The Revolutions of 1848 in Europe

Abstract

In the year 1848, upheavals against the prevailing political system or against the established social conditions were not a national, but a European phenomenon, which affected numerous countries and dynasties of Europe. Beginning with the February revolution in France, upheavals also took place in the states of the German Confederation, in the Habsburg Empire and in Poland. Nonetheless, there were different causes for each revolution, so that one cannot speak of one European revolution of 1848.

In France, it was the civic-democratic February revolution that ended the rule of the “Citizen King”, Louis Philippe. It was caused, first and foremost, by the restriction of civic rights by means of the census suffrage and the social plight of workers, which led to an uprising and, finally, to the proclamation of the French Second Republic.

In the German states, the restoration and the surveillance system of Metternich could not, in the long run, suppress the wishes for freedom of opinion, more rights to political participation and the abolition of Kleinstaaterei, which had become overwhelming. Economic crises, unemployment and famine caused by crop failures in the years 1845-1847 contributed to the growing discontent.