{{Short description|Series of political upheavals in Europe}}
{{Citation style|date=October 2025}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{use shortened footnotes|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox historical event
| name = Revolutions of 1848
| part_of = the [[Age of Revolution]]
| image = Horace Vernet-Barricade rue Soufflot.jpg
| image_caption = ''[[Barricade]] on the rue Soufflot'',{{sfn|Rapport|2009|p=201}} an 1848 painting by [[Horace Vernet]] depicting the [[June Days uprising]]. A [[red flag (politics)|red flag]], symbol of the workers, is visible in opposition to the [[Flag of France|tricolour]] of the [[French Second Republic]].
| also_known_as = Springtime of the peoples
| participants = People and governments of [[July Monarchy|France]], the [[German Confederation]], the [[Austrian Empire]], [[List of historical states of Italy#From the Restoration to the Unification|Italian states]], [[Denmark]], [[History of Ireland (1801–1923)|Ireland]], [[Moldavia]], [[Wallachia]], [[Greater Poland]], and others
| location = [[Europe]]
| date = 12 January 1848 – 4 October 1849
| outcome = See ''[[#Events by country or region|Events by country or region]]''
* Political change in a few countries
* Significant social and cultural change
}}
{{Revolution sidebar}}
The '''revolutions of 1848''', also known as the '''springtime of the peoples''',[{{bulleted list|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=7}}: "In 2010–11, many journalists and historians noticed the uncanny resemblance between the untidy sequence of upheavals that are sometimes called the 'Arab Spring' and the revolutions of 1848, also known as the 'springtime of the peoples'."|{{harvnb|Rapport|2009|p=112}}: "German liberals would dub 1848 the ''Völkerfrühling'' — the 'Springtime of Peoples' — a name pregnant with the liberating hopes of the early weeks of the revolutions..."|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=123}}: "For a brief few weeks, Europe experienced the 'springtime of the peoples,' celebrating the end of a decades-long winter of oppression."}}]{{efn|From German {{lang|de|Völkerfrühling}}, this name is applied to both the events of the spring of 1848 and the revolutions as a whole.}} were a series of [[revolution]]s throughout Europe that spanned almost two years, between January 1848 and October 1849. They remain the most widespread [[revolutionary wave]] in [[European history]] to date.{{sfn|Sperber|2005|p=2}}
The revolutions varied widely in their aims but generally opposed conservative systems, such as [[absolute monarchy]] and [[feudalism]], and sought to establish [[nation state]]s, founded on [[constitutionalism]] and [[popular sovereignty]]. The revolutionary wave began with the [[Sicilian revolution of 1848|revolution in Sicily]] in January and spread across Europe after the [[French Revolution of 1848|revolution in France]] in February 1848.{{Sfn|Haupt|Langewiesche|2008|p=3}} Over fifty countries were affected, but with no significant coordination or cooperation among their respective revolutionaries. Some of the major political contributing factors were widespread dissatisfaction with political leadership, demands for more [[participation (decision making)|participation]] in government and democracy, for [[freedom of the press]], and by the [[working class]] for economic rights, and the rise of [[nationalism]].{{Sfn|Pogge von Strandmann|2002|p=5}} Other economic factors, such as the [[European potato failure]], triggered mass starvation, migration, and civil unrest.{{Sfn|Ó Gráda|Vanhaute|Paping|2006}}
The uprisings were led by temporary coalitions of workers and reformers, including figures from the middle and upper classes (the [[bourgeoisie]]); however, these coalitions did not hold together for long. Many of the revolutions were quickly suppressed, as tens of thousands of people were killed, and even more were forced into exile. Despite this, significant lasting reforms included the abolition of [[serfdom]] in Austria and Hungary, the end of absolute monarchy in Denmark, and the introduction of [[representative democracy]] in the Netherlands. The revolutions were most prominent in France, [[List of historical states of Italy#From the restoration to the unification|Italy]], the [[Austrian Empire]], and the states of the [[German Confederation]] that would make up the [[German Empire]] in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The wave of uprisings ended in October 1849.
==Background==
The revolutions were shaped by a wide variety of causes, which were linked to the short- and long-term socioeconomic transformations brought about by industrialization and the political legacy of the [[French Revolution]]. These included the adoption of [[British Agricultural Revolution|modern agricultural practices]] and subsequent rapid population growth, the intensification of industrialization and urbanization, the repressive political environment established in reaction to the French Revolution, and the spread of ideologies opposed to repressive governments, including [[liberalism]], [[Classical radicalism|radicalism]], and [[nationalism]].{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=258–59}} In addition to longer-term trends, an acute economic crisis between 1845 and 1847, resulting from the combination of a [[European potato failure|food crisis]] and an industrial recession, led to significant civil unrest and revolutionary agitation.[{{harvnb|Berger|Spoerer|2001|p=295}}: "We propose that it is precisely these economic crises that are most helpful in explaining the simultaneity and regional distribution of the European
turmoil of 1848. In other words, even though ideas and institutions undoubtedly shaped the events in question, it was economic misery and the fear thereof that triggered them."] The failure of governments to adequately address popular demands for reform led to an accumulation of discontent across Europe, culminating in the simultaneous outbreak of revolutions across the continent in 1848.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|pp=294–95}}
=== Social discontent and conflict ===
==== In rural areas ====
[[File:Galician slaughter in 1846.PNG|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Galician peasant uprising of 1846|''Galician Massacre'']] (Polish: ''Rzeź galicyjska'') by [[Jan Lewicki]] depicts the fictional rewarding of Polish peasants by Austrian authorities for massacring their lords, who had attempted an uprising to reestablish an independent Polish state.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=81}}]]
According to Jonathan Sperber, conflict over agricultural land rights was the most prevalent form of [[social conflict]] in the pre-revolutionary period.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=40}} The abolition of feudalism in parts of Western and Central Europe (especially [[Abolition of feudalism in France|in France]]) in the wake of the [[French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars]] had major ramifications for the rural populace. Customary rights that peasants had once held on [[common land]], especially to acquire wood from communal forests, were increasingly lost with the [[enclosure]] and privatization of the commons.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=40–41}} These processes were often aided by modernizing states, such as France, which, with the enactment of the [[:fr:Code forestier (France)|Forest Code of 1827]], legally abolished peasants' rights to forests and the wood within them.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=43}}
Peasants resorted to both legal and violent means to reclaim their land rights. Lawsuits were frequently filed by peasants against landowners, and could remain active for decades;{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=41}} one such lawsuit in [[Sicily]] was first brought in 1829 and not settled until 1896.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=40}} Peasants also stole wood from privatized forests or occupied them to reassert their land rights by force.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=41}} Wood theft in particular was widespread in parts of Germany. Between the 1820s and 1840s, the number of those convicted of wood theft in the [[Circle of the Rhine|Bavarian Palatinate]] increased from 37,500 in 1821–22 to 185,000 in 1846–47, accounting for a third of the population.{{sfn|Sperber|1991|p=75}} In France, opposition to the Forest Code led to the "[[War of the Maidens]]" from 1829 to 1832, in which peasants disguised in women's clothes violently resisted the Code's implementation in the department of [[Ariège (department)|Ariège]].{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=41}}
Unrest among the peasantry was also widespread in regions that retained feudalism, as in parts of Central Europe and most of Eastern Europe, though this had been commonplace for several centuries.{{Sfn|Blum|1978|p=332}} Disputes and revolts were directed variously at oppressive lords, taxation and military conscription by the state, and religious authorities.{{Sfn|Blum|1978|p=340}} The largest pre-revolutionary peasant uprising against feudal lords occurred [[Galician peasant uprising of 1846|in Austrian Galicia]] in 1846, which put an end to the [[Kraków Uprising]] by the [[Szlachta|Polish nobility]].{{Sfn|Blum|1978|p=340}}
==== Among urban workers ====
[[File:Horrible Massacre à Lyon - 1834.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Silk weavers in [[Lyon]] [[Canut revolts|revolted]] in 1831 and 1834 in response to the refusal of their employers to pay agreed rates for their labour. Their motto was "Live working or die fighting!" ({{Langx|fr|Vivre en travaillant, mourir en combattant}}).[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=52}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=45}}.}}]]]Rapid population growth was the most serious issue affecting urban workers, as migration into the cities due to poor conditions in the countryside led to a major oversaturation of labour markets and a decline in real wages among workers, while the cost of living continued to increase.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=24–25}} Poor workers became more vulnerable to economic shocks, and the inability to afford foodstuffs other than potatoes and bread proved catastrophic amid a major [[European potato failure|food crisis]] affecting both between 1845 and 1847.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|pp=44–48}} [[Industrialisation|Industrialization]] and the transition from the traditional economy to capitalist production also negatively affected urban workers, leading to a decline in their standard of living and social status.{{Sfn|Stearns|1974|pp=21–22}} Most workers in 1848 were [[Artisan|artisans]] who worked in the [[Craft|trades]], while there were relatively few factory workers.{{Sfn|Stearns|1974|p=17}} [[Mechanization]] threatened some trades, such as the [[textile industry]] and [[metalworking]], leading to a growing sense of insecurity among artisans, who felt their livelihoods and economic agency threatened.[{{multiref||{{harvnb|Shorter|1969|p=206}}.|{{harvnb|Stearns|1974|p=21}}.}}]
The most prevalent disputes, however, were between employers and workers. [[Master craftsman|Master craftsmen]] and [[Journeyman|journeymen]] came into increasing conflict as the [[Guild|guild system]] was weakened across Europe in the early nineteenth century. Under the new economy, master craftsmen began to accumulate wealth and were able to hire more workers, many of whom were unemployed due to the massive surplus of artisans.{{Sfn|Gouldner|1983|p=523}} At the same time, masters sought to prevent the growing number of journeymen and apprentices from ever advancing to become masters to protect their economic interests from growing competition.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=38}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=44}}.}}]
Both master craftsmen and journeymen were threatened by economic transformations within the proto-industrial [[putting-out system]], in which self-employed artisans were contracted by capitalist merchants to manufacture finished products.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=13–16}} Conflict between merchants and artisans, especially in the textile industry, was primarily over payment disputes, as merchants frequently underpaid outworkers for their finished products to maximize profit.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=38}} These disputes led to civil unrest, including uprisings by weavers [[Canut revolts|in Lyon]] in 1831 and 1834, and [[Silesian weavers' uprising|in Silesia]] in 1844.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|pp=65–66}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=45}}.}}] Deep frustration among artisans continued into 1848, as they demanded the [[Freedom of association|right of association]] to reclaim economic agency lost during the transition. This was advocated for both in novel forms such as the establishment of [[Cooperative|cooperatives]], [[Benefit society|mutual benefit societies]], and early [[Trade union|trade unions]], as in France, or through a return to the traditional guild system, as in Germany.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|pp=177–80}}.|{{harvnb|Stearns|1974|p=24}}.}}]
==== Among the educated ====
The educated middle class was also affected by a decline in living standards. Across Western Europe, industrialization had increased the demand for professionals to support the new industries.{{Sfn|O'Boyle|1970|pp=471–72}} Societal expectations also began to favor education and [[careerism]] as means to achieve upward mobility, especially after the French Revolution. As a result, more young men across Europe enrolled in universities, expecting, according to Lenore O'Boyle, that "the diploma might do what a title of nobility had once done"{{Sfn|O'Boyle|1970|p=472}} and they would achieve positions of leadership in society.{{Sfn|O'Boyle|1966|pp=833–34}} In the more industrialized economies of Britain and the United States, more educated men were able to find work in private businesses, and consequently, there was little to no revolutionary agitation among them in 1848. In mainland Europe, however, where the pace of industrialization lagged, the only available professional careers were in the civil service, which could not open enough positions to meet demand.{{Sfn|O'Boyle|1966|pp=833–34}}
The lack of work led to dissatisfaction among the educated, who felt that they were unable to live as their status demanded.{{Sfn|Gouldner|1983|p=526}} This issue was most pronounced in Germany, where overcrowding in professional careers was so severe that it gave rise to what sociologist [[Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl]] termed an "intellectual proletariat" of "underpaid and aspiring lower civil servants, journalists, and schoolteachers". The intellectual proletariat was so numerous in Germany that, according to Riehl, they, not manual labourers, comprised "the real proletariat".{{Sfn|O'Boyle|1961|p=377}} Apart from the overcrowding of the professions, the middle class was also often deliberately excluded from political life and the bureaucracy by the state. Positions in the bureaucracy were restricted to those who could afford the education required for them, and, especially in France and the [[Austrian Empire]], aristocrats remained influential, hindering career advancement.{{Sfn|Stearns|1974|pp=37–39}} Professionals who could not find work turned to journalism as "the last refuge of those who had failed in other middle-class or professional careers", and were able to channel their frustration into political agitation, eventually becoming leaders in the revolutions in 1848.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Gouldner|1983|pp=527–28}}.|{{harvnb|Stearns|1974|p=44}}.}}]
=== Revolutionary politics ===
==== Ideology ====
[[File:Eyes_Open!!!_(1845).jpg|thumb|An anti-clerical and anti-aristocratic print, published in Germany in 1845. The text reads: "Eyes Open!!!—Neither the nobility, nor the clergy will oppress us any longer; they have broken the backs of the people for too long."[{{Cite web |title=Eyes Open!!! |url=https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/from-vormaerz-to-prussian-dominance-1815-1866/caricature-quot-eyes-open-quot-c-1845 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250809125253/https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/from-vormaerz-to-prussian-dominance-1815-1866/caricature-quot-eyes-open-quot-c-1845 |archive-date=9 August 2025 |website=German History in Documents and Images}}]]]
New political ideologies were emerging in the 1840s that would go on to influence the revolutions in 1848, with [[liberalism]], [[Classical radicalism|radicalism]], and [[nationalism]] being the principal opposition movements to European governments.
