Political Discontent and the 1848 Revolutions essays

Political Discontent and the 1848 Revolutions essays It has been rightly remarked that the 1848 Revolutions were due to a conjunction of an economic crisis and political discontent.' (Jacques Droz) Discuss with specific reference to two of the following: France, the Austrian Empire, the German States, the Italian states. "Reaching from the Atlantic to Ukraine, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, the revolutions of 1848 brought millions of people across the European continent into political life". The revolutions of 1848 are sometimes referred to as the "springtime of the peoples" fast forward less than 150 years and Europe was again in the grasp of revolutions this time on the Eastern side of the continent. Even more recently we witnessed a wave of uprisings and revolutions in the Arab world that began in late 2010. Did 1848 set a precedent for future revolutions where one revolution ignites a spark across a wide geographical area? This essay will investigate the claims that it was a combination of economic crisis and political discontent and present a case in support of Jacques Droz's statement. I will view the 1848 revolutions causes from the perspective of France and the Austrian states. It would be very difficult to suggest that revolution would have begun with just economic issues without political dissatisfaction, the two issues run hand in hand and are inextricably interlinked even to this day. In France which had seen its fair share of revolutions in the preceding sixty years it would no doubt be in the revolutionary spotlight as again she was the catalyst for European wide revolt. "France sneezed again, and most of continental Europe caught cold" But what were the reasons why the French deemed that revolution was their only course of action? To understand these reasons we need firstly to look at the impact of economic conditions prior to 1848 in France. Prussian Count Galen wrote in 1847 that "the old year ended in scarcity, the new one opens with starvation. Misery, sp...