometimes referred to as the 'Second American Revolution'), the Meiji restoration in Japan, and the Chinese Taiping rebellion, followed in 1870–71 by the collapse of the French Second Empire and replacement by the French Third Republic.
• The Royal Titles Act of 1876, establishing imperial rule in India; the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882; the founding of the Italian Empire in 1882; the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885, unifying British rule in Burma; the Scramble for Africa from 1885; and the founding of French Indochina in 1886.
• The Great Eastern Crisis, including the Herzegovina uprising, April Uprising, Razlovtsi insurrection and the Cretan Revolt.^[15