Liberals formed a distinct political force in the 19th century but varied widely in their beliefs.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|pp=109–110}} Generally, liberals supported [[equality before the law]] and the protection of [[civil liberties]], such as the [[Freedom of speech|freedoms of speech]], [[Freedom of the press|the press]], [[Freedom of association|association]], [[Freedom of religion|religion]], and especially [[property right|to own property]], and favoured [[Constitution|constitutions]] to achieve such.{{Sfn|Broers|1996|p=36}} They opposed both [[absolute monarchies]] and [[Republic|radical republics]], which they viewed as equally despotic, and favoured [[constitutional monarchies]] as a balance between the two extremes.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Broers|1996|pp=39–40}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|pp=65–66}}.}}] They favoured [[popular sovereignty]], but made a distinction between "the people" and "the rabble". To that end, liberalism generally sought a [[Property qualification|restriction of the franchise]] to male property-owners.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=67}} Liberals were reluctant to engage in revolution or seek popular support due to their fears of a radical takeover and violent [[mob rule]], as they had experienced during the French Revolution under the [[Jacobins]] and the [[Reign of Terror]].{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=71}} Liberals saw gradual, political reforms and [[economic development]] through parliaments, free markets, industrialization, and public education as means by which societal equality could be achieved, as more men could become property-owners and enter into political life.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=112}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|pp=67–71}}.}}] When liberals gained power, as in the [[July Monarchy]] in France after 1830, they trended toward conservatism, and their restriction of political life alienated wide swaths of the population, bringing them into conflict with the radical left.{{Sfn|Broers|1996|pp=48–50}}
Radicalism generally represented the loose and ill-defined coalition of [[Liberal democracy|democrats]] and [[socialists]].[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=117}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=89}}.}}.] Radicals differed from moderate liberals in their support for [[democracy]] and [[universal manhood suffrage]], extending the franchise to all adult men.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=117}} Both liberals and radicals shared in their opposition to "backwards" institutions, and especially in their [[anti-clericalism]], which was considered synonymous with liberal and left-wing thought, though radicals were notably more violent in their opposition.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=81}} While liberals were generally more concerned with political and legal questions and sought the expansion of civil liberties,{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=114}} radicals placed greater weight on the "[[social question]]", or the question of how to address the growth and precarity of the [[working poor]] in the capitalist economy.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=117}}.|{{harvnb|Broers|1996|p=68}}.}}] Radicals were divided as to how to address the social question; radical democrats generally sought to address the social question through regulation and state intervention, whereas socialists sought the [[Anti-capitalism|abolition of capitalism]] and [[economic redistribution]].{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=82–83}} Some radical democrats were [[Economic liberalism|economic liberals]] who tended to support political reform, especially universal manhood suffrage, over economic reform, and did not support government intervention of any sort.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Broers|1996|p=69}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=82}}.}}]{{Efn|Broers argues a greater distinction between radicals and socialists, characterizing radicals as broadly economically liberal in comparison to socialists, who were more interventionist.}} Both democrats and socialists were, however, united in their desire to overthrow the existing regimes through revolution.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=89}}
"Nationalism" promoted the unity and primacy of people bound by some mix of common [[language]], [[culture]], [[religion]], shared [[history]] and [[destiny]], and immediate [[geography]].{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=90}} There were also [[Irredentism|irredentist]] movements. Nationalism had developed a broader appeal during the pre-1848 period, as seen in the [[František Palacký]]'s 1836 ''History of the Czech Nation'', which emphasized a national lineage of conflict with the Germans, or the popular patriotic ''Liederkranz'' (song-circles) that were held across Germany: patriotic and belligerent songs about [[Schleswig]] had dominated the [[Würzburg]] national song festival in 1845.[Stanley Z. Pech, ''The Czech Revolution of 1848'' (1969), p. 25, Wolfram Siemann, ''The German Revolution of 1848–1849'' (London, 1998), p. 47]
==== Expression and participation ====
[[File:Banquet du Château-Rouge (9 juillet 1847).JPG|thumb|275x275px|The beginning of the ''[[campagne des banquets]]'' in France on 9 July 1847. Public festivities such as banquets were a common form of political participation in the pre-revolutionary period.]]
Political participation was increasing in the pre-revolutionary period, though it was limited in scope, and what forms existed were heavily restricted by state authorities.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=59}} Where elections were held, very few people could vote or run for office due to strict property requirements; in France, for example, the franchise was open to 0.5 percent of the population, or 241,000 people out of a population of 26 million.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|pp=183–84}}
Outside of elections, the reading, writing, and publishing of [[History of newspaper publishing|newspapers]] was the most basic form of political participation and expression, and the means by which political awareness as a whole was expanding.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=59}} Papers such as the ''[[Rheinische Zeitung]]'' in Germany and ''[[La Réforme]]'' in France became outlets for oppositional thought. Circulation was generally low, ranging from several thousand for regional papers to hundreds for town and city papers.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=59}} However, newspapers were often available to read communally or were read aloud to large public gatherings for those who were illiterate, allowing for a wider dissemination of political thought.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=215}} [[Mass politics]] was carried out through public celebrations, such as festivals and banquets, which were organized as ''de facto'' political rallies to circumvent state restrictions on them.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=60–61}}
Informal political organizations existed to a degree in informal social circles, such as [[Book discussion club|reading clubs]], [[Coffeehouse|coffeehouses]], and [[Masonic lodge|Masonic lodges]].{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=63–64}} Formal political parties and organizations were largely banned, leading the editorial staffs of newspapers to also became leaders of the political opposition.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=60–61}} What formal organizations did exist were in the form of illegal [[Secret society|secret societies]], many of which attempted to organize unsuccessful uprisings in the pre-revolutionary period. Among the most famous was the [[Young Italy]] movement, part of the larger [[Young Europe]] international network led by [[Giuseppe Mazzini]], whose activism and methods in political organization were widely admired by contemporaries and imitated by other revolutionaries.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=202}}.|{{harvnb|Broers|1996|p=98}}.}}]
=== Economic crisis ===
{{Main|European potato failure}}
[[File:Spread of the potato blight in Europe, 1845, by Hans Blomme.png|thumb|300x300px|Spread of the potato blight in Europe in 1845]]
According to economic historians Helge Berger and Mark Spoerer, the most immediate cause of the revolutions of 1848 was the multitudinous economic crisis between 1845 and 1847.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=110}}.|{{harvnb|Ó Gráda|Vanhaute|Paping|2006|pp=5–7}}.}}] The effects of the potato blight were most severe in [[History of Ireland (1801–1923)|Ireland]], where the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] directly killed over an eighth of the population, or over 1 million people out of a population of 8 million. Other countries, including Scotland, Belgium, and the Netherlands saw similar damage to crops, with 60,000 deaths in the Netherlands due to the potato blight.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=45}} Drought conditions in 1846 stopped the spread of the potato blight but damaged grain harvests, resulting in a sharp increase in food prices across the continent, and consequently virtually all foodstuffs became unaffordable for the poor.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|pp=44–47}} Food riots erupted across Europe as the poor attempted by force to stave off starvation, with over 400 such riots in France between 1846 and 1847 and 164 riots in the German states in 1847.{{sfn|Sperber|2005|p=110}}{{efn|Counts in Germany differ between sources: {{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=47}} counts 158 riots in Prussia between April–May 1847, while {{harvnb|Siemann|1998|p=39}} counts 103 protests between 1840 and 1847.}}
Although severe famine was averted in most countries through strong government intervention, the rising cost of food, coupled with poor cotton harvests from the [[Antebellum South|Southern United States]] necessary for textile manufacture, led to a major industrial recession in 1847.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|pp=110–11}}.|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=46}}.}}] Unemployment and [[pauperism]] spread rampantly among urban communities: according to [[Christopher Clark]], by 1847 a fifth of the population in [[Friesland]] in the Netherlands were receiving relief from the state, or 47,482 out of 245,000 people; and in the same period, "the number of residents officially classified as poor in German towns could swell to two thirds or even three fourths of the population".{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=47}} Berger and Spoerer found a strong correlation among the countries that were most deeply affected by the industrial shock of 1847 and those that underwent a revolution in 1848.{{sfn|Berger|Spoerer|2001|p=315}}{{efn|The sole exception is the Netherlands, which Berger and Spoerer argue experienced a revolution (through its preemptive enactment of the [[Constitutional Reform of 1848]]) without having experienced an industrial shock.{{sfn|Berger|Spoerer|2001|p=312}}}}
==Chronology ==
=== "Springtime of the peoples" (January–May 1848) ===
[[File:Europe 1848 map en.png|thumb|325x325px|Map of Europe during the revolutions, showing major events, revolutionary centres, reactionary troop movements, and states with abdications and national conflicts.]]
