Revolution of 1848

Society was cut in two: those who had nothing united in common envy, and those who had anything united in common terror.

- Alexis de Tocqueville, Recollections

The European Revolutions of 1848 were a bloody culmination of prior events -- crop failures, dreams of bourgeois reformers, technological change, economic downturn, and radical politics. All hoped for reform of Europe's institutions.

Although the immediate effects of the revolutions were short-term, there were lasting legacies.

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Only England and Russia had no revolutions -- the revolutions were mainly the bourgeois opposition to reactionary governments, but repressive Russia had no bourgeois, and England's had been pacified by the Reform Act of 1832.

The revolutions combined hope and despair, different revolutionaries fighting for different aims. Some early bourgeois reformers turned against the revolutions when they felt they had gone too far. No European leader felt safe on his throne during the revolutions.

There was horrific violence on all sides. Thousands were killed.

We look at four (not all) areas: France, the Habsburg areas (i.e., the Austrian Empire), the German states, and the Italian states.

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Table of contents

1 The Gathering Storm: Before the Revolutions of 1848 2 The Revolutions of 1848 2.1 France 2.2 The Hapsburg areas 2.3 The German states 2.4 The Italian states 3 Consequences of the Revolutions of 1848 4 External links and references

The Gathering Storm: Before the Revolutions of 1848

See main article The Gathering Storm: Before the Revolutions of 1848.

The Revolutions of 1848

France

See main article The Revolutions of 1848 in France.

The Hapsburg areas

See main article The Revolutions of 1848 in the Hapsburg areas.

The German states

See main article The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states.

The Italian states

See main article The Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian States.

Consequences of the Revolutions of 1848

''See main article Conclusions of the Revolutions of 1848.

External links and references

The Revolutions of 1848 are a large subject, and we do not claim this list of references is complete.

• Breunig, Charles (1977), The Age of Revolution and Reaction, 1789 - 1850 (ISBN 0393091430)
• Jones, Peter (1981), The 1848 Revolutions (Seminar Studies in History) (ISBN 0582061067)
• Robertson, Priscilla (1952), Revolutions of 1848: A Social History (ISBN 069100756X)
• http://www.germanheritage.com/Essays/1848/civil_war_part2.html
• Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions