Western Civilization - History Of European Society

482 Chapter 25

the emperor of Austria and Metternich were all driven
from the stage of international politics. By 1850, how-
ever, the revolutions of 1848 had collapsed in the face of
military repression. Some constitutions survived, as did a
few revolutionary accomplishments, but counterrevolu-
tionary governments dominated the 1850s.
Historians have explained the revolutions of 1848
in many ways. Liberals have stressed the repressive na-
ture of government in the Metternichian era. More
conservative historians have blamed the discontent of
the intelligentsia, calling 1848 a “revolt of the intellec-
tuals.” Others have noted the willingness of the newly
influential middle classes (such as bankers, manufactur-
ers, merchants, and professionals) to accept revolution-
ary change because they had few attachments to the
aristocratic regime. Marxists have pointed to the impor-
tance of the growing urban laboring class living in
poverty, while social historians have examined urban-
ization (many cities doubled in size between 1800 and
1848) and found an array of problems in housing, pub-
lic health, and crime.

One of the more convincing explanations of the

origins of the revolutions has come from economic his-

torians. In the late 1840s Europe simultaneously experi-

enced the last great subsistence crisis as a result of

agricultural failure and the first severe depression of the

industrial age. Crop failures meant expensive bread

(which had also preceeded the French Revolution); the

downturn in the business cycle meant high unemploy-

ment (see illustration 25.1).

The agricultural crisis began with the potato

famine of 1845. Ireland suffered horribly from this ca-

tastrophe, and all regions that depended upon the

potato as a staple of the diet (such as the German

states) had problems. Grain famines followed in 1846

and 1847, causing hardship for many people and mortal

danger for some. In the Alsatian industrial center of

Mulhouse, for example, the price of bread increased 67

percent during this crisis; in some German states, the

price of staple foods rose between 250 percent and 450

percent. The depression of the 1840s multiplied the

suffering and political agitation that grows when food

CHRONOLOGY 25.1

The Revolutions of 1848

Dates Country Revolutionary events Outcome

January 1848–May 1848 Naples

February 1848–June 1849 France

March 1848–August 1849 Piedmont-

Sardinia

March 1848–August 1849 Austria

March 1848–July 1849 Vatican

states

March 1848–August 1849 Venice

March 1848–December 1848 Prussia

March 1848 Lombardy

March 1848–June 1849 Germany

Revolt in Sicily, short-lived constitu-

tion and independence

Revolt in Paris, abdication of king and

formation of republic

Constitution granted and war declared

on Austria

Emperor abdicates and Metternich

flees, constitutions in Austria and

Hungary, nationalist uprisings

Pope Pius IX grants constitution, but

Mazzini proclaims republic

Demonstrations drive out Austrian

army, republic proclaimed

Revolution in Berlin, king grants

constitution

Revolution in Milan forces Austrian

evacuation

National assembly in Frankfurt abol-

ishes confederation and debates Ger-

man unity

Revolt crushed

Second Republic overthrown by

President Louis-Napoleon

Austrian victories force king to

abdicate; constitution endures

Austrian and Russian armies sup-

press all revolutions

French troops crush the republic

and restore the pope

Republic capitulates to Austrian

army

King dismisses assembly, keeps

constitution

Austrian reconquest

Assembly fails to create unity,

dismissed by army