The revolutionary events in 1848 began after the "[[French Revolution of 1848|February Revolution]]" in France, which overthrew the [[July Monarchy]] and led to the establishment of the [[French Second Republic]]. The revolution in France was not the first to occur, as a revolution had already occurred [[Sicilian revolution of 1848|in January]] in the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]]. In previous years, the [[Greater Poland Uprising (1846)|Greater Poland uprising]] in 1846 and the [[Sonderbund War]] in Switzerland in 1847 had also seen similarly violent struggles for political reform.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Haupt|Langewiesche|2008|p=3}}.|{{harvnb|Rapport|2009|p=105}}.}}] However, the revolution in France held far greater import among contemporaries due to the central role of France in European politics after the [[French Revolution]], and the belief that the events in France were a portent for the rest of Europe.{{Sfn|Weyland|2009|pp=411–14}} Over the course of one week, news of the revolution in France spread rapidly throughout the continent and was met with excitement by reformers and deep anxiety by reactionaries:{{Sfn|Traugott|2010|pp=130–31}} in Vienna, the news came "like a thunder-bolt from a clear sky, and caused a shock which vibrated though every nerve of her political system",{{Sfn|Traugott|2010|p=138}} and [[Klemens von Metternich]], upon receiving word of the revolutions, exclaimed, in French, "well, my dear, it's all over!" ({{Lang|fr|Eh bien, mon cher, tout est fini!}}){{Sfn|Weyland|2009|p=395}}
Within weeks of the revolution in France, similar uprisings occurred in Munich, Vienna, Buda and Pest,{{Efn|The modern city of Budapest was not founded until 1873, with the unification of [[Buda]], [[Pest, Hungary|Pest]], and [[Óbuda]].}} Venice, Krakow, Milan, and Berlin through early-to-mid March.{{Sfn|Ellis|2002|p=28}} As the revolutions spread, reformers across Europe demanded the formation of a representative parliament, the freedom of the press, freedom of association, universal manhood suffrage, and the arming of the people under a national guard.{{Sfn|Traugott|2010|p=144}} Faced with overwhelming political pressure, governments capitulated without offering significant resistance, and granted various political concessions.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=121}} [[Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire|In Austria]], after violent clashes in Vienna from 13 to 15 March, Metternich was forced to resign and went into exile, and Emperor [[Ferdinand I of Austria|Ferdinand I]] pledged to grant [[Kremsier Constitution|an imperial constitution]].{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|pp=61–62}} Revolution broke out [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|in Hungary]] shortly afterward, and the [[Diet of Hungary]] successfully appealed for Hungarian national sovereignty within the [[Habsburg monarchy]].{{Sfn|Deák|1979|pp=68–78}} When the news from Vienna reached [[Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia|Austrian-ruled northern Italy]] some days later, revolutionary governments were declared [[Five Days of Milan|in Milan]] and [[Republic of San Marco|Venice]], and the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Kingdom of Piedmont–Sardinia]] declared war on Austria, beginning the [[First Italian War of Independence]].[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Mack Smith|2002|pp=62–64}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=134}}.}}] [[German revolutions of 1848–1849#Prussia|In Prussia]], after a brief but deadly spate of barricade fighting in Berlin on 18 March, King [[Frederick William IV]] ordered the army to withdraw, appointed a liberal ministry, and committed Prussia to the cause of German national unification.{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|pp=64–67}}
====Early achievements and conflicts====
[[File:Barricade bei der Universität am 26ten Mai 1848 in Wien.jpg|thumb|left|Revolutionary barricades in Vienna in May 1848, flying the [[flag of Germany]]]]
The earliest months of the revolutions were characterized by profound political change across Europe. Elections were held under broad franchises through the spring of 1848 for newly established or reformed parliaments.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=150}}{{Efn|The size of the franchise could vary considerably. The French Constituent Assembly was directly elected under universal manhood suffrage. The Frankfurt National Assembly was [[indirect election|indirectly elected]] under near-universal manhood suffrage. The Austrian Reichstag was elected through a broad franchise, but excluded itinerant or migrant workers, including many journeymen. The parliaments in Hungary, Croatia, and Italy imposed restrictive property requirements which prevented half to two-thirds of people from voting; the Hungarian Diet further required voters to speak Hungarian, disenfranchising non-Hungarians.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=386}}|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=150}}.}}]}} These included, among many others, the French [[1848 French Constituent Assembly election|Constituent Assembly]], which replaced the unrepresentative [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]], the Austrian [[Imperial Diet (Austria)|Reichstag]], the Hungarian Diet, and five other national parliaments within the Austrian Empire, and the [[Frankfurt National Assembly]], the first national parliament representing all of Germany.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=381}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=158}}.}}]
Political participation increased substantially among the people as press censorship was relaxed and restrictions on association were lifted under the new constitutions. Political clubs and newspapers massively increased in number, extending political awareness to far more people than in the pre-revolutionary period.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=160–67}} A [[labour movement]] also began to develop during the early revolutions, though workers' associations were less organized and widespread compared to political clubs.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=177–78}}
A "revolutionary psychosis"{{Sfn|Stadelmann|1975|p=48}} was felt across Europe during the earliest phase of the revolutions as people celebrated the accomplishments of the "springtime of the peoples". Even in the smallest provincial towns in Germany "there were illuminations, festive parades by the riflemen’s associations, banquets of local notables, and embracing in the streets".{{Sfn|Stadelmann|1975|p=75}} A "wave of fraternization" was also felt, "uniting the most implausible elements"; in France "priests blessed the planting of [[Tree of Liberty (symbol)|trees of liberty]]", in [[Transylvania]] "Romanians and Hungarians [...] embraced each other", and in [[Mainz]] "Protestants, Catholics, and Jews [...] all came to the Rhineland city's [[Mainz Cathedral|cathedral]] to celebrate jointly the great tidings of liberty."{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=123}}
The early revolutions, however, also saw widespread violence and a major increase in social conflict, as people of all backgrounds sought to affect a [[social revolution]] and further their position or to violently seek revenge for various grievances.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=124–33}} In urban centres, rioters ransacked the homes and offices of their employers, broke machines and destroyed factories and workshops, and attacked tax collectors and customs officials.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|p=301}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|pp=127–30}}.}}] In the countryside, peasants occupied and took control of lost common land; where feudalism remained, peasants attacked their lords and destroyed records of their [[Feudal duties|obligations]], and where it was abolished, they attacked government officials, especially [[Forester|foresters]], who were perceived as infringing on peasants' customary rights to forests.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Stadelmann|1975|p=81–82}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|pp=124–25}}.}}]
National conflicts also began to emerge in the late spring of 1848, especially in Germany and the multi-ethnic Austrian Empire. Efforts toward German national unification led to conflict with other nationalities within German territory, including [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Danes]], and [[Czechs]].{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|pp=143–45}} In the [[Grand Duchy of Posen]] in eastern Prussia, [[Greater Poland Uprising (1848)|an uprising]] by Polish nationalists led to conflict between Germans and Poles, despite earlier German support for Polish independence; the uprising was suppressed by Prussian troops by April.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|pp=539–40}} In [[Duchy of Schleswig|Schleswig]], the German population revolted against efforts by Denmark to annex the duchy, and were supported by the German states, leading to the [[First Schleswig War]].{{Sfn|Clark|2023|pp=543–44}} Some maximalist German nationalists also sought to extend the German nation to the crown lands of the Habsburg monarchy, including the German [[Archduchy of Austria]] as well as Czech [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown|Bohemia]], Slovenian [[Duchy of Carniola|Carniola]], and Italian [[Trieste]] and [[Trentino]].{{Sfn|Kor̆alka|2008|p=148}} National conflicts pervaded throughout the entire Habsburg monarchy, especially in Hungary, where non-[[Hungarians|Magyars]] (especially Croats and Romanians) resisted attempts to form a [[Magyarization|homogeneous Hungarian nation]], as well as in Galicia between Poles and [[Ruthenians]], and Bohemia between Czechs and Germans.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|pp=140–47}}
=== Counter-revolution (May–December 1848) ===
[[File:Garde nationale mobile pendant les Journées de Juin.JPG|thumb|A soldier of the French [[Garde Mobile|Mobile Guard]] takes down the [[red flag (politics)|red flag]] from a barricade during the June Days|245x245px]]
In the summer of 1848, serious divisions emerged in France between radical workers and the moderate government. In the early spring, the provisional government had been able to rely on their support, agreeing to their demands for the [[right to work]] and the "[[Louis Blanc|organization of labour]]" through the formation of the national workshops.{{Sfn|Ellis|2002|pp=36–38}} However, after the conservative victory in the [[1848 French Constituent Assembly election|Constituent Assembly elections]] on 23 April and the radical attempt to overthrow the Assembly [[French demonstration of 15 May 1848|on 15 May]], the [[French Executive Commission of 1848|new French government]] came under pressure to close them.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Deák|1979|pp=251–52}}.|{{harvnb|Judson|2016|p=215}}.}}] In response, Hungary declared full independence from the Habsburg empire and dethroned Franz Joseph as King of Hungary.{{Sfn|Deák|1979|pp=260–64}} Through the spring, Hungary launched [[Spring Campaign (1849)|a military campaign]] that led to the recapture of almost all of Hungary's territory from Habsburg forces.{{Sfn|Deák|1979|pp=270–73, map 5}} Facing a new crisis in Hungary, the Habsburg empire appealed for Russia's intervention in "the holy struggle against anarchy".{{Sfn|Deák|1979|p=289}} Russia mobilized 200,000 troops to invade Hungary, combined with 175,000 Habsburg troops, against the 170,000 troops of Hungary, many of whom were ill-equipped and exhausted.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Deák|1979|pp=300–304}}.|{{harvnb|Sked|2001|p=110}}.}}] For Russia's support, Austria offered no concessions, and Russia demanded none.{{sfn|Sperber|2005|p=244}}[[File:Capitulaton of Hungarian Army at Világos 1849.png|thumb|The [[Surrender at Világos]] of the Hungarian revolutionaries on 13 August. The last Hungarian forces surrendered by October at the fortress of [[Komárom]].]] In Germany, after much deliberation, the Frankfurt National Assembly agreed to the [[Frankfurt Constitution]] for the new [[German Empire (1848–1849)|German Empire]] in March 1849, and elected Frederick William IV to serve as Emperor of the Germans. However, he rejected the crown on the basis that the Assembly did not have the authority to confer it, and he further denounced the Frankfurt Constitution, refusing any restrictions on his monarchical powers.{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|pp=197–99}} In response, a new wave of uprisings swept through Germany during the [[Imperial Constitution campaign]] as radicals, working largely among the lower classes, sought to force the acceptance of the Frankfurt Constitution. The campaign, lasting between May and July 1849, ultimately ended in defeat, ending the German revolutions.{{Sfn|Langewiesche|2008a|pp=|p=130}}
After the summer of 1849, the last remaining revolutionary regimes were in Rome, Venice, and Hungary. The revolutionary Roman Republic was defeated in July after the intervention of France, and Venice surrendered in August after enduring more than a year of siege and isolation.[{{multiref|{{harvnb|Clark|2023|pp=662–64}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=251}}.}}] With the entry of Russia into the war, Hungary, the last revolutionary state, was placed on the defensive, suffering numerous defeats between late June and August. On 13 August, Hungary surrendered to Austria and Russia, formally ending the war of independence; the last Hungarian holdouts at the fortress of [[Komárom]] surrendered between 2 and 5 October, marking the end of the revolutions of 1848.{{Sfn|Deák|1979|pp=318–28}}
==Events by country or region==
===Italian states===
{{main|Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states}}
[[File:Episodio delle cinque giornate (Baldassare Verazzi).jpg|thumb|upright|Episode from the [[Five Days of Milan]], painting by [[Baldassare Verazzi]]]]The first of the numerous revolutions to occur in 1848 in Italy came in Palermo, Sicily, [[Sicilian revolution of 1848|starting in January 1848]].[{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/33778302 |title=La primavera dei popoli. La rivoluzione siciliana del 1848 |language=it |access-date=16 September 2023 |archive-date=10 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710062506/https://www.academia.edu/33778302 |url-status=live }}] There had been several previous revolts against [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] rule; this one produced an independent state that lasted only 16 months before the Bourbons were restored to the throne. During those months, the constitution was quite advanced for its time in liberal democratic terms, as was the proposal of a unified [[Italy|Italian]] confederation of states.[{{cite web |title=Autonomismo e Unità |url=https://pti.regione.sicilia.it/portal/page/portal/PIR_PORTALE/PIR_150ANNI/PIR_150ANNISITO/PIR_Schede/PIR_Gliautonomistisiciliani |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240722173059/https://pti.regione.sicilia.it/portal/page/portal/PIR_PORTALE/PIR_150ANNI/PIR_150ANNISITO/PIR_Schede/PIR_Gliautonomistisiciliani |archive-date=22 July 2024 |access-date=16 September 2023 |language=it}}] The revolt's failure was reversed 12 years later as the Bourbon [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]] collapsed in 1860–61 with the [[unification of Italy]].[{{cite book |last=Collier |first=Martin |title=Italian unification, 1820–71 |publisher=Heinemann |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-435-32754-5 |edition=First |series=Heinemann Advanced History |location=Oxford |page=2}}]
On 11 February 1848, [[Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Leopold II of Tuscany]], first cousin of Emperor [[Ferdinand I of Austria]], granted the Constitution, with the general approval of his subjects. The Habsburg example was followed by [[Charles Albert of Sardinia]] ([[Statuto Albertino|Albertine Statute]]; later became the constitution of the unified [[Kingdom of Italy]] and remained in force, with changes, until 1948[{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Denis Mack |title=Modern Italy: A Political History|publisher=Yale University Press |year=1997}}]) and by [[Pope Pius IX]] (Fundamental Statute). However, only King Charles Albert maintained the statute even after the end of the riots. Revolts broke out throughout the [[Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia]], such as the [[Five Days of Milan]], which marked the beginning of the [[First Italian War of Independence]].
After [[declaration of independence|declaring independence]] from the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]] [[Austrian Empire]], the [[Republic of San Marco]] later joined the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]] in an attempt, led by the latter, to unite [[northern Italy]] against foreign (mainly Austrian but also French) domination. However, the [[First Italian War of Independence]] ended in the defeat of Sardinia, and Austrian forces reconquered the Republic of San Marco on 28 August 1849 following a long siege. Based on the [[Venetian Lagoon]], the Republic of San Marco extended into most of [[Venetia (region)|Venetia]], or the ''[[Domini di Terraferma|Terraferma]]'' territory of the [[Republic of Venice]], suppressed 51 years earlier in the [[French Revolutionary Wars]].
In the [[Duchy of Modena and Reggio]], [[Francis V, Duke of Modena|Duke Francis V]] attempted to respond militarily to the first attempts at armed revolt, but faced with the approach of Bolognese volunteers to support the insurgents, to avoid bloodshed, he preferred to leave the city, promising a constitution and amnesties. On 21 March 1848, he left for Bolzano. A provisional government was established in Modena. In the [[Papal States]], an internal revolt ousted Pope Pius IX from his temporal powers and led to the establishment of the [[Roman Republic (1849–1850)|Roman Republic]].
