ABSTRACT
It should already be clear that the complex and multi-layered causes of the revolutions of 1830 allowed the revolutionary process to develop its own dynamic. And consideration of why there were revolts in 1830-1 has inevitably moved the story somewhat beyond the initial outbursts of June, July and August 1830. As the outbreaks became more separated in time and place they became less dependent on the popular agitation and political excitement of these months, and more involved with the general European crisis which was developing. This crisis was increasingly concerned with the diplomatic implications of the outbursts in the west, as the great powers recovered their equilibrium and set about curtailing or absorbing the explosions. So, while the revolts obviously had very marked individual characteristics, they all had a family resemblance and were all affected by the same general European conditions. In other words, the next question we need to ask – what actually happened in the revolutions of 1830? – must first be answered for Europe at large, and an effort made to identify the similarities and interrelationships of the revolutions, particularly at the diplomatic level, leaving their differences to separate examinations later. So an overview of the way matters developed in the fifty months of crisis, in regard both to the revolutionary movements and the general European responses, is a useful prelude to looking at the way events unfolded within the confines of specific regions and countries.
