abstract:The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution, Second French Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown. It marked the shift from one constitutional monarchy, the Bourbon Restoration, to another, the July Monarchy; the transition of power from the House of Bourbon to its cadet branch, the House of Orléans; and the substitution of the principle of popular sovereignty for hereditary right.
One of Les Mis's student revolutionaries, Gavroche, takes refuge in the massive Elephant of the Bastille, the model for a never-built statue that stood in Place de la Bastille in the first half of the 19th century. (For the film, it was recreated at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, England.) Though the pachyderm is long gone, the July Column commemorating the JulyRevolution of 1830 now stands in its place.