The municipalities of [[Free Cities of Menton and Roquebrune|Menton and Roquebrune]] united and obtained independence from the Principality of [[Monaco]], becoming a protectorate of the [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia|Kingdom of Sardinia]], and would eventually join Sardinia in 1861.[Monaco, Gouvernement Princier. "Secession of Menton and Roquebrune / Times of Trouble (1793-1861) / Periods / History and Heritage / Government & Institutions / Portail Du Gouvernement - Monaco." Portail Officiel Du Gouvernement Princier - Monaco, https://en.gouv.mc/Government-Institutions/History-and-Heritage/Periods/Times-of-trouble-1793-1861/Secession-of-Menton-and-Roquebrune {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251027090131/https://en.gouv.mc/Government-Institutions/History-and-Heritage/Periods/Times-of-trouble-1793-1861/Secession-of-Menton-and-Roquebrune |date=27 October 2025 }}]
===France===
{{main|French Revolution of 1848}}
[[File:Le trône brulé. G.33309.jpg|thumb|The symbolic burning of the throne of [[Louis Philippe I]] on the [[Place de la Bastille]]. On the throne was inscribed: "The People of Paris to All Europe: [[Liberty, Equality, Fraternity]]. 24 February 1848"{{Sfn|Rapport|2009|p=56}}]]
The revolution against the [[July Monarchy]] in France began after the banning of the [[Campagne des banquets|''campagne des banquets'']], held to advocate for an expansion of the electoral franchise and to protest the conservative government of [[François Guizot]]. Protests began on 22 February in Paris, led largely by workers and students, and quickly escalated into a revolution, especially after the army's massacre of 65 demonstrators on 23 February. The revolution culminated on 24 February, when King [[Louis Philippe I]] abdicated and fled the country.{{Sfn|Fortescue|2005|pp=60–64}}
With the fall of the July Monarchy, a [[French Provisional Government of 1848|provisional government]] was formed, consisting of a coalition of moderate republicans and socialists, and the [[French Second Republic]] was proclaimed.{{Sfn|Ellis|2002|pp=34–35}} Shortly after taking power, the provisional government instituted universal manhood suffrage and [[Decree of the Abolition of Slavery of April 27, 1848|abolished slavery]] and the death penalty. To placate labour unrest, it recognized the [[right to work]] and established the publicly-run [[National Workshops|national workshops]] ({{Lang|fr|ateliers nationaux}}) for the unemployed. [[Louis Blanc]], a socialist member of the provisional government, was appointed to lead the [[Luxembourg Commission]],{{efn|Named for its meeting place, [[Luxembourg Palace]] in Paris}} consisting of workers' delegates, to investigate economic reforms to address the social question.{{Sfn|Guyver|2016|pp=78–80}} Some actions proved unpopular in the provinces, such as the "commissioners of the republic" appointed as part of the regime change, whose conduct was criticized as dictatorial, and the 45 percent increase in the property tax to pay for the government's growing expenses.[{{Multiref|{{harvnb|Agulhon|1983|pp=43–45}}|{{harvnb|Guyver|2016|pp=81, 91}}}}]
[[File:Barricades rue Saint-Maur. Avant l'attaque, 25 juin 1848. Après l’attaque, 26 juin 1848.jpg|thumb|left|Barricades on rue Saint-Maur-Popincourt on 25 June 1848, during the [[June Days uprising]]. This is the first photograph of a barricade.]] The [[1848 French Constituent Assembly election|Constituent Assembly elections]] on 23 April returned a conservative majority, and the provisional government was replaced by the more moderate [[French Executive Commission of 1848|Executive Commission]], which largely excluded socialists.{{Sfn|Fortescue|2005|pp=99–102}} After the [[demonstration of 15 May 1848|demonstration of 15 May]], the Executive Commission, under pressure from the Assembly, moved to close the national workshops. Conservatives criticized the workshops as an unproductive waste of public funds, and viewed the growing number of workers in Paris as a source of revolt.{{sfn|Guyver|2016|p=116}} With the closure of the workshops, workers would be conscripted into the army or sent home if they refused.[{{Multiref|{{harvnb|Fortescue|2005|pp=107–110}}|{{harvnb|Guyver|2016|pp=116–20}}}}] Facing possible destitution, workers launched the [[June Days uprising]] between 22 and 26 June, involving 40,000 to 50,000 insurgents in violent barricade fighting across Paris. The uprising was suppressed by General [[Louis-Eugène Cavaignac]], who was made France's head of state after the Executive Commission resigned on 24 June.{{Sfn|Fortescue|2005|pp=110–14}}
The first French [[1848 French presidential election|presidential elections]] were held on 10 December after the adoption of the [[French Constitution of 1848]] on 14 November. The two leading candidates were Cavaignac and [[Louis Napoléon Bonaparte]], the nephew of Napoleon, who returned from exile in England after winning in by-elections to the Constituent Assembly in September.{{Sfn|Ellis|2002|p=45}} In the presidential election, Bonaparte won in a [[landslide victory]] with 75 percent of the vote. Bonaparte appealed to a broad coalition, consisting of conservatives, who assumed he would be easily influenced and could maintain order; peasants, who resented the government for the tax increases issued earlier in the year, and among whom he could count on name recognition; and urban workers, who opposed Cavaignac for his role in the June Days.[{{Multiref|{{harvnb|Agulhon|1983|p=72}}.|{{harvnb|Guyver|2016|pp=158–62}}.|{{harvnb|Sperber|2005|p=236}}.}}]
The revolution in France finally ended in December 1851, when Bonaparte launched a [[1851 French coup d'état|coup d'état]] to remain in office, as he was limited to a single term and failed to gain support for a constitutional amendment allowing him to run again. The coup met little resistance except in the provinces, where the left-wing "Republican Solidarity" organization, with 100,000 members, led a failed uprising. The following year, Bonaparte crowned himself as [[Emperor of the French|emperor]] of the [[Second French Empire]], taking the name Napoleon III.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=257}}
===German states===
{{main|German revolutions of 1848–1849}}
[[File:Ereignisblatt_aus_den_revolutionären_Märztagen_18.-19._März_1848_mit_einer_Barrikadenszene_aus_der_Breiten_Strasse,_Berlin_01.jpg|thumb|Revolutionaries in [[Berlin]] on the night of 18–19 March, flying the [[flag of Germany]]]]The success of the revolution in France provided the impetus for the German revolutions. The first revolutionary events were in southwestern Germany, with popular demonstrations in [[Grand Duchy of Baden|Baden]] beginning on 27 February, followed by the rest of the small- to medium-sized German states.{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|pp=57–58}}{{Efn|The [[Grand Duchy of Hesse]], [[Electorate of Hesse]], [[Duchy of Nassau]], [[Kingdom of Hanover]], [[Kingdom of Württemberg]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria]], [[Kingdom of Saxony]], [[Grand Duchy of Oldenburg]] and [[Duchy of Brunswick]], and in the Prussian [[Rhine Province]] and [[Province of Silesia]].}} Across Germany, the ubiquitous "March demands" (''[[:de:Märzforderungen|Märzforderungen]]'') were issued, which called for, among other things, the immediate formation of a German national parliament.{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|p=58}} Weeks later, the revolution spread to the Austrian capital of Vienna from 13 to 15 March and the Prussian capital of Berlin from 18 to 19 March, and was successful in both.{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|pp=61–68}}
At the initiative of middle-class reformers, the German states agreed to hold [[1848 German federal election|elections]] under universal manhood suffrage for a national parliament.{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|pp=75–77}} The [[Frankfurt National Assembly]] sat for the first time on 18 May, with the task of drafting a German constitution. It appointed the "[[Provisorische Zentralgewalt|Provisional Central Power]]" to act as a national government, with [[Archduke John of Austria]] as [[Reichsverweser|Imperial Regent]].{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|p=127}} As the Assembly and the Central Power had no means of enforcing its authority, it relied on the cooperation of the German states, particularly Austria and Prussia, and their tenuous recognition of the Assembly's [[Political legitimacy|legitimacy]].{{Sfn|Langewiesche|2008a|p=124}}
[[File:Zeitgenössige_Lithografie_der_Nationalversammlung_in_der_Paulskirche.jpg|left|thumb|Opening of the [[Frankfurt National Assembly]], the first German national parliament, in the ''[[Paulskirche]]'' with ''[[Germania (St. Paul's Church, Frankfurt am Main)|Germania]]'' hanging above]]
Division and sometimes violent conflict between liberals and radicals over numerous issues characterized the German revolutions from their onset.{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|pp=218–20}} One immediate point of contention was whether Germany should be a republic or a constitutional monarchy; the "pre-parliament" had voted to support the latter, leading to the [[Hecker uprising]] in Baden by the radical republicans [[Friedrich Hecker]] and [[Gustav Struve]] in April 1848.[{{Multiref|{{harvnb|Langewiesche|2008a|p=123}}.|{{harvnb|Siemann|1998|pp=68–71}}.}}] The reliance of the liberal Frankfurt National Assembly and Central Power on the states to suppress radical uprisings, such as in April, worsened divisions and demonstrated the weakness of the national government.[{{Multiref|{{harvnb|Langewiesche|2008b|pp=702–703}}.|{{harvnb|Siemann|1998|pp=158–60}}.}}] Another major point of contention was the "national question" of German unification. This included whether the German nation should include Austria (the "[[German question]]"), and whether it should include non-German lands. Conflicts between Germans and other nationalities occurred in [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown (1648–1867)|Bohemia]] against Czechs, [[Grand Duchy of Posen|Posen]] (now [[Poznań]]) against Poles (in the [[Greater Poland Uprising (1848)|Greater Poland uprising]]), and [[Duchy of Schleswig|Schleswig]]–[[Duchy of Holstein|Holstein]] against Danes (in the [[First Schleswig War]]).{{Sfn|Breuilly|2014|pp=39–43}}
[[File:FrWIV-Karikatur-1849-Farbe.jpg|thumb|268x268px|Cariacature of [[Frederick William IV]], satirizing his rejection of the imperial crown offered by the Frankfurt National Assembly; he privately likened the crown to "a dog collar, binding [him] to the revolution of '48'".{{sfn|Hahn|2013|p=161}}]]
In March 1849, despite divisions between liberals and radicals, the Frankfurt National Assembly concluded its work, presenting the [[Frankfurt Constitution]] for the [[German Empire (1848–1849)|German Empire]]. Under the new constitution, the empire would be governed as a federal constitutional monarchy with significant democratic concessions, including universal manhood suffrage and the protection of [[minority rights]], and ruled by the King of Prussia as hereditary Emperor of the Germans.{{Sfn|Langewiesche|2008a|pp=125–28}} Austria, emboldened by the success of its counter-revolution, was excluded due to its insistence that all Habsburg territory and its multitude of non-German peoples be incorporated into the empire, threatening to upend the German nation-state.{{Sfn|Sperber|2005|p=242}} Frederick William IV of Prussia ultimately rejected the crown, as he did not recognize the authority of the Frankfurt National Assembly, and also rejected the constitution, believing, under the [[divine right of kings]], that his rule could not be restricted by one.{{sfn|Hahn|2013|p=161}}
The rejection of the imperial crown led to the [[Imperial Constitution campaign]], the final act of the German revolutions. Uprisings again broke out across Germany in May 1849 in an effort to force the implementation of the constitution on the German states. The uprisings had wide support among radicalized workers, bourgeoisie, and soldiers, who were coordinated by highly-developed political organizations.[{{harvnb|Siemann|1998|p=203}}. For illustrative examples, see the account in {{harvnb|Hahn|2013|p=167}} and the table in {{harvnb|Siemann|1998|p=206}}.] Compared to the regular armies they faced, however, the revolutionaries were poorly armed and organized, and were quickly defeated in combat.{{Sfn|Clark|2023|p=655}} The uprising in Baden endured the longest, owing to significant support among the troops.{{Sfn|Hahn|2013|p=173}} It finally capitulated on 23 July 1849, marking the end of the revolutions in Germany.{{Sfn|Siemann|1998|pp=209–11}}
===Denmark===
{{main|History of Denmark#Nationalism and liberalism}}
[[File:Grundloven-1849-forside.jpg|thumb|Cover of the first Danish constitution from 1849.|278x278px]]
Denmark had been governed by a system of absolute monarchy ([[King's Law]]) since the 17th century. King [[Christian VIII of Denmark|Christian VIII]], a moderate reformer but still an absolutist, died in January 1848 during a period of rising opposition from farmers and liberals. The demands for a constitutional monarchy, led by the [[National Liberal Party (Denmark)|National Liberals]], ended with a popular march to [[Christiansborg]] on 21 March. The new king, [[Frederick VII of Denmark|Frederick VII]], met the liberals' demands and installed a new Cabinet that included prominent leaders of the [[National Liberal Party (Denmark)|National Liberal Party]].[Weibull, Jörgen. "Scandinavia, History of." ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' 15th ed., Vol. 16, 324.]
