History UsefulNotes / RevolutionsOf1848

* Not every European country had a revolution in 1848. Russia, UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}}, UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}, and the [[UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} Ottoman Empire]], being on the peripheries and thus slightly out of sync with the rest of Europe, were among the most notable European countries to be left out of the party. The Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden-Norway also didn't have a revolution, but the monarchs of those countries prudently adopted constitutional reforms to avoid unrest. These states were essentially fully parliamentary monarchies with more-or-less strictly ceremonial monarchs (i.e. the British model) from this point forward.

-> ''1848 was the turning point at which modern history failed to turn.''

First, rewind to 1815. The end of UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars was essentially a victory for reactionary forces. They blamed UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte on the radicalism of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, which ironically, Napoleon wanted to end. Thus, as the allies met in Vienna to decide the fate of post-war Europe, their aim was to prevent anything like the French Revolution from happening again. The traditional European order, divine-rights monarchs and suchlike, was to be restored as much as possible. The crowned heads of Europe agreed that when one of them was threatened by the next would-be French Revolution, they would act together to put it down.

Fastforward to 1848. A wave of revolutions swept across Europe as the people of various countries rebelled against the post-Napoleonic conservative order. Who were these people that rebelled? Generally, they were a mix of liberal republicans, radical socialists, and various kinds of nationalists -- in other words, people who had little in common other than [[EnemyMine their shared opposition to the current order in Europe]]. These differences allowed reactionary forces to use a DivideAndConquer strategy, combined with their superior military force, to regain control of the situation. By the early part of 1849, the revolutions had been crushed, but they had begun to change many Europeans' way of thinking about society.

* In France, King Louis Philippe was overthrown and the Second French Republic was proclaimed. After some wrangling, France was declared a presidential republic. An election for president was held, which was won by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (the nephew of ''the'' UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte) basically by inventing right-wing populism. France managed to stay a republic until 1851, when Louis-Napoleon noticed that his term was starting to run out. He decided the solution was to follow in his uncle's footsteps and become emperor. As Napoleon III, he ruled France until his defeat and dethroning in the UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar of 1870, ending the French monarchy for good.
* When news of the fall of the July Monarchy hit UsefulNotes/{{Vienna}}, the great city of the Habsburg Empire went into revolt practically overnight. Before anyone knew it, the Viennese had forced the complete collapse of the Imperial ministry. They particularly sent Count Klemens Wenzel von Metternich--the arch-conservative Foreign Minister and ''de facto'' Prime Minister of the Empire--into exile, dismantling his pervasive [[BigBrotherIsWatching mass surveillance]] and intrusive PoliceState in the process. For a moment in the late spring-early summer of 1848, it looked like Vienna was on the verge of transforming the Empire into a democratic constitutional monarchy. However, that moment didn't last very long, and by the winter had been silenced by the guns of [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic Marshal Windisch-Grätz]].
* Encouraged by the fall of Metternich, nationalist revolts threatened to tear apart the multiethnic Austrian Empire. Austria's largest and most powerful ethnic minority, the Hungarians, rebelled in the hopes of forming their own separate country. They managed to hold on until early 1849...but weirdly foreshadowing 1956, the Russians invaded to put down the Hungarian Revolution. With Habsburg rule over Hungary restored, the Austrian Empire had been saved from fracturing... [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI for now]].
* At the same time, the Austrian Empire was also threatened by Italian nationalists. Though Austria's Italian possessions were relatively small potatoes compared to the Austrian German and Hungarian ones, the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia (which is what Austria called its chunk of Italy) was extremely rich, providing one-third of the Empire's tax revenue despite only having one-sixth of the Empire's population. When the two major centers of Austrian Italy (Milan and Venice) revolted and successfully drove out their imperial garrisons, the Kingdom of Sardinia invaded to support them, beginning the [[UsefulNotes/WarsOfItalianIndependence First Italian War of Independence]]. UsefulNotes/ThePapalStates initially supported the Sardinians, but later UsefulNotes/ThePope decided that Catholic countries going to war with each other was a no-no. Outraged, the nationalists ousted the Pope and proclaimed a new Roman Republic. In the end, the Austrians regained control of their Italian possessions and the Papal States were restored.
* UsefulNotes/AllTheLittleGermanies attempted to unite into one country through liberal reform. This so-called "liberal nationalism" failed, paving the way for UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck[='s=] more warlike approach.
* Not every European country had a revolution in 1848. Russia, Portugal, Spain, and the Ottoman Empire, being on the peripheries and thus slightly out of sync with the rest of Europe, were among the most notable European countries to be left out of the party. The Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden-Norway also didn't have a revolution, but the monarchs of those countries prudently adopted constitutional reforms to avoid unrest. These states were essentially fully parliamentary monarchies with more-or-less strictly ceremonial monarchs (i.e. the British model) from this point forward.
* In the United Kingdom, Britain managed to avoid full-fledged revolution, as middle-class demands for political reform had been largely sated by the Reform Act 1832, but did see massive working-class demonstrations under the Chartists. Ireland, meanwhile, had just experienced the worst year of the UsefulNotes/IrishPotatoFamine, so insurrections were small and localised. Ireland's only contribution to the 1848 Revolutions was the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Ireland_rebellion Young Irelanders' Rebellion]], also known as "the Battle of the Widow [=McCormack's=] Cabbage Field", which gives you a clue as to how big it was. More notably, the Irish Tricolour was also flown for the first time, a gift from French '48ers.
* Although the Revolutions of 1848 are regarded as a European phenomenon, related revolutions took place as far afield as Brazil.
* Speaking of the Americas, the United States was indirectly affected -- not so much by the revolutions themselves as by their aftermath. After the revolutions failed, many European radicals, seeing the US as a model for the sort of countries that they wanted to build, fled there, where a number of them became involved in the American anti-slavery and labor movements. Germans made up an especially notable cohort of such "Forty-Eighter" immigrants, settling primarily in the Midwest (providing the source of the large German populations and influence of German culture in places like UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}, [[UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}} Cincinnati]], UsefulNotes/{{Milwaukee}},[[note]]Where Forty-Eighter influence is generally credited with the success of the "sewer Socialists" a generation or two later[[/note]] and UsefulNotes/StLouis) and the [[UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} Texas Hill Country]]. They overwhelmingly supported the Union side in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, and several figures from radical democratic Left of 1848 Germany became significant figures in the Union Army (most notably Friedrich Hecker and Gustav Struve, who led armed rebellions in 1848 for a centralist republican Germany).[[note]]Interestingly, there was one ''counter''-Forty Eighter in the senior ranks of the Confederates; Camille de Polignac, the third son of Jules de Polignac, the hated final prime minister of Charles X of France, was a general in the Confederate Army. Also interestingly, Prince Philippe, Comte d'Paris, the eldest grandson of Louis Philippe and heir to the Orléanist July Monarchy, fought as a field officer for the Union in Virginia.[[/note]] (In Texas, this brought [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nueces_massacre violent retaliation]] from the secessionist government.) In turn, the influx of immigrants fueled the rise of nativism and anti-Catholicism, with the "Know Nothing" movement emerging in response. Also of note, a good number of disillusioned "Forty-Eighters" went to UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco and became Forty-Niners during the UsefulNotes/{{California}} Gold Rush.

