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Causes of the Revolutions of 1848
In 1848, Europe exploded into revolution. In Paris, Frankfurt, Budapest, and Naples, to name a few, liberal protesters rose up against the conservative establishment. To those living through the cataclysmic year, it seemed rather sudden; however, hindsight offers valuable warning signs.
The year 1846 witnessed a severe famine—Europe’s last serious food crisis. Lack of grain drove up food and other prices while wages remained stagnant, thus reducing consumer demand. With consumers buying less and less, profits plummeted, forcing thousands of industrial workers out of their jobs. High unemployment combined with high prices helped spark the liberal revolt, beginning in February 1848 in France. When Parisian citizens revolted, deposing King Louis-Phillippe and proclaiming the Second Republic, revolutionaries in other countries took notice and inspiration.
Germany in 1848
The overthrow of the monarchy set off a wave of protest throughout east and central Europe, led by radical liberals and workers who demanded constitutional reform or complete government change. In March, protests in the German provinces brought swift reform from local princes while Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia yielded to revolts in Berlin by promising to create a Prussian assembly. The collapse of autocracy in Prussia then encouraged liberals in the divided German provinces to join together at the Frankfurt Assembly, hoping to create a constitution and unite the German nation. Meeting in May 1848, the convention was populated by middle-class civil servants, lawyers, and intellectuals dedicated to liberal reform. However, after drawing the boundaries for a German state and offering the crown to Friedrich Wilhelm, the Kaiser refused in March 1849, dooming hopes for a united, liberal Germany.
Austria in 1848
In Austria, students, workers, and middle-class liberals revolted in Vienna, setting up a constituent assembly. In Budapest, the Magyars led a movement of national autonomy, led by patriot Lajos Kossuth. Similarly, in Prague, the Czechs revolted in the name of self-government. However, the Austrian army soundly defeated every revolt in its empire. In Vienna, Budapest, and Prague, the Austrians legions crushed the liberal and democratic movements, returning the empire to the conservative establishment that ruled at the beginning of 1848.
Italy in 1848
In Italy, middle-class liberals pushed for Italian unification and the defeat of the controlling Austrians with the help of the Young Italy movement, founded in 1831 by nationalist revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini. In February 1849, Mazzini led a democratic revolt against the Pope in Rome, becoming head of the Republic of Rome later that month, but attacking the Pope proved to be a step too far. The self-proclaimed protectors of the Pope, the French, moved in and defeated Mazzini’s Roman legion, restoring the Pope and collapsing the newly democratic Italy.
Results of the Revolutions of 1848
Every one of the revolutions of 1848 was a failure. Both their lack of organization and lack of support from the moderate middle class meant that many were doomed to fail from the start. Though minor reforms emerged in the Germany provinces and in Prussia, the conservative regimes that canvassed Europe remained in power. However, that is not to say that they had no effect on Europe’s political landscape.
First, the year 1848 marked the end of the so-called “concert of Europe” that had maintained the European balance of power since Napoleon’s defeat. After 1848, the European powers seemed incapable of united action to maintain the status quo, probably because the revolutions of 1848 weakened the regimes in the eyes of their people.
Secondly, the revolutions failed to bring about any significant change. In France, the December 1848 presidential election brought Louis Napoleon, nephew of the former emperor, into office; it took him less than three years to consolidate absolute power. In Austria, a new emperor, Franz Josef I, continued Austrian dominance over all the minorities of eastern Europe. In Prussia, the promised assembly had little power and consisted of the aristocratic elite.