The national-liberal movement wanted to abolish absolutism, but retain a strongly centralized state. The king accepted [[Constitution of Denmark|a new constitution]], agreeing to share power with a bicameral parliament called the [[Rigsdag]]. It is said that the Danish king's first words after signing away his absolute power were, "that was nice, now I can sleep in the mornings".[Olaf Søndberg;
den danske revolution 1830–1866: p. 70, line 47–48] Although army officers were dissatisfied, they accepted the new arrangement. In contrast to the rest of Europe, this was not overturned by reactionaries.[Gábor Gángó, "1848–1849 in Hungary," ''Hungarian Studies'' (2001) 15#1 pp. 39–47. [http://epa.niif.hu/01400/01462/00025/pdf/039-047.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019145130/http://epa.niif.hu/01400/01462/00025/pdf/039-047.pdf |date=19 October 2017 }}] It began on 15 March 1848, when Hungarian patriots organized mass demonstrations in [[Pest, Hungary|Pest]] and [[Buda]] (today Budapest) which forced the imperial governor to accept their [[12 points of the Hungarian Revolutionaries of 1848|12 points of demands]]. The 12 points included demands for freedom of the press, an independent Hungarian ministry residing in Buda–Pest and responsible to a popularly elected parliament, the formation of a National Guard, complete civil and religious equality, trial by jury, a national bank, a Hungarian army, the withdrawal of foreign (Austrian) troops from Hungary, the freeing of political prisoners, and union with [[Transylvania]].{{Sfn|Deák|1979|p=70–71}} On that morning, the demands were read aloud along with poetry by [[Sándor Petőfi]] with the simple lines of "We swear by the God of the Hungarians; we swear, we shall be slaves no more".{{Sfn|Deák|1979|p=71}} [[Lajos Kossuth]] and other liberal nobles in the [[Hungarian Diet]] appealed to the Habsburg court with demands for representative government and civil liberties.["The US and the 1848 Hungarian Revolution." The Hungarian Initiatives Foundation. Accessed 26 March 2015. http://www.hungaryfoundation.org/history/20140707_US_HUN_1848 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314084152/http://www.hungaryfoundation.org/history/20140707_us_hun_1848 |date=14 March 2016 }}.] These events resulted in [[Klemens von Metternich]], the Austrian chancellor and foreign minister, resigning. The demands of the Diet were agreed upon on 18 March by Emperor [[Ferdinand I of Austria|Ferdinand I]]. Although Hungary would remain part of the monarchy through [[personal union]] with the emperor, a constitutional government would be founded. The Diet then passed the April laws that established equality before the law, a legislature, a hereditary constitutional monarchy, and an end to the transfer and restrictions of land use.[The Making of the West: Volume C, Lynn Hunt, pp. 683–684] The new government, led by [[Lajos Kossuth]], was initially successful against the Habsburg forces. Although Hungary took a national united stand for its freedom, some minorities of the Kingdom of Hungary, including the Serbs of Vojvodina, the Romanians of Transylvania, and some Slovaks of Upper Hungary, supported the Habsburg Emperor and fought against the Hungarian Revolutionary Army. Eventually, after one and a half years of fighting, the revolution was crushed when Russian Tsar [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]] marched into Hungary with over 300,000 troops.[W.B. Lincoln, "Russia and the European Revolutions of 1848" ''History Today'' (Jan 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 1, pp 53–59 online.] As a result of the defeat, Hungary was thus placed under brutal martial law. The leading rebels like Kossuth went into exile or were executed, the latter including former prime minister [[Lajos Batthyány|Batthyány]] and the [[Thirteen Martyrs of Arad]]. In the long run, the passive resistance following the revolution, along with the crushing Austrian defeat in the 1866 [[Austro-Prussian War]], led to the [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867|Austro-Hungarian Compromise]] (1867), which marked the start of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian Empire]].
====Galicia====
The center of the Ukrainian national movement was in [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], which is today divided between [[Ukraine]] and [[Poland]]. On 19 April 1848, a group of representatives led by the Greek Catholic clergy launched a petition to the Austrian Emperor. It expressed wishes that in those regions of Galicia where the [[Ruthenians|Ruthenian]] (Ukrainian) population represented the majority, the [[Ukrainian language]] should be taught at schools and used to announce official decrees for the peasantry; local officials were expected to understand it and the Ruthenian clergy was to be equalized in their rights with the clergy of all other denominations.[Kost' Levytskyi, ''The History of the Political Thought of the Galician Ukrainians, 1848–1914'', (Lviv, 1926), 17.]
On 2 May 1848, the [[Supreme Ruthenian Council]] was established. The council (1848–1851) was headed by the Greek-Catholic Bishop [[Gregory Yakhimovich]] and consisted of 30 permanent members. Its main goal was the administrative division of Galicia into Western (Polish) and Eastern (Ruthenian/Ukrainian) parts within the borders of the Habsburg Empire, and formation of a separate region with a political self-governance.[Kost' Levytskyi, ''The History of the Political Thought of the Galician Ukrainians, 1848–1914'', (Lviv, 1926), 26.]
Though both Polish and Ruthenian Galicians had nationalist aspirations, the two groups' interests diverged, with Polish nobles in Ruthenia often having dominion over Ruthenian serfs. Emperor Ferdinand responded to Galician agitation in 1848 by freeing the predominantly Ruthenian serfs, thereby dampening the revolutionary ardor of both groups.[Mike Rapport, ''1848: Year of Revolution'', [https://archive.org/details/1848yearofrevolu0000rapp_q6h4/page/137/mode/1up?view=theater pp.137-140] ([[Little, Brown and Company|Little, Brown]], 2008) (retrieved Feb.16, 2025).]
==== Czech lands ====
[[File:RS(1872) p2.0833 Angriff auf den Altstädter Brückenthurm zu Prag.jpg|thumb|210px|The [[Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire|June Uprising]] of 1848 in [[Prague]] injected a strong political element into [[Czech National Revival]].]]
The revolution of 1848 in Bohemia began with the drafting of a list of liberal demands of the Czech population of the [[Czech lands]] at the St. Wenceslas Spa in [[Prague]] by the wealthier inhabitants of the city in March. These were spurred by the more violent events in Vienna and the news of revolutions sweeping across the continent.{{Sfn|Pánek|Tuma|2019|p=344–45}}
The revolution in the Czech lands was complicated by the friction between [[Sudeten Germans|German Bohemians]], who were interested in becoming a part of Germany and representation in the [[Frankfurt National Assembly]], the first all-German parliament, and between Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia, who sought Czech nationality. [[Austro-Slavism|Austroslavism]] emerged during the revolutions, propagated by [[František Palacký]], which sought to achieve greater autonomy for the Czech lands, and potentially even a federation, within the Habsburg monarchy, as opposed to potentially all of the Czech lands joining a unified greater Germany.{{Sfn|Pánek|Tuma|2019|p=346–47}}
===Switzerland===
{{main|Sonderbund War}}
Switzerland, already an alliance of republics, also saw an internal struggle. The attempted secession of seven Catholic [[Cantons of Switzerland|cantons]] to form an alliance known as the ''Sonderbund'' ("separate alliance", "special alliance") in 1845 led to a short civil conflict in November 1847 in which around 100 people were killed. The ''Sonderbund'' was decisively defeated by the Protestant cantons, which had a larger population.[Joachim Remak, ''Very Civil War: The Swiss Sonderbund War of 1847'' (1993)] A new constitution of 1848 ended the almost-complete independence of the cantons, transforming [[Switzerland as a federal state|Switzerland into a federal state]].
===Greater Poland===
{{main|Greater Poland uprising (1848)}}
Polish people mounted a military insurrection against the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]ns in the [[Grand Duchy of Posen]] (or the [[Greater Poland]] region), a part of Prussia since its annexation in 1815. The Poles tried to establish a Polish political entity, but refused to cooperate with the Germans and the Jews. The Germans decided they were better off with the status quo, so they assisted the Prussian governments in recapturing control. In the long-term, the uprising stimulated nationalism among both the Poles and the Germans and brought civil equality to the Jews.[Krzysztof Makowski, "Poles, Germans and Jews in the Grand Duchy of Poznan in 1848: From coexistence to conflict." ''East European Quarterly'' 33.3 (1999): 385.]
===Romanian Principalities===
{{main|Moldavian Revolution of 1848|Wallachian Revolution of 1848}}
[[File:1848-revolutia-Romania.jpg|thumb|upright|Romanian revolutionaries in [[Bucharest]] in 1848, carrying the [[Flag of Romania|Romanian tricolour]]]]
A Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist uprising began in June in the principality of [[Wallachia]]. Its goals were administrative autonomy, abolition of serfdom, and popular self-determination. It was closely connected with the 1848 unsuccessful [[Moldavian Revolution of 1848|revolt in Moldavia]], it sought to overturn the administration imposed by Imperial Russian authorities under the ''[[Regulamentul Organic]]'' regime, and, through many of its leaders, demanded the abolition of [[boyar]] privilege. Led by a group of young intellectuals and officers in the [[Wallachian military forces]], the movement succeeded in toppling the ruling [[List of rulers of Wallachia|Prince]] [[Gheorghe Bibescu]], whom it replaced with a provisional government and a [[Regent|regency]], and in passing a series of major liberal reforms, first announced in the [[Proclamation of Islaz]].
Despite its rapid gains and popular backing, the new administration was marked by conflicts between the [[Liberalism and radicalism in Romania|radical wing]] and more conservative forces, especially over the issue of [[land reform]]. Two successive abortive coups weakened the new government, and its international status was always contested by Russia. After managing to rally a degree of sympathy from Ottoman political leaders, the Revolution was ultimately isolated by the intervention of Russian diplomats. In September 1848, by agreement with the Ottomans, Russia invaded and put down the revolution. According to Vasile Maciu, the failures were attributable in Wallachia to foreign intervention, in Moldavia to the opposition of the feudalists, and in Transylvania to the failure of the campaigns of General [[Józef Bem]] (who led a very successful campaign of liberation in the Hungarian Revolution), and later to Austrian repression.[Vasile Maciu, "Le caractère unitaire de la révolution de 1848 dans les pays roumains." ''Revue Roumaine d'Histoire'' 7 (1968): 679–707.] In later decades, the rebels returned and gained their goals.
===Belgium===
[[File:Bruxelles à travers les âges (1884) (14740791186).jpg|thumb|upright|A depiction of [[Leopold I of Belgium]]'s symbolic offer to resign the crown in 1848]]
Belgium [[Belgium in "the long nineteenth century"|did not see major unrest]] in 1848; it had already undergone a liberal reform after the [[Belgian Revolution|Revolution of 1830]], and thus its constitutional system and its monarchy survived.[Stefan Huygebaert, "Unshakeable Foundations," ''Journal of Belgian History'' 45.4 (2015).]
Many small local riots broke out, concentrated in the ''[[sillon industriel]]'' industrial region of the provinces of [[Liège (province)|Liège]] and [[Hainaut (province)|Hainaut]].
The most serious threat of revolutionary contagion, however, was posed by Belgian émigré groups from France. In 1830, the Belgian Revolution had broken out, inspired by the revolution occurring in France, and Belgian authorities feared that a similar 'copycat' phenomenon might occur in 1848. Shortly after the revolution in France, Belgian migrant workers living in Paris were encouraged to return to Belgium to overthrow [[Monarchy of Belgium|the monarchy]] and establish a republic.[{{cite web|last=Chastain|first=James|title=Belgium in 1848|url=http://www.ohio.edu/chastain/ac/belgium.htm|website=Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions|publisher=[[Ohio University]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811160422/http://www.ohio.edu/chastain/ac/belgium.htm|archive-date=11 August 2011|url-status=dead}}] Belgian authorities expelled [[Karl Marx]] himself from Brussels in early March on accusations of having used part of his inheritance to arm Belgian revolutionaries.
Around 6,000 armed émigrés of the "[[Belgian Legion#French Revolution of 1848|Belgian Legion]]" attempted to cross the Belgian frontier. There were two divisions that were formed. The first group, travelling by train, was stopped and quickly disarmed at [[Quiévrain]] on 26 March 1848.[{{cite book|last=Ascherson|first=Neal|author-link=Neal Ascherson|title=The King Incorporated: Leopold the Second and the Congo|year=1999|publisher=Granta|location=London|isbn=978-1862072909|edition=New|pages=20–21}}] The second group crossed the border on 29 March and headed for Brussels. They were confronted by Belgian troops at the hamlet of [[Risquons-Tout]] and defeated. Several smaller groups managed to infiltrate Belgium, but the reinforced Belgian border troops succeeded, and the defeat at Risquons-Tout effectively ended the revolutionary threat to Belgium.
The situation in Belgium began to recover that summer after a good harvest, and [[Belgian general election, 1848|fresh elections]] returned a strong majority to the governing party.[Woodham-Smith, Cecil, ''[[The Great Hunger]]: Ireland, 1845–1849'', Harper and Row, New York, pages 326–327]
In response, the Young Ireland Party launched a rebellion in July 1848, gathering landlords and tenants to its cause. But its first [[Famine Warhouse 1848|major engagement against police]], in the village of [[Ballingarry, South Tipperary]], was a failure. A long gunfight with around 50 policemen ended when police reinforcements arrived. After the arrest of the Young Ireland leaders, the rebellion collapsed, though intermittent fighting continued for the next year. It is sometimes called the ''Famine Rebellion'' (since it took place during the Great Famine).{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}
===Other European states===
[[File:Under Marsoroligheterna i Stockholm 1848. Fritz von Dardel - Nordiska Museet - NMA.0035335.jpg|thumb|Illustration of the "[[Marsoroligheterna|March troubles]]" in Stockholm, Sweden in 1848]]
The [[United Kingdom]], Belgium, the [[Netherlands]], [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]], the [[Russian Empire]] (including [[Congress Poland|Poland]] and [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finland]]), and the [[Ottoman Empire]] did not encounter major national or Radical revolutions in 1848. [[Sweden]] and [[Norway]] were also little affected. [[Principality of Serbia|Serbia]], though formally unaffected by the revolt as it was a part of the Ottoman state, actively supported Serbian revolutionaries in the Habsburg Empire.[{{cite web |url=http://www.ohiou.edu/~Chastain/rz/serbvio.htm |title=Serbia's Role in the Conflict in Vojvodina, 1848–49 |publisher=Ohiou.edu |date=25 October 2004 |access-date=1 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925153237/http://www.ohiou.edu/~chastain/rz/serbvio.htm |archive-date=25 September 2008}}]
In many countries, the absence of unrest was partly due to governments taking action to prevent revolutionary unrest and pre-emptively granting some of the reforms demanded by revolutionaries elsewhere. This was notably the case for the Netherlands, where King [[William II of the Netherlands|William II]] decided [[Constitutional Reform of 1848|to alter the Dutch constitution]] to reform elections and voluntarily reduce the power of the monarchy. The same might be said of Switzerland, where a new constitutional regime was introduced in 1848: the [[Swiss Federal Constitution]] was a revolution of sorts, laying the foundation of Swiss society as it is today.
