2. Why were there so many revolutions in 1848?
In 1848 Europe erupted into revolution. There were many common causes to these revolutions due to changing economic, social and political conditions across Europe.
Bread riot in Stettin, 1847
As you will see from the map above, Europe in the mid 19th Century was dominated by several powerful countries - the same countries which had got together at the Congress of Vienna to redraw the map of Europe after Napoleon had been defeated: the Austrian Empire, the Russian Empire and Great Britain. The Prussian Kingdom was also powerful and the largest state in the new German Confederation that had been created at the Congress of Vienna.
Study the map above:
1. List all the places where revolutions took place in 1848
2. Which major countries were not affected by revolution?
3. In which countries did revolutions cause lasting or permanent change?
4. List the areas where revolutions were not successful in achieving anything i.e. concessions were withdraw
5. From this information on the map, what are your overall initial conclusions as to the success of these revolutions?
There were social, economic and political factors which were present in all the revolutions you can see above.
Study the sources below and answer the questions that follow.
Source A
Source B
Source C
Urban conditions in the Habsburg Empire, 1845 - 1848
Sources from E Wilmot, The Great Powers, 1992, Hodder
Source B
Explain what happened to the population of Europe between 1750 and 1840. What problems do you think this could cause?
Source A
What happened to the populations of cities? What kind of issues could these cause?
Source C
Explain in your own words the kind of problems that the people in cities in the Habsburg Empire were having at this time. What do you think is the link between Source A and Source C?
Watch the first six minutes of the Crash Course video below.
- What economic factors are identified for causing unrest in the 1840s? (this will help develop your discussions from the sources above).
- What political factors are discussed in the video?
- What actions did women take in this decade?
- Rapidly built housing was overcrowded and workers lived in terrible conditions
- Inadequate sanitation led to spread of terrible diseases such as cholera and typhoid
- The new class of factory owners wanted political rights - adding their voices to the demands of merchants and middle-class professionals
- Industrialisation threatened traditional crafts and labour practices (e.g. weavers were threatened by the cheaper factory-produced textiles) This meant rising dissatisfaction and anger amongst the skilled artisans as they lost out to unskilled workers who were prepared to work for low wages and with machinery that forced down the costs of production and made hand-produced goods relatively expensive.
Political factors
Liberalism: We have already discussed on the previous page the growth of liberalism as a political idea that had come out of the Enlightenment and been practically applied in the American and the French Revolutions.
The ideas of liberalism fired up Europeans who felt that they had a right to be involved in politics. This included groups such as educated professionals - teachers, lawyers, doctors, journalists who believed they should be allowed political influence rather than this being confined to the nobility. They also wanted to be able to express themselves freely without the threat of the secret police or censorship.
Note that these middle class liberals were generally not in favour of getting the vote for everyone - but rather they demanded a parliament composed of an educated and responsible elite.
Nationalism: After 1815 - when the statesmen at the Congress of Vienna had tried to turn back the clock on the development of nation states - support for the idea of nationalism also grew steadily. Many people in Italy and the German confederation questioned the legitimacy of the Austrian Empire having control over them.
By 1848, a series of economic crises had left millions of workers and peasants across Europe in acute poverty:
- The potato crop which was a staple diet for the poor in northern Europe - was wiped out by disease in 1845
- The cereal harvest of 1845 was poor and the harvest of 1846 a disaster
- The poor harvests meant that a shortage of food and the price of basic foodstuffs drastically increased
- This led to increasing unrest and bread riots as many now faced starvation
- The rising cost of living meant people spent less money on manufactured goods such as shoes or clothes which led to a depression in the manufacturing industries
- All of the above led to a banking and debt crisis. Interest rates increased and loans to pay for investment were withdrawn. Many businessmen were forced into bankruptcy.
Work in pairs to create a mind map or other infographic to show the economic, social and political factors that were creating a crisis in Europe by the middle of the 19th Century.