The Revolutions of 1848

Pre-1848 Tensions: Long Term

• Industrialization

- Economic challenges to ruling class

- Rapid urbanization

- Challenges to artisan class

• Demographic

- Population doubled in the 18th century

- Food supply problems (Malthus)

Pre-1848 Tensions: Long Term

• Ideological

- Liberalism, Democracy, Socialism, Nationalism, Conservatism

• Repressive Measures

- Carlsbad Decrees (Prussia)

- Six Acts (England)

- Many states created secret police

Pre-1848 Tensions: Short Term

• Agricultural Crisis- Poor harvest* Grain prices raised by 60% in one year- Potato Blight in Ireland* 1 Million die from starvation between 1846-1849* Prices of food rose 135% in one year• Financial Crisis- Investment bubbles burst

(railroads, iron and coal)- Increased unemployment

(Especially among artisans)

Revolutions of 1848

• Many different reasons for revolutionary activity

• Reactions to both short term and long term causes

• Competing ideologies in different countries• Different revolutionary leaders, goals and

aims in different countries • Some nations had no revolutions (England

and Russia)

Revolutions occurred where governments were distrusted and where fear and resentment fed by

rising food prices and unemployment found focus in

political demands

France

• French citizens demand suffrage be widened

• Government fails to meet demands

• Banquets organized by opposition to government

• Government bans banquet scheduled in Paris Feb. 1848

• Crowds gathered in protest

France

• Louis Philippe panicked, abdicated the throne

Second Republic is created

• Universal male suffrage

• Elected President elections in December

• National Assembly (Unicameral Legislature)

Revolution Spreads

• Demonstrations in Hungary, Rhineland, Vienna, Berlin, Milan and Venice

1. News from France would draw crowds

2. Crowds would gather to discuss events

3. Governments would call troops to maintain order

4. Violent incident would occur

5. Lead to an uprising

“When France sneezes, Europe catches cold”

Central Europe

Hungary• Hungarian Diet (assembly) established:• Free Press• National Guard• Abolishes feudal obligations• Required nobles to pay taxes

• Hapsburgs in Vienna reluctantly allow Hungary to raise its own taxes and army

Central Europe

Austria

• Inspired by success of Hungary, Austrians demand representative government

• Metternich resigned

• Censorship abolished

• Constitution was promised

• Universal male suffrage granted

Central Europe

• Czechs, Croatians and Romanians all demand autonomy

• Austrian Hapsburg Empire all but collapsed

Central Europe

Prussia

• Frederick William IV learned of uprisings in Vienna, granted concession

• Relaxed censorship

• Universal suffrage granted

• Frankfurt Parliament created

- Goal to establish a unified German state

Central Europe

Italy

• Constitutions demanded in Naples, Tuscany, Piedmont and Papal States

• Milan, Venice, Piedmont revolt against Austrian rule

Fatal Dissension

Social Class

France

• Paris and Countryside

• Middle Class and workers

Fatal Dissension

France

• Lois Blanc –Socialist called for the creation of cooperatives

• Workers work for themselves and share profits

June Days

France

• Government ordered cooperatives disbanded

• Workers barricaded themselves in factories

• Three days fighting, thousands killed

• Government troops crush workers

Fatal Dissensions

Germany and Austria

• Revolution in Germany and Austria uncovered conflicts between:

• workers and middle class

• artisans, peasants and nobles

National Ambitions

Germany and Austria

• Frankfurt Parliament did not support uprisings of other nationalities against German rule

• Fought Czechs, Italians, Poles, Danes

• Used government troops to overcome revolt in Frankfurt itself

France

• December 1848 elections for president

• Louis Napoleon Bonaparte elected 70% of vote

• “Man of the people”

• Campaigned as a republican

• Name recognition (nephew of Napoleon)

• Support of Catholic Church

1851 coup d’etat

• Purged government of radical officials

• Replaced them with monarchist and conservatives

• Disbanded National Assembly

• Declared France a hereditary empire

• Made Emperor by plebiscite (vote of the people)

Austria

• Prince Felix Schwarzenberg takes place of Metternich

• Emperor abdicates in place of nephew, 18 year old Franz Joseph I

Germany

• Revolutions in Rhineland, Saxony and Bavaria all crushed by Prussian troops

• Frankfurt Parliament unable to unite country under liberal parliament

- Could not decide what “Germany” was

• Hapsburgs’ military subdues revolutionaries in Vienna and Hungary

Italy

• Austrians defeat revolutionaries in Piedmont

• Louis Napoleon sent French armies to restore pope and defeat the Roman Republic

• Kingdom of Naples re-conquered Sicily

• Venetian Republic fell to Austrian forces by 1849

Results

• “turning point upon which modern history failed to turn”

Results

• Revolutions of 1848 failed for 5 reasons1. Liberal Constitutions, new economic policies and civil

rights failed win support of workers, middle class and artisans who had bigger and more immediate problems

2. Revolutions started by middle class, did not support reforms of the radicals

3. Leaders mistook parliaments for power. Left established authorities in place.

4. Nationalism divided revolutionaries5. No major nation intervened to support revolutionaries

Long Term Effects

• Showed power of new ideas• Peasants in eastern Prussia and Austrian

Empire where emancipated• Piedmont and Prussia maintained Constitutions • Monarchs realized they needed popular support• Liberal realized they needed more than just

popular support • Reformist became skeptical of liberalism• Force of Nationalism recognized