===Other English-speaking countries===
[[File:Chartist meeting, Kennington Common.jpg|thumb|[[Chartism|Chartist]] meeting on [[Kennington Common]] 10 April 1848]]
In the United Kingdom, while the middle classes had been pacified by their inclusion in the extension of the franchise in the [[Reform Act 1832]], the consequential agitations, violence, and petitions of the [[Chartism|Chartist movement]] came to a head with [[Chartism#1848 petition|their peaceful petition to Parliament]] of 1848. The repeal in 1846 of the protectionist agricultural tariffs{{spaced ndash}}called the "[[Corn Laws]]"{{spaced ndash}}had defused some proletarian fervour.[{{Cite journal |jstor = 4049111|title = Chartism in 1848: Reflections on a Non-Revolution|journal = Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies|volume = 13|issue = 1|pages = 12–26|last1 = Weisser|first1 = Henry|year = 1981|doi = 10.2307/4049111}}]
In the [[Isle of Man]], there were ongoing efforts to reform the self-elected [[House of Keys]], but no revolution took place. Some of the reformers were encouraged by events in France in particular.[{{cite book|last1=Fyson|first1=Robert|title=The Struggle for Manx Democracy|date=2016|publisher=Culture Vannin|location=Douglas|isbn=9780993157837}}]
In the United States, opinions were polarized, with Democrats and reformers in favour, although they were distressed at the degree of violence involved. Opposition came from conservative elements, especially Whigs, southern slaveholders, orthodox Calvinists, and Catholics. About 4,000 German exiles arrived, and some became fervent Republicans in the 1850s, such as [[Carl Schurz]]. Kossuth toured America and won great applause, but no volunteers or diplomatic or financial help.[Timothy Mason Roberts, ''Distant Revolutions: 1848 and the Challenge to American Exceptionalism'' (2009)]
Following [[Rebellions of 1837–1838|rebellions in 1837 and 1838]], [[1848 in Canada]] saw the establishment of [[responsible government]] in [[Nova Scotia]] and [[The Canadas]], the first such governments in the [[British Empire]] outside the United Kingdom. [[John Ralston Saul]] has argued that this development is tied to the revolutions in Europe, but described the Canadian approach to the revolutionary year of 1848 as "talking their way{{nbsp}}... out of the empire's control system and into a new democratic model", a stable democratic system which has lasted to the present day. [[Tory]] and [[Orange Order in Canada]] opposition to responsible government came to a head in riots triggered by the [[Rebellion Losses Bill]] in 1849. They succeeded in the [[burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal]], but, unlike their counterrevolutionary counterparts in Europe, they were ultimately unsuccessful.[Saul, J.R. (2012). Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine & Robert Baldwin. Penguin Group (Canada).]
===Latin America===
In Spanish Latin America, the Revolution of 1848 appeared in [[Republic of New Granada|New Granada]], where Colombian students, liberals, and intellectuals demanded the election of General [[José Hilario López]]. He took power in 1849 and launched major reforms, abolishing slavery and the death penalty, and providing freedom of the press and of religion. The resulting turmoil in [[History of Colombia|Colombia]] lasted three decades; from 1851 to 1885, the country was ravaged by four general civil wars and 50 local revolutions.[J. Fred Rippy, ''Latin America: A Modern History'' (1958) pp. 253–254]
In Chile, the 1848 revolutions inspired the [[1851 Chilean revolution]].[{{cite book |last=Gazmuri |first=Cristián |date=1999 |title=El "1849" chileno: Igualitarios, reformistas, radicales, masones y bomberos |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0009044.pdf |location=Santiago, Chile |publisher=[[Editorial Universitaria]] |page=104 |access-date=1 June 2014 |language=es |archive-date=19 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019144713/http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0009044.pdf |url-status=live }}]
In Brazil, the [[Praieira Revolt]], a movement in [[Pernambuco]], lasted from November 1848 to 1852.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} Unresolved conflicts from the [[Regency period (Empire of Brazil)|period of the regency]] and local resistance to the consolidation of the [[Empire of Brazil]] that had been proclaimed in 1822 helped to plant the seeds of the revolution.
In Mexico, the [[Centralist Republic of Mexico|Centralist Republic]] led by [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]] lost [[Mexican Cession|half of its territory]] to the United States, including [[Alta California|California]] and [[Republic of Texas|Texas]], in the [[Mexican–American War]] of 1845–1848. Derived from this catastrophe and chronic stability problems, the Liberal Party started a reformist movement. This movement, via elections, led liberals to formulate the ''[[Plan of Ayutla]]''. The Plan written in [[1854]] aimed at removing President Santa Anna from control of Mexico during the [[Second Federal Republic of Mexico]] period. Initially, it seemed little different from other political plans of the era, but it is considered the first act of the [[La Reforma|Liberal Reform]] in Mexico.[Robert J. Knowlton, "Plan of Ayutla" in ''Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture'', vol. 4, p. 420. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.] It was the catalyst for revolts in many parts of Mexico, which led to the resignation of Santa Anna from the presidency, never to vie for office again.[Erika Pani, "Revolution of Ayutla" in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico'', vol. 1, p. 119. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997.] The next Presidents of Mexico were the liberals, [[Juan Álvarez]], [[Ignacio Comonfort]], and [[Benito Juárez]]. The new regime would then proclaim the [[Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857|1857 Mexican Constitution]], which implemented a variety of liberal reforms. Among other things, these reforms confiscated religious property, aimed to promote economic development, and to stabilize a nascent republican government.[Pani, ''Ibid.'' p. 120.] The reforms led directly to the so-called Three Years War or [[Reform War]] of 1857. The liberals won this war, but the conservatives solicited the French Government of [[Napoleon III]] for a European, conservative Monarch, deriving into the [[Second French intervention in Mexico]]. Under the puppet Habsburg government of [[Maximilian I of Mexico]], the country became a client state of France (1863–1867).
===Southeast Asia===
In the [[Dutch East Indies]], a group of up to six hundred [[Indo people]] occupied the [[Harmony Society, Batavia|Harmonie Club]] in [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] in May 1848 to protest against their exclusion from upper-rank colonial posts. Administrators feared the liberal demonstration would spread to the region's Javanese or Chinese and even grow into an independence movement, and the organizers behind the protest were fired and banned from Java entirely.[{{cite book |last1=Stoler |first1=Ann Laura |title=Along the archival grain: epistemic anxieties and colonial common sense |date=2009 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |isbn=9780691146362 |pages=81–85}}]
==Aftermath and legacy==
{{Quote box|We have been beaten and humiliated ... scattered, imprisoned, disarmed, and gagged. The fate of European democracy has slipped from our hands.|[[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]][Breunig, Charles (1977), ''The Age of Revolution and Reaction, 1789–1850'' ({{ISBN|0-393-09143-0}})]|width=25em}}
[[Liberal democracy|Liberal democrats]] looked to 1848 as a [[democratic revolution]], which in the long run ensured [[liberty, equality, and fraternity]]. For [[nationalists]], 1848 was the springtime of hope, when newly emerging nationalities rejected the old multinational empires, but the results were not as comprehensive as many had hoped. [[Communists]] denounced 1848 as a betrayal of [[working-class]] ideals by a [[bourgeoisie]] indifferent to the legitimate demands of the [[proletariat]].{{sfn|Evans|Pogge von Strandmann|2000|pp=207–235}} The view of the revolutions of 1848 as a [[bourgeois revolution]] is also common in non-[[Marxist]] scholarship.[''History Today'' (1960). p. 668. "... the rising tide of revolutionary bourgeois liberalism in Austrian political life, as demonstrated by students' activities, the March riots of 1848, the rising in Hungary, the open revolt in Vienna itself in October 1848, and the course of the revolution."][Clark, T. J. (1982). ''The Absolute Bourgeois: Artists and Politics in France 1848–51'' (paperback ed.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|9780691003382}}.][Csizmadia, Andor (1983). "Hungarian Customary Law Before the Bourgeois Rebellion of 1848". ''The Journal of Legal History''. '''4''' (2): 3–37. {{doi|10.1080/01440368308530781}}.] Tensions over differing approaches between bourgeois revolutionaries and radicals played a major role in the failure of the revolutions.[''Columbia Encyclopedia'' (2020). "The discrepancy of aims between bourgeois revolutionaries such as Alphonse de Lamartine and A. T. Marie and the radicals, led by Louis Blanc, contributed to the eventual failure of the revolution."] Many governments engaged in a partial reversal of the revolutionary reforms of 1848–1849 as well as heightened repression and censorship. The Hanoverian nobility successfully appealed to the Confederal Diet in 1851 over the loss of their noble privileges, while the [[Prussian Junkers]] recovered their manorial police powers from 1852 to 1855.[Green, Abigail, ''Fatherlands: State-Building and Nationhood in Nineteenth-Century Germany'' (Cambridge, 2001), p. 75][Barclay, David, ''Friedrich Wilhelm IV and the Prussian Monarchy 1840–1861'' (Oxford, 1995), pp. 190, 231] In the Austrian Empire, the Sylvester Patents (1851) discarded [[Franz Stadion]]'s [[March Constitution (Austria)|constitution]] and the Statute of Basic Rights, while the number of arrests in Habsburg territories increased from 70,000 in 1850 to one million by 1854.[Deak, John. ''Forging a Multinational State: State Making in Imperial Austria from the Enlightenment to the First World War'' (Stanford, 2015), p. 105] Nicholas I's rule in Russia after 1848 was particularly repressive, marked by an expansion of the secret police (the [[Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery|Tretiye Otdeleniye]]) and stricter censorship; more Russians were working for censorship organs than actual books published in the period immediately after 1848.[Westwood, J. N. ''Endurance and Endeavour: Russian History, 1812–1980''. Oxford (2002), p. 32][Goldfrank, David M. ''The Origins of the Crimean War''. London: Longman, (1994), p. 21] In France, the works of [[Charles Baudelaire]], [[Victor Hugo]], [[Alexandre Ledru-Rollin]], and [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]] were confiscated.[Price, Roger. ''The French Second Empire: An Anatomy of Political Power'' (Cambridge, 2001), p. 327.]
