Question

What were the causes and consequences of the Revolutions of 1848 in France and Germany?

Answer 1

1848 revolutions, series of revolutionary revolts against European monarchies, starting in Sicily and spreading to France , Germany , Italy and Austria. They all ended up in defeat and repression, and were accompanied by widespread liberal disillusionment.

The revolutionary movement began in Italy in January 1848 with a local revolution in Sicily, and after the February 24 revolution in France the movement spread throughout Europe, with the exception of Russia, Spain and the Scandinavian countries. In the UK it contributed to nothing more than a Chartist protest in Ireland and a nationalist agitation. It manifested itself in peaceful reforms of established institutions in Belgium , the Netherlands and Denmark, but democratic uprisings broke out in the capitals of the three great monarchies, Paris, Vienna and Berlin, where the governments made powerless by their fear of the "revolution"

The German governments agreed to convene three constituent assemblies in Berlin, Wien and Frankfurt to draft democratic constitutions for Prussia, Austria and Germany. The disruption seemed to signal a restructuring of Europe's territories. Alphonse de Lamartine declared, on behalf of the Provisional Government in France, that the treaties of 1815 were no longer binding in the eyes of the French Republic, but added that he acknowledged the territorial delimitations established by those treaties. France has not lent its assistance to the European revolutionaries.

The immediate outcome of the reaction was exposed in the removal of liberal democratic or nationalist compromises reached during the revolution: compulsory manhood suffrage and freedom of the press and assembly. Absolute monarchy was reestablished in Germany , Austria and Italy; and the governments, in alliance with the middle classes and the clergy, terrified by the socialist proposals, strengthened the police forces and organized a persecution of the popular press and associations that paralyzed political life.

However, the restoration was not complete, because universal manhood suffrage was not abolished in France; in Prussia the Constitution of January 1850, which established an elective legislature, was retained, and in Sardinia the Constitution of March 1848 was retained; and in Austria the signature rights were not restored.