A series of European revolutions which, funnily enough, took place in 1848. They failed.

* Duncan's podcast ''Podcast/{{Revolutions}}'': Season 7 (July 2017-March 2018) is about the Revolutions of 1848. As with the UsefulNotes/FrenchRevolution, Duncan left it open-ended, but surprised himself by not taking as long as he expected. Still, at 32 episodes, it's the third-longest season after the French Revolution (Season 3, 53 episodes + 4 supplementals) and [[UsefulNotes/RomanovsAndRevolutions Russian]] [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Revolutions]] (Season 10, 103 episodes, with over 40 episodes ''before'' 1917).

* Speaking of the Americas, the United States was indirectly affected -- not so much by the revolutions themselves as by their aftermath. After the revolutions failed, many European radicals, seeing the US as a model for the sort of countries that they wanted to build, fled there, where a number of them became involved in the American anti-slavery and labor movements. Germans made up an especially notable cohort of such "Forty-Eighter" immigrants, settling primarily in the Midwest (providing the source of the large German populations and influence of German culture in places like UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}, [[UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}} Cincinnati]], UsefulNotes/{{Milwaukee}},[[note]]Where Forty-Eighter influence is generally credited with the success of the "sewer Socialists" a generation or two later[[/note]] and UsefulNotes/StLouis) and the [[UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} Texas Hill Country]]. They overwhelmingly supported the Union side in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, and several figures from radical democratic Left of 1848 Germany became significant figures in the Union Army (most notably Friedrich Hecker and Gustav Struve, who led armed rebellions in 1848 for a centralist republican Germany).[[note]]Interestingly, there was one ''counter''-Forty Eighter in the senior ranks of the Confederates; Camille de Polignac, the third son of Jules de Polignac, the hated final prime minister of Charles X of France, was a general in the Confederate Army. Also interestingly, Prince Philippe, Comte d'Paris, the eldest grandson of Louis Philippe and heir to the Orléanist July Monarchy, fought as a field officer for the Union in Virginia.[[/note]] (In Texas, this brought [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nueces_massacre violent retaliation]] from the secessionist government.) In turn, the influx of immigrants fueled the rise of nativism and anti-Catholicism, with the "Know Nothing" movement emerging in response.