In the post-revolutionary decade after 1848, little had visibly changed, and many historians considered the revolutions a failure, given the seeming lack of permanent structural changes. More recently, [[Christopher Clark]] has characterized the period that followed 1848 as one dominated by a revolution in government. Governments after 1848 were forced into managing the public sphere and popular sphere with more effectiveness, resulting in the increased prominence of, for example, the Prussian ''Zentralstelle für Pressangelegenheiten'' (Central Press Agency, established 1850), the Austrian ''Zensur-und polizeihofstelle'' (Censorship and Police Office), and the French ''Direction Générale de la Librairie'' (1856).{{sfn|Clark|2023|p=184}} The conservative Prussian prime minister [[Otto von Manteuffel]] declared that the state could no longer be run like the landed estate of a nobleman.[Brophy, James M. ''Capitalism, Politics and Railroads in Prussia 1830–1870'' (Columbus, 1998), p. 1] Meanwhile, centrist coalitions, consisting of liberals and conservatives united in their anxiety toward working-class socialism, also took power after the revolutions, such as the ''Connubio'' coalition led by [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]] in Piedmont–Sardinia.[{{Cite book |last=Ferguson |first=Niall |title=The Nineteenth Century: Europe 1789-1914 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198731351 |editor-last=Blanning |editor-first=T. C. W. |publication-date=2000 |pages=121–22 |chapter=The European economy, 1815–1914}}][{{cite book |last1=Mack Smith |first1=Denis |title=Cavour: A Biography |date=1985 |publisher=Knopf |page= 91 |isbn=9780394538853}}] [[Priscilla Robertson]] considered many of the revolutionaries' goals to have been achieved by the 1870s, though largely by the enemies of the revolutions. [[Austrian Empire|Austria]] and [[Prussia]] eliminated feudalism by 1850 and Russia [[Emancipation reform of 1861|abolished serfdom]] in 1861, improving conditions for the peasants. The European middle classes made political and economic gains over the next 20 years, with France retaining the [[universal male suffrage]] that had been established by the [[French Second Republic|Second Republic]]. The Austrian Empire was reorganized into the [[Austria-Hungary|Dual Monarchy]], according Hungary more [[self-determination]] as part of the ''[[Ausgleich]]'' of 1867, a process that was spearheaded by the former revolutionaries [[Gyula Andrássy]] and [[Ferenc Deák (politician)|Ferenc Deák]].[{{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=Priscilla |title=Revolutions of 1848: A Social History |date=1952 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691007564 |page=412}}]{{Sfn|Rapport|2009|p=359}}
[[File:Rundgemälde Europa 1849.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|A caricature by Ferdinand Schröder on the defeat of the revolutions of 1848–1849 in Europe (published in ''Düsseldorfer Monatshefte'', August 1849)]]
[[Karl Marx]] expressed disappointment at the bourgeois character of the revolutions.{{sfn|Gildea|2002|pp=216}}[See also {{blist|{{cite journal|last=Beer|first=Max|date=July 1923|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/12/england-revolution.htm|title=Selection from the Literary Remains of Karl Marx|journal=Labour Monthly|issue=III: England and Revolution|pages=30–36|access-date=9 September 2021|via=Marxists Internet Archive|archive-date=1 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401033404/https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/12/england-revolution.htm|url-status=live}}|{{cite book|last=Marx|first=Karl|date=August 2018|url=http://www.slp.org/pdf/marx/class_struggles.pdf|title=The Class Struggle in France, 1848–1850|translator-last=Kuhn|translator-first=Henry|publisher=Socialist Labor Party of America|page=13|access-date=9 September 2021|quote=And if then, as shown in the third article of Marx, in the spring of 1850 developments had concentrated the real ruling power in the bourgeois republic that had emanated from the 'social' revolution of 1848 in the hands of the big bourgeoisie ... .|archive-date=8 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210708033632/http://www.slp.org/pdf/marx/class_struggles.pdf|url-status=live}}}}] Marx elaborated in his 1850 "Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League" a theory of [[permanent revolution]] according to which the proletariat should strengthen democratic bourgeois revolutionary forces until the proletariat itself is ready to seize power.[{{cite book|editor-last1=Kamenka|editor-first1=Eugene|editor-last2=Smith|editor-first2=Francis Barrymore|year=1980|title=Intellectuals and Revolution: Socialism and the Experience of 1848|edition=1st hardcover|location=New York|publisher=St. Martin's Press|page=131|isbn=9780312418939}}]
German historian [[:de:Reinhard Rürup|Reinhard Rürup]] described the 1848 revolutions as a turning point in the development of modern [[antisemitism]]. This was expressed through the development of conspiracies that presented Jews as representative of both the forces of social revolution (apparently typified in [[Joseph Goldmark]] and [[Adolf Fischhof]] of Vienna) and of international capital, as seen in the 1848 report from Eduard von Müller-Tellering, the Viennese correspondent of Marx's ''[[Neue Rheinische Zeitung]]'', which declared that "tyranny comes from money and the money belongs to the Jews".["Progress and Its Limits: The Revolution of 1848 and European Jewry". Reinhard Rürup in Dowe, Dieter ed., ''Europe in 1848: Revolution and Reform'' (Oxford, 2001), pp. 758, 761]
About 4,000 exiles went to the United States, fleeing the reactionary purges. Of these, 100 went to the [[Texas Hill Country]] as [[German Texans]].[{{Handbook of Texas |id=pnf01 |name=Forty-Eighters}}] [[German Americans]] would play a major role in the [[American Civil War]]. More widely, many disillusioned and persecuted revolutionaries, in particular (though not exclusively) those from Germany and the Austrian Empire, left their homelands for foreign exile in the New World or in the more liberal European nations; these emigrants were known as the [[Forty-Eighters]]. Sentiment among German Americans was largely anti-slavery, especially among Forty-Eighters.[{{Citation |last=Wittke |first=Carl |title=Refugees of Revolution |year=1952 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press}}]
File:General Blenker.jpg|[[Louis Blenker]] (Germany)
File:Alexander Schimmelfennig.jpg|[[Alexander Schimmelfennig]] (Germany)
File:Carl Schurz as a young man.jpg|[[Carl Schurz]] (Germany)
File:Franz Sigel.jpg|[[Franz Sigel]] (Germany)
File:August Willich.jpg|[[August Willich]] (Germany)
File:ASAsboth.jpg|[[Alexander Asboth]] (Hungary)
File:Kossuth photograph 1847.png|[[Lajos Kossuth]] (Hungary)
File:AlbinFSchoepf.jpg|[[Albin Francisco Schoepf]] (Poland, Hungary)
File:Julius Stahel.jpg|[[Julius Stahel]] (Hungary)
File:Zágonyi Károly.jpg|[[Charles Zagonyi]] (Hungary)
File:Meagher4s.jpg|[[Thomas Francis Meagher]] (Ireland)
File:Matania Edoardo - Ritratto giovanile di Carlo Cattaneo - xilografia - 1887.jpg|[[Carlo Cattaneo]] (Italy)
File:Giuseppe Garibaldi 1861.jpg|[[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] (Italy)
File:Induno Domenico Goffredo Mameli.jpg|[[Goffredo Mameli]] (Italy)
File:Giuseppe Mazzini.jpg|[[Giuseppe Mazzini]] (Italy)
File:Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski.jpg|[[Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski]] (Poland)
=== In popular culture ===
[[Steven Brust]] and [[Emma Bull]]'s 1997 [[epistolary novel]] ''Freedom & Necessity'' is set in England in the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1848.[{{Cite book |last1=Brust |first1=Steven |author-link1=Steven Brust |last2=Bull |first2=Emma |author-link2=Emma Bull |year=1997 |title=Freedom and Necessity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8YwXAOMNIGIC |location=New York |publisher=Tor Books |isbn=9780812562613 |access-date=2 August 2017}}]
The 2021 Ukrainian TV series [[Coffee with Cardamom (Ukrainian TV series)|Coffee with Cardamom]] follows a love-story amid the Revolutions of 1848.[{{Cite web |last=Osym |first=Yulia |title=Coffee Melody in Cardamom Tone: A new show set in Lviv tells about the ‘forbidden’ love story |url=https://travel.tvoemisto.tv/en/news/coffee_melody_in_cardamom_tone_a_new_show_set_in_lviv_tells_about_the_forbidden_love_story_126148.html |access-date=2026-04-04 |website=travel.tvoemisto.tv}}]
==See also==
* [[Arab Spring]]
* [[Colour Revolutions]]
* [[Democracy in Europe]]
* [[Protests of 1968]]
* [[Revolutions of 1830]]
* [[Revolutions of 1917–1923]]
* [[Revolutions of 1989]]
==Notes, references, and sources==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}
===References===
{{Reflist|20em}}
=== Works cited ===
{{Refbegin|indent=yes|30em}}
==== Books ====
* {{cite book |last1=Agulhon |first1=Maurice |title=The Republican Experiment, 1848–1852 |translator1-last=Lloyd |translator1-first=Janet |date=1983 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-28988-7}}
* {{cite book |last1=Blum |first1=Jerome |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691654379/the-end-of-the-old-order-in-rural-europe |title=The End of the Old Order in Rural Europe |date=1978 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-1-4008-8577-0 |archive-date=30 October 2025 |access-date=20 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251030063613/https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691654379/the-end-of-the-old-order-in-rural-europe |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Breuilly |first=John |author-link=John Breuilly |title=Austria, Prussia, and the Making of Germany, 1806-1871 |date=2014 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-4082-7276-3 |edition=2nd }}
* {{Cite book |last=Broers |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Broers |title=Europe after Napoleon: Revolution, reaction and romanticism, 1814–1848 |date=1996 |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |isbn=0-7190-4722-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/europeafternapol0000broe |url-access=registration }}
* {{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Clark |title=[[Revolutionary Spring|Revolutionary Spring: Europe Aflame and the Fight for a New World, 1848-1849]] |date=2023 |publisher=[[Crown Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-525-57520-7 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Deák |first=István |author-link=István Deák |title=The Lawful Revolution: Louis Kossuth and the Hungarians, 1848-1849 |date=1979 |publisher=[[Phoenix Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-04602-2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Fortescue |first=William |title=France and 1848: The End of Monarchy |date=2005 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=0-203-32287-8 |edition=E-book}}
* {{Cite book|last = Guyver|first = Christopher|title = The Second French Republic 1848-1852|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan US|doi = 10.1057/978-1-137-59740-3|isbn = 978-1-137-59739-7|location = New York|date = 2016|url = http://link.springer.com/10.1057/978-1-137-59740-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hahn |first=Hans Joachim |title=The 1848 Revolutions in German-Speaking Europe |date=2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-582-35765-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Judson |first=Pieter M. |author-link=Pieter Judson |title=The Habsburg Empire: A New History |date=2016 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-04776-1}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Pánek |first1=Jaroslav |last2= Tuma |first2=Oldrich |title=A History of the Czech Lands |date=2019 |publisher=[[Karolinum Press]] |isbn=978-8-024-62227-9 |edition=2nd}}
* {{cite book |last1=Pech |first1=Stanley Z. |title= The Czech Revolution of 1848 |date=1969 |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |isbn=978-0-807-81123-8}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rapport |first=Mike |title=Nineteenth-Century Europe |date=2005 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn= 978-0-333-65245-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rapport |first=Mike |url=https://archive.org/details/1848yearofrevolu0000rapp_q6h4 |title=1848: Year of Revolution |date=2009 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |isbn=978-0-465-01436-1 |url-access=registration }}
* {{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=Priscilla |author-link=Priscilla Robertson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50NaAAAAYAAJ |title=Revolutions of 1848: A Social History |date=1971 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00756-4 |edition=2nd print. |archive-date=7 October 2024 |access-date=6 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007113129/https://books.google.com/books?id=50NaAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Siemann |first1=Wolfram |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YSF8QgAACAAJ |title=The German Revolution of 1848-49 |date=1998 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |isbn=978-0-312-21695-5 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Sked |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Sked |title=The Decline and Fall of the Habsburg Empire, 1815–1918 |date=2001 |publisher=[[Longman]] |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-582-35666-5}}
* {{cite book |last1=Sperber |first1=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Sperber |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691008660/rhineland-radicals |title=Rhineland Radicals: The Democratic Movement and the Revolution of 1848-1849 |date=1991 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-23321-5 |archive-date=29 October 2025 |access-date=20 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251029204713/https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691008660/rhineland-radicals |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Sperber |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BhfAxkW6dfsC |title=The European Revolutions, 1848–1851 |date=2005 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-139-44590-0 |edition=2nd |archive-date=7 October 2024 |access-date=6 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007113459/https://books.google.com/books?id=BhfAxkW6dfsC |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Stadelmann |first=Rudolf |translator1-last=Chastain |translator1-first=James G. |title=Social and Political History of the German 1848 Revolution |date=1975 |publisher=[[Ohio University Press]] |isbn=978-0-821-40177-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stearns |first=Peter N. |author-link=Peter Stearns |title=1848: The Revolutionary Tide in Europe |date=1974 |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |isbn=978-0-393-09311-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Traugott |first=Mark |title=The Insurgent Barricade |date=2010 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-26632-2}}
==== Book chapters ====
* {{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=Geoffrey |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=Robert |editor2-last=Pogge von Strandmann |editor2-first=Hartmut |title=The Revolutions in Europe, 1848–1849: From Reform to Reaction |date=2002 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-199-24997-8 |pages=27–54 |chapter=The Revolution of 1848–1849 in France |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/25693/ |url-access=subscription |archive-date=6 June 2024 |access-date=19 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240606160546/https://academic.oup.com/book/25693 |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Evans |first=R. J. W. |author-link=R. J. W. Evans |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=Robert |editor2-last=Pogge von Strandmann |editor2-first=Hartmut |title=The Revolutions in Europe, 1848–1849: From Reform to Reaction |date=2002 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-199-24997-8 |pages=181–206 |chapter=1848–1849 in the Habsburg Monarchy |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/25693/ |url-access=subscription |archive-date=6 June 2024 |access-date=19 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240606160546/https://academic.oup.com/book/25693 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Gildea |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Gildea |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=Robert |editor2-last=Pogge von Strandmann |editor2-first=Hartmut |title= The Revolutions in Europe, 1848–1849: From Reform to Reaction |date=2002 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0199249978 |pages=207–36 |chapter= 1848 in European Collective Memory}}
* {{cite book |last1=Haupt |first1=Heinz-Gerhard |last2=Langewiesche |first2=Dieter |author-link1=Heinz-Gerhard Haupt |author-link2=Dieter Langewiesche |editor1-last=Dowe |editor1-first=Dieter |editor2-last=Haupt |editor2-first=Heinz-Gerhard |editor3-last=Langewische |editor3-first=Dieter |editor4-last=Sperber |editor4-first=Jonathan |title=Europe in 1848: Revolution and Reform |date=2008 |publisher=[[Berghahn]] |isbn=978-1-57181-164-6 |pages=1–23 |chapter=The European Revolution of 1848: Its Political and Social Reforms, its Politics of Nationalism, and its Short- and Long-Term Consequences}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kor̆alka |first1=Jir̆í |editor1-last=Dowe |editor1-first=Dieter |editor2-last=Haupt |editor2-first=Heinz-Gerhard |editor3-last=Langewische |editor3-first=Dieter |editor4-last=Sperber |editor4-first=Jonathan |title=Europe in 1848: Revolution and Reform |date=2008 |publisher=[[Berghahn]] |isbn=978-1-57181-164-6 |pages=145–69 |chapter=Revolutions in the Habsburg Monarchy}}
* {{cite book |last1=Langewiesche |first1=Dieter |author-link=Dieter Langewiesche |editor1-last=Dowe |editor1-first=Dieter |editor2-last=Haupt |editor2-first=Heinz-Gerhard |editor3-last=Langewische |editor3-first=Dieter |editor4-last=Sperber |editor4-first=Jonathan |title=Europe in 1848: Revolution and Reform |date=2008a |publisher=[[Berghahn]] |isbn=978-1-57181-164-6 |pages=120–43 |chapter=Revolution in Germany: Constitutional State—Nation-State—Social Reform}}
* {{cite book |last1=Langewiesche |first1=Dieter |editor1-last=Dowe |editor1-first=Dieter |editor2-last=Haupt |editor2-first=Heinz-Gerhard |editor3-last=Langewische |editor3-first=Dieter |editor4-last=Sperber |editor4-first=Jonathan |title=Europe in 1848: Revolution and Reform |date=2008b |publisher=[[Berghahn]] |isbn=978-1-57181-164-6 |pages=694–707 |chapter=The Role of the Military in the European Revolutions of 1848}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mack Smith |first1=Denis |author-link=Denis Mack Smith |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=Robert |editor2-last=Pogge von Strandmann |editor2-first=Hartmut |title=The Revolutions in Europe, 1848–1849: From Reform to Reaction |date=2002 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-924997-8 |pages=55–82 |chapter=The Revolutions of 1848–1849 in Italy |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/25693/ |url-access=subscription |archive-date=6 June 2024 |access-date=19 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240606160546/https://academic.oup.com/book/25693 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Pogge von Strandmann |first1=Hartmut |author-link=Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=Robert |editor2-last=Pogge von Strandmann |editor2-first=Hartmut |title= The Revolutions in Europe, 1848–1849: From Reform to Reaction |date=2002 |place= Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0199249978 |pages=1–8 |chapter= 1848–1849: A European Revolution?}}
==== Journal articles ====
* {{Cite journal |last1=Berger |first1=Helge |last2=Spoerer |first2=Mark |date=2001 |title=Economic Crises and the European Revolutions of 1848 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2698022 |journal=[[The Journal of Economic History]] |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=293–326 |doi=10.1017/S0022050701028029 |jstor=2698022 |via=JSTOR |archive-date=6 April 2025 |access-date=25 September 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250406225110/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2698022 |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Gouldner |first=Alvin |author-link=Alvin Gouldner |date=1983 |title=Artisans and Intellectuals in the German Revolution of 1848 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/657388 |journal=[[Theory and Society]] |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=521–32 |doi=10.1007/BF00187755 |jstor=657388 |via=JSTOR |archive-date=25 May 2021 |access-date=20 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525103644/https://www.jstor.org/stable/657388 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite journal |last1=O'Boyle |first1=Lenore |date=1961 |title=The Democratic Left in Germany, 1848 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1877214 |journal=[[The Journal of Modern History]] |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=374–383 |doi=10.1086/238910 |jstor=1877214 |via=JSTOR |archive-date=30 October 2025 |access-date=20 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251030135601/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1877214 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite journal |last1=O'Boyle |first1=Lenore |date=1966 |title=The Middle Class in Western Europe, 1815–1848 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1846024 |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=825–845 |doi=10.2307/1846024 |jstor=1846024 |via=JSTOR |url-access=subscription |archive-date=18 May 2026 |access-date=20 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260518163517/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1846024 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite journal |last1=O'Boyle |first1=Lenore |date=1970 |title=The Problem of an Excess of Educated Men in Western Europe, 1800–1850 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1905825 |journal=[[The Journal of Modern History]] |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=471–495 |doi=10.1086/244035 |jstor=1905825 |via=JSTOR |archive-date=4 November 2025 |access-date=20 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251104092513/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1905825 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Shorter |first1=Edward |date=1969 |title=Middle-Class Anxiety in the German Revolution of 1848 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3786483 |journal=[[The Journal of Social History]] |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=189–215 |doi=10.1353/jsh/2.3.189 |jstor=3786483 |via=JSTOR |archive-date=31 October 2025 |access-date=20 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251031204348/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3786483 |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Weyland |first=Kurt |date=July 2009 |title=The Diffusion of Revolution: '1848' in Europe and Latin America |journal=[[International Organization]] |language=en |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=391–423 |doi=10.1017/S0020818309090146 |issn=0020-8183 |jstor=40345942}}
==== Web sources ====
* {{Cite web |last=Chastain |first=James |date=November 4, 2005 |title=Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions |url=https://sites.ohio.edu/chastain/ |website=[[Ohio State University]] |access-date=6 October 2024 |archive-date=7 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007100628/https://sites.ohio.edu/chastain/ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite conference |last1=Ó Gráda |first1=Cormac |last2=Vanhaute |first2=Eric |last3=Paping |first3=Richard |date=2006 |title=The European subsistence crisis of 1845-1850: a comparative perspective |url=http://www.helsinki.fi/iehc2006/papers3/Vanhaute.pdf |conference=XIV [[International Economic History Association|International Economic History Congress]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417175737/http://www.helsinki.fi/iehc2006/papers3/Vanhaute.pdf |archive-date=17 April 2017 }}
{{Refend}}
===Further reading ===
====Surveys====
* {{Cite book |last=Pouthas |first=Charles |author-link=Charles-Hippolyte Pouthas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRQ9AAAAIAAJ |title=The New Cambridge Modern History |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-521-04548-3 |editor-last=Bury |editor-first=J. P. T. |editor-link=J. P. T. Bury |edition=Repr. |volume=X. The Zenith of European Power, 1830-70 |pages=389–415 |chapter=The Revolutions of 1848}}
* {{Cite book |last=Langer |first=William L. |author-link=William L. Langer |url=https://archive.org/details/politicalsocialu00lang |title=Political and social upheaval, 1832-1852 |date=1969 |publisher=[[Harper & Row]] |location=New York |url-access=registration}}
** {{Cite book |last=Langer |first=William L. |url=https://archive.org/details/revolutionsof18400lang |title=The revolutions of 1848: chapters from political and social upheaval |date=1971 |publisher=[[Harper & Row]] |isbn=978-0-06-131582-4 |edition=1. |series=Harper torchbooks |location=New York}} Ch 10–14 of his 1969 book
====France====
* {{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Timothy James |author-link=T. J. Clark (art historian) |url=https://archive.org/details/imageofpeoplegus0000clar_q5r5 |title=Image of the people: Gustave Courbet and the 1848 revolution |date=1999 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-21745-4 |location=Berkeley |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Duveau |first=Georges |url=https://archive.org/details/1848makingofrevo0000unse |title=1848: The Making of a Revolution |date=1967 |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |others=Introduction by [[George Rudé]] |isbn=978-0-394-70471-5 |location=New York |translator-last=Carter |translator-first=Anne |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Fasel |first=George |date=Autumn 1974 |title=The Wrong Revolution: French Republicanism in 1848 |journal=[[French Historical Studies]] |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=654–677 |doi=10.2307/285857 |jstor=285857}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Loubere |first=Leo A. |date=April 1968 |title=The Emergence of the Extreme Left in Lower Languedoc, 1848-1851: Social and Economic Factors in Politics |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |volume=73 |issue=4 |pages=1019–1051 |doi=10.2307/1847387 |jstor=1847387}}
* {{Cite book |last=Merriman |first=John M. |author-link=John M. Merriman |url=https://archive.org/details/agonyofrepublicr0000merr |title=The agony of the Republic: the repression of the left in revolutionary France, 1848-1851 |date=1978 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-02151-6 |location=New Haven}}
====Germany and Austria====
* {{Cite book |last=Hahn |first=Hans Joachim |title=The 1848 revolutions in German-speaking Europe |date=2001 |publisher=[[Longman]] |isbn=978-0-582-35765-5 |edition=1. |series=Themes in modern German history series |location=Harlow; Munich}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hamerow |first=Theodore S. |author-link=Theodore S. Hamerow |date=October 1954 |title=History and the German Revolution of 1848 |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=27–44 |doi=10.2307/1842744 |jstor=1842744}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hewitson |first=M. |date=October 2010 |title='The Old Forms are Breaking Up, ... Our New Germany is Rebuilding Itself': Constitutionalism, Nationalism and the Creation of a German Polity during the Revolutions of 1848-49 |journal=[[The English Historical Review]] |language=en |volume=CXXV |issue=516 |pages=1173–1214 |doi=10.1093/ehr/ceq276 |issn=0013-8266}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Macartney |first=C.A. |date=July 1977 |title=1848 in the Habsburg Monarchy |journal=[[European Studies Review]] |language=en |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=285–309 |doi=10.1177/026569147700700303 |issn=0014-3111}}
* {{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=Priscilla Smith |author-link=Priscilla Robertson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SX-ectAexEoC |title=Revolutions of 1848: A Social History |date=1967 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-00756-4 |pages=105–286}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sked |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Sked |url=https://archive.org/details/survivalofhabsbu0000sked |title=The Survival of the Habsburg empire: Radetzky, the imperial army and the class war, 1848 |date=1979 |publisher=[[Longman]] |isbn=978-0-582-50711-1 |location=London; New York |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vick |first=Brian E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KdE4jFikPH0C |title=Defining Germany: the 1848 Frankfurt parliamentarians and national identity |date=2002 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-00911-0 |series=Harvard historical studies |location=Cambridge, Mass}}
====Italy====
* {{Cite journal |last=Ginsborg |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Ginsborg |date=September 1974 |title=Peasants and Revolutionaries in Venice and the Veneto, 1848 |journal=[[The Historical Journal]] |language=en |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=503–550 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00005276 |issn=0018-246X |jstor=2638387}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ginsborg |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Ginsborg |url=https://archive.org/details/danielemaninvene0000gins |title=Daniele Manin and the Venitian revolution of 1848-1849 |date=1979 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-22077-4 |location=London; New York; Melbourne |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=Priscilla |author-link=Priscilla Robertson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SX-ectAexEoC |title=Revolutions of 1848: a social history |date=1971 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-00756-4 |edition=2. |location=Princeton, NJ |pages=309–381}}
====Other====
* {{Cite journal |last1=Kilich-Cafer Güler |first1=Selda |last2=Sezer Feyzioğlu |first2=Hamiyet |date=2009 |title=Revolutions of 1848 and the Ottoman Empire |journal=Bulgarian Historical Review |volume=37 |issue=3–4 |pages=196–205}}
====Historiography====
* {{Cite journal |last=Dénes |first=Iván Zoltán |date=2010 |title=Reinterpreting a 'Founding Father': Kossuth Images and Their Contexts, 1848-2009 |journal=East Central Europe |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=90–117 |doi=10.1163/187633010X489299 |hdl=2437/103081 |issn=0094-3037|url=https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_products/Author_Instructions/ECEU.pdf }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hamerow |first=Theodore S. |author-link=Theodore S. Hamerow |date=December 1954 |title=History and the German Revolution of 1848 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=27–44 |doi=10.2307/1842744 |jstor=1842744}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Peter |title=The 1848 Revolutions |date=1991 |publisher=[[Longman]] |isbn=978-0-582-06106-4 |edition=2nd |series=Seminar studies in history |location=London : New York}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Mattheisen |first=Donald J. |date=December 1983 |title=History as Current Events: Recent Works on the German Revolution of 1848 |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |volume=88 |issue=5 |pages=1219–1237 |doi=10.2307/1904890 |jstor=1904890}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Rothfels |first=Hans |author-link=Hans Rothfels |date=December 1948 |title=1848-One Hundred Years After |journal=[[The Journal of Modern History]] |language=en |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=291–319 |doi=10.1086/237220 |issn=0022-2801 |jstor=1871060}}
==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [https://www.ohio.edu/chastain/index.htm "Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions" new articles by scholars]
*[http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/1848/revolution_of_1848.html The Revolutions of 1848 begin]
*[http://omniatlas.com/maps/europe/18480224/ Maps of Europe showing the Revolutions of 1848–1849 at omniatlas.com]
{{Revolutions of 1848}}
{{Hungarian Revolution of 1848}}
{{Revwave|state=collapsed}}
{{Syndicalism}}
{{Risorgimento}}
{{History of Europe}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Revolutions of 1848| ]]
[[Category:1848 in Europe|.Revolutions]]
[[Category:19th-century revolutions|1848]]
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[[Category:Eureka Rebellion]]
[[Category:European political history]]
[[Category:History of Central Europe]]
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[[Category:Revolutionary waves|1848]]
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